So many people can get caught up in the operating system war that they may forget that multiple operating systems can coexist side by side. Many times people are so pro-Windows, or so pro-Linux, or even pro-Mac that they believe that their operating system has to be the end-all winner in the computer world.

Ubuntu just 2 weeks ago released their first version of 2008, Ubuntu 8.04 keyed Hardy Heron. I now have it installed as the primary and only operating system on my file server and have it set up for dual booting on my desktop along with Windows Vista. So far I have nothing but kind words to say about it as it has run very smoothly for me. In fact, it's the first version of Ubuntu that installed properly and just worked on my new Desktop hardware that I got back in December for Christmas.

My server since switching over to Linux from Windows has only ever really used Ubuntu starting out with 6.06 and then 7.10 and now 8.04. For me, it is stable, efficient, fast, and properly integrates with my entire home network pretty much flawlessly. It is the only operating system to date that I've worked with that can reach 30 days of uptime without a restart and still work without hiccups. I've even got it up to 100 days before and it probably would've lasted longer had my hard drive not died and my need to get into the box. And now that whatever issue my desktop was having with Ubuntu 7.04 and 7.10, has been fixed in 8.04 so it now "just works" on my desktop too. In fact, as I've said earlier, if it wasn't for games, I'd be booted into Linux a lot more than I am now.

This gets me to my point, Ubuntu, whether you like it or not has catapaulted Linux into somewhat of a mainstream operating system. Yes, it will probably never get ahead of Windows, and with how Mac OS X is growing, it will probably stay behind Apple as well, but does it really matter what percentage of the market share Linux gets?

Open source advocates and the Linux fanboys would say that it does, they tend to want Linux to win completely. They want to see Microsoft pretty much rot in hell. They end up so caught up in things that they fail to see that both Windows and Linux can coexist. And what would these fanboys say to those who want to play the latest and greatest computer games? Yes there is Cedega and Wine, both of which can do pretty decent jobs at running a lot of Windows games, but not all. And to get some of them to work can require a significant amount of tweaking and careful configuration that some users may not have time to do, or simply may not be saavy enough to do.

While I would love to see Linux gain market share, I realize at the same time, that at this point in the game, Linux can be very tricky for many to use. Yes, Ubuntu makes the setup and installation quite simple that a lot of people could have success in doing it, but what about trickier issues that may arise? For the most part, I have had a good deal of success with driver support out of the box for my hardware, but what about those that may have some hardware that doesn't have proper driver support? The "easy" to set up, just got a lot trickier, even on Ubuntu. Sure, the Linux gurus and even those with only moderate experience would probably be able to solve those issues, but what about the "even you mother could use it" crowd? And this is where Linux still has its pitfalls, on the surface, Ubuntu is very easy and very smooth, and a lot of people may never have to get into the nitty gritty of the operating system. Even most configuration will work fine using the GUIs that now exist. But not everything goes that smoothly which is what can make Linux tricky.

Ubuntu and Linux in general need to be able to improve upon its base and allow for those trickier situations to be handled in a more "ease-of-use" manner so that more of the general users can figure it out. Linux has a good group of followers and many I've found when going to message boards and forums for support to be very friendly and helpful to help me solve the problem, but not everyone wants to have to go there because a lot of solutions can require some heavy terminal useage that may scare the non-geek crowd.

In the end, as much as I hate to say it, Linux is not for everyone, at least not yet. It is becoming a better alternative to Windows than it was say 5 years ago, but it is still not completely ready for mainstream useage yet. Us Linux fans can only hope that it steadily improves, where maybe one day, it will truly become a viable alternative to the ever-prominent Windows operating system.

Tags: thoughts, linux, opensource, windows, ubuntu

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By now, I'm sure you're all aware that Windows Vista, Microsoft's latest operating system is taking the world with a lot of criticism, and with Windows XP's end of life fast approaching at the end of June, many people may very well be in a dilemma on what to do.

