Somebody else probably already said something about this, but if they're having trouble getting a 64 bit driver working, why don't they migrate to using a WMI query instead? You should be able to get plenty of information regarding the BIOS and CPU via WMI, as well as almost any other information you could ever dream about finding about the computer. Of course, this fails to answer the question of why they need this information, but I'm merely assuming it stems from the CPU check.
Not that I agree that so many people will suddenly dispose of their old computers, but if that were the case, why not establish some incentives for donating them instead of throwing them away? Give the original owner a free/discounted copy of Vista Home Basic or a free/discounted hardware upgrade (RAM/Monitor/Larger HDD/etc...) with the purchase of a new Vista-ready machine if they ship their old PC in (sort-of like replacing a car battery - you get the discount/refund when they get the old battery).
Think about it - if that were the case, companies like Dell and HP could possibly work with an institution (be it academic, charitable, or whatever) to start a ODPC (one desktop per child) project, where old PCs that would otherwise be completely trashed would be reformatted, have a free OS installed, and then sold at a very low price for similar uses as the OLPC machines. Granted, there's no spiffy hand-crank, but you have to admit it would have its benefits for education! Kids could still learn to type using these computers.
Not that they necessarily count for much, but I'll post my thoughts because I can
As a developer, the biggest change we have had to deal with is the UAC feature. As we/. folk are aware, this limits permissions even for an administrator. As a component vendor, we simply have to keep our customers informed of how to deal with this when they set up their installers, but this really is not a big deal
The UI is OK, and the feel of the animations is pleasant and familiar to me from playing with Compiz and Beryl. However, I really don't care for how the "glass" blurs out window contents of windows underneath the active window. When you have a window full of text underneath it, it can make the title bar look strange, and just a little difficult to focus on the text of the title bar initially. It's a quirk I don't particularly care for, and I know I can turn the glass off if I choose.
As far as how nice an environment it is for development; ask me again later when I can comfortably use Visual Studio 2005 in Vista - when Service Pack 1 Update for Vista is not a beta any longer (some time this quarter).
I haven't tried it out as a web development environment yet (using IIS and MSSQL 2005), so I still have to evaluate that... Any input is welcome, of course!
Overall, my opinion of Vista is rather neutral. I welcome the new APIs, though I cannot use many of them because of our need to provide backwards compatibility beyond just Windows XP. I find it to be more aesthetically pleasing than Windows XP's default theme, but as a developer, I'm sorely disappointed that so many development tools are not compatible with the new version of the OS. Clearly, I can still write code for Vista while I'm not using Vista, but many people who use tools other than VB6, FoxPro 9, and Visual Studio 2005 will find a good reason not to upgrade to Vista (or a good reason to look into virtualization software like VMWare).
Come to think of it, I'm not really a Borland guy, but has anyone tested old versions of Delphi, C-Builder, etc..? I'm curious to know what versions of Borland's products, if any, no longer function on Vista.
If it where to have the same style of game-play except with a Wii controller, some better graphics, new challenges and weapons, and the same old poor translations with some voice-overs, it would prove to be very entertaining!
What has been working for me is Ubuntu Server. I have a nice mini-atx case with a P3 700MHz processor and 512MB of PC133 RAM and a 120 GB hard disk. The server runs very fast, and has been more than I have ever needed for my personal needs. I use it as a small file server that is also accessible via SFTP (allowing me to do some work-related R&D at home and transfer the files to and from the office), I put my wife's portfolio/resume up there for interviews, and so on. It works great, and has never been put under any kind of serious load. It also uses very little power, generates very little heat, and is whisper-quiet. Ubuntu 6.10 server allows me to set up a LAMP server *very* easily, and from there setting up my favorite CMS was also *very* easy.
What I want to know is, even if they "dumb-down" the server administration and (at least to some extent) security, how much else can they dumb-down for this? Does it come with a database server? The average home user would probably like to host a web site, but are they going to include a feature-rich CMS to do this? Probably not...
First, there's the issue of "programmers" not really having the slightest clue as to how to do what they do correctly. Working for a company that sells components for developers, I can confidently state that there are far too many use the word "programmer" a bit too loosely.
The next problem is the user. Here's were the crappy car analogy comes in. Ever seen a 40 year old driver who has been driving for 20+ years who can't drive well? You would think the person would be an educated driver by then, but nope! Not all people care to educate themselves regardless of what it is and how it might be of benefit to them.
