The Google/Microsoft Rivalry has started another round with Google release of Google Chrome O/S. It is another page the historic battle between these two companies. The Google Chrome O/S has been release to take aim at the ever expanding Netbook market. Will Google make major in rounds time will tell. Let’s take a look back at the historical battle between these two companies and my take on them.

1. Google Vs Bing

On the Internet search is king. This makes Google king on the Internet since they dominate search. Google has the majority of the search business. Microsoft’s bing is picking up shares in search but slowly. It will take them time. But for now this battle is to Google.

2. Windows Live Offerings vs Google Online Offerings.

Personally I believe Google wins this battle at this point. Google Docs, Gmail, Picasa Web Albums are all easier to use then their Microsoft counterparts. These services integrate well with each other as well. Microsoft has been a good attempt with Live Mesh, Movie Maker, Live Mail and Windows Photo Gallery but in my opinion it is a little too late. Ironic when you think Bill Gate’s vision was for the Internet to be an extension of the desktop. This battle goes to Google.

3. Android vs Windows Mobile

Anything is better than Window’s Mobile. I had a Windows Mobile Device for over a year and hated it. Android device’s have many applications available for it and the phone’s are much more reliable. Windows Mobile is hard to use – no cut and paste and really slow. – This one to Google.

4. Google Chrome vs Internet Explorer.

Google Chrome is a much faster and easier browser to use than Internet Explorer. Since Chrome does not use Active X it is prone to the same security exploits as Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer has most of the market but that is because it is bundled with Windows. If it were not bundled with Windows, it would never do as well as it has.

Winner: Tie

5. Office vs Google Docs

Microsoft Office is a far more powerful desktop suite then the cloud based Google Docs. Microsoft Office, despite it’s hefty price tag is still king in the business environment for now. The product is far superior and more robust to Google Docs. If I was looking for an alternative based on price alone I would look at Open Office before I looked at Google Docs. Google Docs needs major work on all front’s if it is going to content especially with Microsoft Office moving to the cloud in 2010.

The winner here is Microsoft.

6. Google Chrome OS Vs Windows.

Last week Google released it’s Chrome O/S. My first looks clearly show that this operating system is not ready for prime time. The operating system comes with all kinds of promises claiming it is the Windows killer. If I was looking for a Linix based Operating system (I do run one), I would turn to the stable Ubuntu. Chrome is really a badly repacked Linux distribution for now. It remains to be seen if the developer’s will latch on the Chrome – Time will tell.

Windows 7 is the best operating system which Microsoft has ever put out. It is stable, mature and complete. The public will soon forget about Windows Vista and realize how good Windows 7 really is.

The Winner here is Microsoft.

Conclusions

If you look at the above 6 categories, their is a trend between these two heavyweights in the industry. Google dominates the cloud based services, Microsoft dominates the PC and Desktop. Microsoft needs to shift it’s strategy toward’s more cloud based application and I believe has started to do this with the release of Office 2010 next year.

Introduction

In less than a month Windows 7 will be released by Microsoft. I thought I would spend a little of time discussing how to get ready for the upgrade and what to look for in trying to make the Upgrade as easy as possible.

Over the years I have done hundreds of upgrades both professionally and personally. I have done everything from server upgrades to Windows to Linux. The principles I am going to talk about can be applied to any of these upgrades. They key is to be organized and not to panic. The second key is to make sure you have some technical background or have access to someone who does.

For the purpose of this discussion I will assume that you have a pc that meets the minimum standards for Windows 7 (1 Gig of Ram/Netbook or Dual Core PC or equivalent) and that you have chosen which version of Windows 7 that you will install. I would suggest a minimum of Windows 7 Home Premium.

In terms of hardware I would suggest that you purchase as much memory as you can possibly afford. If you are running more than 3 Gig of Ram, you should consider the 64 Bit version of Windows 7. #2 bit versions generally just access slightly above 3 Gig of Ram.

