Archive for the ‘Rants and Rambling’ Category

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First, for those of you who have no idea what the heck, “OM NOM NOM” means, here you go:

Om nom nom: The sound made when someone eats ravenously; made famous by Cookie Monster from Sesame Street. See exhibit A.

Exhibit A.

Now that you know, here’s how to make Windows 7 taste OM NOM NOM (click the pic for a full-res version):

Talk about a… FROSTED look for AERO’s glass border, huh!? *cough, cough* Oh, and I believe the text is in Russian (which I can’t read), so if you’re a Russian viewer of my blog, feel free to translate for us!

Now, if you’re baffled as to how the heck a cake was made with such a pristine-looking image, there’s a way to take a picture and transpose it to edible art, essentially. Cake makers use such methods to produce results like what you see here. Anyway, this sure has been a pointless post… but at least you know how an image like that can be put on a cake now (if you didn’t already)! For a more meaningful post, make sure to catch my Bing cashback article. If you shop online and enjoy saving money at every corner, it’s not an article to be missed!

Oh, and see? You thought exhibit A had nothing to do with this post beyond, “om nom nom.” Everyone loves cake! Especially a Windows 7 cake.

-Stephen
http://msftkitchen.com

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In celebration of the completion of Windows 7 (and with the anticipation of Microsoft making Windows 8 a 64-bit-only release), I decided it was time for me to upgrade my desktop from the (now) low-end 32-bit system I currently have to a 64-bit powerhouse… and all for under $1000. I set out to build something that would last for quite a while to come. Likewise, I needed it to be a powerhouse not just for the sake of it being a powerhouse, but for good reason: I have some pretty processor- and memory-intensive hobbies. While I’ve always been satisfied to run my favorite games on their low settings, I decided to shoot for the stars and build something that would run Crysis on high (maybe even the unlockable, “very high”). Likewise, I do a lot of audio recording and mixing. With lots of plug-ins loaded in my DAW, just my drum kit plug-in alone is a RAM hog (loading samples into RAM is how it accesses them so quickly).

So, before setting out to do this, I needed to justify it. I don’t like spending exorbitant amounts of money without first justifying it. And contrary to how this post might make it seem, I’m not Mr. Moneybags, I assure you. Stephen’s fun money has been spent for the next month. lol. Anyway, with that out of the way, I decided to hit up newegg. After spending a number of days doing price-comparisons and figuring up just how much I wanted this puppy to be capable of, I’ve ended up with a system consisting of the following (click the items to see them on newegg):

Case: Cooler Master RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ABS ATX Mid Tower
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX AMD
CPU: x64 AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor
RAM: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D (I bought two to = 8GB)
GPU: EVGA 512-P3-N973-TR GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported (I bought 2 to configure SLI)
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Green WD6400AACS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s (I bought two to = 1.2TB space, no RAID configuration)
Power Supply: APEVIA ATX-AQ700W-BK 700W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready
HDD SATA Cables: OKGEAR 18″ SATA II Cable Model GC18ATASM12 (Needed since the HDD’s are OEM; typically means they don’t come with cables)

The grand total for all of the above is: $883.87

Excellent! I came in well-under budget and I’m fairly confident I’ve set out to accomplish what I wanted to accomplish in terms of power and longevity. That price includes a coupon (EMCLWMW32) that took an additional $20 off the 2 hard drives and the power supply was half-price due to it being one of neweggs, “Shell Shocker” deals today. Bear in mind, I already have a 24″ monitor and I will be reusing my Lightscribe DVD-RW drive, as well as my 5.1 surround sound speaker setup and my X-Fi audio card. Without having those already, the price would have been substantially more, but if you’re looking to accomplish the same thing I set out to, go fill your cart with the aforementioned 8 items, change your quantities, apply the coupon (if it’s not outdated by the time you read this post), and you should be good to go!

