I confess, I am actually looking forward to Windows 7. When Vista came out, I jumped ship to Ubuntu. I was tired of boring, clumsy old XP, and Vista’s system requirements were ridiculous. But Microsoft has apparently dialed back the system requirements, so that most circa-2007 computers should have no problem running it.

That alone makes me interested, but one look at the interface shows that Microsoft is once again taking the best elements from other operating systems. The new taskbar is a near copy of Apple’s OSX Dock, and the new, easy-to-use wi-fi network manager is also a near-copy of Ubuntu’s network manager applet.

I don’t have any problem with that, and I really am looking forward to seeing if Windows 7 lives up to the hype. (Although Vista won’t be hard to improve on.)

From Lifehacker, nine things that will not actually speed up Windows. Among them, disabling Microsoft processes, clearing out your registry, and memory “optimizer” programs.

What will work: running SpyBot every now and then to clear out resource-hogging spyware, and using Firefox instead of Internet Explorer so you get less spyware in the first place.

Debunking Common Windows Performance Tweaking Myths | Lifehacker

This summary pretty much says it all:

“When a company as tech savvy as Intel, with full source code access and having written several large chunks of the OS, says get stuffed, you know you have a problem. Well, everyone knows MS has a problem, but it is nice to see it codified in such a black and white way though. Reassuring, like a warm cup of tea, or a public kick to the corporate crown jewels.

The way I see it, you have three options: (1) stick with XP until the next version of Windows if you don’t mind using seriously old—yet still functional—technology; (2) get a Mac, and enjoy cutting-edge technology well-suited to lawyers’ needs; or (3) switch to Linux, save money, and enjoy also-cutting-edge technology on your current machine.

Intel won’t touch Vista | Inquirer (via BoingBoing Gadgets)

Mike Kavis switched to Linux to prove that people can be productive at work without using Microsoft products. One year later, he has proved the point.

I have been Microsoft free* for a couple of months now, as well, using Ubuntu GNU/Linux as my primary operating system, with OpenOffice.org as my office suite. I have not used Microsoft Office in almost a year.

Why do I prefer Ubuntu? Primarily, because it is lighter and faster, more reliable, and more configurable. It has encouraged me to focus on open standards and programs that work equally well on Windows and Mac OSX, so that I can move my data freely between all platforms. It also saves me money, especially on upgrades, although I do believe in contributing to the software projects from which I benefit.

I actually like Windows XP just fine, and always have. But my laptop has a 60GB hard drive, so Vista’s 20+GB install size was a dealbreaker for me. I think Microsoft really went the wrong direction with Vista, but I will not rule out a return to Windows if version 7 turns out to be lighter and faster, instead of bigger and slower.

*I do run Windows XP using VirtualBox (kind of like Parallels or VMWare Fusion for a Mac) so that I can use Adobe Acrobat, since there is still not a good Linux alternative. I also prefer the Windows-only scanner utility for my Fujitsu ScanSnap, since Fujitsu still refuses to support Linux.

I scored a refurbished Gateway computer from Woot last week, which I intend to use as a server. I was kind of excited, because although I intended to wipe the drive and install Ubuntu (Windows Vista is nowhere near stable enough to be a good server), it came with Windows Vista Home Premium. Since I have only used Vista at Best Buy and CostCo, I was pretty excited to give it a thorough try.

I clicked my agreement to numerous things I paid no attention to and Vista took a deep breath, and 15 minutes after hitting the power switch, I was up and running. Only a few more EULAs to agree to, and off we go–where?

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The Windows Vista end-user license agreement (EULA) is a 14-page PDF document. (The EULA for Windows XP Pro SP2, by contrast, looks to be only a couple of pages.)

This is probably the most concerning part of the EULA:

The software is licensed, not sold. This agreement only gives you some rights to use the software.

Oh, you thought you owned your copy of Vista? Nope. It belongs to Microsoft, along with your ability to access all of your client’s data (not the data itself, obviously).

Vista has not been the roaring success Microsoft intended. This is common knowledge. Why? It is a system hog, requiring nearly anyone who wants Vista to upgrade their computer. So upgrading to Vista requires upgrading hardware. This is not 1998 any more. Hardware stays relevant longer and users do not want to have to upgrade hardware with every software upgrade.

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One of Vista’s big security features is the Windows Defender anti-spyware utility. However, you can also get it if you are (wisely) staying with Windows XP. Download it free here. This is a pretty hefty service, though, taking up about 16 MB of memory on my computer.

If you are worried about spyware, this is a great addition. If you are like me, and don’t have much of a spyware problem due to using Firefox, stick with running Ad-Aware or SpyBot once in a while.

Mouse Print dug up this gem from Dell’s website, claiming that the baseline system requirements for a “Vista capable” computer means you can boot the operating system, but not run applications or games. Vista isn’t that pretty.

A friend called me this morning because he was going computer shopping, so I was looking up the minimum system requirements for Vista. And quite frankly, they are pretty hefty. My laptop is two years old (I’m big on efficiency, not the cutting edge), and I felt like I was going overboard getting 1 GB of RAM. But 1 GB is the minimum required to run Vista Home Premium. You need half that for Home Basic, but Home Basic doesn’t have any of the sexy Aero features which is the main reason to upgrade.

So I don’t plan to upgrade any time soon. Like most people seem to be recommending, I will wait until I need a new computer. Although as things stand now, I would probably get a Mac, anyway, and run Windows through Parallels if I really needed any of my old software.