Wow...good job...you ran an executable file from a folder you created on your desktop. If you administrator wanted to he could make your desktop read only and you wouldn't be able to write SHIT there. So this is either a case of an incompetent admin, or more realistically he didn't want his job to be tedious when people couldn't do legitimate things because of insane restrictions.
Big news would be if you were able to add a service to startup, install a keylogger, or change group policies. But you can't, which you would know if you've had any recent experience with Windows Server administration.
Silverlight takes less than 30 seconds to install (less than 10 seconds on a moderately fast computer that is not bogged down with mailware) and only requires a browser reboot.
There is a search feature in the control panel since Vista, and it works quite well. Want to adjust your screensaver? Just type screensaver in there and check out all the options. Want to disable UAC? Try "disable uac".
Regarding finding things in the control panel...it has a search feature there which is VERY handy. Want to make changes to your screensaver? You don't have to remember where they put the settings for that, just type screensaver in the Control Panel's search box and there you go. Try also (especially in Vista) "disable uac". Works wonders.
Using the search makes even the classic view (many people's old favorite) look like the POS it is.
I have Windows 7 on a Pentium M 1.83GHz 512MB RAM machine and I shit you not it is actually running well. Last week I crammed Vista onto this thing which was as exercise in SLOWNESS but I would say Windows 7 is performing about as well as XP did on this machine.
32-bit processors are going to be quite capable of running Windows 7. Reports are that 7 is definitely faster than Vista and maybe faster than XP. Vista runs fine on my 1.6GHz Pentium-M 1.5GB RAM, which is 32-bit, so I don't see where the problem is going to be, with 2+GHz P-M's out there and 3+GHz P-4's.
Why would you use addressing to keep un-authorized traffic from your computers. That is what a firewall is for. The whole NAT thing is really frustrating if you are trying to do any push application, VPN, video-conferencing...etc. Yes there are ways to cope, but why port forward when you could open ports in a firewall?
Actually Vista does have the Run box...you can type anything you used to type in Run right into the "Search" box and it will behave (exactly) the same. ()'s because I'm sure there are some edge cases. If those really bother you, try WindowsKey+R
Copying files using the new remote desktop has saved me HOURS. I can adjust the audio levels per-application. Taskbar items show live previews of the application. Alt-Tab shows previews of the applications. Desktop icons are scalable.
There is no way that Vista "needs" 3GB of RAM. It runs quite well on 1.5GB. The only problem I have then is always waiting for the HDD. But your RAM claims are bogus.
How much time does my computer spend idle? The vast majority. When is it under heavy load? When launching applications. Now, which part would you speed up to give a performance improvement to the end user? Would you make the tasks when the computer is relatively idle run faster. Of course not.
Typical users cannot write Perl scripts. You could write a Perl scripts that replaces the Start Menu, but does the average user want that? No, they don't want to write Perl scripts. They want features in an operating system that improve their life.
Also, RAM caching is pretty advanced. I have not done personal tests to verify, but it is supposed to base what it has loaded on what apps you run at different times of day or on certain days of the week. Now that is a kick-ass feature.
Most of them are just observing from afar and have no real-world experience. Maybe they ran it long enough to see UAC and get pissed a couple times at all the annoying first-time welcome pop-ups. Having used Vista on both of my computers for 3 years now (ever since RC1) I can without question say that this is a reliable OS which I would have no problem recommending to anyone: grandparents, parents, friends, IT co-workers, power plant monitoring systems (OK just kidding about that one).
Your argument is meaningless. I could run 64 instances of a VM on a 1GB RAM computer. They would be DOS of course, but still 64 instances and they could be used for productive things.
On a computer that is actually in every day use the RAM caching is Vista's biggest trick up its sleeve. Launching and using applications is simply faster on ANY Vista machine with enough RAM (1.5GB or greater) after a few days/weeks for it to learn. This is true even on my Pentium M 1.6GHz.
I use my real name online, almost exclusively. The reason is that I want future employers to be able to Google about me and find out what my views and contributions are.
