Are You Ready For Windows Now?

I read some very nice reviews about the upcoming Windows 7 operating system, but most of those reviews came from Windows XP users.

Vista people do not seem to be so impressed about it. They find Windows 7 to be no more than a tweak to their current software.

Why is that? Why aren't Windows Vista users so hyped about it? Because it is not so different.

Some sad truths about Windows Vista

• We were not ready for it. Windows Vista was released in 2007 but the beta started back in 2005 when most of the user base was still running single core computers and 1Gb of RAM. Under those specs Vista would theoretically run, but in real life it is a bit different. As a person who spends most of his day in front of the computer I end up having at some point 8+ folders opened at the same time, a browser with 10+ tabs, a web server program for local testing, 2 database engines, Photoshop, and all the other junk (email, Winamp, some Widgets, etc.). Under those circumstances it is very unlikely that a single core machine and 1GbB RAM could stand Windows Vista running flawlessly.
  
  two-core CPUs and 3Gb RAM are today's standards. Every new mid-range machine comes with that hardware base. But of course people is not trying Vista now, they are trying W7 on their new machines. And of course it works! because it has the same requirements of a somewhat similar OS that was finished 5 years ago!
  
  
• Vista is a bad word. There is a largely spread prejudice about it. Last year Microsoft made a public case study called the Mojave Experiment. It consisted basically in asking users who never used Vista what do they think about it. Then they showed them a 10 minutes video about their upcoming project called Windows Mojave, and those users loved it! After picking up comments about Mojave they revealed that it was actually Windows Vista that they were seeing.
  
  
• There is a basic misconception about memory usage. People seem to think that an operating system that has a good memory handling is one that leaves most memory free, unused. This is absolutely wrong. A good operating system should try to occupy all the available memory with data that will be possibly used by the programs that are running, and it should do it wisely, cleaning data that is not going to be used anymore and replacing it with new data. Windows Vista does this, it will try to use from 50% to 70% of your available memory whenever possible in order to make your applications work faster. But sadly this is usually seen as a bad feature.
  
  If you bought 3Gbs of memory for your rig and installed a version of Windows that only occupies 1.5Gbs, basically you wasted your money! Instead of asking why is windows eating up all your memory you should ask yourself: why did all the previous OS sucked so badly on memory usage? I am actually very surprised that MS does not to clarify this more actively.
  
  
• Piracy didn't help. When Windows XP was released some people had fast broadband internet connections but software piracy was not such a big problem yet, since Torrents did not exist and pirating through P2P networks was a good way to get a virus.
  
  Unlike in the case of its predecessor, Windows Vista arrived on a time when everyone around the world had a fast broadband connection and Torrents were the best option for getting software for free. So installing a free activated and fully functional copy of Vista was just a matter of making a few clicks and waiting. XP had its issues with hardware compatibility on its time too, but not so many people tried to switch so fast to XP, because the only way you could get it was paying for it or buying a pirated CD version.
  
  When Vista was out, millions of people opened their torrent clients, got their copies, and a few hours later they started ranting about how bad it was. Perhaps if they had to wait at least a few months before getting it, the prejudice might have impacted in a smoother way.
  

These are not the only reasons but I think this pretty much sums up why people hate Vista. It does have some drawbacks but what software doesn't?

Maybe the next time you install a new operating system from Microsoft you should ask yourself not why they suck so much, but: am I ready to run this?

SUSE Studio: Build Your Customized OS in a Few Clicks

openSUSE and Enterprise SUSE have always been words associated with ease of use and fast setup amongst Linux users, specially those who are having a hard time migrating from Windows.

Many users regard openSUSE as the most user friendly Linux distribution, and it is not a bad description for it, since SUSE developers at Novell have been trying to focus on delivering not only what every other distro could bring, but also:

• An easy to use control-panel-like tool called YASU.
• Maximum compatibility with a wide range of hardware.
• Intuitive interface.
• Most popular out-of-the-box software for general purpose usage.

And I can confirm this as a Windows user, having installed openSUSE in three different machines never had the need to pull out the console screen to configure anything except for having fun and learning the basic commands.

But this ease of use and broad compatibility also brought a problem to openSUSE: every new release was a heavier download than the previous. Sure if you need software that can be installed on nearly every machine available today, its download file will be above 4 or 5 gigabytes and it will take quite long to install since the OS will have to search an extensive driver database to locate and deploy the drivers to your own hardware. Also delivering a huge driver and utilities/applications database sometimes can cause the user to get lost finding what he needs upon installation.