As a programmer always striving to offer complicated features/solutions that are simple and intuitive to use, my goal is to best help those who help themselves. We always do our best to get feedback from our user community and make things as easy as we reasonably can for them. That kind of care at least makes our software not suck all so bad at all.:-)
I agree with ricree - there's a huge difference in expressing intent to inflict harm and expressing that anyone else's attempt to inflict harm to you simply will not be tolerated (and not likely to be successful as ricree mentioned). So long as no violent gestures and/or comments were made, there's nothing wrong with a subtle display of strength. People show off strength all the time - it doesn't mean they're going to use it to beat the crap out of somebody they don't like.
I'm not sure that using the "rel" attribute would be ideal, but I understand that this was likely being suggested in light of the fact that passing standards through the W3C would take way too long, and waiting for the adoption of the standard in browsers would be even worse. Ideally, they would establish some sort of "rating" attribute that could be applied similarly, as this could be a little more robust by defining (using fixed values like media types) "maturity levels" (rather than ages, since this can vary internationally). Even so, there's no practical way to enforce the use of such an attribute; it's tough enough to get people to even consider standards and best practices.
I agree with the parent, and I saw enough posts complaining about Win32 platform support that I felt I had to speak my mind. Here's an analogy:
I recently swapped out a motor in an older car. Now at this point, it is obvious I am a hobbyist and not you're average motorist when it comes to technical understanding of automobiles. That aside, I understood going into this project that the motor was not the same exact type of motor the car came with. It was a slightly larger and slightly newer motor (also used domestically for a slightly newer model of the car) that happened to be interchangeable. However, with that in mind, the distributor and the timing belt needed to be replaced, and I had a heck of a time finding the correct parts for that motor. Furthermore, though it runs great, there are some quirks that would upset the average driver. For example, the check-engine light comes on simply because it is a slightly different motor running the older ECU. Another quirk is that sometimes old things break, such as the break light sensor (though this was simple enough to fix with a penny and some duck tape), the side-view mirrors need to be replaced as they clearly show age when the bounce around instead of holding the mirror's position.
Now you're probably asking, how is this analogous? Overall, the car runs pretty well and it made for an awesome learning experience for me. Certainly, it doesn't have the "pep" newer cars of its class have; however, I expect that since it's also pretty old. More importantly, some mechanics only have ODB2 readers, while that car needs a traditional ODB reader to read codes off the ECU, so getting an accurate diagnosis on a problem for it (much like technical support) can be a little difficult (especially when it comes down to finding a mechanic you trust - and those ODB readers cost more than I would like to spend at this time).
So now you have a new graphics and rendering engine, and you're trying to squeeze that in with an old computer (like dropping in a new engine and transmission with an older ECU). Furthermore, you're complaining that you can't use this new graphical and rendering engine in an older computer, much like I couldn't use a brand new motor from a 2007 model without spending gobs of money and time to make the car essentially 'new' again starting with chassis modifications (much like building an entirely new computer).
Hopefully this paints the picture fairly well. While uniformity and compatibility is paramount, there comes a point in time where old technology should no longer be supported because it is too prohibitive to the progress of new and emerging technologies. I certainly have not heard of anybody complaining about the fact that a 2007 Civic Si complaining that the motor can't just be "dropped in" a 1995 Civic DX (and believe me, I would love to have that motor in the 1995 Civic, but it's not worth my time and money right now).
I'm not saying this out of paranoia - I'm saying this from personal experiences. I took a trip about a year ago to attend my brother's wedding. As luck would have it, my birthday had passed while I was at my travel destination, and with all the wedding and family stuff going on, I failed to realize that my drivers license had expired while I was at my travel destination. When I went to go on my return flight, I was flagged for "special" scanning/treatment, and I've been "randomly selected" to be frisked every time I travel after that as well. They can look through my bags all they want, but I must admit I seriously dislike (though I tolerate it to avoid conflict with the TSA) being frisked like that by some stranger every time I travel.
I'm certain some good jokes will follow this, but at least learn from my mistake: make sure your drivers license (even though is technically valid 30 days after expiration) does not expire in the midst of your travels!
That's simple - the only businesses that have access to it now include MSDN subscribers and members of their partner program. This means it primarily affects developers who are the ones typically interesting in early adoption; however, they really don't support much of their own development tools right now. They won't support Visual Studio 2005 until SP1 is released first quarter next year, they won't support Visual Studio 2003, 2002, or 6 at all (though they do support Visual Basic 6.0 and Visual FoxPro 9.0). You can read up on this yourself, of course.