Having my real name associated online with almost everything I do also helps keep me from ranting like a little kid, because I think clearly before I post something and consider whether I will want to read, in 10 years, that I wrote that. It encourages responsible behavior--a good thing.
There are these things called businesses, and they have tens/hundreds/thousands of employees taking care of customers. Then there is 1/10/100 tech support people for that business, and they do not get paid to contribute to open source products. They get paid to find programs that work and help the business make more money.
Yes you can point out exceptions to this. My own experience: I set up a Drupal site last week, including several modules, and there is no way I would be allowed to (or expect myself to) use my work hours to develop, test, write documentation, or help in the forums.
The problem lies in the software we're running on said hardware. The software has gotten so big and so bloated, it just "looks like" the hardware hasn't gotten any better. 30 gigabytes of HD space, a 256MB Graphics Card, and 2GB of RAM just to run an operating system? Absolutely unnecessary.
It depends what you define as an operating system. DOS is an operating system. It only needs a couple MB of RAM. Vista is an entire platform including everything people need to be productive. You can edit documents, listen to music, run a Media Center, stream music to other computers, run a webserver, organize your photos, take handwritten notes, maintain a search index of all your files, have an interface that impresses all your friends with eye candy, edits movies, etc. the list goes on and on.
The features have gotten a lot better. Are all of those the best tool for the job? No, but there are there and a lot of people use them and !gasp! actually get a lot of stuff done. Also, on my computers Vista takes less than 10GB ($1.00) HDD, less than 2GB ($60) RAM, and GMA950 integrated graphics (cheap).
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Wow...good job...you ran an executable file from a folder you created on your desktop. If you administrator wanted to he could make your desktop read only and you wouldn't be able to write SHIT there. So this is either a case of an incompetent admin, or more realistically he didn't want his job to be tedious when people couldn't do legitimate things because of insane restrictions.
Big news would be if you were able to add a service to startup, install a keylogger, or change group policies. But you can't, which you would know if you've had any recent experience with Windows Server administration.
Silverlight takes less than 30 seconds to install (less than 10 seconds on a moderately fast computer that is not bogged down with mailware) and only requires a browser reboot.
Those running MS-DOS are left out in the cold too. Where would you like to draw the line?
There is a search feature in the control panel since Vista, and it works quite well. Want to adjust your screensaver? Just type screensaver in there and check out all the options. Want to disable UAC? Try "disable uac".
It is, IMHO, better than even the classic view.
I am also running it on 512MB RAM and am delighted with how responsive it is.
I'm with you in the minority on point 4. Saves a TON of time.
Regarding finding things in the control panel...it has a search feature there which is VERY handy. Want to make changes to your screensaver? You don't have to remember where they put the settings for that, just type screensaver in the Control Panel's search box and there you go. Try also (especially in Vista) "disable uac". Works wonders.
Using the search makes even the classic view (many people's old favorite) look like the POS it is.
This page is really quite easy to find: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Features_new_to_Windows_7
This guy said quite well what they have improved: http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1089649&cid=26426735
I have Windows 7 on a Pentium M 1.83GHz 512MB RAM machine and I shit you not it is actually running well. Last week I crammed Vista onto this thing which was as exercise in SLOWNESS but I would say Windows 7 is performing about as well as XP did on this machine.
32-bit processors are going to be quite capable of running Windows 7. Reports are that 7 is definitely faster than Vista and maybe faster than XP. Vista runs fine on my 1.6GHz Pentium-M 1.5GB RAM, which is 32-bit, so I don't see where the problem is going to be, with 2+GHz P-M's out there and 3+GHz P-4's.
Why would you use addressing to keep un-authorized traffic from your computers. That is what a firewall is for. The whole NAT thing is really frustrating if you are trying to do any push application, VPN, video-conferencing...etc. Yes there are ways to cope, but why port forward when you could open ports in a firewall?
What were people doing with their operating system that is so complicated? What was the previous operating system?
