Windows versus the World: Royal Rumble I

[Dagenais]

that is the worst argument for windows I have ever heard. Just because you have to write some command lines instead of clicking all over Control Panel does not mean it's easy. not to mention reebooting windows to apply changes.

It's a perfect argument. Instead of typing away on the command line, you can do the same job using the GUI.

That's what made the first Apple popular.

yes remeber those times when 93% of the world population said the Earth was flat. ah, the good old inquisition ...

They didn't pay $99.99 or $299.99 to say that.

And I'm talking about correctness when saying that, I'm talking about user loyalty. Since 93% of the computer population use it plus their other products, continually b*itching about it they still end up paying for the products and using them.

If I bought a car, printer, TV etc. that I hated, I certainly would not buy it again.

If I did, then I probably like the product.

Even Linux needs to be rebooted when you change video drivers.

Macs do too. They reboot after major software updates in Jaguar as well.

Timbucktoo because my wife decided to open an e-mail attachment containing a new virus

That would be your wife's fault, not Windows.

Another example of Windows getting blamed. Rarely do Unix users open up unknown attachments.

aren't IE and WMP so tightly integrated with Windows that they can't be removed?

No, the new service pack is suppose to fix that.

Programs bringing the system down only happened in 95, 98, and ME. Those are truly the 3 worst operating systems ever created.

95, 98 isn't as bad as you think. I used Macs back then as well and they were also highly unstable.

Back then, I'd take the compatibility of 95 over Classic Mac OS on any day. I've never seen the mid-90's version of Linux so I can't make a comment on that but I can't imagine it being much greater.

 

[Guybrush Threepwood]

If I bought a car, printer, TV etc. that I hated, I certainly would not buy it again.

If I did, then I probably like the product.

or had no other CHOICE. when I will go to any computer store and can choose any OS to be shipped with my new computer then I will have a CHOICE.

That would be your wife's fault, not Windows.

Another example of Windows getting blamed. Rarely do Unix users open up unknown attachments.

oh yes almost forgot the windows best defence - the user did it. No excuses because they made it possible for worms to spread through email, just blame the clueless users...

No, the new service pack is suppose to fix that.

so tell me why should I trust a company who's owner said that 640k RAM will be all a programmer would ever need and now ships an OS that can't fit in 1G and not trust kernel code I can read?

 

[MythioS]

I think the GUI was a good point though. I mean what is linux trying to be.
I've skimmed through linux msg forums b4 where they don't even seem to care about the casual computer user and say that 'well linux isn't made for games, its a server OS'.

Performance wise i didnt see any improvement with the GUI for linux then i did with windows. A friend of mine installed mandrake 9.0 and it was just as sluggish as windows.

Of course i mentioned this to a linux buff n he was like well who needs a gui anyways... ok true, who does need one. Ohh I don't know only 90% of the ppl.

I could install DOS if i didnt want a GUI.

Linux is more secure cus all these script kiddy hackers don't bother to write mosts virus' to be compatable with linux, not b/c linux is actually more secure.

The OS' job is there to run your computer, not be a security officer for peoples stupidity.

 

[ShawnD]

Last version of Linux I tried was Mandrake 8.2. Although KDE does take up resources, I found it a lot more responsive than Windows.
Windows has a hard time with hard drive lag. I'll be doing basically nothing and the hard drive light on my computer is on. I try to open Windows Explorer and it takes 10 seconds to load because Windows is having fun using the hard drive for no reason. Sometimes the computer just seems to lag incredibly bad, so I go to task manager and see that System Idle Process is using 90% CPU power even though I'm not doing anything. It's like Windows is skeeting on me, just to mock me.
Hard drive lag and System Idle Process suck

Programs that run on Linux also seem to run a lot faster. I used to run a Team Fortress Classic server. HLDS (half-life dedicated server) on Windows XP Home would take upwards of 20% of an Athlon 1700+. When I had that server on Mandrake 8.2, it only took around 3% CPU power. That still amazes me.
Linux's speed is why Linux is used on most computers that simply do calculations. The computers in the chem department at University of Alberta automatically reboot into Linux at 7PM IIRC and start doing chemistry calculations.

 

[Dagenais]

or had no other CHOICE. when I will go to any computer store and can choose any OS to be shipped with my new computer then I will have a CHOICE.

Go to Wal-mart, they have computers running Linux. Or CompUSA, they sell computers running Mac OS X Panther. That's 2 major distributors in the USA.

If you live in Canada, head to Future Shop, they have Macs selling there along with Windows. London Drugs offer loads of Macs.


You have a choice. There are plenty of oppurtunities given by large distributors to buy something other than Macs. That "Choice" thing is just BS when the biggest distributors in both the US and Canada offer choices.

No excuses because they made it possible for worms to spread through email, just blame the clueless users...

Don't open up Email attachements from strangers. Common sense.

 

[MythioS]

Oh no i doubt doubt that linux is available I am just concerned with how much is being done to make it 'usable'.

The whole scream use to be, 'Yes, finally something other then windows' and now were left wondering if linux will ever amount to much for games, etc.

Your lucky to even find an average user knowing what DOS, not this alternative which its only defense is using it at a prompt.. i dunno.

I just hope more games move to linux, otherwise i never have a reason to really switch.

 

[ShawnD]

I just hope more games move to linux, otherwise i never have a reason to really switch.

