Posted by
ryuzaki0
on from the oh-yeah-remember-that dept.
ruszka writes "CNN has a good article on the release of Windows XP in London and NYC.. The BBC has their own article." I find it amusing that I didn't really even notice until I saw this submission. I know this affects a fair number of users but for the life of me I just don't know why ;)
REM sucks d-ck. listen to something a little more meaningful. Especially REM in wma format. What complete corperate sellouts. I doubt they even give a f-ck that cd's cost $17 now. REM's soul has officially been reaped.
You're kidding, right? You do remember that in 1995, REM refused to sell their "It's the End of the World" to Microsoft, and MS offered ALOT of money. The Rolling Stones, however...
Little known fact is the "Start" button was going to say "End of the World".
They had to change it to fit with the song.
-- -I just work here... how am I supposed to know?
Guerrilla(sp?) marketing
by
dmorin
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Know what really, truly scares me about XP? This morning on the Howard Stern show he gave time to 3 callers (well, 2 actually because he got bored) to blatantly do a commercial. And when I changed the channel, another morning talk station was talking about it too! I mean, the hell?! Since when does the release of a new piece of software from the world's biggest software company suddenly mean everybody has to start plugging it?
On a good note, the first guy was so boring (talking about why XP is cool because it's on a 32bit kernel, not a 16bit one on top of DOS like Win98/ME) that Howard and crew got very bored. So he gave the second guy a chance, who pointed out the bit about having to register every machine, etc... to which Howard summed up "So let's all get together and not buy this thing." And that was the end of that. Gotta wonder if that third guy was gonna be pro or against Microsoft.
Re:Guerrilla(sp?) marketing
by
cavemanf16
·
· Score: 2
I heard a commercial on the radio on the way into work about XP too. It was even somewhat personalized to businesses that operate in the Columbus, OH area as they made sure to mention when traffic sucks on our outerbelt, that "Windows XP makes life easier because I can log into my work computer from home!" They threw in a bunch of other new 'features' to try to convince people why it's a Good Thing to pay more money than what a CPU costs for an OS designed to keep MS' revenue stream high.
Too bad they completely failed to mention to the consumer that you have to give up your personal info to an untested, probably easily crackable (given their track record) database system designed to keep you paying out the nose for MS products as long as possible in a sorry attempt to make the internet 'easier to use'. What a fallacy that is anyways because I have no problem buying things online or filtering spam, and I'm no genius.
Re:Guerrilla(sp?) marketing
by
bmajik
·
· Score: 2
What ?
What personal info ? What untested database system ? What lack of choice ?
On the contrary - no one can force you to use XP, and even if you do use XP, it doesn't force you to do anything with hotmail, passport, windows media player, etc etc. Activating windows isn't even terribly instrusive. It's pretty much just clicking "ok" once and never dealing with it again.
Listen, if you think Microsoft has the power to remove choices and options from your life, you should step back and re-examine things. If microsoft could force you to do anything, dont you think they'd be all over that ? "Forcing" people to use XP, Passport, and.NET would be much cheaper than spending billions on developing, marketing, and improving them, so i think if there were a way for them to do so, they'd do it.
Yes, even for microsoft, free will is a bitch. Those pesky consumers can still click "no", "dont ever fucking bother me again", or even more damaging, they can choose to simply not buy XP.
If you've stopped making choices for yourself and instead microsoft is making decisions in your life, i submit that you should just kill yourself. Afterall, if you're not at the helm of your own ship, who is ?
-- My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
why it affects us
by
gavlil
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· Score: 2, Interesting
I know this affects a fair number of users but for the life of me I just don't know why;)
windows is a major part of computing and of history. many people who work it IT have to come in to contact with windows (like it or not).
there are hundreds of reasons why it would affect us - even if its just because we have a new set of themes to d/l for X!
dont be so ignorant to the world outside slashdot taco (yes one does exist!)
--
Do Unto Others As You Would Have Others Do Unto You - ONLY HARDER!
windows is a major part of computing and of history. many people who work it IT have to come in to contact with windows (like it or not).
What? I haven't come in contact with Windows at all...
An exception OE has occurred at 0028:C2A4785E in VxD tcpip(01) + 00001EBE.
This was called from 0028:C001AE74 in VxD NDIS(01) + 0000378C. It may be possible to continue normally.
Does anyone have sources for these quotes? I would actually be amazed and amused if they were verifiably true. As it stands I'm only mildly amused.
--
I like to play children's songs in minor keys. "We're all sons of bitches now." --J. Robert Oppenheimer
No more blue screen of death?
by
opusbuddy
·
· Score: 5, Funny
I dunnaknow. I've kind of gotten used to the blue screen of death. Tells me when it's time to go to the bathroom.
-- If this were easy, they wouldn't need us to do it!
Re:No more blue screen of death?
by
swordboy
·
· Score: 5, Funny
No more BSOD?
Does XP come with some sort of a utility to chage the color of the screen of death?
I could go for a nice mauve or perhaps a pale green (easy on the eyes).
--
Life is the leading cause of death in America.
Re:No more blue screen of death?
by
dragons_flight
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· Score: 2
With a digital camera, after all everyone is going to run out and get one now that XP promotes media editing right?
Re:No more blue screen of death?
by
SilentChris
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· Score: 3, Interesting
You could always change the blue screen with a few registry hacks up until ME. Green always freaked people out, though.
Re:No more blue screen of death?
by
purplemonkeydan
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· Score: 2
Same shade of blue as Win2k (navy blue), a lot more explanatory text, a lot of apologising, and it's in Lucida Console, not the VGA font.
Only time I saw them on my XP RC1 was with Norton AV 2002 and AtGuard not getting along.
Re:No more blue screen of death?
by
First+Person
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· Score: 2
What do you mean by 'disparage MS using its own software'? You're merely documenting one of the many features of XP.
-- Given one hour to live, the student replied: "I'd spend it with professor FP who can make an hour seem like a lifetime."
Re:No more blue screen of death?
by
SIGFPE
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· Score: 2
You should see a doctor. Your bladder and bowels should be able to hold stuff for longer than that.
-- --
SIGFPE
Re:No more blue screen of death?
by
Spy+Hunter
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· Score: 2
No, I find that XP reboots randomly while changing the screensaver, bypassing the BSOD entirely.
Okay, so I'm certain that the problem is my video drivers (all the GL screensavers are 3D accelerated now) and not Windows XP. It's still annoying though.
Re:No more blue screen of death?
by
purplemonkeydan
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· Score: 2
I had it going on 2k and XP just fine. 3.22 I think. I agree, fantastic program.
It doesn't work with Norton AntiVirus 2002, though. Everytime you try to access a shared drive it BSOD's in TCPIP.sys.
Re:No more blue screen of death?
by
purplemonkeydan
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· Score: 2
Nah, it's a different shade of blue. Win2k blue is lighter than BSOD blue.
Sorry to disappoint you:)
I don't know why people are concerned...
by
great+throwdini
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· Score: 2, Funny
...about things like digital rights. The CNN piece clearly states in the first paragraph:
The system promises fewer computer crashes and will allow users to delete data from their hard drive.
That's should satisfy everyone, right?
Re:I don't know why people are concerned...
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 2, Funny
That's why I hated Windows ME so much. It didn't have a delete function and I filled up my 40GB drive and then had to throw it away and buy another one. I'm glad to see that Microsoft finally implemented a delete feature.
Re:I don't know why people are concerned...
by
Yokaze
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· Score: 2
It's just unclearly formulated.
When your deleteing a file, your not deleteing the data. Your just removing the directory entry for that file.
So you data is still there (to the great pleasure of the law enforcement units).
To really delete the data, you have to overwrite the data with different data. Even several times to be sure that no traces are left.
This feature was usually provided by some tools (PGPtools comes to mind).
This is now integrated into XP, much to the concern of some law-enforcement people.
See a story at The Reg
-- "Between strong and weak, between rich and poor [...], it is freedom which oppresses and the law which sets free"
Okay, I don't mean this as a troll or flaimbait, but I really don't know...
What does XP offer me over and above my current win2k? I'm tired of updating to the latest and greatest just for the fun of it. My current os runs all of my applications without much trouble, so what do I get for my money?
What does XP offer me over and above my current win2k? I'm tired of updating to the latest and greatest just for the fun of it. My current os runs all of my applications without much trouble, so what do I get for my money?
Nothing whatsoever: you actually get less with XP.
XP (Home at least) is not an upgrade to W2K users- it's W2K with a candy colored shell, some bundled software, no multiprocessor support and the ability to join domains removed.
We're sticking with W2K here. (We're an almost all MS school, but I'm pushing OSX hard:^)
OTOH, it's a massive upgrade to W95/8/ME users. Anything to finally put a stake through that miserable series of crapware is a good thing for the world.
Eric
-- "Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
One of the cool features that I've seen is that XP has the Go Back features of Millennium, where if you install something that hoses your OS you can boot into Safe Mode (hopefully) and select from a calendar what configuration was the last known good one for you.
What does XP offer me over and above my current win2k? I'm tired of updating to the latest and greatest just for the fun of it. My current os runs all of my applications without much trouble, so what do I get for my money?
For the most part, not very much. Some of the bundled features, such as MP3 support, CD burning, etc., won't be new for most of us. And the interface certainly isn't worth the upgrade.
But there are other things that will set itself apart from Win2k pretty well. Various hardware manufacturers were very slow with making drivers for Win2k, especially from those who make "consumer" hardware. Their argument was that Win2k is just a business OS, and that they didn't need to support it. Creative Labs was pretty slow in getting updated Live!Ware drivers out, and even the latest Live!Ware 3.0 drivers for Win2k are inferior to their Win9x counterparts (for one thing, it takes a lot longer to load up the speaker icon in the taskbar). Now that XP is out, I'm sure the driver support for Win2k can only go downhill.
XP will have an advantage that Win2k didn't have. Since XP is now the combination of the 9x and NT line, only one set of drivers needs to be written, which will make it that much easier for hardware manufacturers to release the drivers. That to me is probably the biggest reason why I'll eventually switch from Win2k to XP (eventually, but not yet).
woopie...and how many folks are gonna actualy take advantage of that? to most, it will just be anothe one of those litle pictures that you neve click on for fear of breaking tha computer
Gosh, you've gotten 11 replies so far, and no one has mentioned the few things that I like about XP. There are a couple UI improvements that make my life *so* much better. First off, if you have a million windows open, it consolidates them on the taskbar into menus by application. If you have a cluttered task bar, this is great.
Also, most common contextual menu options are visible as a sidebar in explorer windows. This can be handy.
But best of all! You can switch users! It's excellent! I don't mean you can log out and log in as someone else, but rather you can log in a second time, and the first user's applications are still running in the background. I can't tell you how annoying it used to be to have to stop listening to music, log off of IM, and lose all my IE windows if I wanted to muck around as administrator. I realize, this feature could have/should have been here since NT4, but it wasn't.
But I'm not going to kid you. I run it in "Windows Classic" mode 'cause the flat theme just isn't done right in all applications. Aside from these few things (and the driver rollback that I haven't used yet) there's not much improvement. It's definitely still the same OS. Do what you like.
Guy at work told me a story where his son had installed something on his new Dell and the thing would stall during boot and he would get as far as seeing the desktop wallpaper but no icons or taskbar.
He called Dell, they had him boot with the rescue CD (still in the shrink-wrap, this guy is alright but he's not a PC expert). From there the tech had him go to the go-back menu and restore the reg from the day before his son installed the offending game. Saved his bacon with a minimum of intervention.
Now, you can of course argue that the OS shouldn't have croaked like this in the first place, and I wouldn't argue at all - but this is a vast improvement over 'reinstall windows'.
FYI: I run Win2K Pro and have no reason to switch in the short term. So far, there's no great reason. However, there are some nifty things. For example, my friend put 512mb of RAM in his system (since it's like $30 per 256meg stick!) and used XP's ability to "cache the OS and critical DLL's" into memory. Using his machine feels like using a PDA. You just click on something and BOOM - it's there! Also, there's the "skinning" feature... cool but frivolous. He claims that when he goes to his Win2K box that he instantly misses features from XP. Nevertheless, I'm happy with Win2K, and I look forward to upgrading sometime after SP1.
--
There is no longer anything that can be done with computers that is nontrivial and clearly legal. -- Paul Phillips
I've been using XP on my PDC for quite some time now
Then you should know that there are two variants - home and office (and probably the server ones too). The home version has no need for domains, except for doing remote dial-in to work. For that they'll sell you xp-pro (the office variant) so you can do a single person TS and run your office box remotely.
By the way, am I the only one who can't concieve trusting a server with big candy colored buttons?
You could probably bypass all that with a virtual machine like VMWare. The reality is, as always, if you dont control the hardware and hardware access you are going to get bullshitted. Period.
Not that I give a shit either. I'm over and done with that pile.
So rather than merely moving OS to (say) Linux, junk all the hardware as well? Apple's school discounts must be fantastic to make that even slightly appealing.
No, we have some Mac users and I'm trying to show how good of a client OS OSX is. We're not moving away from Windows anytime in the foreseeable future: we're moving deeper into the Windows world. (We're replacing the main NT4 servers with W2K/AD this Christmas break: the rest of the W2K migration is basically done.)
Forget Linux. It's not even a remote option here. Doesn't run MS Office- suggest StarOffice and watch me laugh. Doesn't run the educational software we use. Doesn't run the administrative software we use. Nobody but me here knows anything at all about it. We don't even have a comp-sci major: the students here for the most part wouldn't be able to handle Linux on a day-to-day basis.
I've got my little P2-300 Linux server for some Apache/Perl/cgi goodness I cooked up at my last job, but that's it.
Eric
-- "Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
And it was very useful on WinME, for the few weeks I wasted on that abomination. OTOH, I've been developing on Win2K for a year, regularly changing my hardware and using every dodgy beta driver that I could get my hands on, and I've never once managed to get it into an unstable state. The recovery feature is nice, but it's about as useful as fitting airbags to a house.
-- If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
first off. XP does allow you to log onto domains. Also, it adds tons of features that win2k doesn't have.
It has the backup/restore that winmeME has. Terminal server is built in. A lot of family safety features are added too. Windows update is done automatically. CD-R software is built in. So is zip functionality. And it's all done really nicely.
After actually using XP, I have to say that MS did more than make their interface candy-colored: They actually improved its usability at the same time. Here are some of the improvements I've noticed:
The new window min/max/close buttons are twice the size of the old ones, making them MUCH easier and faster to hit with the mouse. I'm surprised how much I like this.
The start button actually extends all the way to the bottom-left of the screen, finally obeying Fitt's law. You can hit it much faster now.
The taskbar buttons likewise extend all the way to the bottom of the screen, making it faster to hit them.
An auto-hidden taskbar always pops up immediately instead of sliding for faster access.
Toolbars are locked into place until you want to customize them, preventing you from accidentally grabbing them and moving them when you don't want to, and freeing up the screen space that the resize handles used to take up.
The system tray hides unused icons for much much less clutter.
Some other things about XP:
The "Help and Support center" is quite useful. Yesterday I learned all about the new features of the command shell using it (tab completion woohoo!). It has a nice batch file command reference, and everything is well-written. It's almost as good as having man pages for everything.
The new start menu takes some getting used to, but it is at least no worse than the old one. I like the way it presents you with your six most commonly used applications (but I don't like how it gives IE and Outlook preferential treatment at the top).
I'm not a network expert, but I believe if you have 2 NIC's with the same MAC Address, it will confuse your routers. I guess this applies more to large WANs than home users, but in any case, no two devices on any network should have the same MAC.
Of course XP has nothing to do with 95, the point is that Microsoft has been singing the "more reliable, more stable" song since 95 was released.
>>>>>>>>>>>>&g t;
The delivered it with NT4.
They've yet to deliver on that promise fully, though you could make a case for NT/2000 in a server environment I suppose.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
Nobody in their right mind uses Windows on a server. Windows is for desktop machines, UNIX is for server machines. They are both improving on each other's areas, but Windows is still a stronger desktop machine that *NIX.
-- A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
24-Oct-2001; the day I metamodded 10 decent comments that had all been modded Off Topic, Flamebait or Troll.
A bit off-topic, but I think mark more than half of the moderations as unfair, it silently discards your selections and subtracts a couple points of karma.
Oh, I know. The primary function of the moderation and karma system is to ensure conformance with the majority/. attitudes. Unpopular but insightful posts might stil get modded up, but the modders get punished in the metamodding. How delightful.
-- If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
More cash for useless features
by
haplo21112
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Well here we go, Microsoft, says give us more money, to upgrade your OS, cause we have 10,000 new features(that are really enhancements to old ones, aka fixes)...and of course if you don't we are gonna drop support for the old OS anyway so your gonna have to eventually...even now the manuals for supporting 98,ME,2000 are being destroyed at our support centers, why would anyone need those when we have this spiffy new thing.
-- Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
Re:More cash for useless features
by
sid_vicious
·
· Score: 2
I don't know if anybody here remembers it, but...
When Windows for Workgroups came out (believe it was "Windows 3.11"), it was a bit ahead of its time. It had support for networking that most users - home and office - simply couldn't take advantage of, because networking hardware was still expensive.
People in the press started calling it "Windows for Warehouses" because Bill & Co. were having such a hard time moving any copies of it.
Bottom line is, people won't pay for new features they don't need, especially when many of us have *finally* stabalized our current Windows version. I predict this will be another "Windows for Warehouses".
-- If it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet.
Re:More cash for useless features
by
haplo21112
·
· Score: 2
Um,
Actually I am very much in the know, my company has been very much involved in the Betas. You will notice that my mail said nothing about 95, yes this is a significant upgrade from 95...but its not that great of a leap from 98,ME, or 2000...some basic functionality, more bells and whistles that should have been offered as Free service packs, or perhaps a 29.99 Update CD to 2000, and maybe 49.99 Update to 98/ME.
-- Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
Re:More cash for useless features
by
dattaway
·
· Score: 2
It had support for networking that most users
It sure did. Only if you downloaded third party software, such as Trumpet Winsock so one could use TCPIP to connect to the internet. Microsoft was busy trying to market their own propreitary networking service (MSN) at the time.
A friend of mine who uses KDE has the motto "what, my desktop isn't my home directory!"
One of my coworkers is using Windowmaker with 100 docked app icons.
I don't think desktop clutter is confined to the Windows lusers.
-- A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
XP matters because...
by
ergo98
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Finally it's bringing the masses to a reliable operating system, and truly this is closing the window for Linux. There are lots of people who truly and rightfully got thoroughly upset when Windows 95/98/98SE/ME took a dump because they opened explorer before the soundblaster drivers had settled in, or because they made the mistake of alt-tabbing between apps a few too many times, and these were the people who were ripe for picking for conversion to the Linux camp. However how many people do you hear complaing regarding the quality of Windows 2000 (on which XP is based)? I have 2000 and I have never, since I first installed one of the RCs many moons back, got a BSOD. Ever. There are nuisances such as the fact that explorer.exe locks directories forcing you to wait several hours to delete them if you made the mistake of navigating into them, and that it itself occasionally dies, but they are trivial in the grand scheme of things.
Anyways I'll probably keep going with Windows 2000 as there is no redeeming factor for me to upgrade to XP from this, but for everyone using one of the 16/32 OS', it can't said with enough emphasis that you really don't realize how much shit that you're unnecessarily putting up with.
yes but XP replaced the stability proble with a price/privacy probelm...and who cares any how...Linux will keep going MS will keep going as far as the DoJ will let them.....people will eventualy decide what to do...lots of good things are occuring in the Linux world, some bad things are happening in the Windows world...only time will tell.
--
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
Re:XP matters because...
by
Jason+Earl
·
· Score: 2
This isn't closing a door for Linux. It has been possible to get a stable Windows OS for years, people just didn't care. Windows 9X was "good enough" and it was less expensive. Most folks simply weren't willing to pay an extra $100 for stability. Only geeks were willing to switch operating systems for stability. Normal people aren't going to switch until they can buy a computer preloaded with Linux that does everything they need in a computer and costs less than an identical computer running Windows.
For Joe Sixpack it's all about being "good enough" at the lowest price.
Which is why they certainly aren't going to rush out and buy a computer with Windows XP. Sure, some folks have been waiting around for the right time to upgrade, and so some computers will get bought. However, Microsoft will be lucky if PC sales don't continue their precipitous decline. Sales certainly aren't going back to their heyday levels anytime soon.
Which means that prices will continue to drop, and OEMs will continue to try and find some way to get rid of that most expensive of all components, Windows. At the very least they are going to consider bundling StarOffice for Windows. That would raise the total value of their system without raising their price. Once normal people start using StarOffice, and they will eventually, then Linux on the desktop gets that much closer. In the meantime, it's not like Linux is going away.
Microsoft could easily counteract this if they weren't too busy trying to cram stuff their customers don't want into these new versions. None of Microsoft's customers want things like digital rights management or the new activation "feature." Even worse, Microsoft is making it clear that third party developers are not welcome. Add personal firewalls, CD burning software , remote control software, etc. to the list of software products that now have no chance of competing against Microsoft. Perhaps your industry is next. Pundits are quick to point out that it is impossible to make money writing software for Linux, but it would appear that this is increasingly the case for software in general. Unless you are Microsoft, forget about writing desktop software. Third party developers have been a big part of Microsoft's success, but more and more of these folks are starting to take a look at what supporting the Penguin would entail.
