More geeky stuff about computers

Ok.
I've been waiting since 1999 for the Linux desktop to displace Windows. Or at least develop into a strong and definitive second choice. It's free. It's stable. It runs well on older machines. It's zealously supported in several frighteningly active online communities.
And it isn't ever going to happen.
There are quite a few reasons, but a few of the biggest are that there are a bunch of distributions and each has it own little differences. It is impossible for most to standardize with all the patch levels, kernel versions, and distribution channels.
Also, it is intimidating. I'd say until you've broken a few desktops loaded with Linux into an unrecoverable state of smoking hard drive you really won't have the comfort level of knowing you can restore it.
There is hope for a unix-based OS standardization, though.
I think in the next five years, Apple's OSX (and whatever follows it) will continue to gain market share until it is a strong number two in desktop operating systems. I don't see it replacing Windows, but the more I learn about it the more I like it.

If you are reading this on a Mac, I apologize. Skip on down to the bottom and post a smug Mac-ish comment.

If you are reading this on a Windows machine, you are familiar with the little buttons on the top right of this window. You can minimize with the little underscore (drop the window to the taskbar and hide it), big box/two smaller boxes (stretch the window to the full screen or shrink it to some setting that probably isn't quite right) or "X" for close.
The result is to get anything really done you can only work in the current active window.
On a Mac, these buttons are basically the same, but better. Window re-sizing is more intuitive. The "maximize" option by default stretches the window to the width of the pane, leaving the user access to the other active windows. For a simple example, if you are using Google Maps in Safari and typing directions in a document to email someone through your mail client when they send you a chat message and an email telling you to not bother, you can see all of it at once and react accordingly.
The Windows user would be minimizing and maximizing windows and listening for notification chimes.

The broader-reaching result is that the Mac user can more effectively multitask, since most have been working with this system for a while. Whether they get anything done is another issue and I think it depends on the user.
The average corporate Windows user talks about multitasking, but I'm certain that whatever the top window is most of the day will get most of that user's attention.
If I'm working a project (long-term) and an issue (emergency) at the same time, you can bet that the project (relegated to the Taskbar for whatever time period) will fall behind.

Anyway, fall behind is exactly what my projects have done lately. I'm the only one stressing about it, but I'm going to go get something done now.

One window at a time.