Home Computing - what do you really need?

As I was taking Windows 7 for a test drive at home, I realized something. At work, I need a Windows machine -- why? -- to run MS Office and Visual Studio.

I started thinking about Operating Systems, Applications, and processing power.

At home, it's a totally different story. If I'm not doing any development, I only need a Windows-based PC for 2 things: iTunes and Quicken. There are music programs and other financial tracking programs available for other operating systems, but I reeaallllyy like those, so I need a Windows box until Intuit and Apple make a version for Linux.

Really, most of what I do any more is in the browser. I don't even use MS Office at home. I use Google Docs. I also use Email, Twitter, and Facebook...all in the browser. Sometimes I use my PC for general web surfing and some graphic editing, but that's about it. I'm not a gamer, so processing power isn't really a big deal either. So along with not necessarily needing Windows. I don't even really need a speedy processor, just enough to run smooth video.

So, for home computing, Ubuntu Linux has been awesome. I can do everything I want to do. I could run Quicken using Wine (Windows emulator), but I choose to use VirtualBox to run a virtual Windows XP box for that. It runs great only using 512MB of RAM, and comes up and shuts down in just seconds. I keep my iTunes on another physical box that has happens to have Vista on it. I've been very impressed with Google Docs. I have a couple of big spreadsheets on there and it's been a really good word processor as well. They keep adding new features all the time, and I don't even miss MS Office. Plus, with my docs stored online, they're accessible to me from any computer. They're not stranded at home on one PC.

Ubuntu is free. Google Docs is free. Email is free. Seeing a pattern here? We all know someone who has a shiny new name-brand PC that has all the bells and whistles, that they got for well over $1000. For what? Home use? Email and web surfing? Sounds like a waste of money to me. Think about what you really need; what you're really going to use a PC for the next time you go to buy. Maybe you don't need a monster machine. Maybe a netbook would do the trick, or a PC for a couple hundred dollars. My laptop, a Compaq Presario C500 was only $400, and I love it.

Windows 7 - Test Drive in VirtualBox

I installed windows 7 on VirtualBox using Vista as the host. The VirtualBox drive is sitting on an external USB drive. I re-booted my laptop in to Ubuntu and made reference to the Windows 7 machine within VirtualBox. Now I'm typing in the Windows 7 VirtualBox running inside Ubuntu Linux 8.04 and using only 512MB of RAM dedicated to it and 128MB for video. It's working great!

Now I can play with Windows 7. I'm totally in love with VirtualBox...and it's free. I'm in geek heaven right now.

Oh, and for those of you that know I'm also in love with Firefox...that's the first thing I installed on the Windows 7 box. :)

Firefox or Firefix?

I loooove Firefox.
But suddenly it won't open at all. I keep getting this...even in "safe mode".



Ok, now after rebooting, it's fine again, and I just noticed there's a new version "3.5". Woohoo! It claims to be twice as fast as Firefox 3, and so far, I believe them. This browser rocks!!!