Windows 7 v/s Ubuntu 10.10

I’ve always been a big fan of Microsoft Windows operating system. But now I’m required to work in the Ubuntu/Linux environment. If you ask me, that’s a big change – it’s like changing your religion. Frankly speaking, it almost feels de-evolution, or the death of productive computing. The very thought of typing out a command in the terminal to edit a file, and not being able to use the mouse while performing simple operations such as editing a file baffles me. Sure, Ubuntu comes with a decent UI, but from my recent experiences, all UI related features of the Ubuntu operating system are miserably incomplete, or lacking the level of intuitiveness simple Windows programs have to offer. I’m talking about Ubuntu 10.10 and Windows 7.

Lets forget for a while that Ubuntu is free (it’s second biggest “selling” point), and judge both systems from the point of view of an average, typical, non-techie computer user.  The file manager: Nautilus can’t help me find files based on created date, modified date, or content. Whatever basic file management features it does offer are very basic. I’ve experienced the file copy window going unresponsive while copying a remote file to the local machine. That doesn’t happen in Windows (anymore) .

Modern computing should not be about working in the black command-based screen, regardless of whether you’re a Software Developer or an average end-user. It doesn’t make sense. We have a range of input devices and intuitive UI’s that make regular computer use more productive. Simple tasks take lesser time, and complex tasks are easier to perform. Take the Opera Browser, for example. It’s a speech-enabled. It can speak out highlighted text, and can even accept voice-commands.  We need to make use of better input devices. We need to have better UI’s for all users. We need to constantly find better ways of letting the computer know what we wish to achieve. A high dependency on the Unix terminal to perform tasks restricts this much needed drive to be more productive. Lets suppose a file to be modified is on a network. If I use “vim” to edit this file, and if I need to edit a line in the middle of the screen, I need to limp my cursor to the point where editing is required, one line at a time. Same thing using a GUI, I would open the file in a text editor, bring the cursor to the required line with the help of the mouse pointer, and save the file.

The terminal is a one-stop-shop for doing “anything” with your Unix-based computer. But what’s more productive? Opening up several different GUI based programs specialized to do each task? Or, using multiple terminal tabs to perform the same operations on different files? It’s a matter of choice, but I tend to favour the former. Hence, even in Ubuntu, I heavily use Nautilus.

I strongly believe that with Windows, Microsoft has pioneered UI design.  They may have begged, borrowed, or stolen UI concepts and designs, but the bottom-line is, their operating system is more usable out-of-the-box, without providing the end-user with any training. Ubuntu offers similar UI features as Windows, but it’s of sub-standard quality. There are plenty of customization features, but going through those features requires technical knowledge. In my opinion, it is certainly NOT an Operating System for the average Joe (or Joginder, if you prefer the common Indian). If Ubuntu was launched as the only Operating System available, and Microsoft Windows was never made, I strongly feel the world would have fewer computer users today. The kids would find computers “yucky”, and nerds and geeks would rule the world. Fortunately (or unfortunately), that’s not the case.

The best user interfaces are the ones that “just work”, with no training or help required. Things need to be obvious. With Windows, Microsoft did two brilliant things. It made the computer available to the end-user (at an arguably decent price). And it made things obvious (after some basic training was given to the end-user). Any Windows 95 user can deal with Windows 7, after a few hours of checking out different options. It’s not a totally different concept.

Since we’re at UI design, I should be mentioning Apple’s efforts, but I won’t. I don’t respect Apple as a company at all. In fact, I believe no Microsoft-hater should love Apple products. The classical Linux-lover cum Microsoft-hater generally complains about how “closed” Microsoft is about it’s products. If that’s the reason for negativity towards Microsoft, then the whole world ought to hate Apple products for their proprietary hardware and software (from connectors and adapters, to chips and architectures). While most people look at the Macbook and iPods and go, “Wow!”, I look at the classic iPod earphone jack and think to myself, “Wow! That’s a load of crap!”. They have their own standards, own patented designs, and if it weren’t for the quality of their products (and the viral following), Apple would be a completely neglected company.

With the recent open-source phenomenon, Microsoft Windows is a great platform for Software Development. A lot of open-source softwares (Toad for MySQL, for example) run on Windows. It also makes sense to target your softwares for the Windows platform, given the huge end-user base. There are a range of commercial softwares that are indispensable for developers (for example, Adobe’s suite of softwares), that require Microsoft Windows. It’s just not fair to tag Windows as a “commercial” OS. It’s much more. It has helped make computing social, for those who can afford it.