Random Ravings

I'm still alive and well. Just extremely busy with work and real world stuff.
To be honest, I haven't had any time to play with my computer so that I can blog about it here.
But I do have some rants and thoughts I figured I'd share with you.
Most of it has to do with (Gasp!) Windows. Like that's breaking news. LOL!

I've had numerous people contact me over the past few weeks with questions and concerns.
They are all Windows users. Many questions concerned the new Windows 7 being released shortly.
Questions like what version would be the best? Will my system run it? How much and how hard will it be to upgrade?

UGH! All those that I spoke with will be able to run Win 7 as they have systems built by me and I had the foresight to build them with over kill because I figured the next gen Microsoft OS would probably want more power then what Vista required. Although we now know it won't.
But I made sure to max those systems out so they won't have any future upgrade problems.

Price and upgrade is another matter though. As I said, these were custom built systems and the customers all have Vista Ultimate installed at their request. At the time they wanted the latest cutting edge OS that Microsoft offered. Now it's going to bite them in the A$$ royally!
For a comparable version of Windows 7 they will be shelling out close to $200 for the upgrade version. This is after they already shelled out almost $300 for Vista Ultimate that was lackluster at best and surely wasn't worth the price.

But the upgrade process that they will have to go through because they are using Ultimate is the biggest disaster since the Titanic. If you have Ultimate installed you will need to back up all your files and documents, hope you have all your original software and then you will need to do a fresh install of Windows 7.
That cold hard fact right there turned off most of my callers. They said they didn't feel comfortable or wanted to go through all the back up and installation process.

Way to go Microsoft! Make more people unhappy. Hopefully they will finally see the light and realize Windows isn't the only OS in town. But this post isn't just about bashing Microsoft or Windows 7. Or is it? LOL! Let's continue.

Tonight I had a co-worker's son call me. He is building a new computer and wanted some feedback about quality motherboards and video cards. He is planning to run the Adobe Creative Suite. Poor kid is an aspiring graphic artist and spends his every penny on software and computers. Good thing he still lives at home. LOL!!

I took a quick look at the system requirements for the version he had.
Nothing outstanding. He will still be using XP since his version probably won't run on Windows 7. Only concerns was a quality video card which he can grab for around $140.
Asked him why the new computer. He said he is building it so when he can afford the newest Creative Suite version that runs in Windows 7 he will upgrade. I then upped his video card recommendation to a $200+ unit. So much money tossed into hardware and software every few years just so we can be functional and up to date? Give me a break!!

I guess what I'm really getting at is that for my needs and comfort zone, I'm more then happy using Linux. And NO!, I'm not some couch surfing, email forwarding casual user.
I have my hands in many projects when I have the time. I like making graphics, creating my own music, create my own bootable OS disks and probably do more then most users would ever get their hands into.

And when I was using Windows I was not what you would call a legit software user.
Anything coming my way was welcome. But you finally get to a point where you have had enough. Hours of hunting, removing viruses from some of the non-legit software, burning the stuff to Cd's or DVD's.
Using Linux is like a dream. I need software, I just need to do a few clicks.
And software is updated automatically. No need to find the latest and greatest all the while hoping it's not filled with viruses.

I have a good chuckle when I hear people saying they need to upgrade their Ram because the 1 or 2 Gigs may not be enough for what they want to do. I enjoy watching their jaws drop when I tell them my PC only has 512 Megs of Ram.
Nor do I have a dual core CPU. Why should I? For what I do on this computer, a single core is all I need.

And soon the newest version of Ubuntu and Mint will be available. Won't cost me a dime and the upgrade will be much easier then what Vista Ultimate users will be put through. Also will work without having to update my hardware.

I learned a long time ago that when installing Linux, you put your Home directory on a separate partition. That way if something ever goes wrong with an update or you want to install a pre-release version all your data and files are still safe and sound. Let's see Windows do that!

And speaking about keeping data safe. How about that T-Mobile fiasco with their Sidekick phone and the servers owned by a Microsoft company? Microsoft tries implementing a new database strategy and looses all the data on both the main server and the back up.
Hey Bozos! Next time you may want to try it with the back up server disconnected just in case your new strategy eats all the data.

Cloud computing. Hah! All these companies can sucker you in and tell you it is the latest and greatest. It is the wave of the future. But just how safe is your data. The above Sidekick fiasco is just one example. How about questions like "where is the server located?" "How secure is the facility?" "Who at the facility has access to my data?" (That's a biggie).
Or how about the $100,000.00 question?
If my data is lost or compromised, who is responsible and what recourse do I have?

All those questions are legitimate and must be answered before you can even trust your data to the cloud.

Well, I'm done ranting and bashing.
Got to go. Remember, keep your eyes and ears open. Think outside the box and ask plenty of questions. It's the only way to learn and stay safe.

TaZ

Hardy Heron Problems

I was hyped up! Ready to make the leap.
And I was going to do it without taking any chances.
I wanted Hardy and I upgraded.
But not in the usual upgrade style. Oh no. That can cause problems.
Nope! I saved off all my email and bookmarks along with my other files.
Then I formatted the hard drive saying goodbye to Gutsy and loaded Hardy.

And Hardy lasted only a few weeks. I'm back to Gutsy.
I couldn't take all the broken software, coasters burned with K3b, lock ups, high cpu usage and web sites that looked terrible in Firefox 3.

The list of problems was long. And the fixes were sporadic, uncertain or very labor intensive.
Wine didn't work along with several other software packages.
Playing videos or doing certain other chores on my system caused the cpu to load up to 100% and at times caused the system to lock up completely.

Watching videos in Firefox like at Youtube would cause Firefox to close unexpectedly.
I have always used K3b for all my burning needs. But it was impossible to use K3b because all it did was burn coasters. The cause of the coaster production line was due to a file K3b needed for speed sensing. The log files showed that K3b didn't have permission to access that file.
What??!!!!

Numerous times my computer would stop responding.
Finally I had enough and last week I reinstalled Gutsy.
Was tempted to go with Etch but decided I had enough 'fun' in the last 3 weeks.
I needed something familiar and stable.

Ubuntu really pissed me off and dropped the ball big time with this release.
Had this been a new user looking to get rid of the MicroShaft shackles they would
have screamed all the way back to Bi$$y Boy thinking he really was the god of programmers.

Canonical needs to rethink their release schedule. Oh it sounds good, a new release every 6 months, but it is too aggressive.
Heck! I don't think many would have minded if this version was a few weeks late as long as it was less buggier. I can hear the board room banter the week before the release date.
"We have to ship on time otherwise we will look like we aren't for real."

Well shipping out an OS that acts like a beta version not only puts a blemish on your corporate image, it puts you on the same level as Microshaft and the crap they call an operating system.

Hardy is a Long Term Support (LTS) version.
To me that means it should be very stable at release time. It shouldn't be a Long Term Fix It As We Go (LTFIAWG) version.
And if this is what you expect to use to lure new users from Windowz, you blew it!

I'll sit back awhile and see what happens in the next few months.
But if it looks like problems still exist because everyone is gearing up for the next big 6 month release I will be looking for another flavor like Etch or other Debian derivative.

I still like Ubuntu and will continue promoting it albeit Gutsy and not Hardy.
Remember that people are looking towards Linux because of the crap being fed to them by MicroShaft.

TaZMAn