Blogging Ottinger (tim)Surviving Windows Made Easier
Windows Users:
You need VirtuaWin. Without it, you are not getting the advantage of multiple desktops, and the organization that brings to your workday. You may not know you need it, but you do.
The idea is that you have “places” to put things. You can keep your email open on desktop #4 where you don’t even see it most of the time. Throw your web browser on #3. Now you can instantly access them with hotkeys, without the need to find them on the task bar and navigate with mouse. You can have your programming on one screen and your test-runner on the other. You can have a spreadsheet on #1 and a document on #2, and all of them full-screen.
Better yet, you can set your chat window to show on all desktops, so you don’t miss a message.
You don’t think you need this, but once you’re used to it, you’re not going to want to go back. It’s like firefox and openoffice — you’ll be spoiled with non-M$ goodness.
Linux Users:
Given VirtuaWin and cygwin, you can amost do work in Windows. If it only weren’t for that seriously crummy console window (which I hate so severely). Why can’t they make a good command line window? You’d think it wouldn’t be so hard. Maybe we should make one, if it didn’t mean we have to code in windows.
Windows used to have a power toy that did this. I cant find it anymore though.
And to sum up what you said Tim, windows 1, 2, and 3 are for hiding what youre really doing and window 4 is for when your boss walks up and asks what youre doing. You pop open window for real fast and say… oh just going over this doc. LOL!
Comment by Steve — 2006-April-11 @ 06:53
Yes and it stunk. It’s still there. It didn’t keep the alt-tab list down to the current desktop, didn’t have the good navigation features, didn’t have “sticky” — lots of deficiencies. This one is free, open-source, and very nifty.
I tried the other one last time I was complaining about the lack of multi-desktop. Ahhh, source forge and the develolper community save us again!
Now we need a decent command-line window more like Xterm (or gnome/kde versions) and less like that doggy poo that Microsoft built to run “command.com” in. .
Comment by Tim — 2006-April-11 @ 09:21
hmmm… apparently there is a “right” way to exit VirtuaWin. It complained that I shut it down improperly last time. I guess I should peruse the help. I didn’t want *leaving* to be harder.
Comment by Tim — 2006-April-12 @ 02:05