Just know that while your 16 bit apps will run under Vista, but this is only true for the 32bit version of Vista, as your programs will always fail to run in the 64bit version... This may not be a big deal now, but it could become a problem as 64bit processing becomes more common.
It's one M$ is hoping to control/sway considerably:
In addition, Microsoft won't assert rights over patents over software technology that may be incorporated into Suse Linux, the people said. Businesses that use Linux have long worried that Microsoft would one day file patent infringement suits against sellers of the rival software.
So if I were to try to compare a combination of a program running on.NET and Mono, and I wanted to publish results of how it works "out of the box," I couldn't and that's ok to you?
I agree - there's not much to argue here. I agree having so many options might seem confusing to some. I remember hearing people saying "Microsoft crashed" when they really meant "Microsoft Office Crashed" or "Microsoft Windows Crashed," or maybe even an entirely unrelated program that was merely being run on Windows. This kind of selection will glaze many eyes, and is a great opportunity to make some extra cash if you're a retailer...
This is not a non-issue. As a developer, I can vouch that there are very rare cases where one "edition" of Windows experiences a reproducible unexpected behavior in a program while another edition does not. Let me emphasize that this is extraordinarily rare. However, should an issue like this arise, I would like to be able to reproduce and resolve a bug of that sort with a virtual machine. Furthermore, developers who need to perform platform specific builds can immensely benefit from virtualization. Ideally, one should be able to use virtualization to make a linux build, BSD/MacOSX build, Windows 32 bit build, Windows 64 bit build, etc...
Certainly, no home user would do this, but the matter of copying a virtual machine from one machine to another to collaborate on troubleshooting a bug may also be an issue (not everyone uses a virtualization server)
That may be, but being a box of Kleenex tissues sitting in your home would be infinitely dirtier. Sorry d00d, but you opened your self up for that one.
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Somebody else probably already said something about this, but if they're having trouble getting a 64 bit driver working, why don't they migrate to using a WMI query instead? You should be able to get plenty of information regarding the BIOS and CPU via WMI, as well as almost any other information you could ever dream about finding about the computer. Of course, this fails to answer the question of why they need this information, but I'm merely assuming it stems from the CPU check.
Right - because we would never want to embolden such people/groups.
Not that I agree that so many people will suddenly dispose of their old computers, but if that were the case, why not establish some incentives for donating them instead of throwing them away? Give the original owner a free/discounted copy of Vista Home Basic or a free/discounted hardware upgrade (RAM/Monitor/Larger HDD/etc...) with the purchase of a new Vista-ready machine if they ship their old PC in (sort-of like replacing a car battery - you get the discount/refund when they get the old battery).
Think about it - if that were the case, companies like Dell and HP could possibly work with an institution (be it academic, charitable, or whatever) to start a ODPC (one desktop per child) project, where old PCs that would otherwise be completely trashed would be reformatted, have a free OS installed, and then sold at a very low price for similar uses as the OLPC machines. Granted, there's no spiffy hand-crank, but you have to admit it would have its benefits for education! Kids could still learn to type using these computers.
Not that they necessarily count for much, but I'll post my thoughts because I can
Overall, my opinion of Vista is rather neutral. I welcome the new APIs, though I cannot use many of them because of our need to provide backwards compatibility beyond just Windows XP. I find it to be more aesthetically pleasing than Windows XP's default theme, but as a developer, I'm sorely disappointed that so many development tools are not compatible with the new version of the OS. Clearly, I can still write code for Vista while I'm not using Vista, but many people who use tools other than VB6, FoxPro 9, and Visual Studio 2005 will find a good reason not to upgrade to Vista (or a good reason to look into virtualization software like VMWare).
Come to think of it, I'm not really a Borland guy, but has anyone tested old versions of Delphi, C-Builder, etc..? I'm curious to know what versions of Borland's products, if any, no longer function on Vista.
Anyone who missed the season premiere of "Ow! My Balls!" can watch it here
If it where to have the same style of game-play except with a Wii controller, some better graphics, new challenges and weapons, and the same old poor translations with some voice-overs, it would prove to be very entertaining!
What has been working for me is Ubuntu Server. I have a nice mini-atx case with a P3 700MHz processor and 512MB of PC133 RAM and a 120 GB hard disk. The server runs very fast, and has been more than I have ever needed for my personal needs. I use it as a small file server that is also accessible via SFTP (allowing me to do some work-related R&D at home and transfer the files to and from the office), I put my wife's portfolio/resume up there for interviews, and so on. It works great, and has never been put under any kind of serious load. It also uses very little power, generates very little heat, and is whisper-quiet. Ubuntu 6.10 server allows me to set up a LAMP server *very* easily, and from there setting up my favorite CMS was also *very* easy.
