Wrong operating system?

I love this world: I love the new software and technology launches, the fuss around new services and new applications, the way we use technology, the way we combine it, etc. I start thinking that I'm living the best possible worlds and sometimes I feel so surprised and somehow proud of being contemporaneous and partially part of this.

This week brought us, among so many others, Chrome (the oh-so-talked-about Chrome) and the new Picasa (namely 3) + Picasa web . Nice stuff from google, cool things to play with.
Today I wanted to install the new Picasa and, of course it is not available for Linux, yet. Not to mention that Chrome is only available on Windows. Not to mention how much did I wait for Picasa 2.7 with (finally!) upload to web albums for Linux and how thrilled I was to have it this spring.

And I could mention such a long list of applications following the same pattern...

With so many cool applications available on Windows and Mac and the application developers completely ignoring Linux users, I found myself wondering today: am I using the wrong operating system for my software needs? I mean, maybe the type of user I am, the software I need and the way I use my computer in conjunction with the web is not the stuff that a Linux user would do, or what Linux is made for. It's not about not knowing or not wanting, I can tweak stuff, I can hack my Linux system, sometimes I get too involved in trying to make a webcam work or fixing sound / network / etc drivers problems, etc but I might be too social (wtf other would I need a photo management program for?) or too "trendy" for a Linux (wtf other would I want Chrome for?)

But still, I am using Ubuntu (8.04!), the Linux for girls ;) and given its popularity I should have more!

Yeah, I know my problem is obsolete in the context of the web operating system (or whatever the name of the concept is) but still, some doubts darken my clear skies of hope: Chrome on Linux? Firefox on Linux at the same level as for other OS? Plugins?

Don't get me wrong, I love my operating system, I love its openness, I love its freeness, its ubiquity (being able to have it everywhere just the same and for the same 0 charge) but I'm wondering whether we're the right one for each other.

I understand it's all about money and business (why the hell would application developers write Linux versions of the applications when Linux OSs users are so few (supposedly) and can wait anyway since they use a free operating system and should not expect too much from life because they don't pay?) but I just wish we lived in a (more) perfect world...

What's the time, Mr. Google?

"Whatever you want, kido!"


These days my computer's clock has gone mad: it shows a chaotic time, all the time, always behind (sometimes even with a couple of days gap). I set it and, after an hour or so, it goes wild again. While this is not a problem in Ubuntu (I just set the time to synchronize with a time server, namely the ubuntu time server), it is causing me a lot of trouble in Windows, because synchronizing it with a time server just returns an error or smth. The manual says that I should check the address of the time server: well, I'm using their default server list (but maybe this is the problem ;), actually).


Anyway, for some activities I am stuck in Windows: e.g. writing a damn .doc file with various ms fonts that render veeery strange on Linux, playing World of Warcraft (but I really don't care that much what's the windows system time when I'm defending the Alliance :P ) and so was the case this morning (the .doc file, not the WoW!!) when I realized that the only time-showing-devices I own are my computer and my cell phone. The first was down, the other one too far away, so I decided to ask Google, because that's why I Google, isn't it? Guess what, the wonderful time-depending gadgets on the iGoogle page actually display your own system time, so never use them as reference. I wonder now if this is good or bad... I mean, for me it was obviously bad, but I wonder if someone benefits from this, EVER: maybe the guys at Google didn't find a reliable time server, maybe they didn't get it from an internet source because then you would need to change the iGoogle time zone setting every time you travel (though I'm pretty sure it's not that hard to find out where is one accessing the page from), or maybe some people like to set their computer clocks to lie to them and want the whole world to consent.