#42; Operating Problems

Tomorrow sees the release of Windows’ latest operating system, Windows 7. There’s been a fair amount of anticipation about Windows 7, as it seems set to correct everything that many people feel went so wrong with Windows Vista. From my own personal point of view and usage of Vista over the years, I am part of this group that feels Vista was a pretty poor piece of software from Windows. However, I do realise there will be readers thinking ‘Well I’ve never had a problem with Vista’ – fair enough. This isn’t any propaganda or persuasion to get people to upgrade, this is just me explaining why Vista will soon be a past memory and one I won’t be reminiscing in anytime soon.

The biggest problem with Vista was when it was first released. I managed to use the OS not long after it was made public in January 2007. When it was first released, to me at least, it was almost unusable. There were bugs left, right and centre, the operating system itself caused some serious conflicts with games and program being used, and the hardware itself that the system required was a bit annoying. Whilst most computers at the market at the time could run Vista with no problems, or so was thought, features such as Windows Aero seemed to be pushed in and rushed so quickly they just caused crashes and problems. It was very, very annoying. Furthermore, you had this ridiculous amount of programs with the Windows tagline greeting you on a fresh install. Shovelware forced upon you that I was never going to use. If you want to find a way to annoy me instantly Microsoft, that was a perfect start.

Going back to the mention of gaming, XP was a fantastic system in it’s support and compatibility of games amongst it’s system and various system requirements that all PC games have. Vista needed, and still needs, more powerful requirements although it’s obviously less important and obvious with no games including XP requirements anymore for obvious reasons. I’m a big fan of older games but once more with Vista, they just simply did not go hand in hand – the biggest example I can think of is Theme Hospital which is near impossible to work with Vista for reasons I have no ideas about, yet it worked fine on XP and even on the Windows 7 beta I had no issues. To be honest I wish I had a greater understand as to why these problems occurred with Vista when other operating systems have no problems! Annoying!

My final area of annoyance I’m gonna quickly discuss is the fact that I’ve lost god knows how much work over the past 2/3 years with Vista. I understand if there is scepticism that this is Vista’s fault but how is it I can use these programs (NetBeans, Borland, etc) on XP in our student suites at university on XP perfectly well and then, when it comes to home use and Vista, it be such a pain in the arse to achieve a positive outcome without problems? It’s been really frustrating and this is almost turning into a rant but I’m holding back for my own sanity I think! for myself, it’s been too frustrating.

Oh, and User Account Control. Quite simply the stupidest feature I have ever encountered.

No operating system is perfect. I’ll happily admit that Windows Vista in it’s current state (with two major Service Packs now available to help) is a lot more usable and stable, and it is nowhere near as bad as when it first came out, but for me it still doesn’t make up for it. Over the years the many crashes, moments of lost work unexpectedly, conflicting hardware and software, rushed inclusions and just general frustrations I’ve experienced with Vista want me yearning for Windows 7. Sure, you could argue that I should jump over to the Mac or try out Linux (something I actually have plans for very soon but enough on that for now) but for me, Vista is soon to be a recent memory I’ll hopefully not be revisiting. The funny thing is, for all I know I could come back on here in a few months and absolutely destroy Windows 7 and everything it’s supposedly promising to do for the user.  Should we have to pay for these major upgrades though? Not necessarily no. But that’s life.

Apologies if these seems an annoying few paragraphs to you, or seems a bit fickle to be so annoyed at Vista, but it’s my own personal views and I respect that everyone will have their own experiences with the way they used their computer. I just hope now that Windows 7 lives up to the promising feedback it seems to be getting!

Operating Systems. Serious Business.

#38; Back to life, Back to reality

First off, apologies for a lack of posting recently but it’ll soon makes sense I’m sure. As with most people in the joyful month of September, the world of educational learning has come crashing back into my life with quite a force. At the moment I’ve just started my final year of a BSc Computing course at the University of Wales Newport, with this year obviously being ridiculously important – as well as the normal modules and assignments comes the big 15,000 word final year project. Oh god!!

What I’m currently planning involves a project that studies the computing methodology and technologies of disabled teaching in a primary school environment, basically a study of computing within such ways of teaching. To be honest, I’m kinda looking forward to it in a really bizarre way, but it is gonna be a lot of work. It’s a very rewarding subject for me though as I’d love to go into the world of teaching after University and hopefully an extra year of PGCE training next year but we shall see. Concerning the dissertation though, let’s just hope I manage to get there with all 15,000 words!!

It probably seems very odd for a computing student to be doing his final year project based on teaching than a programming/hardware related computing subject but for me it’s something I’m far more comfortable with and something I know will benefit me for the future far more than creating a program I’ll no doubt hate or be unable to complete. For me being able to give something back to a younger generation through computing would be a fantastic career choice, and with this dissertation, technology has progressed so much over the past few decades that we can help those with disabilities in such magnificent ways the dissertation will probably be a very humbling experience for myself to witness and understand more.

So best of luck to everyone starting back up with their A-levels, degree courses, masters courses, or whatever education they’ve gone back to in this past month. I’ll still be posting entries with whatever’s on my mind but University comes first with writing at the moment! It’s been a lovely summer and I have lots of fantastic memories, but for now, it’s back to the grinding repetition of lectures and notes!

#6; Summertime Blues?

