[fwlug] Fwd: Vista vs. Leopard vs. Linux
John McKelvey
jmmckel at gmail.com
Thu Jun 12 11:13:05 EDT 2008
Howdy!
Thought a few might find this interesting (amusing?)
John McKelvey
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: VistaNews <do_not_reply at vistanews.com>
Date: Thu, Jun 12, 2008 at 10:54 AM
Subject: Vista vs. Leopard vs. Linux
To: jmmckel at attglobal.net
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VistaNews]<http://www.vistanews.com> Vol.
2, # 23 - Jun 12, 2008 - Issue # 32 * Vista vs. Leopard vs. Linux*
**
1. *Editor's Corner*
- Vista vs. Leopard vs. Linux: Different Strokes for Different Folks
- Followup: Vista Bashing
- Quotes of the Week
**
2. *News, Hints, Tips and Tricks*
- Free image editor for Vista
- World's fastest computer
- No more Usenet?
- MPAA wants FCC to allow them to prevent recording movies on DVRs
**
3. *How to: Using the New Vista Features*
- How to keep your computer from switching between wireless access
points
**
4. *Vista Security*
- Microsoft releases seven security bulletins for June
**
5. *Vista Question Corner*
- Why doesn't my computer appear on the network map?
**
6. *Vista Configuration and Troubleshooting*
- Hybrid sleep and hibernation no longer available after you use Disk
Cleanup tool
- Audio not automatically routed to Bluetooth audio device
**
7. *Fav Links*
- This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff
**
8. *Product of the Week*
- My Screen Recorder Pro - Create Demos and Flash Presentations
*Cut Back on PC Expenses*
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*Editor's Corner*
*Vista vs. Leopard vs. Linux: Different Strokes for Different Folks*
The great OS debate has been going on for a long time, and those on both
sides often display an almost religious fervor when it comes to defending
their operating system choices. It's interesting - and a little amusing - to
see how emotional some people get about it. I have my own preference, which
is obvious to anyone who takes a look at the names of the newsletters I edit
and the books I've written, but I certainly don't get offended (as some
people seem to) because someone else chooses to use a different OS.
We live in a time and place where "tolerance" is supposed to reign supreme,
but sometimes I think people are becoming more intolerant of differences
instead of the other way around. For most of my life, I didn't know or care
which of my friends belonged to which political party, and neither did they.
Now it seems that many people won't even associate with others who are on
the "wrong" side of the political aisle, much less call them friends. And it
extends beyond politics.
Dog lovers vs. cat lovers, Canon owners vs. Nikon owners, American vs.
foreign car drivers, "middle class" vs. "rich," country folk vs. city
slickers, and yes - Windows vs. Mac vs. Linux users: folks are becoming
divided over the silliest things. I actually heard a Windows techie say once
that he could never get serious about a certain girl he'd dated because she
uses a Mac.
The truth is: there is no perfect operating system, just there is no perfect
political candidate or perfect place to live or perfect anything else. We
each make choices that we believe are best for us. Those who refuse to
concede that different choices might be best for others are destined to lead
very self- restricted lives. Recently a friend of my son offered an analogy
over dinner that I liked and later expanded upon. My version goes like this:
Using a Mac is like living in a downtown penthouse. You have everything done
for you and it all looks very slick, but you pay a high price. You have a
doorman to pamper you and somebody else takes care of the maintenance, but
you can't make a lot of changes to the property.
Using Windows is like living in the suburbs. You get more square footage for
your dollar but you have to mow your own lawn and when something goes wrong,
you have to fix it yourself or pay someone extra to do it. You can make
changes to your property but you might have to deal with deed restrictions
or city ordinances or homeowner association rules.
Using Linux is like living out in the country. Compared to the other
options, property is dirt cheap and you can do whatever you want to it
without having to follow codes and get inspections. But you'll probably have
to do a lot more of the work yourself and you need a lot of building
expertise or else you may get yourself into big trouble and find your house
falling down all around you because you didn't do it correctly.
The point is: for some people, city living is the only way to go and others
would be miserable in the urban environment. Some love the rugged rural
lifestyle and others prefer the 'burbs. None of the three choices is "right"
or "wrong" in general; different choices are right for different people. And
it's the same way with computer operating systems.
When you really think about it, the three top OS choices have more in common
than they ever have before. The interfaces are now similar; all use
keyboards and pointing devices (and in some cases microphones) to input data
and display the output through monitors, printers and speakers. All use
clickable icons and menus. Choosing between them is more like choosing
between a Ford, Toyota and Volkswagon than choosing between a bicycle, car
and airplane. If you can drive one, you can (with a little study and
practice) operate the others.
