back to XP

ok... in a complete reversal of what i said about the greatness and beauty of the linux ubuntu operating system. I hereby anounce that i am now back to using windows XP. I still have a linux partition. But sadly, i hardly go back to using linux nowadays. The reasons are simple:

Firstly, as a mech eng-er, i cannot live without windows. My solidworks CAD program doesnt run on linux or mac or anyother system but windows. Call it market domination or pseudo monopoly. But solidworks seems reluctant to re-progam their CAD to fit linux or mac since a huge majority of their clients run windows. And this is just one program (a major one of me). There are millions of other programs that are like that; programs that are only windows compliant. Thats the sad truth. So i cant live without windows, and i believe i am not the only one. even macs nowadays support a mac / windows dual boot. hmmm... ever wonder why?

Secondly, the freeware OpenOffice sux in the face of Microsoft Office, without a doubt. I tried both and so as to not sound picky, petty or geeky, i shall leave out the details. You just have to take my word for it. Ok, fine, openoffice is really not too bad considering that it is a freeware. Its usable and livable and only slightly inferior. But the truth is that MS is easier to use, has more fonts, templates, powerpoint backgrounds and many more stuff than openoffice. Also, the openoffice powerpoint equivalent seems to be a tat bit too unstable; the slideshow always seem to skip slides and at times end pre-maturely, i guess its a bug. Just imagine if your presentation slides were unreliable and yet, you have to give a major, important, life-dependent presentation... shit!!! But den again i hope openoffice improves. Not that i am a cheapskate and dun wanna spend money to buy MS. But mindef, and more importantly, DSTA is switching to using openoffice instead of MS to save cost. So its not me that is cheapskate. Its the bloody government.

Another reason why i switched, is that for some reason, my azureus and VLC media player failed to work in ubuntu (linux). It was fine before, den one day, they decided to go on strike without prior notice. I have no idea what went wrong, and am too lazy to find out. I could reformat it and bring everything back to normal. But did i mention that i am lazy? so hello windows XP.

It is quite sad, i was really rooting for ubuntu to be my dream OS. but it was not meant to be. The time is not right. I believe things at ubuntu will improve once more people start using it. So i am sad to say that all those eye-popping, mouth-watering, nose-bleeding special effects and eye-candy that the linux operating system offers, is with me no longer. Its back to the good ol' XP for me. call it software domination, power of the masses or the rule of the majority; so long as there are more people using windows than other operating systems, there will always be more and better software and support for windows. So lets just face it, if you cant beat them... join them... *cliche* *i know...* *sianz* well, on the brighter side of things, i realise that windows also do have their own (inferior) eye-candy too. so i got the vista skin, and docking system. still... quite ugly compared to the real vista or mac or my ubuntu setup.