OT: Operating system and the new flashy graphics

[westkoast]

Maybe this is too geeky for some but I am curious on some of your takes on operating systems with flashy desktops....as in do you like the flashy graphics?  Could you careless?  Do you want to upgrade to a newer operating system because of it?

The reason that I ask is a lot of people have told me they want to get a Mac for leopard or they can't wait to get Vista for the flashy graphics on the desktop.  As a linux user I have gone the route of doing all that for free with 0 cost to myself other then time. 

Here is a youtube demo of what I am talking about:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=A8_UOBVyAmI


db I am curious your take on the compiz/beryl buzz.  I know you are much more worried about performance  then flash but it's pretty neat.  Fairly easy to configure (at least in Ubuntu).  Have you messed with them at all?

[Joe Vancil]

For me, it's FUNCTIONALITY and STABILITY.  I tend toward Windows XP, Windows 2003, and Windows 2000 for that reason.

I know people are going to give me crap about using Windows and saying "stability."  But guess what - there are specific applications I want (among them, WordPerfect 2000, FrontPage, Remote Admin, Pinnacle Studio, Quicken, and various games);  Linux isn't an option.

I'd consider VMware - assuming that I hadn't already set up my main Windows workstation already.  And I'm considering a high-end server and VMware for my network infrastructure, and shutting off several of the boxes I have on currently.

That said, I do have a Linux box as part of my home network.  I'm using CentOS as a secondary front-end mail server.  (I have a service - NO-IP.com - as the primary front-end.)  I also use vsftpd for my FTP service (which is normally not active on my site).

I'm sure people are asking "So why IIS?  Why Exchange?"  Simple - because that's what I'm trained in, and that's what I can support easily.  Switching to Apache for web services means a learning curve that I don't want to deal with.  Ditto for setting up all the component pieces of my web site - the blogs, the BBS, etc.  I don't use many of the components, but they ARE there, and they WILL work.

I could care less whether this stuff runs at a command line or in a GUI.  In fact, many of the operations I do in Windows that most people use the GUI for, I simply drop to command line.  I don't care what the interface looks like;  I just want it easily understood for me when I have to maintain my systems.  If it isn't, it'll get replaced.

[Derek Bodner]

I've given compiz-fusion a spin, but I've never set it as my default WM for a sustained period.  I can't see that changing any time soon, either.

I don't have a problem with desktop effects on my desktop, as long as they don't get in the way of functionality.  With compiz-fusion, I still find that to be the case.  It's the same proble I have with E17.  I can't say I've used it enough to really know the ins and outs of all of what it can do, but it didn't feel very mature of an environment to me when I have tried it.

[westkoast]

For me, it's FUNCTIONALITY and STABILITY.  I tend toward Windows XP, Windows 2003, and Windows 2000 for that reason.

I know people are going to give me crap about using Windows and saying "stability."  But guess what - there are specific applications I want (among them, WordPerfect 2000, FrontPage, Remote Admin, Pinnacle Studio, Quicken, and various games);  Linux isn't an option.

I'd consider VMware - assuming that I hadn't already set up my main Windows workstation already.  And I'm considering a high-end server and VMware for my network infrastructure, and shutting off several of the boxes I have on currently.

That said, I do have a Linux box as part of my home network.  I'm using CentOS as a secondary front-end mail server.  (I have a service - NO-IP.com - as the primary front-end.)  I also use vsftpd for my FTP service (which is normally not active on my site).

I'm sure people are asking "So why IIS?  Why Exchange?"  Simple - because that's what I'm trained in, and that's what I can support easily.  Switching to Apache for web services means a learning curve that I don't want to deal with.  Ditto for setting up all the component pieces of my web site - the blogs, the BBS, etc.  I don't use many of the components, but they ARE there, and they WILL work.

I could care less whether this stuff runs at a command line or in a GUI.  In fact, many of the operations I do in Windows that most people use the GUI for, I simply drop to command line.  I don't care what the interface looks like;  I just want it easily understood for me when I have to maintain my systems.  If it isn't, it'll get replaced.

I agree with everything you are saying.  For me Windows is still the easy of the operating systems to support.  I know exactly where to go for everything in Windows whether it's on the server or desktop side.  In Linux I still  have to search and read for help.  Although now that I've used it for a while  I do know my way around it much better.    I still run windows on my laptop because there are some instances where I have to do something and I just don't feel like going through the trouble of getting it to work in Linux.   Just like you I use certain pieces of software like Autocad and Microstation that run in Windows PERIOD.  No real way to get around it.  Although I do want to say a lot of the newer games are able to run in Linux and people are enjoying it (W.O.W, Quake)


db...so far so good but it hasn't been long.  I've had it set for about a week now.  There have been a few problems here and there (sometimes windows look like they burn into the desktop) but for the most part I am enjoying it.  The problem of course is the reason I started to run Ubuntu at home was to get the most bang for my buck.   The system I was using was just one I had laying around, nothing great  (2 ghz Pentium 4, 32 mb video card, 1 gig of ram) In order to do this "flash" I had to remove my AWESOME 32 mb matrox video card and put in a Radeon 9200 I had in another machine.  Now of course I also need more memory.  So it may not stay on long but a lot of people say they want to see the flash in operating systems since they've become so powerful...