I have serious concerns about what's happening at Microsoft Corp. (computers, tablets, phones) CEO Steve Balmer is stepping down this year and his replacement possibilities seem to be without a vision forward. Windows 8 and 8.1 are very problematic operating systems and are not worthy for the business world, and finally it turns out that Windows 7 that is an excellent Windows XP replacement won't be on-sale after October 31, 2014. Businesses that were thinking about their gradual migration path from Windows XP were headed straight to Windows 7--though not necessarily right away. For them Windows 8 or 8.1 wasn't even on the horizon until the Windows 7 migration has been completed. So much for that upgrade path.

Windows XP is currently extensively used in businesses. It's in small businesses, hospitals, retirement complexes, police departments, investment firms, airport managment, local state, and federal government operations; etc. You name it. A huge amount of software has been written for this group of users over the decade+ that Windows XP has been around. But as of April, 2014, support for Windows XP from Microsoft will full stop. Viruses and malware will become unstoppable if the writers of that software stop supporting Windows XP computers. Vendors of software will switch to the newer systems because they have to from a business point of view. This means that anti-virus, printer vendors, specialized medical hardware, etc. will all fade for XP and will move toward Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 making the older hardware incompatible. I don't see how all this will play out nicely. The migration to newer environments entails considerable costs for hardware and software. New software needs to be written to replace existing software for MRI, XRAY, EKG machines, hospital records, etc. The Chinese government is already pressuring Microsoft to extend the Windows XP deadline because so many of their systems depend upon it. They imagine impossible upgrade costs ahead. So far there has been silence on extending the support for Windows XP from the Microsoft Corp.

All I can recommend to users is to hold onto Windows XP or Windows 7 if you have it as long as you can, then get a new computer if needed that can run Windows 7 --before October 31, 2014. I don't know the future for Windows Vista except that it might be better to buy a Windows 7 computer to replace it by the deadline. The privacy issue I'll discuss later. Apple computers are pricey but an alternative if you're not running a business.

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS is my main computer environment that I use for my business. It's steady, old, but very productive. Almost instantly I can get to all my files, print what I want: bookkeeping, locate invoices, phone numbers, work histories, etc. My scripts--as discussed earlier are used every day. They save me tons of time.

As for Ubuntu, I already have a computer running 13.10 (October, 2013 release) that will easily upgrade to the 14.04 LTS (Long-Term Support) in mid April, 2014. My 13.10 computer works just fine and has all my needed software though it's not a required part of my business yet. I'm sure that the Ubunutu 14.04 which will be supported for at least 3 years will be very similar and with many small improvements as well. My concern is with the state of its desktop graphical interface called Unity. I like the Gnome desktop interface of the Ubuntu 10.04 that I use, but Unity on the 13.10 I find annoying to use--but it will have to do. There's no turning back to Gnome. At some point I will become efficient with the 13.10. At least my scripts seem to be okay with it so that's really the bottom line for me. (The directory folders in the Linux world haven't been moved around at all making my scrips conversions really easy)

Programs on the 13.10 work just as well or better than they do on the Ubuntu 10.04. 99.9% of the time a Linux/Ubuntu equivalent to a Microsoft vender works just fine. However, QuickBooks, Quicken, Sharepoint and Exchange work only on Windows computers so if you must use those, you'll simply have to buy a Windows box. There are Linux equivalents for those applications, and though they function well, they usually are not as elegant as the Window applications. For easy of use nothing beats the Windows application QuickBooks that is used by large numbers of businesses.

Ubuntu is secure, free of viruses and is probably NOT snooped upon by the NSA. Windows 8.1 search whether it's local or on the Internet is revealed to Microsoft/aka NSA. So forget personal or business privacy on Windows 8.1. Businesses should head to Windows 7 as soon as they can. (Apple computers at present don't make a good fit for businesses.) I'm no expert on privacy and I don't use social websites such as Facebook or Twitter. My phone is a TracFone with no app's and it is useless for tracking by the NSA. I do use e-mail and browse the web with Firefox or Chrome, so my privacy isn't assured when using those tools. My e-mail comes into my computer via Thunderbird through my website and that seems private. Since I use AT&T Consumer DSL to use the Internet, I imagine that my personal and business data isn't really just mine anymore. [NSA: I hope you enjoy my e-mails!]

Users of Windows computers should seriously check out the options available in the Linux world. (I'm concentrating on Ubuntu.) System76.com or ZaReason.com supply some serious boxes to consider as replacements for what you might be using and that need replacement. Dell or HP computers are available with Ubuntu, but you have to call to discuss an Ubuntu or other Linux preinstall. They will try very hard to keep you using a Windows box.