In the end Microsoft can't compete against everyone. Right now Microsoft is the lesser of two evils for Windows developers, and they are a necessary evil for the OEMs, but Linux isn't in a hurry. Eventually the sheer value of what it brings to the table (for free) will be too much for these groups to overlook. In the meantime there are plenty of folks that are quite pleased with it. One thing is certain, no matter how cool Windows XP might be, it isn't going to cause the hordes of Linux developers to jump ship.
Re:XP matters because...
by
Jason+Earl
·
· Score: 2
You need to get yourself a login so that someone can mod you up. I definitely agree with you when you say that Windows has gotten better. The home user is certainly getting a lot more bang for their buck with Windows XP than they did with Windows ME, and that's good. Stability is way up, functionality is way up, and price remains about the same.
That's all good.
I personally don't believe that Microsoft has done enough to convince consumers to throw out their old computer, and they certainly aren't going to plunk down $200 for the retail version of the OS. In fact, some of the new features to Windows XP are downright anti-consumer. If Microsoft keeps that up it is likely to be a big help for Linux. The days are over when Microsoft can pretend that Linux is completely useless as a desktop OS. If they squeeze their customers too tight, their customers will migrate away.
That's why Linux is good news for consumers whether or not you like Windows. Linux forces Microsoft to actually compete.
And while Microsoft has the lead in all three of your categories, apps, interface, and hardware support, they certainly don't have the commanding lead that they had 4 years ago, and Linux has the trump card of being a lot less expensive.
I recently built myself a new machine and I was absolutely surprised at how much hardware I could get for $450. Plunking down $200 for an operating system to run on that $50 machine is ridiculous. Especially since Windows, while it has gotten better since Windows 95, is almost completely useless with just an OS. With Linux, an extra $20 bucks gets you a couple of CDs with more useful software than you can shake a stick at, including development tools that would be downright expensive to replace with commercial tools.
And that's just for one computer. Imagine what Michael Dell must think every time he thinks about how much software costs him per machine. Even worse, he has to put up with Microsoft telling him what he can and can't do with that software. It is rapidly getting to the point where the cost of Microsoft software is a serious impediment to hardware sales.
Not that it matters with Windows XP. Microsoft isn't competing with Linux at this point. It is competing with Windows 98. If they can't convince consumers to buy new computers then Microsoft is just as cooked as if everyone had switched to Linux. Just what exactly is Microsoft going to have to give away to get folks to upgrade next time?
And as for.NET, the only really interesting part of that is Passport, and there is no way that is going to fly. First of all AOL is never going to support it (and, in fact, they will be actively opposing it with their own standard). A web site would have to be suicidal to require a technology that excluded AOL. Not to mention all of those folks who don't use Hotmail, and who aren't planning on upgrading to Windows XP.
.NET will be gangbusters on Microsoft sites, but those businesses with a lot of time and effort in their customer databases (like your bank) aren't likely to turn over their crown jewels. And Microsoft's competitors aren't likely to use it either, and nowadays it seems like Microsoft is competing against nearly everyone. This is especially true the closer Microsoft gets to being a "content provider."
Can you honestly show me a single proposed.NET service that you would pay money for?
I'm running 98 on my Windows machine at home, and quite frankly, I'm going to stick with software that was created *before* the "software-as-a-service" craze that's taken over MS.
-- If it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet.
It's in the EULA. Anyone who has ever used a micro$oft product has to care about any new release. Else all those records that micro$oft keeps will be released to our employers/family/public. Think of all that pr0n!
the XP release date
by
nachoworld
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
If people were really excited about getting Windows XP (there are quite a few of them), then they would have got their hands on it earlier. eBay had some up for sale. My brother got a copy of XP a little less than a month ago and offered it to me, but I told him to just get the money he could make from an eBay sell (it was about $350 back then).
I think release dates are getting less and less important now in the days of advanced comunication and distribution. Remember those days when people would line up for hundreds of feet Tuesday at midnight for the release of a CD? Those days have been dwindling, and the lines are getting smaller. If one really wants that CD he'll download it before the release date and then take his time getting the CD after it's released. Tower record parties on Newbury Street in Boston are nonexistent anymore. Just 3-4 years ago they were incredible with radio staion vans parked everywhere and hundreds of people croweded around.
--
---
I'm just an ordinary man with nothing to lose.
Surprisingly, a lot of negative press
by
Masem
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Sure, I'm going out tonight to buy XP, but only because my gaming machine is 98, and I'd like a bit more stability in it.
But I've been listening to reports and reading articles, and while the industry seems hyped up about it, most pundents (that are not typical MS fanboys) appear to be believe that for most businesses, already in the Win2000 migration, XP is not a good choice, and for those on home machines, you have to have some oomph in your box to be able to take advantage of it.
Most of these critics think that the stability is a great point, but other aspects, including look, integration of WMP and other programs, and the *amount* of blatent advertizing for MS on the default install is put-offs for them. They definitely feel that the engine behind XP is worthwhile being built on 2000, but they could do without all the glitz.
And many people expect very slow sales of XP. There's no lines-around-the-corner as with 95, but they do expect a modest amount of sales today. But they don't believe that XP is going to be a big economic burst into the market as Microsoft tried to make it out as; again, since most seats of the OS are sold to business, and most appear to be sticking to 2000 until necessary, there's going to be very few sales from that market.
The short story from what I've read: it's great that MS finally has a NT-based, stable OS for the home user, as it's been 5 years that it's been needed, but it appears to carry a lot of extra weight that is unnecessary and possible questionable in light of several legal cases.
--
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
Re:Surprisingly, a lot of negative press
by
Rogerborg
·
· Score: 2
I'm going out tonight to buy XP, but only because my gaming machine is 98, and I'd like a bit more stability in it
Why not buy Win2K? I know for a fact that some games now run slightly faster on Win2K than Win98SE, due to a switch in emphasis by driver developers. I've been developing and playing DirectX and OpenGL based games on Win2K for a year or so, and am generally happy with its stability and speed.
So really, why buy WinXP? It's just Win2K with phone home and some more GUI knobs and whistles that slow it down (that you'll immediately turn off if you're bothered about performance).
-- If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Re:Surprisingly, a lot of negative press
by
Surak
·
· Score: 2
Sure, I'm going out tonight to buy XP, but only because my gaming machine is 98, and I'd like a bit more stability in it.
I hope for your sake you have a lot a horsepower and that your games will run on the XP box. A lot of games don't seem to run on Windows 2000 for some reason, and XP is based on 2000.
Re:Surprisingly, a lot of negative press
by
jhoffoss
·
· Score: 2
I've not yet had any problems with XP Pro (been running it for two weeks or so) other than explorer crashing once or twice on my pIII-450, but that has subsided since I went to a normal interface, rather than the Fisher-Price® default. You will definitely need a machine with a bit of oomph to run comfortably, but there are a lot of graphical things you can disable to increase performance on a box.
The WMP integration thing kinda blows, but I've never used it to begin with, no reason to start now. The first CD I popped in, I was prompted for what action to take (i.e. open in WMP, open in Winamp (already installed), open in Windows CD Player, do nothing), so you are not locked in and it appears to be easy enough to use another program. The CD burning seems to be overhyped though; WinXP only does DirectCD-style burning (ie. mount CD-R/W as read/write, and drag 'n drop files) so I had to pull Nero down again, but it works great. Nero with the built-in DirectCD style stuff should complement the other quite nicely. Be warned, I was not able to read a CD burned with DirectCD in XP, and roxio does not have an updated UDF/DirectCD reader for XP.
My DVD drive was another story altogether. I had WinDVD 2.x installed as a trial version; when I installed XP, it notified me that those drivers were not compatible (didn't yet mention I did an upgrade from 2k pro) so it downloaded new DVD drivers and the newest version of WinDVD, registered and all. Nice accidental addition. Overall, I like XP after the gooey gui is gone.
-- Linux: The world's best text-adventure game.
Re:Surprisingly, a lot of negative press
by
jhoffoss
·
· Score: 2
Actually, it was 9x/2000 combined. And I have not had a problem with any of the games I've tried yet. The ONLY issue any of my friends have had were between nVidia's newest Detonator XP drivers and WinXP in Dark Ages of Camelot, and they had that same problem under Win9X. Quake3, Wolfenstein, Black & White, Sims, Everquest, Unreal Tourney, Diablo2 all have worked, and the list goes on.
-- Linux: The world's best text-adventure game.
Re:Surprisingly, a lot of negative press
by
denzo
·
· Score: 2
And many people expect very slow sales of XP. There's no lines-around-the-corner as with 95, but they do expect a modest amount of sales today. But they don't believe that XP is going to be a big economic burst into the market as Microsoft tried to make it out as; again, since most seats of the OS are sold to business, and most appear to be sticking to 2000 until necessary, there's going to be very few sales from that market.
From what I've observed, from smaller companies or state/government agencies, there are a lot of machines still running NT 4.0, who have been holding off on the Win2k migration. Granted, I haven't been in any big dot-com campus, but I do think we'll see XP sales exceeding Windows 98SE, ME, and Win2k combined, at least within the next 6 months. There'll be businesses with NT 4.0 who will soon be ready to migrate to XP and skip Win2k altogether, and there will be consumers who will actually upgrade their home OS; Win98SE and ME, for the most part, have been OEM-only updates. Win98 was the last real upgrade the people actually bought to upgrade their 95 machines. Since both the business and consumer markets are involved with this product launch (like Win95 was, before NT 4.0 came out), I'm pretty sure we'll see pretty big sales figures.
Re:Surprisingly, a lot of negative press
by
jhoffoss
·
· Score: 2
Shit, forgot to add that nearly every one of these run faster, smoother and look MUCH better under XP on my TNT than they did under 98, 98SE, ME (God was that ever a mistake) or 2000.
along with that, the genearl windows display, interface, fonts, graphics, etc. are much cleaner, better looking (even without the toy GUI).
-- Linux: The world's best text-adventure game.
Re:Surprisingly, a lot of negative press
by
Cylix
·
· Score: 2
Do you have any benchmarks to prove this.
I have a hard time believing there would actually be an improvement over 98. Windows98 is rather unstable, but that lack of stability comes from the shortcuts they made to increase performance. (ie, run on crap hardware). In the end, the footprint is a great deal smaller then that of the newer OS's.
Often when we think something will perform better, our perceptions are a bit tainted.
I've done this before, its a rather common reaction.
-- "You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
Re:Surprisingly, a lot of negative press
by
swordboy
·
· Score: 2
Sure, I'm going out tonight to buy XP
Just make sure that you get a *real* copy of it. Microsoft, as of late, doesn't seem to allow the vendors to sell anything other than a restore CD. The vendors then put the license info and hologram directly on the PC. This means that, unless you can get the license off of the PC, that you will lose permission to use XP when you get rid of the PC in question. Not only that, but you still have to source a real CD that you can install from (not just a PC specific restore number).
When people say that MS is not a monopoly, I point them to these things... Most users simply don't know any better...
--
Life is the leading cause of death in America.
Re:Surprisingly, a lot of negative press
by
jhoffoss
·
· Score: 2
Heh, my employer still runs a host of Win95 boxes. They were considering migrating to 2k in January, but they may retool that to move over to XP. The remote desktop feature, remote assistance and the ability for a WinCE device to VPN to the desktop without setting up Terminal Server or anything are big selling points for them.
-- Linux: The world's best text-adventure game.
Re:Surprisingly, a lot of negative press
by
jhoffoss
·
· Score: 2
I understand what you mean, but no, I've never benchmarked anything. I am going purely by perception, but I do know wolfenstein ran like crap under 2k, quake ran like crap under 2k, chess master 6000 didn't even run under 2k. Granted, with the first two I got decent performance with lower graphic settings and 800x600, but with XP I've been running with medium graphic settings across the board at 1024x768. Bear in mind, XP was installed along with the latest version of DirectX and the DetonatorXP's. As far as stability goes, I saw one BSOD in over a year of using 2k beta3 and on, and have not seen one in XP [yet].
Don't get me wrong, XP is not the eighth wonder of the world, but I am happy with it. A coworker dropped it on his laptop at work the other day, was up and running an hour after putting the CD in, with access to the novell network and everything. So as far as I can tell, it's glitzier 2k with gaming support =) but not much wrong with that.
Unfortunately all the hard-core/Linux geeks spaz when they see something like this, with a Fisher-Price® GUI and "useless" fading menu effects, etc, but this is the garbage Linux will need to become a wide-spread home operating system.
-- Linux: The world's best text-adventure game.
Re:Surprisingly, a lot of negative press
by
jhoffoss
·
· Score: 2
No one said I bought copies...ME was illegal, but the thing never installed, just destroyed my entire partition table. 98 came with the box, 2k was free (for beta versions) and a purchased copy once it was released.
-- Linux: The world's best text-adventure game.
Re:Surprisingly, a lot of negative press
by
hattig
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· Score: 2
The vendors then put the license info and hologram directly on the PC
Hell, so that PC case is licensed to run Windows XP.:)
Seriously, someone needs to come out and state whether consumers own software (i.e., can do what they like with it), or only license the software (where the software is then provided on a CD/DVD and you install it agreeing to the license agreements, however evil).
The real issue with XP is how some features will not work until you register with Microsoft and Passport. The next big Microsoft monopoly is standing like a 10 mile high brick in your back yard! When the internet division of Microsoft was IE, splitting it off was silly. Now the internet division is huge, and splitting this off the rest of the company makes sense. Don't let Microsoft tie their OS into the open internet in such a way that the functionality of the Internet is damaged for people who don't use the Microsoft OS or authentication mechanisms..NET could do this.
If there has to be a centralised authentication mechanism, or multiple centralised authentication mechanisms, then build them around an open-specification platform. Then at online shops, you can just select your choice of authentication/data/address/preferences server from the list (Passport, Sun, Tucows, BT, etc). Anybody want to set up a project on SourceForge? Cool name needed... how about AuthSafe or SecureStore?
Apart from the above, XP is good - it gets rid of the crap base that is DOS. However, the government needs to look at the issue of how long Microsoft supports its products. I don't think that at least 5 years is unreasonable!
Re:Surprisingly, a lot of negative press
by
denzo
·
· Score: 2
So - you REALLY think that all the corporate people who waited to see if Win2k was stable enough to use are going to go out in droves all of a sudden & snap up XP? Please -
Not in droves, no. What I said was within about 6 months for WinXP sales to beat Win98SE, ME, and Win2k sales. A lot of businesses have halted planned Win2k deployments to wait for today's release, so that they can test it. Many corporations have already said (in news articles by CNet and such) that they will probably end up deploying WinXP when the first service pack is released sometime in early 2002.
That would fit within my 6-month time frame.
Re:Surprisingly, a lot of negative press
by
denzo
·
· Score: 2
Negatory. I do IT consulting for a huge company and they have no plans to move to XP anytime in the next three years, much less six months.
Then I doubt this company is aware of Microsoft's "expiration" plans for its older operating system like Windows NT 4.0. For one thing, volume discounts will no longer be available, so any companies buying new computers from OEM vendors will be bundled with Windows XP. Supposedly this was supposed to begin happening on October 1st.
Microsoft is offering the ability to "downgrade" from an XP license to an older operating system without additional costs, for a while. By the end of June next year, Microsoft will reduce their technical support for Windows NT 4.0 and will be more costly to run. Then, all forms of support for NT4 will be cut off in 2003.
For individuals, this isn't much of an issue. But for big corporations running thousands of workstations and hundreds of servers, running obsolete Microsoft operating systems, and expecting support for them, will become prohibitively expensive.
Re:Surprisingly, a lot of negative press
by
Surak
·
· Score: 2
Unfortunately all the hard-core/Linux geeks spaz when they see something like this, with a Fisher-Price® GUI and "useless" fading menu effects, etc, but this is the garbage Linux will need to become a wide-spread home operating system.
Re:Surprisingly, a lot of negative press
by
Cylix
·
· Score: 2
Actually, all you are talking about are better detonater drivers.
The nVidia drivers really sucked for about the first year of win2k. It just so happens they have finally gotten it right about the time of XP releasing. It took about the same time for the linux detonater drivers to really shine as well.
Like I said, perceptions can be fooled by what we want to see. However, if you had been running those same olders drivers on beta XP you would have had the same issues as with your Win2k counterpart.
-- "You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
Re:Surprisingly, a lot of negative press
by
CyberKnet
·
· Score: 2
Upgrades from Win95/NT 4.0 are no longer available. Microsoft cut them in august/september.
-- Video meliora proboque deteriora sequor - Ovidius
I heard a rumor that Linus was waiting til the release of WinXP to fork the 2.5 kernel. Anyone have info on that? Maybe it was just a rumor.
Everything I've heard on XP is that it's stable. Nobody I know has said anything else about it.
Micro$oft:This will change your computing experience.
Me:Yup, I can get work done now instead of staring at a BSOD.
--
There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda :wq
Oh good, a slashdot article on the release of XP.
by
tswinzig
·
· Score: 2, Redundant
I'm sure this discussion will be incredibly insightful.
--
"And like that... he's gone."
Just something I noticed about XP
by
browser_war_pow
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· Score: 2
I used XP on my desktop for about a week and if you want windows, don't need to boot a non-MS OS then it is the way to go... if you're used to NT/2k. I noticed that setting permissions for multiple users is actually significantly harder to figure how to do than it is in 2k. In 2k you just right click on something and click properties. In XP you have to first enable some obscure option to be able to do that and of course there is nothing in the helpfile to tell you what to do, you have to figure it out on your own
My First Impressions
by
Enonu
·
· Score: 5, Informative
The new look of Windows XP to me could be described as bubbly. With the default theme, it's Ficher Price and bubbly. I know that perhaps it's because I'm used to the old L&F that I don't like the new L&F, but it seems like a fair amount of people I've shown XP to can only ahhh and ooooh as well as say "I want that on my system." Just goes to show how right Steve Jobs was when the iMac and AQUA L&F came out.
XP handles crashses better on my system. It's like they didn't happen. However, they occur more often than in Windows 2000. So even though my system doesn't become any bit more unstable after a crash, I get to see that error report dialog box a bunch. This is really a pain for apps that don't seem to like XP entirely. For example, Real Player 8 gets a bit upset from time to time. My system shouldn't crash at all. I have brand name components (ASUS, Hercules, CAS2 Corsair, etc.) and Windows 2000 rarely if ever crashed.
The boot time for XP is freaking amazing. I think it's faster than ME even. I have a sub 10 second boot from pushing the power button. Another nice thing is that hibernation is transparent since there is only the option for Standby, Shutdown, and Restart when you go to Start/Turn off Computer. The only weird part is that it takes longer to turn off my system than it does to turn it on. I think it's because of the nVidia drivers I have installed, but I can't confirm that.
I like to have multiple folders open on my Desktop at the same time when doing file management. When there are > 5 or open, at a resolution of 1600 x 1200, the taskbar will group all these folders together in one button so that the taskbar doesn't get overly crouded. You can then close all these folders as a group, etc. This is one of my favorite features.
There's loads more to talk about, but it all boils down to one thing. My productivity has not increased one iota. If you have 2000, it's not worth upgrading to because of this. It's not like the upgrade I did from 98 SE to 2000 I did a while back, where all the sudden everything ran flawlessly.
About that "grouping similar applications", wasn't that in gnome first?
Perhaps, but I had that with ApplWindows in MacOS back in 1996, and it probably wasn't new then. Beautiful extension: the program menu had sub-menus for every window, the program menu could pop-up under the mouse and you got alt-tab switching years before Apple added it.
Never understood why Apple didn't make ApplWindows standard: IMHO a Mac is totally crippled without it. Someday I'll learn enough OSX programming to rewrite it in my copious free time.
Eric
-- "Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
Re:My First Impressions
by
cybrthng
·
· Score: 3, Informative
The fact it can boot up in 30 seconds on my dell laptop is sweet. When i come into work and have a tons of stuff to catch up on, having my pc booted by the time i get my coffee is worth it.
The task bar sorting is nice, grouping applications together cleans up the desk space alot.
VPN seems more stable, i don't have weird problems like i did in 2k. (IPsec)
Builtin PPoE is a godsend for verizon dsl customers, no more having to chase down 3rd party vendors for software. I have a linksys that does this for me, but for some people, this alone is worth the money for the upgrade.
Interface is "bubbly" but just goes to show you how much you can change these days.
Stability is nice. I have random complete reboots in 2k, doesn't happen under XP.
i work better, it has smoothed out the rough edges of 2k as far as compatibility and speed, and kept the stability as well as added support for DX8, better media support and whatever.net has to offer.
Plus Java 1.4 with the WinXP look and feel makes java look native as far as interface and you get the added benifits of the new release.. even if.net doesn't take off it is still a great java platform!
Re:My First Impressions
by
Junks+Jerzey
·
· Score: 2
The new look of Windows XP to me could be described as bubbly. With the default theme, it's Ficher Price and bubbly.