And for the sake of mentioning it, though I think I’ll rarely utilize the quad-core capabilities of this processor, I figure it will bode well for down the road and definitely for the rare times it’s needed. Likewise, 64-bit is the future no matter which way you slice it, so if Microsoft does decide to make Windows 8 an x64-only release, I should be golden. Hopefully, all I’ll have to upgrade for a while are my graphics cards… and hopefully, not for a while to come (I’ll be satisfied if I can run Crysis 2 on at least medium settings, lol).

-Stephen
http://msftkitchen.com

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Before getting into the finer points of my opinion, let me just say that I absolutely love Windows 7… and not just because I’m a Microsoft enthusiast/evangelist, either. Windows 7 is what I wish Windows Vista had been; the perfect step up from Windows XP. Vista had the potential and the technology, but we all know that when the driver issues were ironed out, it had (and still has) the bad name to contend with. I was sent a review copy of Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 which I did indeed install and make my main OS. For the most part, I had nothing but good things to say about it when I reviewed it but I just never got past a couple of issues. Windows 7 has corrected those issues in spades… well, all but one:

The inability to get the OS to retain folder views the way you want them.

Seriously, Microsoft… wtf is going on with that? Vista, Vista SP1, Vista SP2, and now, Windows 7. If you’re not going to fix it, then remove the, “Apply to All Folders” button from within Folder Options. I’m no expert coder or anything… far from it, actually, and while I understand that there are certain issues that may be unfixable within any given state of, “final” code, is this really something that can’t be fixed? Do none of you internally get annoyed with this issue? Do you need to see this as being an annoyance only through results of billions spent on R&D? I don’t know, maybe I’m just being petty here, but if an OS is going to be changed in drastic ways to make its usage as productive as humanly possible, having to change folder views seemingly more times than not is rather regressive of such efforts, no? Am I the only one out there who experiences this with the frequency that I do? I seem to get a little more annoyed each time it happens… and if you think reading this paragraph was repetitive and slightly annoying, man, let me tell you about this little bug in Windows 7 I hate where Folder Views aren’t remembered… lol.

Now, with that said, I love everything else about Windows 7. It’s fast, sleek, doesn’t feel clunky and weighed down like Vista does, gives you options for more control with UAC without having to run command line scripts to totally disable it, and my absolute favoritist, favorite, faaavorite functionality… the new taskbar. Naturally, there are mixed opinions about it but I absolutely love it. It was *very* easy for me to not just get used to, but fall in love with (unlike the ribbon bar, which I *STILL* have to spend time searching for functionality I want to utilize in *every* application that uses it). Check out the following screenshot of my desktop (click it for a full-sized version):

Now, if that happened to be my taskbar on XP or Vista, my OCD would be kickin’ in to close a bunch of stuff out… but it’s not the XP or Vista taskbar. It’s Windows 7′s and all that stuff is pinned there, just waiting for my use and here’s the great thing (for those of you who aren’t familiar with exactly how 7′s taskbar is different): When you click on an item that’s pinned to the taskbar, whatever loads, utilizes the very same space in the taskbar, so it’s not like quick launch where you have some things like IE and Show Desktop right next to the Start button, then you click on something like IE and it loads the application in a completely separate place on the taskbar as has been traditionally done pre-Windows 7. For instance, in the screenshot above, see how I have IE and Firefox beside one another? If I click one of those, you’ll see it go active. That’s it! If you want to actually see which web pages you have open, you simply hover over the pinned task and a thumbnail preview pops up. Nice and clean, keeping your desktop clean of shortcuts (anything I would normally have on my desktop as a shortcut, I pin to the taskbar) AND your taskbar by managing your space as efficiently as possible.

