I like the software that is available for Windows. Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Corel Draw. They rock. They kick ass really. I wish I could write or work on software like that really.
I don't like Windows. It doesn't have multiple/virtual desktops. The command line interaface licks dirt. The GUI isn't stable. I've even managed to crash my network card using Windows (loads of network load, might have been a driver issue?). If it is connected to the internet, and turned on, I should be able to have full access to it, and the files on it. You (mysterious reader) should not.
So I thought I would try linux and friends again...
Linux isn't an operating system. It is a maze where you seemingly fend for yourself. I've tried three kinds of linux.
OpenBSD was my first unixy operating system. It's free, open source, and a product of Canada, in a round about sort of way. I love the philosophy of OpenBSD. It is a command line installer, but it works and makes sense. The operating system itself is very simple and very powerful. It was one of the smallest operating systems I tried. And it was rock sold stable. I couldn't break it, even when I was trying.
There is a lot of software for OpenBSD, but not enough. It didn't like my CD drives, but didn't crash when I tried to use them.
Debian Linux might be ok, but I couldn't get past the butt-ugly installer that didn't make any sense to me when I was installing it. The installer wasn't intuitive at all, and offered little to no help. I'm sure the fine folks who use Debian love it and the "apt-get is so easy to use" mantra they spout off. I never got to use apt-get, because I couldn't tollerate the ugliness Debian brought along. And the software in Debian was outdated by an entire major linux-kernel release. I never did find out if a CD would break Debian. It lasted all of twenty minutes on the hard drive.
Mandrake was my operating system for a few months. It was easy to install, except that the installer didn't talk to my CDROM drive, only the CDRW drive. There is more than enough software for Mandrake. They made the KDE look as ugly as possible. I spent an hour trying to change my icons, only to give up and use Gnome. Gnome included icons on the desktop that I didn't want, but couldn't get rid of. I had to be root to remove the icons I didn't want, and had to take away my ability to make new files on the desktop to prevent Gnome from recreating the icons. Blech! Gnome isn't configurable enough, but I do like it. I crashed Mandrake by putting a CD in the CDROM drive. The LEDs on my keyboard started flashing, and the computer halted. Just stopped dead. Same think with the CDRW drive.
Redhat sucked the crap from a cows ass through my computer and left it steaming on my hard drive. It was outrageously slow. And stupid. But it was colour coordinated, always a plus when you stare at the monitor and wait ten seconds for a web browser to start. I still get spam from Redhat Network. I've sent them unsubscribe notices. I don't use Redhat anymore. I didn't subscribe to their silly Redhat Network thing. I gave them my email address so I could download the updates that they publish.
Now Redhat Spams me. Stupid Redhat.
And who names an operating system after a fashion accessory?
So after all that, I am back with Windows. It understands my CDROM drive, and I can run Photoshop, Corel Draw, and a host of others. At least for now that is. Redhat 9 just came out. So did Mandrake 9.1. If Redhat doesn't crawl or Mandrake can play nicely with my CDROM drives, then I'll stick with one of them.