My opinon: Ubuntu 13.10 is a whole lot easier to use than Windows 8.1 and in the long run, the decision to go forward with a Linux computer is inescapable. The learning curve for Ubuntu is easy to routine but the learning curve for Windows 8.1 is annoying to problematic in my opinion. Privacy is a personal right--whether a constitution protects that right or not. My comfort zone requires that my personal privacy is not negotiable via digital means. The current state of the Internet is a brawling, privacy free-for-all--for all those that are just plain stupid or are not paying attention. Despite my best efforts, I'm sure that my digital footprint online is extensive.

I really feel that Ubuntu is ready for the average user, and it's also ready and secure for business environments. Business applications may be lagging a bit, but the current Linux replacements are acceptable. Linux servers and desktop computers are already terrific and are used extensively by major users: NYSE, Amazon, Google, Munich Gov't, Police Departments of France for example. The desktop users are where the new frontier is as we move forward to 2014. I'll be watching the wild rides to come. (enough now from uneasy Dave)

I particularly like that my scripts make easy what would be hard especially when I'm tired and not thinking as clearly as I might. I'm also happy that as the versions of Ubuntu change and I migrate to them, my scripts come along with only minor tweaking. Directory and file names stay the same. The image shows my current terminal screen that appears when my computer starts up in Ubuntu.

The Microsoft Windows world of computers where version changes from say Windows 98 to Windows XP or from Windows XP to Windows 8 are dramatically different system changes though not quite so much with the coding of batch files (.bat). Scripts are possible with Windows computers, but many of the commands I use in my Ubuntu environment are missing or obscure in the Windows environment thus limiting my options for what I presently use. Had I been using scripts with a Windows computer, I'm doubtful that the features would always transfer. Directories sometimes are renamed or placed in different places on the disk. Utilities I'd installed and used before might not be available for the newer systems. Those kinds of issues pose serio.us problems to the functioning of my company with custom scripts. I'm not sure how the big companies cope with these problems except to keep writing new scripts.

Perhaps you don't write scripts. However, I'd encourage you to learn basic scripting and to see what you can come up with.

On the drive back home I got to visit some of the underground caverns in Virginia. If you get near Luray Caverns in the beautiful Shendandoah Valley ringed with mountains and hills, it's a must stop for a few hours.

The Shenandoah Valley millions of years ago was an inland sea. When the water receded and the land uplifted, the caverns were formed from the rain and river water from the hill sides around the valley dissoving limestone below the surface of the Valley. That valley surface now supports lush farm land atop it in the present valley--with the old bottom below the surface farms being now a roof over the caverns. A visit to a cavern structure such as the Luray Caverns shows how old the layers of Earth are and how slow the weathering process is. Most caverns in the valley are separate and small, but the Luray Caverns are on and below a hillside that became really huge underground. Consequently the place is very popular with excellent tours.

It will be 2-day drive with a stopover in Hagerstown, MD on the way down and on the way back. I'll give a report about the conference after I return. If you click on the graphic, it will take you to the conference website.

Some members focus on command line basics and extensions, others discuss Linux distributions, network issues, security and electronics.  We discuss hardware and software issues surrounding Linux and computer boxes of all types.  We tend to be fearless and will attempt to learn what we can in the topics discussed.  I'm amazed at the expertise level of some of the attendees.  We also discuss editing photos, movies and sound tracks.  Perhaps someday we'll field a podcast.

My focus lately has been on the microcontroller, Arduino Uno, which I use and can explain with some elementary expertise.  (I've played with light, sound, temperature, motion control, serial read and write, EEPROM read and write, and LCD operations though I'm still a newbie with most of those items.)  We discuss wiring, coding, and the how-to-do items that tend to be left hanging.

As a result of this tech visit, I suspect I will find mixed environments of Linux, Windows and Apple for the near and perhaps distant future.  I'm not criticizing this.  Each computing environment has lots of pluses and perhaps lots of minuses.  One-stop computers aren't really possible anymore because what people want to do with them keeps expanding.  It's going to get lots more complicated because of smart phones and tablets.

This solution isn't cheap but it's the best fix I can think of for businesses, libraries, hospitals, police departments, etc. with huge numbers of Windows XP computers that are mission-critical."

