MicroSloth Windose XP report

zootbobbalu

Registered
Just spotted this post on Cnet for an article titled "Readers: It's not worth the trouble" (http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-201-7532682-0.html?tag=hot).

The following comment was posted:

Readers rave
I think my wife summed it up best when after looking at my monitor and seeing Windows XP running, she said, "Is that a Macintosh you are using?" I think WinXP has a fresh, clean interface, something that is very welcome in the Windows world--Mac users have had that monopoly long enough.
--Paul Colton, venture capitalist, San Diego
 
Microsloth lol :p

Hey by any chance has anyone used winblows 98 ? (the parody)

I think I will do so tonite again, its kinda cool lol :p I advise all of u to try it ;)
 
Windows XP *has* a clean interface. Windows needed such an update. And the OS is quite stable, even for a Windows. Security? We'll see. It also has software like Adobe's palette running on it, which Mac OS X can't say right now.
 
that ad on TV, I laugh at the pathetic iMovie copy!:p

Seriously, as my teacher always said to me:

'if your going to copy off the blackboard, make sure you at least get it right you idiot!!'

-- They can't even copy and make it look good!!!!!:D
 
your teacher called u an idiot ?! :p that verbal abuse:p

come to think about it, I have NEVER seen the windows XP Ad!!!:eek:
 
This quote from the above mentioned article would concern me more than anything else:

"After a person registers Windows XP over the phone or through Microsoft's Web site, the software giant locks the operating system to that person's PC hardware configuration. If the customer changes or upgrades as few as four components, Windows XP can be disabled until the customer contacts Microsoft for reactivation. "

That would completely suck.
 
I develop software for a company and industry that is very locked into Windows, and to a lesser amount UNIX.

I have been seriously considering buying a PC to sit next to my 2 Macs at home, just so that I can dial-in and work from home.

WindowsXP is the reason that I will not be buying a PC.

I have several friends who work for Microsoft, and I almost went out to Redmond, but I wasn't offered a position with the Mac BU.

Microsoft writes some very excellent software. They have brilliant people working for them. They have the rediculous resources that come to a company with yearly profits topping 7 BILLION.

Microsoft has better software development tools than ANY OTHER COMPUTING PLATFORM. <i>This is why it controls 90% of the computer market</i>

No matter how good the software may or may not be, either way I cannot agree with their business methodology, ethics and morals. There are so many things in Windows XP that make me worry about the future of Americans and the corportions that will control their lives.

FaRuvius
==================
"They're taking our freedom,
bit by bit. Bite back."
 
Originally posted by AdmiralAK
come to think about it, I have NEVER seen the windows XP Ad!!!:eek:

There's not really anything interesting about them. The one I saw involved people flying *away* from their computers and smiling. I don't seem to remember anyone actually smiling while using their computers.
 
Originally posted by Red Phoenix
The one I saw involved people flying *away* from their computers and smiling.
hehe, they are ZOOMING away from the troubles that Windows brings them. :p

FaRuvius
 
Was watching something on TechTV and saw that if you pop a cd-r in your burner on xp, it comes up and asks
'what do you want to do with this CD'.. (like discburner)
Audio, Data, and Eject (or something).

If you click data (THIS IS SO NEW REVOLUTIONARY, thats what they said! uhh no..) Y
ou can drag stuff to your cd-r icon that appears in that 'my computer' window.

If you click audio, guess what it opens up!? Winblows media player. From there you can make your own audio cd (uhh like iTUnes

I see some copying off of X. Anyone else, or is it just me? :(

Oh yeah and that windows movie maker software. (UGH its like iMOVIE!)
 
Originally posted by sfish
This quote from the above mentioned article would concern me more than anything else:

"After a person registers Windows XP over the phone or through Microsoft's Web site, the software giant locks the operating system to that person's PC hardware configuration. If the customer changes or upgrades as few as four components, Windows XP can be disabled until the customer contacts Microsoft for reactivation. "

That would completely suck.

I think they increased the number of components to like 6 in 12 months, or something like that. It's definitely more than four. Still, those who take apart their PCs and add new hardware all the time (all 3 of my brothers do) will be on the phone with MS all the time.

Saw something else funny. On TechTV on the Screensavers show, Megan I think the host was was spouting off all the wonderful features of X - and she couldn't get over on screen font anti-aliasing. So new and innovative! Guess she's never seen Mac OS X running.
 
I had the opportunity to actually use XP on a brand spanking new PC.
It di not impress me much. It looks like a Fisher Price OS and I am sure that it will crash and burn like all winbloz OSes do :p
 
A review in a Melbourne paper also mentioned the advertising and stuck-in plugs for ISPs and MS products everywhere. The reviewer had obviously never used a Mac, never made mention of OS X.
They then said it only crashed a few times in the week they tested it, and only blue-screened twice! Yipppppeeeeee! The fact that my OS X installation has never actually crashed pails in comparison.
They then summed it up by saying: This upgrade is dead useless, it only makes it easier for MS to track its users and invade privacy. But, nobody will listen. Everybody wants the latest, and they will buy up the $400 upgrade like the fools they are.
 
sfish, the artic eis wrong. microsoft changed activation to 11 pieces or so, not 4. read scot finnies news letter. i forget where it is, but he has mentioned it before and it's pc only letter. about broadband as well, so not pc i guess. hehe. anyhow microsoft loosened up major on wpa and it's not nearly as bad as that article may make it sound.

also i think win xp looks in no way what so ever like mac os 10. both are totally different.
 
where the hell do you get xp upgrade $400???? it is $99 for home upgrade, $200 for home full, $300 for pro full and $150 i think for pro upgrade.
 
