Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

New Way To Grade Decay of Computer Installations

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the use-the-welding-gloves-on-this-one dept.

skojt writes: "I saw this link in Dr Dobb's Journal (the paper edition) about the behaviour of a slowly decaying computer installation. It refers to a Windows installation, but as the author writes, 'But there will shortly be ports to Linux, Mac OS X, and other Unices; we are confident these OSes are just as prone.'"

4 of 534 comments (clear)

  1. Windows decay by laserjet · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Based purely on my own experience, Windows does decay quite a bit faster than Linux - but I don't think it's mainly the OS's fault:

    It's mainly the users and the applications. There are so MANY applications for Windows out there that want to put an icon on your descktop, in your system tray, in your start menu, etc. It is no wonder when the decay takes place. All these applications do their own thing to Windows.

    Then, on top of that, you have many, many, many bad installers. They remove some files, sure, but rarely do they get rid of everything, including registry entries.

    Linux has a bit different type of users, and most of the software made for linux is by people who hate "Take-over-your-system-ware" sofware. It also doesn't have the central registry system like Windows. Sure it will have it's problems, but right now it does not. More users and more bad or poorly written apps will cause bloat and decay.

    So, as usual, we must blaim the users and the applications for software decay for the most part. The OS should do some cleanup as well, but gone are the days when uninstalling mean deleting the directory it was installed to.

    --
    Moon Macrosystems. Sun's biggest competitor.
    1. Re:Windows decay by ender81b · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Give microsoft some credit though, things have gotten temporarily better in Win2k . I can now have a win2k install for about 1 year before needing to format-whipe-reinstall. The longest I ever lasted with 95 was about 2 months, 98 I think I got to 5 months one time.

      You point out there are many bad installers that leave stuff scattered across the registry, this is quite true. Of course linux has the nice problem of scatter-componets-across-10,000 directorys. I use linux as a server platform instead of a desktop platform for precisely this reason. I can *never* find all the parts of some installs and I despise when a program places itself into 4-5 different directorys.

      gone are the days when uninstalling mean deleting the directory it was installed to.

      Haven't used OS X have we? =) Honestly this is one area where the mac shines. To uninstall something all you have to do is drap-drop into the trash can. Nice and easy.

  2. never decay - VMWare non-persistant by reverse+flow+reactor · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You can get a windows install to never decay:

    1) install favorite OS as the host system.

    2) install VMWare

    3) install windows as a guest OS. Flavor to taste.

    4) set the Guest OS drive to non-persistant. Set you home directory to a share form the Host OS.

    5) reboot the guest OS as needed. Everytime you reboot, the system is restored from the image stored on the Host OS. Crap does not stay unless you tell it to stay.

    or for slightly different purposes, install the OS and tailor it as you like it. Image partition. Reimage the drive when there is too much fluff and bloat hanging around.

    --

    The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them. -Einstein

  3. Re:bsod, etc. by npietraniec · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Maybe if it was relatively easy. I don't know of a MS kernel mailing list. Besides, if I'm paying more for the damn thing, I would expect it to be a little more stable than the one put together by voulenteers