The guys at Novell have been trying very hard to workaround this problem and make it easy for users to find their desired programs and installing only their exact drivers but it all grew in complexity over time with the diversification of hardware. Now you should be able to install an OS also in laptops, netbooks, and all the hardware available in the market. And here is when I need to introduce a new concept before continuing.

"Appliance:" A configured, customized and ready to deploy operating system. It is by definition smaller than a full OS since it contains software aimed to cover one user's or business' needs.

The new solution that SUSE developers designed to overcome the weight problem and simplify the installation of Linux is allowing you to design your own appliances ONLINE! Yes, now you can set up your Linux distribution from the SUSE Studio website. The resulting appliance will only contain what you need, your drivers, your utilities, your theme, and you can download it in a file that has no more weight than a CD.

SUSE Studio Overview

SUSE Studio allows you to set up, configure and customize your own Linux distribution, not only of openSUSE but also of SUSE Enterprise Edition, the business oriented version of the OS. Being a newcomer you can start by picking a template, or as an expert you can choose to build your Linux from scratch. The system allows you to build nearly everything from general purpose systems to web servers and add any application you want to it by picking them from a repository.

A neat and friendly interface with wizards, tips and information will be your companion during the process to prevent you from getting lost in the deep Linux universe. As you add packages and components to your Appliance the wizard will calculate the space required to generate your design.

More advanced users will also find interesting tools for them, you can upload your own packages in case the default Novell repository does not have what you are looking for. Also if you are planning to use your OS in a business across several terminals, you can opt to give your Appliance a business look by picking your name and logo, which will be displayed once installed.

After you finished building your Linux Appliance (a process that according to the splash page, can only take a few clicks) you have the option to download it in any format you want (ISO images for installing, LiveCDs, etc). And if you are not absolutely sure about the resulting software, you can give it a test drive right there in the browser!

SUSE Studio is free to use, but due to the high traffic that it generates on the Novell Servers in the process of generating the Appliances, at the moment it is in closed beta and only accessible through invitations. Though you can sign up for a notification when the system is open to the public.

There is an enormous potential in Software Appliances, and Novell is determined to make the most of it. SUSE Studio is an idea that brings a new layer of satisfaction to an already satisfying experience created by the whole SUSE software family.

Recommended reading: SUSE Studio FAQs

Revisiting Monkey Island

There are hundreds of reasons to be a PC gamer this year, but I think that The Secret of Monkey Island is probably the most pleasant surprise I received in 2009.
LucasArts released the original version back in 1990 when the top gaming technology available was 256 colours on screen. It used the SCUMM engine on which many classic adventure games are based. A few years later (1992) it was re-released with improved graphics, a better UI and a MIDI soundtrack which enhanced the gameplay and put the game back on the shelves.

I was lucky enough to be able to play the earlier editions of the game but for those newcomers and the nostalgic ones who would like to revisit this timeless classic, LucasArts just launched a Special Edition!

Monkey Island Special Edition features:

• New high resolution 32-bits graphics


• Remastered soundtrack


• Voice acting


• A flashback feature that allows you to quickly switch between the original and the new edition by just hitting a key

I find myself hitting the F10 key all the time going back and forth with a smile remembering how great Monkey Island was and what an awesome job they did with the art on this one. The gameplay is almost untouched except by the UI which was simply truncated to gain space on the screen. The action panel was replaced by a smart pointer that can switch the actions with the mouse wheel or keyboard shortcuts.

The voice acting makes the game feel much more realistic, and the 2D-like graphics are charming and innovative but preserve that memorable touch that make nostalgic gamers smile on every screen. Some newcomers might not like the artistic work since it is not 3D like all the modern adventure games, but I think this was essential to preserve the game's classic feel.

The release of Monkey Island Special Edition is great news and this hopefully means the resurrection of a beautiful game genre, with many more titles to come.

Youtube and Digg to drop IE6 support, who's next?

At this point it is not necessary for me to tell you anything about Internet Explorer 6. If you are still using it you would not be reading this blog in the first place. And even if you were, you would find out the great deal of internet that you are missing. As you probably know IE6 does not support (or at least not out of the box) many CSS, javascript and multimedia features that are so widely spread in today's internet usage, not to mention its 142 security vulnerabilities, 22 of which are unpatched as of January 2009. But its market share ranges from 5% to 25% depending on which website you measure it, so it has been a real pain in the backside for every puny webmaster who is asked by his clients to add IE6 support in their websites.

