Even if you DO pay them for 160 hours a week, most people can't manage more than 40ish productive hours in a week over the long term, and even during crunch time, any hours past about 80-90 hours a week ends up being increasingly unproductive.
Excellent idea!...except, if you're going thin client, why would you bother with XP when you can use a thin Linux client for free with less effort and more options?
There's not that much of a UI difference between XP and Win7.
Everyone I know who uses XP has the 'classic' start menu turned on.
Ever stop to wonder whether these two things are related? The most-used-programs list on the XP start bar is a (maybe THE) major UI innovation in XP compared to '98. Unless you run more than 12 programs regularly (at least, *I* always have it set to use small icons and show the 12 most recent apps) you'll virtually always be able to launch the program you want in 2 clicks.
This option is gone in Win7, which confuses the hell out of people. Additionally, the merging of "quick launch" and "running applications" in the taskbar in Win7 is VERY confusing to people.
It takes a little while to get used to but it actually makes a lot of sense. When you click on, say, the Firefox icon on the start bar, what do you want? A Firefox window. As the user, do you really care whether it's launching a window or switching to one? If you don't have one, it makes one for you. If you've already got one, it shows you that one. If you have more than one, it lets you choose between them. It's different but really not hard.
The odd thing is, were this Linux you would be flamed for trying to get modern things running with such old versions. But as this is Windows, you feel entitled to complain about having to re-learn something new and brag about the "effort" you save.
I see where you're coming from, with Windows being a pain once you start supporting several different versions. But at the same time, that backwards compatibility and platform stability is what you PAY for when you buy Windows. Due to the things you mention (along with many more that, if I knew more about Linux, I'm sure I could list), 10 years ago Linux was a pain in the ass to use for your sole, day-to-day machine. It only made sense if you were an absolute expert, and/or had a second machine that you could use to look up error messages and fixes every time it broke (and it would, frequently).
We don't have Linux users feeling entitled to use the same OS build for 10 years running because Linux (or rather, Ubuntu and the few other distros accessible to anyone who's not a Linux sysadmin) has not been around for more than about 3-4 years. That, and they don't pay for upgrades (apart from bandwidth) so there's little resistance to downloading the latest version. I bet corporate Red Hat clients who signed up in 2001 would feel equally entitled to still use their Red Hat 7.1 install.
It sounds almost like you're describing system administration as a whole. If you do it right, then to everyone else in the company, you should look like the laziest guy around, because nothing ever breaks so you never have to do any real work and all you do all day is fiddle with some settings or something. Of course, the fatal mistake in this situation is to look too relaxed, or they'll figure you don't do anything and fire you.:P
What justifies the upgrade is not the existing system being broken, but the new system offering enough new functionality (whether that's "stuff working" in the case of a broken old system, or "new features", or whatever) to make it worthwhile.
Re:Back to the original subject...
on
Time To Dump XP?
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· Score: 1
Oh? Thanks, I wasn't aware that you could do so. I stand corrected, and I'll make a note for next time I have a Windows machine as my main computer. (Ubuntu at home, and I'm getting a macbook at my new job... so buh-bye Windows for a while!:P )
Re:Back to the original subject...
on
Time To Dump XP?
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· Score: 1
Meanwhile, while they're hunting for an application buried deep inside some terrible folder hierarchy that stretches across the whole screen, I tap the Windows key, type the first three letters of an Application name, hit enter, and I'm there.
I think that search field on the start menu is the single biggest piece of awesome in Vista / 7. It seamlessly adds the expert-interface usability of a command line to the ease of use of a GUI menu.
I call the classic start menus and such "I fear change" mode. Fitting, I think:D
Sometimes the 'classic' interface is just better and the new interface is shitty and annoying. Control panel, I'm looking at you. For the most part, though, each revision of the start menu has added something useful (recently used programs in XP, search/launch box in Vista).
Well, if you can have Barbarians, Fighters, and Clerics...
Re:Back to the original subject...
on
Time To Dump XP?