We've entered the Easter holidays it seems and as I've previously mentioned we're well into the Springtime now. Easter's a nice time for me, I'm certainly not a religious person so the pleasant feeling doesn't come from the religious aspect of the holiday but these 2 weeks for pretty vital personally in charging up my batteries in a rush for the final few weeks of university where assignmetns flood in and stress levels rise. So it's nice these weeks to have a chance to relax before the storm comes in.

I've been thinking a lot these past few days about the summer as well and what possibilities it holds for me. I don't have many plans at all; I'd absolutely love to go to Devon or Cornwall for a few days and have the opportunity to relax in the sunsets of the cornish coast with a pasty or ice cream but I can't see it happening sadly, which is a shame. My driving lessons are coming to a close now though, as I slowly make my way towards the final steps before my driving test, so if I pass by the summer then fingers crossed for that possibility.

There's also other little events like the Goodwood Festival that I'm hugely interested in attending this year. Every year I see it on TV and it amazes me to see these classic cars in what seems such a lovely atmosphere and from feedback from friends it's an amazing few days to experience as a fan of motorsport, so I'm definitely looking at that to get away in the summer.

To be honest the summer does give me much mixed feelings; the weather really is lovely and you get some beautiful days in the summer, everyone seems to be in a good mood and it's a lovely time but I personally get so much time off University (from stat of June to end of September, so 3 months) that it eventually gets extremely tiring being off so much and not finding much to do with my time. As bizare as that probably sounds, it doesn't take long before I want to get out of Uni when it starts up again! It's a very strange set of feelings...

There's not much point to this entry, I just felt like rambling about the summer because it's so lovely outside at the moment. Another highlight is the fact Muse's new album will finally be out towards the end of the summer/start of the autumn so I'm mega excited for that! I'm excuted for the year in general to be honest as a few spects of my life have evolved so much in the past few months and there are new areas of my life that make me incredibly happy, so much more than I've been in the past year or two, so yeah. I'm a happy chappy!

I may do another post later on something else as I'm in a big writing mood today but we'll see.

#2; The future's bright, the future's multicoloured...

Recently I've been thinking a lot about the future and what life will actually hold for myself once I've finished the remaining minimum of a year and a half left of Uni. It's my second year right now and in a few months I'll be thinking about dissertation options (oh joy!), and further into the future, where my life will lead. The course I'm undergoing is a Computing course, nothing fancy, no added bonuses to the name like Super Ultimate Media Computing Studies of The World. Nah. Computing. short and sweet, much like my temperament with the course at the moment. This is actually a double bladed sword for myself... is Computing too vague to provide a specific area of expertise for an employer, or is Computing so open it can provide myself with a lot more opportunities than a specific course?

I have a lot of hopes in the future about where I want my life to go. My favourite option is becoming a teacher and I've had a lot of stick and disrespect about this decision from people in the past (this WAS school so sticks and stones, etc) just becaise I'm a male wanting to teach. Has society really gotten so sad to look down on male teaching? Even before university and my final year of that dreaded environment known as sixth form and A2 levels, I studied research into the perception of male teachers whether it be high school or primary, and even a shocking amount of the study showed that parents themselves even tend to look down on male teachers in primary schools. Now I'm not making a generalisation, I'm not saying ALL parents are like this because they absolutely are not, but it saddens me to think that this sad perception still exists in the 21st Century.

So Teaching is something I definitely want to pursue. I'll be honest with those that don't know me well enough, I had an opportunity to take a teaching course in one of the oldest Universities in Wales and a specialist teaching campus too. I took it, I went there, then I came home with my tail between my legs. Am I proud of this? No, of course not. But going into such a demanding, important course at the age of 18 felt completely wrong to me. How can an 18 year old with no life experience study something so young and expect it to be fine? I went into that course too naive and too ignorant, but it's something I absolutely want to look at in the future but when I feel I'm ready to dive into such an important choice.

So what else is there in the future I can think about? I love writing and had a superb time with my English language courses over my A Level years (probably the only good thing to come out of my school life but that's not important right now!) and Journalism is something I absolutely would take a glance at. Again it's a big step and it would be more towards a specialist area of journalism, something like Formula 1 that I love to watch, analyse and whatnot. I don't think I necessarily have the skills right now to be confident I could do this well but that's the same with my teaching possibilities; it's definitely something to look at after uni.

Of course with Computing I'll get the obviously computer connotated careers. Do I really want to spend my life sitting in front of a plasma screen sorting out databases and treatening to throw my laptop out of the window from the sheer frustration of programming? No, I don't. But Computing can provide me with a massive experience boost in many areas I would have never studied and can provide me with smaller jobs to build up to where I want to be in the future. So the future is bright, I have a long way to go and I'm only 20, yet I'm already considering where my life is going! Maybe I shouldn't but this is just me, my mind works this way and it ain't changing anytime soon!

March has now come upon us all too, has anyone else noticed how quick february went and 2009 in general so far?! Not that I'm complaining, the joyous sport of F1 is soon to be back on our televisions in just over 3 weeks and I have a lot to look forward to this year; going to London in April, going to see Wales v Finland on the 28th, Muse's new album and their tour in the Autumn and the possibility of going to Goodwood in July. Plus I'm slowly making my way towards my driving license, despite being slow step by steps I'm getting there!

So the future is bright. The future may not necessarily be orange, but it looking rosy nevertheless.