I drive a 1997 Chevy Blazer 4x4 to work every day. I get between 19-20 MPG in the city, and close to 22 on the highway.
My truck is paid for.
I can't say I'm really complaining. I'm not in debt and I get decent mileage (especially considering the truck is 11 years old and has close to 180k miles on it). Gas prices are hurting everybody, even the hybrid owners.
Frankly, I don't agree with the popular notion that SUVs are "bad". I purchased my car when I lived in northern New England. I lived in a rural part of the state, so the snow plows wouldn't come by until after I already left for work/school. 4x4 and a heavy car is a Godsend in such an environment. Before you laugh at my so-called "misfortune" at driving an SUV, perhaps you need to try to understand my motives for purchasing one in the first place.
Actually, I have used Vista--I have Home Premium running on one of my desktops. Before I say I don't like it, allow me to explain how I am educated enough to give an opinion on the subject.
If you bash vista it's because you haven't used it, I believe I have shown that I do, indeed, use an OEM Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium on my Acer Aspire T180.
you're a slow slow learner What does this have to do with anything? If I was a slow learner, I would complain about many pieces of software, not just Vista/Microsoft products.
or you've used it but hate microsoft so much that you didn't actually give it a chance. This is really the only bit of your argument that could theoretically apply to me--so allow me to refute that. I see many improvements in Vista over XP and 2000. I will never deny that Vista is an improvement in some areas. My problem lies in two places: 1) The OS has been out for a year now and there are still major driver and software compatibility issues. An example: My ATI HD2600 video card driver was technically "supported" by Vista, but I had so many problems with the driver (including BSODs, screen lockups, and framerates in the single-digits) that I had to get an nVidia card. And before you say the problem was with my hardware, the card worked perfectly on my Linux installation on the same box.
2) It took Microsoft engineers 5 years to develop Vista? That is around twice their normal average development time of 2-3 years! What major improvements have we seen? The start menu was redesigned, UAC (need I say more), the GUI takes up a lot more memory and hard drive space for not much return in looks, and the "Explorer" file manager has copied so much from Apple's "Finder" that I expect to have a mouse with only one button!
Vista has improved, yes...but the improvements are not complex enough or adequate enough to warrant twice the development cycle on the same product. I am a Linux user. I am a Windows user. I am also a Mac user. Just because I use a certain operating system or software doesn't mean I love it and hate all others. If you don't like what people say about Vista, get over it. Use what software you want to use and let us do the same.
In the meantime, how about we get back to some decent conversation about the upgrade trick!
I don't know if I would say the majority. My parents live in York, South Carolina, and have enjoyed broadband internet service since they moved there over 5 years ago. York County is pretty rural...
When the Farm Bureau is larger than the Police Department, your county can be considered rural.
I have had the same experience. When I purchased my Vista computer, it had an ATI HD2600 card in it. I had nothing but problems with the driver, including the lovely little "problem report" dialog at the bottom of my screen and sometimes Windows would just flat refuse to boot. I threw the card away and replaced it with an nVidia GeForce 8600 and I have had nary a problem since.
The same goes with my Linux install on the same box. nVidia is more stable than ATI in my experience. For the record, I am using an AMD processor, too.
I recommend the book Technical Communication by Mike Markel (http://www.amazon.com/Technical-Communication-Mike-Markel/dp/0312441975/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199371904&sr=8-2)
It goes into a lot of the basic theory behind good communication in general, which is really all an interface is (communication between the user and the computer). It does not have a chapter on interfaces specifically, but it talks in depth on good electronic interfaces like online documents and webpages.
I would have loved to read TFA so I could respond intelligently to your comment. Alas, I have to log in to the LA Times to read it. Could we post stories with articles we all can read?
I second that. I know of a developer who had several lines of comments for every bit of code in his project. A 100-line applet was all of a sudden ballooned into a thousand line monstrosity because he thought that all code should be commented.
I'm sorry, but "If blnVariable = True" is hardly complicated code.
If the program does what it was intended to do, and if the customer is happy, then to hell with the code. It works. Mark it "Complete" and move on. Most of us have too much work to do (with bosses breathing down our necks to get it done "on time") to mess with textbook-perfect code.
