Back on Windows from Mac

So I’ve been holding off this post for awhile because I wasn’t too sure if I was going to post it or not because it’s about Windows. Not that I’m some Windows hater but I don’t find writing about it interesting but the story on how I got back onto Windows is. About a few months ago my brand new Macbook blew up. Yes blew up while plugged into a surge protector on my desk. I’m not exaggerating  the motherboard melted. I take better care of computers than I do my own car. I clean & maintain them because my computer is my tool and source of entertainment. Ok, I’m a huge geek in love with his computer so sue me.

While this is the second Mac I’ve owned in the last 3 years I couldn’t believe this 2 thousand dollar machine blew up. While I was able to get it fixed (luckily) by sending it back (I went to the Apple store and almost got into a fight with the Apple genius because they refused to fix it. Trust me I was pissed and I’m a pretty laid back dude). I needed a replacement computer asap because I was doing all of my side work on a tiny 12 inch lenovo that I had. I didn’t feel like forking out 2 grand on another Mac and decided to get a Lenovo T430u.

 

All in all it’s a great machine. The thing is built like a rock and feels solid while the only complaint I’ve had was the screen resolution which is 13something by 768 which seems bad until I started using it more realizing that this resolution was good because I felt less eye strain after a long hard day on the computer and a long night on the computer.

I Went With Windows 7 Instead of Windows 8

I have said this before and I’ll say this again. Every other version of Windows is good. Vista sucked, Millenium sucked and 2000 sucked. It’s how Microsoft rolls. I used Windows 8 for months before it went RTM and thought it was a bloody mess of confusion, full of compromises and just plain bad.

Before I get into any more Windows 8 bashing let me just say that I’ve searched hard for an OS that I don’t complain about. I’ve used dozens of Linux distros from Linux Mint, Ubuntu and to some really obscure xfce distros to Windows and Mac and I still can’t find a fast, dark themed, windows snap perfect machine (with unix like) terminal of my dreams. I’ve found issues with all OS’s but lately I’ve experienced less compromises with Windows 7.

The first thing I did was theme the crap out of Windows 7. I got rid of the glass crap and found a really nice black theme. Then I replaced Git Bash with Console2 which makes working with unix like commands on Windows a pleasure. Features such as transparent background, tabs and copy and paste make console2 killer on windows, which is my Iterm2 replacement.  From there I added HeidiSQL to replace SequelPro.

While Windows is Windows and it has it’s fair share of glitches here and there, I’m not missing the Mac at all. With that said, I’m afraid for the future of Desktop OS’s. Ubuntu’s unity killed it for me, Linux Mint is great except for the window aero snap glitches, the Mac is too expensive and I can’t get over not being able to alt + tab over to a minimized window, and Windows 8’s promise of a tablet/Desktop OS consolidation is (in my mind) a failure. I see the Mac bringing more IOS features to OSX, I see Ubuntu trying to make money any way they can and I see Windows 9 being all metro packed full of gimicks and half promises. My last hope is that Google’s Chrome OS will  add Adobe Products a terminal and the apt-get install system from Linux. Or some type Desktop OS virtualization option.

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