Philoking.comfrom Jason Burns’ perspective…

I can’t say that this was an easy decision for me. I had long loved and had great affection for my self built P4 2.4Ghz box running Windows XP SP2 that I had been using for years. The computer had been rock solid and even when I brought home my new 64-bit Vista HP powerhouse, I still used the old computer more often out of comfort and familiarity.

Recently, my motherboard had started to fail and to be honest, I was starting to feel the computer’s age when compared against the newer box. Now logic might lead you to ask why I didn’t just switch to the new box and retire this box completely. The answer would be that I just can’t seem to manage on a single box, and that the new 64-bit machine, while awesome for gaming, Photoshop work, and all my media madness that my iMac doesn’t serve, just has a different bag of tricks than my development machine which I am retiring.

So early this week I placed an order to Newegg.com to replace all of the guts of this machine and make it shiny and new again. It was literally when it was time to install an OS that I made the final decision to install Vista and not XP SP3.

The new (old) box is now a 2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo, 3GB Ram, 400GB HD and a nVidia GeForce 8400 GS video card with two 20" LCD monitors and a DVD-RW drive.

The build process went surprisingly smooth. I got home about 5:30PM, grabbed the old PC and the box of parts and went to the kitchen table. I removed all of the offending parts from the case, installed CPU and RAM into the new motherboard, screwed it in place, connected all of the cables and inserted the video card. Once that was complete, I closed the case, carried it downstairs, plugged it in and bam, it was ready to install Vista. I had not one single problem or incedent in the build…..amazing.

By 6:30, Vista was installed and I was updating and installing software. The entire build and OS install took an hour….wow!

It’s now 9:30 and including a break for dinner, all of my applications are installed, and updated, the OS is updated and all of my email accounts, IM, browser faves, printers and file shares are good to go. Now with the exception of two Macs running OS X 10.5 Leopard, all of my PCs are running Vista Ultimate at home and Vista Enterprise at work.

This is one computer crazy household for sure, but now the tide has definitely turned towards Vista being the dominant OS. Our household has 6 running PCs and 2 laptops (not counting work machines) and the OS split breaks down to 3 Vista Ultimate (1 64bit), 2 Windows XP and 3 OS X Leopard. Sure OS X and Vista are tied at the moment, but Dawn’s old PC is giving up the ghost shortly to be updated to a Vista machine as well.

And for the record…I am loving Vista. I kind of look at it like some people do underwear. Sure the new pairs are a little too tight and don’t quite fit your bum like the holy ones, but if you take the time to wash and wear them a few times, they feel just like they should. Give Vista a real chance on a machine worthy of running it, and I doubt you will be dissapointed.

I found a fantastic article on apcmag.com by Ashton Mills tonight about using Linux as your OS completely and how it fares against Windows. While I have to say that this is one of the most complete and honest evaluations I have ever read, it still falls way short in the reality department, for example:

After plugging in the iPod Nano, an iPod icon appeared on the desktop and Rhythmbox, Ubuntu’s default Gnome-based media player, popped up. Underneath the icons for the local collection playlists was an iPod device. It could read and play from the iPod, but I quickly found it didn’t appear to enable transferring to it. Not a problem as Amarok, a rather sleek KDE-based media player and organiser which I had also installed, found the device and although couldn’t immediately identify it — a popup box with options ranging from ‘Creative Nomad’, ‘Generic Media Player’ and of course ‘Apple iPod’ was presented — once configured it happily transferred to and from the iPod with a click of button (well, two clicks — select the tracks, then ‘Transfer’). Much easier than futzing with iTunes and its controlling interface under Windows, and exactly the type of result you expect from your desktop — to just plug it in and go.

Talking to the iPod: Optimal — Passes with flying colours. The task could not only be completed, but better or easier than under Windows.

I don’t know about you, but if I can’t use iTunes, I don’t WANT an iPod, it’s not about the hardware, it’s about iTunes. The writer thinking that Amarok is a suitable and complete replacement for iTunes is a joke especially if you take stolen media out of the equation. How do you buy movies, TV shows and legal music digitally with Linux?? But I digress.

The final results are as follows (With Comments):

Getting Updates: Optimal — Passes with flying colours. The task could not only be completed, but better or easier than under Windows. I agree, the update system in the latest Linux builds is quite effective.