I got to meet some new friends and meet up with old ones.  It was fun meeting the Malmrose family which has a company ZaReason which makes computer that run all kinds of versions of Linux.  (We own one of them.)  Even their young children were messing around with Linux.  The usual parties in the bars, swapping code and stories, looking at amazing projects.  In short the whole LinuxFest was a blast even though I was there only two days!

As a free, fully-capable replacement which works from a command-line environment for Windows, Mac and Linux is "maxima."  While basically a command-line controlled program there are graphical interfaces that make life easier with "xmaxima" that has additional features or with widgets using "wxmaxima."  I make good use of all 3 programs on my Ubuntu computer.

Those 3 programs help me with the course I'm studying: "Mastering Differential Equations: The Visual Method" by Prof. Robert L. Devaney, Boston University--via 24 lessons on DVDs.  The course which includes homework sets for each lecture is terrific.  Maxima keeps up with the calculations and graphs I need.  Anything I need to know outside of the lessons, book and maxima can be found on the Internet with a bit of searching.

1. Mounted the board on a piece of wood, 2 Wired up a circuit on a breadboard to simulate a traffic light situation with walk lights, 3. Messed with the C code on my Dell Mini 9 after installing the Arduino Integrated Development Environment, 4. Assembled the components and wired the breadboard, 5. Connected the USB cable to the board, and 6. Uploaded the bytecode to the Arduino.

Wonders of wonders...the little board and circuit actually work. Yippee, the lights sequence properly according to the code! (Perhaps now I should wire up a circuit to see if mail has arrived in my mailbox!)

The picture shows my Dell Mini 9 and mouse at the left, cables and battery, the Arduino board and my breadboard are on a temporary Lego board mounting to loosely hold things together. The traffic lights are the 3 on the left, a pizzo buzzer for the red walk warning, a walk light button switch and then the 2 walk lights on the right.

The Pogoplug Pro allows for up to 4 storage devices such as USB hard disk drives, memory keys, etc.  If I need a different key, all I have to do is to call Barbara on my cell phone and she can insert the proper memory key or external hard disk drive.  What a terrific way to make my files available when I need them from anywhere in the world that connects to the Internet! (Barbara gets a free dinner if I need to have her mount a memory key for me.)

I then made the decision to reformat the Inspiron's drive with a newer ext4 version rather than the existing ext3 file format and installed Ubuntu 9.10 from a USB key I had.  Once loaded, I then did a routine upgrade to 10.04 via the Internet.  Because of the reformat of the drive, all files had to be restored from backups, e-mail had to be configured, secure shell had to be reloaded along with generating new public and private keys. (public keys had to be put onto the server and the Mini-9)  Next I had to make sure scripts were working properly.  Finally I had to restore browser bookmarks, the e-mail address book, desktop icons, get VNC working so one computer desktop could visit another, and finally configure the printers.  At this point I think that my computing environment is back to normal.  Whew!

Ubuntu 10.04 named Lucid Lynx is due at the end of this month.  Eventually it will replace the Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron released in April, 2008) I've been using on my business laptop and server.  It probably is an improvement in many ways, but I'll wait a bit after it's been released before doing the upgrade from the 8.04 as my current release works just fine.  That way some last minute bug fixes will find their way into the 10.04 release. (8.04 is already at 8.04.4 -- the 4th release of 8.04, so these things tend to happen just as Windows 7 has now already had service pack 1 (SP1) and Windows XP is up to SP3.

I was asked to swap in the new hard drive and get things up and running again.  At my lab I found that the hard disk had come from the company completely empty with no Windows XP preinstalled, so it became an easy decision to install Ubuntu 9.10 from a USB flash drive.  Within 45 minutes Ubuntu was loaded and already getting its updates from the Ubuntu repositories.  All the hardware appeared to be working correctly.  After some minor preference changes, the computer was taken back to the customer.

As far as I can tell the hardware on the system board is okay though the storage battery's shot (just use the power cord), the accupoint is a pain to use for a mouse and the keyboard is partly unresponsive.  An easy fix--just plug in a USB keyboard and mouse and things are just fine.  With all the needed software already installed perhaps this old computer is good for at least another year!  What's not to like on this?

Programs such as the Windows versions of QuickBooks require the use of virtual clients such as Virtualbox or VMware to run on a Linux platform and work well but take some getting used to when run this way.  Major server applications such as Microsoft's Active Directory, Exchange or Sharepoint have some features running in the Linux environments and are gradually getting better, but with some distance to go to please everyone.

