The verdict from information on the Microsoft website? "It's impossible." Yes, they actually use the word "impossible" when I read most of the answers to questions like these.

I was looking at four hours to backup all the data from the hard-drive and then start a new installation, and probably countless hours more to keep the Windows 7 Ultimate settings and program settings.

I wasn't going to call customer service to waste my time, I've had these wasteful experiences in my time with them.

So I proceeded to search the internet for an answer from our friendly white hats and I found these instructions. I followed them exactly, and was able to downgrade.

The instructions provided in this post Upgrade the Windows 7 RC to any retail version can be used to downgrade any version of Windows 7.

I was able to downgrade and keep all the programs' settings and most of Windows 7′s settings. I saved a ton of time here.

Need I say more? I guess I should.

I have been using FreeSpire ever since it came out a few months ago and I haven't tried another Linux OS since (although I have looked at PCBSD, I like what I saw there but it wasn't enough to wean me out of FreeSpire.) To make matters even better, Jasp (Andrew Betts from the UK) provided us with XGL¹ for FreeSpire! Thank you Jasp! The FreeSpire team is working on integrating XGL into FreeSpire 2.0 and this should be available early in 2007. I can't wait.

I haven't installed Vista's betas at all, mainly because my computers are not top of the line and according to what I have been hearing Aero (Vista's equivalent to XGL needs a high-end graphics card to even work–I can't verify this of course). Also, from people who have compared XGL and Aero they all have the same thing to say, mainly that XGL is so much smoother and faster on even some $20 video cards!

I have to admit that when I first heard of Aero for Vista I thought all this was just eye-candy, but boy was I wrong. I actually find myself using these effects when working, especially the ability to peel back the top maximized window to look at info on windows in the background.

I can write all day about XGL and Linux and I bet you still will not be able to imagine it running better than seeing a demo of it. Here is an XGL & Linux demo I found at YouTube.

Between Vista's high-end computer needs and Microsoft's insane Vista licensing², and although I will have to buy Vista for the Windows applications I have to use for work and to learn how to use it so that I can keep repairing computers for the locals here, I can tell what my personal OS of the future will be. Can you?

Now all Linux needs is better Fonts and we can bring it to Windows in full force!

1. Correction from Jasp: "Compiz is the program that actually does all of the effects and manages your windows.

   Xgl is just a replacement for the X server that adds some functions needed to make compiz work. Just like X, it is merely an interface for drawing on the screen.

   Compiz manager… is the settings manager for compiz." [back]

2. Under changes to Microsoft's licensing terms, buyers of retail copies of Vista will be able to transfer their software to a new machine only once. If they want to move their software a second time, they will have to buy a new copy of the operating system. [back]

I have been saying that Linux is not yet ready for the desktop, mostly because of driver problems, and the ugly fonts—especially when browsing.

FreeSpire has changed my mine. Although FreeSpire will be available in two versions—one with proprietary drivers, the other without. I will always choose the one with the close proprietary drivers. Who wouldn't? Well…. only an open source zealot, that's who. But as for the rest of us, the ones who just want our operating system to just work with our hardware now, this is a god-send!

I downloaded FreeSpire Beta 2 a few days ago and installed it. To my surprise it worked even better than Linspire 4.5 (the Linspire version I played with a year ago). It detected my nVidia card, my network card, my… what am I repeating so much for, it recognized everything! (except my NTFS partition, it was locked, maybe because it's beta?), it even detected my network and automatically set itself up as DHCP and grabbed an IP from my router. I was cruising the Internet with ease.

This is what I have been saying all along, as soon as Linux can be easy to install and manage, as we can with Windows, then I can say, from my point of view, Linux is ready for the desktop.

Well… Linux is ready for the desktop!

Go try out FreeSpire, but be warned, it is still in the beta stage.

I have been using Linux since Mandrake 9.1 and computers since 1984, so I know what I am talking about when I say Linux is not ready for the desktop. The complexity of trying to install and then configure Linux is no piece of cake. In every installation I have ever personally done I have always had to go running to the Linux forums to figure out why my video card is not working as it should, or why the Windows partitions just don't want to mount, or why Firefox can't seem to find Java even though Konqueror can.

I don't see the average computer user messing with the Linux command-line and editing fstab or xorg.conf files. And how many of them would be able to ask the right question? Until Linux can be as easy to install, configure, and reconfigure as Windows, I don't see it dethroning Windows anytime soon.

Don't get me wrong, I am hoping that Linux does get better, and soon!