Posted 08/04/2007 at 11:34:06pm

If Maximum PC is so in favor of open formats, why oh why do they force subscribers to the newsstand version of their magazine to use a Windows executable just to browse the contents of the free CDs that are included with the magazine? My friend recently installed Ubuntu Feisty after getting a virus that trashed his Windows XP. He was disappointed when he put the latest Maximum PC CD in the drive, and instead of the familiar interface, he was presented with a list of files he could not read. Wine could start the .exe at the command line, but the graphical interface had issues with permissions. I realize that this is something that should probably be fixed in Linux, but there must be some acceptable format with which to present the information contained on those CDs without having to run a Windows program. Just my two cents worth for user friendliness.