An Open Letter to Microsoft (who else?)

Dearest Microsoft [sic],

Some twenty-two years ago, you introduced Windows 1.0. Since then, you’ve released five major updates to the Windows kernel, including Windows NT, which changed everything. However, I’ve noticed lately that you’ve been doing a lot more with Windows.

Let’s get one thing straight: Windows is a business desktop operating system. It performs excellently in offices, stores, point-of-sale applications, etc. However, it is not a real consumer operating system. The Windows NT complexity built into Windows XP and Vista has complicated things beyond redemption for end users. Most people don’t even have a network in their home, never mind a server. Most people would be much happier with Mac OS X, if only it were a smidgen cheaper. (You hear me, Apple!?)

Furthermore, Windows is not a server operating system. Nor is it a developer’s operating system. For years upon years Linux has served the best servers and developers. Linux simply is better at this kind of stuff. It’s faster, simpler, more modular. And it’s open source and free – a developer’s dream. Most servers and developers don’t need the kind of functionality Windows provides. Most servers and developers would be happier with Linux. (Are you beginning to see a pattern, Microsoft?)

There’s one more thing, Microsoft, as Steve Jobs would say. There’s one more thing. Windows is not – has never been, will never be – a mobile operating system. Period. There’s not so much to say here – as of yet, there aren’t really any superb mobile operating systems out there. Perhaps Android is the next big thing; perhaps it’s the iPhone’s operating system. Who knows; maybe it’s even Symbian. It’s not Windows Mobile, that’s for sure.

Please, Microsoft, leave Windows on the business desktop, where it belongs, and start developing cross-platform software for those smarter people out there who’ve already abandoned Windows. I’d love to see .Net go truly cross-platform. Don’t port Internet Explorer, though. It just wouldn’t be worth the effort.

Affectionately Yours, [sic]

Ian Sinke

Backing Up Linux

Linux is easier to just do things on than most operating systems. It especially shines, however, when it comes to shell scripting. With bash and a text editor, there’s not much you can’t automate. Today I wrote a shell script to back up my documents (which can be found in /home/yourname on just about any Linux system) to a USB flash drive mounted as disk The script, incidentally, is three lines long.

1. #!/bin/bash
2. cd /home
3. tar czvf "/media/disk-1/backup/backup-`date +%s`.tar.gz" /home/ian

That’s it. This backs up /home/ian with tar to a compressed file with the name equal to “backup-” + the number of seconds since midnight on January 1, 1970 + “.tar.gz”.

If you want to exclude files or folders from the backup, just add “–exclude=filename” to line 3.

Fedora 8 Launches with way cool desktop effects

Red Hat just launched Fedora Linux 8, with a bunch of cool new features, a new theme, and Compiz Fusion desktop effects, like those in Ubuntu 7.10. Even cooler, though, is the fact that your desktop gets lighter or darker depending on the time of day. It’s really Unix-based operating system launch season now – first Ubuntu 7.10 “Gutsy Gibbon”, then Mac OS X “Leopard”, and now Fedora 8. (Why not show your loyalty by voting in the OS Wars?)

DOTW: Ubuntu Linux

You knew it was coming up sometime soon. Ubuntu Linux is this week’s DOTW. I recently installed Ubuntu (Parts 1, 2, and 3) and love it. The Unix enviroment is so much more powerful and much easier to code on than Windows ever was or will be. Get it now, please.