Alright, so the dust is starting to settle in my new apartment (!). The books are all still at my old place in (15+) bankers boxes, waiting for me to decide whether to move them here, or put them in storage, to be retrieved one box at a time.
Bought myself a nice “housewarming” gift, too: A new PC (quad-core, 8 GB, 1 TB) and monitor (20″), plus a laser printer.
What I’ve learned over the past week:
Windows 7 is no better than Vista in terms of usability: A 64-bit version of XP would be better than both of them put together. Windows Explorer and Media Player (9) were both easier to use under XP. Office 2003 was far easier to use than 2007, and did everything I needed it to.
I had to Google for how to add Favorites to IE8, and they appear to have removed my (favorite, easy-access) Links menu altogether. I’m no fan of Firefox, but it’s become my main browser just because IE keeps getting harder and harder to use.
The “Show Desktop” icon is now just a little rectangle in the lower right-hand corner of the screen—which causes hand cramps for some people, and is apparently a real pain if you’ve got dual monitors (which I don’t).
And this stupid HP keyboard with near-recessed keys and a double-sized Delete key has got to go. From work, and from my previous keyboard, I’m used to the Delete key being right above the left-arrow button. But now, the Enter key is where I expect the Delete key to be, and Page Up is where Home should be.
Next time, I’m either buying a Dell, or building my own machine from scratch. Probably with XP.
Seriously, if Gates keeps fucking with Windows like this, “fixing” things that weren’t broken, he’ll drive people to the Mac. Because whatever flaws that platform may have, at least it’s usable.