First things first, Windows XP's end of life is June 30, 2008, less than 2 months away. What this means is that vendors are no longer supposed to sell Windows XP either standalone versions, or bundled OEM versions. Although there are a few exceptions to this, namely the budget laptops, but for all intents and purposes, the June 30^th date holds. Windows XP, compared to Vista requires far less system requirements to run so older computers normally will have no problem running the XP operating system. This in itself is what leads to the dilemma. People with older machines may want to upgrade their computer and may not want to spend the extra money for a computer that can truly handle the lofty Vista requirements. This can be particularly problematic for the current high school seniors who are heading out to college in August and September who will be buying new computers. Do you buy the computer now so you can get XP with it, do you suck it up and just deal with Vista on a computer that may not be truly able to handle it, or do you buy a standalone copy of XP and just wipe the Vista install on the new computer. None of the options are incredibly pretty. A lot of computer companies have deals late July and early August for the "going away to college" crowd which can save a fair amount of money, but this would be after the June 30th cut-off. Buying the computer now, should still allow for the purchasing of a computer with XP, but the price savings wouldn't be there. And of course buying XP now and installing it later on the new computer bundled with Vista would probably negate most of the savings since you'd pretty much be buying 2 operating systems and only using the one.

Despite all my criticisms of Vista, I have since installed it on my desktop and I don't hate it as much as I used to, especially after turning off the damned UAC. Vista for me has been running smoothly, some of the new UI features are actually pretty nice, but my desktop computer is for all intents and purposes, different from the norm. My desktop is not the run-of the-mill basic computer, it is relatively powerful and rates a 5.6 on Vista's hardware rating. Most basic laptops and desktops you would buy from companies like Dell are not specced nearly has high as my Desktop so they wouldn't be able to run Vista nearly as well as I can. And this is where my criticism of Vista really is rooted. Vista's system requirements are too high for an operating system. XP has a relatively good balance between minimum requirements and the computers capable of running it (at least as far as Windows goes). And it's because of this that consumers might find it tricky to figure out what they want to do about future desktop purchases and if they want to give Vista a shot or not.

A few things to note are that Windows XP SP3 support continues til 2014 so software updates will still be available to you after June 30, 2008. Another note is that Dell has mentioned that they plan to continue to sell XP even after the end of life date passes. Whether this means that Microsoft may again extend the June 30 cut-off or if Microsoft will put a stop to Dell's plans remains uncertain.

Of course Windows XP and Vista are not the only choices people have for new computers. Apple computers are growing in popularity and rightfully so. Macs have become solid machines of late and their OS X operating system is definitely a good alternative to Windows, and something I would personally reccommend. Another choice of course is Linux, particularly Ubuntu which in my opinion is a friendly Linux Distribution for someone new. In fact, Dell actually sells machines pre-installed with Ubuntu. You can check out these hints if you're trying to get someone to switch over to Linux.

Tags: microsoft, windows, vista, xp

This could be one of the biggest and best opportunities NASA has had in recent years. A team of engineers have been able to build and design a small test spacecraft based on a modular design. This spacecraft could eventually be used to land on the Moon, Mars, or just orbit Earth. What make it so notable is its modular design. Instead of having to build 5 different spacecraft for 5 different missions, NASA could use this spacecraft for all 5 missions by just outfitting it with the equipment needed for the particular mission, in the end saving NASA significant development time and budget resources. William Marshall, one of the team members working on the project had this to say:

This spacecraft will allow NASA to launch more missions, for less money. In the 1960's landing on the Moon took a team of thousands of people. Today that same task can be done with 30.

With how strapped NASA is for money nowadays, any idea, prototype, or possibility that could save NASA money would be welcomed and this design is definitely good for that goal.

Exclusive Video: Meet the Spacecraft That Could Save NASA a Fortune [wired.com]

Tags: nasa, moon, mars, landings, space

Despite my initial skepticism on GTA IV, that's pretty much all I've been playing over the past week. Grand Theft Auto IV is a lot of fun and is notably better than the previous iterations even though I can't wholly put my finger on why. The open world part is fun, and the story so far is done pretty well. And let us not forget the multiplayer. So if you ever see me on, feel free to join up or invite me to play some multiplayer. I will say the game is very addicting.

I finally was able to get my music collection of my dead hard drive so I was definitely happy about that. The thought of losing the collection I've built up over the last 5 years was definitely scary so I'm glad I now have a backup solution in place as well as my now 1.6TB worth of space on my server. All I now need to do with my server is populate my SVN trees.

I'm thinking I should have gotten NASA to recover my data. After what they did with the one hard drive on board Columbia, they should be able to get data off anything.

Tags: harddrive, server, gta