#lang pollen

◊(define-meta title "Is Windows ready for the desktop?")
◊(define-meta published "2009-08-28")
◊(define-meta topics "Windows problems,Linux")

I’ve been having issues on my Sony VGN TZ190 ever since I installed a certain operating system on it, shortly after I bought it in 2007(Yes, even I have computer problems I can’t seem to solve):

◊ul{
◊item{About every seventh time I open a file window, the file browser crashes and complains that it was because of my Bluetooth driver, for which no update is available from Sony. Now it ◊emph{is} stupid that Sony has not provided an update, but there is no good reason whatsoever why a Bluetooth driver should be crashing my file browser.}
◊item{When I start my computer, and at least once a day, I get a message that says “Sony Vaio Services (sub-module) has stopped working.” I have no idea what this is, really, or how it’s affecting me.}
◊item{The Fn keys for screen brightness do not work at all. The Fn keys for volume control work but do not provide any visual feedback.}
◊item{After working for two years both the programs that play DVDs now crash when I try to play a DVD.}
◊item{Printing to a network printer is essentially broken. If you try, the program from which you are printing will hang for a good 5-10 minutes before sending the job, and then it will only print half the time.}
◊item{Wifi connnects easily to wireless routers, but every once in awhile will not allow connections all the way out to the internet. I have to ◊link["no-internet-access-over-wifi-infamous.html"]{run a command-line program} to get it working again.}
}

Looking at this list, you’d think I was running a Linux distribution from 2005. ◊strong{No, these are all problems I’m having with Vista, SP2 no less.}

By contrast, I recently downloaded ◊link["http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Netbook_Remix"]{Ubuntu Netbook Remix} (version 9.04) and gave it a shot, and guess what? Everything worked flawlessly with no configuration necessary, including all the Fn keys on my Sony Laptop’s keyboard, which I would have thought would depend on some vendor-specific drivers. And it’s ◊emph{speedy}, even running off of a Sandisk USB flash drive.

I don’t know how long it will take for Linux to be truly ready for the corporate world. But for private persons, Windows and Linux seem to have changed places while I was asleep. It’s now Vista that’s the haggle-draggle OS requiring command-line fixes and plagued with buggy drivers.