r3idcardwell.com

If you’re a prisoner user of Windows, now may be a good time to consider your options.  Windows 7, as the successor to Windows Vista is currently called, is in various stages of beta testing.  If you own new hardware, early tests indicate you should be able to upgrade with few problems from Vista to 7.  However, if you’re like most individuals and businesses these days, you don’t have brand new hardware.  You may even be like me, where most of your systems are still running XP.  Five of the six machines I have running windows are still on XP.  I do have one that’s stuck with Vista because it’s a cheap piece of trash laptop and the USB ports and DVD Rom no longer work due to heating issues.  But I digress.

What are our chances of upgrading from XP to 7?  Early tests indicate that they are not so good, regardless of Microsoft’s assurances that all will be ok.  The “preferred” upgrade path from XP to 7, per Microsoft, is through Vista.  Regardless of the obvious profit motivation for Microsoft to push this path, older hardware just doesn’t make the transition well.

So what do those of us with older hardware do?  In this economy, very few of us can afford to invest in new hardware just to be ready for the latest version of Windows, and if history is any indicator, support for XP will be going away.  We are either going to have to risk running an old (and soon to be) unpatched OS, or we’re going to have to invest in new hardware to run Windows 7.  At least, these are the only options Microsoft wants you to have.

If you have the ability to invest in new hardware, it’s time to look at a Mac.  I’ve never had the opportunity to own a Mac due to cost, but I have used one on occasion and it’s really nice.  The underlying OS is rock-solid and the interface is user-friendly.  If you can afford it, this is definitely the way to go.

But if you’re like me, new hardware just isn’t in the budget.  What to do?  In addition to the Windows machines, I also have two running Ubuntu Linux.  It used to be that if you used Linux you were definitely a computer geek, because of all the gymnastics you had to go through to get it running.  But these days it’s different.  You can (legally) download an installation CD for Ubuntu Linux (or another distro, if you want) and boot from the CD to see how well it works with your hardware.

I have installed linux on several machines over the years, and the latest installations setup everything I’ve needed out of the box.  Graphics cards, wireless, everything.  Not only that, you also get several choices of office software comparable to MS Office.  I sync my Blackberry Curve, watch movies, listen to music, basically everything I can do with Windows.  All for the cost of a blank CD.