Because I wanted to see how it performed, I installed Windows 7 as the dual-boot counterpart of my Ubuntu desktop. What can I say? Having an MSDN Academic Alliance account certainly has its perks. And for a fact, I no longer feel so dirty doing it because, as my usage pattern over the past few months indicates, I really do spend more than 95% of my time with Ubuntu anyway.
My overall impression of Windows 7: for the first time in a long while, I've finally encountered a Windows operating system that did not annoy the heck out of me. Windows XP, in the last few months, felt like a sputtering coughing horse that I should have put out to pasture; and Windows Vista? Let's not even go there.
But Windows 7! Windows 7 came smooth and easy: no fiddling for drivers, no obnoxious warnings, no unexplained crashes. To be honest, my end-user experience felt as easy as using, well, Ubuntu. Now if it only came with free software installable from a single app....
Nah, this is still Microsoft Windows.
Showing posts with label Windows. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Windows. Show all posts
Windows 7
As it happens, I have access to the Microsoft Solution Developers Network via the Academic Alliance. On a lark, I decided to check if I could get Windows 7 there. And surprise, surprise, I could! I would get it now, except for its 2.2GB download size. Since I won't leave the office PC running through the night, I'll wait till tomorrow.
But wait...isn't tomorrow also the release date for Karmic Koala.
Whatever should I get? Decisions, decisions. ;-)
But wait...isn't tomorrow also the release date for Karmic Koala.
Whatever should I get? Decisions, decisions. ;-)
The Future of Windows is...Linux!
All right, I'm half-kidding on this one, but it also means I'm half-serious.
What prompted this post was a little incident yesterday evening. With all my major projects in the closing stage, I decided to kick back and get a gaming fix. I dusted off a game I bought from GOG.com (Hostile Waters, if you're interested) but which I had never before installed. Time to give it a try, I said. I booted into my barely-used Windows XP partition and ran the installer. And then when I started the game...it crashed.
I tried several times to get it working, even going as far as to reinstall the game. Still no luck. And so I gave up and booted back to Ubuntu to do something else. Then another thought: why not try running the game in Ubuntu? If nothing else, it'll be something to write about.
And you know what? The game ran perfectly on Ubuntu.
Which leads me back to the thought behind the title. For years, Microsoft's point of contention was the broad base of software applications, games or otherwise, available on Windows. You couldn't (or shouldn't) move to other platforms because the applications only ran on Windows. Stay away from Unix, stay away from Linux, stay away from Macs; the stuff you need is here with us. That's lock-in at work for Microsoft.
On the other hand, lock-in really works both ways. Because of the sheer number of applications that it had to maintain compatibility with, Microsoft couldn't really implement wholesale improvements on its operating system. That's why the Windows family is the ungainly beast that it is, major revisions four or five years apart. Even then, with every new release, there's complaints that the old stuff won't work on the new version.
I don't know exactly why my game didn't run on XP (when it was supposed to), but at this point, I don't really care. I already have it running on Ubuntu, which is my primary operating system to begin with.
Not to say that all Windows software runs on Ubuntu / Linux now, but Wine is getting better and better. It may come to a point where the Wine+Linux combo can run old Windows software much better than Windows itself.
And you know what? I just lo-oooooove the irony!
What prompted this post was a little incident yesterday evening. With all my major projects in the closing stage, I decided to kick back and get a gaming fix. I dusted off a game I bought from GOG.com (Hostile Waters, if you're interested) but which I had never before installed. Time to give it a try, I said. I booted into my barely-used Windows XP partition and ran the installer. And then when I started the game...it crashed.
I tried several times to get it working, even going as far as to reinstall the game. Still no luck. And so I gave up and booted back to Ubuntu to do something else. Then another thought: why not try running the game in Ubuntu? If nothing else, it'll be something to write about.
And you know what? The game ran perfectly on Ubuntu.
