We should dub 2010 (although it started in 2009) “The Year of the Killswitch”. I sold my Kindle shortly after the “remotely removing a book from people’s Kindle” debacle, and I’m still pissed at Sony for removing the OtherOS option from my PS3, a feature that is PRINTED ON THE SIDE OF THE BOX. In just the last week, when Microsoft’s “remote kill switch” in Windows 7 mobile was pointed out, their first response was to say, “Hey, Apple does it too!” At this point, it’s obvious that the technology for “them” to affect “our” devices post-purchase probably exists in every Internet-capable device. And with no laws governing this, “we” (as consumers) are at the mercy of corporations if we wish to continue using these devices.

About a year ago I bought a laptop that came loaded with Windows 7. XP drivers for the built-in camera and touch pad simply don’t exist, so that’s when I officially began using Wndows 7. Other than the fact that they moved a bunch of things around (it’s a sad day when you have to resort to Google to figure out how to change your desktop wallpaper), I like it. I’m running 64 bit. It’s hard to judge any performance gain without reloading it with W7 32-bit and doing some testing. I have two or three apps that no longer work in 64-bit — FolderSize is one, something I’ve grown to depend on. Suck.

I think Microsoft should do what they always do — slowly phase out support, and then let people run what they want to run. I understand where they’re coming from, just not the solution that’s being suggested. Leaving XP out there forever is a bad idea if patches aren’t being developed. Liken it to a car — you are certainly allowed to drive an older car, chances are it has no warranty, and the dealership isn’t required to carry parts for it forever.

I’ve never liked the change for change’s sake mentality. And I’ve never liked MS bashing for the bashing alone. MS isn’t the only company that updates their software. Beat them up when they deserve it, sure, but mostly they build a pretty good OS that runs on an amazingly diverse amount of hardware. Apple and the Linuxen all update yearly or even more often without a whimper from their fans, or derision from their detractors.

And the last Ubuntu upgrade was a right pain for me (they put the close button WHERE?), and a lot of others. And when does the support end? Gasp! MS would be crucified if they tried to kill off an old OS with

I recently retired my second to last XP box. The house is now Win7 64 bit on three computers (one of which dual boots Ubuntu 10.10), one on Vista Ultimate 32 bit (which isn’t nearly as bad as the press reports), and a lone laptop that is still XP as I’ve never used the free upgrade to Vista. My last W2K box went over a year ago.