You don't have to switch entirely. I'm planning on doing a dual boot; I've had all the hard drive lag I can take (it took 5 minutes to load this page after I clicked the link in my email). I'm going to use Windows for games and Linux for everything else. I've finally found replacements for all the programs I use.
emule --> xmule
trillian --> gaim
winamp --> xmms (comes with most distros)
outlook --> kmail
ms office --> open office

 

[Guybrush Threepwood]

Go to Wal-mart, they have computers running Linux. Or CompUSA, they sell computers running Mac OS X Panther. That's 2 major distributors in the USA.
If you live in Canada, head to Future Shop, they have Macs selling there along with Windows. London Drugs offer loads of Macs.

I don't live in Canada or USA (it sais so right under my name on the left though) and here all we have is Windows on every computer. And I said any OS. All I want is the same choice I get for computer parts. I can buy a processor from Intel , AMD or Transmeta at a large range of frequency. I want a full list of OSes from Win to FreeBSD.

You have a choice.

YOU have a choice because the people from the Open Source Community fought for it. The world is not just Canada and SUA...

Don't open up Email attachements from strangers. Common sense.

you just open a new bussiness and a lot of strangers sent you CVs and bussiness oportunities. What do you do? oh, yes don't open them...

 

[Guybrush Threepwood]

ms office --> open office

well open office kinda sucks, better try and configure wine to run MS office...

 

[ShawnD]

I tried. Word can run, but Excel causes wine to crash.

 

[faust9]

Don't open up Email attachements from strangers. Common sense.

Well, the attachment wasn't from a stranger. I don't recall the name of the virus but this particular bug read the names from the outlook contacts list and then sent a random infected file from MyDocuments to each person.

I was running AV software, my wife knows better to open attachments from unknown senders yet we were still infected. It was another year before M$ added the ability to prevent downloading files from E-Mail, and the virus the attacked us wasn't the first to exploit Outlooks inability to prevent malicious code from attacking.

Call me crazy, but I use Koffice. It's pretty similar to appleworks which I've used for a while now also. I like word's ability to format text in tables but that's about it.

 

[Dagenais]

I don't live in Canada or USA (it sais so right under my name on the left though) and here all we have is Windows on every computer. And I said any OS. All I want is the same choice I get for computer parts. I can buy a processor from Intel , AMD or Transmeta at a large range of frequency. I want a full list of OSes from Win to FreeBSD.

You refuse to download a free version of Linux? It's more profitiable to sell Windows on your computer, and you would do it too if you owned a large computer manufacturing company.

YOU have a choice because the people from the Open Source Community fought for it. The world is not just Canada and SUA...

Hardly. Wal-mart just sells them because they are cheap. Maybe Mandrake cut a deal with them, but otherwise "fight" is an exaggeration.

 

[The_Professional]

If you really want to mess with the command line and learn more about your computer. Go ahead and partition your hard drive and install Linux or any variant of Unix. Just make sure you pick up a book. You're going to need it. And practice, practice, practice.

If you're just a casual user then go Windows XP...and pick up a book on modifying the registry to do certain things...etc..there's fun stuff to mess around with.

 

[Dr Transport]

I have worked with almost all of the OS's out there, from DOS, to WIN* (all variants), MAC way back before they went to the iMAC, to half a dozen of the *NIX's also, to include LINUX most recently with Mandrake. Every OS has its pluses and minuses, my employer has just recently switched to WinXP Pro, without too much trouble. The reason behind this is to drop all of their IBM RS6000 boxes, they were very slow and expensive. In industry, cost effectiveness is the bottom line. They replaced theses systems to go to high end workstations running all of our software on WIN platform. Everyone is much happier, except us guys who run codes on *nix boxes exclusively and we only log into the PC network to log our time and check email.

OS's are chosen with the bottom line in mind in corporate America. If I forced the company to go to LINUX and run everything on that system, our subcontractors who run WIN exclusively would scream to no end because of compatability. In my house, my family is addicted to Windows, I stay there because I have to. My Linux box only gets fired up on the weekends because that is when my wife and kids use the computer the least. In the last couple of weeks they have become addicted to Tux Racer, so I suspect that the Win box will be running less and less.

The bottom line is that people stick with the comfortable. If we were all forced into runing a command line at the begining, we would do it now. Mac and Win forced the GUI onto us and we liked it. When I run a *nix box, I run thru the command line, Win thru a GUI. Stabilitywise, I have not had problems with either, they run and run. Only when I surf the internet do I have problems with IE crashing, and only on certain sites.

My vote is for what ever you feel comfortable with that does the job at hand.

 

[Guybrush Threepwood]

You refuse to download a free version of Linux?

damn right. You would refuse too if you'd had a dial-up and have to pay the phone company the cost of your call. Not everybody has free local calls all over the world you know ... I'll tell you again, Canada is not the whole world, some things you take for granted there are next to imposible someplace else.

It's more profitiable to sell Windows on your computer, and you would do it too if you owned a large computer manufacturing company.

yeh, probably because if I owned a large computer manufacturing company MS would sell me Win to the real price of the software - the price of the CD ...

 

[Guybrush Threepwood]

Every OS has its pluses and minuses

yes that's true. linux has same minuses also but unfortunately a lot of people seem to think that Windows is the ultimate OS when it really is just one not so good OS who has 95% market share through unfair monopoly ...