I just bought a new laptop last Friday and, being an advocate of Open Source and everything that is Linux-related, I'm ashamed to admit that Vista, at least Vista Home Premium, was, well, okay, so to speak. What made me realize it was ok was mostly the hardware it was running on. The Blue Notebook, equipped with an Intel Core Duo processor, a gig of RAM, 120 gigs of storage space, a dual-layer multi-dvd burner, and a lot of bells and whistles, simply hummed away while running Microsoft's latest abomination. The notebook, which I'm officially dubbing as BB (as in B.B. King), has bluetooth, firewire, and USB connectivity, as well as a built-in dialup modem and LAN card. The notebook earns two-thumbs-up, as it has technology that can keep up with the times, or at least for a couple of years, and is relatively cheap at PhP 36K (roughly US$ 840). Systems with the same specs averages around PhP 45-60K (US$ 1075 - 1400). What was amazing with BB was that there were buttons that aren't really buttons. It's like a touch screen, except that it's not on the screen, but on the casing itself, and there's a volume control that you just slide your finger on the bar to increase or decrease the volume, much like the one on an iPod.

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I remember using my first computer. It had DOS running on a 486DX 66MHz processor. All I ever did with that computer, however, is make a set of blocks resembling a human, but was supposed to be a gorilla, throw an exploding banana to another, both of them standing over a bigger set of blocks resembling buildings. It's not just about angles and power of the throw, but you also have to factor in winds. That's how I got started with computers. From the time I had my first computer to my senior year in high school, the only software I knew was Microsoft, Windows in particular. I thought Microsoft was the only software used by everyone. I never thought about how big the universe was. Of course, I have heard of Apple Computers before, but never actually seeing one made me think it was just a myth. But I thought a computer with a fruit for a name would be cool to own someday.

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