Windoze Annoyances

A few things annoy me about one of the most widely used operating systems available. First of all, why is it the most widely used OS? If people took the time to explore other possibilities rather than asking the neighborhood geek to expunge their computer of viruses then the world would be a better place (for geeks at least). People, instead, to flock to a deemed newbie Linux distribution, such as anything *buntu. (I personally don't think Ubuntu is a very newbie distro; however, the general opinion that I have observed from power-users is that 'tis)

Second, Micro$oft always finds a way to throw some proprietary bullshit at you. For example, there are four different versions of Windows Vista, when at the very most only 2 are necessary, a personal computer (essentially "home") edition that still includes features for power users, and a business version loaded primarily with all kinds of office applications. Also, MS was kind enough to screw me on my home network (with windows XP, mind you). Apparently, XP Home and Pro refuse to network with each other! After much searching around, Home and Pro cannot share files with one another or network printers with one another.

Third, the security is rather poor. Honestly, Microsoft could at least take a leaf out of the Linux book and realize all you need to do to really beef up security by removed administrator rights from the user until the user is ready to make administrator decisions. This way, admin decisions are only made (for example, deleting a system file or installing an app) when the user wants them to be made avoiding all kinds of security problems that Windows consistently fails to address. The sudo command is an excellent example of this.

Fourth, there are a lot of customization options that are only available in Windows with proprietary software (and occasionally the great piece of open-source freeware, such as the Pidgin IM client or Mozilla Firefox). For example, it is difficult to find an excellent way to theme the overall appearance of your desktop/menus without a proprietary software like Windows Blinds or Style XP (both shareware last time I checked). Whereas on Linux, theming is a built in system option, with websites like Gnome Look and KDE Look to obtain themes for any distro running Gnome or KDE. Those are just two of many possible sites to obtain themes, and with enough knowledge you can even create your own themes.

Fifth, Windoze limits the amount of memory it takes advantage of. Windows XP alone has a limit of about 3 GB of RAM (including the memory used by your graphics card and other system resources). Vista also limits RAM to around 3 gigs. Once again, Linux for the win.

There. My rant about how much Windows has sucked since the good old days of Windows 98 and 95. Does anyone remember Windows ME (millenium edition)? No? Exactly. Anyway, if I said something incorrectly, or misinterpreted something, be sure to comment on what I wrote.

Also, I should have my first 30 Days of Slackware entry up in the next day or two.