<p>I feel pity for this desktop of mine. It has suffered a lot when it comes to <a href="http://alcidesfonseca.com/tag/os">OSes</a>. So I had installed Mac OS x86 <a href="http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/331">perfectly working</a>, but I wanted to play Trackmania Nations Forever. As I wasn&#8217;t doing any work on the desktop, no problem, let&#8217;s format this.</p>

<p>First choice: Windows Server 2008. I heard it was more stable than Vista and it ran Trackmania pretty nice. The installation was one of the smoothest I have ever experienced. But I was almost giving up on this OS when I had to set for the first time the Administrator password. Whatever password I inserted, it always gave me the following error: &#8220;Your password doesn&#8217;t match the length, complexity or the history required by this computer&#8221; (or something like that). <span class="caps">WTF</span>??? Luckily Bruno gave me the solution: You need both upper and lower-case and numbers in your password. Mr. Server2008 Usability Guy should be punished for this one! Once inside, I installed the Desktop Experience and Wireless packages. Reboot. Another reboot. Nothing&#8230; I couldn&#8217;t access any of those features. And no wireless. Now what? Let&#8217;s see what&#8217;s new in Ubuntu 8.04.</p>

<p>Installing Hardy Heron was OK until the disk partitioning thing. By default it would erase all my disk. I had a Storage partition with all the documents I need. So I had to go to advanced. There I had to delete the old Windows partition (this was ok). But I hadn&#8217;t a button called &#8220;Install Ubuntu in free space&#8221;. I knew that I had to format a swap and a EXT3 partitions. But my father wouldn&#8217;t. One thing to improve Canonical guys ;) Now, inside the OS, it was similar to the previous version, including that reddish-brown color of the Human theme. One thing that I was glad to see is that now Ubuntu handles the 1280&#215;1024 resolution in my screen. Sweet! Another thing that I missed, and since Ubuntu&#8217;s windows manager is a copy of Windows (that I understand to ease the switch), is the lack of closing the window by double-clicking on the icon. I have used it since Windows 3.1! Oh and it couldn&#8217;t authenticate in my <span class="caps">WEP</span>-protected wireless. I could have changed it to <span class="caps">WPA</span>, since all the computers in the house support it, but unfortunately I could play Trackmania in Ubuntu as I wished.</p>

<p>All of this OSes failed the Audio. Ubuntu couldn&#8217;t fetch the right drivers, don&#8217;t know why (in the last version it worked fine). And even in Vista I had to install the codecs from the official site and even a patch. Manufacturers and OSes should improve this experience. Each OS would have a repository of drivers that would be searched each time a new device is connected. XP had this, but it didn&#8217;t work. Vista has this working fine, but I had a few problems with Asus hardware. As for Vista, everything just works, which is fine. Except for the fact that is ugly as hell and isn&#8217;t straightforward. I just can&#8217;t go back from the Mac to this :/ And having a desktop only to play Trackmania&#8230; sucks!</p>

<p>A final note about Windows vs Mac OS X: Although many would say OS X is way better than Windows, I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s such a big difference (and I&#8217;m comparing to Windows XP). There are only two things that I really miss: Spaces. It has changed my way of organizing windows and for me that&#8217;s a really cool thing. And I&#8217;ve tested a few solutions for Virtual Desktops on Windows and they suck. The second change is the most anoying thing for switchers: the keyboard layout, specially how cmd replaces your windows/ubuntu ctrl. For years I would use my little finger to press control and then use the S, X, C, V or whatever key I wanted. For about 6 months I have used Mac OS as my main os and using your thumb to press cmd and the other fingers to press the other key is a lot better for your wrists! And I don&#8217;t want to miss that.</p>