And that's exactly what I thought when I first saw everyone going ga-ga over Enlightenment. Never underestimate the power of an obnoxious and goofy user interface scheme.
>>With the default theme, it's Ficher Price and
>>bubbly.
>And that's exactly what I thought when I first
>saw everyone going ga-ga over Enlightenment.
I wonder what theme you saw in that first view of enlightenment! I would NEVER have thought "fisher price" or "bubbly"
"Tattoo shop", maybe. "Punk rock club" probably.
My term for it was "endarkenment" because all the early themes looked like they were trying to be in bladerunner.
Toys for 4 year olds didn't enter into my perception... Skinny Puppy, more like.
-- -fb
Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
Another nice thing is that hibernation is transparent since there is only the option for Standby, Shutdown, and Restart when you go to Start/Turn off Computer.
Actually, at the screen with those options, hold Shift and the Standby button turns into a Hibernate button. That's how you hibernate on XP.
Re:What does XP stand for?
by
windi
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
AFAIK, XP stands for the 2 greek letters pronounced khai and rho.
Khai-Rho == Cairo, IIRC, the codename MS used for the first 32bit Windows
maybe I've read alt.sex.stories(.*) too much...
by
StandardDeviant
·
· Score: 2, Funny
but "XP" sounds like a story tag[0] for extreme watersports. Given the amount that Microsoft products usually piss me off, that's probably not a wholly inaccurate interpretation of the acronym.
[0] Story tags are those little letter codes in the subject line that the author uses (ideally) to indicate what sort of things the story contains, like "mffg bdsm nc" might mean a guy, two girls, a goat and nonconsensual bondage & pain infliction. Wheee!
Re:maybe I've read alt.sex.stories(.*) too much...
by
mikeage
·
· Score: 2
Historically, the XP was often found on ancient shields of christian soldiers... XP is greek is CHi Rho... as in CHR(ist)
-- --
Is "Sig" copyrighted by www.sig.com?
Re:maybe I've read alt.sex.stories(.*) too much...
by
Black+Parrot
·
· Score: 2, Funny
> "XP" sounds like a story tag[0] for extreme watersports.
I thought it was the emoticon for "dead".
-- Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Re:maybe I've read alt.sex.stories(.*) too much...
by
soulsteal
·
· Score: 2
Given the amount that Microsoft products usually piss me off
Better to be pissed off than pissed on. At least in my book.
Re:maybe I've read alt.sex.stories(.*) too much...
by
Jeremy+Erwin
·
· Score: 2
No, capitalization usually refers to which party is dominant, and which is submissive. So change that tag line to "mffGoat bdsm heavy nc zoo"
Re:maybe I've read alt.sex.stories(.*) too much...
by
Matthew+Weigel
·
· Score: 2
Damn it, I've got to jump in here. (hope ya don't mind Mike)
Fucking idiotic. That's what your line of thought is.
I laughed, and I don't laugh at Mike/StandardDeviants jokes much anymore. I knew that XP was not an actual story code, but it was indeed reminiscent of one (besides, any mention of mffG is funny too).
In case you were wondering, it managed to be funny because it presented a skewed view of the world, one which yet has a resonance with the world we see every day vis a vis Microsoft software being piss. It was the dip into StandardDeviant's mind, and the connections he makes between XP and Usenet. It benefits from not being true, because its intent is to show how Mike made the leap from true to not-true.
I'm only doing this because I haven't been so pedantic that my nose bleeds in a while. And StandardDeviant is usually a lot more willing to say fuck off than meet pedantry for pedantry.
-- --Matthew
Scarriest part of the article
by
ZaMoose
·
· Score: 2
...has to be the following quote:
Gates told the Associated Press: "It's a value for consumers. Why are there headlights in cars? Why don't they make you go and buy those things separately?
"If you look at the value of the stuff that's in Windows XP, compared to the stand-alone packages you'd have to buy for the equivalent, that's many hundreds of dollars," Gates said.
"And all you have to do is understand that to understand why consumers like it and why a competitor would say, 'Hey, it's too good a deal, you know, why are they offering people such a good deal?"'
Why does a car come with headlights? Well, does GM manufacture its own headlights? Nope. It "bundles" headlights from "GM-certified" suppliers, so those suppliers are still getting their money in the deal. If MS were bundling Norton Ghost or EasyCD Creator or RealPlayer or BlackIce Firewall with XP, then maybe the analogy might hold.
The thing is, most J6P's will look at Gates' statement and say "Yeah! I agree with that!" without even giving it any thought.
In order for his statement to work, GM cars would have to: 1) come with GM headlights 2) use non-standard eletrical connections for said lights so that if you decided to replace them with a competitor's superior lights, they would either break or function in a reduced capacity 3) disable the starter if you changed your lights, floormats, muffler and tires at the same time, forcing you to call GM's hotline in order to have a new set of keys sent out to you.
Sheez, I hope no automakers are reading this...
-- I wish I had a kryptonite cross, because then you could keep Dracula and Superman away.
Re:Scarriest part of the article
by
Prior+Restraint
·
· Score: 2
Actually, the biggest break-down in the analogy is that auto manufacturers are legally obligated to install headlights.
Re:Anyone planning to upgrade ?
by
sammy+baby
·
· Score: 2
Thanks, Anton. I'm sure that will be a big help for all those Slashdot visitors who have never heard of Linux before.
</joke>
The BBC is one of the few (or perhaps the only?) news organisations in the world with a legal obligation to be unbiased.
However, is it just me or is there a touch of sarcasm in the way the following sentence has been composed:
"I understand that, certainly, in tough economic times it is not the best time to introduce any new piece of work," he said, though he insisted that the software was very "exciting".
Really? I can see that in UK politics, since they are government-funded, but everything?
That isn't how it works. They are actually a 'public body' - they are independent of the government and funded by the people. They frequently do things (like reporting the facts) that upset whichever politican party is in power. Governments frequently try to interfere with it but luckily it is fairly well protected by the system.
They are also indepentent of any commerical entity and so cannot advertise - they are very strict about it. Presenters can't mention any company or product name outside of a news item.
I expect some of you cynical American types are thinking "Oh, yea, like that's going to work". Actually, generally it does. Like all things, it's not perfect, but it's pretty damn good.
"We aim to be the world's most creative and trusted broadcaster and programme maker, seeking to satisfy all our audiences with services that inform, educate and entertain and enrich their lives in the ways that the market alone will not. We aim to be guided by our public purposes; to encourage the UK's most innovative talents; to act independently of all interests, and to aspire to the highest ethical standards:"
Notice to act independently of all interests. Also the BBC's charter makes numerous references to its independence.
I'm a cynical brit, rather than a cynical American, but I have to be honest and say I didn't know how the BBC's funding is actually done.
If you're a Brit with a TV then don't you pay a license fee? That's where the funding comes from. Actually it's a bit more complex than that, but the important thing is the BBCs independence.
And Uttles has left the building
by
Uttles
·
· Score: 2
All of the news about XP over the last few months describing all of the ways Microsoft is continuing to be a software bully and stifling competition, resulting in me, the end user, getting less "cool stuff" for my windows PC has resulted in this: XP is the last straw. I am switching over to Linux as my primary platform and using Windows 2000 as a backup on a small partition. I've worked with Unix before and my roomate is an expert on Linux so I think I'll be able to pick it up and become a power user in no time. Given the small amount of time I actually use my computer at home and the amount of work it will take to get all of my devices working under Linux I didn't want to make that sort of investment in learning a new, more powerful OS that requires me to manually configure everything, but I am so disgusted with Microsoft that I am now willing to do so. If you don't really care what OS I use, fine, sorry to waste your time, but for those of you Linux lovers out there I thought you would be happy to know that Microsoft is actually driving people away, and making Linux stronger, just by being the evil company they are.
It's nifty and all, but I just can't see businesses using software that has the potential to shut itself down(intentionally, anyway).
I'm starting to see more and more "normal" people like my parents and grandparents become aware of Microsoft's bullying business tactics. They couple what they've heard about Microsoft will the fact that Microsoft will force them to register their software online and are saying "no, thanks".
As is obvious to most of us, Microsoft needs some real competition. Its only occurred to me recently that the average Joe on the street is starting to realize they need real competition to stop them from bullying everyone from their suppliers to their customers.
Unfortunately, I can't yet recommend my grandma, who has trouble enough figuring out the intricacies of the mouse, that she go to something like linux. A Mac might be nice, however it would likely cost double what her PC cost.
The demand is definitely there for Microsoft to have some real competition, because nobody likes to be bullied. I wonder who will finally give it to them?
--
No, Thursday's out. How about never - is never good for you?
From a technical standpoint..
by
Junta
·
· Score: 2
I think it is a pretty good OS, far better than 9x based systems. The UI is interesting, though I'm not sure it's worth the performance hit. At least they offer the old interface. No point of upgrading from W2k unless you either really like the new UI, or need multimedia support... As for the UI, http://www.stardock.com/ has some interesting ways of refreshing that old win98 look, with Windowblinds and DesktopX.
What really puts me off is the licensing. I do relatively frequent changes to my hardware. I don't feel like frequently requesting activation code and therefore be flagged as suspicious. If it would truly be a one time thing to me, I wouldn't care so much, but asking Microsoft before I can actually use any upgrades I buy would suck.
For now, I'll stick with W2k for when I *absolutely* need Windows, and Linux for everyday purposes.
(BTW, my evaluation of Windows XP is based on a nice official beta I installed for a while before zapping it with W2k again)
-- XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
the real meaning of XP
by
clarkie.mg
·
· Score: 3, Troll
Ok let's go.
1. XP is for eXPensive
Never in the history of the PC has the part of the operating system been so pricey.
2. XP is for eXPires
Microsoft has invented the software that eXPires as the customer can only install the software a certain number of times. If you have a virus, need to upgrade your hard drive, want to clean up your HD, add another component, change PC or any other reason to install, your software gets closed to death.
3. XP is for eXPloit
Knowing the care microsoft gives to security, this meaning is close to become reality.
4. XP is for eXPlosion
eXPlosion of Denial of Service (DoS) attacks as windows XP gives raw socket acces to the mass of home users. (read http://grc.com/dos/winxp.htm and http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/19332.html)
5. XP is for eXPected
It took 10 years to microsoft to deliver a operating system that doesn't crash or need a reboot multiple times a day. At last !
6. XP is for linuXPreferred
For all the above reasons.
Any other ideas ?
-- Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education. Bertrand Russel
Re:the real meaning of XP
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 3, Funny
I dunno about XPloit, though. It comes with a built-in firewall, and I'm positive it's more secure in the default installation than Redhat is.
Also, 98 and NT have always had the ability to spoof IPs and bind to raw sockets. (see http://www.grcsucks.com/)
My, the Emporer's new cloths look mahvalous!!
by
ch-chuck
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· Score: 2
Absolutely mahvalous!!
Actually I'm dying to ditch WinME/9x but they're going to be out there for a long time yet, untill the ROI is paid off. Sorry, that's the way most industry works. Once a business sinks so much capital into IT infrastructure they just keep using it untill depreciated (5 years I think) or it has paid for itself. Not every company can afford to buy all new systems every two or three years.
Alternate Madonna theme songs
by
shut_up_man
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· Score: 2
I really don't like Madonna's songs, so here goes:
Alternate XP Theme Songs from Madonna
Dress You Up (but you're still dodgy)
Burning Up (my bank account)
Deeper & Deeper (into MS's pocket)
Borderline (antitrust violation)
Material Girl (looking pretty but costing heaps)
I'm sure I'm not the only one who's noticed this, but a heads-up to everyone else: there is indeed a way to get "hacked" copies of XP, without the activation. The key was to take a combination of the corporate edition (which doesn't have activation), coupled with a corporate key. The original copies circulating around the web required massive hacks to defeat activation (in the final releases of the "normal" Pro code) and the timebomb (in the RC releases).
Our company purchased an "Open License" for XP for about 200 users, so naturally I put one on my mobile laptop. The OS is actually suprising in some areas, irritating in others. The compatibility is a nice touch for those who have been running W2K (and couldn't get all their games to work); and the Start menu is more functional now than it was before. The Control Panel has become less intuitive, though.
Back to what I was saying: all you need is a copy of the corporate edition (which never asks for activation) and a corporate key. I have my machine booting corporate edition XP and Mandrake 8.1. I couldn't be happier.
Leveraging XP's acronym
by
smaughster
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· Score: 2
We have a nice oppurtunity to influence all VB scripters and turn them away from M$! It's easy, you can help too. If you see a clueless person in the bookstore, looking for "Programming XP in 24 hours", step up to them, smile and show them the shelf with eXtreme Programming.
Saw an add last night from Futureshop. Along with your purchase of Windows XP, they're offering 128MB Ram, and McAfee Virus Scan. You can see the promotion on their website. I find this quite funny. If you're going to run XP, you need more memory and a virus scanner!
Gates told the Associated Press: "It's a value for consumers. Why are there headlights in cars? Why don't they make you go and buy those things separately?
Because people don't buy cars the way they buy computers. When you go to an auto dealership, they sell you the car more or less exactly as it came from the factory. If headlights were sold seperately, the auto dealer would have to have a manufacturing plant on the premises.
But when you buy a computer, and call up Dell, they DO buy all the seperate parts and put it all together. Including the software. It would be trivial for them to install, say, Bob's Media Player instead of WMA.
Additionally, there's nothing stopping an auto dealer from pulling out the headlights the cars come with and putting in new ones. Dell is legally and technologically barred from doing that with XP's bundled software.
Okay, now go ahead and post the "if cars were OSes" joke.
Marketing's all Bill's got left.
by
SgtChaireBourne
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Microsoft's revenue streams are in danger of drying up unless they can get a lock on people through MS-Passport. MS can leverage Hotmail and other online services by purchasing them and forcing migration to MS-Passport, but that can only happen on the desktop through upgrades to XP.
XP has improvements, but there's no exciting reason to upgrade. Plus, with all of the security concerns finally,the press release the other week coming down on publishing exploits is a tacit admisision that MS products can compete in a real world security environment.
with the new pre-school-type GUI, they have the Blue Screen of Uh Oh!
GOOD news!!!
by
the_2nd_coming
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Howard Stern was talking about Win XP and he decided that there was no compeling reason for him to buy it, then when a caller told him about how you could only put it on one computer per copy, he said "well screw that!!" I was excited, do you know howmany not computer literate people listen to him and take his opinion to heart? not to mention that XP just got some negitive press in popular media....
I am so happy....:-)
--
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
Re:Rather late on the media onslaught
by
dragons_flight
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· Score: 2
It wasn't even because ME was bad, particularly, just that journalists are cottoning on to the fact that its not the groundbreaking event that they thought 95 would be.
I agree that ME was better than 98, though not dramatically so. What I wonder about though, is whether journalists are more keyed to the look of the system. It wouldn't surprise me if the standard media judges software to be "groundbreaking" primarily based on whether it looks and feels different rather than whether it has exceptionally more functionality.
Realistically the changes to style and design should be weighted as some of the biggest differences over Win2K, so perhaps MS is counting on that to boost sales and hype among the ignorant. Surprising really, that it's been this long since a makeover.
i'm really not sure why you would call for a boycott under your circumstances. If you've got what you need, and don't have any desire to upgrade, then don't. Microsoft isn't holding a gun to anyone's head. There are no laws requiring you to upgrade.
Sounds like you're trying a little to hard to whore some karma from the linux-zealots. Please, from now on...think before speaking.
I find it amusing that I didn't really even notice until I saw this submission.
Yeah, yeah, we get it: Slashdot==Linux.
But really, there is something disturbingly naive about whistling down the street not giving Microsoft a second thought; all the while they're plotting some serious hardship for your baby (Linux).
Just because you don't think about Microsoft doesn't mean they don't think about you.
Not a good start to the artice.
by
Tsujigiri
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· Score: 2
I don't know what kind of coverage they were hoping for with this article, but I'd have to say that the first paragraph made me think that there wasn't much to the new release:
The system promises fewer computer crashes and will allow users to delete data from their hard drive.
struck me as funny. My first thought was that I could delete files perfectly well at the moment...
--
"I'll take the red pill. No! Blue! AAAaaaahhhhhhhhh" - Monty Python meets the Matrix
Gates on Regis yesterday said ...
by
zummit
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· Score: 4, Interesting
Yesterday morning, Bill Gates was on the Regis show and I would like to share a direct quote which he said in reference to the idea that WinXP doesn't crash as much as other windoze OS's.
"The average user will save about a week a year."
[When I shared this with a friend, he replied, "Someone should file a lawsuit alleging that Windows was defective and that the licensing was an ineffective waiver of rights because of M$'s monopoly and their collusion with hardware manufacturers to force their product on consumers. I figure that since 1996, Biull G. & Co. have waster about $8,000 of my time."]
Seriously, I have almost always bought a new computer based on a new operating system. I think this is a common experience. I've never upgraded a Windows operating system, except for my first college computer, when Win95 came out a few months after I purchased it - and Gateway gave me a free upgrade coupon for that one.
Why? Well, like most home PC users, I don't upgrade the hardware much. I buy a system that's more than I need at the time, and when I start feeling the pinch, there's no clear upgrade path to the next system. For instance, I could use a GeForce2/3, a video card with DVD-out (and a DVD player that supports that), Firewire, a 3x to 5x processor increase (350 Mhz to somewhere in the high 1000's), and maybe get the memory up to half a gig. But there's no good upgrade path - that's a motherboard change (to one w/ AGP and that supports a faster processor), and it means discarding my current DVD drive, and possible other hard drives. I might as well buy a new, integrated system. And while I'm at it, I might as well get the latest operating system. I wanted to buy a new PC around the time Black and White came out, but I decided to wait and see if XP would be worth the wait.
Which puts me in a bind. Like others say, there's not much differance between XP and 2000, except for some (downloadable) bells and whistles, and that AWFUL authentication scheme. I'll wait until the verdict to see if I should go XP, 2000, or ME. Unlike some ZDNet columnists, I'm pretty happy with Win98SE...
If it wasn't for the funky licsensing, I'd jump right on, and have my PC delivered tommorrow. I'm afraid a million others are making the same choice, and we might see a boom in PC sales by Christmas, maybe not.
Me:I'll wait until the verdict to see if I should go XP, 2000, or ME.
You:That, my friend, is the problem. If you wait, by the time you buy your next PC it will come with XP preinstalled. You'll use it whether you like it or not.
Ahh, but I may be planning to build my next system rather then buy it from a dealer. I'm hoping that, for the next few months at least, you'll be able to purchase the OEM version of Win2K from a hard drive seller. Or, if XP is REALLY annoying, I may even be willing to buy a non-OEM copy of Win2K.
...I've read a whole truckload of posts from peopl claiming that gamers should go to win2k. Crap. Heaps of games don't run on win2k, and there's no sound at all in dos games. (I know about vdmsound, but that crashes a lot of games eg worms). WinXP runs more games than win2k in my experience, and it runs every dos game I've thrown at it, although only a dozen or so, but it runs some that 98 would not, and all with sound. It runs max payne bloody well, and the only game i've had problems with is Warlords 3, but it runs warlords 2 great, with full sound, midi and voice.
There are some things that are done wrong, there's too much MS advertising, and good luck to MS re charging for more themes, but apart from these (relatively minor) gripes, I love XP, and I'm hoping that the oracle guys port soon so I can loose 2k for good.
Also, anybody know a place to download themes for the built-in theming engine? Much appreciated if you do, all I can find on google is wallpaper+sounds+icon packages:-(
-- Send lawyers, guns, and money!
Re:Anyone planning to upgrade ?
by
jilles
·
· Score: 2
Anyone suggesting linux as an alternative to windows XP for end users does not understand a thing about usability. I was reading a review about mandrake earlier today it boiled down to nice look and feel, pitty it's so buggy (this was in the review and is also my opinion entirely).
Windows XP is a nice product. It's a pitty the kernel tries to contact Redmond through the internet on a regular basis, but that doesn't change the fact that it is also setting some standards from the point of view of usability.
I notice the linux community is acting very conservative and even scared towards win xp. Jokes about clippy, blue screens and so on are made a lot whereas proposals to include new useful features into e.g. KDE or Gnome are a lot less frequent. Windows XP means a lot of new work for those projects because they are way behind delivering the same out of the box experience as windows XP.
I have windows XP at home. After some fiddling I managed to get it reasonably secure and prevent it from contacting MS too often. I love it. A lot of the new interface makes sense. Of course you want to at least change the colour scheme but a lot of things work really nice.
At this point, linux is a downgrade for end users. You lose features. You may say you don't like the features, you don't need the features or don't want the features but the bottom line is you lose them. And if you really need a unix environment, most of the more useful UNIX tools have win32 ports available. And yes windows xp is stable and won't bsod unless you install crappy drivers. If you load a buggy kernel module you have the same experience in linux.
Just for clarity, I have used linux for years and maintain a debian server. I know my shit and have hands on experience with most mainstream distributions.