Recently there has been a trend to bury IE6, led by many, many, many, many web developers who are sick of finding a workaround for every fancy feature that they want to add to their pages. But hey, nobody cares about developers!

Yeah nobody cares about developers, but companies care about their money, and they realized how much effort and money they have to spend on developing IE6 compliant applications. Many of them even have to create entirely different IE6 versions of their CSS stylesheets, JS libraries and images due to the differences between the assets needed to make a site run across the different browsers.

Youtube is the leading company in online video playback, and is daily watched by millions of people having reached its milestone of 100M US viewers in 2008. Anyone can watch videos in Youtube and registered members can upload an unlimited amount of videos which are immediately indexed by its powerful search engine. It is owned and powered by Google.

Digg is one of the biggest (about 3 million users strong) content-focused social networks, famous for its well known "Digg Effect", a consequence of driving insane amounts of web traffic towards smaller sites when posting links in the network.

Apple MobileMe is a service that allows Apple users to sync all their devices using one single application without wiring the devices together.

What do these three websites have in common? They all decided to stop supporting IE6.

Who else stopped supporting IE6?

There is no official list of websites known to have dropped IE6 support. Google already wrote in several occasions encouraging users to stop using IE6 in favour of Firefox or Chrome, also Microsoft, the browser's owner and developer often urges their users to upgrade to IE8. There are collaborative lists made by webmastwers who decided to end the support, such as IDroppedIE6.com. You can also find Facebook groups, Twitter, and forum campaigns and so on, but hey, we're not promoting hate here.

Is IE6 really so bad?

It is a bad browser for today's standards. When it was created there were not many devices or programs that could access the web, IE6 along with 5 held up to 95% of the market share in 2003, and most webmasters did not really care about the W3C HTML4 recommendation since nobody was thinking of the alternatives. IE6 was designed to work with the most common practises of web development in the late 90's and early 2000's. This lack of vision in the past, and the variety of browsers and internet devices widely adopted presently, led to the current situation with websites trying to be standard compliant but still topping 25% of traffic from IE6.

If you want to create a 100% IE6 compatible website today, you will end up losing many hours installing workarounds for features that it does not support, and chances are you will break any of the w3c recommendation rules. And if you are not so lucky to find the workarounds, your website will lack some features in IE6 that in the other browsers will work flawlessly.

Who uses IE6?

Users who browse internet on IE6 belong to any of the following groups:

• Companies/Organizations that have old versions of Windows on their machines, on which the newer browsers are not supported.
• Companies/Organizations that run Windows XP on their machines, but users don't have administrative permissions on their terminals to install new browsers.
• Novice users who were sold a PC with a pirated copy of Windows XP installed on it. Illegal WinXP copies have automatic updates disabled and those users may not know how to manually upgrade or install newer browsers.
• There are some users willingly browsing internet on IE6, but they are regarded as a minority.

Should I worry about them?

Some developers care about supporting IE6, but it is mostly the website owners and not the developers who ask for such feature. Any professional programmer can say that if your website is w3c compliant, it is not really your fault that it does not work with an eight-years-old browser.

My website is broken on IE6, what should I do?

Check your own statistics, if your traffic from IE6 is high enough to represent a threat, it would be worth to find the problems and workaround them. If your IE6 users are a minority you might want to put a warning to be displayed for IE6 users only. There are several pre-fabricated ones that you can easily implement.



Some useful links:

• Standalone IE6 Warning, published at Google Code, by the user: mihai.ile.
• Another standalone, but less intrusive message that is being used here at this blog.
• Shockingly Big IE6 Warning, a Wordpress plugin.
• IE6 Warning, Joomla extension.

Whatever option you use, try to follow these suggestions:

• Don't put a very intrusive message, some users are not able to upgrade and they will be annoyed to have a window popup on every screen.
• Don't mislead users, to keep a consistent user experience, encourage IE6 users to upgrade to newer versions of IE rather than showing biased messages in favour of FF or Chrome.

Geek Hero Comic

When you get to spend enough time in front of a computer you end up finding different ways to chill out during work breaks, and I one of my favorites is reading the Geek Hero Comic.



Geek Hero is a comic about Randall (friends call him Randie), a hardcore geek with the sweetest heart. Randall is an Open Source developer for a large company, a Debian user and sometimes doesn't relate well with his peers!



Geek Hero Comic is created and published under a Creative Commons license by Salvatore Iovene, if you are interested on his work feel free to visit his site, you may also find iPhone applications, iGoogle widgets and several other formats in which you can read the page.