One thing to check before doing the upgrade is make sure any of your peripheral hardware is Windows 7 compliant and has Windows 7 compatible drivers. An example of this which I ran into when testing Windows 7 is my Rogers Rocket stick software and drivers would install under the Windows 7 RC but it will not run. When I called Rogers they informed me they were still working on testing and implementing Windows 7 drivers.

Now that we are ready for the upgrade, make sure you have a good half to a full day of time when you will not need the machine that you will be upgrading. Rushing your upgrade will not make any easier or lest stressful on you. Being prepared and planning will make it easier.

Preparation Work

The first thing I always do is to plan for doing a full install. I never do an upgrade. The reason for this is so any current issues are not carried forward to the upgraded operating system. The second reason is fresh installs always run faster than an install which has been running for a long time. It is proven the longer an operating system runs, that it will slow down over a period of time.

The second step is to do a complete virus scan and spyware scan of the computer that you will be installing Windows 7 on.

Now are we ready to start the upgrade? The answer to that question is no. Before we start, the first thing we should do is to backup all the data on the machine to be upgraded. In order to save time I usually suggest backing up your data to a portable USB Hard Drive. One backup is not enough, I suggest making two. Backups have been known to go bad. Once the backups have been completed, check the integrity of the backups. Their is nothing worse than having two backups that have corrupt data in them.

The 4th step is to make sure we have any application software to be installed and their installation serial numbers/keys. The software should also be checked to see if it is Windows 7 compatible. If it is not Windows 7 compatible, you should obtain the newer version before your Windows 7 install is started.

The last step in our pre-upgrade preparation is to make sure we all our device drivers for our printers/mother board/sound cards and/video cards and any other devices our computer has. One of the best ways to check if you have the most recent device drivers is to check the manufacturer’s web site and make sure your drivers are Windows 7 compatible. If the manufacturer suggests a newer driver download it now and store it on a cd or a usb device.

Now that we have the preparation work out of the way, it is time to start our Windows 7 install.

The Windows 7 Install

Step 1 – Install Windows 7

Boot from the Windows 7 install CD and choose the complete install option. This option will FORMAT your hard drive which is why we did the backup earlier. The Install process will reboot the computer several times during the install process. When I installed the Windows 7 Release Candidate the total install time was approximately 45 minutes. This is much faster than Windows XP or Windows Vista.

During the install process you will be asked for things like the time zone you are in, computer name, work group name and more. Enter the information as required and follow the prompts.

It is during the install phase that Windows should ask for any driver disks that it needs if it does not have a built in driver that works already. This is why I advised you to have your driver disks handy in the Windows 7 preparation steps.

Step 2 – Windows Updates

The first thing that always should be done when installing a Microsoft operating system is do your Windows updates. The reason for doing these updates is to enhance the operating system and to help close known security wholes.

To run the Windows updates, click on the Microsoft globe in the bottom left of your screen, then all programs, then windows updates.

When your Windows updates have been completed, your computer will reboot. Once your machine comes back up, repeat this process until their are no more Windows updates left to do.

Step 3 – Install Any Virus Checking/Spyware Checking software.

The third thing I always do is install my virus checking and spyware checking software. I would rather this software installed before I install any more software, move my data back from my backup or even browse the Internet.

Once my virus/spyware protection software is installed I run complete scans using both of them.

Step 4 – Install Windows Live Add Ons.

The fourth thing I always do is install the Windows Live Add ons for Windows 7. Many of them can be used with Vista or XP as well. Microsoft has released a really good Movie Maker update, Windows Live Messenger updates, Windows writer for blogging and Windows Live Messenger update. Their are other free software add ons included as well.

Step 5 – Install Application Software

The 5th step I always do is do install all my application software. This includes everything from Microsoft Office/Open Office to Firefox. At this stage I also install any browser tool bars, browser add ons and anything else I need.

Step 6 – Re Run Windows Updates

Once all my applications are installed I run my Windows Updates one more time especially if one of the applications I installed was Microsoft Office. Microsoft Office updates are pushed to your computer via Windows Update.

