Jun
22I have completed the setup of the first two systems, specifically my primary Vista x64 instance and the OS X build. Rather than taking my existing configurations for these systems, I started from scratch with bare drives.
This was partly out of a desire to keep things pure, and also because my primary Vista installation was something I did nearly 18 months ago and much of what was involved there has been forgotten and/or has changed.
Jun
12
As a professional software engineer/architect I make frequent use of all three of today’s primary PC operating systems – Windows, OS X and Linux on a regular basis.
To this point, each of them has fulfilled a specific role, or been required for a particular purpose. And, while I do categorize and view them differently, I have no religious preference for any of them.
They are facilitators, environments, for running other software and tools which I use in both my personal and professional life.
For a good while now I have been wondering just how well each might fulfill the role of my primary desktop operating system.
I do not, necessarily, believe there is one single environment that can meet all of the needs I currently have of my primary desktop, but I am interested in finding out which might be the most generally applicable and, perhaps, most pleasurable to work with.
I spend a great deal of time working at my computer, so if there are things I can do that make the experience either more productive, or more enjoyable, then they are worth evaluating in a frank and honest manner.
That is the purpose of this experiment; to spend a week each with Windows, OS X and Linux as my primary desktop operating system and see how well each works and what is good and bad about my experiences with each.
Jun
11
Technologists and, I expect, most geeks in general, cannot have escaped the recent rumblings in the European Union’s anti-trust proceedings around Microsoft and the “bundling” of Internet Explorer with Windows.
There has been plenty of discussion about forcing Microsoft to remove Internet Explorer from Windows entirely for Windows 7.
How this is good for consumers, the protection of which is the point of anti-trust law, is only indirectly derivative from the effects of the corporate protectionism that the EU actually seems to be biased towards.
Browsers today are free.
Prior to Internet Explorer being part of Windows, using a browser either required some relatively arcane knowledge and tinkering to acquire and get working (definitely beyond the abilities of the typical user) or it came in $40 boxes with the “Netscape Navigator” logo on them.
As a consumer, how is $40 better than free? Lack of choice? Certainly not! There are more choices in truly capable web-browsing software today than ever before.
May
13What an absolute cluster-fuck.
Re-subscribing to ZunePass has been a epic mistake. Well, okay, a $15 mistake. Not really epic considering I drive an Aston Martin, which drinks gas to the tune of $0.50/mile at full chat, but still, $15 simply pissed away.
I really enjoyed my 1.0 Zune device on the original Zune software. It was only my desire not to carry more than one device on a daily basis, combined with no 64-bit support, that stopped me using it. Well … that and the fact that every other piece of music I wanted was either simply absent from the Zune marketplace entirely, or was for purchase only (and excluded from access via the subscription plan).
Sorry, but hardware wise the Zune is a poor alternative to any incarnation of the iPod, and especially when stacked against the iPhone.
May
11After missing having access to a subscription music service, I decided to re-subscribe to the Zune service with a ZunePass and start using my original 30GB Zune device. I actually quite liked the service (though I have never been a fan of the hardware), but I was driven away by the lack of support for 64-bit Vista.
The x64 build of Zune 3.0 installed seemingly without incident. Initial configuration and re-activation of my ZunePass subscription was smooth and simple, even if it flipping you over to Internet Explorer for any account management operation is rather silly and disjointed.
The Zune 3.0 software is generally slick and fast in local operation. At least as long as it is not talking to the Zune servers. Getting it to display a simple list of the top 100 rock tracks took over a minute. Other, similar, operations were also unfathomably slow. iTunes on Windows gets a, deservedly, bad rap for being slow, but it moves like a whippet with a bum full of dynamite compared to browsing the Zune marketplace.
