Windows 7 is on my laptop again. One year of Linux — that was a very long time. I can say I have successfully tested it, and that I can have an unbiased viewpoint of how it met or did not meet my needs.
I thought I’d share a few thoughts. I felt as if I was abandoning Linux when I started to create an NTFS partition. The little penguin in the back of my mind was attempting to scream in pain, like I was pushing a very dull knife into its throat bringing it to a slow and painful death. (You see, if you picture that in your mind, it is quite sad.) Then I realized something: I wasn’t abandoning Linux, I have two servers running Linux in my home, plus others elsewhere. Linux on my desktop just wasn’t doing all that I wanted it to do.
In fact, Linux did everything I needed it to do. Word processing, email, calendar, Internet, music; these are the things that Linux was exceptionally proficient at. It did not, however, play the three games that I occasionally play very well (The Sims 3, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and it did not play The Sims 2 at all). It had problems with my MP3 player which I had just “dealt with” by being passive aggressive about the situation (you know: hinting to my computer that I would kill its’ motherboard in the middle of the night, or start offing its’ child processes when they went to sleep).
Linux was also having problems with my WiFi, though I admit I did not have these problems in Ubuntu alone, I was not prepared to go back to Ubuntu over Windows due to the Unity desktop. Linux also had problems with my graphics card after the upgrade to Ubuntu 11.04 and Fedora 15; I could not use the S-video connector on my laptop to connect to my TV, for example, and PlayOnLinux with WINE was unable to run 3d games. These issues I attempted to address, but was not able to solve.
I could never get Linux to use VNC for remote desktop. This is a problem I have always had in Linux. I have Windows 7 Professional, which uses a great remote desktop protocol. (RDP – remote desktop protocol).
So, due to these inconveniences and many more, I backed up my computer again and installed Windows 7. This means, of course, that the blog naturally will now again focus more on Windows than Linux, but Linux shall not be forgotten.
My transition back to Windows was a little rough. I had been using Gnome so long, I just kept clicking in the wrong place for the start menu, and Gnome 3 screwed me up even more. I placed the start-menu bar on the left-side of the screen and made it auto-hide so I can hover over it and access running and pinned programs, just like the Gnome3 taskbar. Getting used to the Interface is only a small price to pay, I believe.
A note about me and gaming: I don’t play games very often; however, when I have too much free time, I’d rather control simulated people than watch television. While I am attending college, this time that I have is often less than once a week. For example, the last time I played Grand Theft Auto and The Sims 3 prior to this week was over two months due to a heavy workload I received for the quarter.
There are still many instances where Linux would be appropriate. I think Linux is more than enough for any office computer, for example. I also believe it is a great netbook operating system, but even more: a superior server operating system suitable for many operations.