Web browsing: Pass — No problems. The task can be completed exactly as under Windows. What about banking, I have seen some serious problems banking in Firefox. Also, um, plugins? I hate to know that when a new version of flash comes out I will have to wait to be able to use it. Ditto for many other plugins.

Media playback: Iffy — When a task could only be partially completed, or completed but not without issue. At least he is honest, you can’t do much and most of what you can do isn’t legal.

File management: Pass — No problems. The task can be completed exactly as under Windows. Honest, but ho hum.

Network shares: Pass — No problems. The task can be completed exactly as under Windows. I wish I could say this was always so straight forward. Try connecting to a Windows 2003 server that has advanced password encryption.

Uploading to sites: Optimal — Passes with flying colours. The task could not only be completed, but better or easier than under Windows. Mkay…

CD and DVD burning: Optimal — Passes with flying colours. The task could not only be completed, but better or easier than under Windows. It works ok, but the apps that come installed aren’t quite as easy as Windows "Send to CD/DVD."

MP3 Encoding: Iffy — When a task could only be partially completed, or completed but not without issue. Yep.

Talking to the iPod: Optimal — Passes with flying colors. The task could not only be completed, but better or easier than under Windows. Seriously folks, if you take away my iTunes I will cry. And show me how you plan to manage an iPhone with Linux, let alone activate it.

Taking the upgrade plunge: Optimal — Passes with flying colours. The task could not only be completed, but better or easier than under Windows. I have seen this blow up, but I have had Windows and OS X do it too, fair enough.

Evolutionary email: Optimal — Passes with flying colours. The task could not only be completed, but better or easier than under Windows. I like Thunderbird better, but both are fine mail clients.

Open Office: Optimal — Passes with flying colours. The task could not only be completed, but better or easier than under Windows. Probably better than advertised and good enough for 80% of productivity users.

Web StarCam: Iffy — When a task could only be partially completed, or completed but not without issue. Dawngrrl would die with no webcam.

Plug in Cameras: Flop — Not possible to complete at all. Probably not a good thing. Bummer.

USB drives: Optimal — Passes with flying colours. The task could not only be completed, but better or easier than under Windows. They better!!!

Image management: Optimal — Passes with flying colors. The task could not only be completed, but better or easier than under Windows. Picasa is out for Linux and that’s what I would use on Windows, so ok.

Image editing: Optimal — Passes with flying colours. The task could not only be completed, but better or easier than under Windows. Ok, for basic stuff, but another person tells me Gimp is as good as Photoshop I am going to puke.

Printing: Pass — No problems. The task can be completed exactly as under Windows. Good enough unless you are using a big multifunction unit that has a pretty intense control panel system.

Managing disk space: Flop — Not possible to complete at all. Probably not a good thing. Ouch.

Video production: Optimal — Passes with flying colours. The task could not only be completed, but better or easier than under Windows. I dare say the open source apps I have seen is no Premiere or Premiere elements, and I am sure Pinnacle would argue this one as well.

Native games: Flop Pass — No problems. The task can be completed exactly as under Windows. I am sure they do work fine, but, wait, there are like 3 games that have ever been released for Linux from big game houses!

Transgaming: Iffy — When a task could only be partially completed, or completed but not without issue. Yea, Wine is no party.

Free games: Optimal — Passes with flying colours. The task could not only be completed, but better or easier than under Windows. I will give kudos here, there are some great free games, especially in the kids department.

Linux is getting much better, I will definitely give credit where credit is due. I have been trying distributions since the mid 90s and it has made fantastic strides. The problem is and will always be manufacturer support. Until devices and software are ported regularly, it’s never going to get a fair shake. If I can’t buy a webcam at Wal-Mart and guarantee it’s going to work, most people are going to run.

So after all of these writer admitted shortcomings, the verdict given is:

So, given all of the above, what’s my verdict for living in a Linux only world? *drumroll*

Linux only world: Pass — No problems. The task can be completed exactly as under Windows.

Are you kidding me? Iffy browsing, iffy media support, iffy to no gaming…. How in the world is it "Task can be completed exacty as under Windows????" Even when the writer goes at great length to be verbose and honest, he goes off the deep end in the summary. If someone skipped to the verdict, they would get a very rose colored view don’t you think?