So what are the real differences between Microsoft's latest operating system
(Vista), Apple's newest big cat (Leopard) and one of the currently most
popular Linux distros (Ubuntu)? Most of the comparison articles you'll find
on the web are written by biased authors who have a clear preference for one
over the others. Those that appear to be objective usually end up with the
same conclusion: Each OS has strengths and each has weaknesses. It all
depends on how you want to use your computer.
Here's a feature chart that compares Vista and Leopard, comparing some of
the top "out of the box" features. The main thing it proves is that both of
these operating systems have some great features. Need tablet/touchscreen
features? Vista is the clear choice. Want virtual desktops (without third
party software)? Here, kitty, kitty. Longing to use your computer as a home
entertainment hub to record TV programs, stream HDTV and so forth? Media
Center takes the cake. Concentrating on photo display and editing? iPhoto
wins over Windows Photo Gallery. And so on.
http://www.vistanews.com/D5QKAY/080612-Vista-vs-Leopard
How about Linux? Once upon a time, only true techies dared to go there. Many
PC users who tried installing it on their desktops ran screaming back to
Windows, traumatized by the need to write their own drivers, compile kernels
and otherwise become overnight IT pros. But new distributions of Linux have
greatly increased the user-friendliness of the OS. The desktop looks more
Windows-like and navigation is more intuitive. And of course, the price is
right (you just can't beat free). This article compares Vista and Ubuntu
Linux:
http://www.vistanews.com/D5QKAY/080612-Vista-vs-Ubuntu
Tell us what you think. Do most of the people you know take their operating
system choice way too seriously? Can you still be friends with someone who
uses a different OS? Might you consider using more than one operating
system, either in a multi-boot configuration or in different computers, for
different purposes? Do you think there's really less difference between the
alternative operating systems than the fanboys would have you think? Let us
know your opinions and experiences at
feedback at vistanews.com<feedback at vistanews.com?subject=Vista+vs.+Leopard+vs.+Linux>.
*Followup: Vista Bashing*
In last week's editorial, I commented on how Vista bashing seems to have
become the new national pastime, and speculated on some reasons for this.
Well, some of you gave me a good bashing for what I wrote, while others
heartily agreed with my opinions. Either way, we got close to a record
amount of mail on this topic.
Inevitably a handful of readers, such as Ray R., got personal: "You're a
very good soldier, "DAMN THE TORPEDOES, FULL SPEED AHEAD." You will make an
excellent clone." Most, though, expressed your disagreement more
thoughtfully.
Many of you wrote with your own gripes about Vista. Paul B. said, "I am a
die hard Microsoft fan since the 80's, but Vista.... what the heck is going
on over at Microsoft? I think they are preparing for all of this natural
user interface junk and getting rid of the keyboard/mouse stuff.... I don't
know, but..... Vista at home would be joyful. At work, abysmal, especially
for super users."
Joseph F. said, "Yes, I did balk from DOS to 3.11 to 95 to 98 to ME and to
XP, but with all I quickly discovered the great advantages (well, except for
ME). Other than a pretty interface I have not seen any performance
advantages in the Vista product. Although it is cute, it is the Windows ME
of the 21st century."
Then there were those whose responses were similar to that of Bobby S.: "I
think you are missing the point on this one! I live the by the "if it ain't
broke don't fix it principle". I agree, that does not always fit in with the
software world. Let me explain further - If I have to spend money, whether
personally or within a business, I expect to get something in return. Vista
compared to XP does not offer a return - cool features yeah maybe but
nothing that is really going to impact my job or home life."
Actually, I think Bobby missed my point. I have no problem with folks who
don't feel the need to upgrade to Vista; there are plenty for whom XP works
fine. It's the animosity toward Vista and those who do upgrade that I was
addressing. As I said in the editorial itself, both XP and Vista are good
operating systems, and which is better for you depends on your individual
needs. I just want folks to acknowledge that instead of dividing into two
separate, hostile camps.
And some of you do. Ed F. said, "I personally run one XP system and one
Vista system at home. I tend to lose my temper at Vista much more than XP,
but a lot of that is because I don't have the time or inclination to play
with it after a day of dealing with server and user issues." He went on to
say, "The Apple commercials remind me of automobile commercials. When
everyone is saying how much like Toyota they are, or how much better, I go
buy a Toyota when it is time to buy an automobile." Good point! I wonder how
many people are buying Vista in response to the Apple commercials.
There are also some people out there who "get" that much of Vista's bad
press is the fault of the hardware vendors. Captain James B. wrote: "I love
Vista. I hate peripheral vendors. Especially HP for their none existent
driver support for existing printers, scanners, etc."
And Bill (who signed his name "not Gates") wrote: "The problem with Vista
was that even though everyone knew it was coming out, most of the peripheral
companies were very slow to make drivers that actually worked with Vista, so
how did Microsoft end up getting the blame for all that. As it was I think
it got slammed for all the wrong reasons. I find Vista to be a great OS and
when combined with the latest Office Products the whole experience is just
awesome."
