Sometimes You Just Have to Say Goodbye

Four or five months ago, I was awakened abruptly in the middle of the night by this big whirring sound...so I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter...

It was my personal laptop. The hard drive was thrashing about, the CPU was pegged at 100%, and the only application that was running was Internet Explorer. What on earth caused my laptop to come out of hibernation and cause such an uproar in the middle of the night for no reason at all still baffles me.

And that wasn't the last time it misbehaved. As time went on, between IE7 and Outlook pegging the CPU and sucking up memory, you'd think my laptop was possessed by Britney Spears. You never knew what to expect next.

The only real recourse I had in these situations was to power down the laptop and reboot. After several weeks of failed attempts to keep my laptop happy so it wouldn't wig out, I finally had to say...

Goodbye Microsoft

A few months ago, I uninstalled &/or quit using these everyday Microsoft products on my personal laptop:

• Outlook
• MSN email (but I still use Hotmail)
• Internet Explorer
• Windows Live Messenger
• Word (except for school)
• Excel
• Powerpoint

Considering the fact that I had a long history with many of these products and had grown quite dependent on them to manage my virtual/electronic life, the breakup was tough. I felt like a traitor. I felt like I was abandoning what used to be a solid relationship, but how many "second" chances was I supposed to give this Microsoft software? "70 times 7"?

Hello Google and Firefox and...

These days, my laptop is quite happy using these free products:

• Gmail
• Google Calendar
• Google Docs
• Google Reader
• Mozilla Firefox

What's really nice about this collection of products is that no matter where I am, if I have access to the internet, I have access to my personal accounts and files.

With Google Docs, I can easily collaborate with others and publish documents. It's a trip watching multiple people work on the same document. With Google Calendar, I can create multiple calendars to keep my work and personal activities separate. I can also see other's calendars if granted access.

What else is kewl is that it's all easily accessible on my Blackberry. So no matter where I go, there I am. I can never get away from myself. Hmmm, maybe that's not so kewl...

And in case you missed the memo, Google is God...

An Amenable Joint Custody Agreement

I haven't totally deserted Microsoft. I still am running on a Windows XP SP2 box - with no plans or desire to move to Vista. But I am amazed (but not surprised about) how these non-MS products work better with the MS operating system than the MS products do. My hard drive no longer thrashes about aimlessly and I don't have to keep rebooting to restore memory that's leaked to who-knows-where.

I don't know how much longer this joint custody agreement will last though. The new Leopard who's recently come onto the scene has a certain charm and allure. I'm keeping my eye on him.

We Still See Each Other

My personal laptop may be entertaining other suitors, but at work, I still continue to use all the Microsoft products I abandoned at home. Corporate standards. The exception, though, is Firefox. The Fox is just way too kewl to leave at home.

Comments

[Eric Spangler]

I vote: Buy a MacBook Pro. I love mine! :)

-E