A Week of Windows

By eweek  |  Posted 2003-10-10

We see dozens of Migrating from Windows to Linux stories that talk about features Windows users miss when they switch, but we rarely see articles about moving from Linux to Windows, and what kind of pain that can cause. I hadnt used Windows for more than an hour or two at a time since 1998, so I decided I was as qualified as anyone else to write about moving from desktop Linux to desktop Windows. I have now used Windows for an entire week. This story marks the end of that week, and Im glad its over.

First, a question: Whats up with all this "Ctrl C" and Ctrl V" copy/paste stuff? In almost all Linux programs, when I want to copy a block of text (or a graphic or whatever) I just highlight the original, then click both mouse buttons (or the middle button if I have a 3-button mouse) where I want to paste it. This is fast, easy, and takes little hand motion on my laptop keyboard. All this Ctrl key action slows me down. I dont know about the rest of the world, but I need to work quickly if I want to earn a living, and I dont see why Windows wants me to go through all those extra hand motions just to paste a URL into a story. Geh.

Anyway, on with the article.

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