Now, in that screenshot above, I’ve set my icons in the taskbar to be small. For one, it feels like it takes just a little bit less real estate on my desktop and I’m able to pin more items to it. If I happen to fill that row up, I just drag the taskbar upwards and I’m ready to fill another row. Excellent stuff! Oh, and moving the, “Show Desktop” functionality to the far right-hand side of the taskbar handles two things:

1 – Gives you the ability to just pull the mouse to that corner thoughtlessly. No need to *look* to make sure you’re pushing the Show Desktop button instead of something else in the former Quick Launch toolbar.

2 – Completely nixes the need for the Quick Launch toolbar. By default, the only item in the Quick Launch toolbar that didn’t actually launch anything was the Show Desktop button. Move that, and every bit of the functionality of the Quick Launch (I just accidentally typed, “Quick Lunch” there, lol) is prime to be integrated with the taskbar in just the way Microsoft did it.

Oh, and I like the taskbar, by the way. Just in case I didn’t mention that.

Something else I dug was the speed with which Windows 7 installed. Even from DVD, it installed quite fast! Seemingly much faster than any of the pre-RTM builds I installed, but that could very well be subjective to my observations on any given day I installed a build of Windows 7. All of my drivers installed fine without complaint or fault (I can’t say the same about Vista), and everything I’ve installed thus far just works. That’s it, it just. works. Exactly like I want.

Actually, there *is* one thing that doesn’t work for me that also didn’t work on Vista that I have to figure out: FarCry *will not* run without immense amounts of trial and error. I can get it to run up to a certain game patch level, but even then, there’s a point in the game that loads incorrectly such that you have to start over… only to get back to that point and be met with the same issue. It seems like a map issue and everything else could be drivers. I’ve tried placing the older DX dlls the game looks for in all the necessary places, but no dice. If/when I figure it out, I’m going to place a guide on how I got it to work so that others with the same issue may find success.

So… aside from FarCry not working and the:

IMMENSELY-ANNOYING FOLDER VIEWS GARBAGE YOU WON’T FIX, MICROSOFT

Windows 7 is in all ways perfect for me. I think it could very well be exactly what Microsoft needs to pull itself out of the throes of Vista… AND get XP users to finally upgrade to something else without feeling like they’re pulling teeth. Honestly, to all you XP users, let me say what Windows 7 is just as stable and just as fast as XP right out of the box… for me, at least. It’s definitely worth your time and investment to upgrade to Windows 7 if you’re still lovin’ on XP (or even if you’re using Vista; happily or not).

I hope to obtain a review copy of Windows 7 in which I will *thoroughly* review the heck out of the OS and – unlike having to do for another site with Vista – will post right here on UX Evangelist for those of you who are interested and for those who may accidentally stumble upon my site who are looking for a solid review of it. Feel free to chime in, in the comments section and let me know about your Windows 7 experiences.

-Stephen
http://msftkitchen.com

PS – I *have* experienced one BSOD in Windows 7, but I haven’t been able to reproduce it yet. So far, it seems like just a fluke but it’s worth noting that the blue, the myth, the legend continues on…

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This post has been inspired by the following website, who seems to be gaining in popularity (noted by their retweets and link-backs they show in comments below posts, etc.) and has obviously made a habit of not quoting any of their sources in any of their articles (and, at the time of this posting, has failed to quote my work): windows8news.com (Be careful not to trip and fall over any of their gazillion ads when the page loads)

Part of the benefit of doing this for a hobby is that I can break away from my regular format to rant and rave. I try to keep it to a minimum, but I have managed to be irked for the last time by something that TREMENDOUSLY… well, irks me, I suppose:

People who run, “news sites” and neglect to quote their sources.

Yes, I know it happens and I know it’s just a big pain in the ass that you have to deal with if you generate any number of sufficient traffic or make a name for yourself, but I’m the little guy on the totem pole here. I’m the guy with no corporate backing or any kind of incentive to do the things I do, other than incentives *I* create and because I enjoy doing them. Sure, I’ve got a couple of ads on the site, but those are incentives I’ve created that give back to me just a little bit. I don’t get paid to do this stuff and – contrary to how it may seem – I put a *lot* of time, hard work, and dedication into formulating and carrying out the methods I’ve personally developed to bring unique content to everyone.

