Windows XP

I quit fighting Microsoft, and over the last few days, I have fully bought in to the new look and feel they're pushing on us for Window XP. I finally started using the "My Documents", "My Pictures" and "My Music" folders they create for you. And, I started using what was previously called "HTML View" for folders, and with XP is called "Common Tasks".

Now, the strange part ... I like it! I still don't do that single-click thing to open documents (that's just not natural, dammit!) but I like the fact that it knows stuff in the "my music" folder is music ... so, I can click on a folder name in there, it'll assume it's a folder of songs, and it'll offer me a "play" option. If I select that, it'll fire up media player and play all the songs in order.

The start menu took some getting used to, but since it keeps your most-recently-used applications one click away, it finally grew on me. And, the new curvey look and feel is pretty sweet. I'm sure it takes some processing power, but hell, computer power is cheap these days, so why not make it look good?

Jeez, I sound like a Microsoft sales rep. I'm not. I resisted a long time. But, once I decided to give it a shot, I really liked it. Go figure.

FYI, there's a new product activation scheme that's designed to prevent piracy. So, don't even ask me for a copy of it :-)