Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Change Isn't Always the Best Way to Make IT Go

I WANT to get to know Windows 7. I want to make the break from XP to "the latest and greatest". I want to be "up to date" with the latest version. I've got the hardware, and the experience. But something seems to nag the crud outta me.....

Where is everything? Why does it all look SO different? And why is it so darned PRETTY, with translucent window borders and retooled taskbar, but still suffers the slings and arrows of an insecure architectural foundation?

Maybe my foray into this brave new Windows 7 world is gonna be WAY more trouble than I ever imagined....

Okay, so I used the wonderful vLite program to create a customized install of Windows 7. Yes, I understand vLite was made for Vista, but I've seen lots of write-ups and blogs that told me it was compatible with 7. Truth is, 7 shares a very close and common heritage with Vista. It would have been more honest for the marketeers at Microsoft to call it Vista Second Edition, but that's beside the point.

My first steps into the Windows 7 UI, as they were with Vista, continually remind me that everything has changed, the old ways of doing things no longer apply, and the notion of "discoverability" is non-existent. Since I started using Windows in the version 2 days, including Windows/286 and Windows/386, the user interface has remained similar enough between versions that it was no big deal to figure out where to go and what to do when I wanted to do something. Anything. Even the change from Program Manager to Start button was easily assimilated and I moved on and got my work done.

And I was happy. I was able to help others figure it all out, too. I was the technical Go-To Guy at work, at home and among my friends and clients. And I still am, except for Vista and Windows 7. And before you tell me that I haven't spent enough time learning the new ways, let me remind you that a century after the automobile was invented, the steering wheel, gas pedal and brake remain in the same place, doing the same things in the same manner they always did. And drivers can move between vehicles seamlessly and without issue. The same could be said about other utilitarian items in our lives. It makes upgrading easy, a no-brainer. No (re)training and (re)orientation necessary.

The same could easily have been the case for Windows, but because they COULD change it, they did, and the path of experience and utility was torn asunder with a new twenty lane superhighway built in its wake.

So. What's an old dog, longtime user to do in this brave new world? How does the expert take what he or she already knows and make that work in the new paradigm? I thought it would be to simply dive in, get wet all over and start doing stuff the "new" way, but that's the major rub to all this. I can't do things the way I used to do them, the way I learned to do them over twenty-plus years, the way all those books in the office, that cost me so much money, tell me to do them. Heck, just buy some new ones and start from scratch. Right?

No freakin' way. Homie don't play dat.

You know, "back in the old days," WordPerfect was the King of the word processing hill, and when Word came along it offered an optional user interface that mimicked WordPerfect, as well as a help system for WP users. Each time I look at Vista/W7, I ask myself Why didn't Microsoft provide a similar facility to make the transition easier for users of prior versions? These days, a simple collection of Flash videos would do the trick, no need for an extended help system or emulated UI. But let there be no mistake - ANYTHING would have been better than what we got, which was left to figure it out for ourselves.

I am happy that I tried this test install of Windows 7 Ultimate on a secondary system, because if I had gone and set it up on the main production system, I'd be pulling my (remaining) hair out, yelling and screaming, and reaching for that nLited XP Pro X64 install disc and going back to the future.

SOME BACKGROUND

vLite was created by Dino Nuhagic ("Nuhi") as a way to customize Vista install media similar to his very popular nLite for XP. Since I have used nLite (or WinLite) for a few years, I got the knack of what I could change, getting help along the way from tech giants like Charles M. Sparks, AKA Black Viper (www.blkviper.com) and forums like RyanVM.net, DriverPacks and Digital Life, among others. vLite creates a customized install DVD with MY settings and MY configuration, based on the research of the aforementioned Sparks and Company, so I can get Windows MY WAY from the moment Setup is complete.

The great thing about WinLite is its ability to integrate updates, patches and fixes, as well as an entire universe of updated drivers (thank you Wim Leers and distinguished crew at DriverPacks.net) and configuration tweaks to make a version of Windows that is current, faster, safer, and more reliable than anything you can buy at retail or online.

OEMs have NO CLUE how to setup Windows to be resistant to malware (Firefox and extensions are your friends) or viruses (Internet Explorer is an invitation to disaster). They seem to want to flood the new computers with trialware and demoware and what I call SHOVELware that consumes hard drive space and CPU cycles, not to mention adding prodigious amounts of "attack surface" to the system. For what? A few dollars more?

Way to go, guys. NOT.

Nuhagic, Sparks, Leers and the rest have freely given us the tools we need to generate the better way to install Windows, and by freely I mean that these technologies are provided AT NO COST and are free to download, install and use. Sure, like any sufficiently developed technology they will command some degree of technical prowess and understanding. In the Information Age, the search engines are your ticket to finding and leveraging the knowledge trails blazed by others, and then recounted and digested for those enterprising souls who take the initiative to learn new stuff. While I prefer to use Google, I see that Bing from Microsoft is an admirable and dependable second opinion when trying to find relevant information quickly.