Lets face it… I enjoy making people happy! I enjoy finding content that I know I’m the *only* person in the Microsoft news community to have at that very moment and posting it to my website for everyone to check out. I never have and I never will post on this site anything that has been given to me in confidence, without permission. Even with that in mind, the ratio of content posted from what was given to me versus content posted from what I’ve dug up is about 3% to 97%. Now, it’s not that I expect people to thank me for doing something I choose to do myself in the first place; far from it. I essentially fulfill a specific niche and most people pass on through with a, “ah, good to know” while they’re sitting at work and that’s great.

However, I *do* happen to follow a certain set of ethics when posting. If I find something from a source I want to remain confidential, I won’t post that source. The difference is, such a source isn’t another news site or someone who is going to feel just like I do about right now. Conversely, if I find something of interest on another person’s site that I deem worthy of reposting, I will absolutely do as such and their site will be properly credited (usually, many times throughout the post as I like to be gratuitous with the credit I give). If you’re unfamiliar with this, I’m not just bitching about some no-name, so ‘n so ripping off news from my site. No, there are strategic motives to not quoting references:

Traffic and Money, Money, Money: Yes, some people will do any and every underhanded thing they can to gain traffic or make even $0.01 off an ad click. What better than to rip-off the bleeding edge of news and make it look like you’re the source! You get away with duping however many viewers and they are none-the-wiser. After all, it’s not their job to care about where the information came from!

Popularity: Traffic and ad clicks are one thing, but popularity is where it’s at. Popularity happens when you can cease to care about the fluctuations in traffic… when your site still draws big numbers even if you don’t post anything for a while, etc. Without naming anyone specific, there are a number of websites around the web who have built a successful business model off of dodgily referencing sources just to keep all the traffic and build popularity. Personally, I don’t see too much discernment between those who don’t and those who intentionally work off of said business model.

In particular, I’m referencing what is known as, “link-building” and it works like this:

Post 1: I post something that’s hot-off-the-presses and I gratuitously link to the website where the information originated.

Post 2: Said website posts more information that’s relevant to the information they posted previously. I then cook up another post with the latest information, except this time, I only reference them in a hyperlink somewhere in the write-up. That’s just fine and dandy; we’re still giving credit where credit is due.

Post 3: Once more, our source for information posts yet another update. This time, I take the information they posted, re-word it, and post it on my site… but instead of linking to them, I link to one of MY previous posts and say it’s something that I previously reported on! Rinse and repeat this process however many posts thereafter and you’ve effectively washed out your source where, sure, if someone clicks through all the link-backs, they’ll eventually get to post 1 or 2 where the source was referenced, but by then, posts 1 and 2 are old news!

Now, that may not seem like a big deal, but if the news I’m grabbing is from the little guy somewhere and I’m Mr. big and popular website, then I’m the one who is going to end up landing all the traffic, credit, and (as I noted, this is a business model; not just a popularity contest) ad clicks.

So, there you have it! Some of the ugliness associated with being a journalist in this community (and, more specifically, a hobby journalist who’s easy to steal information from). You know, I hate it as much as the next person, but people tag their images for a reason. I don’t like doing it and I try not to do it, but it never fails to bite me in the ass when I don’t, so… apologies to those of you who hate watermarks; they’re an unfortunate necessity from here on out for me. And while I suspect that only those who can truly be empathetic with me will understand the conviction I am writing this post with, at the risk of sounding like a whiney baby, let me stand as the one to say for myself and every other journalist out there who puts the time, dedication and hard work into providing their content that:

People who don’t quote their sources deserve to be hit by a bus are the pond scum of this profession/hobby and I will make no bones about being a first-rate a-hole to any and all who exercise such a lack of courtesy and acknowledgment. That is all.

Thank you and good day!