Which leads me back to the thought behind the title. For years, Microsoft's point of contention was the broad base of software applications, games or otherwise, available on Windows. You couldn't (or shouldn't) move to other platforms because the applications only ran on Windows. Stay away from Unix, stay away from Linux, stay away from Macs; the stuff you need is here with us. That's lock-in at work for Microsoft.
On the other hand, lock-in really works both ways. Because of the sheer number of applications that it had to maintain compatibility with, Microsoft couldn't really implement wholesale improvements on its operating system. That's why the Windows family is the ungainly beast that it is, major revisions four or five years apart. Even then, with every new release, there's complaints that the old stuff won't work on the new version.
I don't know exactly why my game didn't run on XP (when it was supposed to), but at this point, I don't really care. I already have it running on Ubuntu, which is my primary operating system to begin with.
Not to say that all Windows software runs on Ubuntu / Linux now, but Wine is getting better and better. It may come to a point where the Wine+Linux combo can run old Windows software much better than Windows itself.
And you know what? I just lo-oooooove the irony!
Understanding the Boot Process
A presentation I put together on the PC boot process, covering both Linux and, ugh, Windows. This is for the class in Operating Systems that I'm teaching at Ateneo de Davao. I found M. Tim Jones DeveloperWorks article Inside the Linux Boot Process very helpful.
Something I've put aside for a long while, but recently came up -- how Ubuntu differs from the old Linux distros I used in its handling of startup processes. I used to rely on
/etc/inittab but I always wondered where it went with Ubuntu. Apparently, it's been replaced by Upstart. More on that next time.
MSDN Academic Alliance
Because I teach at Ateneo de Davao University, and because AdDU is part of the MSDN Academic Alliance, I now have access to Microsoft software. No, no, don't worry, I'm not going to be turning anytime soon. I just like the delicious irony.
I scroll through the list of available software and it all seems strange and unfamiliar to me. Why do I need ten different versions of Visual Studio .NET again? Ah, I've been using Ubuntu and Linux far too long.
So far, the only thing I've ever needed to run was Windows XP, and this because my Information Security students are demanding a session on Windows security. So this is me running Windows XP in a virtual machine. Not absolutely sure if I'm violating any license terms here. (If I am, tell me, and I'll gladly delete this partition.)
That said, I will take the time to explore what Microsoft has to offer through their Academic Alliance. Always good to see what The Other is offering.
This is the full list of software that's available to me under the Academic Alliance.
.NET Framework 1.1 SDK
.NET Framework SDK 1.1
Access 2003
Access 2007
BizTalk Server 2006 Enterprise Edition
BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Developer Edition (x86 and x64) - DVD
Commerce Server 2007 Developer Edition
Customer Care Framework 2008 (v3.0) - CD
Desktop Optimization Pack 2007
Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
Exchange Server 2007 Enterprise Edition
Exchange Server 2007 Standard Edition
Expression Blend 2
Expression Design 2
Expression Encoder 2
Expression Media 2
Expression Studio
Expression Studio 2
Expression Web
Expression Web 2
Forefront Client Security (x86 and x64) - CD
Forefront Security for Exchange Server with Service Pack 1 (x64) - CD
Forefront Security for SharePoint with Service Pack 1 (x64) - CD
Forefront Server Security Management Console (x86) - DVD
Host Integration Server 2006
InfoPath 2003
InfoPath 2007
IT Academy Course: Database Developer
IT Academy Course: Web Developer
IT Academy Course: Windows Client
IT Academy Course: Windows Developer
IT Academy Course: Windows Server
MapPoint 2004 European - Run Disc (2/2)
MapPoint 2004 European - Setup Disc (1/2)
MapPoint 2004 North America - Run Disc (2/2)
MapPoint 2004 North America - Setup Disc (1/2)
Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 SDK
Microsoft Project Professional 2002 (Single-User)
Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008 Academic Edition
MSDN Library for Visual Studio 2005 - CD1
MSDN Library for Visual Studio 2005 - CD2
MSDN Library for Visual Studio 2005 - CD3
MSDN Library for Visual Studio 2008 (x86 and x64 WoW) - DVD
Office Accounting Professional 2007
Office Accounting Professional 2008
Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 with SP1
Office Communicator 2007
Office Project Portfolio Server 2007
Office Project Server 2007
Office SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise
Office SharePoint Server 2007 Standard
OneNote 2003
OneNote 2007