I really lit a fire under some of you with my remarks about the Mac guy
commercials. Jon said, "Bravo! It's time people realized that anyone who
constantly berates his opponent, and says little or nothing about his own
abilities is only insecure about himself."
Many of you seem to agree that timing is a major factor in the public
response to Vista. Brian S. said, "I think that Microsoft has unwittingly
painted a bullseye on themselves on this one by making such a public
'pulling the plug' of XP at a time when both business and consumer finances
are tight."
Chris B. made a good point in regard to one reason small businesses are
rejecting Vista: "When the OS changes drastically, they will push it away as
long as they can. Why wouldn't they? There are probably many things in my
day- to-day life that would be 'potentially' easier for me if I would change
the way I do certain things. But I do them the way I know how and the way I
am comfortable. Same goes for companies."
I came away from all this mail with the hope that there is hope, though,
thanks to people like Jim H., who wrote: "I used to be in the Vista-bashing
camp ... Now, however, with newer Dell computers, which have compatible
components parts, plus SP1 and our knowledge of what to tweak, our current
computers with Vista Business installed are performing quite well ... Vista
seems to be more stable than XP Pro, and its networking ease makes it
desirable for my department. We have turned around to become Vista
preferred".
And Chuck H. said, "I am one of 'those people' that believed Microsoft
always releases a crappy initial product. This time I was forced into
upgrading my desktop to Vista before I normally would. It was a pleasant
surprise. I had seen all the commercials and believed most of them. But,
Vista is running great on my new HP desktop ... I'm glad I was forced to
Upgrade."
Thanks to all of you who wrote on this subject.
*Quotes of the Week*
When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I've never
tried before. - Mae West (1892-1980)
Happiness is good health and a bad memory. - Ingrid Bergman (1917-1982)
Men are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of things. -
Epictetus (55-135 A.D.)
'Til next week,
Deb Shinder, Editor
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*News, Hints, Tips and Tricks*
*Free image editor for Vista*
Many Windows users complain that unlike its Linux and Mac competitors, Vista
doesn't have a very good "out of the box" image editor. Paint has been
around for many years, with only small improvements. Windows Photo Gallery
lets you do some basic image editing (adjusting brightness and color
saturation, cropping, etc.) but it's pretty limited. Neither supports
layers, lets you sharpen photos or contains much in the way of special
effects. Sure, you can get PhotoShop or Paint Shop Pro but that will cost
you from one to several hundred dollars. If you need more than you get with
the built-in tools but not the complexity and sophistication of the
expensive commercial ones, check out Paint.NET, a free image editor that
works great on Vista. You can read about it here:
http://www.vistanews.com/D5QKAY/080612-Paint
*World's fastest computer*
The world's fastest supercomputer was unveiled this week, created by IBM and
Los Alamos engineers. Its name is Roadrunner (no relationship to the Time
Warner cable Internet service) and its computing power is equivalent to
about 100,000 of the most powerful laptops available today. It's likely you
won't be buying one anytime soon, since the cost is $100 million, but you
can read more about it here:
http://www.vistanews.com/D5QKAY/080612-Roadrunner-Supercomputer
*No more Usenet?*
Usenet is a system of newsgroups that provide threaded discussions as well
as a way for Internet users to exchange files. Newsgroups have,
unfortunately, been used for illegal purposes such as downloading pirated
music and software and exchanging child pornography. This week, several
major ISPs, including Time Warner, Verizon and Sprint - under pressure from
the New York attorney general's office - announced that they will start
limiting or eliminating access to Usenet newsgroups. This can include legit
newsgroups as well as the questionable ones. Find out more here:
http://www.vistanews.com/D5QKAY/080612-Usenet
*MPAA wants FCC to allow them to prevent recording movies on DVRs*
The Motion Picture Association of America has a proposal before the Federal
Communications Commission that would ostensibly get movies to you in your
home more quickly after release - but there's a catch and it's a big one.
They're also asking for the right to block you from recording movies shown
on TV with your digital video recorder. Want to record that televised movie
with Vista Media Center? You might not be able to, if this change to the
rules is approved. Read more about that here:
http://www.vistanews.com/D5QKAY/080612-Recording-Movies
*How to: Using the New Vista Features*
*How to keep your computer from switching between wireless access points*
By default, Vista will switch your mobile computer from one wireless access
point (WAP) to another as you move in and out of range, to keep you
connected. Sometimes it will switch even if you're not moving around, and
this can make you lose your connection temporarily, which can be annoying.
You can turn off this automatic switching feature in the network profiles.
Here's how:
1. Open the Manage Wireless Networks applet.
2. Right-click the network profile on which you want to turn off
automatic switching.