·
· Score: 1
While your post is useful and informative, I believe that by "unix style folders" the GP was referring to a filesystem with a fixed 'root' directory, and all physical drives mounted as subdirectories under that root, without the use of explicit drive letters at all, under the assumption that physical drives are an administrative detail rather than something that should be exposed to a non-admin user. So yes, in that (as you say) you can mount drives in arbitrary directories (using DiskMgmt.msc, for those of us who, like me, had to JFGI). And no, in that the physical drives will still (as I understand it) be accessible using drive letters instead of solely through one self-consistent, monolithic file system.
Amusingly, at a party recently, we decided that the only way to top the traditional exchange was Chuck Norris:
A: blah blah
B: no you
A: your mum
B: your face
A: your mum's face
B: Chuck Norris
A:...
Sadly that resulted in a round of "chuck norris's mum", "your mum with chuck norris", "your face with your mum" etc.:P
You're arguing that there's some arbitrary, objective definition of 'quality' of a game, as distinct from how well liked, how playable and how fun games are? More specifically, you're arguing that there's some objective definition of 'quality' that coincides with your (and CMontgomery's) personal tastes in games.
I could get all logical but instead I'll merely say "you're wrong."
For me, the maths was really easy - raid and have fun with online friends or keep steady well paying job.
I'm glad you made the healthy choice. It's fun to just let yourself disappear into a game like WoW, but eventually you have to come out the other side. I've done the 60+ hours a week thing, I'm now down to something like 5-10 hours a week, mostly on the weekends.
Maybe the Aussies are just terrible drivers, and the space is reliably there.
Kills me to say it but Perth drivers are some of the worst in the world. I grew up here but I don't consider myself a Perth driver, because: I know how to merge, I keep my eyes on the road, I travel in the correct lane at the speed limit instead of picking a random lane and doing 10-20km/h under the limit, I indicate correctly at roundabouts, I let people in if they indicate... the list goes on.
By your choice of the word 'campus' I infer that by 'kid' you mean 'late adolescent'. That's a dark time for us geeks, and things don't really improve until we're in our (sometimes late) 20s. Luckily, being geeky is kind of the real life term for "putting all your stat points into intellect so you can train faster". It's a loss early on but it pays for itself later in life.:)
I guess the lines have changed since I were a lad. We were taught that India was part of the 'Indian subcontinent', and India wasn't considered part of Asia. I was flabbergasted when I was told in London that referring to what we (in Australia) would without prejudice call "Asians" (ie. China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, maybe as far south as Indonesia) are there referred to as "oriental" and would be highly offended to be called "asian", which they reserve for Indians and Pakistanis.
Contrarily, Asian cultures believe that success is directly proportional to the effort the person puts into it.
That's true as far as it goes, but it depends how you define 'effort'. In particular, Japanese / Chinese / Singapore / Indian cultures put a huge emphasis on time spent, and on hard work. They don't put much emphasis, in my experience, on 'work smarter not harder'. So you end up with incredible feats of memorisation, rote learning, and physical skill, but without quite the range of creativity, ingenuity and focus that you get from western cultures. When I was in university I met several Singaporean students on exchange. They had unbelievable work ethic, the "get up 3 hours before lectures start and revise solidly for that time" sort. They far outstripped me if ability were to be measured in number of words from the lectures which you could quote verbatim. And yet when asked to do something outside the curriculum, they were not only stumped but slightly confused as to why you would even WANT to.
Yeah but if you can get past the quasi-Aspergers asocial-little-kid-with-academic-ability stage (god knows we've all spent years, sometimes our whole life there), you'll find that the guy who owns a home with is wife, earns $85k a year building control systems for giant hydraulic mining robots and has also put effort into developing himself to his fullest extent as a man - that guy ends up coming home every day to a hot dinner AND having regular threesomes, while the pitcher on the baseball team is a fat has-been at the same age.
Every detail in this post is based on a true story.
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Even if you DO pay them for 160 hours a week, most people can't manage more than 40ish productive hours in a week over the long term, and even during crunch time, any hours past about 80-90 hours a week ends up being increasingly unproductive.
