Never underestimate how much nerd-fu I can bring to the table. The following post is packed full of nerdy goodness.
One of the things I really enjoy about Ubuntu (and most other distros) is the plethora of available themes for the gnome window manager. Being of great geekdom, nothing says “geek it out” like a nice, slick, dark theme. The combination of dark room + lava lamp + dark ubuntu theme + gedit = some good late night code writing sessions.
Anyway, I decided to give Windows Vista a shot this weekend, since the improvements listed in Service Pack 1 seemed promising. After successfully downloading and installing the service pack (a 2 hour adventure), I became stuck in a perma-reboot loop. I’ve since learned that it’s actually a Blue Screen of Death error, but Vista is set to reboot on blue screens by default. A novel idea. Instead of showing the user a tragic error most likely caused by shitty software design, let’s just reboot the machine and hope it goes away. Microsoft really loves the Plug ‘N Pray strategy. I really don’t know where Microsoft starting going wrong, but I do have an educated guess on what (or who) is driving them into the ground.
To make a long story short. It’s back to XP for windows tasks, and onto Ubuntu for the rest. I’ve made several attempts to go completely 100% Microshaft free in the past, but it’s going to take several attempts to get used to the differences. With Ubuntu 8.04 quickly approaching (and 8.10 right behind it), it can only get easier. A world of open-source excitement awaits!
Filed under: Technology | Tagged: code, linux, Technology, window themes, windows
dude, if liking better products is geeky, so be it. And I love dark themes, too. I have Royale Noir on my XP machine. But I am very intrigued, as I have told you into trying linux. I just want a way to tri-boot my macbook pro. Because as far as going completely microsoft-free, I still need MSOffice for PC. Visual basic isn’t the same in mac versions. That is really the only reason i need XP, besides the games I still havent played. But if you could help me get started on ubuntu, that would awesome!
Oh, and I heard the service pack is still crappy for Vista. So I wont be going there for awhile.
So in the video you have linked to in the educated guess link. Steve is being interviewed by Guy Kawasaki. Guy is amazing, he has helped to pioneer the entrepreneurship industry and is the biggest evangelist for mac ever. Check out his blog http://blog.guykawasaki.com/
I am not going to get up on my soapbox and defend Microsoft from your caustic remarks, but I will say this: Being someone open-minded enough to use all 3 major operating systems, you sure seem biased when it comes to the “quality of development” of these operating systems (namely Microsoft’s). I, for one, use Vista, and have never incurred such a “perma-reboot loop”. I believe you when you say this, but – just because it happened to you doesn’t mean that it’s going to happen to everyone. It could have just been an aberration. Also, there have been several occasions when people have had similarly bad experiences with Ubuntu, and even OS X. Whether they reacted like you did with Vista is besides the point, but do you see my point?
Don’t be a hater. I personally think that (assuming you have a powerful computer) Vista brings much improvement to Windows (desktop search, UI improvements, security enhancements, et al). Sure, some of this new functionality may have already existed in OS X – but that is the way technology evolves. Being a developer, you know all about utilizing other people’s good ideas (ahem, copy & paste).
-Jamie