********************How do you like WINDOWS XP?********************

From me ^ | 27 Oct 01 | Democrats are liars

[for-q-clinton]

I'm not saying the guy isn't smart and I'm not saying the point the guy is NOW making isn't valid. But it is blown out of proportion.

He was a bit confused at first, then to save face he's changed his argument a bit but hasn't let go one bit of the gloom and doom fear part of his argument.

The real problem is users will do stupid things and install trojans viruses and not buy any anti-virus protection. The problem this guy is talking about has been around ever since NT. However, with every new OS everyone wants to find the silver bullet that will get their name in lights. He thought he found it, but all he really found was that if you connect machines to the Internet and run trojan horse programs you can cause problems.

But let's take his scenario out. Let's say every machine in the world is running XP. And there are 5 bad users that run the trojan that will exploit the ports. Now let's say all the other machines in the world that are running XP have their firewall on...guess what nothing happens to those machines that are protected.

Bottomline: Install a good AV program and run a firewall. I'm using a dlink 713P and I'm pretty much hidden from the world.

[Ben Bolt]

Oh lord , LOL ok you win .. I give !

[SW6906]

I'm a privacy nut, so my big complaint is with XP tracking my every move. My car doesn't report back to Ford every town I visit, why should my computer report on my web surfing?

[jammer]

Heres the trick to XP folks. DO NOT TRY TO UPGRADE FROM 98 or ME. Choose the new install and leave 98/ME intact, you can than dual boot into the old ME/98 or the new and improved XP. Comon geniuses, argue with me and prove your ignorance !

Of course. Anyone knows that. These were on virgin, i.e., F-Disked, machines. The last sentence assumes ignorance, that someone would argue with the obvious, and attempts an insult. The bottom line is, you installed it and like it, based on a couple of days. You are welcome to use it--that's the free market. He beta-tested it and has been using it for 3 weeks. The flaws are too much for his use. The free market says he doesn't have to use it. That doesn't make him a moron.

[for-q-clinton]

Are you saying you are a true genius?

Anyway, did they tell you WHY they weren't going to run XP? Like I said earlier, if I had a game that I really liked to play and for some odd reason it didn't work on XP I would have to go with 9x (98SE).

Without a WHY they won't run it, makes the comment pretty useless.

[Cultural Jihad]

I'm a privacy nut, so my big complaint is with XP tracking my every move.

And your link to the article which proves that to be the case is where?

[CheneyChick]

Some of us love our Macs. Microsoft keeps trying to keep up with the Mac, but never quite gets it right..

These Windoze kids are cranky and grumpy - they like griping about their OS. It reminds me of the little kid who is tired but won't take a nap... I love my Mac, too. It makes me happy. CC :)

[Jolly Green]

Sun is using the Sep 11 tragedy to promote their software for a national Java ID card. Just say NO to Java.

You are mistaken. It is Oracle that has taken the lead on the National ID card, which the congress and Prez have basically pooh poohed. It won't happen.

As for Java, it's great - in the proper environment.

[kylaka]

Have you considered how many hardware drivers were written by third parties over which Microsoft has little or no control?

No Doubt. But when you get stuff like Media Player caused a GP fault in kernel.exe at etc. etc. it is squarely on Microsoft. Windows Me is / was /and will forever be a disaster. I will be done with MS by the end of the year.

[Paulus Invictus]

You are right! Average Joes should not buy MACS. Only the more intelligent buy them as they want to avoid all the freezes, failures, crashes and other disasters that make all PCs a continuous joke. Everyone in my family, except me, are PC commandos and all they do on line is complain about their PCs and operating systems. My bro has a new Dell that has worked only on rare occasions, but it is usually down for repairs and program help both very slow in coming.

I do enjoy these MAC/PC debates, however. It's a lot like arguing religion--no one wins and everyone gets hot under the collar.

[SW6906]

I knew I shouldn't have posted, because I really don't know what I'm talking about (and am willing to admit it, unlike some of the other people on this thread - not you!). I have read that XP takes your private info, what software is installed and your web surfing habits and reports that back to Redmond. I can't provide a direct link to an authoritative source, I just recall seeing it in a few places and have been told that by some anti-Microsoft types. I do not know that for a fact as I am not "into" this stuff.

Convince me I'm wrong.

[for-q-clinton]

Actually I thought it would be funny if Larry Ellison got the gov't to go ahead with a nation ID system, but went with IBM's DB2 or Microsoft SQL due to it being so much more cost effective.

Larry Ellison really rubs a nerve on me. If you ever seen an interview with him, you'll know what I'm talking about. He thinks he deserves to be the richest man in the world and if it wasn't for Bill Gates' luck he would easily dominate the world. Larry's a real arrogant swine.

[Democrats are liars]

Was very difficult to install. It would not simply update my Windows ME.

What kind of problems did you have.. I am getting a new computer soon with win me and a coupon for XP. Should I bother with the coupon?
 

I was having problems with Windows ME before I even started the upgrade. So, I probably had a lot of corrupted files to start with. I guess I would suggest upgrading from the other OSs to Windows XP. Maybe check back with me in a week; I will have more time to see if I like Windows XP.

[jammer]

This whole thing started when the sycophant called a true genius a moron

That is the statement I made. He called my computer guy a moron--twice. It had nothing to do with me.

Neither one of us plays or evaluates games. That seems to be your focus, so go for it. You wanted a substantive criticism--I have given our primary two. The security holes and the copy protection.

[Fornax]

Been using it for a while on my sons machine. Some problems with old software but that goes without saying. For example, Petz 4 freezes unless I turn off the sound. There are some compatibility modes to try but doesn't make a difference. The sound card does work with everything else though. Such anomalies are fairly typical with a new OS. I expect them; it's explaining them to your child that's tough. Otherwise not bad.

I did find the new interface rather insulting. Seems like it's more for kids or their grandmother. I call it the Fisher Price OS. You can use a theme that mimics the older style interface though. The new one certainly is cute. Not sure I want to be calling my OS cute.

[for-q-clinton]

Actually the less intelligent buy them because they don't understand they can get a machine that runs more software for less money and is more reliable.

MAC OSes have always crashed. I understand OS X is finally where NT4/2000 has been, so it looks like MAC has fixed that problem. The only difference between old MAC OS and win9x is that the MAC would crash gracefully and hide what really happened to the user. The 9x user would get a blue screen and know something bad happened.

I guess it depends on what you like. Do you want to know your system crashed and what caused it? Or would you rather your system just reboot and let you get back to what you were doing? 6 of one/ 1/2 dozen of the other.

[ElephantMan]

I never thought I'd find myself defending AOL, but...they are not a monopoly by any means. I am shocked to hear a fellow FReeper utter those words. Like 'em or hate 'em, AOL's success was built on the free market choices of the 12 million people who have signed up. No guns to anyone's head as far as I know...

[goodieD]

bah, everytime they come out with something new, it just ends up being a major pain the rear. I'm sticking with 98.