--
Jilles
Re:initial media reports on Windows XP
by
NumberSyx
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· Score: 2
They said the same thing about Win95, 98, 98SE and ME, they also said it about WinNT and 2K. And it was true, each version sucked a little less, but still sucked. My experiance with Windows in general is, it is stable as long as you never have to use non native drivers or install any software. XP is no different, I just installed my copy and it worked great for about 5 minutes. Word of advice, Intel PC Anypoint software will screw up XP so bad you can't even get into Safe Mode and the Compatibility settings didn't work. It is only 9 in the morning and I've had to do 3 installs, without the AnyPoint Software I can access shares, but I still can't access the Internet. I haven't even gotten to installing any apps and I am having trouble. I think I will go back to Win2K and return XP to the store.
--
"Our products just aren't engineered for security,"
-Brian Valentine,VP in charge of MS Windows Development
"No One's Breaking Us Up!" XP = Victory over DOJ?
by
tenzig_112
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· Score: 2
With all its faults, XP and.NET will soon dominate the IT landscape. And although the DOJ suit is not completely resolved, the possibility of a breakup is greatly diminished with an ally like Bush in the White House.
As I haven't upgraded, I don't know what the process is like, but what I don't understand is why anyone would ever put thier name in the OS to begin with. When it asks for your name can't you just enter John Doe?
I was surprised that NPR was giving XP a positive review of XP. They had a person on there from some large compute chain (like CompUSA, but I don't remember which), sayig that is is definitely easier to use, and it looks better. He then went on to say some odd things like "it will be able to copy pictures off your digital camera without you having to install any software" and a bunch of other things. When asked about the fact that you have to buy one copy for your laptop and one for your desktop, the guy said "this has always been the case" and just now they have the product activation. This morning, they were talking it up again, although they had one analyst say that which it is a great operating system, it isn't going to cause a resurgence in computer hardware sales, and the amount of money Microsoft has slated for advertising is indicative of the fact that while it is better, it's only marginally better. The only bad thing I have read so far is that you may not be able to play the Snow White DVD, but there will be a patch soon.
One thing I noticed that was lacking was any statement like "your license will expire in 2 years". Is this still on for the retail/OEM version? I remember that they pushed it back for businesses because of the budgetary planning issues, but how about the retail. Anyone have any links?
Incidentally, yes, it is possible that NPR is giving such a review because it is in fact better. I just don't like the form they are giving it in. They are having a guy, who obviously stands to gain if people go any buy XP at his chain, make extremely broad statements that in some cases don't make sense (how can it know all future digital cameras. Does it really even know all current ones? Even ones that have been off the market for 3 years, like my QV-11). I listen to NPR to get away from commerical radio.
The man interviewed on the NPR program, All Things Considered, is the chief editor for PC magazine. The PC Mag people know which side their bread is buttered on. They are a consumer oriented magazine, which focuses on the consumer operating system that most of consumer US computes with. Why would this guy stick his neck out on the line?
In addition, why would NPR offer unfavorable reviews of Windows XP? Every morning I hear how programs for NPR are funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. If you're a radio network which at one time was supported by the government, but is now heavily dependent on cooporate funding, why would you want to piss off the billionare who makes your living possible?
Congress took the public out of public radio a long time ago.
But why cover it so much? It's giving the channel a creepy feeling. "I don't have add banners, but our articles are written by our sponsors" kind of feeling.
Once again Bill Gates and the other...Executives at Microsoft come up with an analogy that is bordering on the moronic, and the media eats it up.
Why are there headlights in cars? Because there are laws mandating them. Same goes for tail lights. Up until the 1930s, headlights and tail lights were options. Yep for more than 30 years you could buy a car with out either of them, same goes for seat belts until the 1970s in the US.
Why doesn't Bill Gates know this? Because he's so protected from reality and so isolated he either has lost what common sense he had, or he's being spoon fed all these soundbites from his handlers.
I've never met a Microsoftie, are there any here that can tell me - Are Bill Gates and the other MS execs losing IQ points like a Mind Flayer was sitting on thier head, or is everything spun there?
If the launch was/is held outdoors, it would be funny if there was a protest march against Bill gates.
I mean. it isn't like he hasn't made enemies, or gotten people rather upset from time to time. Yers I know he is the most loved person on the planet.
You know it would make the news.
In fact, The protest marches would probably be the next big thing. I can see it now, the million geek march.
-- "It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Re:Hysterical quotes from CNN
by
SuiteSisterMary
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· Score: 2
Allow users to delete data from their hard drive??? What a utterly novel concept.
It is when you consider that your average OS doesn't erase data, it merely unlinks it and forgets that it's there. The data still exists until overwritten.
Because, moron, as has been repeatedly pointed out among the clueful, computers aren't cars
So? Isn't it unfair to the aftermarket headlight makers? People won't buy aftermarket lights if the ones included are 'good enough' and that means the major car companies can shut out said aftermarket light makers using their unfair control over the vehicles.
-- Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
Because now when I get a "tech support" call from a friend, I'll be troubleshooting a (in essence)W2k machine, not a WinDOS machine.
Come on now.
Are you actually going to advise Special K to upgrade to WinXP? On his POS? The thing can hardly take the strain of 98!
-- Still not dead.
Re:What does XP stand for?
by
exor
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· Score: 2, Funny
= Expect Problems
=
Windows XCon: New Virus Platform Released
by
tenzig_112
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· Score: 2
Ah, Windows. Be it a backdoor in Outlook or a macro in Office, virus writers cannot get enough of Windows.
Idea: Purchase a brand new computer to support a buggy OS so that you can run all those fancy new viruses.
[true story]
I know of a guy who updated his ActiveX in order to view an attachment that later turned out to be a particularly nasty virus.
[/true story]
To manually hibernane, hold down shift at the shutdown screen and "Suspend" switches to "Hibernate."
Also, look for the (beta) Powertoys. Some of these little things are VERY nifty (Virtual Desktop for Windows, new TweakUI, etc.)
Re:Anyone planning to upgrade ?
by
jilles
·
· Score: 2
Install a firewall, that's what I did. But if you are willing to trade features for security it is a free country and I could very well imagine moving to linux for this reason one day. Just don't claim that it is the same thing as windows because clearly it is not. If you use linux you will have to use the commandline because most file managers are crap, you get less integration between apps and so on.
--
Jilles
Re:Press pees self over XP launch.
by
(void*)
·
· Score: 2
The scary thing is that it was probably written by someone who spends their life glued to their channels.
I believe that is (badly) referring to some of the security features of XP...basically built-in utilities for "cleaner" deletions, stuff that can't be as trivially recovered after the fact. Normal deleted files can be quite easily retrieved with the right tools.
You can't format your drive and install Windows XP. That would require deleting Linux, and Linux doesn't support that, does it?
Quite a bit, actually.
by
Planesdragon
·
· Score: 2
A short list:
1: Fast User switching (you can switch to another user without logging off. GREAT if you share your PC with *anyone.*)
2: An INCREDIBLE Start Menu. (Everything is configurable... what it looks like, if it's new or old, and even what shows up. You can even have unlimited windowing through your file strucutre.)
3: Faster Boot time. (Especially if you're running Win2k!)
4: Game support (MS isn't saying "This isn't a gaming OS" this time, so things will be much better.)
5: A collapsing System Tray (Of all the little icons that show up by the clock, you can configure which ones always hide, which ones never hide, and which ones "hide when inactive.")
6: The latest and greatest interfunctionallity from MS--which menas that the latest and greatest from someone else will work for you now.
Re:Quite a bit, actually.
by
Rogerborg
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· Score: 2
4: Game support (MS isn't saying "This isn't a gaming OS" this time, so things will be much better.)
That was always FUD plus early driver problems. I have exactly zero problems developing or running games on Win2K. With recent driver revisions from Nvidia and others, games even run marginally faster on Win2K than Win98.
The fast boot would be nice, but OTOH, I hibernate my Win2K. The only time that I actually shut it down is to swap out some hardware.
-- If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Re:Quite a bit, actually.
by
Billly+Gates
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· Score: 2
Appearently nvidia did not get its act together this time around with good XP drivers. Infact I am putting in my old vodoo3 1000 card in right now. Its actually faster under XP then the WHQL certified geforce2 mx200. Thats just really screwed up.
If the author/songwriter got some of that vast $$'s I might buy it, but NO WAY. The author/songwriter is doing for love of the craft, and the publisher/record company is raking in HUGE amounts of cash and giving the originator CRUMBS...
-- errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
So the record companies ARE giving more than 10% to the artist ? what part of what I said is WRONG ? How many rockstars do you know...
" I know of several band(s)" then you list ONE
How about the 1000's of bands that LIVE HIGH on the hog on advances and loans from the Record companies ONYL to go deeply into debt when they are discarded in 6 months. Talk about what you know MORON, and I hope for your sake that this isn't what you claim to know.
-- errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
I'm not sure what point you are speaking of beyond the one on your head....
I replied to your statement that the vast amount of profit derived from the record industry is why quality music was avaible, with a comment that YOU'RE a COMPLETE KNEE-BITER. Quality music comes from the SONG WRITERs and MUSICIANs, who RECEIVE a PITTANCE of that, so by your analogy GOOD music is available because FAT PIGLIKE RECORD EXEC's make HUGE SALARIES ?? Crawl back in your AC hole and wait for another day to show off your ignorance.
-- errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
you are a total SAP, you actually believe that the record companies provide ANY sort of service to the industry ?? Stop swallowing Hillary's and Jack V's BULLSHIT and think for your self. You are right stop trying to justify your stupidity, no one else is going to buy it. If it makes you feel better, you can think I am stupid, your opinion hurts me in no way. As to debatin,g you provided NOTHING in the way of constructive debate just a lot of name calling. I can see why you hide behind an AC tag. When you find ANY SORT of entry into the music system THEN SPEAK OUT YOUR ASS, because that seems to be your strong suit. Next time pick a topic you KNOW SOMTHING about because it is obvious you no NOTHING about the music industry.
-- errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
Well, as an American...
by
ChaoticCoyote
·
· Score: 2
...I'm dammed offended by the crass commercialism that surrounds the Sept 11 attacks. From Ford telling us to buy cars as a patriotic duty to people selling "commemorative" items on late night TV, it's just sick.
But then, given the strength of the rampant capitalism in the U.S., I'm not surprised by such greed. I'm just disappointed that certain selfish people are living down to my expectations...
In other news SuSE Linux ships with over 1500 applications, such as a several Web browsers, several e-mail programs, lots of instant messengers, a variety of digital photo editors, music recording and playback software, a full development suite with the most advanced set of languages, tools, and debuggers; half a dozen themable desktops, several office suites, and an assortment of games to keep the user amused for hours on end. Did I forget to mention that this OS can be put on as many computers as the user wishes, and is not burdened by overly restrictive licenses. For the corporate user, it comes with a full range of networking and security tools.
I know this affects a fair number of users but for the life of me I just don't know why;)
Um.. remember Code Red? You weren't running NT but you were probably still getting a hundred http requests per second, from machines infected by it.
Now consider this: the company that introduced innovations such as:
Having the computer automatically load and execute code from a CDROM when it is inserted
Having a mail reader automatically execute scripts inside of email
is now shipping a product that is significantly less secure than their previous products, and has ".net technology."
If you use the internet (and especially if you pay for bandwidth), then believe me, this will affect you, whether you use the product or not. If the future, historians are going to say that 2000 was the year that there weren't any significant viruses and most internet bandwidth was used for porn. They'll say something different about 2001.
-- As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
However how many people do you hear complaing regarding the quality of Windows 2000 (on which XP is based)?
About 3 out of 6 I've talked to. That's a pretty serious improvement, though, as it could imply that the old Microsoft lie of "it's just bad hardware drivers crashing our flawless operating system" could finally have some truth to it.
Of course, the downside to that is Microsoft can't afford to hype the stability too much; if Joe Public loads the new ultra-stable XP on his Compaq-saved-$2.50-on-cheap-parts motherboard, he's not going to care that it's the nonconformant APM hardware crashing, he's going to blame Microsoft.
The thing is, Linux is also unstable for many people. For example, if I switch virtual terminals while starting a big GNOME program, I can crash the machine around half the time. I think that Linux is just in a rut. KDE people are too busy adding features to be bothered with stability, GNOME people don't have the caffine IV drips the KDE people got, so they have to work really hard just to keep up, and Linus has finally lost it and the kernel is worse for it. And GCC-3 is just plain broken. Maybe kernel 2.6, GCC-4.0, and KDE-3 will finally be the golden era of Linux. (I've been saying something similar since kernel 2.2, KDE 1.1.2, and GCC 2.95.x...)
-- A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
Better integration with.NET possibly? I read an article yesterday which says something to the effect of Microsoft is their own competition because their old OSes are still selling (and working fine) while they are trying to get new OSes off the shelves.
There is very little incentive, IMO. I don't believe there has been a true incentive to purchase an OS since Win3.1 to Win95. Win98/2k were mostly bug fixes to the product Win95 should have been. Microsoft is making WinXP out to be the generational leap Win3.1 to Win95 was. I don't think it will be the same or their marketting will work the same this time..NET has no "killer app" right now, and XP brings only flashy graphics to the table really.
The next incentive to purchase a new OS will be applications or hardware. Neither has advanced at all (aside from nVidia vs. ATI). The last "killer app" I know of was Napster, which didn't help the computing industry at all. Will 64-bit hardware provide an incentive in the future? Doubt it. I believe the bottlenecks for advancement are internet bandwidth and software development methods. And the dot-bomb era certainly didn't help by flooding the market with nonsense buzzwords that made even the professionals wonder which end is up on the technology scale (many of whom still believe XML is their magic bullet).
-- Dijkstra Considered Dead
MSN blocking non-windows browsers
by
crumley
·
· Score: 2
In somewhat related news, MSN is blocking non-windows browers. Go to MSN with a *nix browser and you get the error page:
Attention: Web Browser Upgrade Required to View MSN.com
If you are seeing this page, we have detected that the browser that you are using will not render MSN.com correctly. Additionally, you'll see the most advanced functionality of MSN.com only with the latest version of Microsoft Internet Explorer or MSN Explorer. If you wish to visit MSN.com, please select the appropriate download link below.
* Internet Explorer for Windows
* Internet Explorer for Macintosh
* MSN Explorer for Windows
You can get around this by changing your user-agent. In junkbuster, add a line like:
user-agent Mozilla/4.77 [en] (Win95;U)
It seems like the MSN page renders fine under Netscape/Mozilla, so rejecting non-Windows browsers seems stupid.
-- Preventive War is like committing suicide for fear of death. - Otto Von Bismarck
Re:MSN blocking non-windows browsers
by
Junta
·
· Score: 2
Works fine with Netscape 6.1 here, without any tricks here..
-- XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Re:What does XP stand for?
by
i_am_nitrogen
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Stupid slashdot formkeys error... This is the second time posting this. Why am I making it a habit to select all text and Ctrl-Copy every time I post?
There is no X in the Greek alphabet. It starts with Alpha and ends with Omega, 23 letters. Alpha corresponds to the Latin A, and Omega corresponds to the Latin W. X falls beyond the Greek alphabet for transliteration. If XP really does mean "Cairo," then it's probably based on similar appearance to the Greek letter khai, rather than letter order. Could someone please describe what a khai looks like?
I can think of at least one reason more people will upgrade to Windows XP: MacOS X. Many users of PCs - for the most part your average gamers who are using Windows 98 or ME and who are aware that "modern" operating systems are becoming an essential commodity - will buy this thing. Its aesthetic beauty - or at least M$ idea of aesthetic beauty - adds another element.
I can imagine one of these users looking at the colorful screenshots and saying, "Ah, finally something that makes full use of my powerful graphics card!" I have to admit that knowing I've got the capability of amazing 3D graphics lurking in my system makes me wish it were being used more ubiquitously. And now because of the hype surrounding "modern" crash-proof multitasking OSes a lot of users are slavering over exactly this kind of thing.
Hardcore gamers and power users long ago upgraded to Win2K. Although Windows 2000 is a modern crash-proof OS, to many users it *looks no different* from Windows 95 or 98. Microsoft is leveraging a lot of what Apple has done with MacOS X to give a brand-identity to the modern OS. In the minds of consumers an OS that has the audacity to get funky gives the impression that such computing cockiness is warranted by the underlying stability and speed of the OS. It also carries the impression of being forward-thinking, because - sure - with today's processors a lot of this stuff may be taxing, jumpy, or slow, but wait a few months or a couple years and just watch how normal it will all be.
The only thing that troubles me about the XP aesthetic is how closely it mirrors the graphical style of modern media. It won't be long before you'll have to look twice before you realize you're not looking at a sports-statistics display like you see on ESPN or NBC. And that flying logo: it's not the nightly news logo my friend, but "You've got mail!"
As a finaly note, It's obvious to me - and no doubt to many/. readers - that MacOS X is a much better deal and more viable in the long run for one simple reason: It's a Unix. No matter how many nice gadgets M$ decides to plop on top of their modern kernel (the dubious.NET included) when PC users decide to go further they'll find themselves sorely lacking. The savvier ones will install Linux and dual-boot it (hopefully there'll be a way to run Linux concurrently as an OS service). The all-in-one solution of MacOS X just seems more compelling to me, and frankly it's a hell of a lot prettier and more elegant.
I was at a local computer store and overheard this tidbit a couple of days ago while two guys looked over an iBook with MacOS X loaded: "Check this out, they already have Windows XP installed."
Nothing like the Microsoft domination when a released non-Microsoft OS on an obvious non-Intel machine is mistaken for an unreleased (at that time) Microsoft OS.
Unfortunately, they walked away before I could straighten them out.
The XP TV commercial reminds of Peter Pan or a Clariton commercial. The new user of XP flies around the world like Superman. Sort whimsical like the long-gone dot.com commercials.
The computer press is notoriously chicken-shit follow the herd mentatlity. Currently MS is not in favor, it is "Politically Correct" to bash them
So... what you expect?
-- *
Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Re:In answer to your question
by
InfinityWpi
·
· Score: 2
Hell, I've been supporting it for a couple months now. Should use that to get a raise... "You know how much XP experience is worth to contractors right now?"
CHICAGO: Code name for Win95
CAIRO: Code name for NT 4.0
MEMPHIS: Code name for Win98
WHISTLER: Code name for WinXP
HTH.
-- dinner: it's what's for beer
They cloned Linux consoles
by
Per+Abrahamsen
·
· Score: 2
With XP, you can have multiple desktops running as different users, and switch between them with a hotkey.
This is the one feature of my Debian box I miss most when using my NT 4.0 box. I don't think it is worth upgrading for, though. I'm pretty happy with NT 4.0 otherwise.
Cairo was much-hyped but never delivered. It was to be the successor to NT 3.x, and MS talked about it before Chicago (Win95) was launched, as early as l993. Cairo was meant to have lots of neat features such as dragging components from one window into another (a bit like drag and drop of text, but of a live object such as a news ticker), and a clever object oriented distributed file system.
Great demos, but like all the best vaporware, it never actually went from cloud form to solid... Instead, NT 4.0 was delivered, which had only a few new features other than the Win95 shell.
Re:What does XP stand for?
by
perky
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Could someone please describe what a khai looks like?
an 'X',(but with curley bits) otherwise he wouldn't have said what he did. The transliteration isn't an ordered 1-1 mapping of the first 23 characters.
-- "The new wave is not value-added; it's garbage-subtracted" - Esther Dyson, Dec 1994
We now have Mac OS X and Windows XP (and Office XP, Athlon XP, etc). It seems that every new release of software has an X in it. Why? I suggest it's because of Linux.
Linux grew from UN*X, which has X Windows... Linux is the flavour of the month atm, and I suggest that MS and Apple want to gain some sort of goodwill from dumb consumers by using the "X" to create some sort of subconcious link.
It's my theory and I'm sticking with it!
-- Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.
Reconsider your purchase for tonight....
by
cnelzie
·
· Score: 2
I work in a smaller retail computer store for one of my jobs. We have had XP Home installed on a few machines for nearly a month now. Not a RC, but the full blown OEM release.
Anyway, I have tested this version of Windows with several game titles from my collection. While these games and applications work fine in Windows 98 SE, they will not run in XP. Even with the proper "Emulation" setting.
While these are older games, some of them are still full of fun for me. I would recomend awaiting some people running tests with most of the older games that you own prior to running out and buying XP Home/Pro. Personally, I was considering running XP until I found that a few of my older games and apps were unable to run under this new OS.
--
.sig seperator
--
-- If you ignore the other uses of a tool, does that make the tool less useful, or you less useful?
> i've heard that the only way to be sure that your data can't be
> recovered is to physically destroy the hard drive, i.e. by smashing
> it into little bits and tossing it into the ocean.
What a blatant exaggeration! You don't need to toss it into the ocean. Certainly a lake or even a small pond will do.
