

Matt Cutts 30 day challenge for October: No Microsoft Software - tshtf
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/30-days-no-microsoft-software/

======
camccann
Having not used any MS software for years outside of work and occasional
troubleshooting for friends, this just doesn't seem like a big deal to me.
Familiarity breeds contempt, I suppose, but for someone who could even
consider doing this (i.e., no vital Windows-only applications, no PC gaming,
etc.), I can't imagine it making much of a difference. If my day job didn't
involve .NET, I'd never touch MS software and wouldn't really notice. The only
practical difference to me is remembering whether to type "ls" or "dir" and
that installing/upgrading software on Ubuntu is easier and requires less
rebooting.

Okay, on second though, this is sounding like I'm bashing him, which is
absolutely not the case. His previous 30-day challenges involved substantial
lifestyle adjustments, with non-trivial time commitments and the whole 30-day
challenge concept is awesome. It's just that compared to previous challenges,
"use Ubuntu" seems not very ambitious.

Is it just that I've gotten unusually lucky in my experiences with Ubuntu or
something?

~~~
RyanMcGreal
> Is it just that I've gotten unusually lucky in my experiences with Ubuntu or
> something?

I don't think so. I made the transition from Windows XP to Ubuntu earlier this
year and it was surprisingly painless. In fact, the main thing I noticed is
that most of the things I do with a computer actually got considerably easier
in a Linux environment.

------
simonw
What I find interesting is how incredibly easy it is to do this. I use
Microsoft products maybe once or twice a month, almost exclusively for testing
(or opening up the occasional Excel file, but that's just because I haven't
yet bothered to install OpenOffice on my Mac). I don't even go out of my way
to avoid Microsoft software, their products simply don't provide anything that
I need.

~~~
chrischen
Yea seriously, if you don't use windows it's not that tough. I'm a student
using mac and haven't touched word this year yet, and that's about the only
Microsoft app I can even use. Mac comes with text edit, calculator, even vim
and bash. Great 'cause the environment is so similar to my Linux server.

~~~
stcredzero
Where Microsoft gets you is with advanced uses. People with sophisticated
macros, vbscript, corporate workflows integrated with some Outlook feature --
these are the reasons why M$ is entrenched.

------
mcav
Challenge for November: No Google Software.

That's where I'd have trouble.

~~~
lamnk
Search: I can use Bing or Yahoo, no problem here.

Mail: gmail is integrated deeply into my workflow. Hard to live without it.

Money: Adsense pays for my hosting bill so can't drop them, besides there is
no worthy competitor with Adsense (for small blogs)

Analytics: Google's product is great and free but i would be very happy to try
some alternative.

Docs: don't use google docs a lot. Not important.

Calendar: I have too few plans/appointments so a calendar is useless :-p

~~~
patio11
_I can use Bing or Yahoo, no problem here._

I tried using Bing for a month. I lasted about 48 hours. One problem was that
Google dominates Bing for technical searches and searches in Japanese, both of
which are sort of important to me.

A bigger problem was that my fingers will type www.google.com into my URL bar
without me even asking them to any time I have a question about something. (In
browser search box, what's that? I'm stuck in my ways...) The only way I could
have overcome this habit would have been using my hosts file to redirect
google.com to a Bing server, and I was worried that would lock me out of the
Google services I need to run my business.

~~~
drats
I am using ctrl+l on chrome, so 2 keystrokes to get to a search 73,000 key
presses (asides from search terms + enter) if I am doing 10 searches a day for
10 years.

If you are using the mouse to get to the location bar that's an insane time
delay, but if you are using ctrl+l then typing "www.google.com" you are at
something like 584,000 over the same 10 per day for 10 years period. That's an
entire novel of
"www.google.comwww.google.comwww.google.comwww.google.comwww.google.com", plus
the time spent typing and the time for the extra unneeded page load. Think
hard about changing to ctrl+k on firefox or ctrl+l on chrome (or ctrl+l plus
"g" hotword on firefox if you got rid of the searchbar).

~~~
FreeRadical
the dropdown suggestion bar will reduce the 584,000 somewhat

------
nirmal
In some parts of Academia this would require no change at all. Our lab is all
Linux or Apple.

------
cesare
A more eye-opening challenge would be: no free-open source software for a
month, no services using open source software (no sites running on an open
source OS or server etc.) and no operating systems which are even partly open
source (so no OSX either).

Another less radical but still quite interesting variant would allow using
open source licensed software (BSD, Apache etc.) but no free software (GPL,
LGPL etc.).

~~~
tensor
I'm not sure if it's still true for Windows 7, but I remember that XP also
used some BSD code in the network stack. The challenge shouldn't really be eye
opening. Free working code will make its way into many pieces of software.

Your second challenge is more interesting, as it may illustrate the effect of
using more restrictive copyleft licensing in terms of code reuse.

------
rguzman
How is this a challenge? I've microsoft free for a few years. As mentioned
above, the challenge would be no google software.

------
arihelgason
What about no Windows CE? You wouldn't be able to use many ATMs

~~~
Retric
Also a lot of POS (Point of Sale) software runs on windows. So no overpriced
Starbucks coffee for 30 days.

------
icefox
Although his challenge is no software I don't get why he wont ditch his MS
keyboard. There are plenty of nice keyboards out there they are not expensive
so making the switch seems like a worthwhile thing to do.

~~~
stcredzero
In general, Microsoft hardware does a lot better with standards compliance
than their software.

------
BrandonM
This would be tough for me. Notepad and especially Calculator are an important
part of my Quick Launch bar. And I'm kind of stuck using Vista because last I
checked they don't write poker software for Linux.

Before I got this new laptop, I probably went more than two years without
using a Microsoft product.

------
wastedbrains
I don't know if I use any MS stuff in my day to day life anymore. I don't have
Windows, but more importantly I don't use office. I do all my office related
work on Google Docs. With that out of the way and being on the Ruby stack I
don't have any real need for MS apps.

------
kgopal
Ya if he actually gets to not using Google this won't be just a stunt saying
"Hey Microsoft sucks, but I can't say that publicly so I'll instead show you
how when Google OS comes out using it won't be a problem at all".

------
bh23ha
I've been dabbling in Linux for years. But recently I had finally had enough
with worms and rootkits on my main XP desktop. I am witting this form Ubuntu,
and couldn't be happier.

------
stuhood
That's kindof like trying to quit smoking cold turkey. It's killing you, and
you know it, but you still have to make the transition gradually.

~~~
btilly
Bad analogy. It is actually easier to quit smoking cold turkey than gradually.
The reason is that a nicotine addiction comes back every time you smoke a
cigarette. So if you've just tried to limit your smoking, then you are
constantly in the position of craving a cigarette with a recently re-
established addiction. You're drawing out the pain. By contrast when you quit
cold turkey you have a rough time until the addiction fades, but then it is
over.

~~~
netsp
It's been three years for me. Still not over.

~~~
ZeroGravitas
You're no longer chemically addicted, but you're still fighting the habit
you've formed.

Some people are chemically dependant, some smoke through habit, most are a
combination of both. Knowing which applies to you can really help you quit and
there's questionnaires that can pinpoint which you are.

Sample questions:

Do you smoke a cigarette when you wake up? (low nicotine in the blood)

Do you smoke after a meal? (force of habit by mental connection)

~~~
netsp
I strongly suspect that I am (was) a lot of both. I also strongly suspect that
the distinction is hard to make.

I smoked to wake up, to go to sleep, to be alert, to relax, to suppress
hunger, to get an appetite to think, to take a break or to sooth the lonesome
heart. I really loved smoking. Still dream I'm smoking (and feel guilty) about
once a week.

