Posted on 04/15/2007 10:03:54 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Introduction
Microsoft is understandably touting its new Windows Vista operating system with as many superlatives as they can fit in a sentence but the response from consumers seems to be rather muted so far. Half a billion in marketing dollars can certainly make a flashy entrance but for all the publicity generated in the weeks leading to its 30th January release date, there hasn't exactly been the kind of maniacal rush that we had witnessed when tech gadgets like the new Sony PlayStation 3 were initially released.
There wasn't even a decent queue of any sort when CompUSA organized a midnight launch in the US , a somewhat disappointing turnout compared to the success of previous versions of Windows. Similarly in Singapore, there was no hint of a queue when we turned up for the official launch
, in stark contrast with the Windows XP launch here in 2001, which saw shoppers queuing for up to six hours to get their hands on it. It seems that despite the massive publicity promoting Vista's new features, the public is not biting yet.
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So how would your ageing systems perform when upgraded to Windows Vista? Would you be better off continuing with an existing operating system like Windows XP? To answer these questions and more, we have configured three systems that span the performance spectrum from an Athlon XP to the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processor. But before we see how they fare running Windows Vista, let's first review the 'minimum' system requirements listed by Microsoft.
(Excerpt) Read more at hardwarezone.com ...
I wish my new laptop had come with XP rather than Vista. Frankly, Vista is a real pain in the ***.
> An it is OS zealots like you who will keep me from owning a Mac for many, many years. Isn’t Mac these days basically linux with an UI? Very innovative there, ripping off an already existing OS, oh wait! That’s how Macs got their start, isn’t it?
Your statements are so far off the mark you'd have to correct yourself for a week just to get to where you were merely "wrong".
Mac OSX is a BSD (look it up, since you obviously don't know about it) UNIX derivative, mainly the NeXT OS (the Mach kernel, plus BSD sources), which was developed years before Linus Torvalds even started what would eventually become the Linux kernel. The majority of what is called Linux is the GNU operating system, which is specifically NOT a UNIX derivative (GNU = "Gnu's Not Unix"). So you could not possibly be more mistaken.
The early MacOS GUI was derived, as were many others (notably early Windows), from the Xerox/PARC development projects. It wasn't "ripped off", it was paid for. Nobody makes any bones about that -- you're beating a dead horse, and the wrong one, at that.
> I don’t want frufru ponytail guys with huge foreheads like you and comicbook sword guy as part of my peer group. I like real people, not OS zealots, not elitists.
How about people who know what the hell they're talking about regarding the history of the major operating systems? Or would that be too much of a culture shock?
Geez, all ya gotta do is look 'em up on Wikipedia, or any of the "History of..." pages posted on any of thousands of sites. Maybe you've spent too much time with the tin-foil hat crowd.
And before you try to label me as a "something-zealot", be aware that I have designed, built, programmed and used computers since the early 70's, and currently have Windows, Linux, Mac, UNIX, and a few proprietary systems not only all over my house and office, but I manage a corporate network that spans the globe with all of the above plus some others. I suspect I've hand-built and programmed more computers than you'll probably ever own. I like some much better than others, but "zealot" just doesn't apply. That's not "elitism", it's just simple experience and being around for a while.
So read up and learn a few things before you spew further ignorance. You're welcome to your opinions, but at least try to base them on facts.
Oh, and it's "frou-frou", not "frufru". You couldn't even get -that- right...
have 4 HP running xp and one Macbook Pro... when the HP’s die or need upgrade I’m over to Apple. I’ll keep the Win Machines and run games with them and that’s it
My company is buying only from vendors who will still ship notebooks with XP Pro instead of Vista. Dell and Fujitsu, for example. More are catching on, but the BestBuy/Staples consumer stores will remain Vista-only for a while because they are totally dependent on sucking at the Microsoft teat. It's probably in their contract that they have to keep all the XP off the shelf (I'm speculating, but I wouldn't be surprised).
Yep, I ran NT 3.5 for a while (I forget, probably on a FAT32 partition), but learned about NTFS with NT4. It's come a long way in a decade, and will be around for a while yet.
> When I buy an external USB drive I always reformat it with NTFS.
You must not have to trade external drives between Windows and other OSes. I've got too many others in use (Mac, Linux, NetBSD, SunOS, etc.). FAT32 seems to be the common denominator for portability. Of course, that's just for temp portability, not normal use or archiving.
I'll agree that on the drives that will be Windows-only, I use NTFS exclusively these days. And I'll corroborate your experience -- it's extremely robust against unexpected disconnects these days.
Yeah trying to find XP OEM version for that friend of mine’s computer was a real PITA. Finally found it on Tigerdirect (I LOVE them).
If bad comes to worse, I will go back to Windows and Office 2000. Bill Gates can stick Vista in his eye.
The software you receive with a Dell, HP, Compac, etc, always come with a Restore CD and not an OEM version of the operating system. If you have to replace the machine you lose the software.
It may be more expensive in the short run, but it pays off in the long because you keep reusing your software. A small business I worked for had over 20 different computer systems but we only needed 5 registered OEMs of Windows 2000 because I simply reused it.
FReeper "dukenukem" is currently banned/suspended.
FReeper "dukenukum" (Duke Nukum) has been around "Since Dec 4, 1997" and appears to run with the tin-foil hat crowd, according to his/her profile page.
I think the telling comment was from one of his anti-Apple rants on 3/27/2007:
What would constitute and good OS for me would be one where I didn't even know I was using an OS because it took care of all the geeky stuff.That's fine, it's a free country. But it speaks volumes about his knowledge, or desire for knowledge, about computers. Namely, zero. As you said: "willfully ignorant".
