In my opinion we are not really at war with Iraq as much as we are trying to change the face of Iraq. Sadam needed to be taken out of control and someone with the people's needs in mind be put in control.
If you need to mess with run keys, you should try running "msconfig" from the run path. It's a handy tool included that makes modifying your run list easy.
Microsoft actually does work on DirectPlay, if you read the release notes for DirectX 9.0b you'll see that they made big changes in the underlying code for it. The interface remained the same, but enhancements to how it does things were made.
The second thing I'd like to note is that not many games use DirectPlay. The last one that comes to mind is Dungeon Siege, which did indeed have horrible online play.
Windows Update checks to see if you have certain packages installed. This takes care of the part where you suppose that you have no idea if you have it or use it. There are also links next to each update that send you to a page that details what the update covers and often how it was broken.
Dell systems shipped patched to current, I don't know about the others. Although there was some discussion about this, I talked to a friend recently who bought from them and his system was up to date.
Game Boy has been the best example of backwards compatibility; the fanciest GBA SP of today and even the dual-screened Gameboy of the future will still play the original circa-1988 games.
From what I've read, the Dual Screen only plays DS and GBA games, not any of the older ones. It is also not meant to replace the GBA.
That being said, I do believe that this could have all been avoided if people were not lazy about patching. Expecially IT's at big companies with computers that are always on and connected to the internet.
If you were going to calculate that, you would also need to calculate that the patch was already available and should have been pushed to the users in the many months it was available before the worms. Maybe the week it would have taken to test it, and then deploy it.
Switching between the desktop and a game is very much different depending on the game. Typically it's a much smoother process if you run your game in the same resolution as your desktop. If you are unable to right click on the game's task in the taskbar, then something else is going on. If the game runs at 100% cpu, you need to wait and it will appear. If it doesn't, then the game is programmed really badly, IMHO.
Wow, you read a lot into that statement. Basically, I don't like the way MS tends to dumb-down their software. ("Are you sure you want to delete this file?" That's why I bloody clicked delete, now isn't it?!)
There is an option to change this.
OK, nobody is holding a gun to your head to upgrade. But if you want to open that Excel sheet Joe in marketing sent you, and he's got Excel 2005 and you only have Excel 2000, well it's time to upgrade, eh?
MS provides import filters for their newer file formats to use in older versions of the software. There are also free viewers avaiable from MS.
If you read about it, you'll find that the exploit came out right after the patch. It's just that it came out the same day as the patch, as opposed to a few weeks later.
Poor Documentation (man is not a good help system)
Stupid Default Settings
Stupid Path Separators
Stupid Text File Format and keybindings for text editors (^H all over the place?)
Reluctance to spend my time to get things to work
And now for a true rebuttal.
Possible Backdoors/No Auditability
This is true of any downloaded program. Unless oneself spends their own time looking through the source for every piece of software you use, you may never know if there is. You cannot trust others, as they may have been the ones that put it there.
General Flakeyness/BSOD
This is a pretty big myth since the sale of Windows 2000 started. Windows XP is very stable and can be run for months and months without reboot as long as you don't run flaky software on it. It will also not degrade if you do not install flaky software. Instances of these are Gator and Cydoor.
Consumer Mentality
This doesn't really have anything to do with the OS itself, it merely shows that you are trying to divert attention. The elitist nature of many OSS developers is much worse than what I've seen from Windows people.
Forced Upgrades
Forced requires that something is making you do the upgrades, that you cannot keep with what you have. To my knowledge, no one is stopping you from installing Windows 3.1 and using it. It's just that you probably don't want to.
Poor Documentation
Most *nix people tell you to Google or RTFM, if you Google for Windows you find info as well. If you click on Help, there's actually stuff there too. It's in a much nicer format than man pages, and you can search it very easily.
Stupid Default Settings
This is a matter of opinion, and not really a fault of the OS. I find the bash aliases of most distributions lacking, just as I find certain things in Windows different from what I want.
Stupid Path Separators
Another matter of opinion.
Stupid Text File Format
Yet another matter of opinion. Although I'm fairly certain Windows uses a standard text file format, it can easily read either in WordPad.
Reluctance to Support Monopoly
And the final matter of opinion.
Not having backups is not very smart... Many things can go wrong with a computer, since they are made of complex things. A hard drive could go bad, or your motherboard could go crazy. Remember, installing Suse could destroy your CD drive once upon a time.
Theming is available for free in Windows XP. You can use any of the Windows XP themes that were not specificially designed for the third party apps, and they run without fuss and rather smoothly. Check themexp.org for more info
I suppose that's why there are so many windows programs? You cry foul for documentation, but you've probably never even heard of MSDN. A service that can arrive on DVD and is also hosted on the web for free. No, I believe *nix is the development platform from hell, at least for my work (Game programming).
I've seen VB used in quite a few instances. Even in game development. It makes things quite easy when you can use a spreadsheet to manage the data, sort it, and change things in a very simple manner. Then you just use the vb code to export it to the format the game needs.
I also have an AI teacher that demonstrated a neural network running in Excell.
Slashdot Mirror
In my opinion we are not really at war with Iraq as much as we are trying to change the face of Iraq. Sadam needed to be taken out of control and someone with the people's needs in mind be put in control.