-Stephen

I don’t know about you, but I enjoy a break from the seriousness (is that even a word!?) and the political correctness of the journalism world, so I decided to quickly crank out a light-hearted post involving a handful of funny Microsoft-centered things. Some of this stuff, you’ve seen, and others, you haven’t. Either way, I hope you enjoy. =)

Maybe it’s just me, but this image from an MVP’s site makes it seem like Windows 7 is just a bit too, uh, excited(?) about UAC…

(From SBS Diva)

For the grammar buffs out there, Microsoft is working diligently on trying to push IE8 to the masses, but if you’re going to quote someone…

From IE8′s Browser Comparison Site

Ballmer gets egged (in quite a lackluster manner, I might add, lol)!

Gates gets pied (a classic)!

Gates showcasing his 1337 chair h4x!

Microsoft’s WE-SYP (WE Share Your Pain) Program:

Feel free to continue the trend by adding your own funny Microsoft-related links you might have via the comments section! And now, I’m off to work…

-Stephen

(Follow me on Twitter: msftkitchen)

Pardon the rant that is to come, but I must indulge a bit here. Apple’s WWDC keynote managed to get under my skin a tremendous amount when they compared Windows 7 to Vista by saying, “Windows 7 is just another Windows Vista.” Sure, that may not seem like that big of a deal to some people, but to anyone who knows how much of an uphill battle Microsoft has had with Vista due to the FUD being spread, Apple’s really pulling a cheap shot by trying to revisit something that’s long outdated: Vista-bashing.

I couldn’t help but sit there and think to myself, “wow, Apple… are your products really so cheap now that they can’t stand on their own; you have to use FUD marketing?” Oh, and for those of you who do not know what FUD marketing is, it stands for, “Fear, Undertainty, Doubt” and it’s basically when someone makes their product look good by making other products look bad. Now that you know what it is, you know it’s all that Apple uses to try to sell its products. I mean, it has managed to get to the point where I can’t even THINK of Apple or Mac without taking into consideration that they’re the most cynical in the lot. Hell, even Linux users in much of their intolerance holds at least SOME merit when advanced users make good cases, but Apple? No. If they’ve mastered anything, it’s talk so much trash about PC that you actually have no idea what the Mac can do.

For instance, right now, walk into a store and look at a Macbook sitting beside a PC. Thinking back to all of the stupid, tired commercials of, “hi, I’m a PC and I’m a Mac,” just what does the Mac do? I mean, without messing with it and just looking at it, the only thing you know about a Mac isn’t what it DOES but what it DOESN’T do, e.g. “crash” or “come to a creeping hault constantly.” This, my friends, is bulls#!7 and I’ve finally become sick and tired of being ridiculed by these snide, cynical commercials. You know, I don’t care about any bad blood that may exist between Apple and Microsoft (which, there can’t be TOO much, because Microsoft allows Apple a bit of their action by developing Exchange and Office for Mac, amongst other things you’ll never hear about), nor do I care about how much you’re fueled to hate Microsoft due to how many times you’ve watched, “Pirates of Silicon Valley.”

I mean, people give Microsoft guff for how they’ve chosen to market products and go about statistics in the past, HAH! Have you seen the latest, “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” commercial? It’s the most outlandish thing I’ve ever seen as a computer enthusiast in general. It’s all about, “let’s play on the stupidity and ignorance of people and capitalize on it by selling over-priced hardware that makes people feel like they’re different, even though they’re all the same, even if just by numerous people owning the same product.” Don’t believe me that their products are over-priced and that they’re taking advantage of the customer? Try checking out this latest comparison and observation noted by Bryant of AeroXP:

Why the WWDC sullied Apple’s image (MacBook Pro)

Now, I have absolutely nothing against people who use a Mac because that’s what they love to use and that’s what works for them. My gripe is not with intelligible Mac users; I know people who have switched and they love the Mac. They say it does everything they need and then some, without headaches they personally had with Windows. There’s nothing wrong with that and that’s why other products exist. My problem is solely with Apple and their tired FUD campaign. With that being said, HEY, APPLE: YOU MIGHT WANT TO CONSIDER THAT THE PEOPLE YOU’RE ALIENATING ARE THE DEMOGRAPHIC YOU SHOULD BE APPEALING TO!

