Windows' Biggest Problem

To be able to run some software I wanted to play with (Corel Painter Essentials 4, Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3, Apple iTunes, and FreeStyler DMX), I decided to put Windows 7 Home Premium instead of Ubuntu 10.04 Netbook Edition on my new Dell Mini 1012. Which, by the way, not only isn't freezing like the one I had to return, the screen is spotless, and the battery is a tighter fit. The one I got from Amazon had somehow miserably slipped by Dell quality control.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that I am not Windows' biggest fan. It takes far longer (once you count drivers and stuff) to get working nicely than Ubuntu does. Ubuntu, generally, just works. Windows takes hours to get things like the video card, the touchpad, the webcam, the function keys, etc all working properly. This is because, unlike Ubuntu, the drivers aren't bundled. Ubuntu's interface is also much better optimized for the small screen. Even though I don't really believe I need antivirus software, I have Microsoft Security Essentials on it just to try it out. All in all, Windows is much harder to use and not nearly as user-friendly as Ubuntu. And you have to pay for it (let's not count Windows 7 Starter that comes with netbooks - that's the OS that left my cousin half-crying when she got a netbook because you can't even change the desktop it's so crippled)...

So... what's Windows' biggest problem? Well, you can get it working well, and you can buy it. And anyone can get used to an interface... The biggest problem is font rendering. If you're coming from Mac OS X or Ubuntu and are used to the silky-smooth fonts, prepare to be disappointed. By default, Microsoft's ironically misnamed "ClearType" makes fonts a horrible, blocky, chunky mess that is hideous beyond compare. This is due to excessive use of "font hinting" - the practice of hammering fonts into a monitor's pixel grid that dates back to black and white rendering on extremely low-resolution displays. It is completely unnecessary today, but Microsoft still uses it - and not in small amounts - the fonts are hinted into oblivion. It is possible to make them look okay, at least at small sizes, by using the ClearType Tuner. Choose the first (darkest) block, then choose the last (blurriest) block, then choose the last (darkest) block and you'll get the most accurate fonts possible. Guess what? They're STILL chunky and over-hinted, especially at larger font sizes...

Who, exactly, at Microsoft thought it was a good idea to call this rendering engine ClearType? It makes no sense, except maybe "chunky, ugly, hinted-into-oblivion type" wouldn't sell as well... The ONLY way to get clear type (not ClearType, but actually clear type) on Windows is in the Safari web browser, where Apple has an (optional) setting to override Windows' font rendering entirely and use Apple's own. The sad thing is that Microsoft had to make an EFFORT to make fonts look this bad, if they just rendered them with no hinting, that would be EASIER to implement!

To anyone who wants to tell me Microsoft's hinting makes fonts easier to read. No, it doesn't. It makes them chunky and harsh. But if you disagree with me, that's the reason I love Ubuntu (and other GNOME based OSes) - you can customize the rendering however you like. From no hinting to very heavy hinting, the level of subpixel rendering (also over-aggressive on Windows as it results in some color fringing in certain fonts - good sub-pixel rendering should never cause noticeable color fringes), etc... it's all customizable.

And guess what? I'm sticking with Windows on here, for certain software and also so I have a Windows machine available. But, if you buy a netbook, go with Ubuntu :)