I did a google search to confirm the required ns speed for PC100 defined by standards. There's nothing like that, but the speed rating does need to be fast enough to support the BUS speed for reliability reasons. Check out this page on The PC Guide. Thanks for the blurb on Watts. Very interesting!
Actually, it was offshored, not outsourced. These are two completely unrelated terms. Offshored means that the operation moved to another country. Outsourced means that another company was hired to perform the function.
For example, Microsoft outsources some of their tech support to Convergys. Both companies offshore to India for some of their tech support.
The only similarity is that both offshoring and outsourcing save the company money. Outsourced workers get paid less and get less benefits becuase they work in a call center environment (As close to a sweat shop as you can get in the industry). When offshoring, the savings are even more dramatic due to economic differences.
Generally, outsourcing in the U.S. or Canada is transparent to the consumer and is a proven method to save money, even in the long term. Offshoring on the other hand is a relatively new venture with few (If any) long term studies. As a techie that has worked with Indians, I have no qualms about their ability. It's not like we're genetically superior in the U.S. The only problem I have is that when I'm not screwing around on Slashdot, my time is valuable and wasting it trying to talk to someone who has poor verbal English skills is a kick in the crotch from a company we do business with. I would have had us purchase something other than Dell if it weren't for their recent move back to the states for business support. Their move back to the states tells me that they got scared as companies took their high dollar purchases elsewhere and/or threatened to do so. Another problem with offshoring, I believe, is that the majority of people in the states think that someone in a poorer country will be less able to help them which gives Indians an unfair stigma. In the end, we'll see how decreased customer satisfaction impacts the precious bottom line and that in turn will dictate where the jobs are.
I know this blurb doesn't count when it comes to programming jobs. Sorry, but the only chance programmers have to compete against offshoring is to have employers that believe they're worth the relative premium or hope that legal issues (IP, malware, espionage, goverment secrets, etc.) scare the jobs away from offshoring. Personally, I'm ignorant of the laws in India that protect corporations. Maybe someone could comment on this?
Sorry my response to your comment is on a serious note. What started as a simple correction turned into a complete package of my thoughts on these corporate trends.
The network chipset is Broadcom, the vendor is dell. You were right to use the Broadcom diagnostic utility to determine that it crapped out. The Dell rep you spoke with is forced to only use the Dell utilities which aren't as thorough as the manufacturer provided utilities. Just call in and make a huge fuss explaining in layman's terms what you did to determine that it's the onboard NIC that's causing issues. Make a huge squeak and you'll get your greasing.
"Tyan MB's tend to lock as soon as the POST is complete. Memtest86 ran for 7 days and could not find a problem with the DIMM."
Bullshit. If it locks as soon as POST is complete, memtest-86 wouldn't even start since the computer would be locked. If you really want to send me the memory, email me at lucasz@hotmail.com.
I just returned two Maxtor drives that passed multiple "extended" tests with their diag utils. BOTH have entire tracks that aren't readable -- sector mark not found... they aren't there anymore.
That's how hard drives work. When parts of the disk are bad, it marks them as such and doesn't use them. Besides, didn't I say that you can't trust a disk 100% just because it passes the extended test? You were right in returning them since they were new. Drives should only develop bad sectors after lots of use.
"Also, you can always make a bootable CD from a bootable floppy using most CD burning programs assuming you have one floppy drive somewhere that you could use for the transformation."
I'm a dork. You don't even need a floppy drive to do this. *grin*
Good point! MemTest-86 also comes on bootable CD. I should also mention that it's licensed under the GPL (FREE!!!!).:)
Also, you can always make a bootable CD from a bootable floppy using most CD burning programs assuming you have one floppy drive somewhere that you could use for the transformation. Here's a good article I found on doing this.
I've ordered a good amount of memory from Coast to Coast. I've saved a lot of money for my friends/family/clients, especially when it comes to SODIMMs (Laptop memory) and router memory. I don't buy their memory because it's the best. I buy from them because I've only had one compatibility issue (Which was promptly resolved) and the price/performance ratio is tremendously in their favor. The relative running Windows XP on 128MB of RAM is in heaven when they get an additional stick thrown in, regardless of how fast it is. Before the upgrade they were running 1000 times slower on the pagefile!