Anyway… I’m done for now. I just wanted to get that off my chest. Thanks for reading. lol.

-Stephen

(Follow me on Twitter: msftkitchen)

Windows. Windows? Windows! Speaking of Windows, guess who’s talking about Windows? Why, Talking About Windows, of course! More important than who, is what is Talking About Windows? Well, while we’re talking about Windows, Talking About Windows is a new venture by Microsoft which allows us common folks to speak directly with Microsoft employees (and not just the coders with computer monitor tans that Microsoft tucks away into dark corners for the rest of their lives, either… I’m talkin’ the likes of Mark Russinovich and Jon Devaan) about Windows 7!

Professionally put: “Talking About Windows offers IT professionals a candid look into the product decisions made behind Windows 7, as well as genuine insight from the engineers themselves. The site will serve as an entirely new forum for Microsoft to interact with the community and actively join the conversation surrounding Windows 7. They’re looking to hear any opinions, talk candidly, and get real insight from their users on how to make Windows 7 the best experience possible.” -Nicole Dawley, M80

Video Time!

So, the next time you find yourself talking about Windows, why not check out Talking About Windows!? And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to start talking about Windows at Talking About Windows…

Link 01 (just in case you haven’t clicked on any of them above yet): Talking About Windows
Link 02: Talking About Windows on YouTube

-Stephen

PS – Apologies for the corny post; I’m feeling extra cheesy this evening for some reason. lol. And thanks to Nicole from M80 for informing me of this new venture of Microsoft’s.

(Follow me on Twitter: msftkitchen)

If you didn’t see this however many months ago, you missed out on something absolutely hilarious. I just ran across it again and had to post it on my blog:

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

-Stephen

(Follow me on Twitter: msftkitchen)

Article: Windows Users Are Whiners

Man, I’m really having a field day with this Beez guy! He has really opened my eyes to why people like him help Linux stay under 1% of the market share. I want to translate what his article says:

“Linux is hard to install”
You probably bought a computer with Windows preinstalled and bought a new one when it came to a grinding halt. Next time try reinstalling it from scratch, drivers and applications included.

Translation: Yes, I would say the same thing to my mother because I’m unhappy with my life.

“Linux doesn’t support as much hardware”
Don’t worry. The occasional digital camera, memory stick and USB harddisk will probably work. Check the Internet, select the proper components and buy a custom computer. It is probably cheaper than a computer off the shelf with Windows preinstalled. If you want a laptop, try a Dell or consult the Internet.

Translation: Because my blog is epic enough for you to actually see this without the help of being linked to by a Windows evangelist site.

“I can’t run my programs on Linux”
True, if you want to run Linux programs on Windows you have probably more luck to find a native Windows version. But there are more ways to get the job done. If you want to burn a CD, you don’t need Nero. If you want to write a document, you don’t need MS-Word. If you want to manipulate an image, you don’t need Photoshop. If you want to develop a program, you don’t need MS-Visual Studio. K3B, OpenOffice, GIMP and Kdevelop work just as well. And yes, we do have Firefox.

Translation: Repeat after me: “WINDOWS DOESN’T HAVE FREEWARE! WINDOWS DOESN’T HAVE FREEWARE! WINDOWS DOESN’T HAVE FREEWARE! WINDOWS DOESN’T HAVE BUILT-IN SUPPORT TO BURN A CD! WORDPAD AND NOTEPAD AREN’T SUBSTANTIAL ENOUGH TO WRITE A DOCUMENT! MS PAINT OR FREEWARE APPLICATION PAINT.NET WON’T ALLOW YOU TO MANIPULATE AN IMAGE! FREE PROGRAMS LIKE DEVC++ AND MICROSOFT’S .NET 2008 EXPRESS EDITIONS DON’T EXIST TO HELP YOU DEVELOP PROGRAMS FOR FREE! FIREFOX IS ONLY FOR LINUX!”

