I have no interest in phones and smartphone OSes.
I like desktop software. I like Windows and Linux. I am not a fanboy. I have been dual-booting for 8 years.
Windows 7 is the best desktop OS. Everything is more refined than Linux. Except one thing: package management.
As a home user you are supposed to download exe-files. Back in 2009 I tried the Impulse client. It was fast. It had delta updates and I was impressed.
I thought if Microsoft buys Impulse then Windows can have a great package manager. Microsoft didn't buy Impulse. They created a store with toy (touch) apps.
Pretty useless if you are running Windows on a desktop or a laptop. Microsoft wanted to expand into tablet/hybrid territory.
A couple of weeks ago I tried Chocolatey. It's a package manager for Windows. I liked it. It's not as refined as Impulse. It's not as fast as Linux. But it gets the job done.
I have installed it on two Windows 7 machines. I did encounter a few hiccups, but now everything seems to be working. There is a package called ChocolateyGUI to give you a graphical interface. Everything is pretty straightforward. They have a nice homepage:
https://chocolatey.org/
If you install ChocolateyGUI on Windows 8/10 it needs to run in Windows 7 compatibility mode and also as an administrator. This is what Windows has been missing for so long. There are a lot of packages/applications. Everything I use actually. Only paid apps are missing.
Right now I am enjoying Windows 7 more than ever. I use Odrive to get (OneDrive) placeholders. Only downside is that I have turned off updates because Microsoft has become an Advanced Persistent Threat to my Windows 7 installations. Offline updaters can solve this problem.
I don't mind Windows 8.1. It's pretty nice. You can uninstall all Modern apps and make it a true desktop OS. But Win 8.1 doesn't really give me anything I can't get in Windows 7. My point is: Now that I have found Chocolatey it feels like Windows 7 is in full bloom.
But there is also sadness. Desktop computing might never get better than this. In a way I am clinging to the past, but I don't want to let go. And this makes me feel like an old grumpy man. Windows 95, Windows XP and Windows 7. Those were the days! When Windows 7 dies there will be great emptiness. [e digicons]:'([/e]