Going back on topic, let me share what I've learned about troubleshooting hardware issues. First, let me stress that it's usually not a hardware issue. Drivers, resource conflicts, and buggy BIOS/Firmware code is usually the issue. When it comes to "diagnostic" software for real hardware problems, there's little you can do. For memory, there's MemTest-86. This program hasn't failed to spot bad memory for me yet. For hard drives, go to the manufacturer's web site to get a bootable diagnostic floppy. Usually the quick tests are all that's needed, but it could pay off to do the extended test if the quick one says everything's OK. Even if the extended test comes back fine, don't rule out the drive. The problem could be intermittent. For the rest of the hardware, simply swap components around until you narrow it down. Take out that video card and toss in a spare one that you've had for several years and know works. For the CPU, toss in any other CPU that matches the original's architecture (Just a different speed rating is OK). I think you get the idea on the (Swapping out) method. Also, never underestimate the crap a poor power supply unit (PSU) can throw at you! Stability issues could be coming from an unreliable current. Of course, temperature problems could also cause these same stability issues, but that's much easier to monitor. When you get to a point where you're truly stumped, some manufacturers have forums that you can go to for help. This is especially true in the homebuilt market with Abit, VIA, AMD, etc.
"I don't know of a single sysadmin worth his salt that blindly installs microsoft patches as and when they come out."
Sorry, but your method of thinking is outdated and you are full of shit. I supported NT4 Server for Microsoft for about a year and a half and have several friends that still support it as well as 2000. I helped the sysadmins that were "worth their salt". Give me all these examples you're referring to of patches hosing systems. When it comes to MS, the worst issue I saw was the SP6a security rollup hotfix breaking Compaq Proliants with old drivers for a specific RAID controller. That was about three years ago. In that situation, the good sysadmins kept the code (drivers and firmware versions) on the servers up to date for stability and performance reasons and weren't affected. If it weren't for all the testing they do on patches that make dramatic changes, you would actually see these swarms of problem patches you're imagining. They test the patches so we can have good faith that there's a low chance they'll break something.
These days, we don't have the time to go though the vigorous testing before deploying we once preached. It doesn't matter who the vendor is (Cisco, Microsoft, etc.). If it's a security vulnerability, you better patch it up ASAP before a worm goes wild. A worm coming out pronto is very likely these days. That doesn't mean you install it without a thought of the worst case scenario. On critical systems, you install the patch in the night to minimize downtime and you have a good backup handy in case something goes wrong. In the extremely unlikely event that a patch is causing issues on scores of workstations, I'll start getting calls from my users as they install it. I can then send out an email to everyone informing them not to install the patch and post something on the doors to the building in case they would otherwise decide to install before reading email. Hell, if it were that bad, I'd add an entry to the access list in our border router preventing everyone from getting to the windows update servers!
It is true that if the source is out in the open, there will be exploits in the wild before patches can be deployed. That's true of anything that has its source out in the open. However, Microsoft's business interest dictates that they protect their customers as much as possible. I trust that their desire to have a good reputation and keep existing customers will make a solution possible. Not to mention the resources and money they have at their disposal to expedite the patch development process.
"This is not good. Windows is designed primarily with 'security by obscurity' in mind. The security holes indeed show up every often and we have worms making it to the gazillion windows boxes before the patch does. Get ready for a deluge of worms/virri. Another bad week/month for sysadmins."
Thanks for that pathetic attempt at reverse FUD. Since when is it Microsoft's responsibility to make sure people aren't ignoring the critical update notification that their system presents them with by default? Where the hell do you get the idea that they centralize security around obscurity? That's just one aspect to security. Would you rather they paint a huge ass bullseye on themselves? As a comparison, let me ask if the DNS root servers should be on display at a central location in Disneyland instead of being stored in an inconspicuous building in an unspecified location? Give me a freaking break. Until you actually learn about the security mechanisms behind the NT family (kerberos, encryption mechanisms, active directory, certificates, NTFS, NTLM v2, etc.), you should just STFU.
I'm sorry, but that's a terrible idea. Customers are used to email responses taking two or three days and voice mails being ignored. Customers know that Greedy Corp is trying to save money by not giving them a live person to talk to. Hell, giving them a live person with language barriers is almost as bad! If the customer feels that they are only going to be thrown aside, they'll cancel service and go somewhere else or (In the case of a tangible product) buy from another manufacturer the next time. In the meantime, they'll bitch to all their friends about the audacity of being routed to voice mail.