If you need to mess with run keys, you should try running "msconfig" from the run path. It's a handy tool included that makes modifying your run list easy.
Microsoft actually does work on DirectPlay, if you read the release notes for DirectX 9.0b you'll see that they made big changes in the underlying code for it. The interface remained the same, but enhancements to how it does things were made.
The second thing I'd like to note is that not many games use DirectPlay. The last one that comes to mind is Dungeon Siege, which did indeed have horrible online play.
Windows Update checks to see if you have certain packages installed. This takes care of the part where you suppose that you have no idea if you have it or use it. There are also links next to each update that send you to a page that details what the update covers and often how it was broken.
Dell systems shipped patched to current, I don't know about the others. Although there was some discussion about this, I talked to a friend recently who bought from them and his system was up to date.
I missed the part where you said spread.
That being said, I do believe that this could have all been avoided if people were not lazy about patching. Expecially IT's at big companies with computers that are always on and connected to the internet.
Well said.
The worm came months after the patch, how was the worm faster?
There has already been a worm that disabled a software firewall. It was a 3rd party one, I believe the name was BlackIce.
If you were going to calculate that, you would also need to calculate that the patch was already available and should have been pushed to the users in the many months it was available before the worms. Maybe the week it would have taken to test it, and then deploy it.
Visual Studio and probably the Platform SDK come with those debug system files you speak of.
I heard there's a resource leak that's been in there for a while. Dunno what else.
The version of Half-Life that works with Steem is very much redesigned.... it only took them this many years to get it right ;)
Out of curiosity, what games don't handle Alt+Tab properly? I know I used to have trouble with Quake 3, but it's gotten better.
Switching between the desktop and a game is very much different depending on the game. Typically it's a much smoother process if you run your game in the same resolution as your desktop. If you are unable to right click on the game's task in the taskbar, then something else is going on. If the game runs at 100% cpu, you need to wait and it will appear. If it doesn't, then the game is programmed really badly, IMHO.
There is an option to change this.
MS provides import filters for their newer file formats to use in older versions of the software. There are also free viewers avaiable from MS.
etc etc
as opposed to the OSS method of naming:
RC1 = pre-alpha with new name
RC2 = alpha
Release = RC2 with new name.
Totally renamed product rewritten from the ground up = Release
If you read about it, you'll find that the exploit came out right after the patch. It's just that it came out the same day as the patch, as opposed to a few weeks later.
I guess all the major dependencies on specific versions of glibc don't count?
Possible Backdoors/No Time For Auditing
General Flakeyness/Bad Drivers
Elitist Mentality
Forced Upgrades that break things
Poor Documentation (man is not a good help system)
Stupid Default Settings
Stupid Path Separators
Stupid Text File Format and keybindings for text editors (^H all over the place?)
Reluctance to spend my time to get things to work
And now for a true rebuttal.
Possible Backdoors/No Auditability
This is true of any downloaded program. Unless oneself spends their own time looking through the source for every piece of software you use, you may never know if there is. You cannot trust others, as they may have been the ones that put it there.
General Flakeyness/BSOD
This is a pretty big myth since the sale of Windows 2000 started. Windows XP is very stable and can be run for months and months without reboot as long as you don't run flaky software on it. It will also not degrade if you do not install flaky software. Instances of these are Gator and Cydoor.
Consumer Mentality
This doesn't really have anything to do with the OS itself, it merely shows that you are trying to divert attention. The elitist nature of many OSS developers is much worse than what I've seen from Windows people.
Forced Upgrades
Forced requires that something is making you do the upgrades, that you cannot keep with what you have. To my knowledge, no one is stopping you from installing Windows 3.1 and using it. It's just that you probably don't want to.
Poor Documentation
Most *nix people tell you to Google or RTFM, if you Google for Windows you find info as well. If you click on Help, there's actually stuff there too. It's in a much nicer format than man pages, and you can search it very easily.
Stupid Default Settings
This is a matter of opinion, and not really a fault of the OS. I find the bash aliases of most distributions lacking, just as I find certain things in Windows different from what I want.
Stupid Path Separators
Another matter of opinion.
Stupid Text File Format
Yet another matter of opinion. Although I'm fairly certain Windows uses a standard text file format, it can easily read either in WordPad.
Reluctance to Support Monopoly
And the final matter of opinion.
Not having backups is not very smart... Many things can go wrong with a computer, since they are made of complex things. A hard drive could go bad, or your motherboard could go crazy. Remember, installing Suse could destroy your CD drive once upon a time.
Windows runs free software too, straight out of the box!
Theming is available for free in Windows XP. You can use any of the Windows XP themes that were not specificially designed for the third party apps, and they run without fuss and rather smoothly. Check themexp.org for more info
I suppose that's why there are so many windows programs? You cry foul for documentation, but you've probably never even heard of MSDN. A service that can arrive on DVD and is also hosted on the web for free. No, I believe *nix is the development platform from hell, at least for my work (Game programming).
Those all sound like comments from someone who doesn't really know what they are talking about. Expecially the one about the text file format.
I've seen VB used in quite a few instances. Even in game development. It makes things quite easy when you can use a spreadsheet to manage the data, sort it, and change things in a very simple manner. Then you just use the vb code to export it to the format the game needs.
I also have an AI teacher that demonstrated a neural network running in Excell.