Contrary to popular belief, I’m not a linux-purist.

That does not mean I’m a Windows freak, or anything of that sort. I just use the environment I see fit for the task at hand.
When I code from home, I mostly use Komodo under ubuntu. When I’m at work, I still use Komodo, but I need to use Windows — work policy. Obviously, if I need to code in Java, I use Eclipse and if I need to code in C/C++ I’ll use good ol’ notepad2. When I’m on Windows, I IM from Digsby, it’s a great application and I’m an alpha tester, so I get to see the cool features even if they’re never pushed to the public. When I’m under Linux, I use Pidgin, because it’s a great piece of software. When I need to chat from my mobile, I use fring, because it simply blew my mind.

The point is: I’m trying to not get tied to one platform or application. It’s like buying an uber-keyboard. It’s great, at first. You have all those shortcuts, a scroll wheel right on the  keyboard, quick application launchers, a layout that makes better sense — and then you go to work and it’s a totally different keyboard and half the time, you’re looking for the on-keyboard scroll wheel. All because you got used to YOUR keyboard. So I changed IDE’s, changed themes, kept the taskbar on the top of the screen, used very different IM clients — all that huey.

In that spirit, I’ve tried out a lot of operating systems. I’ve tried out most public versions of Windows, Debian(not ubuntu), Red Hat, Ubuntu,and even UNIX, though not for long. I’ve found features I’ve loved in all of them and picking a favorite is impossible. I’ve spent most of January 2009 on Windows 7.

I know it’s still in Beta, but it’s the best Windows I’ve tried yet. It’s blazing fast, super sleek and plays nice with networks and hardware. You should know all this by now. It’s so stable right now that I’m actually using it as my primary OS on my laptop. Did I mention I get more battery life on Windows 7?

I love the new taskbar and how tasks are now seen. The revamp on that interface was long overdue, and the people over at Redmond did a great job. I’ve tried out my favorite apps right away, like Opera, Digsby, Flash, Chrome, Total Commander and notepad2. They all work great. I’ve managed to set up a working webserver too. So there’s no problem with application support, for me. I don’t play games so I don’t care about apps like DeamonTools or Alcohol120% or about the games for that matter. So I really have all I need.

The things I really like are the real respect for ACLs and file rights. The UAC is refined, I actually keep it on for some actions. It’s not annoying and could prove useful. The new system tray is… wow! I was amazed at how you can configure what icons to show, how they notify you, if they notify you, or anything else you can think of.

I think people had a hard time accepting Vista because of how everything was changed. Few things were where  people thought they knew they’d be. That can cause issues, especially for sysadmins. Also, the incompatibility issues with some programs also yielded a negative reaction. Even I shunned when I found out I could not install Zone Alarm Pro on Vista. That was actually the only problem I had with Vista, but it was a big one. Now, with Windows 7, everything I needed worked, so I knew I was going to keep using Windows 7 for a while.

The only thing that kinda-sorta bugs me is that ‘Send Feedback’ message on.every.window. Luckily, I found a way to remove that. All it took was a simple search in the registry and some intuition. Open your registry editor, go to current user / control panel / desktop and find the key named FeedbackToolEnabled. Its value should be 3, change it to 0 and you’re done. Well, you still need to restart, because Windows 7 is still Windows. If you don’t understand how to do what I’ve just said, you shouldn’t be using Windows 7 yet.

I’d like to end this with a big thumbs-up for Microsoft!