"I still remember the script (I had a lot of those meetings), and it went like this"
Please allow me to fill in those gaps! *grin*
Conflict Manager: "So, you both agree that you are here to solve a problem?"
Conflict Manager: "Student X, what is it about Student Y with which you have an issue?"
Student X: "Student Y keeps giving me shit for using Windows and fueling the evil empire even though I didn't pay for it."
Conflict Manager: "Student Y, what is it about Student X with which you have an issue?"
Student Y: "Student X is a fucking tool and a n00b for not being 31337 enough to love the process of mastering Linux, FreeBSD, or any other Open Source OS."
Conflict Manager: "Now, what can we do to resolve these issues?"
Student X: "Nothing. Nothing at all. Student Y's bigotry will go on until he grows up and breaks away from the Slashdot herd mentality. Everyone being 'different' and 'noble' like some new age vegetarian in a futile, destructive effort to sculpt self image and core beliefs."
Student Y: "STFU n00b"
Conflict Manager: "Do you both agree to take the steps we have outlined here?"
Student X: "What steps?"
Student Y: "OMG, a future PHB!"
Conflict Manager: "Do you think we will need to see you two in the future?"
Student X: "That depends on how much abuse and belittlement I can take."
Student Y: "Not if n00b over there finally realizes that his kind is soon to be extinct as Linux continues to dominate the market and keeps making Microsoft ph34r!"
Conflict Manager: "Well then, thank you very much."
Please note that the poster does not have anything against Linux users. Rather, the poster (a former Mac evangelist and current NT, Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris user) has something against people that are closed minded due to an elitist attitude. I could have just as easily replaced OSS with MacOS, BeOS, or OS/2 for that matter.
I'm 23 with a GED and make just over $50,000. I actually wish I weren't so busy with my career and technical certifications so I could take some college classes!
I don't use much of my downstream. Maybe 50MB per day average. I do most of my surfing and downloading at work. What I do need though is faster upstream bandwidth. Right now, Comcast is limiting it to 256kbps (32KB/sec.) and I need around 768kbps to host Halo games on my Xbox. If they had a plan where I payed $10 more a month or something close to that for the increased upstream bandwidth, I wouldn't hesitate to go that route.
Thanks! I was going to setup a redirect page on my home server and post again with a link to that to get around the Slashdot block they put in place. Instead, I decided to unglue myself from the computer. *grin*
-Lucas
"Get the monkey off your back, switch to Mozilla Firebird"
I did, but had to switch back because of a security flaw. I posted to Bugzilla and the developers bumped the severity up to "Major". Here I am almost three months later still waiting for a problem the developers consider major to be fixed. It would seem that the only real progress they've made is the vocabulary used when slandering Microsoft.
Glowing zebra danios have been used for quite a while to benefit studies that improve the human quality of life (i.e. cancer research). It's only recently that they've been marketed as pets.
"It would also prevent the little guy from going up against a large corporation. When a large corporation has 20 lawyers working on a case, they can claim exhorbant amounts of money wasted on the court case, and make the guy who has been wronged pay for the whole thing."
So there's a cap equal to the cost of the plaintiff or the cost of the defense, whichever is less.
A well configured enterprise mail server will block file types that viruses use to spread. Users are usually encouraged to zip files before sending in order to get around this precaution. This virus sends itself in a zip file with a very convincing mail error in the message body that entices the receiver's curiosity. Sure, most of us would delete it or unzip it and realize it's a virus before actually launching it, but most users aren't all that clever. If this virus spread via network shares, it would have spread exponentially faster.
Don't forget to add that you can deploy future patches remotely with the option of not rebooting the client computers. The reboot will happen eventually when the user goes home for the day/weekend. If you have a small army of users that don't shut down, it doesn't take much to send them a gentle request that they restart at their earliest convenience.
"Account management is a breeze in linux as opposed to the nightmare of managing domains, AD and security principles (barf!)."
That's like saying, "Walking is easier than driving a car so why on Earth would anyone want to drive a car?" For the complexity and features of Active Directory, it's really quite simple to administrate, even for a paper MCSE.
"Typing this away at my 25th reboot installing a frigging client machine Running W2k after having installed a fully fledged Linux Terminal Server with 1 (one) reboot."
A "highly trained" microsoft user that claims to reboot 25 times during Windows 2000 setup. BULLSHIT!
"Today it's almost unfathomable that someone wouldn't know what a mouse is [sic]."
