Good news for Windows fans!

http://os.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/05/18/2033216

 

haha that guys jokes...

"Windows XP networking: Not for amateurs"

"At that point, I'll re-evaluate the Windows operating system and see if it's finally ready for the mass market instead of requiring specialized skills -- and carefully-selected hardware -- to install and set up on the average home or small business desktop."

 

Bah, just more mindless (though this one has more thought put into it than most) Windows bashing. Anyone else find it ironic that all of the ads on the page are for Windows Server 2003 and its "lower TCO than Linux" tag lines?

 

*YAWN*

Don't they ever get bored of this crap?

"windows needs a product key"

Yeah because you have to buy it and authenticate it...

"*nix recognised my obscure network card immediately"

No, it probably used a blind generic driver, You can force Windows to do the same thing

"I have never touched a real woman"

I wonder why...?

 

It is funny... that's all. For the $$ Windows costs, it is a hunk of shit.
If it was open source, I could understand. But it's not, so I don't.

 

I stopped reading after the first sentence: "Every year or so I like to see how Microsoft is doing in its attempt to make a desktop operating system as usable as Linux."

I definately had myself a good laugh, and then I think I went and got food, or maybe went to the bathroom. Regardless, it's hard to take that sort of thing seriously. Newsforge has all the frothing anti-Microsoft sentiment of Slashdot, but without the redeeming feature of occasionally interesting news to make it worth reading.
Hearing the Linux community accuse Windows of not being usable is just too funny. If they'd stick to the usual rhetoric about stability, or security, or whatnot, then it would be bearable, but when they bring ease of use into the accusations it's there that all credibility is irrepairably lost.

 

Yeah, a lot of what he said's complete wank. But he did make some good points - WinXP is a fucking rip-off, for starters.

And I hate XP Home's networking set-up as well - not because of driver problems like him, but because it makes no sense! I've helped run a few LAN parties, and the only PCs I ever have trouble with are ones running XP Home that have been on other networks before. That fucking Wizard is evil!

 

WINDOWS IS DA SHIT, enough said!

 

That's because XP Home is just one step above Windows ME in the "Horrible software that should never have seen the light of day" department. Tell your friends to upgrade to Pro, and if they don't listen do something irrepairable to their harddrives and then burn their install CDs so they're forced to upgrade. They really will thank you for it later.

 

My main problem with Windows (or actually Microsoft) is that it got constantly butt-plugged by virii and spyware. It was out of control. Whole companies were going down. M$ finally acknowledged that they were at least partially responsible (uh... wholly maybe?) and came out with the Windows "firewall". What did it do? Block absolutely all communication to the PC... UDP anyway. Fucking morons.

I have a problem in general of paying $300-$400 for an OS, THEN paying $20 a month plus the package cost of an antivirus program to another company to make sure nobody fucks w/ my $300-$400 investment. This isn't including firewall software either. That is generally the most fucked up principle in computer history.

 

i didnt pay 300-400 for it

 

Academic Price XP Pro Upgrade - $99
Linksys router/hardware firewall - $40
Configuring Windows Update to alert me of new security releases - Free
AVG Antivirus with daily scans and updates - Free
ZoneAlarm with weekly updates - Free
MS AntiSpyware with daily scans and updates- Free
LavaSoft Adaware Personal - Free

7+ months and counting without a virus/spyware problem - Priceless.

There are some computer problems you can't fix.
For everything else, there's roll-your-own computer security. Software works the way YOU want, and everything's locked down tighter than a nun's ass.

 

Why don't you just marry MasterCard?

 

Screw MasterCard, what you're dealing with here is the mighty GSL DIY Home Security Super Unstoppable Force!

Now that's what I call real ultimate power.

 

-MS AntiSpyware is brand new (even out of beta yet?)
-AVG was a hunk of shit until relatively recently. I tried it 18 months ago and it never caught a single virus.
-If you're going to pay $99 for an Academci Pro UPgrade you might as well steal one off the net. THe legality is the same unless you're a student AND upgrading.

I'm not saying they're doing a bad job now... I'm saying where the fuck was all this when the shit went down? MS could've saved a lot of face. Even so, you're still relying on 3rd party software to protect you against something that should be able to protect itself. Why should I have to pay MORE for something to work right? AVG free license is technically only good for home PCs... not those used in a business. Despite what everyone thinks, not all businesses have shitloads of money to throw away on $50/yr antivirus licenses.

 

We all agree that Windows has problems but people blow this way out of proportion. No matter what they do people are going to find holes in the security and then you have to patch those only for others to be found. Anything designed by humans is inherently imperfect and can be taken advantage of/exploited. If tomorrow another o/s were to be the most widely used, you would instantly see all the holes in it as people scramble to exploit them. People learn to take advantage of the o/s which serves their interest best. Most of the world uses Windows so the most attention is given to breaking it down and finding ways through it. It's simple guys, If your a better coder, go for it. Make yourself millions as creating the one unbeatable, unbreakable, super duper monster of O/S. The day you release it, watch as millions of users find the holes you didn't think existed. What do you do then. Release patches to provide good customer service for those who bought your program. Then watch the boards as people crucify you for releasing patches for things that should have been forseen before the program was released. Sound familliar guys? Damned if you do, Damned if you don't. People will always find a way around the system. It's no ones fault. Get used to it. The future is a future of patch after patch after new antivirus program because of the jerks that look for ways to screw things up not because of the companies that try to provide a good product.


My 2 cents.

 

the security holes aren't tje only problem, imo. there's the unstability issues too. Just installed windows xp on my decent machine, and didn't touched it since i buyed mandrake about 10 months ago. before the installation, i thought it couldn't be as bad as i remember but i was wrong, it was worse than i expected and remembered. Maybe it's only because i was too much with linux without any Windows contact, wich could make my deffinition of ''stability'' a bit too strict, but running xp seems like dancing in a canoe, you need to be very carefull, and never attempt rude moves.

...still, with 10 months trying to deny this fact, a perfect and complete exeprience of the pc world isn't possible without touching by time to time windows. Still, it can't be perfect with nothing else than windows, too.

 

you sounded just like the architect just by now. Anyway, i must agree with you on a certain degree, something just can't be perfect, but it can be closer to it than another one. Union is the key, and some OSs (mostly *nix based OSs) understood that, microsoft didn't.

 

Err... I've had very little stability problems running my copy of XP, and the few problems I have had were things I knew I was the cause of.

As far as my Academic upgrade goes - indignation at the insinuation it was aquired illicitly aside, if I was trying to weasel my way into getting a copy of an Academic Upgrade, I think I would have just saved the time and effort and pirated my OS like Eva-01.

 

Why can't Linux users and Windows users unite and rejoice in the shared hatred of the Mac users?