Actually Vista does have the Run box...you can type anything you used to type in Run right into the "Search" box and it will behave (exactly) the same. ()'s because I'm sure there are some edge cases. If those really bother you, try WindowsKey+R
Like MySpace does? http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/Projects-Networks-and-Storage/Inside-MySpacecom/5/
Nah, I'll just keep using it, and it will just keep working, day after day, causing me NO PROBLEMS.
Copying files using the new remote desktop has saved me HOURS. I can adjust the audio levels per-application. Taskbar items show live previews of the application. Alt-Tab shows previews of the applications. Desktop icons are scalable.
Could be, but who cares. People are used to Windows...let them run Windows.
Looks good on Vista with IE7. Microsoft: it just works.
There is no way that Vista "needs" 3GB of RAM. It runs quite well on 1.5GB. The only problem I have then is always waiting for the HDD. But your RAM claims are bogus.
How much time does my computer spend idle? The vast majority. When is it under heavy load? When launching applications. Now, which part would you speed up to give a performance improvement to the end user? Would you make the tasks when the computer is relatively idle run faster. Of course not.
Typical users cannot write Perl scripts. You could write a Perl scripts that replaces the Start Menu, but does the average user want that? No, they don't want to write Perl scripts. They want features in an operating system that improve their life.
Also, RAM caching is pretty advanced. I have not done personal tests to verify, but it is supposed to base what it has loaded on what apps you run at different times of day or on certain days of the week. Now that is a kick-ass feature.
Most of them are just observing from afar and have no real-world experience. Maybe they ran it long enough to see UAC and get pissed a couple times at all the annoying first-time welcome pop-ups. Having used Vista on both of my computers for 3 years now (ever since RC1) I can without question say that this is a reliable OS which I would have no problem recommending to anyone: grandparents, parents, friends, IT co-workers, power plant monitoring systems (OK just kidding about that one).
Your argument is meaningless. I could run 64 instances of a VM on a 1GB RAM computer. They would be DOS of course, but still 64 instances and they could be used for productive things.
On a computer that is actually in every day use the RAM caching is Vista's biggest trick up its sleeve. Launching and using applications is simply faster on ANY Vista machine with enough RAM (1.5GB or greater) after a few days/weeks for it to learn. This is true even on my Pentium M 1.6GHz.
I use my real name online, almost exclusively. The reason is that I want future employers to be able to Google about me and find out what my views and contributions are.
Having my real name associated online with almost everything I do also helps keep me from ranting like a little kid, because I think clearly before I post something and consider whether I will want to read, in 10 years, that I wrote that. It encourages responsible behavior--a good thing.
There are these things called businesses, and they have tens/hundreds/thousands of employees taking care of customers. Then there is 1/10/100 tech support people for that business, and they do not get paid to contribute to open source products. They get paid to find programs that work and help the business make more money.
Yes you can point out exceptions to this. My own experience: I set up a Drupal site last week, including several modules, and there is no way I would be allowed to (or expect myself to) use my work hours to develop, test, write documentation, or help in the forums.
The problem lies in the software we're running on said hardware. The software has gotten so big and so bloated, it just "looks like" the hardware hasn't gotten any better. 30 gigabytes of HD space, a 256MB Graphics Card, and 2GB of RAM just to run an operating system? Absolutely unnecessary.
It depends what you define as an operating system. DOS is an operating system. It only needs a couple MB of RAM. Vista is an entire platform including everything people need to be productive. You can edit documents, listen to music, run a Media Center, stream music to other computers, run a webserver, organize your photos, take handwritten notes, maintain a search index of all your files, have an interface that impresses all your friends with eye candy, edits movies, etc. the list goes on and on.
The features have gotten a lot better. Are all of those the best tool for the job? No, but there are there and a lot of people use them and !gasp! actually get a lot of stuff done. Also, on my computers Vista takes less than 10GB ($1.00) HDD, less than 2GB ($60) RAM, and GMA950 integrated graphics (cheap).