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Is Windows Worth $45?
bgelb writes "This article from the Wall Street Journal questions whether Microsoft really innovates enough to justify the enormous amount of money (nearly 10% of the cost of every PC!) it takes from consumers each year. Hard drive and chip makers innovate constantly, but what about Microsoft?"
No.
It isn't even worth $0. I don't want it near me.
No, really, I'll get a restraining order.
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Crudely Drawn Games
'unfriendly' is such an ugly word. We prefer the term 'user-indifferent'.
I think you underestimate just how much I just dont care.
No, but Microsoft is worth 45 stories on Slashdot every month. That has to count for something.
No no no. Linux is most certainly "user-friendly." But it's very picky about who its friends are.
If it was worth a dollar every time some Windows user asked me a question that made my nose spontaneously start bleeding and then followed up by saying "What do you mean you don't do Windows? I thought you were supposed to be good with computers!" (Which more or less spontaneously forces me to make THEIR nose start bleeding) Windows would cost ME a hell of a lot more than $80 or $90, and I don't even USE the goddamn thing.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Well they must be innovating at an incredible rate! Look at how fast the size of their software grows.
Every extra Gigabyte consumed on disk and megabyte allocated in memory holds useful new stuff as the OSs grow from release to release, right?
How's this for a kicker: the sysadmin at my current gig purchased about 10 PCs with Win XP Home Edition preloaded, and now we need to pay $179 EACH just to upgrade them from XP Home to XP Pro. (The 60+ systems were all in "Workgroup" mode, moving them to Active Directory so I can have security on the file shares. XP Home won't join a domain.)
Yes, I know there are some hacks to make XP Home join authenticate to a DC, but they're just that, hacks (and work about as well.)
Why would I want to pay for an inferior, insecure product when I can get Linux for free?
Because it runs Microsoft office?
>RAM memory is $54
RAM memory? That'd be Random Access Memory memory then, right? Just like my PIN number (Personal Identification Number number)...
At least the war on the environment is going well
The only window I know that is worth $45 is the one used to keep the snow out of my house during the winter. But seeing how I live in Florida, a $10 screen in the summer and a $5 sheet of plastic in the winter seem a better way to go.
To paraphrase:
How much is it if I install Windows?
$45.
How much if I don't install Windows?
You can't afford it.
What?
As harddrive manufacturers add to the storage capacity of the drives MS innovates in occupying more of that space. :-)
Excellent point. By the way, I'm the copyright owner of this comment, and by reading it you agree to pay me $1000. If you think it's wrong to break copyright, then please don't read this comment, but since you already have, I'll take the full amount in $20's please.
Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
The term for that practice is, "Felony."
Schwab
Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions
A little while ago I spent roughly this amount on a game called Uru. (For those living in caves, it's the latest in the Myst series.) I seem to remember paying quite a bit more for Windows, but maybe the price has come down since then. No matter.
When I'm playing Uru, I wander through a variety of odd (but usually very pretty) environments, often sitting for hours on end contemplating alien mechanisms that I don't understand. Sometimes I click on a control or two (or ten), and sometimes things start working as a result. Other times I wander for days, trying every knob and button I can find, peering suspicously behind doors, retracing paths I've been down dozens of times, and in the end I still haven't figured out how to make some odd machine power up or work properly.
Which pretty closely parallels many of my experiences trying to get Windows to do things.
So...ummm...I guess by analogy, if Uru is worth the money, then surely Windows must also be worth it. ;-)
A marriage is always made up of two people who are prepared to swear that only the other one snores.
"Give a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day.
Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
I had but a simple dream, to destroy all humans.
Or "Strategic Partnership".
"I am, it's Windows that isn't!"
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
I've also called Random House and Webster's. Their lawyers may want to speak to you about the usage of various of the following words:
Have a nice day.
To celebrate the occasion of my 1000th post, I will post no more forever on Slashdot. Goodbye.
Good clear examples! You have the right to use your refrigerator any way you see fit, even making back up copies (which would be prudent). The only legal problem comes if you should try and distribute copies of that refrigerator. What we need is a GPL refrigerator. GNU/Frigidaire anyone?
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.