Pray that you never land a job providing post sales support for any of the large computer manufacturers or front line ISP support. After a while, the astronomically impossible ignorance doesn't even faze you. I have come to believe that the Amish are joining the real world in record numbers.
Going from the Windows 9x lineage to the NT family has the huge benefit of stability (And added security for those that need it). After that, keeping up to date on patches is a preventative measure. You can plan these patch deployals to minimize or eliminate downtime. As a system administrator and ex-Microsoft NT Server support rep, I've seen the folly in the "Don't fix it if it aint broke" mentality a thousand times. Ask yourself what's better. Planning and deploying updates (As opposed to upgrading for new features) or facing the consequences of a crash during production hours? Nobody lost their job for good planning, but I've seen plenty lose their job by not taking preventative measures.
1) I run a hardware firewall and Anti-Virus on subject computer so Security from the Operating system doesn't concern me hugely
Worms spread faster than anti-virus definitions and it's not always using a direct network connection. IM, email, IRC, P2P Networks to name a few. Regardless, from a network access security standpoint (As opposed to a local security standpoint), both OSes present the same risk level unless you were specifically being targeted by someone with talent. If you're a prime target, the NT family would be much safer.
The system runs fairly stable (not quite as stable as XP, but I crash maybe 1x per week).
My Windows XP system has crashed once in the last two years. Programs rarely crash and when they do, I can reproduce the crash every time. Bug in the program. The couple of dozen people I've switched over from 9x/ME have had similar experiences. One user got a system freeze several months after I switched him. He freaked out because he got so used to having a stable system.
I dual-boot with XP for everything that is XP only
I have seen one program to date that wouldn't run on XP. There were a few other old DOS apps that also had problems, but those were worked around by storing them on an 8.3 path.
Re-installing MS Office and the zillions of other programs that require serials that I may or may not have turns me on to no end...
Bottom line, I'm not leaving Win98 anytime soon if I can help
So your point is that you're too lazy and afraid to make any kind of switch. Are you one of those programmers that detests any kind of change and lives by the motto, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"?
Slashdot Mirror
-Lucas
Actually, it was offshored, not outsourced. These are two completely unrelated terms. Offshored means that the operation moved to another country. Outsourced means that another company was hired to perform the function.
For example, Microsoft outsources some of their tech support to Convergys. Both companies offshore to India for some of their tech support.
The only similarity is that both offshoring and outsourcing save the company money. Outsourced workers get paid less and get less benefits becuase they work in a call center environment (As close to a sweat shop as you can get in the industry). When offshoring, the savings are even more dramatic due to economic differences.
Generally, outsourcing in the U.S. or Canada is transparent to the consumer and is a proven method to save money, even in the long term. Offshoring on the other hand is a relatively new venture with few (If any) long term studies. As a techie that has worked with Indians, I have no qualms about their ability. It's not like we're genetically superior in the U.S. The only problem I have is that when I'm not screwing around on Slashdot, my time is valuable and wasting it trying to talk to someone who has poor verbal English skills is a kick in the crotch from a company we do business with. I would have had us purchase something other than Dell if it weren't for their recent move back to the states for business support. Their move back to the states tells me that they got scared as companies took their high dollar purchases elsewhere and/or threatened to do so. Another problem with offshoring, I believe, is that the majority of people in the states think that someone in a poorer country will be less able to help them which gives Indians an unfair stigma. In the end, we'll see how decreased customer satisfaction impacts the precious bottom line and that in turn will dictate where the jobs are.
I know this blurb doesn't count when it comes to programming jobs. Sorry, but the only chance programmers have to compete against offshoring is to have employers that believe they're worth the relative premium or hope that legal issues (IP, malware, espionage, goverment secrets, etc.) scare the jobs away from offshoring. Personally, I'm ignorant of the laws in India that protect corporations. Maybe someone could comment on this?
Sorry my response to your comment is on a serious note. What started as a simple correction turned into a complete package of my thoughts on these corporate trends.
-Lucas
-Lucas
-Lucas
Bullshit. If it locks as soon as POST is complete, memtest-86 wouldn't even start since the computer would be locked. If you really want to send me the memory, email me at lucasz@hotmail.com.
I just returned two Maxtor drives that passed multiple "extended" tests with their diag utils. BOTH have entire tracks that aren't readable -- sector mark not found... they aren't there anymore.
