DISQUS

charlieanzman · 7 months ago

Wait ... am I reading this right? Louis is doing Windows? Now, in addition to messing with Chrome (which IS much faster) ... How 'bout messing with all the NEW little hidden (and not so hidden) features in Windows 7 RC and trying for an objective take there. Die-Hard Mac devotee or not, I'll think you might find some pleasant surprises. (PS: Enjoyed the pics of your extended family ...)

Louis Gray · 7 months ago

So Charlie, where are the hidden features of Windows 7 RC I should check out? I'm staying in this OS for a while and would be interested to see what you like about it.

charlieanzman · 7 months ago

Louis - I've been a slacker this week posting to my own blogs and have been meaning to do a unique post on this. The Beta made it much more obvious. The RC is trying to be a little less confusing. Here's just a few asst ... By all means, the Media Player. Techie stuff: From Start -> accessories -> Resource Monitor (New GUI is nice). Keep this brief ... Go the the control panel and click around. Each one with take you to 3 or 4 more. Display tweaks are excellent. Send you some more time permitting.

Michael Fidler · 7 months ago

Wrong place! Sorry Charlie:)

Kevin Carey · 7 months ago

I am a software developer so I give my computer a workout that most users never will. I got a new computer today, and was up and running in less than an hour. Firefox and plugins, Eclipse, and Dropbox and I am set. By the way...all those applications work on Mac and Windows. I love my Mac, but does it make a difference? Probably not.

Charlie Anzman · 7 months ago

Comment on the blog ... couldn't resist :)

StevenHodson · 7 months ago

I will resist the urge to make smart alex comments :) but it is good to hear that even a diehard Mac fan is willing to step over the line and try out windows 7. Now for an even better experience grab a copy of Windows Live Writer (Windows Live Essentials Pack) and see how much of a pleasure it is to write posts on the desktop :) .. and if you're feeling especially adventurous try out FeedDemon for your RSS feeds as it will let you sync with Google Reader now ..

Louis Gray · 7 months ago

I know it's tempting. But we also both know I've only been testing Windows 7 for a few hours and in a lightweight way. It's always easier to use the programs and shortcuts you've used for years. I just believe in testing and trying so we sound fair and balanced. I am more willing to try Live Writer than to try FeedDemon, though I respect Nick and his work there. I'm pretty much married to Google Reader.

charlieanzman · 7 months ago

Agree Steven - Have be messing with the Live set too. There's a whole growing community there. Another vehicle (with quite a few FFers there!)

PXLated · 7 months ago

Does it make a difference... Probably when you consider the free Apple support (online/instore). Have never gotten any free support from Microsoft or their hardware partners. The Geek Squad is expensive.

tacanderson · 7 months ago

Personally I've always tried to stay OS agnostic. I think locking your thinking into one platform leaves you closed to new possibilities, new ways of thinking about things. I run Vista, XP, OSX and Ubuntu on a regular basis. Ands your right over the years I've noticed all of them becoming more and more alike than they used to be.

Glad to see you opening your mind :)

Alex Covic · 7 months ago

Welcome to my world. I never understood the childish Mac vs. PC peeing-contest for decades anyways. I am using Unix/Linux/Mac/PC and whatever I come across all the time. If you work for/with customers you have to.

I remember their awe when I showed them a customized X-Windows-Desktop, creating the look and feel of a Mac OS9 on a Unix/Linux-Client.

I am testing the Chrome-Browser for Mac/Linux and it is improving every day.

Today, it is all about the browser. What OS in which (virtual) environment does not matter. True.

Aad 't Hart · 7 months ago

Louis in many aspects you are right. I use a fancy Sony laptop on Windows 7 and a Macbook Air. Since I'm moved most of my work into the cloud, including Xmarks for bookmark sync (Miss Chrome support) it doesn't make that much difference.
There is however one thing what really makes me grab my MBA when ever possible. I just love the fact that it instantly resumes from sleep and is dead silent when performing normal web activities. Having said this, it might be less the operating system, but more the hardware..

Alejandro · 7 months ago

Very well written.

Stephen Pierzchala · 7 months ago

What it comes down to is that the OS is not the issue anymore. And as browsers evolve and adapt to the technology that is being used on sites, the browser is no longer the issue (except for Internet Explorer). I discussed this when I asked if the browser mattered anymore (http://bit.ly/13dAKG), and the same can be asked about operating systems.

I easily switch between XP, Win7, Mac OS X and Linux. As long as I see a browser icon, I can work.

You have finally reached the conclusion that scares commercial operating system makers - the underlying operating system is becoming less and less relevant.

Michael Fidler · 7 months ago

Louis, you’re seeing the light, and I’m glad you took the time to try it. A few weeks back, I posed a question on friendfeed which asked if the Mac v PC debate is still relevant considering Widows 7 is soon to be release. Naturally, I was quickly informed by Mac diehards how superior their OS is to Windows. I quickly realized that there was no point in arguing with them, especially if they never tried Windows 7. IMHO, I feel the two OS’s have never been closer in terms of features, performance, and most importantly, usability. I’m not sure when Widows first started, but Microsoft has finally got it right this time. There's more...