Seriously, though, it's possible to recover data (even layers of data) from a hard drive after it's been overwritten, but only with extremely sensitive equipment. The simple analysis is this: when a data bit starts at 0 (when the drive is manufactured), it carries no charge on the surface of the platter (0 volts or a close approximation). Write a zero, you don't change the voltage at that spot. Write a one, and you push it up to 1 volt (okay, it's not one volt, but only a tiny fraction of that much, but this is only for illustrative purposes). However, you really only push it up close to one volt (say, 0.98 volts). Next, write a one and you push it up a little more (0.983 volts) or a zero and push it near zero (0.007 volts) and so on. Put the platter under a device capable of detecting voltages small enough, and you can (fairly) accurately recreate what was on the disk, even several data passes back. It should be noted, however, that very, very few agencies have access to this level of technology, and it's ususally reserved for extreme cases. So, to protect yourself from the Man, you're safe to use a shredder program (three passes at least), but if you want 100% security, physical destruction is the only absolutely surefire method.
Virg
Re:Anyone planning to upgrade ?
by
jilles
·
· Score: 2
You are not tech savvy and yet you want to have tight control over your computer?? Sorry, even MS can't deliver you that and linux requires you to be tech savvy to do just about anything windows does out of the box. Don't point at mandrake please, I've seen it and it is way too buggy for end users who don't know what they are doing. If you care to know, I thought win9x was actually more reliable than that piece of shit. And that particular OS caused me to swear in very nasty ways.
In any case, if you get me a linux version that is as easy to use as win XP, as secure as linux and as feature rich as win xp, I'm your man but I think we both know such an OS does not exist today (well maybe OS X but that has some hardware requirements and stability issues). I'll stick with win XP for the moment and by all means, use linux on your desktop if you have to. I just wanted to let people hear a different sound on this site. All this shit about linux being ready for the desktop is kind of premature from where I'm standing.
Privacy issues aside (I'm not denying there are any and I'm annoyed by them as well), windows XP is a very nice product. Compared to win2k it is a nice, incremental update. It is reasonably stable, it's slightly faster then win2k, it has some nice features, a polished UI that you can configure if you are offended by the use of colours. I've used it for a month now and I think a tech savvy user can eliminate most of the privacy issues: remove activation (or install corporate edition); don't sign up for passport; get rid of messenger; install a third party firewall (e.g. sygate); install virus scanner (e.g. norton) and you are all set for a reasonable safe eXPerience:-).
I read an article on Yahoo news about this and the hype (positive encouragement to spend-'n'-buy) was from a far from neutral party:
Big businesses could trim technology costs by up to 15 percent by
installing Windows XP, compared with savings of 10 percent for
Windows 2000, said John McKenna, chief executive of Siemens
Business Systems, which is helping other firms roll out XP on their
networks.
``It might be a bit counter-intuitive, but even in challenging economic
times there will be a great movement to migrate to the new platform
because it can have a dramatic reduction in costs for large enterprises,''
McKenna said
But, let me guess, you only save that money if they help you;-)
--
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Windows XP Update Package, October 25, 2001- Download size: 1.9 MB - This update resolves all critical issues that were found in Windows XP between August 2001 and October 2001, and is discussed in Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB)
Article Q309521. Among the updates included in this package are several that eliminate security vulnerabilities. Download now to ensure that you have all the latest critical updates for Windows XP.
You'd think they'd at least hold onto the last release-candidate for a month or so to make sure no critical issues come up, before making it a master and sending it off to be pressed, no?
-- Belief is the currency of delusion.
Re:Critical update/patch already out.
by
donutello
·
· Score: 2
And then after that one month has expired, should they wait another month to wait and see if any more critical update issues have been found? Then another month?
You obviously have no clue about a mature development process. You work your code until there are no major issues found in CURRENT tests. You will always find issues in the future and that's what updates are for.
-- Mmmm.. Donuts
Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics
by
virg_mattes
·
· Score: 2
> Import and manage digital photos and music 27% - home users
What exactly is this supposed to represent? I think I'd like something more specific than "27% useability improvement" to go on. If I do math by pounding a rock on the ground, having two rocks is a "100% useability improvement" but it's still a lousy way to do math. From what did they derive the statistics? How exactly do I translate "27% improvement" into specific gains? What features allow this improvement? Can I expect this much improvement personally, and if not, how much will my mileage vary?
51% improvement isn't very impressive without any context. Now I've got to go find another rock...
Virg
CNN reveals the best XP feature
by
marcelk
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
If you wonder what XP is really about, CNN summarizes it in its very first sentence on XP:
"The [Windows XP] system promises fewer computer crashes and will allow users to delete data from their hard drive." (cnn.com)
Now, -that- is a killerapp!
Re:Oh good, a slashdot article on the release of X
by
MindStalker
·
· Score: 2
Not nearly as insightful as the first paragraph of the article.
The system promises fewer computer crashes and will allow users to delete data from their hard drive.
It finally allows me to delete my data? What? This is a new feature? what??? hu???
Maby they meant, "and will delete random data from users hard drive".
Someone just pointed this out, do a whois microsoft.com in your favorite shell, I got the following:
whois microsoft.com
Whois Server Version 1.3
Domain names in the.com,.net, and.org domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.
To single out one record, look it up with "xxx", where xxx is one of the
of the records displayed above. If the records are the same, look them up
with "=xxx" to receive a full display for each record.
>>> Last update of whois database: Wed, 24 Oct 2001 05:14:14 EDT
The Registry database contains ONLY.COM,.NET,.ORG,.EDU domains and
Registrars.
--
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
OTOH, it's a massive upgrade to W95/8/ME users. Anything to finally put a stake through that miserable series of crapware is a good thing for the world.
Speaking as a Win98 user, I have no intention to "upgrade". For a start, I'd need to buy a whole new PC, because my 1998-era PII/350 wouldn't get near running XP properly. (In contrast, my properly-set-up Win98 box is generally reliable, and runs my 'net stuff, word processor and games just fine, thank you.) And if I get a whole new PC, you can bet I'm finally going to get around to installing a nice free OS, not the latest offering from Microsoft, with all the unfriendly things that go with it. Sorry, I've done my homework, I've looked at what it does and doesn't do, and I'm not interested.
-- If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
On the (small and possibly entirely unrepresentative) sample of machines I've seen it run on, performance took a hit. All the bells and whistles cost cycles, simple as that. YMMV, of course.
However, I'm not the only one. Check out this story at Anandtech comparing 2000 and XP. Note that they were basing their research on RC1 and not the final version, however, so again things may have changed somewhat.
-- If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
Re:What does XP stand for?
by
RussGarrett
·
· Score: 2
What many people don't realise, is that Chi Rho (XP) is also a common abbreviation for the Greek Christos (./ doesn't seem to like Greek), for Christ.
Windows Christ. The second coming is upon us:) Nothing like Microsoft being modest. Windows XP! The most stable OS yet, and also heals the sick and cures your sins!
--Russ (rg@tcslon.com)
Yeah.. that's what I see too.
by
mindstrm
·
· Score: 2
Though Win2k was not an upgrade from win98.. it was an upgrade from NT4 (it's just NT5)
It was win95/98/ME
For those in the 9x chain, XP is quite a leap.. but 2k would have been good too.
I am looking at an astonishing sight. I visited MSN.com with Netscape 4.7x on Solaris/SPARC. What I got, is difficult to believe. I get a clean, text-only page. The fonts are the browser default, not a CSS-tweaked GIANT font that makes me feel like I'm in kindergarten. The graphics are minimal. The site is far more useable than before. I even have the old-school grey background, not white.;)
I also visited MSN.com using IE5.5/Win2K through a proxy that hides my User-Agent: header. In this case, I got the page you mentioned. So, no User-Agent -> browser upgrade. User-Agent indicating "foreign" platform -> text-only version. I confirmed this by specifying the Netscape/Solaris User-Agent on the Lynx command line (got the minimal graphics version).
Strangely enough, if I use Lynx (x86 Linux) directly, I get the browser-upgrade page.
All I seem to need, then, to get MSN the way I'd want it, is tofind a new proxy that can make IE pretend to be Netscape on Solaris, so I can escape the ActiveX/OLE/Javascript hell MSN has prepared for their captives. Oh rats, the rest of the site doesn't work this way... only the home page is available in a minimal version, it seems.
Of course, just like the workers at the CDC, I employ protective gear such as cookie and javascript filters when visiting hostile territory known to be infected. So don't worry. MSN failed to set me a cookie. I'll be just fine.:)
...bordering on the moronic, and the media eats it up....Why doesn't Bill Gates know this?
You answered your own question. Gates is pulling CNN's strings like a master puppeteer. Microsoft has always thrived on the inexperience of the masses.
-- This sig intentionally left blank.
Well duh, upgrade from 2k to XP PRO not home
by
cybrthng
·
· Score: 2
Doesn't take a scientist to figure that one out. Win2k was never a "home" os, and therefore you should upgrade to the "business" version of XP to get the same bang for your buck as you do with 2k.
IMHO, XP is worth it. Bootup speed, full sleep compatibility, better removeable device support, customizeable interface, remote desktop, remote support (like dell being able to login to fix there own crap instead of me waisting my time to fix it), windows update with more features, easier administration, better support with IPSec, built in PPEO driver, directx 8 support, same innards from home to pro now.
It is simply about time this product was released, xp is what 2k should have been.
Don't tell me it is expensive either, redhat 7.2 pro is 199.00, i can get the upgrade for an OS i already have for 99 bucks.
Actually, that process makes the data easier to recover, not harder. Since each pass pushes the bit toward zero, but not by the same amount (the closer it gets to zero, the less each additional zero moves it down), it's easy to extrapolate how many times you wrote zeroes (and what was there originally) based on the specific drive hardware. You're actually better off writing a one, then a zero, then another one, and so on, alternating on each pass. The best shredders (and the government standard for shredding files) is to write a 1, then a zero, then a second one and zero, then a third one and zero, then some other byte value that's a good mix (like 18 or 246) for a total of seven writes. Even that isn't good enough for top secret rated stuff. I had a colleague tell me about having to send a hard drive back for a warranty replacement from an Air Force base. He called the manufacturer and told them that he'd need to destroy the drive, but could send back the junked parts when he finished. They accepted that (not surprising for a company that does a lot of defense work) and he opened the drive, removed the platters, and used a steel grinder to scrape the substrate of off the surfaces of each one. Now that's data destruction.
And we are really quit happy about it. It is relatively stable, and it runs the applications we need. Office 97, Exchange 4.0, MS Schedule something. Can anybody give me a compelling reason to upgrade to XP? W2K? We're probably about 180 ppl, including consultants.
As a matter of fact, the IT people are becoming increasingly interested in Linux. I think the combination of "free", "full built-in remote access" and "stable" appeals to them.
--
Stop the brainwash
Re:We're running NT at work
by
RelliK
·
· Score: 2
It's too bad most people don't understand this. Surely everyone must need the latest paperclip!
-- ___
If you think big enough, you'll never have to do it.
Unlocks the full power
by
kindbud
·
· Score: 5, Funny
...it unlocks the full power of the PC and enables them to enjoy the best of what the digital world has to offer.
Didn't they say the same thing about Win9x?
When will my PC's potential be fully unlocked?
-- Edith Keeler Must Die
Re:Unlocks the full power
by
m0nkyman
·
· Score: 2
Just wait. Some elite script kiddie will unlock it for you....
-- ~
a low user id is no indication I have a clue what I'm talking about.
Notes on the webcast
by
kawika
·
· Score: 2, Informative
I tuned into the webcast for the NY launch event at 10:30am eastern time. Here's my quick summary.
It started with a gospel group singing America the Beautiful and then an appearance by Mayor Rudy. Bill Gates talks for a while about XP (fun, reliable, rich media, blah, blah), and "shuts down DOS for the last time" by typing "exit" at a C prompt. A voice says "Are you sure you want to to that, Bill?" in the style of 2001 A Space Odyssey. Then Bill introduces Jim Allchin who talks for while about XP too.
Then Regis Philbin comes in and they do a WWTBAM take-off. Regis does the obligatory millionaire jokes ("Sure this is worth your time, Bill?") and do a few lame questions and answers about XP. After this, Bill leaves the studio while Regis gets a lesson on the great new features of XP. The MS guy tries to do a voice command demo and three tries later it finally works. Regis is whining at him mercilessly. ("You see? This always happens to me with computers!")
Bill reappears on screen a bit later as he's visiting a record store and showing a kiosk at a music store that's built with XP. He scans a CD at the kiosk and it comes up with samples from the CD. Next they try to do a webcam setup and that screws up for a while (Regis: "See!") but finally they get a picture.
At this point I can't say I was paying much attention, I had the audio on but the picture wasn't worth watching.
Re:Anyone planning to upgrade ?
by
infiniti99
·
· Score: 2
until WINE gets in gear with better support, linux will NEVER replace windows as a workplace. even then it probably wont.
So what exactly are you getting at? It sounds like you mean any OS that can't run Windows apps perfectly won't be able to make headway, even if they run such apps perfectly. You know, even though I use Linux/KDE, I think I agree with you.
But then why even state the obvious? Are you just acknowledging Microsoft's dominance? Do you think this is not a problem? Or does none of that matter to you?
I don't think any computer user (regardless of OS choice) is denying that Microsoft holds a monopoly on desktop operating systems. However, there is nothing wrong with having hope in another OS. I'm doing my part contributing to free software, and I wish Linux the best.
Re:Forcing upgrades to XP
by
burgy
·
· Score: 2, Funny
You're wrong. Windows XP is a service pack for MS-DOS 3.3.
Does Linux really have this?
by
AlpineR
·
· Score: 2
Pardon me if this is a dumb question, but do the common Linux distributions support this feature? I know that I can switch to a different console with CTRL-ALT-F6, but can I have multiple users' desktops running simultaneously?
AlpineR
Re:Does Linux really have this?
by
be-fan
·
· Score: 2
You have to fiddle around a little bit with the X setup (changing the display variable from 0 to 1), but in general you just have to log in as a different user and startx from the bash prompt.
-- A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
Re: My First Impressions and other features
by
SteveX
·
· Score: 2
Multiple simultaneous logins works really well in a house type environment where you've got a few people sharing the computer.. Mom's Solitaire that she was playing when she went off to do something else stays open while someone else uses the computer for a few hours.. when Mom switches back to her desktop, her stuff is still there.
Sure, someone else could have used the same desktop and left the game running, but then they have Mom's bookmarks and stuff, not their own. Better to have the fast user switching.
And switching desktops is one keystroke.. Windows-L takes you to the list of users.
Re:Enjoying my "Downgrade" Just Fine....
by
jilles
·
· Score: 2
>Oddly, I am not aware of any such "features"
Well that is the problem of the linux community in general. They seam to be out of touch with reality. Right now linux gives me the experience the earlier versions of win95 (i.e. before Billy boy realized it was worth investing in the Internet). I mean come on, I like it as a server OS but as a desktop OS it is downright pathethic. Its cheap explorer rip offs, the ie 2.0 look alikes competing for the web browser market, the total lack of a omnipresent component model, the lack of clipboard functionality that actually works for most applications. I mean we could deny that these problems exist, convince users they really don't need such functionality but the rest of the world has had this functionality since windows 3.0 or even earlier if they were apple users.
Well to paraphrase a popular phrase by Ghandi
"first they deny you, then they fight you and then you win"
When it comes to usability linux is still in the denial phase, occasional even fighting the "a GUI is actually useful" notion. I must admit some KDE developers do have a grasp of reality and I admire their work. But the majority of the Unix community actually is incapable of looking beyond the command line. I perceive that as a weakness.
And yes, I had a few beers too many so don't be hard on me:-)
--
Jilles
Re:Oh good, a slashdot article on the release of X
by
ArtDent
·
· Score: 2
I noticed that line, too. I found it *quite* insightful.
Especially considering that, just two weeks ago, when I tried to delete a large directory tree on Windows 2000, the progress meter stopped moving at about 2/3 of the way through, the time estimate started oscillating wildly (between 40 seconds and 175 minutes remaining), and instances of Internet Explorer started freezing.
Eventually, I killed the process, and the OS survived the experience just fine (no reboot required). But, come on...deleting files? Yeah, so I was deleting LOTS of files, but it's still a really simple operation. No reason to go wonky like that. And who knows...maybe if I had left it going a little longer, the system would have gone south...
So, maybe the author of the article knew more than we give him credit for.
Re:What does XP stand for?
by
Alan+Partridge
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
"It was also a direct nod (or rip-off) of OS-X, and a tendency by Microsoft to put X in the names of practically any consumer technology because the letter has a certain mystery and cachet in marketing circles (it is also the principle sound of SeX, and there is no doubt some subliminaly attempts here to make XP "sexy")." Did you hear that Steve Jobs always intended SCSI be pronounced "sexy". Master of marketing though he is, that was ONE step beyond...
-- That was classic intercourse!
Re:So Microsoft thinks W3C can't handle XHTML?
by
Junta
·
· Score: 2
Oh, they are all for standrads, *their* standards. Notice they carefully say the standards *we* follow. They are meaning not w3c standards, but MS IE "standards" We see the price we paid for "Free" IE, Internet "standards" owned by microsoft..
-- XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Re:What does XP stand for?
by
odaiwai
·
· Score: 2
Well, direct3d on win2k looks fine to me. It's 8.0a on Win2k, what is it on XP?
dave
XP BSODs still happen
by
Michael+Snoswell
·
· Score: 2, Informative
On my stock standard Gateway p3/600 XP has BSODed a few times, always in the nVidia drivers supplied by Microsoft. I tried the latest detonator drivers that are mean to be faster by they were much more unstable. I'm using an ELSA GeForce2 GTS card.
The crash usually comes when changing graphics modes to run older programs, like a little kids program for my daughter that insists on 256 colour mode (which XP can't do unless in compatibility mode!).
The BSOD looks a bit different (new font used) but still dumps out to disk and when you reboot it wants to send a trouble report to MS.
Also when changing graphics modes between users it got confused and refused to rewrite the background when windows were closed or moved around. I have not allowed my machine to connect to the Net so maybe there are fixes for these probs but I will download the service packs on another machine and copy over the Net. Call me paranoid but I'm not going to let my XP box connect directly as I just don't know what it'll be doing in it's "automatic updates" process.
I did an upgrade from Win2k so maybe that's the prob but I dont want to scrub my drive.
Also runing a really old version of Lemmings (what a great game, brings a tear to my eye to watch my kids getting excited about a game I played on an Amiga 15+ yrs ago!) has sound but no music (midi synth) on my SBLive! card.
I have a question. I've heard about enabling the hinter code, but how do you do it? Do you recompile XFree86, since it provides its own Freetype module?
-- A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
Can somebody please tell me what XP is like? With all the tyrannical crap that goes into XP, I've finally decided never to buy it, or any later version (unless MS suddenly reforms,helll freezes over, etc). I'm just sick and tired of developers telling me that I, the user, am incompetent and not worthy of being in control of my own equipment. XP is the final slap in the face to this effect.
xp is decent. if you're on 95/98/me, upgrading to xp is probably worth it, if only for stability. if you're running w2k, and you're happy with it, don't expect xp to make much of a difference. bootup time of xp is good, although I've had a little trouble with the bootloader (one of the reasons I went back to w2k). the FisherPrice/Luna shell.. well.. you either love it or you hate it. Fortunately it's easily turned off. So is the new layout of the start menu. My conclusion is: if you're running 95/98/me, upgrading to xp is probably a good idea if your hardware is new enough. I don't have much experience with NT4, but hardware support in xp is better. If you're running w2k, only upgrade to xp if you have problems with it.
//rdj
--
No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
--Sheikh Abd-Al-Kadir, 1587
Well I am required to sell WindowsXP and other win32 based applications and operating systems to customers so buying XP was a no brainer. (I built my own system so I have no legal copy of Windows)
The XP version of Windows is mediocre at best. THE gui is just awefull and dumbed down. You can disable some of the features after searching for several minutes for all the options. All the NT4 administrative tools have been removed and replaced by a hidden mmc console. Yuck. Who would want this? The defualt colors creep me out. They kind of remind me of the nightmarish Stone Temple pilots video with the childrens teletubbies in strange colors in a twisted nightmare. (You all know the one I mean).
My games slowed down to a halt and I believe its a driver issue. My geforece2 mx200 card( very popular) is WHQL 2.0 certified by Microsoft for WindowsXp but barely runs as fast as my old non WHQL certified vodoo3 1000 on XP. ?? What they hell are the technicians in the WIndows hardware quality labs smoking or actually doing there anyway? This card runs in like %50 of all conputers sold. ?? I bought XP for games and it looks like for now I am still out of luck. Sorry but UT really sucked when redhat 7.1 was installed.
Now its looks like my old non certified vodoo 3 card is going back on my sytem because the drivers for XP are alot better for it. I can't go beyond 1027 x 768 and see text clearly and crisply with the the geforce2 mx200 (yes, the refresh rate is set properly). I am sure i gave those windows haters reading this a good laugh. I should of stayed with redhat and ignored my boss. I have learned my lesson. Take my warning to not buy it and make your employer buy it for you if you really need it. I actually miss NT4 sadly enough. The gui for XP is so unbearable. Even in classic mode, the icons look like something out of Mandrake 7.2 and a crayola crayon commercial. This also includes IE. It looks alot like MSN explorer now.
