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I just got my new laptop in the mail two days ago and it is running Windows 7 and I have to say i like it even more than Vista, which I thought was a pretty decent OS. I got a Toshiba Satellite laptop and love it too. the color on the screen is way better, but that may just be because it is HD. Incidentally, my wife hates her Windows 7 machine, but I dont know what she is complaining about. Setup was easy and Toshiba even made it simple to un-install Norton so I could put my own AV program on it. It only took about 3 hours to get everything set up and update and the OS is lightning fast compared to Vista, I think I like that the most. I hate just sitting there waiting for a program to load.
I've only used Windows 7 very briefly on someone else's computer. I actually do not have a problem with Vista, and I have heard that the complaints that were made about that GUI were associated more with “geek” use than with the normal user's experience. I'm not sure how many people know this, but there are free, open source GUIs available to install in place of Windows altogether. Now I don't think that most people should start using those in lieu of Windows, but I have been attempted to take one of those for a test drive to see what it is like. I think the future of software is in open source programs which are a) free and b) very customizable. This is one reason why Firefox has eaten into Internet Explorer's share of the browser market.
I like Firefox because it is faster and more stable not because it is more customizable. I can count the # of times Firefox has frozen on me while with IE it was endless. I tried Linux and even OSX for awhile but for some reason I always come back to Windows. I don't think that open source OS's will ever be anything but a niche market. They are in fact even more vulnerable as platforms than Windows. The reason Windows gets all the press is because it runs something like 80+% of the worlds computers. If I were a hacker I know who I would go after too.
I like Firefox because it is faster and more stable not because it is more customizable. I can count the # of times Firefox has frozen on me while with IE it was endless. I tried Linux and even OSX for awhile but for some reason I always come back to Windows. I don't think that open source OS's will ever be anything but a niche market. They are in fact even more vulnerable as platforms than Windows. The reason Windows gets all the press is because it runs something like 80+% of the worlds computers. If I were a hacker I know who I would go after too.
Well, yes, I think that Firefox is faster. But the customization aspect brings it to a whole other level, and for me this makes quite a bit of difference. I'm sure Donnie would agree with me. ;DOh, and I'd have to seriously disagree with your assertion that open source programs will remain a "niche" market. Microsoft had a huge headstart and so it is naturally still leading, though it keeps declining. I'm not saying that proprietary software will disappear, but they'll be main competitors. The bottom line is that if two programs perform equally as well, or nearly as well, and one is free while the other is not, people will gravitate toward the free program.And I'm not so sure that open source software is more vulnerable than Microsoft software. Actually, it's apparently an open question. The open nature of open source software can be just actually be quite good for security.
Open source will be the way of the future. Go to sourceforge.net and you will see what I'm talking about.
Notice I said open source OS's and not software. I think open source software is indeed the wave of the future for the vast majority of applications. Firefox is probably the model that works best because it is supported. That is what gives proprietary software its edge right now, support. A more stuff follows the Firefox model, open source will continue to grow. Ironically, the Red hat Linux version is open source but costs money if you want support and it is the most popular version of Linux.
Oh. Well, I think it will be harder for open source OSs to get a foothold in the market, but I wouldn't relegate them solely to a niche market in the long term. You are probably right about the short term, though. Although I haven't tried Ubuntu, I would like to. Dell actually sells some computers with Ubuntu pre-installed. Oh, and there's one popular OS that actually became open source quite recently. It's Symbian, the most popular smart phone OS in the world. A sign of things to come?
I wouldn't know about smart-phones. I think a phone is just for making calls. At that I hate cell phones because it makes people think you should be available 24/7. I don't dislike the technology, just intrusive broadcast my life types of people. I generally only carry my cell phone at work. If you want to get a hold of me when I am not at work, call my land-line, I still have one of those.
