OS review

So, what's the scoop on Windows Vista? Fairly stable, strange admin, hardware compatibility issues, and minimum system requirements that seem like maxima. Sure it's pretty. The file manager is revolutionary for M$ but still stands in the shadows behind KDE's Konqueror. The Windows Sidebar is a nice addition that had been implemented by other companies like Yahoo and Google beforehand. (Apple kind of beat everybody to it by like 10 years). Networking support is pretty awesome and the search feature in the Start Menu is a life saver.

My box is also running Slackware 11.0 on the 2.6.20.6 kernel; KDE is my desktop environment of choice; fluxbox reminds me that I'm logged in as root, but that's not very often. Locally running a web, ftp, and ssh server, along with system mail between users, the box is very nicely outfitted. With OpenOffice 2.2, the GIMP, Firefox, and a few other essentials, I have no need for Windows, except for entertainment. As you may know, gaming isn't exactly a Linux concept, although that, too, is changing.

I don't know about my readers, but I certainly despise development using a Windows-based workstation. Sure, PuTTY on Windows works to use a LINUX shell server, but that's pretty pathetic. The Crimson Editor does the job pretty nicely for web stuff; you can make the Windows Explorer roll over, but other than that, functionality is very limited. With Linux, Quanta and Kate become your best friends, and with four Konsole windows open and a couple instances of Konqy, you're all set! Not to mention that even with all of this, both functionality and performance increase! (Now does that make sense???)

OpenSUSE is a nice OS, too. Had some trouble with Ubuntu lately, but between the two of them, there is a definite rival for Windows, gaming excluded again. The GUI interface is wonderful, but in a recent survey by OpenSUSE, 60% of 27,000 users claimed to still use the command-line admin tools. Three cheers for BASH!

Registered Linux User 370740 (http://counter.li.org)