Re:XP and Linux on the same machine?
by
Billly+Gates
·
· Score: 2
I couldn't get redhat 7.2 to co-exist with XP (yet). However the really good news is that the Xp install utility is all NT4 based. Its just been modified. This means you can select all the partitions you want to install at installation time and ignore those that are already used. I hated the Windows 98 Se installation because of the hard drive issue. THe only problem you may have is that WIndows Xp must use the MBR ( master boot record). Unfortunatly, so does lilo. Even worse lilo must be installed in the first 1024 cylinders of your hard drive. I believe the partition containing the mbr must be fat formated. I had it NTFS formated before which explains why linux wouldn't boot up:-)
They'll stop sending activation codes and tell you to buy their latest software, of course... We *all* love MS..
-- XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
switching my computer off in the morning.
by
gimpboy
·
· Score: 2
that would really screw up my cron jobs that run at 3am. you know the ones that backup my data, update the locate database, download big stuff when people aren't using the network, etc.
i dont have to be sitting infront of my computer to use it. not to mention the fact that i'm not the only person that uses it. i'll admit that it must be hard for a windows user to understand the concept of a multiuser environment-it's hard to login to a computer when it's not on.
plus if you are rebooting in the morning, you walk by the computer, push the button, get a cup of coffee and the redhat logo is staring you in the face. rebooting alot is once every few hours (or minutes which i have expirenced with windows).
Well, what I was trying say was that I have found very few Windows 9x programs that don't run under XP RC2. (I don't have the shipping version yet.)
I would bet that Myst and Riven work fine. DOS games are lot more iffy, although I can vouch that the old IBM classic "Alley Cat" from 1984 runs under XP.:)
I have found the occasional lack of backwards compatibility of NT is far outweighed by having a real OS that is pretty stable, and all Microsoft-bashing aside, doesn't suck.
If you are at all a technically oriented user, then go with XP. If all you do is surf, e-mail and play a few games, then 98 is passable.
-- You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
Early (late?) observations on XP
by
drinkypoo
·
· Score: 2
I just installed XP last night. It's blowing up all over the place in new and interesting ways I wasn't even experiencing under Windows ME, widely regarded to be the biggest piece of shit microsoft ever put together.
Namely; When an application hangs, I often have trouble closing it. Notably, I'm having this problem with Nero CD 5.5.4.0 right now. Under WinME I could at least reliably get things to terminate.
Next: I have a hard time rebooting the system. It just doesn't want to quit. In related news, I've actually managed to switch away from my current user context (IE, Switch User) to the guest, then try to log out of the guest; I finally switched away from the guest user by trying to shut down which sent me back to the login screen. Then I clicked on guest for laughs to see what that context was doing, and I was sent to a blank (desktop-colored) screen where my pointer moved around, but there was nothing to click, and ctl-alt-del didn't bring up the task manager. I had to perform a hard reset.
Lots of other apps don't work right, even in compatibility mode. Taskbar cleanup doesn't work right either; I told it to show everything, and explicitly told it to always show trillian, and sometimes trillian appears, and sometimes it doesn't. I've had lots of new problems with xnews, but then xnews is pretty crappy anyway in that it will try to step on memory on a regular basis. I don't know if that's the author's influence, or delphi's - probably the latter.
The default driver for an nVidia card (in this case, GEforce2MX/MX400) doesn't have OpenGL acceleration. I had to download detonator XP from nVidia directly. This is silly, but I'm sure there's some stupid licensing rationale. Side note: I got it at about 5KBps. Thanks, nVidia!
XP boots dramatically slower than ME on my system when using FAT32, but now that I've passed the point of no return and gone to NTFS, it's booting faster as advertised. Security seems to be very simple for even a stupid person to use, but I haven't found the wealth of ACLs I'm used to in NT yet.
Oh yeah, and an install took an hour and twenty minutes. There's no excuse for that in this day and age. A complete RH7.1 install on this machine takes about 25 minutes including partitioning and formatting. That includes not only a complete SMP-aware operating system, but also the whole host of other stuff we're used to seeing bundled with a linux distribution. Converting to NTFS was an agonizingly slow process, too; They decided I needed to see which files were being converted, no doubt that slows things down considerably.
I haven't tried the encryption stuff yet. I'm going to hold off until I hear some technical reviews of it, which hopefully will show up here eventually. Namely, are there any potential back doors, et cetera. Probably are, knowing mickeysoft.
All in all, quite a mediocre experience.
-- "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Re:What does XP stand for? Emoticon.
by
TeknoHog
·
· Score: 2
>>Today is a good day to live in Europe.
> Unless you live in London.. if there anything going to happen in Europe it gonna be london....
Shit! Living in Cambridge, 50 miles off London. What was the blast radius of an H-bomb again? This really worries me. I better stay off work, stay home and read/. intensely to keep up with latest news on/osm/bin/laden.
-- Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
Slashdot Mirror
WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER:<BR><BR>
QUEUE: REM - ITS THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT.WMA<BR><BR>
Sigh...
Life is the leading cause of death in America.
On a good note, the first guy was so boring (talking about why XP is cool because it's on a 32bit kernel, not a 16bit one on top of DOS like Win98/ME) that Howard and crew got very bored. So he gave the second guy a chance, who pointed out the bit about having to register every machine, etc... to which Howard summed up "So let's all get together and not buy this thing." And that was the end of that. Gotta wonder if that third guy was gonna be pro or against Microsoft.
www.HearMySoulSpeak.com
I know this affects a fair number of users but for the life of me I just don't know why ;)
windows is a major part of computing and of history. many people who work it IT have to come in to contact with windows (like it or not).
there are hundreds of reasons why it would affect us - even if its just because we have a new set of themes to d/l for X!
dont be so ignorant to the world outside slashdot taco (yes one does exist!)
Do Unto Others As You Would Have Others Do Unto You - ONLY HARDER!
If this were easy, they wouldn't need us to do it!
...about things like digital rights. The CNN piece clearly states in the first paragraph:
That's should satisfy everyone, right?
Okay, I don't mean this as a troll or flaimbait, but I really don't know...
What does XP offer me over and above my current win2k? I'm tired of updating to the latest and greatest just for the fun of it. My current os runs all of my applications without much trouble, so what do I get for my money?
Thanks.
--ST
http://www.theMediaBunker.com
Well here we go, Microsoft, says give us more money, to upgrade your OS, cause we have 10,000 new features(that are really enhancements to old ones, aka fixes)...and of course if you don't we are gonna drop support for the old OS anyway so your gonna have to eventually...even now the manuals for supporting 98,ME,2000 are being destroyed at our support centers, why would anyone need those when we have this spiffy new thing.
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
- Why spend the $$$ to get 'free applications' that I already have?
- Now you need to replace your old dos and 9x apps...
- You get IE 6, which is already free
- You get 'reduced desktop clutter' -- as if you can't clear your desktop already?
- 'bubbly buttons' - will that speed up my productivity?
Though I know there are things that have been improved over 2K, etc, I'll still wait a while. Need to make let a couple service packs hit first...www.Beyond7.com Insane modern art water sculpture.
Finally it's bringing the masses to a reliable operating system, and truly this is closing the window for Linux. There are lots of people who truly and rightfully got thoroughly upset when Windows 95/98/98SE/ME took a dump because they opened explorer before the soundblaster drivers had settled in, or because they made the mistake of alt-tabbing between apps a few too many times, and these were the people who were ripe for picking for conversion to the Linux camp. However how many people do you hear complaing regarding the quality of Windows 2000 (on which XP is based)? I have 2000 and I have never, since I first installed one of the RCs many moons back, got a BSOD. Ever. There are nuisances such as the fact that explorer.exe locks directories forcing you to wait several hours to delete them if you made the mistake of navigating into them, and that it itself occasionally dies, but they are trivial in the grand scheme of things.
Anyways I'll probably keep going with Windows 2000 as there is no redeeming factor for me to upgrade to XP from this, but for everyone using one of the 16/32 OS', it can't said with enough emphasis that you really don't realize how much shit that you're unnecessarily putting up with.
I'm running 98 on my Windows machine at home, and quite frankly, I'm going to stick with software that was created *before* the "software-as-a-service" craze that's taken over MS.
If it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet.
It's in the EULA. Anyone who has ever used a micro$oft product has to care about any new release. Else all those records that micro$oft keeps will be released to our employers/family/public. Think of all that pr0n!
WikiAfterDark.com It's a sex wiki, go now!
If people were really excited about getting Windows XP (there are quite a few of them), then they would have got their hands on it earlier. eBay had some up for sale. My brother got a copy of XP a little less than a month ago and offered it to me, but I told him to just get the money he could make from an eBay sell (it was about $350 back then).
I think release dates are getting less and less important now in the days of advanced comunication and distribution. Remember those days when people would line up for hundreds of feet Tuesday at midnight for the release of a CD? Those days have been dwindling, and the lines are getting smaller. If one really wants that CD he'll download it before the release date and then take his time getting the CD after it's released. Tower record parties on Newbury Street in Boston are nonexistent anymore. Just 3-4 years ago they were incredible with radio staion vans parked everywhere and hundreds of people croweded around.
---
I'm just an ordinary man with nothing to lose.
But I've been listening to reports and reading articles, and while the industry seems hyped up about it, most pundents (that are not typical MS fanboys) appear to be believe that for most businesses, already in the Win2000 migration, XP is not a good choice, and for those on home machines, you have to have some oomph in your box to be able to take advantage of it.
Most of these critics think that the stability is a great point, but other aspects, including look, integration of WMP and other programs, and the *amount* of blatent advertizing for MS on the default install is put-offs for them. They definitely feel that the engine behind XP is worthwhile being built on 2000, but they could do without all the glitz.
And many people expect very slow sales of XP. There's no lines-around-the-corner as with 95, but they do expect a modest amount of sales today. But they don't believe that XP is going to be a big economic burst into the market as Microsoft tried to make it out as; again, since most seats of the OS are sold to business, and most appear to be sticking to 2000 until necessary, there's going to be very few sales from that market.
The short story from what I've read: it's great that MS finally has a NT-based, stable OS for the home user, as it's been 5 years that it's been needed, but it appears to carry a lot of extra weight that is unnecessary and possible questionable in light of several legal cases.
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
So really, it's nothing new, it's just a combination of previous products.
This explains why /. is *so* quiet today. Everyone is waiting in line at their local computer store for a copy. ;-)
Karma stuck at 50? Add 2-5 inches.. err.. 2-5x Karmas Count to your pen1es.. err.. Karma all naturally and private
I heard a rumor that Linus was waiting til the release of WinXP to fork the 2.5 kernel. Anyone have info on that? Maybe it was just a rumor.
Everything I've heard on XP is that it's stable. Nobody I know has said anything else about it.
Micro$oft:This will change your computing experience.
Me:Yup, I can get work done now instead of staring at a BSOD.
There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
:wq
I'm sure this discussion will be incredibly insightful.
"And like that
I used XP on my desktop for about a week and if you want windows, don't need to boot a non-MS OS then it is the way to go... if you're used to NT/2k. I noticed that setting permissions for multiple users is actually significantly harder to figure how to do than it is in 2k. In 2k you just right click on something and click properties. In XP you have to first enable some obscure option to be able to do that and of course there is nothing in the helpfile to tell you what to do, you have to figure it out on your own
The new look of Windows XP to me could be described as bubbly. With the default theme, it's Ficher Price and bubbly. I know that perhaps it's because I'm used to the old L&F that I don't like the new L&F, but it seems like a fair amount of people I've shown XP to can only ahhh and ooooh as well as say "I want that on my system." Just goes to show how right Steve Jobs was when the iMac and AQUA L&F came out.
XP handles crashses better on my system. It's like they didn't happen. However, they occur more often than in Windows 2000. So even though my system doesn't become any bit more unstable after a crash, I get to see that error report dialog box a bunch. This is really a pain for apps that don't seem to like XP entirely. For example, Real Player 8 gets a bit upset from time to time. My system shouldn't crash at all. I have brand name components (ASUS, Hercules, CAS2 Corsair, etc.) and Windows 2000 rarely if ever crashed.
The boot time for XP is freaking amazing. I think it's faster than ME even. I have a sub 10 second boot from pushing the power button. Another nice thing is that hibernation is transparent since there is only the option for Standby, Shutdown, and Restart when you go to Start/Turn off Computer. The only weird part is that it takes longer to turn off my system than it does to turn it on. I think it's because of the nVidia drivers I have installed, but I can't confirm that.
I like to have multiple folders open on my Desktop at the same time when doing file management. When there are > 5 or open, at a resolution of 1600 x 1200, the taskbar will group all these folders together in one button so that the taskbar doesn't get overly crouded. You can then close all these folders as a group, etc. This is one of my favorite features.
There's loads more to talk about, but it all boils down to one thing. My productivity has not increased one iota. If you have 2000, it's not worth upgrading to because of this. It's not like the upgrade I did from 98 SE to 2000 I did a while back, where all the sudden everything ran flawlessly.
AFAIK, XP stands for the 2 greek letters pronounced khai and rho.
Khai-Rho == Cairo, IIRC, the codename MS used for the first 32bit Windows
but "XP" sounds like a story tag[0] for extreme watersports. Given the amount that Microsoft products usually piss me off, that's probably not a wholly inaccurate interpretation of the acronym.
[0] Story tags are those little letter codes in the subject line that the author uses (ideally) to indicate what sort of things the story contains, like "mffg bdsm nc" might mean a guy, two girls, a goat and nonconsensual bondage & pain infliction. Wheee!
News for Geeks in Austin, TX
...has to be the following quote:
Gates told the Associated Press: "It's a value for consumers. Why are there headlights in cars? Why don't they make you go and buy those things separately?
"If you look at the value of the stuff that's in Windows XP, compared to the stand-alone packages you'd have to buy for the equivalent, that's many hundreds of dollars," Gates said.
"And all you have to do is understand that to understand why consumers like it and why a competitor would say, 'Hey, it's too good a deal, you know, why are they offering people such a good deal?"'
Why does a car come with headlights? Well, does GM manufacture its own headlights? Nope. It "bundles" headlights from "GM-certified" suppliers, so those suppliers are still getting their money in the deal. If MS were bundling Norton Ghost or EasyCD Creator or RealPlayer or BlackIce Firewall with XP, then maybe the analogy might hold.
The thing is, most J6P's will look at Gates' statement and say "Yeah! I agree with that!" without even giving it any thought.
In order for his statement to work, GM cars would have to: 1) come with GM headlights 2) use non-standard eletrical connections for said lights so that if you decided to replace them with a competitor's superior lights, they would either break or function in a reduced capacity 3) disable the starter if you changed your lights, floormats, muffler and tires at the same time, forcing you to call GM's hotline in order to have a new set of keys sent out to you.
Sheez, I hope no automakers are reading this...
I wish I had a kryptonite cross, because then you could keep Dracula and Superman away.
Thanks, Anton. I'm sure that will be a big help for all those Slashdot visitors who have never heard of Linux before.
</joke>
The BBC is one of the few (or perhaps the only?) news organisations in the world with a legal obligation to be unbiased.
However, is it just me or is there a touch of sarcasm in the way the following sentence has been composed:
"I understand that, certainly, in tough economic times it is not the best time to introduce any new piece of work," he said, though he insisted that the software was very "exciting".
So Steve insisted it was very "exciting". Funny.
All of the news about XP over the last few months describing all of the ways Microsoft is continuing to be a software bully and stifling competition, resulting in me, the end user, getting less "cool stuff" for my windows PC has resulted in this: XP is the last straw. I am switching over to Linux as my primary platform and using Windows 2000 as a backup on a small partition. I've worked with Unix before and my roomate is an expert on Linux so I think I'll be able to pick it up and become a power user in no time. Given the small amount of time I actually use my computer at home and the amount of work it will take to get all of my devices working under Linux I didn't want to make that sort of investment in learning a new, more powerful OS that requires me to manually configure everything, but I am so disgusted with Microsoft that I am now willing to do so. If you don't really care what OS I use, fine, sorry to waste your time, but for those of you Linux lovers out there I thought you would be happy to know that Microsoft is actually driving people away, and making Linux stronger, just by being the evil company they are.
~ now you know
I'm starting to see more and more "normal" people like my parents and grandparents become aware of Microsoft's bullying business tactics. They couple what they've heard about Microsoft will the fact that Microsoft will force them to register their software online and are saying "no, thanks".
As is obvious to most of us, Microsoft needs some real competition. Its only occurred to me recently that the average Joe on the street is starting to realize they need real competition to stop them from bullying everyone from their suppliers to their customers.
Unfortunately, I can't yet recommend my grandma, who has trouble enough figuring out the intricacies of the mouse, that she go to something like linux. A Mac might be nice, however it would likely cost double what her PC cost.
The demand is definitely there for Microsoft to have some real competition, because nobody likes to be bullied. I wonder who will finally give it to them?
No, Thursday's out. How about never - is never good for you?
I think it is a pretty good OS, far better than 9x based systems. The UI is interesting, though I'm not sure it's worth the performance hit. At least they offer the old interface. No point of upgrading from W2k unless you either really like the new UI, or need multimedia support... As for the UI, http://www.stardock.com/ has some interesting ways of refreshing that old win98 look, with Windowblinds and DesktopX.
What really puts me off is the licensing. I do relatively frequent changes to my hardware. I don't feel like frequently requesting activation code and therefore be flagged as suspicious. If it would truly be a one time thing to me, I wouldn't care so much, but asking Microsoft before I can actually use any upgrades I buy would suck.
For now, I'll stick with W2k for when I *absolutely* need Windows, and Linux for everyday purposes.
(BTW, my evaluation of Windows XP is based on a nice official beta I installed for a while before zapping it with W2k again)
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Ok let's go.
)
1. XP is for eXPensive
Never in the history of the PC has the part of the operating system been so pricey.
2. XP is for eXPires
Microsoft has invented the software that eXPires as the customer can only install the software a certain number of times. If you have a virus, need to upgrade your hard drive, want to clean up your HD, add another component, change PC or any other reason to install, your software gets closed to death.
3. XP is for eXPloit
Knowing the care microsoft gives to security, this meaning is close to become reality.
4. XP is for eXPlosion
eXPlosion of Denial of Service (DoS) attacks as windows XP gives raw socket acces to the mass of home users. (read http://grc.com/dos/winxp.htm and http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/19332.html
5. XP is for eXPected
It took 10 years to microsoft to deliver a operating system that doesn't crash or need a reboot multiple times a day. At last !
6. XP is for linuXPreferred
For all the above reasons.
Any other ideas ?
Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education. Bertrand Russel
Absolutely mahvalous!!
Actually I'm dying to ditch WinME/9x but they're going to be out there for a long time yet, untill the ROI is paid off. Sorry, that's the way most industry works. Once a business sinks so much capital into IT infrastructure they just keep using it untill depreciated (5 years I think) or it has paid for itself. Not every company can afford to buy all new systems every two or three years.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
I really don't like Madonna's songs, so here goes:
Alternate XP Theme Songs from Madonna
Dress You Up (but you're still dodgy)
Burning Up (my bank account)
Deeper & Deeper (into MS's pocket)
Borderline (antitrust violation)
Material Girl (looking pretty but costing heaps)
shut up man
Our company purchased an "Open License" for XP for about 200 users, so naturally I put one on my mobile laptop. The OS is actually suprising in some areas, irritating in others. The compatibility is a nice touch for those who have been running W2K (and couldn't get all their games to work); and the Start menu is more functional now than it was before. The Control Panel has become less intuitive, though.
Back to what I was saying: all you need is a copy of the corporate edition (which never asks for activation) and a corporate key. I have my machine booting corporate edition XP and Mandrake 8.1. I couldn't be happier.
We have a nice oppurtunity to influence all VB scripters and turn them away from M$! It's easy, you can help too. If you see a clueless person in the bookstore, looking for "Programming XP in 24 hours", step up to them, smile and show them the shelf with eXtreme Programming.
I intend to live forever, so far so good.
Saw an add last night from Futureshop. Along with your purchase of Windows XP, they're offering 128MB Ram, and McAfee Virus Scan. You can see the promotion on their website. I find this quite funny. If you're going to run XP, you need more memory and a virus scanner!
Gates told the Associated Press: "It's a value for consumers. Why are there headlights in cars? Why don't they make you go and buy those things separately?
Because people don't buy cars the way they buy computers. When you go to an auto dealership, they sell you the car more or less exactly as it came from the factory. If headlights were sold seperately, the auto dealer would have to have a manufacturing plant on the premises.
But when you buy a computer, and call up Dell, they DO buy all the seperate parts and put it all together. Including the software. It would be trivial for them to install, say, Bob's Media Player instead of WMA.
Additionally, there's nothing stopping an auto dealer from pulling out the headlights the cars come with and putting in new ones. Dell is legally and technologically barred from doing that with XP's bundled software.
Okay, now go ahead and post the "if cars were OSes" joke.
--
Mod up a post Rob doesn't like and you'll never mod again
XP has improvements, but there's no exciting reason to upgrade. Plus, with all of the security concerns finally ,the press release the other week coming down on publishing exploits is a tacit admisision that MS products can compete in a real world security environment.
