I still don’t understand the Lame Duck Challenge Free Offer, but that’s because CodeWeavers had to put up a bare-bones, reduced bandwidth version of their home page after their servers got slammed. Apparently, for some reason that may or may not have something to do with The Chimperor, they have put up fully unlocked builds and are offering free serials for CrossOver Pro and Crossover Games, today (Tuesday) only, and apparently, they seriously underestimated what would happen to their poor servers once the news hit not only Digg, but Reddit. I don’t go to Digg anymore except occasionally to the tech section, because the rest of it is just half a step short of /b/, but it’s still a very popular site. So is Reddit, where I “defected” when Digg started going downhill. I could’ve told CodeWeavers they ought to brace themselves lest their server start to smoke! Anyway, I downloaded a copy of CrossOver Linux Pro, and entered my email address to receive a serial. They have a message up that says, “Due to load, expect your serial number to be emailed to you in a few days”. Heh. I’ll probably install it–if I remember correctly, it can live in harmony with “ordinary” Wine–but whether or not I’ll buy the next version depends upon whether I use it. Wine has been pretty goddamned good, and the only Win software I use anyway is uTorrent (to dowload Linux ISOs, of course), but if CrossOver could run PS CS3 and Premiere Elements (Pro just confuses me–hee!) even reasonably stable, I’d probably just ditch my XP partition altogether. I had a paid version of CrossOver back at 5.something, but never bothered with it after that because Wine did all I needed for free. We’ll see, I guess, and I don’t mind at all supporting CodeWeavers because they give back to the Wine project.

XP made me so goddamned mad last week, and Ubuntu drove the point home this morning. Why can’t Windows just update, leave me alone and fuck off? First, it downloads updates automatically, which I want because I can’t be arsed to go and check manually. Probably should because MS updates have certainly broken stuff before, but my Win isn’t critical, so I leave it on auto. Then, it has to pop up some stupid little thing to tell me, “Updates are ready for….” whatever (I forget). Click the stupid balloon to start, and it should just do that in the background and not get in my fucking way whilst I’m working, but noooo. As I’m moving windows about, doing whatever it is that I’m doing, the system updates window keeps showing itself. When I put it down on the taskbar, it should just stay there and do whatever it needs to do. Finally, when it’s done what it needs to do, it almost always needs a reboot. Fine, okay, whatever…if it must. Under no circumstances, though, should a computer ever reboot without my express permission. If I’ve told it I don’t want to reboot at the moment, it should just fuck off. If I’m in the middle of doing something, and look at the clock to realise, “Holy shit, I should’ve been in the shower an hour ago!” I should be able to walk away from the computer and not come back to see…my Linux desktop. XP nags for a reboot every ten minutes or so, and since I hadn’t been there to tell it “Reboot later”, it took it upon itself to reboot for me, thereby losing all unsaved changes to what I’d been doing. I have grub set to boot the default (Linux) if I don’t change the selection within 8 seconds, but I configured that timing myself. Hmmm…I actually think left the default because it was fine, but I certainly could change it if I wanted. An OS should not nag me unless something horrendous is about to happen, and under no circumstances should it reboot without my express permission. Not “you didn’t say no to a reboot”; that is not express permission.

Ubuntu gets it right. Each day, it checks for updates to any software installed from the repos I have configured (I have the defaults, of course, plus some custom ones). When a package manager is working, there is a little grey “sun” on the panel. It doesn’t pop up any stupid little balloon or get in my way, but if I mouse over it, it’ll say, “A package manager is working.” Great–do your stuff, package manager. If software updates are available, the little sun will be orange. If I mouse over it, it will say, “Software updates available”, and if I click it, the Update Manager opens with a list of available updates. I can leave it and install them all, or uncheck any that I don’t want. I click whatever the button says to install updates (it bothers me so little that I don’t remember), then enter my pw, minimise the window to the Panel, and it goes about its business. When it’s done, it sits there in the panel until I notice it and close the window. Perfect–thank you, kind Update Manager. If the updates found are critical, like important security updates, or a kernel update, the little sun turns into a red arrow. Attention-getting, but still not in my face. Update Manager works the same, and if it’s done a kernel update (about the only reason you ever have to reboot a Linux system), then it does get a little more demanding for attention. The red arrow becomes a double blue arrow, and a balloon pops up.

There’s a difference, though. I can make the balloon go away by simply clicking the little close button, and if I don’t want to reboot right then, I don’t. It doesn’t nag me to reboot every ten goddamned minutes, and it certainly doesn’t reboot on its own because I didn’t happen to be there to tell it, “Now is not convenient–I’m right in the middle of something.”

Unless I am actually doing something as far as configuration, or even just making it pretty, an OS should never be at the forefront of a computing experience. I use a computer to accomplish tasks (yes, wasting time is a task), and the OS should be in the background, staying out of the way, doing what it needs to do to assist in the execution and completion of my tasks. It should never nag me, or interrupt me, or distract me unless my processor is about to explode. A little balloon to tell me that a kernel update requires a reboot is fine, but popping up an “installing updates” window in the middle of whatever I’m doing, and rebooting without my express permission is unacceptable. Linux gets it right, Windows gets a failing grade.

Oh, and I called H. last night; we talked until her battery finally died. She’s so goddamned cool. P. almost made me really mad, though, because he commented on last month’s phone bill, even though calls I made to Sweden were only $20. There goddamned well seems to be enough spare cash when he goes to the liquor store every weekend, and when he wants a new disc or two, and when he needs to pay $10 or $20 or $30 or whatever to enter some tournament, so if I want to spend a few bucks calling someone I like, that should be just fine with him. If it isn’t, we have a double standard, and that’s a problem. A big problem.

Edit: Heh. It apparently isn’t a problem. I gave him the money for the calls last night, and he took it, but this morning, it’s on the stove in the kitchen with a Post-it that says “Pwrincess money” with a heart, and he just informed me that Princess Dollars (it’s a legitimate currency) are always for luxury items. He’s pretending he didn’t know why I gave him the money, but he goddamned well does. What he also knows is that he pissed me off and could have started a pretty good fight, maybe even have lost his weekend drinking partner. Sometimes, Lars’ way is the best way. 😉