Step 7 – Restore Backup

Once I have the operating system installed and all my applications installed I have the basic computer setup done. I then restore all my data from backup to my computer’s hard drive.

Step 8 Computer Customization

After I have completed everything else, I then customize my setup. This includes changing my background on my desktop, screen saver and even customizing where my icons are on my desktop. Any customizations should be included in this step.

In summary this is how I build a Windows install. It does take a lot of work but it saves a lot of problems in the long run. By taking your time and being prepared, your install will go smoother and without any data loss. Being prepared and investing a little up front time is the best way to go.

Now that we now have a Windows 7 install, I will be posting an article tomorrow on how to maintain that install.

This week I took what a lot of people would figure I would never do. On my primary pc at home I made a complete move away from any Microsoft applications. As of now I am not running one Microsoft application. The move I made to Google last week made this an even easier decision to make. I have now made the move to Ubuntu a version of desktop Linux for my main machine at home.

Several Factors which contributed to this move were as follows:

1. Cost
2. Computer Security.
3. Learning more and being open minded.
4. Can I do what I do on my pc without Microsoft?
5. What I Currently run on my pc.

Let’s take a look at each of the above factors and explain why they contributed to my move.

1.0 Cost

Cost is a real easy one to discuss. Ubuntu is free. Windows 7 will run about $199.00 for home premium. This does not even get into the software costs. I no longer am using Microsoft Office 2007 at home which means I do not need a license. I am using all open source applications which means they are free:) This is not really a big departure from what I using before since I use mostly use open source applications.

2.0 Computer Security

Linux is less prone to viruses and spyware. The reality is their are less people writing them for Linux. I also am no longer running Outlook/IE which means I am not prone to Active X based exploits.

3.0 Learning More and Being Open Minded

I have been in the technology business for 22 years. One of the reasons why is to learn more. I am constantly learning and exploring my options. This is what I like most about what I do. My brain is always turning and I have a constant thirst for information and knowledge. In order to learn you need to extend your knowledge without certain basis. I really believe I am open minded.

I am not really interested in the Linux vs Mac vs PC fight and wares. What I am interested in is having the right tool at the time to get the job at hand done.

4.0 Can I do what I do on my pc without Microsoft?

The answer to this question is YES I can. Last week I moved my email back to a Gmail back end and this took my dependency away from Microsoft since I no longer need Microsoft Exchange. On the operating system side both Ubuntu and Windows are graphical so not a big change for me. It is all point and click.

In terms of word processing for me Open Office is as good as Microsoft Office so I will not miss the extra features features in MS Office.

5.0 What I currently Run

I was running mostly open source applications in the Windows environment. Most of these applications also have Linux versions so this has not been an issue. Even Google Chrome which is my web browser of choice has a Linux version available for it.

In summary these are the reasons I have gone to Ubuntu. In the next couple of weeks I will also be setting up a Ubuntu home server as well. Their is a learning curve when I moved to Ubuntu. Even for someone like myself who has a large IT background. That all said I still believe it was the best choice for me.

In the last week I made two big moves in my personal computing universe. The moves all concern Google. One will shock readers of my blog and the other one probably will not.

For the last year I have used a Microsoft Exchange Server on my web hosting provider as my email back end. This past week I moved my email back end from an exchange server to a Google Gmail back end. The big question is why would I do this? Their are several reasons I moved my email. They include cost, cloud integration, security and consolidation.

Cost is the easiest one to talk about. I was paying 1and1 $7.00 a month x 2 for two hosted exchange accounts for Kelli and I. That translates into a $14.00 per month, $168 per year. This does not count the conversion from US to Canadian Dollars since I live in Toronto. Gmail is free:)

Cloud Integration makes the perfect sense. I have been moving a lot of things I do to Internet/Cloud based applications over the last while. The Cloud is the future do to portability. I can access my data anywhere via my Iphone, my home pc, my IPhone, my friends pc you name it. I live such a busy lifestyle that portability and data accessibility are is major issues for me. Having my data in the Cloud works well and email is no exception.

