The Great Operating System Debate…
…and how it affects your life once you move in with the love of your life-your programmer.
Let’s look at my operating system timeline as an example.
Late ’90s: I discover computers; computers loaded with Windows. I muddle through email, WordPerfect, and become addicted to Civilization (one of my few claims to geekdom).
2000: Dating my programmer in earnest. He moves in. My computer becomes “duel booted”. When I start the computer I can choose to use the latest version of Windows or Linux.
2000-2002: Viciously defending my Windows partition. Not because I care whether I use Windows, Linux, or any other OS, but I LOVE playing my games. My line in the shag carpet: I’ll switch to Linux completely when I can still play my games. My programmer proposes.
2002: The programmer subscribes to and installs Transgaming’s CedegaTM, sets it up on my computer so all my favorite games run, and Windows takes a permanent hike. I marry my programmer.
2002-present: Happily living in an Ubuntu computer environment.
The point of this example is not which OS I’m using, but the fact that I don’t really give a crap (sorry, love). I’ve heard the Pros and Cons for every OS debated heatedly (over beer, of course). The arguments start off technical (Linux is too hard to install) and usually disolve into personal attacks. Steve Jobs is an egotistical kook. Or, as an Apple Fanboy states in why he thinks Macs rock (and therefore Windows sucks):
“Bill Gates is evil. How can you pay the Devil?”
I nod, I grunt in agreement or sympathy regardless of which OS is being vilified or worshiped, but my eyes are glazed over and I’m secretly wondering where the waitress got her awesome sneakers.
So how do you stay sane when your computer is about to be hijacked by an unfamiliar OS?
1. Lay down the ground rules. Let your programmer know what programs you cannot live without. Do you need a special graphical or statistics program? Do you need certain games in order to relax? Do you want plug and play capability for your camera or MP3 player? Make sure you tell them your specifications. It won’t make the programmer mad-if anything, they’ll see it as a quest, to see if they can find equivalent programs or a way to use them with their OS of choice.
2. Get your programmer to sit down with you and run through the system, showing you what is the same and what is different. Be very clear that you just want to know how the programs work-not why they work. Side Note: This is where I arouse the ire of programmers everywhere; I see little difference between what I call the big three (Mac OS X, Windows Vista, and, say, a Linux distribution like Ubuntu). Macs are really bubbly, Windows looks like a Kindergarten class bulletin board, and Linux distributions range in looks between bubbly and elementary. They all have office suites, they all can surf the internet, they all store your files. Yeah, yeah, I know they all do these things differently behind the scenes, but I’m really not interested as long as it works.
3. View this as an adventure. Don’t be afraid to learn something new. Remember, learning new skills may keep dementia and Alzheimer’s disease at bay. Also, you’ve now got another skill to put on your resume.
4. Not willing to compromise or don’t trust your programmer to obey your technology wishes? Come up with a really good login password and don’t tell your programmer. Threatening to delete all his or her MP3s also works (yes, I had to stoop to threats at one point).