That's how hard drives work. When parts of the disk are bad, it marks them as such and doesn't use them. Besides, didn't I say that you can't trust a disk 100% just because it passes the extended test? You were right in returning them since they were new. Drives should only develop bad sectors after lots of use.
-Lucas
I'm a dork. You don't even need a floppy drive to do this. *grin*
-Lucas
Also, you can always make a bootable CD from a bootable floppy using most CD burning programs assuming you have one floppy drive somewhere that you could use for the transformation. Here's a good article I found on doing this.
-Lucas
Going back on topic, let me share what I've learned about troubleshooting hardware issues. First, let me stress that it's usually not a hardware issue. Drivers, resource conflicts, and buggy BIOS/Firmware code is usually the issue. When it comes to "diagnostic" software for real hardware problems, there's little you can do. For memory, there's MemTest-86. This program hasn't failed to spot bad memory for me yet. For hard drives, go to the manufacturer's web site to get a bootable diagnostic floppy. Usually the quick tests are all that's needed, but it could pay off to do the extended test if the quick one says everything's OK. Even if the extended test comes back fine, don't rule out the drive. The problem could be intermittent. For the rest of the hardware, simply swap components around until you narrow it down. Take out that video card and toss in a spare one that you've had for several years and know works. For the CPU, toss in any other CPU that matches the original's architecture (Just a different speed rating is OK). I think you get the idea on the (Swapping out) method. Also, never underestimate the crap a poor power supply unit (PSU) can throw at you! Stability issues could be coming from an unreliable current. Of course, temperature problems could also cause these same stability issues, but that's much easier to monitor. When you get to a point where you're truly stumped, some manufacturers have forums that you can go to for help. This is especially true in the homebuilt market with Abit, VIA, AMD, etc.
Good luck and happy hunting!
-Lucas
Sorry, but your method of thinking is outdated and you are full of shit. I supported NT4 Server for Microsoft for about a year and a half and have several friends that still support it as well as 2000. I helped the sysadmins that were "worth their salt". Give me all these examples you're referring to of patches hosing systems. When it comes to MS, the worst issue I saw was the SP6a security rollup hotfix breaking Compaq Proliants with old drivers for a specific RAID controller. That was about three years ago. In that situation, the good sysadmins kept the code (drivers and firmware versions) on the servers up to date for stability and performance reasons and weren't affected. If it weren't for all the testing they do on patches that make dramatic changes, you would actually see these swarms of problem patches you're imagining. They test the patches so we can have good faith that there's a low chance they'll break something.
These days, we don't have the time to go though the vigorous testing before deploying we once preached. It doesn't matter who the vendor is (Cisco, Microsoft, etc.). If it's a security vulnerability, you better patch it up ASAP before a worm goes wild. A worm coming out pronto is very likely these days. That doesn't mean you install it without a thought of the worst case scenario. On critical systems, you install the patch in the night to minimize downtime and you have a good backup handy in case something goes wrong. In the extremely unlikely event that a patch is causing issues on scores of workstations, I'll start getting calls from my users as they install it. I can then send out an email to everyone informing them not to install the patch and post something on the doors to the building in case they would otherwise decide to install before reading email. Hell, if it were that bad, I'd add an entry to the access list in our border router preventing everyone from getting to the windows update servers!
It is true that if the source is out in the open, there will be exploits in the wild before patches can be deployed. That's true of anything that has its source out in the open. However, Microsoft's business interest dictates that they protect their customers as much as possible. I trust that their desire to have a good reputation and keep existing customers will make a solution possible. Not to mention the resources and money they have at their disposal to expedite the patch development process.
-Lucas
Thanks for that pathetic attempt at reverse FUD. Since when is it Microsoft's responsibility to make sure people aren't ignoring the critical update notification that their system presents them with by default? Where the hell do you get the idea that they centralize security around obscurity? That's just one aspect to security. Would you rather they paint a huge ass bullseye on themselves? As a comparison, let me ask if the DNS root servers should be on display at a central location in Disneyland instead of being stored in an inconspicuous building in an unspecified location? Give me a freaking break. Until you actually learn about the security mechanisms behind the NT family (kerberos, encryption mechanisms, active directory, certificates, NTFS, NTLM v2, etc.), you should just STFU.
Thank you.
-Lucas
-Lucas
Please allow me to fill in those gaps! *grin*
Conflict Manager: "So, you both agree that you are here to solve a problem?"