Security is a good one. A lot of people will argue that Microsoft Exchange is more secure than Gmail. I should first off indicate that security does not just include login in security but also security from viruses and worms. Microsoft Exchange is prone to Active X based viruses. By not using Exchange/IE I am not at the same risk for email viruses. It should also be noted that Gmail has better junk mail filters than Microsoft Exchange. As a result you are not prone to as much junk mail as you got before.

Consolidation is an easy one to talk about. Google is one of of the King’s on the internet. I already use Google Docs, YouTube, Picasa on line, Google Search, Google Reader and soon to be Google Wave. All these services are integrated and use the same Google Id which makes my life real easy. Since the services are Integrated they work very well together as well.

I had mentioned their as a second thing I did last week. I have now made the latest release of Google Chrome my number 1 Internet browser. All the flash problems have been fixed so it makes life much easier. Google Chrome is now faster for the web services I use. Firefox seems to run slower. Chrome’s seamless integration with Google services make it a even more attractive browser to use.

In the last week the move to Google Gmail and Google Chrome has made my Internet experience a much faster experience.

This week there were major rumblings in the blog world that one of the biggest blogging platforms had a security vulnerability.  A lot of people would figure this was major commercial software – even Microsoft being involved.

Believe it or not the product was not a Microsoft based product but the open source WordPress blogging software. Interestingly WordPress has issues major updates over the last 6 weeks. Major blogs were still hit.

Let’s take some time and analyze why this happens. Microsoft has monthly patch updates. Yet every month computer users get hit with security vulnerabilities. One of the biggest reasons is because computer

users are lazy  and do not patch their computer systems.  If everyone patched their systems this would take away a large number of security issues.  Going back to the WordPress issue, there have been 3 updates since the end of July. These updates were done to plug security holes in the software. All it took was a simple upgrade and that would have fixed it. In my case 6 upgrades since I have 6 WordPress sites.

The 2^nd reason security issues are so bad with Windows users is software piracy. Windows updates will not work if you do not have a valid licensed copy of Microsoft Windows. Most people blame Microsoft for this but they need to protect their product somehow.

The 3^rd way on your computers is protect yourself. Run a virus checker and a spyware checker on a regular basis. Keep them up to date and scan regularly.

The 4^th way is backups backups backups.  Most people do not do this. This means keeping multiple copies of your files. I keep 4. A cloud based backup, a server backup, my working copy plus a copy on DVD. Backups also means you backup your cloud based data.

The bottom line is most computer security issues are caused by human laziness. If you keep your software up-to-date and do points 2 to 4 you will be so better prepared.

Posted via email from Robert’s posterous

Everyone who knows me realizes I am a big fan of Windows 7. Currently I have the Operating System running on two of our computers at home including my main machine. We still have 3 machines running XP pro in our house as well. I also run 2 virtual pcs which have Ubuntu Linux running on them. To add to the equation we also have several cell phones, an ipod and an Iphone. The question then is why do I run such a mixed environment?

The key to this equation is choice. I really prefer the best of breed approach for whatever task I have at hand. In 20 plus years in the technology business I have learned to keep an open mind and keep looking for alternatives and better way of doing things. Most importantly to never stop learning and progressing.

Lets start with the Desktop setup at home. I have an AMD 4000+ machine that runs the Windows XP RC. As soon as the full Windows 7 release comes out I will be upgrading the operating system on this pc. This machine was orginally purchased with Windows Vista and Vista was just pure junk on this pc. Vista did not agree with my AMD box at all. I had constant crashing that was unreal. This is very hard for someone like me who’s livelihood depends on his computer.

On our second pc (the one @neonrose uses) we also have Windows 7 RC running. It is a Lenovo that originally came with Windows XP on it. It is a dual corse machine with 3GB of ram on it and it just flies.

