Bad Economy? Charge More and They Will Pay

What a blessing — some things in our world never change. Even when, um, they should. Case in point: Windows 7 will likely cost you more than Vista or XP. Surprised?

As I mentioned in my review of the Win 7 beta, the time may be ripe for ordinary users without bottomless wallets to finally make the jump to Kubuntu or a similar KDE Linux — the most Windows-like desktop in the Linux universe.* The best choices for KDE 4, which, as we observed then, competes directly with Win 7 for its look and feel, interface, features, and controls, are Kubuntu and OpenSuse. For an earlier and more XP-like interface, PCLinuxOS is a no-brainer with KDE 3.5.10. All of these Linux operating systems, by the way, come with a complete office/productivity suite (OpenOffice.org), for which MS will tap you another $400 or so (for Office 2007); and the Linux products in the Home, Deluxe, Business, and Ultimate editions are all the same price — $0.00.

Choose wisely, young Jedi.
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*Linux Mint‘s new version of the GNOME desktop is extraordinarily well designed and deserves a close look from longtime Windows users, and anyone coming over to Linux from the Mac (to see why they might, look here). In fact, the Mint developers have displayed an eerily Apple-esque aptitude for clean design and crystalline beauty in the desktop interface — every time I use Mint, I admire it more.