Just the mindless blathering of a bored nerd

Earlier this week, Microsoft released the second revision to its largely dissapointing Windows Vista. While the original release was nearly suicide inducing, Service Pack 1 (SP1) upgraded the user experience by inducing merely homicidal rage (better better others die, right??).

Um…what’s a service pack?

Unless you buy a new computer every year, t’s likely that you’ve installed a Windows service pack. Service Packs are large bundle of patches, new features, and performance upgrades. This means that if you have fallen behind on your Windows updates, this will bring you current and give you some nice extras.

What differences will I notice?

Some of the new features in SP2 include upgraded hardware support for various devices, the new Windows Search 4.0 (for file searching), exFAT file system support, Bluetooth stuff, yadda, yadda, yadda, more nerd stuff.

The most notable changes for the average user are 1) the promise of improved performance and 2) native Blu-Ray burning support.

Sweet! I can burn Blu-Ray Discs for free??!!

Um…no. You still need to have a Blu-Ray burner, but third-party software won’t be require.

Oook…if I’m not a nerd, what CAN I expect?

Bottom line, the promise of a performance boost and increased stability are the highlight since Vista has thus far been a broken operating system.

Should I get it?

This is not a required upgrade and will not be pushed through to the automatic update for a few months yet. Unless you’re a tech-head, I never recommend newly released software. On the other hand, how much worse could Vista get?

I have just installed the 64 bit version on my laptop and will be using it for my every day tasks, as opposed to Linux or XP. I’ll be reporting my experiences once I get an idea of how SP2 stacks up to SP1. I can say that my first impression is that everything appears to be less glitchy. This may be a placebo effect of sorts (or maybe it’s because I’m writing this at the butt-crack of night), but time will tell if it does in fact address the markets issues.

The truth is, I hope that this is the patch we’ve all been waiting for.

Where can I get it?

32-bit Vista: here
64-bit Vista: here

How do I know if I have a 32-bit or 64-bit system?

Simpl right click on your desktop “Computer” or “My Computer” icon…

…and in the resulting popup, it will be listed along with your computer specs.

Ah, yes. The age-old debate that’s gained new traction in the last 10 years and will likely persist to the end of days. This, my friends, is the old “Super Nintendo vs Sega Genesis” debate for grown ups.

Awe crap. Not another <blank> rules post

If you do a Google search for operating system comparisons and opinions, you will find more baseless garbage than can be found in the entirety of the series “Sex and the City”. And I, for one, am not looking to add to that steaming pile. I am more than capable of creating my own personal steaming pile!

The goals of operating systems

There’s an old saying in the programming world: “You can ask a man to change his religion, but never ask him to change his text editor”. I believe this same saying can be applied to power users and their operating systems of choice.

And it is from people with the strong preferences that you will hear many thin arguments that basically translate to “Your operating system sucks. My operating system rules!” But what these people forget is each one has its own set of operating goals.

Mac OS X
Goal – Provide stability and ease of use via proprietary control of the hardware and software.

It’s not often that you will hear a Mac user complaining about driver issues or system crashes. That’s because the strength of Apple products are that “they just work”. And for most of us, that’s about all that matters. When your boss or professor is expecting a report to be completed, they will have very little interest in your .ini file typo or printer driver conflict. All that matters is the final product.

In exchange for this protected environment, there are certain restrictions on what users may or may not do. While the options have been growing over the years, Apple still, for the most part, keeps the user on a protected path.

Linux
Goal – Provide stability and flexibility to the power user.

This free and open source OS does a great job of accomplishing it’s goal. It can do just about anything that can be done on a commercial OS (sometimes more). And due to it’s limited amount of fluff, often times, it can do it better and faster.

The draw back to this is the lack of fluff. It’s much like a chunk of meat with no fat: very dry, very little flavor, and gets caught in your teeth. While this may be ideal for the health nut, the average person would demand to know where they would be able to find a bucket of grease to flavor this bad boy up.

And this leanness is not necessarily a bad thing. Personally, I’m not a fan of the bubbly interface trend of modern day applications. Linux provides me and other tech-head’s a retreat from the large cutesy-wootsy worlds of OS X and Windows.

