Tag: Ubuntu

Why doesn’t Windows have Spaces (or Ubuntu’s Workspaces)?

Why doesn’t Windows have Spaces (or Ubuntu’s Workspaces)?

By | | Comments 1 comment

Microsoft used to be the first follower of the computer software.  They used to take all of the good things that were in the OS or software offerings from their competitors and put those offerings into Microsoft offerings.  Now Microsoft is so confused, they aren’t even being good followers.

I want to be fair, it is okay to be a first follower. In fact, it is often a great strategy. They can take the great ideas from the computing world and improve them to offer to their consumers at a much lower cost. This has been the modus operandi of Microsoft for decades. This must be a particular trait of Bill Gates that Steve Ballmer just doesn’t have.  Since Billy left Microsoft, Microsoft cannot even seem to copy good ideas anymore.

My current favorite complaint about Windows is the lack of Spaces that are on the Mac or Workspaces in Ubuntu.  This is the ability to have only certain application showing in a given screen. It really helps to keep your desktop less cluttered as you work. It eliminates having windows behind windows behind windows.  At a certain point you just don’t need those windows open if you cannot click on them in the desktop.  If you have to go to the taskbar to select the window/application that you want, then you have already learned the need for [Work]Spaces as they exist in more modern operating systems than Windows 7.

A good friend that absolutely loves all things Microsoft (he even thinks that their phone OS will someday be successful – LOL) tries to explain this to me. You can download an application that will patch the OS and make this functionality work. Sure, instead of an OS offering I install a hack into the OS and hope it doesn’t screw up everything else. I used one of these hacks when I switched back from Ubuntu to Windows XP and it completely screwed up my Registry. I don’t want to go down that road again with my Windows 7 laptop.  If you would like to try, here are some possible add-ons that might work for you to improve your productivity (try at your own risk – I am not saying any of these are any good):

RANT! No more faith in Microsoft

RANT! No more faith in Microsoft

By | | Comments 0 Comment

After being on an iPhone for a year, I don’t think I could ever go back to a Windows Mobile phone.  I used the Windows Mobile platform for probably 11 years (including the original Windows CE non-phone devices) and it always seemed like the NEXT generation would solve all my problems. The next generation never did come and by the time I gave up, I was in the habit of restarting the phone every morning.

I recently tried to install the desktop search tool from Microsoft.  After several tries and lots of reading online, I couldn’t get the add-on installed that would allow this tool to search my Outlook 2003 files (let alone my Thunderbird personal email).  I gave up and installed Google desktop and was completely indexed on everything in one overnight session.

I have no faith in Microsoft anymore.  I have had to go back to Windows on my laptop rather than Ubuntu but that is just because my 2G RAM laptop was struggling with Ubuntu and a virtual machine with Windows so that I could use Outlook and Office.  If I didn’t have to be completely compatible with the rest of my company then I would likely not have a single Microsoft product on my computer or in my life.

I could survive without MS Office.  OpenOffice does everything that I ever need it to do.  I don’t need the extra functionality that overloads the MS Office product line.

The only product that Microsoft makes that I really like is Windows Live Writer (which I use for blog posts).  But when I was on Ubuntu, I found that Scribe on Firefox was perfectly adequate for my needs.

If I could get Evolution to really work well with our company Exchange server, I would be off of Windows.  I always struggle with the Calendar syncing, calendar invites, and the Global Address Book.  If someone could create a smooth interface to Exchange then it would be goodbye to Microsoft for me!

RANT! WHY CAN’T A DEVELOPER MAKE EVOLUTION WORK OFF OF EXCHANGE SO THAT I CAN DROP MICROSOFT!

I am done with this topic for now but I reserve the right to rant more on it someday.

Qumana for Linux doesn’t work on Ubuntu

Qumana for Linux doesn’t work on Ubuntu

By | | Comments 1 comment

I enjoy using Ubuntu rather than the trash that Microsoft puts out.  I have a dual boot computer so I can always go back to the evil empire if I need to but my default OS is Ubuntu.

Sadly, the tools for managing blogs in Ubuntu are a bit slim so I was excited that Qumana was putting out a version for Linux.  I tried several times to get it working and have come to the conclusion that it is not ready for prime-time.  It simply doesn’t work well in my environment.  So I am still creating posts with Scribefire or the built-in tools that WordPress provides.

Hopefully, Qumana can get this working but for now it looks like it is DOA.

Site info