So they have to compete through saturation advertising. The Register has had a few articles over the last few weeks. Here's last weeks warning about the salvo we're experiencing : Microsoft will kick off a $200 million marketing campaign on
Monday 15 October to create consumer awareness of upcoming Windows
XP.
They also explained how MS was able to insert a press release into Reuters.
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
with the new pre-school-type GUI, they have the Blue Screen of Uh Oh!
Howard Stern was talking about Win XP and he decided that there was no compeling reason for him to buy it, then when a caller told him about how you could only put it on one computer per copy, he said "well screw that!!" I was excited, do you know howmany not computer literate people listen to him and take his opinion to heart? not to mention that XP just got some negitive press in popular media....
:-)
I am so happy....
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
It wasn't even because ME was bad, particularly, just that journalists are cottoning on to the fact that its not the groundbreaking event that they thought 95 would be.
I agree that ME was better than 98, though not dramatically so. What I wonder about though, is whether journalists are more keyed to the look of the system. It wouldn't surprise me if the standard media judges software to be "groundbreaking" primarily based on whether it looks and feels different rather than whether it has exceptionally more functionality.
Realistically the changes to style and design should be weighted as some of the biggest differences over Win2K, so perhaps MS is counting on that to boost sales and hype among the ignorant. Surprising really, that it's been this long since a makeover.
i'm really not sure why you would call for a boycott under your circumstances. If you've got what you need, and don't have any desire to upgrade, then don't. Microsoft isn't holding a gun to anyone's head. There are no laws requiring you to upgrade.
Sounds like you're trying a little to hard to whore some karma from the linux-zealots. Please, from now on...think before speaking.
Yeah, yeah, we get it: Slashdot==Linux.
But really, there is something disturbingly naive about whistling down the street not giving Microsoft a second thought; all the while they're plotting some serious hardship for your baby (Linux).
Just because you don't think about Microsoft doesn't mean they don't think about you.
I don't know what kind of coverage they were hoping for with this article, but I'd have to say that the first paragraph made me think that there wasn't much to the new release:
The system promises fewer computer crashes and will allow users to delete data from their hard drive.
struck me as funny. My first thought was that I could delete files perfectly well at the moment...
"I'll take the red pill. No! Blue! AAAaaaahhhhhhhhh"
- Monty Python meets the Matrix
Yesterday morning, Bill Gates was on the Regis show and I would like to share a direct quote which he said in reference to the idea that WinXP doesn't crash as much as other windoze OS's.
"The average user will save about a week a year."
[When I shared this with a friend, he replied, "Someone should file a lawsuit alleging that Windows was defective and that the licensing was an ineffective waiver of rights because of M$'s monopoly and their collusion with hardware manufacturers to force their product on consumers. I figure that since 1996, Biull G. & Co. have waster about $8,000 of my time."]
Seriously, I have almost always bought a new computer based on a new operating system. I think this is a common experience. I've never upgraded a Windows operating system, except for my first college computer, when Win95 came out a few months after I purchased it - and Gateway gave me a free upgrade coupon for that one.
Why? Well, like most home PC users, I don't upgrade the hardware much. I buy a system that's more than I need at the time, and when I start feeling the pinch, there's no clear upgrade path to the next system. For instance, I could use a GeForce2/3, a video card with DVD-out (and a DVD player that supports that), Firewire, a 3x to 5x processor increase (350 Mhz to somewhere in the high 1000's), and maybe get the memory up to half a gig. But there's no good upgrade path - that's a motherboard change (to one w/ AGP and that supports a faster processor), and it means discarding my current DVD drive, and possible other hard drives. I might as well buy a new, integrated system. And while I'm at it, I might as well get the latest operating system. I wanted to buy a new PC around the time Black and White came out, but I decided to wait and see if XP would be worth the wait.
Which puts me in a bind. Like others say, there's not much differance between XP and 2000, except for some (downloadable) bells and whistles, and that AWFUL authentication scheme. I'll wait until the verdict to see if I should go XP, 2000, or ME. Unlike some ZDNet columnists, I'm pretty happy with Win98SE...
If it wasn't for the funky licsensing, I'd jump right on, and have my PC delivered tommorrow. I'm afraid a million others are making the same choice, and we might see a boom in PC sales by Christmas, maybe not.
...I've read a whole truckload of posts from peopl claiming that gamers should go to win2k. Crap. Heaps of games don't run on win2k, and there's no sound at all in dos games. (I know about vdmsound, but that crashes a lot of games eg worms). WinXP runs more games than win2k in my experience, and it runs every dos game I've thrown at it, although only a dozen or so, but it runs some that 98 would not, and all with sound. It runs max payne bloody well, and the only game i've had problems with is Warlords 3, but it runs warlords 2 great, with full sound, midi and voice.
:-(
There are some things that are done wrong, there's too much MS advertising, and good luck to MS re charging for more themes, but apart from these (relatively minor) gripes, I love XP, and I'm hoping that the oracle guys port soon so I can loose 2k for good.
Also, anybody know a place to download themes for the built-in theming engine? Much appreciated if you do, all I can find on google is wallpaper+sounds+icon packages
Send lawyers, guns, and money!
Anyone suggesting linux as an alternative to windows XP for end users does not understand a thing about usability. I was reading a review about mandrake earlier today it boiled down to nice look and feel, pitty it's so buggy (this was in the review and is also my opinion entirely).
Windows XP is a nice product. It's a pitty the kernel tries to contact Redmond through the internet on a regular basis, but that doesn't change the fact that it is also setting some standards from the point of view of usability.
I notice the linux community is acting very conservative and even scared towards win xp. Jokes about clippy, blue screens and so on are made a lot whereas proposals to include new useful features into e.g. KDE or Gnome are a lot less frequent. Windows XP means a lot of new work for those projects because they are way behind delivering the same out of the box experience as windows XP.
I have windows XP at home. After some fiddling I managed to get it reasonably secure and prevent it from contacting MS too often. I love it. A lot of the new interface makes sense. Of course you want to at least change the colour scheme but a lot of things work really nice.
At this point, linux is a downgrade for end users. You lose features. You may say you don't like the features, you don't need the features or don't want the features but the bottom line is you lose them. And if you really need a unix environment, most of the more useful UNIX tools have win32 ports available. And yes windows xp is stable and won't bsod unless you install crappy drivers. If you load a buggy kernel module you have the same experience in linux.
Just for clarity, I have used linux for years and maintain a debian server. I know my shit and have hands on experience with most mainstream distributions.
Jilles
They said the same thing about Win95, 98, 98SE and ME, they also said it about WinNT and 2K. And it was true, each version sucked a little less, but still sucked. My experiance with Windows in general is, it is stable as long as you never have to use non native drivers or install any software. XP is no different, I just installed my copy and it worked great for about 5 minutes. Word of advice, Intel PC Anypoint software will screw up XP so bad you can't even get into Safe Mode and the Compatibility settings didn't work. It is only 9 in the morning and I've had to do 3 installs, without the AnyPoint Software I can access shares, but I still can't access the Internet. I haven't even gotten to installing any apps and I am having trouble. I think I will go back to Win2K and return XP to the store.
"Our products just aren't engineered for security,"
-Brian Valentine,VP in charge of MS Windows Development
"No One's Gonna Break Us Up! On one!"
http://www.ridiculopathy.com/news_detail.php?disp
As I haven't upgraded, I don't know what the process is like, but what I don't understand is why anyone would ever put thier name in the OS to begin with. When it asks for your name can't you just enter John Doe?
I was surprised that NPR was giving XP a positive review of XP. They had a person on there from some large compute chain (like CompUSA, but I don't remember which), sayig that is is definitely easier to use, and it looks better. He then went on to say some odd things like "it will be able to copy pictures off your digital camera without you having to install any software" and a bunch of other things. When asked about the fact that you have to buy one copy for your laptop and one for your desktop, the guy said "this has always been the case" and just now they have the product activation. This morning, they were talking it up again, although they had one analyst say that which it is a great operating system, it isn't going to cause a resurgence in computer hardware sales, and the amount of money Microsoft has slated for advertising is indicative of the fact that while it is better, it's only marginally better. The only bad thing I have read so far is that you may not be able to play the Snow White DVD, but there will be a patch soon.
One thing I noticed that was lacking was any statement like "your license will expire in 2 years". Is this still on for the retail/OEM version? I remember that they pushed it back for businesses because of the budgetary planning issues, but how about the retail. Anyone have any links?
Incidentally, yes, it is possible that NPR is giving such a review because it is in fact better. I just don't like the form they are giving it in. They are having a guy, who obviously stands to gain if people go any buy XP at his chain, make extremely broad statements that in some cases don't make sense (how can it know all future digital cameras. Does it really even know all current ones? Even ones that have been off the market for 3 years, like my QV-11). I listen to NPR to get away from commerical radio.
-no broken link
Once again Bill Gates and the other...Executives at Microsoft come up with an analogy that is bordering on the moronic, and the media eats it up.
Why are there headlights in cars? Because there are laws mandating them. Same goes for tail lights. Up until the 1930s, headlights and tail lights were options. Yep for more than 30 years you could buy a car with out either of them, same goes for seat belts until the 1970s in the US.
Why doesn't Bill Gates know this? Because he's so protected from reality and so isolated he either has lost what common sense he had, or he's being spoon fed all these soundbites from his handlers.
I've never met a Microsoftie, are there any here that can tell me - Are Bill Gates and the other MS execs losing IQ points like a Mind Flayer was sitting on thier head, or is everything spun there?
I mean. it isn't like he hasn't made enemies, or gotten people rather upset from time to time. Yers I know he is the most loved person on the planet.
You know it would make the news.
In fact, The protest marches would probably be the next big thing. I can see it now, the million geek march.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
Because now when I get a "tech support" call from a friend, I'll be troubleshooting a (in essence)W2k machine, not a WinDOS machine.
:(
C-X C-S
Unfortunately, helping chicks with their computer problems does not appear to help you get into their pants.
= Expect Problems
=
Ah, Windows. Be it a backdoor in Outlook or a macro in Office, virus writers cannot get enough of Windows.
l ay=20010827
Idea: Purchase a brand new computer to support a buggy OS so that you can run all those fancy new viruses.
[true story]
I know of a guy who updated his ActiveX in order to view an attachment that later turned out to be a particularly nasty virus.
[/true story]
Dangerous New Virus Called "WindowsXP" Poised To Cripple Users
http://www.ridiculopathy.com/news_detail.php?disp
To manually hibernane, hold down shift at the shutdown screen and "Suspend" switches to "Hibernate."
Also, look for the (beta) Powertoys. Some of these little things are VERY nifty (Virtual Desktop for Windows, new TweakUI, etc.)
Install a firewall, that's what I did. But if you are willing to trade features for security it is a free country and I could very well imagine moving to linux for this reason one day. Just don't claim that it is the same thing as windows because clearly it is not. If you use linux you will have to use the commandline because most file managers are crap, you get less integration between apps and so on.
Jilles
The scary thing is that it was probably written by someone who spends their life glued to their channels.
I believe that is (badly) referring to some of the security features of XP...basically built-in utilities for "cleaner" deletions, stuff that can't be as trivially recovered after the fact. Normal deleted files can be quite easily retrieved with the right tools.
"That's Tron. He fights for the Users."
You can't format your drive and install Windows XP. That would require deleting Linux, and Linux doesn't support that, does it?
A short list:
1: Fast User switching (you can switch to another user without logging off. GREAT if you share your PC with *anyone.*)
2: An INCREDIBLE Start Menu. (Everything is configurable... what it looks like, if it's new or old, and even what shows up. You can even have unlimited windowing through your file strucutre.)
3: Faster Boot time. (Especially if you're running Win2k!)
4: Game support (MS isn't saying "This isn't a gaming OS" this time, so things will be much better.)
5: A collapsing System Tray (Of all the little icons that show up by the clock, you can configure which ones always hide, which ones never hide, and which ones "hide when inactive.")
6: The latest and greatest interfunctionallity from MS--which menas that the latest and greatest from someone else will work for you now.
From the CNN article:
The system promises fewer computer crashes and will allow users to delete data from their hard drive.
Allows me to delete data? How generous.
Seriously, though, what the hell is this supposed to mean?
--saint
(Glad I use a Mac.)
I guess you just aren't trying hard enough. It's proven very effective for me.
What we call folk wisdom is often no more than a kind of expedient stupidity.-Edward Abbey
If the author/songwriter got some of that vast $$'s I might buy it, but NO WAY. The author/songwriter is doing for love of the craft, and the publisher/record company is raking in HUGE amounts of cash and giving the originator CRUMBS...
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
But then, given the strength of the rampant capitalism in the U.S., I'm not surprised by such greed. I'm just disappointed that certain selfish people are living down to my expectations...
All about me
then I'd have the equivalent of Mac System 7.0 in front of my house.
What we call folk wisdom is often no more than a kind of expedient stupidity.-Edward Abbey
In other news SuSE Linux ships with over 1500 applications, such as a several Web browsers, several e-mail programs, lots of instant messengers, a variety of digital photo editors, music recording and playback software, a full development suite with the most advanced set of languages, tools, and debuggers; half a dozen themable desktops, several office suites, and an assortment of games to keep the user amused for hours on end. Did I forget to mention that this OS can be put on as many computers as the user wishes, and is not burdened by overly restrictive licenses. For the corporate user, it comes with a full range of networking and security tools.
The middle mind speaks!
Um.. remember Code Red? You weren't running NT but you were probably still getting a hundred http requests per second, from machines infected by it.
Now consider this: the company that introduced innovations such as:
- Having the computer automatically load and execute code from a CDROM when it is inserted
- Having a mail reader automatically execute scripts inside of email
is now shipping a product that is significantly less secure than their previous products, and has ".net technology."If you use the internet (and especially if you pay for bandwidth), then believe me, this will affect you, whether you use the product or not. If the future, historians are going to say that 2000 was the year that there weren't any significant viruses and most internet bandwidth was used for porn. They'll say something different about 2001.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Anybody know what the license is like? Or is it so bad you aren't allowed to talk about it?
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
Linux: :)
Windows: XP
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
And here I thought "The Road to Cairo" must have been an old road flick starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour.
Is it the unavailablity of the original that makes the Cairo launch star Bill Gates, Sting, and Madonna?
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
However how many people do you hear complaing regarding the quality of Windows 2000 (on which XP is based)?
About 3 out of 6 I've talked to. That's a pretty serious improvement, though, as it could imply that the old Microsoft lie of "it's just bad hardware drivers crashing our flawless operating system" could finally have some truth to it.
Of course, the downside to that is Microsoft can't afford to hype the stability too much; if Joe Public loads the new ultra-stable XP on his Compaq-saved-$2.50-on-cheap-parts motherboard, he's not going to care that it's the nonconformant APM hardware crashing, he's going to blame Microsoft.
Windows FP - Fisher Price Edition
Do you like German cars?
And I ask here because microsoft marketing BS is meaningless.
What does XP offer me that Win2k doesn't? What incentives are there for me to switch?
I certainly understand the incentive for many useres out there to switch.. especially if they are stuck with win98/me...
But seriously. Win2k only came out a short while ago.. and it's quite good.
Preventive War is like committing suicide for fear of death. - Otto Von Bismarck
There is no X in the Greek alphabet. It starts with Alpha and ends with Omega, 23 letters. Alpha corresponds to the Latin A, and Omega corresponds to the Latin W. X falls beyond the Greek alphabet for transliteration. If XP really does mean "Cairo," then it's probably based on similar appearance to the Greek letter khai, rather than letter order. Could someone please describe what a khai looks like?
A solution to the problem with music today
I can think of at least one reason more people will upgrade to Windows XP: MacOS X. Many users of PCs - for the most part your average gamers who are using Windows 98 or ME and who are aware that "modern" operating systems are becoming an essential commodity - will buy this thing. Its aesthetic beauty - or at least M$ idea of aesthetic beauty - adds another element.
/. readers - that MacOS X is a much better deal and more viable in the long run for one simple reason: It's a Unix. No matter how many nice gadgets M$ decides to plop on top of their modern kernel (the dubious .NET included) when PC users decide to go further they'll find themselves sorely lacking. The savvier ones will install Linux and dual-boot it (hopefully there'll be a way to run Linux concurrently as an OS service). The all-in-one solution of MacOS X just seems more compelling to me, and frankly it's a hell of a lot prettier and more elegant.
I can imagine one of these users looking at the colorful screenshots and saying, "Ah, finally something that makes full use of my powerful graphics card!" I have to admit that knowing I've got the capability of amazing 3D graphics lurking in my system makes me wish it were being used more ubiquitously. And now because of the hype surrounding "modern" crash-proof multitasking OSes a lot of users are slavering over exactly this kind of thing.
Hardcore gamers and power users long ago upgraded to Win2K. Although Windows 2000 is a modern crash-proof OS, to many users it *looks no different* from Windows 95 or 98. Microsoft is leveraging a lot of what Apple has done with MacOS X to give a brand-identity to the modern OS. In the minds of consumers an OS that has the audacity to get funky gives the impression that such computing cockiness is warranted by the underlying stability and speed of the OS. It also carries the impression of being forward-thinking, because - sure - with today's processors a lot of this stuff may be taxing, jumpy, or slow, but wait a few months or a couple years and just watch how normal it will all be.
The only thing that troubles me about the XP aesthetic is how closely it mirrors the graphical style of modern media. It won't be long before you'll have to look twice before you realize you're not looking at a sports-statistics display like you see on ESPN or NBC. And that flying logo: it's not the nightly news logo my friend, but "You've got mail!"
As a finaly note, It's obvious to me - and no doubt to many
-- thinkyhead software and media
Cairo, IIRC, the codename MS used for the first 32bit Windows
Cute, but I'm almost certain that it was CHICAGO, not Cairo.
If God gave us curiosity
The XP TV commercial reminds of Peter Pan or a Clariton commercial. The new user of XP flies around the world like Superman. Sort whimsical like the long-gone dot.com commercials.
The computer press is notoriously chicken-shit follow the herd mentatlity. Currently MS is not in favor, it is "Politically Correct" to bash them
So... what you expect?
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Hell, I've been supporting it for a couple months now. Should use that to get a raise... "You know how much XP experience is worth to contractors right now?"
For the sake of clarification:
CHICAGO: Code name for Win95
CAIRO: Code name for NT 4.0
MEMPHIS: Code name for Win98
WHISTLER: Code name for WinXP
HTH.
dinner: it's what's for beer
With XP, you can have multiple desktops running as different users, and switch between them with a hotkey.
This is the one feature of my Debian box I miss most when using my NT 4.0 box. I don't think it is worth upgrading for, though. I'm pretty happy with NT 4.0 otherwise.
Cairo was much-hyped but never delivered. It was to be the successor to NT 3.x, and MS talked about it before Chicago (Win95) was launched, as early as l993. Cairo was meant to have lots of neat features such as dragging components from one window into another (a bit like drag and drop of text, but of a live object such as a news ticker), and a clever object oriented distributed file system.
Great demos, but like all the best vaporware, it never actually went from cloud form to solid... Instead, NT 4.0 was delivered, which had only a few new features other than the Win95 shell.
Could someone please describe what a khai looks like?
an 'X',(but with curley bits) otherwise he wouldn't have said what he did. The transliteration isn't an ordered 1-1 mapping of the first 23 characters.
"The new wave is not value-added; it's garbage-subtracted" - Esther Dyson, Dec 1994
We now have Mac OS X and Windows XP (and Office XP, Athlon XP, etc). It seems that every new release of software has an X in it. Why? I suggest it's because of Linux.
Linux grew from UN*X, which has X Windows... Linux is the flavour of the month atm, and I suggest that MS and Apple want to gain some sort of goodwill from dumb consumers by using the "X" to create some sort of subconcious link.
It's my theory and I'm sticking with it!
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.
I work in a smaller retail computer store for one of my jobs. We have had XP Home installed on a few machines for nearly a month now. Not a RC, but the full blown OEM release.
Anyway, I have tested this version of Windows with several game titles from my collection. While these games and applications work fine in Windows 98 SE, they will not run in XP. Even with the proper "Emulation" setting.
While these are older games, some of them are still full of fun for me. I would recomend awaiting some people running tests with most of the older games that you own prior to running out and buying XP Home/Pro. Personally, I was considering running XP until I found that a few of my older games and apps were unable to run under this new OS.
--
.sig seperator
--
If you ignore the other uses of a tool, does that make the tool less useful, or you less useful?
> i've heard that the only way to be sure that your data can't be
> recovered is to physically destroy the hard drive, i.e. by smashing
> it into little bits and tossing it into the ocean.
What a blatant exaggeration! You don't need to toss it into the ocean. Certainly a lake or even a small pond will do.