Windows
Goal – Provide balanced ease of use to the general user and flexibility to the power user

Ah, the largest, and therefore the most targeted of the operating systems. This idea of being “everything to everyone” is what I believe has garnered so much resentment towards Microsoft over the years. Linux is largely geared towards geeks. Mac has traditionally been geared towards the general user (though, in recent years, it’s been working to appeal to power users).

But in the case of Windows, it’s just always been there. And as long as it works, we as users are, for the most part, happy. It is not until we run into problems that we make the change. The general direction of market share traffic is from Windows to another platform. This makes it statistically easy to find anti-Windows bias among these crowds. Not very many are raised with a Mac or Linux and transition to Windows

That being said, the question remains “does Microsoft accomplish it’s goal?” In my opinion, as of XP, the answer was a definitive “yes”. However, I think, it’s been well established, that they dropped the ball with Vista. Despite this failed product, the overarching goal of the “Windows” brand remains the same. With this current iteration, we can say “Vista is broken” and cite several specific reasons, but we cannot make the blanket statement “Windows sucks”.

Aligning with your needs

It is important that a person selects an operating system based on what tasks need to be completed and how well it helps you accomplish these. Unfortunately, there are many OS zealots out there (on ALL sides) who simply need a finger jab to the eye.

What these rabid masses need to understand is that when it comes to a selection of operating system, there are different fits for different people. And though that time won’t come soon, hopefully you will be one less person touting the “your OS sucks!” rubbish.

One last thing…

This post didn’t leave me too many opportunities for bad jokes. So I’ll leave you with a picture from FrenchFriends.info of a guy hitting another guy’s knee with his crotch…

Man... Looks like the guy in red is in pain.

The great feature that's rarely used

The Hibernate feature of operating systems is one that is often overlooked by the general public. It allows for power saving on desktops as well as a quick start up for laptops. Unfortunately, in place of utilizing hibernation, many desktop owners opt for the antiquated and wasteful “leave the computer on 24/7” option. And laptop owners kill precious time with complete shutdowns and startups.

A long time ago, in a nerd’s room far, far away…

Do you remember the good ol’ days of computing when starting your computer was a secret and time-consuming process?  The long forgotten art involved inserting and removing disks that were about the size of a baby seal and flipping ginormous securing levers.  Often times, I felt as though I were dealing with a rough neck’s industrial tool as opposed to the geek gear that it was supposed to be.  Hell, I’m surprised I was never fined for failing to wear a hard hat and insulated gloves.

Apart from the startup pain, constantly turning your computer on and off caused concern about components wiggling out of their respective slots due to temperature induced contracting and expanding.   If a ram stick were to suddenly pop out while you were in the midst of watching a fat man sing “It’s Raining Men” with is bellybutton on YouTube, the world as you know it would end, right?

The work around to these issues: leave the damn thing on all day, every day.

Make like a bear

Twenty years ago, these were valid reasons to leave a computer running 24/7. But like leg warmers, cocaine, and “Where’s the Beef?”, just because it made sense in the 80′s, doesn’t mean it makes sense today.

Unless you are a power user running a server or in need of remote access to your PC, there is no reason to leave your computer running when you sleep or are away for hours on end. If anything, this serves to wear down your computer’s lifetime. It’s similar to leaving your TV on all day. Switch to using hibernate, and you’ll save money on your electric bill as well as your computer parts.

So…what the heck is “hibernate”?

Hibernating your computer, saves the current state of the operating system to the hard drive and shuts it down. When it is restarted, this state is restored.

Ok…so what does THAT mean??

It means that you are, in effect, putting your computer on pause while it is not in use and allowing for a relatively quick startup. All running programs will also be as you left them. If you were in the middle of typing an email to your buddies telling them about the most excellent web site, DavidGranado.com (shameless plug), then the email would be restored with the cursor blinking in the exact same spot you left it.

In my religious use of this feature on my old (STOLEN) laptop, I would often go several months without a full restart of Windows XP. I still make full use of it in my new Vista system. However, due to the complete change in the way the operating system works when compared to XP, going into and out of hibernation can take a smidge longer (This is due to Vista’s nasty “Super Fetch”, but that’s for another post).

The Ubuntu flavor of linux also implements this feature. As of 8.04, it was a bit hit and miss, in my experience. Version 8.10 seems to be a bit more effective, but if you’re a linux user, I’m sure you’re a tech-head who has already adjusted your system appropriately to make full use of this feature.

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