June 15, 2009
-
Cutting the Windows Tether
I haven’t been around for a while, but there is a limited amount of things that I can write about. I’m still addicted to the internet though. I may be breaking my addiction to windows soon, however.
I’ve been using Windows since Windows 3.11, which was really the first easily usable version. I currently use Windows Vista, which I find very stable and easy to use. People that are good with computers generally find it that way. People that hate Vista generally don’t know what they are doing.
As a bit of a computer geek, I have been trying to transition over to using Linux and more open source software. The upside to this is that the programs are free, and the code is put out for users to be able to easily edit and provide programs for. If you use Firefox (I highly recommend you try it. I like it a lot over Internet Explorer) or Gaim (much better than having multiple chat programs), you are using open source. The downside is that there is generally very little customer support, aside from the community of users. However, if you can use Google well, you will find that community more than adequate. With Linux, you are really required to take a hands on approach to doing everything, and there is some under-the-hood work that needs to be done occasionally to get certain things to work. Like I said, the community is great with helping out, and unless you are one of the first people to do something, someone smarter that you has already encountered it and found a solution.
I am currently dual booting my laptop with Ubuntu and Windows Vista. I try to work solely under Ubuntu for long periods of time, but I could never get anything like Microsoft Money on the other side, and I didn’t feel like using a Virtual Machine. Although I could go for a week in Ubuntu, I would have to boot to Vista to update and check my finances. It was the last tether to Windows.
Well, this week, Microsoft announced that it would begin to end its support for MS Money. I’m ok with it now, but with no updates, and the eventual death of the system, there is little reason to stay with it. I am currently looking at on online program to pick up the slack. I’ve found 3 that I like, which has whittled down to two. I’ll talk about those in the next post, however. Maybe I’ll be writing it under Ubuntu.