He wants a video game, not a computer. Okay, fine! He should just refrain from making ignorant comments about computers. I don't make stupid pontificating remarks about subjects I don't know or care to know about. Duke ought to start showing the same sense, and (though I'm not holding my breath) a little bit of respect or deference to those of us who do know about them. His offensive and disrespectful comments border on trolling.
Sometimes, but not always. I've re-used OEM CDs on replacement hardware successfully, though at the moment I couldn't tell you exactly which boxes.
> It may be more expensive in the short run, but it pays off in the long because you keep reusing your software. A small business I worked for had over 20 different computer systems but we only needed 5 registered OEMs of Windows 2000 because I simply reused it.
Quite true.
Win2K was (IMO) the best OS Microsoft has ever produced, in terms of the balance between features and bloat/restrictions. I suspect I'll keep the 2K CDs around essentially forever. They just keep working.
XP has some fine additional features, but much of the time they're not worth the additional bloat and restrictions.
Vista (to return to the topic of the thread) is over the top so far it's unprintable. As a System Admin I have to support a number of Vista users along with our regular crew of XP users, Mac-heads, Linux fans, UNIX geeks, and assorted what-not. The Vista folks account for 80% of the problems, even though they're only 5% of the user base so far.
Thank you, that's might Mac of you, sir. Might Mac. Can I keep my spelling errors too? It would be very gracious of your frufru ponytailness if I could.
It's hard to believe so many big egos can fit into the same club house. Probably why IM was invented.
XP has some fine additional features, but much of the time they're not worth the additional bloat and restrictions.
I have a W2k machine side by side with an XP machine. I prefer XP, but I will keep my 2000 disks, along with the service pacs on CD.
The thing to remember about man pages is that they are supposed to be a reference for someone who already has a pretty good idea on how to use the program in question. It's more for "what was the switch for that option again?" as opposed to "what the heck is this thing?". That said, there are many man pages that are useless even as reference. They're more like the stubs that go in the about section of help (ImageMagick and Subversion are like this, but the docs on the web are great and their online help is good as well).
OS Zealot idiots in the message forums who’s only advice was “man yum.” I hate those people,
I agree wholeheartedly. If they want to help, that's great but saying "man xyz" is not helpful and, as a general rule, it isn't a good way to learn the commands anyway.
Nah, that's bogus. Real men use hexadecimal commands on mainframes. Real men, like Mel.
> Thank you, that's might Mac of you, sir. Might Mac.
Nah, just common FR etiquette -- it's considered polite to agree to disagree, without being disagreeable. A quick review of your posted comments about computers showed that you're awfully opinionated for someone with so little knowledge. But I'm sure in time you, too, can learn how to play well with others.
> Can I keep my spelling errors too? It would be very gracious of your frufru ponytailness if I could.
You certainly may. I don't want them, and I would guess most of the others here don't have any screaming need for them either. You are welcome to keep them. You can also keep the personal insults -- and I recommend that you do so.
> It's hard to believe so many big egos can fit into the same club house.
You're the one with the big ego, FRiend -- you seem to think that by belittling others, you aggrandize yourself. You are mistaken -- your slurs merely make you sound like a fool.
It's not ego to acknowledge one's experience if it's germane. I mentioned what I've worked with to save you the trouble of accusing me of being a fanboy for any of these operating systems, since you seem to derive great pleasure from calling others insulting names based on their OS preferences. And yet you STILL managed to miss the point and refer to me as "your frufru ponytailness". You must realize you only make yourself smaller, throwing misguided insults around like that.
> Probably why IM was invented.
I wouldn't know; I don't do IM. I'm not sure what your comment means.
Anyway, you can go back to your video games now; the rest of us on this thread and others will do just fine without your puerile venom and laughable inaccuracies. Next time, research your topic a bit before you post -- it'll save you the trouble of spewing drivel, and save the rest of us the time taken to correct your misconceptions.
/s
In all seriousness, save the smarmy insults for your political opponents, and tone down the ad hominem crap you direct at other posters on this forum. People have had their accounts suspended for that kind of stuff.
“This frufru ponytail nonsense is, like, so gay”
Oh, and like oh so teenaged.
> The thing to remember about man pages is that they are supposed to be a reference for someone who already has a pretty good idea on how to use the program in question. It's more for "what was the switch for that option again?" as opposed to "what the heck is this thing?"
Correct -- man pages are a "reference", not a "how-to guide" or "tutorial". Aesthetic judgments aside, they're not "usless" [sic], they're just not what -you're- looking for. They are quite useful to the rest of us.
A good GUI environment shouldn't even require a "how-to" guide, and if there is one, you should only need to refer to it at the beginning, when learning by tutorial methods. Whereas reference guides for commandline apps (man pages being only one example) remain a useful source of info forever, because you can find the one thing you need more quickly that way.
>> OS Zealot idiots in the message forums who’s only advice was “man yum.” I hate those people,
> I agree wholeheartedly. If they want to help, that's great but saying "man xyz" is not helpful and, as a general rule, it isn't a good way to learn the commands anyway.
Folks who tell newbies to "read the man page", when what is needed is a tutorial, should be taken out back and shot. We can all agree on that.
> Oh, and like oh so teenaged.
Duke Nukum appears to be a video-gamer from his earlier comments, and I'd guess he's in his mid-20's -- his rude attitude, speech patterns, and inability to spell echo those of a number of my younger friends in that age group.
I would infer from his various slurs and insults that he has inadequacy issues concerning his sexuality, but I don't think he's been around long enough to realize that yet. His profile says he's been on FR since 1997, so unless he's "borrowing" the profile, I'd guess he signed up when he was in his teens. Maybe he's stuck in them, mentally.
Ah, well, takes all kinds to populate a forum.
Now I suppose he'll feel compelled to remind me that I have a ponytail. /s
Duke Nukum should go shampoo his daddy’s crotch, and let the adults talk.
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