Conflict Manager: "Student X, what is it about Student Y with which you have an issue?"
Student X: "Student Y keeps giving me shit for using Windows and fueling the evil empire even though I didn't pay for it."
Conflict Manager: "Student Y, what is it about Student X with which you have an issue?"
Student Y: "Student X is a fucking tool and a n00b for not being 31337 enough to love the process of mastering Linux, FreeBSD, or any other Open Source OS."
Conflict Manager: "Now, what can we do to resolve these issues?"
Student X: "Nothing. Nothing at all. Student Y's bigotry will go on until he grows up and breaks away from the Slashdot herd mentality. Everyone being 'different' and 'noble' like some new age vegetarian in a futile, destructive effort to sculpt self image and core beliefs."
Student Y: "STFU n00b"
Conflict Manager: "Do you both agree to take the steps we have outlined here?"
Student X: "What steps?"
Student Y: "OMG, a future PHB!"
Conflict Manager: "Do you think we will need to see you two in the future?"
Student X: "That depends on how much abuse and belittlement I can take."
Student Y: "Not if n00b over there finally realizes that his kind is soon to be extinct as Linux continues to dominate the market and keeps making Microsoft ph34r!"
Conflict Manager: "Well then, thank you very much."
Please note that the poster does not have anything against Linux users. Rather, the poster (a former Mac evangelist and current NT, Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris user) has something against people that are closed minded due to an elitist attitude. I could have just as easily replaced OSS with MacOS, BeOS, or OS/2 for that matter.
-Lucas
-Lucas
-Lucas
Thanks! I was going to setup a redirect page on my home server and post again with a link to that to get around the Slashdot block they put in place. Instead, I decided to unglue myself from the computer. *grin* -Lucas
I did, but had to switch back because of a security flaw. I posted to Bugzilla and the developers bumped the severity up to "Major". Here I am almost three months later still waiting for a problem the developers consider major to be fixed. It would seem that the only real progress they've made is the vocabulary used when slandering Microsoft.
-Lucas
-Lucas
So there's a cap equal to the cost of the plaintiff or the cost of the defense, whichever is less.
-Lucas
-Lucas
Don't forget to add that you can deploy future patches remotely with the option of not rebooting the client computers. The reboot will happen eventually when the user goes home for the day/weekend. If you have a small army of users that don't shut down, it doesn't take much to send them a gentle request that they restart at their earliest convenience.
-Lucas
That's like saying, "Walking is easier than driving a car so why on Earth would anyone want to drive a car?" For the complexity and features of Active Directory, it's really quite simple to administrate, even for a paper MCSE.
"Typing this away at my 25th reboot installing a frigging client machine Running W2k after having installed a fully fledged Linux Terminal Server with 1 (one) reboot."
A "highly trained" microsoft user that claims to reboot 25 times during Windows 2000 setup. BULLSHIT!
-Lucas
Pray that you never land a job providing post sales support for any of the large computer manufacturers or front line ISP support. After a while, the astronomically impossible ignorance doesn't even faze you. I have come to believe that the Amish are joining the real world in record numbers.
-Lucas
They did. Link
-Lucas
-Lucas
Worms spread faster than anti-virus definitions and it's not always using a direct network connection. IM, email, IRC, P2P Networks to name a few. Regardless, from a network access security standpoint (As opposed to a local security standpoint), both OSes present the same risk level unless you were specifically being targeted by someone with talent. If you're a prime target, the NT family would be much safer.
The system runs fairly stable (not quite as stable as XP, but I crash maybe 1x per week).
My Windows XP system has crashed once in the last two years. Programs rarely crash and when they do, I can reproduce the crash every time. Bug in the program. The couple of dozen people I've switched over from 9x/ME have had similar experiences. One user got a system freeze several months after I switched him. He freaked out because he got so used to having a stable system.
I dual-boot with XP for everything that is XP only
I have seen one program to date that wouldn't run on XP. There were a few other old DOS apps that also had problems, but those were worked around by storing them on an 8.3 path.
Re-installing MS Office and the zillions of other programs that require serials that I may or may not have turns me on to no end... Bottom line, I'm not leaving Win98 anytime soon if I can help
So your point is that you're too lazy and afraid to make any kind of switch. Are you one of those programmers that detests any kind of change and lives by the motto, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"?
-Lucas