In the server department I have have made an interesting choice. I saw no need to installing Windows server at home. The overhead of creating a home domain was not worth it. I decided to setup a Windows XP Pro work group server. I have this server running on a Compaq slime line PIV with 1 GB of ram. This work group server drives our 2 printers and our shared drives. It has 5 usb Hard drives connected to it. Our long distance phone device is a Majic Jack and it connects to our work group server as well. The Majic Jack does not yet have Windows 7 drivers available for it and I really do not like running Windows Vista as an upgrade so XP it is.

In the portable department we have two portable computers. One is an IBM PIII laptop an older model that Kelli (@Neonrose) uses around the house when she is watching tv and in the bedroom. It has Windows XP Pro on it for the security. It runs a little slow but for what we used it for it works well.

I recently purchased an Acer Aspire netbook that I really like. One of the fist things I need when I got it was upgrade to Windows 7 RC. I then ordered a Rogers Rocket stick for portable Internet on the go. It turns out the Rocekt Stick does not like Windows 7 yet. The driver loads but then the connection manager will not connect. As a result I had to downgrade the netbook back to Windows XP Home.

I also run 2 Virtual machines that have Ubuntu on the. These help me keep up to date on the Linux world.

In the cell phone department we basically have two. Kelli users a Motorola Crazer that she really likes. It is as basic a cell phone you can get and suits her needs well. As for me I have recently switched to an Iphone. I use a lot of Web 2.0 applications on the go as well as check and write email constantly. That added with the ability to listen to podcasts and audiobooks enhances my daily life.

Kelli uses a Ipod as well for music and I use my Iphone for that as well.

Yes I am a true geek who lives in a mixed environment.

I thought I would spend a little time re-mincing about technology and the changes over the last 25 years in the computer business. A lot has changed and in tech one week can be a life time. Sit back and enjoy the ride.

When I first started programing the first machine I ever wrote software on was an Apple II plus. This computer ran in the 5000 dollar range including the 11 inch white on green monitor my Dad had. I learned to program in Apple Basic. The Spreadsheet that my Dad used was the pioneer program VisiCalc. VisiCalc was the first main spreadsheet program out on the market and at the time nothing came close to it. I wrote several large programs in Apple basic. I used the Apple II to communicate to online services and BBS (Bulletin Board Systems). It was my first taste of communicating with the outside world.

Around the time the high school I was at Had the Model III by Radio Shack and I learned to do basic programing as well.

I then moved from the Montreal to the Toronto area. The high school I went into still had an IBM-1130 on site as well as a pc lab. The first year student’s were required to learn on the IBM-1130 to have an appreciation for what program on cards was like. I am so glad I no longer have to do cards either bubble or punched cards because it was not my idea of fun at all.

Since this time I have had the pleasure on working on most desktop, laptop, and tablet models of PCs which ran Microsoft O/S systems. I had not really ventured back into the Apple world until I purchased my IPhone and then my Ipod. It is just interessting to think I started on an Apple II series machine.

This past week the pre order windows has started for Windows 7.  Vendors working with Microsoft have announced pre order prcing for Canada and the US which is good from June 26th to July 11th.

In Canada typical pricing is as follows:

1.  Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade $64.95

2. Windows 7 Professional Upgrade $124.95

In the US typical pricing is as follows:

1.  Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade  $49.99

2. Windows 7 Professional Upgrade $99.00

Last night I installed the Beta of the Microsoft Security Essentials Suite. The software runs really well and it should not be discounted because it is from Microsoft. If you are running any of the free anti virus products such as AVG or AVAST the Microsoft product should be looked at once the final release comes out later this year.

The Microsoft Essentials Suite does not seem to put any excessive load on the system resources. It is almost like the software is not even running.

I ran a couple of tests with some test viruses and the software picked these up without an issue.

The Interface is easy to use and I have included a couple of screen shots below to show off the Interface.