“I can’t play my games on Linux”
Computers aren’t there to play games. Try a console, buy an xBox and scratch your disks, I don’t care. If you want to do something serious, try Linux.

Translation: What’s that? Crysis is PC-only? Don’t tell ME what a computer is to be used for, damn it! I’ll tell YOU, YOU GOT THAT MR.!?!?!?!?!?! NOW GO INSTALL LINUX AND GIVE ME 100 PUSH UPS WHILE IT INSTALLS! DO IT!

“I don’t want to work on the command line”
My girlfriend uses Linux all the time. She doesn’t even know what a command line is. Get real. A good Linux distribution allows you to do all the essential stuff from the GUI. Don’t tell me editing the registry is easy.

Translation: Because your girlfriend will have to know how to edit the registry to use Windows! My girlfriend, though? She doesn’t even know what a command line is. Ha. Get real.

“Windows is just as secure as Linux”
Yeah, and my grandmother is world champion polka dancing. On Linux, there a no real threats where viruses, spyware or trojans are concerned. All the programs you have to install on Windows to get the thing remotely secure eat up CPU seconds and make your computer less stable and responsive.

Translation: People don’t particularly care to focus on developing malware for an OS that consumes a massive >1% of market share, so go Linux because no one else does!

“Windows is just as expensive”
Don’t think because it came preinstalled that you didn’t pay for Windows. Believe me, you did. And all these nice programs like Nero, Photoshop, MS-Office don’t come for free as well. You’re probably using pirated versions. Wait ’till your next WGA check.

Translation: I am God.

“I’m lame”
You’re probably right. You want it the easy way. You want to come home, plug in your computer and play some lame game right away. You don’t want to spend an hour installing an OS and think before you click a ‘continue’ button. And because you’ve been doing that for the last ten years, you don’t want to study some manual and learn a new program. You’re so lame, that you are even prepared to fork out your hard earned cash from your wallet in order to stay lame. You’re the kind of person that admits that carbondioxide emissions are a problem, but you’re too lame to take the bike to go to work. Instead, you bought yourself a Hummer because you thought it was cool. You’re the kind of person that prefers to write endless blogs full of excuses instead of making a change. Face it, it’s not Linux that is the problem, it is you.

Translation: My milkshake is better than yours.

Wow, what revealing translations we have! I’m starting to like this Beez character! He’s really showing me why Linux is so much better than Windows. Amazing!

-Stephen

(Follow me on Twitter: msftkitchen)

When Linux becomes a religion, it seems to be more like that of a fundamentalist Judeo-Christian who proselytizes using fear-mongering tactics. Yes, our Linux buddy is back with another pro-Linux article that insists upon Windows users as being either ignorant or whiners (he’s calling US whiners!?). This guy is so caught up in his Linux religion that he’s pining away for, “world domination.” Bashing Windows is GOOD, he says! He started his article by linking mine within the context of, “a feeble attempt” to reply to his original diatribe. This guy is so indoctrinated in his Linux religion that he’s now believing in miracles, such as Linux even standing a chance against Windows 7. He is as delusional as he is well-versed in his OS. When a percentage increase in the 100′s causes an epic rise to >1% market share, and as such, is considered a victory, no wonder this guy feels like he’s on top of the world! Heck, should us “ignorant and whiney” Windows users expect anything LESS than for a guy like this to get up on his soapbox preaching the gospel of Linux?

Beez, please.

