I may have mentioned a couple of thousand times on here that I am a geek through and through. I have been using computers since 1983, where I was introduced to the Apple ][+ in high school (interestingly, for French class) and promptly convinced my mother that I needed a VIC-20 for the next gift giving holiday. I have been online with an active e-mail address since 1985. I used Windows even before I was using Windows-Windows-Windows/386 (props to the person that gets that obscure Windows marketing reference).
I am a lucky man in that I have a few computers in the house. Okay, we have eleven, including the two servers and the media controllers. We are mostly a Mac shop, but I also have my two Lenovo computers, a desktop and a laptop. Both have served me well and I feel I made the right decision in buying these, however, I have alternated between running Windows 7 and Ubuntu Linux on these computers because I haven’t really found the combination for the perfect fit. The geek in me says that I should be running Ubuntu Linux because real geeks run Linux and I will lose major points if I don’t follow that trend. Admittedly, my livelihood is doing the Linux (and Solaris) thing for the phone company but I still use Windows XP on my desk at work to get to the Linux servers. Though remarkable progress has been made in a very short time, I have to say that Ubuntu Linux is just not ready for the desktop for the average user. Case in point: Ubuntu Linux’s version of iTunes is called “Ubuntu One”, which debuted earlier this year. I believe they tie in with Digital 7 in the UK. The program of choice to do all this is called Rhythmbox. This combination downloads your purchases into the “cloud” so that you can access them from several computers instead of just one. Cool enough. However, because of the territorial squabbling that is going on, you can’t really sync your iPod to Rhythmbox, you definitely can’t sync a Zune to Rhythmbox and with a little bit of coaxing you might be able to sync your Droid with Rhythmbox. It should be plug and play with the most popular devices. I don’t want to go to Staples, get led into a dark room to buy the Wombat Audio Terminator Three with six LEDs and flashing earbuds in order to sync with Rhythmbox.
Another thing that drove me crazy about the Ubuntu One store is that it took three days to download one album. Three days. I could have driven to Kylie herself and had her sing into the webcam or something faster than that.
So now I’m putting Windows back on the Lenovos in an attempt to maintain a relaxed sanity when it comes to using computers outside of work hours. For the curious, I’m always relaxed at work because that’s what I do.
Now, it’s time to click NEXT.
