Glass cleaner working?

It's interesting to see how many people are really upset with Microsoft. This latest campaign to absolutely dominate the operating system market is wayyyyy beyond the fringe. See Beagle's article posted Wednesday over at SouthernPhried. Everyone wants to know, "Should I upgrade to Windows Vista when it comes out or stick with my current flavor of Windows?" Who knows? Haven't seen a working Windows Vista PC so it's not fair for me to make a judgement call. There have been comments and several emails about Tuesday's post and I just can't answer every question. My advice is don't try piracy and don't wait around to see if Vista is as security-flawed as XP. Look at alternatives.

Linux Suse is my favorite version of alternative operating systems. FreeBSD is also a great alternative for the more adventurous. Once FreeBSD is installed it is great. It's the installing that will make most people select Linux Suse which, IMHO, is easier to install than Windows. Just take your time and be prepared. FreeBSD is used in the workplace quite a bit and many entities on the web use it to 'run' their websites, servers, etc. Linux Suse comes with OpenOffice included in their disks and downloads. Please note that this is a Sun Microsystems supported office suite. Their reputation is not held in high esteem by some users. But, it is free and it works. You can import and export documents to most versions Microsoft's Office products.

Why doesn't everyone switch to Linux or FreeBSD? Application integration. Let's face it, most software written today is for Windows. There are people busy working on this problem. Yes, you can find different ways to run Windows applications on alternative software. A popular way to do this is WINE. Please, go read this informative post. It is about the myths surrounding WINE.

Maybe Microsoft should dedicate their money and time to insuring that Vista will be a major improvement in the operating system arena. If it turns out as flawed and buggy as XP, which has had, literally, hundreds of patches, everyone's interest may turn elsewhere. Still, better a Bill Gates Windows world than a Darth Jobs Apple world. Hmmm, at least Apple's OSX and above are based on FreeBSD. Darth's embraced opensource and made it his own! No suprises here.

"If it wasn't for that last minute, nothing would get done."
-Billy Wobblynife