Excellent idea! ...except, if you're going thin client, why would you bother with XP when you can use a thin Linux client for free with less effort and more options?
There's not that much of a UI difference between XP and Win7.
Everyone I know who uses XP has the 'classic' start menu turned on.
Ever stop to wonder whether these two things are related? The most-used-programs list on the XP start bar is a (maybe THE) major UI innovation in XP compared to '98. Unless you run more than 12 programs regularly (at least, *I* always have it set to use small icons and show the 12 most recent apps) you'll virtually always be able to launch the program you want in 2 clicks.
This option is gone in Win7, which confuses the hell out of people. Additionally, the merging of "quick launch" and "running applications" in the taskbar in Win7 is VERY confusing to people.
It takes a little while to get used to but it actually makes a lot of sense. When you click on, say, the Firefox icon on the start bar, what do you want? A Firefox window. As the user, do you really care whether it's launching a window or switching to one? If you don't have one, it makes one for you. If you've already got one, it shows you that one. If you have more than one, it lets you choose between them. It's different but really not hard.
The odd thing is, were this Linux you would be flamed for trying to get modern things running with such old versions. But as this is Windows, you feel entitled to complain about having to re-learn something new and brag about the "effort" you save.
I see where you're coming from, with Windows being a pain once you start supporting several different versions. But at the same time, that backwards compatibility and platform stability is what you PAY for when you buy Windows. Due to the things you mention (along with many more that, if I knew more about Linux, I'm sure I could list), 10 years ago Linux was a pain in the ass to use for your sole, day-to-day machine. It only made sense if you were an absolute expert, and/or had a second machine that you could use to look up error messages and fixes every time it broke (and it would, frequently).
We don't have Linux users feeling entitled to use the same OS build for 10 years running because Linux (or rather, Ubuntu and the few other distros accessible to anyone who's not a Linux sysadmin) has not been around for more than about 3-4 years. That, and they don't pay for upgrades (apart from bandwidth) so there's little resistance to downloading the latest version. I bet corporate Red Hat clients who signed up in 2001 would feel equally entitled to still use their Red Hat 7.1 install.
It sounds almost like you're describing system administration as a whole. If you do it right, then to everyone else in the company, you should look like the laziest guy around, because nothing ever breaks so you never have to do any real work and all you do all day is fiddle with some settings or something. Of course, the fatal mistake in this situation is to look too relaxed, or they'll figure you don't do anything and fire you. :P
What justifies the upgrade is not the existing system being broken, but the new system offering enough new functionality (whether that's "stuff working" in the case of a broken old system, or "new features", or whatever) to make it worthwhile.
Oh? Thanks, I wasn't aware that you could do so. I stand corrected, and I'll make a note for next time I have a Windows machine as my main computer. (Ubuntu at home, and I'm getting a macbook at my new job... so buh-bye Windows for a while! :P )
Meanwhile, while they're hunting for an application buried deep inside some terrible folder hierarchy that stretches across the whole screen, I tap the Windows key, type the first three letters of an Application name, hit enter, and I'm there.
I think that search field on the start menu is the single biggest piece of awesome in Vista / 7. It seamlessly adds the expert-interface usability of a command line to the ease of use of a GUI menu.
I call the classic start menus and such "I fear change" mode. Fitting, I think :D
Sometimes the 'classic' interface is just better and the new interface is shitty and annoying. Control panel, I'm looking at you. For the most part, though, each revision of the start menu has added something useful (recently used programs in XP, search/launch box in Vista).
Well, if you can have Barbarians, Fighters, and Clerics...
While your post is useful and informative, I believe that by "unix style folders" the GP was referring to a filesystem with a fixed 'root' directory, and all physical drives mounted as subdirectories under that root, without the use of explicit drive letters at all, under the assumption that physical drives are an administrative detail rather than something that should be exposed to a non-admin user. So yes, in that (as you say) you can mount drives in arbitrary directories (using DiskMgmt.msc, for those of us who, like me, had to JFGI). And no, in that the physical drives will still (as I understand it) be accessible using drive letters instead of solely through one self-consistent, monolithic file system.
