Thoughts in The Void

So, as my first blog post, I'm writing about my experiences using Windows and Linux. Why? Well, I've gotta get started on here somehow, right? I figured that this would be a nice way to get things going. I've used a large variety of Linux distros, and a decent amount of Windows versions. I'll be going in somewhat chronological order of what I used, but my memory is a bit fuzzy, so it won't be perfect.

To start off, let's talk about my very first operating system, or rather, systems. As a child, we had a computer in the basement that anybody could use, and it was a dual-boot setup, too. We had Windows XP and Ubuntu, version 12 I believe. I most commonly used Ubuntu, since as a kid I didn't really understand the difference and just used the default option whenever the computer was turned on. I did use XP from time to time, whenever I found something cool and wanted to try it but it was Windows only, but for the most part I stuck to Ubuntu.

Thanks to my dad's preference for Linux, and him having a massive server network downstairs (which I really wish I still had pictures of), I had a lot of help with it and he allowed me to do plenty of different things. He even taught me how to use VirtualBox to run virtual machines on Linux! My first VM was running Windows Vista. Yes, that Windows Vista. Personally, I didn't see any issues with it, and in fact, I still don't see many issues with it for day to day usage. Of course I know about the many security flaws, crashes, and other major things, but personally, I wouldn't really mind using it even today, if it still had support.

Now, considering I used Ubuntu for a large majority of my childhood, I of course do have a preference for Linux. It's free, very customizable, and has plenty of versions to fit whatever system you put it on. However, I do use Windows as my desktop's OS, since a large majority of tools I use are Windows-only and have either no alternative, or the alternative is very poor, such as WINE. Now, of course WINE is very good, but have you ever tried running something like the Hammer Editor through WINE? Not a good experience.

Anyway, back on-topic, after that, we upgraded the XP partition to Windows 7, and I started to use that as my primary choice, since I was getting into middle school by then and most computers there ran Windows 7, with the exception of a few cheap MacBooks in certain classrooms. My experience with using Windows 7 was pretty minimal, I wasn't quite the tech geek I am today. We had bad internet, and I didn't even know how to install things like Quake! For what I did use it for, though, it was serviceable. I'd still take Ubuntu over it any day, though.

Around the time I got to high school, Windows 10 was the latest OS, and my parents were, breaking up as well. By that point, I had a red laptop, very weak, ran Ubuntu, but it was good enough to play games like TF2 and other things I could afford, which were only free games. After a bout of rage that, looking back was kinda funny it even happened, I punched it so hard that I broke the HDD inside completely! Dad repaired it, but about half a year later I got a bigger, black, “gaming” laptop. It ran Windows 8. I quickly replaced it with Windows 10 since at the time, Microsoft still allowed free upgrades to that. In fact, I'm still using that exact activation key on my current desktop!

That laptop was nice, definitely better than my old one, but it was still pretty terrible. It actually had a harder time running TF2 than my old one did, at times. Anyway, at that point I was used to only using Windows, but I still did have a fondness for Linux, and once I got into my computer repair class in my senior year of high school, I definitely showed that off. Every time we had to deal with Linux there, I was the first to finish, and usually had to help my classmates with it, since they were for the most part familiar with Windows and OSX. There were some people there that used Linux, of course, and we did become friends, but overall I was the one with the most experience.

Nowadays, I use Windows 10 as my primary OS on my desktop, with a Linux Mint laptop for when I need to go travelling. I'm not exactly a pro at any OS, but I'd say I'm experienced enough with all “major” OSes to use just about any of them with little issue. I do still prefer Linux over everything, though, and I usually refuse to use OSX or iOS because honestly, those are just not fun to use for me, I don't like them at all, especially with how closed off they are. I can do more in Windows than I ever could in OSX.

In conclusion, I got off-track a lot here, but hey, this is a personal blog, I'm not trying to be professional here! I'm only here to share my thoughts and experiences with the world, even if my writing is messy and unfocused. Of course I'll still try and improve on that, I know that a lot of people have trouble reading messy, unfocused articles, so hopefully during my time blogging, I'll get to a point where I can comfortably write in a way that isn't quite professional, but isn't a total mess, either! I hope you enjoyed reading this, I know I enjoyed writing it!