The holiday season is approaching. For several weeks Kim Komando will air her annual radio contest. I have no doubt that due to Microsoft’s generosity, she will have several copies of Windows 7 to give away to some ‘lucky’ listeners. I ask myself “What would I do with a free and legal copy of Windows 7?”

Before trashing the Vista OS that came preinstalled on my desktop Dell computer, I installed the public beta of Windows 7 and used it for about a week. I will admit that it was impressive and far superior to Vista. The best features of Vista were preserved and much of the bloat was gone. I believe it could have been appropriately named Vista – Second Edition, but obviously Microsoft had to get rid of the Vista connection. If they had gotten it right the first time I just might still be a Microsoft customer. But they didn’t.

So what would I do with my free copy of Windows 7? If I installed it somewhere, perhaps my laptop, it would need some cleaning up. Silly trial versions of Microsoft Office would have to be replaced with Open Office. Of course I would need virus and malware protection. To Microsoft’s credit they are now offering a protection suite for free. But this was almost a necessity wasn’t it? I would have to install a better web browser than IE. And I would have to install a third party registry cleaner to keep the system running smoothly. Finally, I would have to install software the Microsoft way with all those ‘I Agree’ clicks followed by a system reboot.

On the other hand, Ubuntu is releasing new GNOME and KDE versions in just a few days. Beta releases are available now for final testing. Both are feature rich and both have as much functionality as the Windows desktop if not more. Both are free, I don’t have to be a contest winner. I am a winner by default.

The question is answered. In the event I obtain a free and legal copy of Windows 7 I will not open the package. I will sell it on ebay to some unenlightened soul.