By using these customization tools, in concert with applications that are safer (Firefox, Thunderbird, Open Office, Pidgin, ImgBurn, Skype, Foxit Reader, NotePad++, VNC, Hamachi and more), I can create a workspace universe that conforms to MY WAY (no highway option), and lets me get my work done and be creative and branch out to new stuff without limitation, confusion, or restriction. There's a lot to be said about doing things "the old fashioned way" but that's just my opinion and I could be wrong.

But I doubt it.

THE ROAD AHEAD

If I'm going to learn an entirely new user interface (UI), and a new organization for the computer, it would behoove me to investigate further the challenger and "underdog" that is Ubuntu Linux. Yes, I know that it will be WAY different than XP and 2000 and Millennium and 98 and 95 and NT and 3.1.... But Ubuntu is free from licensing restrictions and hassles, open for the world to see and modify, and lighter weight to run faster and more securely than any modern version of Windows.

You've read my other entries about dabbling with Ubuntu, and how I was impressed that things just seemed to work "out of the box". But the challenge to get things done in a similar fashion will remain, as will compatibility issues, and the learning curve of a different universe of applications. But it seems to me that the best way to do this is what I have already been doing for years - start using programs that run on multiple platforms, and migrate to the browser as the center of the productivity mechanism. There are a LOT of great web apps out there and many more coming down the road.

Using open source, web-centered applications will make the operating system less relevant and easier to migrate, whether to newer versions of Windows or to Linux or the Mac, etc. It's a certainty that Windows will continue to "grow the bloat" and take on many new and varied functionalities traditionally reserved for application programs. If we go down that road, and drink the Kool-Aid, as it were, the harder it will be to make the eventual break (if that's what we want) or migrate to safer, more reliable platforms, including mobile computing and ARM-based netbooks, or whatever else the future might hold for us.

Here's the Plan, as it stands now: STAY WITH XP and all its field-tested, battle-hardened features, and use programs that are available on the other major platforms (Linux and Mac) as much as humanly possible. This alone may be the major challenge for some users and enterprises, getting weaned from the Redmond teat. But mark my words: the future will be brightest for the pioneers and trailblazers, not the me-too followers and the technological fashionistas.

NEXT UP - trailblazing and pioneering at the Strelecki Labs outside Atlanta. On the shopping list are Chrome OS, Ultimate Edition Ubuntu, Jolicloud, Moblin, and anything else that comes this way that looks like it could be reliable, safe and productive, and maybe even a little fun. That's the plan, Pilgrims. Wish me luck.

Thanks for reading.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Seven to Get a Second Shot?

Yes, I know I've been railing against Windows Seven and declaring it unfit for my own use, but in the meantime I've been doing lots of reading. LOTS. It seems that this new Windows OS may have some architectural enhancements I was unaware of when I made my high-minded pronouncements, stuff like better utilization of multicore CPUs, actually useful security for antivirus and malware, supercharged network file transfer speeds, and probably more I can't think to gush about right now.

This is not to say I was wrong in my previous analyses regarding Seven's lack of killer features over the venerable and not-so-long-in-the-tooth XP, but it is an admission that I was ignorant of some of the less obvious improvements that have been engineered. That, and I got a FREE COPY at a Microsoft event a while back and have decided that it's just too difficult to leave the darned thing sitting on the shelf and keeping dust off the floor.

My plan revolves around using W7 as the main OS and then virtualize XP if (and when) I encounter a must-have application that has problems working correctly in the new environment. Whereas XP64 would allow me to install an unsigned device driver, W7 "don't play that game" in an effort to preserve system integrity and stability. And that's OK, but for the record, I've not had any problems in XP64 using unsigned drivers. In fact, XP64 has been working sterlingly for six months now, with no bluescreens AT ALL, and that's running 24-7 (no pun intended) as my main workstation.

I am intrigued by web discussions of W7's better affinity management on systems using multicore CPUs, the Intel Core I-series, in particular. My current workstation uses the Core I7-920 on an MSI X58 motherboard with 6GB tri-channel DDR3 RAM, and I'm very interested in testing the ability to get ALL the horsepower I paid for when I do things like transcode video, compress and uncompress files, and do serious multitasking with office productivity apps as well as multimedia processing and web-based browsing, downloading and whatever else I want to do.

As I prepare for this next bare metal clean install, I am assembling the latest drivers and application versions, as well as planning the best way to set it all up. The idea will be to setup W7 (likely Home Premium x64) and tweak it and tune it, then install VirtualBox and XP Pro (x86 this time) to do those (hopefully few) things W7 will refuse to accommodate. I am wary of the reach that DRM has made into MS operating systems, as well as the sheer volume of services that run by default at every boot. My intention is to minimize those services (the Black Viper is your friend) in an effort to maximize performance and eliminate third party controls on my computer.

So for now, the Strelecki Labs are in planning phase, assembling all the good stuff needed to make a clean install successful, as well as taking stock of these last 180 days (give or take) of using XP64. I'll keep you posted as I move ahead.

As always, thanks for reading!