All "fixed that for you" posts are not just redundant. They're also stupid.
Saying that most X on the internet is stupid... is redundant.[1]
[1] Sturgeon's Law
Well it stands to reason that there's either a false dichotomy or there's a true one.
Waaaait a minute. I see what you did there.
lol wat
Can I help you cross your porch?
It's not art if nobody likes it. It's DEFINITELY not art if nobody even gives a crap.
Not as lively as the next one I went to. Let's just say I found out my wife is bi and, erm, we now have a girlfriend...
Snap. You got me there.
...
:P
Amusingly, at a party recently, we decided that the only way to top the traditional exchange was Chuck Norris:
A: blah blah
B: no you
A: your mum
B: your face
A: your mum's face
B: Chuck Norris
A:
Sadly that resulted in a round of "chuck norris's mum", "your mum with chuck norris", "your face with your mum" etc.
You're arguing that there's some arbitrary, objective definition of 'quality' of a game, as distinct from how well liked, how playable and how fun games are? More specifically, you're arguing that there's some objective definition of 'quality' that coincides with your (and CMontgomery's) personal tastes in games.
I could get all logical but instead I'll merely say "you're wrong."
For me, the maths was really easy - raid and have fun with online friends or keep steady well paying job.
I'm glad you made the healthy choice. It's fun to just let yourself disappear into a game like WoW, but eventually you have to come out the other side. I've done the 60+ hours a week thing, I'm now down to something like 5-10 hours a week, mostly on the weekends.
Dicks... fuck assholes.
Maybe the Aussies are just terrible drivers, and the space is reliably there.
Kills me to say it but Perth drivers are some of the worst in the world. I grew up here but I don't consider myself a Perth driver, because: I know how to merge, I keep my eyes on the road, I travel in the correct lane at the speed limit instead of picking a random lane and doing 10-20km/h under the limit, I indicate correctly at roundabouts, I let people in if they indicate... the list goes on.
By your choice of the word 'campus' I infer that by 'kid' you mean 'late adolescent'. That's a dark time for us geeks, and things don't really improve until we're in our (sometimes late) 20s. Luckily, being geeky is kind of the real life term for "putting all your stat points into intellect so you can train faster". It's a loss early on but it pays for itself later in life. :)
I guess the lines have changed since I were a lad. We were taught that India was part of the 'Indian subcontinent', and India wasn't considered part of Asia. I was flabbergasted when I was told in London that referring to what we (in Australia) would without prejudice call "Asians" (ie. China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, maybe as far south as Indonesia) are there referred to as "oriental" and would be highly offended to be called "asian", which they reserve for Indians and Pakistanis.
What a strange world we live in.
Contrarily, Asian cultures believe that success is directly proportional to the effort the person puts into it.
That's true as far as it goes, but it depends how you define 'effort'. In particular, Japanese / Chinese / Singapore / Indian cultures put a huge emphasis on time spent, and on hard work. They don't put much emphasis, in my experience, on 'work smarter not harder'. So you end up with incredible feats of memorisation, rote learning, and physical skill, but without quite the range of creativity, ingenuity and focus that you get from western cultures. When I was in university I met several Singaporean students on exchange. They had unbelievable work ethic, the "get up 3 hours before lectures start and revise solidly for that time" sort. They far outstripped me if ability were to be measured in number of words from the lectures which you could quote verbatim. And yet when asked to do something outside the curriculum, they were not only stumped but slightly confused as to why you would even WANT to.
Yeah but if you can get past the quasi-Aspergers asocial-little-kid-with-academic-ability stage (god knows we've all spent years, sometimes our whole life there), you'll find that the guy who owns a home with is wife, earns $85k a year building control systems for giant hydraulic mining robots and has also put effort into developing himself to his fullest extent as a man - that guy ends up coming home every day to a hot dinner AND having regular threesomes, while the pitcher on the baseball team is a fat has-been at the same age.
Every detail in this post is based on a true story.