The fact of the matter is that there are completely intelligent people out there who happily use Windows even with all the options having been juxtaposed. I’ve tried your slackware, your SUSE, your RedHat, your Lycoris, your Ubuntu, your Gentoo, et al and guess what? I still come right back to Windows quite happily. Not to mention, as one with a natural disposition for problem solving and technical support, one little issue, as he posited, didn’t make me just give up and go back to Windows. I like being intelligent on many fronts and that includes OS usage. At the end of the day, Linux isn’t even a lateral move for me; it’s an uphill battle and a platform which I would have to give up things to adopt. No, your religion isn’t worth it for me to sacrifice the things I would need to.

So, what do you do when an intelligent Windows user steps up on his soapbox and says, “I’ve tried your OS and I don’t want to adopt it because it doesn’t do everything Windows does for me.” Yes, it’s powerful and useful to many people but until it does EVERYTHING Windows does – thus allowing me to make a shift without having to give up ANY functionality (please get Linux to run just ONE DX 10 game, and yes, I’m well aware of Alky’s former attempt; a good friend of mine who is a Windows user and probably twice as intelligent as you was a partner in that project) – I’m not going to switch.

Beez, please.

I don’t care how green you paint the pastures of Linux to be when I cross to the other side; the reality of the situation is that Linux cannot do everything I want and need Windows to do. That’s not to say that Linux can’t do things Windows can, because I’m quite sure that Linux has a lot of functionality for power users but I don’t NEED that, nor do I WANT it. When are the pastors of Linux going to open their eyes and realize that their OS isn’t at all the heaven they try to make it sound to be if Windows users accept it as their savior? At BEST, something like Ubuntu is merely a lateral move; albeit, a free lateral move, but a lateral move none-the-less and regardless of why people are using Windows, there’s a reasons Linux is still below 1% and that reason seems to flee guys like “The Beez,” and you know what? It’s just not something I can sum up here for him.

I’m happy using Windows even with having tried and tried again all the alternatives, just to see how far they’ve come in this day and age. Now, from that, a follower of the Linux faith can extrapolate whatever they so choose; I’m a whiner, I’m ignorant, etc. If that’s what they need at the end of the day to make them feel better that someone out there actually chooses Windows over their OS even with knowing the facts, then so be it. Me? I see it from the perspective of Occam’s razor: more than likely, the simple answer is the right answer. If you like Linux and it works for you, terrific. If you like OSX and it works for you, terrific. If you like Windows and it works for you, terrific.

Oh, but I keep forgetting; Linux has an uphill battle and their hill had might as well be 89 degrees. When the odds are THAT stacked against you, I guess we should somehow be sympathetic to their cause, huh? I mean, when letting people know everything your OS offers isn’t enough, what do you do? You resort to thoughts like, “bashing Windows is GOOD” and any attempt to refute the usability of Linux is “feeble.”

Beez, please.

Your faith in Linux cannot deter my rationale with Windows. Our languages are incompatible. When you resort to bashing Windows in the midst of me – a Windows user – openly admitting how useful Linux is (to the right demographic), I realize that we’re on different planes in this debate. So, you go ahead and keep screaming that Windows is the devil and all its users are actually suffering instead of feeling joy while using their OS! Your methods of proselytizing are clearly working for you, there, guy. Clearly. >1%. Clearly.

-Stephen

PS: Articles like this are sure to help in the Linux vs. Windows issue, don’t you think? When you put it like you did there, Beez, Windows is going to win every time. Yes, maybe people DO want to go home and have it easy. You ever wonder why mankind evolves from having to manually build a fire to inventing microwaves? Convenience. You’ve basically just shot yourself in the foot there by letting your personal opinion of peoples’ desire for convenience obscure the reality of what you’re really saying: Linux is a platform that requires you to be technically-inclined to use. Hey, Beez: Continue your insults. They’re DEFINITELY working for you! As you so eloquently put it, “Face it, it’s not Linux that is the problem, it is you.” Yes, people like YOU are the problem with your OS. Where you’re obviously technically inclined, you sorely lack in people skills.