Project Professional 2002 (Single-User)
Project Professional 2003
Project Professional 2007
Project Server 2003
SharePoint Designer 2007
SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition
SQL Server 2000 SP3a
SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition - 32-bit - CD1
SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition - 32-bit - CD2
SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition - 64-bit Extended - CD1
SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition - 64-bit Extended - CD2
SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition - 64-bit Itanium - CD1
SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition - 64-bit Itanium - CD2
SQL Server 2005 Express Edition
SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition - 32-bit - DVD
SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition - 64-bit Extended - DVD
SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition - 64-bit Itanium - DVD
SQL Server 2005 Workgroup Edition - 32-bit - DVD
SQL Server 2008 Enterprise (x86 and x64) - DVD
System Center Capacity Planner 2006 with Service Pack 1
System Center Configuration Manager 2007 - DVD
System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 - DVD (Multilanguage)
System Center Essentials 2007 - DVD
System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 (x64) - CD
System Center Operations Manager 2007
System Center Reporting Manager 2006
System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007 (x86/x64) - DVD
Systems Management Server 2003 R2
Virtual PC 2004
Virtual PC 2007
Visio Professional 2003
Visio Professional 2007
Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition
Visual Basic 6.0 Enterprise Edition - Disc 1
Visual Basic 6.0 Enterprise Edition - Disc 2
Visual C# 2005 Express Edition
Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition
Visual J# .NET
Visual SourceSafe 2005
Visual SourceSafe 6.0d
Visual Studio .NET 2003 Professional - Full Install
Visual Studio .NET 2005 Professional - Full Install
Visual Studio .NET Academic Student Tools 2003
Visual Studio .NET Academic Teaching Tools 2003
Visual Studio .NET Professional 2003 CD1 ISO
Visual Studio .NET Professional 2003 CD2 ISO
Visual Studio .NET Professional 2003 Prerequisites ISO
Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition - DVD
Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition CD1
Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition CD2
Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition CD1
Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition CD2
Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server Trial Edition
Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite - CD1
Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite - CD2
Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite - CD3
Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft Office System
Visual Studio 2008 Express Edition with SP1
Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition (x86 and x64 WoW) - DVD
Visual Studio 2008 SP1
Visual Studio 2008 Team Foundation Server Workgroup Edition (x86 and x64 WoW) - DVD
Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server SP1
Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Suite (x86 and x64 WoW) - DVD
Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition
Windows Embedded CE 6.0 DVD
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition with SP2 - Disc 1
Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition with SP2 - Disc 2
Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition
Windows Server 2003 Web Edition
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise and Standard - DVD
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise and Standard 64bit - DVD
Windows Services for UNIX 3.0
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 with SP1
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 with SP1 (x64)
Windows Vista Business 64bit DVD
Windows Vista Business 64bit DVD with SP1
Windows Vista Business CD1
Windows Vista Business CD2
Windows Vista Business CD3
Windows Vista Business CD4
Windows Vista Business CD5
Windows Vista Business DVD
Windows Vista Business DVD with SP1
Windows Vista Enterprise with SP1 (x86) - DVD
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (32bit, 64bit) - DVD
Windows Web Server 2008 - DVD
Windows Web Server 2008 64Bit - DVD
Windows XP Embedded
Windows XP Professional (Single User)
Windows XP Professional (Single User) 64bit Edition
Windows XP Professional with SP1a (Single User) ISO Image
Windows XP Professional with SP2 (Single User) ISO Image
Windows XP Professional with SP3 (Single User) ISO Image
XNA Creators Club Online Academic Subscription
I scroll through the list of available software and it all seems strange and unfamiliar to me. Why do I need ten different versions of Visual Studio .NET again? Ah, I've been using Ubuntu and Linux far too long.
