Saturday, February 03, 2007

On upgrades

So, as most of you must've surmsed by now, I'm now back into this thing called "college life". I must say, I really did miss it. And, despite Sagrado's reputation for having a mostly snobby, rich-kid populace, I have managed to find solace in souls like my own. In other words, I hang out with the fuck ups and the screw ups and the art/humanities/revolutionaries. So I'm happy.

The only thing that was slightly wrong was the fact that I lacked a computer. Yes, I have my faithful desktop, which I love to death despite that a. it runs on 256MB of RAM; b. it sometimes feels like pissing me off for the hell of it; and c. the CD drive is now waging war against me. But, despite Sagrado's much-improved wireless network, there's not 'net connection in the dorm rooms, just in the lobbies. So, as one might imagine, bringing a desktop is impractical, considering that I can't drag it to the lobby and set it up every time I need to do work. Therefore, a laptop is a necessity...preferrably one with an integrated wireless LAN. In my case, since I'm now a Communications student, a Mac would've been the best choice. But I'm poor. And so are my lovely parents. Despite this, my dad (who I love dearly even when he's pissing me of 3/4ths the time) surprised me when I got home yesterday, ready to spend the weekend here: I had, on my bed, a brand-new Compaq Presario laptop, wrapped in adorable Hello Kitty wrapping paper.

Needless to say, I was quite shocked. I mean, I know my parents do their best to provide for me and my older sibling, but we're not rich, not by a long shot. So for my dad to get me this brand-new laptop that I'm currently typing on was more than I could've ever asked for. To further my surprise, it's one of the first ones to come packed in with Windows Vista Home Basic. A new computer AND a 3-day-old OS. In my own words: squee! Granted, I had originally planned to leave upgrading to Windows Vista for a year...but oh well.

So then, what's the deal with Vista and it's 20 different versions? Well, first, that's an exaggeration. There are, currently, four versions, and each depends on a computer's specs. Home Basic is the least taxing and the simplest, and is the one I currently run. There's also Home Premium, Business and Ultimate. These three are all 3D and are all "oh my god, my eyesockets are exploding!" Hme Basic is more like a shiny version of Windows XP, with differences that are only obvious once you sit down and actually use it. As usual, there're the pro-Microsoft people claiming that this is the next coming of computer OS's. And there're the anti-Microsoft people, divided into Linux lovers and Mac whores, who all claim that Microsoft is at least a few years behind in creating these upgrades for the mainstream OS world. Some people say that Vista is great, others scoff and say that it sucks.

From someone who's curretly using Vista at this exact moment as s/he types, what do I think of Windows Vista? Well...I'll summarize it like this: Windows Vista is actually like what would happen if Mac OS X mated with the bastard child of various Linux distros, had a child, and had Windows puke all over said child. Do I mean this in a good or bad way? In a good way, actually. My analogy simply means hat Microsoft is now making massive efforts to create an OS that's easy to use and is safe from things like hackings and syware, andd they're doing a great job thus far, about four days after Vista's initial release. Things are more streamlined, easier to access and figure out, and there're far less headaches.

However, note the Mac OS X and Linux distros comparation. A lot of the way things are presented visually are almost a carbon-copy of Mac OS X. Some of the way the menus configure strongly reminded me of a couple of Linux distros I'd tried before. I mean, imitiation is the best form of flattery, or so they say, but I do agree with some comments made that these upgrades should've been done years ago. Better late than never, I suppose. Another thing I don't get: why is it impossible for me to find my integrated WLAN adaptor's MAC address? Sheesh, talk about way too much trouble. At least it's not something I detrimentally need.

So, overall, do I recommend upgrading? Yes and no. Upgrade if you have the money and if your computer's got the specs to run it. Even better, upgrade to any version asides Basic if you can run it, so you can say that your eye sockets exploded due to the awesomeness. But, if your computer can't run any version, if you don't have the money to buy the upgrade, or the money to buy an entirely new computer, don't bother for at least a year. I've yet to encounter serious problems, but if previous Windows versions are anything to go by, I expect to find a bug or five soon, and the obligatory service packs with patches to fix it. Basically, if you're going to be an early adopter like me, do it while keeping in mind that from here to three years, Vista might be quite upgraded and far better. Also don't bother if you're a Mac crackwhore and would love nothing more than to be buried with your Mac.

I myself don't hate Macs by the way. It's my goal to own a Mac by the time I'm in my third year of college, actually. If I'm going to be into radio, I'll need it to edit sound. I'm just not an ardent whore of any OS. Whatever gets the job done, I'm happy, really.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry, but there's nothing like a Mac.

P.S. It's almost impossible to read you...