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I drive a 1997 Chevy Blazer 4x4 to work every day. I get between 19-20 MPG in the city, and close to 22 on the highway.
My truck is paid for.
I can't say I'm really complaining. I'm not in debt and I get decent mileage (especially considering the truck is 11 years old and has close to 180k miles on it). Gas prices are hurting everybody, even the hybrid owners.
Frankly, I don't agree with the popular notion that SUVs are "bad". I purchased my car when I lived in northern New England. I lived in a rural part of the state, so the snow plows wouldn't come by until after I already left for work/school. 4x4 and a heavy car is a Godsend in such an environment. Before you laugh at my so-called "misfortune" at driving an SUV, perhaps you need to try to understand my motives for purchasing one in the first place.
Cult? Cult! I take offense to that, you insensitive clod!
Prepare for your court summons!
If you bash vista it's because you haven't used it,
I believe I have shown that I do, indeed, use an OEM Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium on my Acer Aspire T180.
you're a slow slow learner
What does this have to do with anything? If I was a slow learner, I would complain about many pieces of software, not just Vista/Microsoft products.
or you've used it but hate microsoft so much that you didn't actually give it a chance.
This is really the only bit of your argument that could theoretically apply to me--so allow me to refute that. I see many improvements in Vista over XP and 2000. I will never deny that Vista is an improvement in some areas. My problem lies in two places:
1) The OS has been out for a year now and there are still major driver and software compatibility issues. An example: My ATI HD2600 video card driver was technically "supported" by Vista, but I had so many problems with the driver (including BSODs, screen lockups, and framerates in the single-digits) that I had to get an nVidia card. And before you say the problem was with my hardware, the card worked perfectly on my Linux installation on the same box.
2) It took Microsoft engineers 5 years to develop Vista? That is around twice their normal average development time of 2-3 years! What major improvements have we seen? The start menu was redesigned, UAC (need I say more), the GUI takes up a lot more memory and hard drive space for not much return in looks, and the "Explorer" file manager has copied so much from Apple's "Finder" that I expect to have a mouse with only one button!
Vista has improved, yes...but the improvements are not complex enough or adequate enough to warrant twice the development cycle on the same product. I am a Linux user. I am a Windows user. I am also a Mac user. Just because I use a certain operating system or software doesn't mean I love it and hate all others. If you don't like what people say about Vista, get over it. Use what software you want to use and let us do the same.
In the meantime, how about we get back to some decent conversation about the upgrade trick!
I don't know if I would say the majority. My parents live in York, South Carolina, and have enjoyed broadband internet service since they moved there over 5 years ago. York County is pretty rural...
When the Farm Bureau is larger than the Police Department, your county can be considered rural.
I have had the same experience. When I purchased my Vista computer, it had an ATI HD2600 card in it. I had nothing but problems with the driver, including the lovely little "problem report" dialog at the bottom of my screen and sometimes Windows would just flat refuse to boot. I threw the card away and replaced it with an nVidia GeForce 8600 and I have had nary a problem since. The same goes with my Linux install on the same box. nVidia is more stable than ATI in my experience. For the record, I am using an AMD processor, too.
IANAL, but this smells of Fair Use to me. It would surprise me if this keeps up for long.
I recommend the book Technical Communication by Mike Markel (http://www.amazon.com/Technical-Communication-Mike-Markel/dp/0312441975/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199371904&sr=8-2)
It goes into a lot of the basic theory behind good communication in general, which is really all an interface is (communication between the user and the computer). It does not have a chapter on interfaces specifically, but it talks in depth on good electronic interfaces like online documents and webpages.
I would have loved to read TFA so I could respond intelligently to your comment. Alas, I have to log in to the LA Times to read it. Could we post stories with articles we all can read?
I second that. I know of a developer who had several lines of comments for every bit of code in his project. A 100-line applet was all of a sudden ballooned into a thousand line monstrosity because he thought that all code should be commented.
I'm sorry, but "If blnVariable = True" is hardly complicated code.
If the program does what it was intended to do, and if the customer is happy, then to hell with the code. It works. Mark it "Complete" and move on. Most of us have too much work to do (with bosses breathing down our necks to get it done "on time") to mess with textbook-perfect code.
That's my $0.02 USD.