The next computer in my household will not run Windows

Wendy Seltzer’s plain-english explanation of the Microsoft Windows Vista’s EULA was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. There will be no Windows Vista on my next computer. I am sick and tired of worrying about computer viruses and misbehaving software; having the operating system that decides to remove functionalities or sabotage my work otherwise, is just beyond bearable.

It barely matters what Operating System I run anyway. My primary applications are Firefox, Open Office, Gmail, WordPress and various Java applications. The first two are platform independant as are most of Java applications. Gmail, WordPress and other services are all web hosted and don’t care about the user’s computer at all.

I will most probably buy a Mac, since it combines the eye-candy of the Apple User Interface and the solid core of Unix security. And it would work well with my iPod, which is the only gadget I like enough to buy a second one when the first one fails. This, of course, depends on Apple not getting too arrogant about their growing market share. Their latest ‘apology’ for virus infected iPods was not a hopeful sign.

Fortunately, there is always Linux. While Linux UI is still not as well integrated as Apple’s, distributions such as [Wendy Seltzer’s plain-english explanation of the Microsoft Windows Vista’s EULA was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. There will be no Windows Vista on my next computer. I am sick and tired of worrying about computer viruses and misbehaving software; having the operating system that decides to remove functionalities or sabotage my work otherwise, is just beyond bearable.

It barely matters what Operating System I run anyway. My primary applications are Firefox, Open Office, Gmail, WordPress and various Java applications. The first two are platform independant as are most of Java applications. Gmail, WordPress and other services are all web hosted and don’t care about the user’s computer at all.

I will most probably buy a Mac, since it combines the eye-candy of the Apple User Interface and the solid core of Unix security. And it would work well with my iPod, which is the only gadget I like enough to buy a second one when the first one fails. This, of course, depends on Apple not getting too arrogant about their growing market share. Their latest ‘apology’ for virus infected iPods was not a hopeful sign.

Fortunately, there is always Linux. While Linux UI is still not as well integrated as Apple’s, distributions such as]4 show great promise. I know some peripherals will need extra care to work well in Linux (like iPod), but I strongly feel that the long term effort will be less than putting up with Windows Vista.

I may still have to use whatever windows my workplace has, but wherever I have a choice, Microsoft will no longer be even in consideration.