Microsoft@Linux Asia, 2007

After last year's 'GRAND' Linux Asia at Delhi, this year it again revisited the auditoriums of IHC (Indian Habitat Centre). The three day conference stretched from 31^st Jan to 2^nd Feb. But frankly speaking, the show was quite disappointing this time around. The theme of this year's Linux Asia seems to be titled towards business and not on innovation. Many open source promoters like Red Hat and Mandrake remained absent this time around from the sponsor's list. Also, no major open source idol was present except Klaus Knopper (creator of Knoppix). But the most astonishing thing was the presence of Microsoft. Microsoft made its presence felt as the interoperatability sponsor in this year's Linux Asia.

And took the best opportunity for advertising its new operating system, VISTA. What an idea to hype their product in front of open source distributors!! Not suprisingly Microsoft had the biggest stall amidst all other sponsors...through which...they were publicizing MS's new os - VISTA. Some more products were also there, but me will be concentrating on VISTA only.

Ques) Is it worth-it?
Ans) A big NO (if you use Linux), otherwise just NO (if you use XP).

Ques) Ok! I am still on XP, then should I switch over to VISTA?
Ans) READ - FURTHER

I got a 40 min chance to play on that machine and sadly, I wasn't impressed at all. The basic theme of VISTA is to provide a good visual experience to the user. BUT in order to achieve the BEST output, the kind of inputs which VISTA demands is appalling. Note: for best outputs, you need to have 2GB RAM (costs Rs. 5000), in addition to that, a good processor (P4 or Dual). Also, the opearating system itself takes 7GB of Hard Disk, plus the 'Aero' desktop demands 46 MB of RAM at any given time.

Ques) What's new in it?
Ans) Front end functionalities: VISTA's USP - Highly Updated 'graphical user interface' (GUI) with 'Aero' interface that opens in translucent panes, a good looking sidebar, media centre enabled, groove configuration (personal desktop speciality), IE 7 with better security, improved search cum navigation mechanism. Back-end functionalities: add-ons in back-up and restore facilities, improved security, speech recognition.
(reminder - please check your PC's capablity)

Also, these are new things if you are an XP user (subject to your hardware config.). For Linux users - no such special findings (but you will find the GUI really adorable).

Comparison b/t Linux & Vista :-

1) At present too, Linux distros (like FC 6, SUSE 10.2 and many more) provide you with a great GUI - 3D desktop sidespining around a cube, shaky windows, etc.
2) Also, security wise, Linux is unmatched. An interesting incident - on being asked "Difference b/t Linux & VISTA on the basis of security", the MS's technical guy replied "What great has open source delieved...just firefox"...shear frust shown, I guess!!
3) My next point - inclusion of IE 7 but then you have mozilla firefox from long time back.
4) The non-3D featues of Vista can be achieved by an XP user very easily. Many innovative and good looking downloadable themes are available on the net for free.
5) The big reason - U Have To PAY for Vista (cost of buying depends - pirated / original) BUT Linux comes FREE!!

(Just go to any distro site n download for free....burn on CD/DVD...install...play)

MY Answer for Ques No. 2 i.e. switching from XP to Vista
my word on that - WAIT. I can't write NO because if your neighbour installs Vista, he will surely hype and mock at others...then you too will switch......

BUT...then, you always have the option of Linux....go for that and join the open source community( in which, Nobody (& Everybody) owns the community) ;)

Some pics of my SUSE desktop...a treat to eyes ;)

Desktop's Rotations :

TRANSLUCENT panes @ SUSE's DESKTOP

(click at pics for full view)

oh!! 1 min guys....before leaving see some more features of VISTA (click) (;

(Disclaimer - I may be missing some pivotal advantages and noteworthy disadvantages of Vista and some more issues esp. various technicalities such as cache memory usuage, type of allocation system used, etc etc......please mention down in comments)

(c) Ankit Gupta, 2007