Michael Fidler · 7 months ago

With that said; over the last few days I’ve been thinking about a different question. Is this the last OS we’re going to see; at least in terms of the way we’ve come to know them? I think we’re obviously heading towards a cloud based system. Will it be a thin client, which is partially embedded, (instant on finally) that downloads components as they are needed. Or, will there be an intermediate OS, which bridges the best of the desktop OS with a cloud OS? This seems like a more likely scenario considering that it will take time to get people comfortable working solely in the cloud. Additionally the slow transition to high-speed broadband might be another limiting factor. Eventually everyone will be up on the cloud and then we can start playing with our 1stgeneration home robots, instead. BTW, I’m sick of Firefox, but how am I going to run feedly in chrome?

Edwin Khodabakchian · 7 months ago

Stay tuned!

Louis Gray · 7 months ago

You're such a tease. I want Feedly on Safari and Chrome. :)

Michael Fidler · 7 months ago

Edwin, you have an eager and devoted tester if you need one:) And should you look upon my request in a favorable manner, I can be reached at mdfidler@gmail.com

Michael Fidler · 7 months ago

Louis, I saw this and thought of you http://ff.im/3boAr

Wayne Sutton · 7 months ago

Louis, I say you're "finally seeing the light" I'm an iPhone, Mac loving fanboy too but after receiving a netbook with windows xp I've been using it more often than I thought I would. The reason be, is that I do most of my work online and I use google docs, spreadsheet, basecamp etc, all online tools. Therefore the netbook is all I need at times. I've thought about installing windows 7 on my netbook or creating a bootcamp partition on my macbook to test it out but haven't gotting around to it.

I think the OS battle 2.0 will be the browser as we continue to use the web for applications and when it comes to the web os battle I think Firefox and Google Chrome will be leading the way, with Apple/Safari & the iPhone looking to still the show. But that's my 2 cents, "am I out of my mind, or finally seeing the light?" :)

Rishabh Mishra (possible248) · 7 months ago

Virtualization, I think, destroys the OS wars more than the web browser will.

See, your story reminds me of one of my Linux buddies. He recently built himself a new computer, and is now running Linux in a VM that resides within Windows 7. At first, I didn't quite understand why he would do such a thing. After all, putting the ultra-stable-and-secure (IMO) Linux inside the relatively-crashy-and-insecure Windows seemed like a stupid idea.

But then he pointed out that he is a gamer--and running Windows games inside Linux is not something that frequently works very well. With Linux in Windows, he can enjoy the best of both worlds--just like you enjoy the best of Windows 7 and Mac OS X.

The OS wars are slowing down. Though, I still hope that there's enough time to go on a few more pro-Linux rants before I'm holding hands with Windows users and singing "Kumbaya."

guruvan · 7 months ago

I've used VMware since just about the day that it came out. Most of the time to provide windows on a Linux platform. My current laptop is mostly for communications, and as such has to work for skype, but the drivers in current linux kernels won't shut my speakers off. So I use linux on this machine in a VM. I can't get along without VMware of some flavor on the machine. And though the machine runs faster in the opposite configuration, right now I need the drivers to work more than I need the speed and better memory utilization. (The linux and Windows are both installed on the hard drive, boot natively, or in VMware. - the best of all possible worlds)

Most of the time I use VMware the other way around, running the Windows on Linux. I started doing this in a cybercafe I had in northern California. We finally got sick of all the malware, and other problems inherent in public terminals. I ripped out all the windows, and put Linux/Gnome up. The customers were confused. It didn't look like Windows, so they "didn't know what to do" We put VMware 1.0 online, and fired up some Windows on that, locked all the special Xwindows keyboard shortcuts out, ran VMware full screen and wala- Windows. But what I loved so much about it was the ability "Revert to Snapshot" on close of the VM. That meant I would never have Windows malware again. Load the OS once, save it as a snapshot, and done.

No, you aren't crazy, Louis. But I am surprised that you've taken till now to jump on this bandwagon. And you are correct that this really does eliminate a lot of the OS war, but not all. It just moves the OS war down to a hypervisor war. The OS will have less and less direct contact with the hardware, and be more and more virtualized, and thus become just another application on the machine, paving the way for the browser to become more and more of the OS.

Andy · 7 months ago

Only one person has mentioned the word "games". Desktop Macs are non-existent in the gaming world - sure the fanboys will respond with "oh no they are growing" - but its bullshit. PC's will always rule the gaming world for hardcore performance and amazing graphical rendering - that is until:

1. Mac's stop being so ridiculously overpriced for hardware. Example - http://store.apple.com/us/product/MA940G/B - $200 for this. What a joke. In fact do a search - you can easily pick it up for under $90.

2. Macs are great - I have one - but seriously, the monoply over hardware is their undoing. Business will never fully embrace macs because apple have such a huge stranglehold over customisation - if I want to customise and add more features, RAID structures and the like - I have to pay huge costs or simply turn to PC. Duh.

So why bring this up in a OS host? Well evidently, as gaming grows - so do reliance on Windows OS. There will always be a market for MS because of gaming - and the lack of support for other OS systems. Virtualisation is great - i am 100% in agreeance for this and I believe this will be more important than any browser.

The more fking browsers that enter the online world - the worse off we all are. Developers have to spend more and more and more time on compatibility issues and front end JS. It's becoming crazy the amount of testing thats required each time a new browser arrives or upgrades.

I love macs, but their fascist tendencies over their infrastructure is so ridiculous in this day and age its painful. Sure, the argument about "this is why they have no viruses" - but equally - most hackers hit windows because they a) have some hate of MS or b) because they are simply the most popular computer OS. As Macs grow, they will face this inevitable problem.