| Second-rate Vista has Windows fans looking to Linux |
Aug. 20, 2007
The year is 1993, and I'm at the Spencer Katt party at Fall Comdex, back when Comdex was "the" technology show of technology shows. There, I, a freelance technology journalist, meet Jim Louderback, then the director of PC Weeks Labs. We end up talking about operating systems. He rather liked Windows for Workgroups for the desktop; I sang the praises of SCO Open Desktop 2.0. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, even though we completely disagree about operating systems.
Now, almost 15 years later, Jim and I are still friends. I'm now editor at large for Ziff Davis Enterprise, which means I get to stick my nose into just about any technology that interests me, and Jim's just left being the editor in chief of PC Magazine to take over Revision3, an Internet television network focused on developing programming for the on-demand generation. When it comes to operating systems these days, I'm now using SLED (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop) 10 SP 1 and MEPIS 6.5 on my work desktops and Jim's switching back from Vista to XP on his workday machines.
Yes, that's right. A loyal Windows user of more than 15-years is throwing in the towel on Vista. You can read his story for why he finds Vista so annoying, but I'll sum it up for you: Vista sucks.
The drivers don't drive, running programs won't run or won't stop running, applications don't apply and networking won't net. I feel his pain.
I keep two copies of Vista Ultimate up so that when I want to compare Vista with a Linux desktop I'm able to actually use Vista so I can make a fair comparison between Vista and its Linux competition. Vista just doesn't cut it.
I'll take any up-to-date desktop Linux--SLED, MEPIS, Ubuntu, Xandros, Mint--over Vista. Why? Because while some of them may not able be to play Windows Media Files or the like, they all do what they're supposed to do and do it without throwing a fit while doing it.
For example, months after its release, I still can't get Vista to work properly with my plain-Jane RealTek ALC 882 audio chipset. Networking started out OK for me on Vista, but, like Jim, it's become a real problem child.
I do a lot with networking. Long before I was writing about computers, I was managing networks. In short, Steven knows networks. When it comes to Vista, though, I feel like I'm back in the '80s and no one's invented NetWare or TCP/IP yet. I've found that Vista workstations can disappear off AD (Active Directory), NT domains or even Vista-based workgroups at any time without any rhyme or reason.
And then, when I need to get to the Vista's stations network controls. Ugh. It's like trying to drive a race car with oven mitts on my hands. With Linux, I can do anything I want when I want to without any trouble. And, no, I'm not talking about the fact that I know how to dive into the configuration files with vi to make manual corrections. With graphical programs like mnetwork, networkmanager, and SWAT, if you can set up an XP box on a network, you can set up a Linux box on a network.
People sometimes accuse me of being anti-Vista because I dislike Microsoft. Not true. I'm not anti-Microsoft software. I'm not really, when you get right down to it, pro-Linux. I'm pro software and operating systems that work. Vista, as Louderback knows all too well now, simply doesn't work. Linux does.
At the end of his column, Louderback wrote, "If Microsoft can't get Vista working, I might just do the unthinkable: I might move to Linux."
Louderback, it's not unthinkable. To make it as easy as possible, I recommend you check out Lenovo's new line of SLED-powered ThinkPads.
Steven J. Vaughan Nichols
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