I admit I'm just a bit of a technology nerd - not a full fledged one, mind you. I have no desire to take apart my computer and discover how it works. (I also admit, however, that I've seen the insides of computers more than once and putting one together doesn't seem all that difficult a challenge.)
I love simple, elegantly designed technology that does what it's supposed to do. Hence the many, many hair tearing moments I had back in the day before Microsoft put out the Windows O/S.
And then more hair tearing moments with all the different versions of Windows including Vista, which I am currently using. It's a wonder I have any hair left.
And yet one of the things I love about technology is that sometimes it isn't all that easy and I have to learn and I have to be clever about how I learn and how I work out how to do what I want to do. Anything that makes me stretch my brain is a good thing.
Now that I have the iPad and have figured out how to migrate photos etc. and have not yet figured out why I can't configure my mail (need help from Shaw I think) I am once again at the crossroads of trying to decide about my next computer. Let's face it, a next one is in my future. Apple? HP? Really, I am not a heavy graphics user. I word process, I do accounting (minimal) and I play with photos and sometimes videos. The Apple is very expensive but wouldn't it be lovely to have all my devices talk to each other effortlessly?
On the other hand, Windows 8 should prove to be quite fabulous.
Not only do I love technology, I also love having to chew over it, make decisions about it and research it. You'd almost think I had an analytical bone in my body.
I'm now using Ubuntu, which is a Linuxx OS. I love it. Mostly I love it because it is open source and totally legal. I can't buy a legal Windows system in China. Microsoft has a deal with the commies to not sell English versions within mainland China. Something about protecting their market in the rest of the world. I can't buy it on line either. I have to buy it back in Canada. I've had the black screen of death once, when Microsoft discovered that my OS was a pirate version and shut down my computer. (You want to really piss off a customer, that's a good way to do it. Talk about inconvenient, having to reload all my pirate software again. I would have happily thrown money at Microsoft but they would only direct me to the nearest reatailer, outside of China.) And I have been a Microsoft customer, many times, for many versions of Windows plus FrontPage which they have decided not to support any more. Apple is just as bad. Fascists who take away control from the user to ensure their profits.
ReplyDeleteUbuntu has it's problems, mostly tiny things that could be a bit more convenient, but I'm now using it exclusively. It's faster than Windows or Apple, fewer bugs, fewer viruses, and a better philosophy. It has open source programs that are equivalent to Windows and in some cases better than windows. It reads and writes to most Windows file types - Word, Exel, PPT. Best of all, it makes me feel like a geek to be able to tell people I'm running Ubuntu.
You should try it. I'm sure you'd appreciate the community and philosophy behind the whole program.
I had a look at it, David - looks pretty nifty - a lot like Windows
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