Thinking of Buying a New Computer?
Wait until Fall, if you want a Windows computer. Seriously. M$ has announced that Windows 7 will ship October 22 this year, and folks, if you must buy a Windows computer this year, you will benefit by waiting on Windows 7 as opposed to buying a Vista-based computer. Note: Vista has improved somewhat, but it’s still bloated, slower than XP or Windows 7 and far, far too resource-intensive, IMO.
So, if you are planning to buy a Windows computer this year, hold onto your computer dollars, if you can, until Fall and buy a Windows 7 based computer. When you do, think carefully about your intended use, though. There will be several consumer-oriented “flavors” of Windows 7 and you’d probably be better-served in the long run to buy the most advanced-featured version that will run well on the hardware you select.
OTOH, if you intend to run another OS on your new computer purchase (or build), Ubuntu 9.04 (in a fresh install only–an upgrade from 8.10 failed horribly for me), PCBSD 7.1 or any number of other OS offerings (I still very much like Puppy Linux for low-spec machines!) would do well on nearly any new computer. In fact, Ubuntu is offering a netbook-tailored version of Ubuntu 9.04 that could make such low-powered machines much more useful than the Windows 7 Starter Edition that M$ is authorizing for installation on netbooks.
Depending on the user’s needs, I could recommend Windows 7, Ubuntu 9.04, PCBSD 7.1 or Puppy Linux 4.2.1. It all depends on what YOU want to do with your computer, what its hardware is, etc.
Tea With Obama
(With apologies to Bugs Bunny and Pete Puma)
Citizen: Well, I think I’ll have to be goin’ now.
The 0!: Oh, no, you can’t leave yet. You got to have a nice cup of tea with me.
[Drags Citizen to a table]
The 0!: Here we are.
[Serves tea]
The 0!: There’s nothing as sociable as a nice cup of tea, I always say. How many lumps do you want?
Citizen: Oh, three or four
The 0!: [The 0! bunny whacks Citizen on the head with a mallet 5 times and 5 lumps appear on his head] Oh dear, I gave you one too many. Well we can fix that.
[whacks the 5th lump back in his head]
The 0!: There, and here’s a cigar for you.
[The 0! shoves the cigar in Citizen’s mouth and lights it; The 0! runs away; 3 seconds later it explodes]
One election cycle later, if the sheeple are still playing stupid (*duh* Ya think?), this could be the nightmare…
The 0!: Here we are. Tea’s on.
Citizen: But I don’t want no tea. It gives me a headache.
The 0!: Okay, well, what shall we have, then?
Citizen: [Takes out a coffee pot] Coffee! Eeeeee!
The 0!: Okay, we’ll have coffee. Eh, how many lumps do you want?
Citizen: Oh, three or four.
[The 0! hits him with mallet as before, but Citizen has an Acme stovelid on his head; The 0! takes out his Acme stovelid lifter to remove lid; lumps come out, Citizen faints]
*sigh* Stupid sheeple. Lumps are for losers. So later, following that election…
The 0!: …I just dropped by for a little social call, cuz. Say, mighty tender-looking little [child] you got there.
Citizen: Uh… yeah!
The 0!: Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s start the fire and fricassee him. You start the kindling and I’ll get the coal. Uh, by the way, how many lumps do you want?
Citizen: Oh, better get me a lot of lumps. A whole lotta lumps.
[Realizes it’s The 0!; grabs the mallet]
Citizen: Oh, no, you don’t! I’ll help myself.
[Starts hitting himself on head with mallet]
It could happen much that way…