MicroSoft Vista, Part 2

Microsoft Vista is an operating system for personal computers. It usually is found installed on new personal computers.

For openers, let's discuss the concept of an "operating system." Simply put, the operating system is your computer's traffic cop. It directs all of the odds and ends that go on inside your computer.

All computers have an operating system - even your cell phones, your car's computer, your high-tech "IP" telephones, your "TIVO" (a TV's Video Recorder - VCR - on steroids).

If the operating system (OS) is good, you never know that it is there. It just does its job quietly, while it turns your keystrokes and mouse clicks into documents, screen images, internet 'activity', music, and the like. Good operating systems include

• Apple's Macintosh
• newer versions of Linux
• Windows XP, although it took a couple of years of patching before XP became a fairly good OS.
  

Windows Vista is still rough around the edges - and all the way through. Many industry pundits (and I) doubt that it will ever become a polished, well-running, unintrusive OS.

Technically speaking, Microsoft has stopped selling Windows XP and requires that all new PCs built by Microsoft Partners have MS Vista pre-installed. Oddly, even though XP is not longer being sold for installation on new computers, XP still outsells Vista. Go figure.

Why is that?

• Performance. Vista is overweight. It's bloated. It uses much more memory than XP or Linux. It requires a faster processor than those OSs.
• Quality. Vista is buggy.
• Usability. There are some computer components that will not work with Vista. There are MANY programs that will not work with Vista.
  

Some of those vendors - MicroSoft Partners - will thumb their noses at MicroSoft and will build you a less-expensive (but equally good or even better) PC with XP installed or with Linux installed.

They can 'install' XP because the Vista license allows you to 'downgrade' to XP. I challenge the use of the term 'downgrade,' but that's my personal problem. In any case, if you follow my advice, you'll insist that any new computer that you buy will have Windows XP - or Linux - or both - installed.

As PC operating systems go, Windows XP is a good choice. Most of the bugs have been worked out, and there is considerable available hardware and software that play nicely with XP.

It's a good time to consider Linux as an OS on any computer, new or used. Granted, Linux is not Windows, and not all Windows software will run on a Linux computer. But

1. Most Linux installations include software called "Wine". Wine is a product that is designed to enable you to run Windows software in a Linux environment. Not all WIndows programs will run under Linux/Wine, but 6500 Windows programs do....
2. Every day new Linux programs are released... programs that perform the same functions as MicroSoft-compatible programs - and usually faster than MicroSoft-compatible software,
   
3. These days, most people use computers for Internet browsing, e-mail, simple text operations such as writing letters (you know, those old-fashioned documents that required envelopes and stamps - and used complete words and complete sentences), preparing term papers, playing music, playing videos, and homework. Linux excels at all of those tasks.

Another option for running alternative operating systems is the "virtual machine." To use a virtual machine

1. take any computer running any of the Big 4 OSs: Vista, XP. Mac, Linux
2. install virtual machine software (all 4 have free VM software available)
3. use the VM software to create and install "Virtual XP", or "Virtual Vista", or "Virtual Linux" (Mac OS is different)

The virtual OS becomes a second operating system that can run simultaneously with the original OS and can share the computer's hardware resources: memory, disk drives, network, audio/video circuitry, and so on. You can switch between those 2 (or more) OSs on-the-fly without losing any data - or even with out 'losing your place' in what you were doing before the switch.

The point of all of this is that you don't have to buy a computer with an expensive, poorly written operating system (that would be Vista). You have alternatives.

Hm-m-m-m

"Amateurs built the ark ...professionals built the Titanic.
Now let's talk about Linux and Windows."

Hi, Honey. I'm Home (Part III)

The hiatus is over. Black Box and all of its invaluable tips, tricks, and traps will be back soon.

Until then, here is another quick tip:

You don't have to put up with Windows at all. You don't have to endure Microsoft's exorbitant prices and shoddy quality.

There are alternatives.

1. Apple's Macintosh computers are one alternative. It's a pricey alternative, but the quality is there.
2. Linux, specifically Ubuntu Linux (oo-boon-too) is a great alternative. More specifically Kubuntu - which is Ubuntu's non-identical twin. They are the same on the inside, but look different to the user.
   

15-18 years ago, Linux was clunky and not very reliable. Over the years, Linux has improved dramatically. Ubuntu (and all of its siblings) are my operating system of choice: they are simple to use and much more reliable and safe.

There is very little that you can do with Windows that you can't do as well - or better - with Ubuntu.

1. Ubuntu can run several thousand Windows programs.
2. Ubuntu (and all versions of Linux) have thousands and thousands of alternative software that is better than, comparable to, or at least very similar to the Windows offerings. Ubuntu has approximately 1000 programs built in, plus a universe of good, free software just a download away.
   

Ubuntu and its FREE software excel at all of most people's computer tasks:

• searching and reading the World Wide Web (Internet)
  
• using e-mail
• creating documents (especially homework, letters, and spreadsheets)
• keeping track of family finances
  
• saving, editing, sharing photos
  
• Internet chat
• playing games
  
• listening to music
• creating music CDs
• designing and building web sites
• blogging

There are some drawbacks to Ubuntu:

1. Ubuntu (and family and friends) is FREE! It costs ZERO. Zip. NADA. Nothing. Keep your money (to spend on gasoline).
2. Downside #2 is that almost all software for Ubuntu is also free (zero, zip, zed, etc.)
3. Ubuntu, &c, perform faster than a comparable computer that is running Windows.
4. Sadly, Ubuntu doesn't crash as often as does Windows. Darn! I just love getting Windows' Blue Screen of Death and losing time and data.
5. Linux/Ubuntu's internet work (and fun) and e-Mail are nearly risk-free. Microsoft Windows, by design, always has been - and always will be - inherently insecure and vulnerable to attacks from outside (and inside).
6. Documents created using Linux-based products can be shared back-and-forth (usually) with Windows documents and Macintosh documents.

Last, but not least, in Ubuntu Linux's dark side: every time someone switches from Microsoft products to Ubuntu/Linux, it devalues my Microsoft stock. It also hurts Bill Gates' shares of Microsoft stock. Now I know how it feels to own General Motors stock and watch its value evaporate every time I see a Prius go by. Woe is I.