The Great Geek Manual

“Today, you can do everything you want with a Linux desktop, except play the latest games. Even there, Linux is catching up. So, why do only a handful of people run Linux instead of Windows? Here are my top-four reasons why Windows wins and Linux loses.”

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols has written a thought-provoking article at DesktopLinux.com. He believes that the four reasons that Windows in winning out over Linux are:

1. The installed base (The number of systems already using Windows)
2. PC vendor support
3. Hardware vendor support
4. Software support

I agree with all four reasons, but I think he’s left off an important point. Marketing!

My fifty-six year old mother got her very first computer for Christmas this last December, and she didn’t know the first thing about using it. She didn’t know what the touchpad was called (or what it did), she didn’t know how to turn it on, she didn’t know what to do once it was on, but she recognized Windows when it booted up. Why? Because she has heard the words “Microsoft” and “Windows” twenty times a week on television, either in commercials or in the news, for the past twelve years. That is what Linux needs to do. They need to shift their focus from the tech guys in the basement to the doddering old men pushing the retirement age who still say the word computer as if it’s in quotes. Because by the time they understand what Linux has to offer, everyone will.

Despite the fact that I am a dedicated Firefox user, I do keep a fully patched and updated version of Internet Explorer at hand as well. Sort of like the same way you keep both your children around, even though you only love one of them. And, as is so often the case when Microsoft chooses to steal a feature of some superior piece of software and brands it as innovation, I’m having a damned hard time adjusting to the changes.

There are any number of things that irritate me about IE7, but the most urgent complaint I have is the extremely inconvenient location of the address bar. In IE7, the address bar is at the very top of the browser, just beneath the title bar, making me feel as if I should be saying “excuse me” to the menu bar each time I reach up to type in an address, like I’m grabbing the butter at an over-crowded dinner table.

Luckily, while Microsoft software, like the Borg, may be ugly, aggressive, and utterly devoid of human sentiment, it is also adaptable. With a simple tweak to the registry, the address and menu bars can be returned to their proper order. Here’s how it’s done:
Read the rest of this entry » » »