Comments on Prose practice: Windows (I)

I'm a Debian Developer and I also happen to wo...

2010-11-27T01:35:56.390+02:00

I'm a Debian Developer and I also happen to work for Microsoft, so I'm revisiting Windows after 8 years. In my case I started with Windows 7, which as I've heard has a series of improvements when compared with Windows Vista. I'm a heavy user of Cygwin, Strawberry Perl, Putty and WinSCP, as well as Pidgin. I do miss init.d. A package management system would be nice (coApp?) but I understand now that Microsoft's ecosystem for apps does not work in the same way of GNU/Linux. I have both IE9 and Firefox (Minefield) and while I've been using Thunderbird for my personal IMAP accounts, I find that Windows Live Mail is quite more stable. Overall Win7 seems very stable and I've had no issues in that respect. I haven't had the need to "tweak" the UI but I'd guess it's not as "easier" as it was on Linux. I recovered lots of misfunctioning hardware that I had in Linux, such as audio (sid updated broke my audio), fingerprint reader (never worked in Linux) and even fans. But I do miss to plug a USB mouse and have it "just working" in milliseconds, and I'd guess some more specialized hardware would require more work. I'm NOT missing OpenOffice.org. I can read and save ODF files from Office 2010 and the UI feels clean, stable and fast in comparison. Nice post, I'll follow your series.

I do miss the terminal. A lot. My coming post will...

2010-11-26T10:41:49.823+02:00

I do miss the terminal. A lot. My coming post will be covering that, and app installation methods too.

Spent 4hrs @work trying to get a PL2303 based seri...

2010-11-26T02:38:50.407+02:00

Spent 4hrs @work trying to get a PL2303 based serial adapter to work under windows 7 and ended up buying a FTDI cable.

Both cables FTDI and PL2303 work out of the box on linux.

The things I miss most under Windows is the FHS, a working software management system and the freedom to configure the GUI like I want (mostly the same issues another poster pointed out before me: alt-click windows dragging, virtual desktops, ...)

If you get used to this level of comfort, windows is just a pain in the a**.

The last time I had to use a Windows machine I was...

2010-11-25T16:03:27.767+02:00

The last time I had to use a Windows machine I was surprised to find the window buttons on the wrong side :)

I tend to miss things like focus-follows-mouse, the ability to drag windows by alt-clicking anywhere inside the window, multiple workspaces, a decent xterm with scrollback, a decent shell, apt-get, easily-installable OpenSSH.

I guess all of this is about UI/UX rather than apps, so maybe I should've saved it for your later post.

I'm in a similar situation and I absolutely ha...

2010-11-25T15:48:28.815+02:00

I'm in a similar situation and I absolutely hate using Windows. I miss practically all the software I use. However, the most achingly painfully obvious omission is software management/installation. (In fact, I sell expensive software one of whose main selling points is this functionality).

I miss a good terminal and shell in Windows. Also ...

2010-11-25T14:49:07.223+02:00

I miss a good terminal and shell in Windows. Also I miss init.d, cron and all kinds of POSIX utilities for the command line.

Yes, the changing tides of HW suppport for gaphics...

2010-11-25T10:52:02.273+02:00

Yes, the changing tides of HW suppport for gaphics and sound does make you want to run Linux under a VM sometimes. (I have never done this though).

Stockholmsyndrome indeed feels apt, I'm located at Norrmalmstorg right beside the bank from where the term originates.

I have used Vista on many different hardware setup...

2010-11-25T09:33:18.521+02:00

I have used Vista on many different hardware setups. I have had zero problems over the last 5 years. drivers or modules; what does it matter whether they are supplied by the board mfr. or not.

Window is a stable mature OS. I use Debian for all my servers and Ubuntu for some of my desktops, but I have had no problem using Windows as a client OS on laptops or desktops. I use OSS for all of the applications with no problems at all.

The only thing that the latest Windows does not support well is legacy hardware. On the other hand how many P3 coppermine servers or desktops are out there.

That's where Debian shines. I have 2 P3's wit 500MB of RAM that serve as the network NAS. Windows can't do that.

@Anonymous: Agreed. In general Windows has a lot ...

2010-11-25T08:36:29.907+02:00

@Anonymous: Agreed. In general Windows has a lot worse support for random hardware than Linux does.

FWIW, Debian worked on my laptop (with support for everything; internal 3G modem, wireless, sound, suspend, webcam, fingerprint reader) without having to download external drivers.

Now, a challenge: pick a random motherboard, soundcard, monitor, network card, video card, webcam, etc. and assemble a computer. Try to install Windows on the hardware *without using the extra drivers shipped with the hardware*. Good luck!

The key phrase in your post: "Vista...that sh...

2010-11-25T07:53:16.596+02:00

The key phrase in your post: "Vista...that shipped with my computer". That's why all the hardware worked, not that Windows magically supports everything out of the box.