It di not impress me much. It looks like a Fisher Price OS and I am sure that it will crash and burn like all winbloz OSes do 

I don't think it will crash much at all. I have an old Wintel box I use for games and such. I just put W2K on it and it is tons more stable than 98. Since XP is just W2K made uglier I think it will be stable. Still, it is sad when your reference for stability is how much better it is than the old "standard" you shoved upon the world.

I guess you can turn the eye garbage off. Still, it lacks any major innovations, but that's the way the computer world works. Who are the most successful companies on the PC side? Microsoft and Dell. Who does the least innovation? See above. Copying what others innovate is economically very safe.

But man is it nice to talk to PC drones and yawn about the "latest and greatest" because I've had it for two years.

-Rob
 
I've been running XP on a couple of boxen for several months now (I was on the beta, legit and all).

From a technology perspective, it is probably Microsoft's best OS yet. (Of course, that's what they say about every new release of Windows). Although it's probably a kind of heresy to say it, it's about as stable as MacOSX. Yes, I've managed to get a BSOD on it, just as I've been able to Kernel Panic X. It's fast, it runs all my Windows apps well, and it's reasonably easy to work with, although it still has a lot of the inconsistencies in the UI that Windows has always had, but it is improving.

A lot has been said of the Fisher-Price-esque UI "Luna" - with all its bright primary colours. First, you can turn it all off, making it look very much like Win2K. Funny thing is that, like Aqua, it can grow on you. I absolutely hated Luna when I first saw it. I wasn't real hapy about Aqua either, but I've gotten used to both (although Aqua is obviously much nicer) and the "classic" Windows look just looks antiquated (as does Platinum).

As for the copying of X feature (iMovie, DiscBurner, etc)... Get used to it. Apple has "borrowed" their share of Windows behaviours over the years, and we'll probably see more of this in the future. Although if I ever see the word "Start" on the menu bar in X, I'm going to build a cabin in Montana and disappear... :D

That said, what I cannot tolerate is the insidious nature of Windows and the invasion (perceived and real) of privacy that Microsoft is attempting to pull off with XP.

First, there's the activation thing. Now, understand that activation != registration. Registration is optional (to a point), while activation is not. As many others have noted, it's very distasteful to me to have to justify my actions WRT changing hardware, reinstalling, etc that is likely to happen in my environment. The increase in the number of changes, if true, may seem like a good thing, but it's still a question of justifying my (perfectly legal) behaviour to Microsoft, merely because they say I have to. Not good.

What's worse, though, is this whole Passport thing. The notion that I should use the same credentials to use my stored credit card information as I would use to log into Hotmail is just madness. With Microsoft's track record when it comes to security makes this a terrifying prospect. Of course, if I had a choice it may not be so bad, but this is Microsoft. Just try to use Hotmail, or MSN messenger (or MSN for that matter) without a Passport account. Good Luck.

Microsoft so desperately wants people to stop thinking of software as a product, and instead as a service so they can charge for it on a subscription basis. The irony is delicious since it was Microsoft that for years has refined the concept of software as a product, with terms of use and all. I predict that within 2 years, there will begin to be a "mandatory" upgrade for Windows as Microsoft struggles to maintain their revenue stream. Hint - they're already struggling.

Add to all of this the various lock-in strategies (just try to effectively use anything but IE), bait and switch tactics (Did you know that you can use Media Player in XP to make MP3s? Well, you can, but you can only encode at 64Kbps bitrates. Of course, if you'd like better quality, you can always make .WMAs.) and other dirty tricks, it makes XP difficult for me to recommend to anyone.
 
That $400 figure is Australian prices. Thankfully I was able to download the corporate version about a month ago which does not need to be activated by M$. As far as I can tell, apart from a few extra networking features, it is Win2k with a few extra applications, and, as was stated earlier, a Fisher-Price interface, so it is pretty stable. Running on a PC beside OS X, there is simply no comparison - iMovie v. Movie Maker, iTunes v. WMP, Toytown v. Aqua. XP is a dog under Virtual PC, but that's no surprise - I think you'd need a dual 800 G4 to pull that off. The worst thing is all the prime-time news coverage that it got, meaning every PC drone out there is going to want to upgrade
 

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The problem with Windows will forever be the quality of Windows applications. How "clean" are the built-in apps are of little consequence to overall productivity.

Pity Apple is quickly losing this advantage in OS X. Oh well, that's what you get when your #1 priority is being windows-world compatible.
 
it makes XP difficult for me to recommend to anyone.

What I would recommend to people? W2K. If you must run Wintel, that's the way to go. I figure if you're serious about digital video and all that you should just get the Mac anyway. Everyone knows this has always been the forte of the Mac. If you need to do the day to day for work or whatever (well, a Mac is still better, but barring that...) W2K is stable and not hideous.

Basically I think that what it boils down to is that M$ makes some dang fine corporate software, and yanks the consumer product purchasers around like a Chihuahua walked by a seizing crack fiend. Even if you're a consumer find a way to get the corp stuff and you'll be much better off. That line of products seems to try to work with you instead of dictating what your computing experience will be.

On the activation issue, I was curious what would happen with the site licenses. At school we get M$ software on said license and when you install it the serial # or whatever is automatically filled in for you, and is the same for everyone. Perhaps the corp version of XP is what we will get, but I was wondering how they would address this. Of course I'd have to install it to find out....
 
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