How many times have I heard the question “Can you help me?  My computer is….” fill in the blank.  This time it was popping up adult pictures and I don’t want the kids to see them.  Oh boy.  Can you say spyware? Yes, the incessent spyware that plagues Microsoft Windows.  My pastor,  a Korean born naturalized US Citizen, has a hard enough time understanding English, but he understands even less about computers.  He manages to email me the bulletin each week so I can put together a presentation for Open Song so that the worship service is enhanced with hymn lyrics on the wall, but as for spyware, he probably can’t even spell it let alone understand what it is.  But no doubt, he has it.  Now my question is do I introduce him to the world of Linux and Ubuntu?  Or do I try to save as much stuff as I can on his hard drive, zap it and re-install windows?  I would like to suggest he just get a new computer but why put him through the torture of Vista (blah!).

I am not sure what I will do yet, but I will meet with him and see first off if he has any programs like Norton Internet Security or McAfee Internet Security functioning on the computer.  There may be hope but I also may give him my Ubuntu laptop for a week to see if he likes it.  What’s not to like after all?

Oh well, someday maybe Microsoft will be able to get that monkey off their back.  But until then, there will always be Ubuntu/Linux OS’s  or Mac OS to help pick up the slack.

In case you haven’t heard, today is the day Bill Gates will step down as being Microsoft’s chairman.  He and Paul Allen started the company back in the late seventies when they paid some kid $50,000 for a program called DOS, Disk Operating System.  I remember thinking in college that DOS was all that.  But one of my professors informed me that compared to UNIX or DB/2, DOS was small potatoes.  Not even registering on the radar.  But that was back in the days of mainframes and the PC revolution was just beginning.

Bill Gates is a genius, there is no doubt about it.  He built an empire but like all political empires, his computer empire was attacked and it seems may be slowly starting to fade as did the Roman empire.  Google is king in the search engine arena.  Mac and Linux are taking OS market shares and FireFox hands down kicks IE’s butt.

Whoever takes over for Microsoft has some shoes to fill that 12 men could probably not fill.  But they will try and Windows will still be the top selling operating system for now and along with that it will be the most attacked desktop operating system for many more years to come.  Maybe somewhere out there though, there is another pirate in the silicone valley looking for an unsuspecting programmer that he can purchase the next big breakthrough off of with little capital.  Until then, we will continue to love and hate windows.  But as for Bill, love or hate him, he has changed the world with his ideas.  Good Luck Mr. Gates, you’ve certainly earned the early retirement.

When I hear the phrase home networking with windows, I have to wonder if someone means that neighbors are sharing information by shouting out the window toward the neighbor’s house and that neighbor running across the house to the opposite side and passing the information along.  You know, like a game of telephone but only with homes.  After all, that is how networking operates.  The data you are trying to access is passed from hop to hop along hubs, routers, switches and an internet backbone until it reaches your computer.

Surely the term home networking with windows doesn’t mean using Microsoft Windows?  Does it?  Well, ok, it is true that Windows has a corner on the market as far as home computing goes.  Tis truly a shame that it is so true.  But as time goes on and viruses, spyware, malware, and pop-up ads continue to inundate windows computers because of their lack of focus on security, mac and Linux will soon gather a market share.

Oh and the annoying “Vista needs your authorization…” is a horrible attempt to prevent such maladies.  Ubuntu simply makes you type in your password before anything is changed on your computer.  Why can’t Bill and the boys do that too?

So if you want a home network, get yourself a good router (Belkin not included in that list), some networking cables or wireless adapters and have at least one computer setup with Ubuntu.  It’s easy, it’s fast and it is fun. If you are a windows die hard, then try Kubuntu.  If you prefer the flashiness of Vista, try Ubuntu with Beryl

I installed the new Ubuntu on Thursday shortly after it became available.  I tried at 8AM and it was not available. I tried again at 8:30, not available. I tried one more time at about 9:30 and it was available.  I started the process and answered few questions. I checked again at 10:45 and it was waiting on me.  So I answerd the question and let it go.  Finally at about 6:30 PM it was installed. 

Considering that in all liklihood that the server I was downloading the upgrade from was an Ubuntu server, it sure says a lot about the product that so many people can be downloading the application all at once and not one time out error or lost packet. 

I haven’t really taken time to find out about all of the new features but I am sure they will be good.  If you are a windows user, give Ubuntu a try.  I am quite pleased with it and if I remember correctly, when Vista came out, it was not offerred for free. 

Earlier this week I told you about my computer problems with Windows and that I was putting Ubuntu on that particular computer. Prior to this, I was having multiple lockups. The screen would freeze and mouse wouldn’t move. I thought it was my CPU fan so I replaced it. It continued. I suspected a memory problem but before I swapped that out, I tried Ubuntu. I am writing this post on that computer and it has not been rebooted since just after the Ubuntu installation. No lockups at all. This leaves me with one comment.

Microsoft continually gives me reasons to wish they would just stop making software. i typically run Firefox and only run IE when I can’t get something to work right in Firefox. This is typically because the site was designed with IE in mind or takes advantage of an add on that I don’t have for firefox. I have found one particular website that causes problems with firefox so I decided to use IE tongiht. I installed IE 7 a while back on my widnows computer (I typically don’t use windows, but rather Ubuntu). Well IE starts and beeps at me.

It says that IE has started with add-ons disabled. Ok, I say, who do I enable them. I am told to shutdown IE and restart and add-ons will be enabled. Umm, no! Every single time I start IE 7, the add-ons are disabled and I can’t find a single site in google that tells me how to turn them back on other than shutdown and restart, which I already know doesn’t work.

I am so frustrated right now!!!!! But the website I am running ironically runs fine in Firefox on Ubuntu and doesn’t lock up windows like it does when you run it in Windows.  Ahh, maybe Windows is the problem and not Firefox. Keep going Microsoft. Give me a reason to throw your products out for the trash. I am so close to doing that. This Love-Hate relationship continues.  It’s beginning to be a whole lot more hate than love though, I tell you that much.

Windows 3.0 changed life for the personal computer. Windows 3.1 made it even better. But was Bill Gates just in the right place at the right time? Maybe. Did he really just have a great product? Maybe. It had to be a great product or it would not have lasted as it did. The problem was two fold however. He became filthy rich with this product and he pushed his people to get new releases out before they were ready. Hence the king of service pack distribution was born.

No doubt windows has changed the way we compute in this post modern world. The years 95, 98, and 2000 should mean something to any geek out there. We probably know of at least one of the common phrases associated with XP like eXploding Parts or eXtra Problematic. I doubt Microsoft will ever be the company they want to be outside of the person that just wants their computer to work. Spyware alone was nearly their downfall. If you are a techy or a computer graphics artist, you probably prefer the Mac or Linux, but most people, without a doubt, have or at least had some form of windows on their system. It is in this area of the crossdotnet blog that we will bash windows and praise it at the same time.

Regardless of whether you like it or hate it, you have to admit, those new Mac commercials with PC and Mac are pretty darn funny!