3. Select Properties.
4. Click the Connection tab.
5. Uncheck the box that says "Connect to a more preferred network if
available."
6. Click OK
*Vista Security*
*Microsoft releases seven security bulletins for June*
This month's patch Tuesday will see the release of fixes for seven security
vulnerabilities affecting Windows. Three are critical, three important and
one is of moderate severity. Five of them affect Vista. Read more about them
here:
http://www.vistanews.com/D5QKAY/080612-Patch-Tuesday
*Vista Question Corner*
*Why doesn't my computer appear on the network map?*
*QUESTION:*
I have three Vista computers networked together at home, but I can't see the
second computer (my wife's) on the Network Map. My son's computer shows up.
Why is this and how can I fix it? Thanks. - Joe P.
*ANSWER:*
The Network Map is a new feature in Vista that shows how your computers and
other network devices, such as printers, are connected. There are several
possible reasons that a computer doesn't show up on the Map. If the computer
is connected to a network that's assigned to the "public place" network
location, it won't show up on the Map. You choose a location the first time
you connect to a network with a Vista computer. You can choose Home, Work or
Public. Unless you're connected to a Windows domain (most home users
aren't), you can change the location using the Network and Sharing Center.
Another possibility is that Network Discovery is turned off. In the Network
and Sharing center, you can click the arrow button by the notification that
Network Discovery is turned off, and choose to turn it on. You'll need
administrative credentials to do so.
Finally, the computer won't show up if the Link Layer Topology Discovery
(LLTD) protocol has been disabled on the NIC. In Network Connections, right
click the icon for the NIC and click Properties, then make sure the check
box for LLTD Mapper I/O Driver and Responder are checked.
*Vista Configuration and Troubleshooting*
*Hybrid sleep and hibernation no longer available after you use Disk Cleanup
tool*
The Disk Cleanup tool is designed to remove unnecessary files to free disk
space and increase performance of your Vista computer, but you may find that
after you run it, you can no longer see the Hibernate option in Power
Options and/or the computer doesn't recover its settings if power is lost
when you use the Sleep feature. This happens when the Cleanup tool disables
the hibernation file. Luckily, there's an easy fix. Get step by step
instructions in KB article 928897 at
http://www.vistanews.com/D5QKAY/080612-Hibernation
*Audio not automatically routed to Bluetooth audio device*
If you connect a Bluetooth audio device to your Vista computer, you might
find that the audio output is not automatically routed to the device as you
expected. This happens because audio devices in Vista don't dynamically
switch when you add a new device. There's a workaround to route your audio
output to the device, though. Find out what to do in KB article 933144 at
http://www.vistanews.com/D5QKAY/080612-Bluetooth
*Fav Links*
*This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff*
Disclaimer: VistaNews does not assume and cannot be responsible for any
liability related to you clicking any of these linked Web sites.
- Don't want to sit through Steve Jobs' 107 minute speech about iPhone
2.0? Here's the 60 second version:
http://www.vistanews.com/D5QKAY/080612-Jobs-in-60-seconds
- Connect the houses to water, electricity and gas
http://www.vistanews.com/D5QKAY/080612-Connect-the-Houses
- Adoptive parents in the animal world
http://www.vistanews.com/D5QKAY/080612-Adoptive-Animals
- Interview with Stephen Hawking: no intelligent life on earth?
http://www.vistanews.com/D5QKAY/080612-Steven-Hawking
- Logomotto: a random mixture
http://www.vistanews.com/D5QKAY/080612-Logomotto
- Beautiful images of the earth from above
http://www.vistanews.com/D5QKAY/080612-Earth-Images
- Modern art meets science with the "Telectroscope," which allows New
Yorkers to wave hello to their London counterparts:
http://www.vistanews.com/D5QKAY/080612-Telectroscope
- Looking for dirt cheap real estate? ListingBook is an online tool that
will give you access to the same database that real estate business pros use
and you can access it 24/7. It will provide you with up-to-the-minute data
on all the hot properties that matter to you. Sign up for an account:
http://www.vistanews.com/D5QKAY/080612-ListingBook
- El Caminito del Rey (The King's Pathway), a hair-raising hiking trail
built in 1901 along the steep walls of a narrow gorge in El Chorro, Spain,
has fallen into disrepair. After several people lost their lives, the local
government closed the entrances. But adventurous tourists still find their
way into the walkway... Whoa:
http://www.vistanews.com/D5QKAY/080612-El-Camino-Del-Rey
- The secret lives of invisible magnetic fields are made visible by
Computer Graphics Imaging, as scientists from NASA's Space Sciences
Laboratory excitedly describe their discoveries:
http://www.vistanews.com/D5QKAY/080612-Magnetic-Fields
*Product of the Week*
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* About VistaNews*
*What Our Lawyers Make Us Say*
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