The best part of all this is that I'm back writing some interesting Python code in what I hope will develop into a useful application suite for my company.  The modules I've made accessible from a simple directory allow me to quickly add or delete rows, and to modify entries in a selected row of the one of the database's three tables.  So far everything is working as expected--the Python programs and the commands given to the MySQL database.

Yesterday I bit the bullet and installed Jaunty Jackelope (Ubuntu 9.04) on my Dell Mini-9.  In a word "Wow!" because all the issues I faced with the 8.04 version disappeared!  The most important is that SSH now works properly and I can use rsync with my laptop to the mini--updating all the customer configuration files I use regularly.  With one command I'm done on the synchronization.  Jaunty boots up faster, the network connects faster and the environment just feels more ready.  (It didn't take me long to become a fan of 'Jaunty.')

I've developed many other programs since last month.  My best one loads a calendar into the 'Week at a Glance' webpage of my church's website.  Every week a new calendar has to be manually fit in and snugged around the html code which makes it very hard to do--especially when I'm tired. (I've been doing it weekly the old way for years!  No more!)

I've got a Python version of my old HLtransform program working in the GUI (graphical user interface). The program that is about 400 lines long, is still primitive and is still not quite what I want for a good user's experience.  At least the error trapping, the algebra and the graphics now work.  Here's a link to see the output graphic of a right triangular prism rotated 45 degrees in the yz-plane--red shows the original points and green shows the image under the transform. (hltransf.png)  Click on the Back button of your browser to return here.  Enjoy!

I warned the group that I'd be back next month with another presentation to show how I'd migrated my programs and their output from the command shell to the graphical interface that most people are familiar with.  I'm into colors, graphics and menu pull-down lists--as fast I can learn the code and develop my programs.

By next month I may be able to demo an old program called HLtransform I wrote years ago with an Apple Macintosh II+ which takes a basic cube and then rotates, reflects or resizes it in the x, y and z dimensions.  I hope to demo a graphical version that actually displays those actions on the fly.  Wish me luck.

1. I regularly synchronize my business laptop with my server using Secure Shell (SSH) on my network using a script and this method works just great every time.  However, the Mini refuses to properly use SSH despite repeated reinstalls of SSH and even Ubuntu 8.04 itself.  However I can move files between my business laptop and the Mini using the file manager called Nautilus or by using a USB memory key.

2. The Mini doesn't appear to be getting all the updates it should from the Canonical's repositories and there doesn't seem to be a good way to fix this problem.  It's not serious in terms of security, but I'm annoyed because it isn't the way it should be.

I made both scripts have a simple directory with the menu items selected by number.  Once a choice is made, the script does its required tasks with no further intervention.  I'm struggling to get used to script writing and verifying that the tasks were correctly done by the script.

Here's a 4-line, easy, script example that opens my calendar appointment page inside a text editor so that I can make changes for its webpage: (The first line tells the CLI this is a standard script with the comments starting at the #'s.)

For me, the Ubuntu computing environment is about opening new doors to opportunities for personal growth about Linux via Ubuntu and to see improved ways for others to use Ubuntu-based computers in their day-to-day computer needs.

My main expenses with Ubuntu have come from purchasing a few pieces of hardware (Laptop, Server, Mini) and some books to help me along since my start with Ubuntu in the late Fall, 2006.  Here are some of the books I use:

1. Security issues surrounding viruses, malware and rootkits is worsening and will become extremely serious in the Microsoft Windows world of computers.  (Companies on the computer security front line are currently losing against the bad guys.)  As a reminder, regularly backup your critical files to a CD-R, a USB memory key or to an external drive.

2. Businesses will look to control the security issues (item 1) and costs by using Ubuntu or some other Linux flavor in their ordinary office desktop environment.  Perhaps they should disconnect their Windows computers from the Internet and use an Ubuntu computer exclusively for e-mail and browsing the web.  (Businesses will still need a Windows or Apple computer to use Intuit Corporation's QuickBooks© TurboTax© or Quicken© for their accounting.)

I've decided that this should be the first MadMod Computing loaner computer (1^st come 1^st served) for those with an immediate replacement need or who would like to give Ubuntu a try.  A simple page of directions on its use is supplied with the computer.  (You supply the standard monitor, keyboard, mouse, cables, etc that usually connect to the tower.  People in Fairfield or Putnam Counties only please.  20 or more miles travel to your site--travel charges apply.)

It's fast, found my wireless signal, my network and associated with my network printer in 5 minutes.  What's not to like?  OpenOffice.org and Gimp are fantastic.