So far, the only thing I've ever needed to run was Windows XP, and this because my Information Security students are demanding a session on Windows security. So this is me running Windows XP in a virtual machine. Not absolutely sure if I'm violating any license terms here. (If I am, tell me, and I'll gladly delete this partition.)
That said, I will take the time to explore what Microsoft has to offer through their Academic Alliance. Always good to see what The Other is offering.
This is the full list of software that's available to me under the Academic Alliance.
.NET Framework 1.1 SDK
.NET Framework SDK 1.1
Access 2003
Access 2007
BizTalk Server 2006 Enterprise Edition
BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Developer Edition (x86 and x64) - DVD
Commerce Server 2007 Developer Edition
Customer Care Framework 2008 (v3.0) - CD
Desktop Optimization Pack 2007
Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
Exchange Server 2007 Enterprise Edition
Exchange Server 2007 Standard Edition
Expression Blend 2
Expression Design 2
Expression Encoder 2
Expression Media 2
Expression Studio
Expression Studio 2
Expression Web
Expression Web 2
Forefront Client Security (x86 and x64) - CD
Forefront Security for Exchange Server with Service Pack 1 (x64) - CD
Forefront Security for SharePoint with Service Pack 1 (x64) - CD
Forefront Server Security Management Console (x86) - DVD
Host Integration Server 2006
InfoPath 2003
InfoPath 2007
IT Academy Course: Database Developer
IT Academy Course: Web Developer
IT Academy Course: Windows Client
IT Academy Course: Windows Developer
IT Academy Course: Windows Server
MapPoint 2004 European - Run Disc (2/2)
MapPoint 2004 European - Setup Disc (1/2)
MapPoint 2004 North America - Run Disc (2/2)
MapPoint 2004 North America - Setup Disc (1/2)
Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 SDK
Microsoft Project Professional 2002 (Single-User)
Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008 Academic Edition
MSDN Library for Visual Studio 2005 - CD1
MSDN Library for Visual Studio 2005 - CD2
MSDN Library for Visual Studio 2005 - CD3
MSDN Library for Visual Studio 2008 (x86 and x64 WoW) - DVD
Office Accounting Professional 2007
Office Accounting Professional 2008
Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 with SP1
Office Communicator 2007
Office Project Portfolio Server 2007
Office Project Server 2007
Office SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise
Office SharePoint Server 2007 Standard
OneNote 2003
OneNote 2007
Project Professional 2002 (Single-User)
Project Professional 2003
Project Professional 2007
Project Server 2003
SharePoint Designer 2007
SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition
SQL Server 2000 SP3a
SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition - 32-bit - CD1
SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition - 32-bit - CD2
SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition - 64-bit Extended - CD1
SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition - 64-bit Extended - CD2
SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition - 64-bit Itanium - CD1
SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition - 64-bit Itanium - CD2
SQL Server 2005 Express Edition
SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition - 32-bit - DVD
SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition - 64-bit Extended - DVD
SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition - 64-bit Itanium - DVD
SQL Server 2005 Workgroup Edition - 32-bit - DVD
SQL Server 2008 Enterprise (x86 and x64) - DVD
System Center Capacity Planner 2006 with Service Pack 1
System Center Configuration Manager 2007 - DVD
System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 - DVD (Multilanguage)
System Center Essentials 2007 - DVD
System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 (x64) - CD
System Center Operations Manager 2007
System Center Reporting Manager 2006
System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007 (x86/x64) - DVD
Systems Management Server 2003 R2
Virtual PC 2004
Virtual PC 2007
Visio Professional 2003
Visio Professional 2007
Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition
Visual Basic 6.0 Enterprise Edition - Disc 1
Visual Basic 6.0 Enterprise Edition - Disc 2
Visual C# 2005 Express Edition
Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition
Visual J# .NET
Visual SourceSafe 2005
Visual SourceSafe 6.0d