Seriously, though, it's possible to recover data (even layers of data) from a hard drive after it's been overwritten, but only with extremely sensitive equipment. The simple analysis is this: when a data bit starts at 0 (when the drive is manufactured), it carries no charge on the surface of the platter (0 volts or a close approximation). Write a zero, you don't change the voltage at that spot. Write a one, and you push it up to 1 volt (okay, it's not one volt, but only a tiny fraction of that much, but this is only for illustrative purposes). However, you really only push it up close to one volt (say, 0.98 volts). Next, write a one and you push it up a little more (0.983 volts) or a zero and push it near zero (0.007 volts) and so on. Put the platter under a device capable of detecting voltages small enough, and you can (fairly) accurately recreate what was on the disk, even several data passes back. It should be noted, however, that very, very few agencies have access to this level of technology, and it's ususally reserved for extreme cases. So, to protect yourself from the Man, you're safe to use a shredder program (three passes at least), but if you want 100% security, physical destruction is the only absolutely surefire method.
Virg
You are not tech savvy and yet you want to have tight control over your computer?? Sorry, even MS can't deliver you that and linux requires you to be tech savvy to do just about anything windows does out of the box. Don't point at mandrake please, I've seen it and it is way too buggy for end users who don't know what they are doing. If you care to know, I thought win9x was actually more reliable than that piece of shit. And that particular OS caused me to swear in very nasty ways.
:-).
In any case, if you get me a linux version that is as easy to use as win XP, as secure as linux and as feature rich as win xp, I'm your man but I think we both know such an OS does not exist today (well maybe OS X but that has some hardware requirements and stability issues). I'll stick with win XP for the moment and by all means, use linux on your desktop if you have to. I just wanted to let people hear a different sound on this site. All this shit about linux being ready for the desktop is kind of premature from where I'm standing.
Privacy issues aside (I'm not denying there are any and I'm annoyed by them as well), windows XP is a very nice product. Compared to win2k it is a nice, incremental update. It is reasonably stable, it's slightly faster then win2k, it has some nice features, a polished UI that you can configure if you are offended by the use of colours. I've used it for a month now and I think a tech savvy user can eliminate most of the privacy issues: remove activation (or install corporate edition); don't sign up for passport; get rid of messenger; install a third party firewall (e.g. sygate); install virus scanner (e.g. norton) and you are all set for a reasonable safe eXPerience
Jilles
Now with XP's new exciting color features, it's the:
Gradient Screen Of Death
Two shades of blue, your choice.
Men believe what they want. - Caesar
I read an article on Yahoo news about this and the hype (positive encouragement to spend-'n'-buy) was from a far from neutral party:
But, let me guess, you only save that money if they help you ;-)
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I guess Microsoft is showing its commitment to security, because we already have the first critical update for WinXP out.
Citing HardOCP:
You'd think they'd at least hold onto the last release-candidate for a month or so to make sure no critical issues come up, before making it a master and sending it off to be pressed, no?
Belief is the currency of delusion.
> Import and manage digital photos and music 27% - home users
What exactly is this supposed to represent? I think I'd like something more specific than "27% useability improvement" to go on. If I do math by pounding a rock on the ground, having two rocks is a "100% useability improvement" but it's still a lousy way to do math. From what did they derive the statistics? How exactly do I translate "27% improvement" into specific gains? What features allow this improvement? Can I expect this much improvement personally, and if not, how much will my mileage vary?
51% improvement isn't very impressive without any context. Now I've got to go find another rock...
Virg
If you wonder what XP is really about, CNN summarizes it in its very first sentence on XP:
"The [Windows XP] system promises fewer computer crashes and will allow users to delete data from their hard drive." (cnn.com)
Now, -that- is a killerapp!
Not nearly as insightful as the first paragraph of the article.
The system promises fewer computer crashes and will allow users to delete data from their hard drive.
It finally allows me to delete my data? What? This is a new feature? what??? hu???
Maby they meant, "and will delete random data from users hard drive".
Ok that makes sense. I feel better now.
whois microsoft.com
Whois Server Version 1.3
Domain names in the .com, .net, and .org domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.
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MICROSOFT.COM.WILL.NEVER.RUN.PUREDATA.NET
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>>> Last update of whois database: Wed, 24 Oct 2001 05:14:14 EDT The Registry database contains ONLY .COM, .NET, .ORG, .EDU domains and
Registrars.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Speaking as a Win98 user, I have no intention to "upgrade". For a start, I'd need to buy a whole new PC, because my 1998-era PII/350 wouldn't get near running XP properly. (In contrast, my properly-set-up Win98 box is generally reliable, and runs my 'net stuff, word processor and games just fine, thank you.) And if I get a whole new PC, you can bet I'm finally going to get around to installing a nice free OS, not the latest offering from Microsoft, with all the unfriendly things that go with it. Sorry, I've done my homework, I've looked at what it does and doesn't do, and I'm not interested.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
What many people don't realise, is that Chi Rho (XP) is also a common abbreviation for the Greek Christos (./ doesn't seem to like Greek), for Christ.
:) Nothing like Microsoft being modest. Windows XP! The most stable OS yet, and also heals the sick and cures your sins!
Windows Christ. The second coming is upon us
--Russ (rg@tcslon.com)
Though Win2k was not an upgrade from win98.. it was an upgrade from NT4 (it's just NT5)
It was win95/98/ME
For those in the 9x chain, XP is quite a leap.. but 2k would have been good too.
Looking at the new "enhanced" GUI makes me think that it should have been called "My first Windows" instead of XP.
Here's a Top 11 list with explanations for XP.
I am looking at an astonishing sight. I visited MSN.com with Netscape 4.7x on Solaris/SPARC. What I got, is difficult to believe. I get a clean, text-only page. The fonts are the browser default, not a CSS-tweaked GIANT font that makes me feel like I'm in kindergarten. The graphics are minimal. The site is far more useable than before. I even have the old-school grey background, not white. ;)
:)
I also visited MSN.com using IE5.5/Win2K through a proxy that hides my User-Agent: header. In this case, I got the page you mentioned. So, no User-Agent -> browser upgrade. User-Agent indicating "foreign" platform -> text-only version. I confirmed this by specifying the Netscape/Solaris User-Agent on the Lynx command line (got the minimal graphics version).
Strangely enough, if I use Lynx (x86 Linux) directly, I get the browser-upgrade page.
All I seem to need, then, to get MSN the way I'd want it, is tofind a new proxy that can make IE pretend to be Netscape on Solaris, so I can escape the ActiveX/OLE/Javascript hell MSN has prepared for their captives. Oh rats, the rest of the site doesn't work this way... only the home page is available in a minimal version, it seems.
Of course, just like the workers at the CDC, I employ protective gear such as cookie and javascript filters when visiting hostile territory known to be infected. So don't worry. MSN failed to set me a cookie. I'll be just fine.
Edith Keeler Must Die
You answered your own question. Gates is pulling CNN's strings like a master puppeteer. Microsoft has always thrived on the inexperience of the masses.
This sig intentionally left blank.
Doesn't take a scientist to figure that one out. Win2k was never a "home" os, and therefore you should upgrade to the "business" version of XP to get the same bang for your buck as you do with 2k.
IMHO, XP is worth it. Bootup speed, full sleep compatibility, better removeable device support, customizeable interface, remote desktop, remote support (like dell being able to login to fix there own crap instead of me waisting my time to fix it), windows update with more features, easier administration, better support with IPSec, built in PPEO driver, directx 8 support, same innards from home to pro now.
It is simply about time this product was released, xp is what 2k should have been.
Don't tell me it is expensive either, redhat 7.2 pro is 199.00, i can get the upgrade for an OS i already have for 99 bucks.
Actually, that process makes the data easier to recover, not harder. Since each pass pushes the bit toward zero, but not by the same amount (the closer it gets to zero, the less each additional zero moves it down), it's easy to extrapolate how many times you wrote zeroes (and what was there originally) based on the specific drive hardware. You're actually better off writing a one, then a zero, then another one, and so on, alternating on each pass. The best shredders (and the government standard for shredding files) is to write a 1, then a zero, then a second one and zero, then a third one and zero, then some other byte value that's a good mix (like 18 or 246) for a total of seven writes. Even that isn't good enough for top secret rated stuff. I had a colleague tell me about having to send a hard drive back for a warranty replacement from an Air Force base. He called the manufacturer and told them that he'd need to destroy the drive, but could send back the junked parts when he finished. They accepted that (not surprising for a company that does a lot of defense work) and he opened the drive, removed the platters, and used a steel grinder to scrape the substrate of off the surfaces of each one. Now that's data destruction.
Virg
And we are really quit happy about it. It is relatively stable, and it runs the applications we need. Office 97, Exchange 4.0, MS Schedule something. Can anybody give me a compelling reason to upgrade to XP? W2K? We're probably about 180 ppl, including consultants.
As a matter of fact, the IT people are becoming increasingly interested in Linux. I think the combination of "free", "full built-in remote access" and "stable" appeals to them.
Stop the brainwash
...it unlocks the full power of the PC and enables them to enjoy the best of what the digital world has to offer.
Didn't they say the same thing about Win9x?
When will my PC's potential be fully unlocked?
Edith Keeler Must Die
I tuned into the webcast for the NY launch event at 10:30am eastern time. Here's my quick summary.
It started with a gospel group singing America the Beautiful and then an appearance by Mayor Rudy. Bill Gates talks for a while about XP (fun, reliable, rich media, blah, blah), and "shuts down DOS for the last time" by typing "exit" at a C prompt. A voice says "Are you sure you want to to that, Bill?" in the style of 2001 A Space Odyssey. Then Bill introduces Jim Allchin who talks for while about XP too.
Then Regis Philbin comes in and they do a WWTBAM take-off. Regis does the obligatory millionaire jokes ("Sure this is worth your time, Bill?") and do a few lame questions and answers about XP. After this, Bill leaves the studio while Regis gets a lesson on the great new features of XP. The MS guy tries to do a voice command demo and three tries later it finally works. Regis is whining at him mercilessly. ("You see? This always happens to me with computers!")
Bill reappears on screen a bit later as he's visiting a record store and showing a kiosk at a music store that's built with XP. He scans a CD at the kiosk and it comes up with samples from the CD. Next they try to do a webcam setup and that screws up for a while (Regis: "See!") but finally they get a picture.
At this point I can't say I was paying much attention, I had the audio on but the picture wasn't worth watching.
until WINE gets in gear with better support, linux will NEVER replace windows as a workplace. even then it probably wont.
So what exactly are you getting at? It sounds like you mean any OS that can't run Windows apps perfectly won't be able to make headway, even if they run such apps perfectly. You know, even though I use Linux/KDE, I think I agree with you.
But then why even state the obvious? Are you just acknowledging Microsoft's dominance? Do you think this is not a problem? Or does none of that matter to you?
I don't think any computer user (regardless of OS choice) is denying that Microsoft holds a monopoly on desktop operating systems. However, there is nothing wrong with having hope in another OS. I'm doing my part contributing to free software, and I wish Linux the best.
You're wrong. Windows XP is a service pack for MS-DOS 3.3.
AlpineR
Multiple simultaneous logins works really well in a house type environment where you've got a few people sharing the computer.. Mom's Solitaire that she was playing when she went off to do something else stays open while someone else uses the computer for a few hours.. when Mom switches back to her desktop, her stuff is still there.
Sure, someone else could have used the same desktop and left the game running, but then they have Mom's bookmarks and stuff, not their own. Better to have the fast user switching.
And switching desktops is one keystroke.. Windows-L takes you to the list of users.
>Oddly, I am not aware of any such "features"
:-)
Well that is the problem of the linux community in general. They seam to be out of touch with reality. Right now linux gives me the experience the earlier versions of win95 (i.e. before Billy boy realized it was worth investing in the Internet). I mean come on, I like it as a server OS but as a desktop OS it is downright pathethic. Its cheap explorer rip offs, the ie 2.0 look alikes competing for the web browser market, the total lack of a omnipresent component model, the lack of clipboard functionality that actually works for most applications. I mean we could deny that these problems exist, convince users they really don't need such functionality but the rest of the world has had this functionality since windows 3.0 or even earlier if they were apple users.
Well to paraphrase a popular phrase by Ghandi
"first they deny you, then they fight you and then you win"
When it comes to usability linux is still in the denial phase, occasional even fighting the "a GUI is actually useful" notion. I must admit some KDE developers do have a grasp of reality and I admire their work. But the majority of the Unix community actually is incapable of looking beyond the command line. I perceive that as a weakness.
And yes, I had a few beers too many so don't be hard on me
Jilles
I noticed that line, too. I found it *quite* insightful.
Especially considering that, just two weeks ago, when I tried to delete a large directory tree on Windows 2000, the progress meter stopped moving at about 2/3 of the way through, the time estimate started oscillating wildly (between 40 seconds and 175 minutes remaining), and instances of Internet Explorer started freezing.
Eventually, I killed the process, and the OS survived the experience just fine (no reboot required). But, come on...deleting files? Yeah, so I was deleting LOTS of files, but it's still a really simple operation. No reason to go wonky like that. And who knows...maybe if I had left it going a little longer, the system would have gone south...
So, maybe the author of the article knew more than we give him credit for.
"It was also a direct nod (or rip-off) of OS-X, and a tendency by Microsoft to put X in the names of practically any consumer technology because the letter has a certain mystery and cachet in marketing circles (it is also the principle sound of SeX, and there is no doubt some subliminaly attempts here to make XP "sexy")." Did you hear that Steve Jobs always intended SCSI be pronounced "sexy". Master of marketing though he is, that was ONE step beyond...
That was classic intercourse!
Oh, they are all for standrads, *their* standards. Notice they carefully say the standards *we* follow. They are meaning not w3c standards, but MS IE "standards" We see the price we paid for "Free" IE, Internet "standards" owned by microsoft..
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Well, direct3d on win2k looks fine to me. It's 8.0a on Win2k, what is it on XP?
dave
On my stock standard Gateway p3/600 XP has BSODed a few times, always in the nVidia drivers supplied by Microsoft. I tried the latest detonator drivers that are mean to be faster by they were much more unstable. I'm using an ELSA GeForce2 GTS card.
The crash usually comes when changing graphics modes to run older programs, like a little kids program for my daughter that insists on 256 colour mode (which XP can't do unless in compatibility mode!).
The BSOD looks a bit different (new font used) but still dumps out to disk and when you reboot it wants to send a trouble report to MS.
Also when changing graphics modes between users it got confused and refused to rewrite the background when windows were closed or moved around. I have not allowed my machine to connect to the Net so maybe there are fixes for these probs but I will download the service packs on another machine and copy over the Net. Call me paranoid but I'm not going to let my XP box connect directly as I just don't know what it'll be doing in it's "automatic updates" process.
I did an upgrade from Win2k so maybe that's the prob but I dont want to scrub my drive.
Also runing a really old version of Lemmings (what a great game, brings a tear to my eye to watch my kids getting excited about a game I played on an Amiga 15+ yrs ago!) has sound but no music (midi synth) on my SBLive! card.
Two steps forward and stumbling back...
[sigh]
pithy comment
I have a question. I've heard about enabling the hinter code, but how do you do it? Do you recompile XFree86, since it provides its own Freetype module?
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
The ones it affects are the support staffs of the industry, the reason is that it makes their lives a living hell.
Can somebody please tell me what XP is like? With all the tyrannical crap that goes into XP, I've finally decided never to buy it, or any later version (unless MS suddenly reforms,helll freezes over, etc). I'm just sick and tired of developers telling me that I, the user, am incompetent and not worthy of being in control of my own equipment. XP is the final slap in the face to this effect.
Well I am required to sell WindowsXP and other win32 based applications and operating systems to customers so buying XP was a no brainer. (I built my own system so I have no legal copy of Windows)
The XP version of Windows is mediocre at best. THE gui is just awefull and dumbed down. You can disable some of the features after searching for several minutes for all the options. All the NT4 administrative tools have been removed and replaced by a hidden mmc console. Yuck. Who would want this? The defualt colors creep me out. They kind of remind me of the nightmarish Stone Temple pilots video with the childrens teletubbies in strange colors in a twisted nightmare. (You all know the one I mean).
My games slowed down to a halt and I believe its a driver issue. My geforece2 mx200 card( very popular) is WHQL 2.0 certified by Microsoft for WindowsXp but barely runs as fast as my old non WHQL certified vodoo3 1000 on XP. ?? What they hell are the technicians in the WIndows hardware quality labs smoking or actually doing there anyway? This card runs in like %50 of all conputers sold. ?? I bought XP for games and it looks like for now I am still out of luck. Sorry but UT really sucked when redhat 7.1 was installed.
Now its looks like my old non certified vodoo 3 card is going back on my sytem because the drivers for XP are alot better for it. I can't go beyond 1027 x 768 and see text clearly and crisply with the the geforce2 mx200 (yes, the refresh rate is set properly). I am sure i gave those windows haters reading this a good laugh. I should of stayed with redhat and ignored my boss. I have learned my lesson. Take my warning to not buy it and make your employer buy it for you if you really need it. I actually miss NT4 sadly enough. The gui for XP is so unbearable. Even in classic mode, the icons look like something out of Mandrake 7.2 and a crayola crayon commercial. This also includes IE. It looks alot like MSN explorer now.
http://saveie6.com/
I couldn't get redhat 7.2 to co-exist with XP (yet). However the really good news is that the Xp install utility is all NT4 based. Its just been modified. This means you can select all the partitions you want to install at installation time and ignore those that are already used. I hated the Windows 98 Se installation because of the hard drive issue. THe only problem you may have is that WIndows Xp must use the MBR ( master boot record). Unfortunatly, so does lilo. Even worse lilo must be installed in the first 1024 cylinders of your hard drive. I believe the partition containing the mbr must be fat formated. I had it NTFS formated before which explains why linux wouldn't boot up :-)
http://saveie6.com/
They'll stop sending activation codes and tell you to buy their latest software, of course... We *all* love MS..
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
that would really screw up my cron jobs that run at 3am. you know the ones that backup my data, update the locate database, download big stuff when people aren't using the network, etc.
i dont have to be sitting infront of my computer to use it. not to mention the fact that i'm not the only person that uses it. i'll admit that it must be hard for a windows user to understand the concept of a multiuser environment-it's hard to login to a computer when it's not on.
plus if you are rebooting in the morning, you walk by the computer, push the button, get a cup of coffee and the redhat logo is staring you in the face. rebooting alot is once every few hours (or minutes which i have expirenced with windows).
-- john
Well, what I was trying say was that I have found very few Windows 9x programs that don't run under XP RC2. (I don't have the shipping version yet.)
:)
I would bet that Myst and Riven work fine. DOS games are lot more iffy, although I can vouch that the old IBM classic "Alley Cat" from 1984 runs under XP.
I have found the occasional lack of backwards compatibility of NT is far outweighed by having a real OS that is pretty stable, and all Microsoft-bashing aside, doesn't suck.
If you are at all a technically oriented user, then go with XP. If all you do is surf, e-mail and play a few games, then 98 is passable.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
Namely; When an application hangs, I often have trouble closing it. Notably, I'm having this problem with Nero CD 5.5.4.0 right now. Under WinME I could at least reliably get things to terminate.
Next: I have a hard time rebooting the system. It just doesn't want to quit. In related news, I've actually managed to switch away from my current user context (IE, Switch User) to the guest, then try to log out of the guest; I finally switched away from the guest user by trying to shut down which sent me back to the login screen. Then I clicked on guest for laughs to see what that context was doing, and I was sent to a blank (desktop-colored) screen where my pointer moved around, but there was nothing to click, and ctl-alt-del didn't bring up the task manager. I had to perform a hard reset.
Lots of other apps don't work right, even in compatibility mode. Taskbar cleanup doesn't work right either; I told it to show everything, and explicitly told it to always show trillian, and sometimes trillian appears, and sometimes it doesn't. I've had lots of new problems with xnews, but then xnews is pretty crappy anyway in that it will try to step on memory on a regular basis. I don't know if that's the author's influence, or delphi's - probably the latter.
The default driver for an nVidia card (in this case, GEforce2MX/MX400) doesn't have OpenGL acceleration. I had to download detonator XP from nVidia directly. This is silly, but I'm sure there's some stupid licensing rationale. Side note: I got it at about 5KBps. Thanks, nVidia!
XP boots dramatically slower than ME on my system when using FAT32, but now that I've passed the point of no return and gone to NTFS, it's booting faster as advertised. Security seems to be very simple for even a stupid person to use, but I haven't found the wealth of ACLs I'm used to in NT yet.
Oh yeah, and an install took an hour and twenty minutes. There's no excuse for that in this day and age. A complete RH7.1 install on this machine takes about 25 minutes including partitioning and formatting. That includes not only a complete SMP-aware operating system, but also the whole host of other stuff we're used to seeing bundled with a linux distribution. Converting to NTFS was an agonizingly slow process, too; They decided I needed to see which files were being converted, no doubt that slows things down considerably.
I haven't tried the encryption stuff yet. I'm going to hold off until I hear some technical reviews of it, which hopefully will show up here eventually. Namely, are there any potential back doors, et cetera. Probably are, knowing mickeysoft.
All in all, quite a mediocre experience.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
> Unless you live in London.. if there anything going to happen in Europe it gonna be london....
Shit! Living in Cambridge, 50 miles off London. What was the blast radius of an H-bomb again? This really worries me. I better stay off work, stay home and read /. intensely to keep up with latest news on /osm/bin/laden.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.