Visual Studio .NET 2003 Professional - Full Install
Visual Studio .NET 2005 Professional - Full Install
Visual Studio .NET Academic Student Tools 2003
Visual Studio .NET Academic Teaching Tools 2003
Visual Studio .NET Professional 2003 CD1 ISO
Visual Studio .NET Professional 2003 CD2 ISO
Visual Studio .NET Professional 2003 Prerequisites ISO
Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition - DVD
Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition CD1
Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition CD2
Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition CD1
Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition CD2
Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server Trial Edition
Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite - CD1
Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite - CD2
Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite - CD3
Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft Office System
Visual Studio 2008 Express Edition with SP1
Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition (x86 and x64 WoW) - DVD
Visual Studio 2008 SP1
Visual Studio 2008 Team Foundation Server Workgroup Edition (x86 and x64 WoW) - DVD
Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server SP1
Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Suite (x86 and x64 WoW) - DVD
Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition
Windows Embedded CE 6.0 DVD
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition with SP2 - Disc 1
Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition with SP2 - Disc 2
Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition
Windows Server 2003 Web Edition
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise and Standard - DVD
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise and Standard 64bit - DVD
Windows Services for UNIX 3.0
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 with SP1
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 with SP1 (x64)
Windows Vista Business 64bit DVD
Windows Vista Business 64bit DVD with SP1
Windows Vista Business CD1
Windows Vista Business CD2
Windows Vista Business CD3
Windows Vista Business CD4
Windows Vista Business CD5
Windows Vista Business DVD
Windows Vista Business DVD with SP1
Windows Vista Enterprise with SP1 (x86) - DVD
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (32bit, 64bit) - DVD
Windows Web Server 2008 - DVD
Windows Web Server 2008 64Bit - DVD
Windows XP Embedded
Windows XP Professional (Single User)
Windows XP Professional (Single User) 64bit Edition
Windows XP Professional with SP1a (Single User) ISO Image
Windows XP Professional with SP2 (Single User) ISO Image
Windows XP Professional with SP3 (Single User) ISO Image
XNA Creators Club Online Academic Subscription
A Windows sob story
I think it's time to expand the scope of this blog a little bit to include Windows-bashing. Just a little bit, I promise. I try not to do it anymore, but sometimes...sometimes...
Here's the story: I'm teaching at Ateneo de Davao University this semester. Subject: information security. There's a lab component, and to get the environment I want, I have to install VirtualBox and some images.
Problem number one: the computers don't have DVD-ROM drives, and I only brought a DVD. Solution? Transfer via network share. Simple, right?
So I'm looking over the lab assistant's shoulder, and what do I see her doing? She's firing up a Windows 98 virtual machine on Virtual PC on the Windows Server machine.
"Why do you have to do that?"
"Oh, because Windows Server limits me to just 10 simultaneous shares. To get around that, we have to share from Windows 98."
And that, my friends, is just so sad....
Here's the story: I'm teaching at Ateneo de Davao University this semester. Subject: information security. There's a lab component, and to get the environment I want, I have to install VirtualBox and some images.
Problem number one: the computers don't have DVD-ROM drives, and I only brought a DVD. Solution? Transfer via network share. Simple, right?
So I'm looking over the lab assistant's shoulder, and what do I see her doing? She's firing up a Windows 98 virtual machine on Virtual PC on the Windows Server machine.
"Why do you have to do that?"
"Oh, because Windows Server limits me to just 10 simultaneous shares. To get around that, we have to share from Windows 98."
And that, my friends, is just so sad....
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