What I want to know is, even if they "dumb-down" the server administration and (at least to some extent) security, how much else can they dumb-down for this? Does it come with a database server? The average home user would probably like to host a web site, but are they going to include a feature-rich CMS to do this? Probably not...
First, there's the issue of "programmers" not really having the slightest clue as to how to do what they do correctly. Working for a company that sells components for developers, I can confidently state that there are far too many use the word "programmer" a bit too loosely.
The next problem is the user. Here's were the crappy car analogy comes in. Ever seen a 40 year old driver who has been driving for 20+ years who can't drive well? You would think the person would be an educated driver by then, but nope! Not all people care to educate themselves regardless of what it is and how it might be of benefit to them.
As a programmer always striving to offer complicated features/solutions that are simple and intuitive to use, my goal is to best help those who help themselves. We always do our best to get feedback from our user community and make things as easy as we reasonably can for them. That kind of care at least makes our software not suck all so bad at all. :-)
I agree with ricree - there's a huge difference in expressing intent to inflict harm and expressing that anyone else's attempt to inflict harm to you simply will not be tolerated (and not likely to be successful as ricree mentioned). So long as no violent gestures and/or comments were made, there's nothing wrong with a subtle display of strength. People show off strength all the time - it doesn't mean they're going to use it to beat the crap out of somebody they don't like.
After reading the replies posted while I was typing my initial reply, I almost want to mod myself redundant... geeze!
I'm not sure that using the "rel" attribute would be ideal, but I understand that this was likely being suggested in light of the fact that passing standards through the W3C would take way too long, and waiting for the adoption of the standard in browsers would be even worse. Ideally, they would establish some sort of "rating" attribute that could be applied similarly, as this could be a little more robust by defining (using fixed values like media types) "maturity levels" (rather than ages, since this can vary internationally). Even so, there's no practical way to enforce the use of such an attribute; it's tough enough to get people to even consider standards and best practices.
::sniffle:: "Gee boss, I could really use a substantial increase in my salary."
-or-
::sniffle:: "C'mon honey, doing it would make me feel sooo much better."
I agree with the parent, and I saw enough posts complaining about Win32 platform support that I felt I had to speak my mind. Here's an analogy:
I recently swapped out a motor in an older car. Now at this point, it is obvious I am a hobbyist and not you're average motorist when it comes to technical understanding of automobiles. That aside, I understood going into this project that the motor was not the same exact type of motor the car came with. It was a slightly larger and slightly newer motor (also used domestically for a slightly newer model of the car) that happened to be interchangeable. However, with that in mind, the distributor and the timing belt needed to be replaced, and I had a heck of a time finding the correct parts for that motor. Furthermore, though it runs great, there are some quirks that would upset the average driver. For example, the check-engine light comes on simply because it is a slightly different motor running the older ECU. Another quirk is that sometimes old things break, such as the break light sensor (though this was simple enough to fix with a penny and some duck tape), the side-view mirrors need to be replaced as they clearly show age when the bounce around instead of holding the mirror's position.
Now you're probably asking, how is this analogous? Overall, the car runs pretty well and it made for an awesome learning experience for me. Certainly, it doesn't have the "pep" newer cars of its class have; however, I expect that since it's also pretty old. More importantly, some mechanics only have ODB2 readers, while that car needs a traditional ODB reader to read codes off the ECU, so getting an accurate diagnosis on a problem for it (much like technical support) can be a little difficult (especially when it comes down to finding a mechanic you trust - and those ODB readers cost more than I would like to spend at this time).
So now you have a new graphics and rendering engine, and you're trying to squeeze that in with an old computer (like dropping in a new engine and transmission with an older ECU). Furthermore, you're complaining that you can't use this new graphical and rendering engine in an older computer, much like I couldn't use a brand new motor from a 2007 model without spending gobs of money and time to make the car essentially 'new' again starting with chassis modifications (much like building an entirely new computer).
Hopefully this paints the picture fairly well. While uniformity and compatibility is paramount, there comes a point in time where old technology should no longer be supported because it is too prohibitive to the progress of new and emerging technologies. I certainly have not heard of anybody complaining about the fact that a 2007 Civic Si complaining that the motor can't just be "dropped in" a 1995 Civic DX (and believe me, I would love to have that motor in the 1995 Civic, but it's not worth my time and money right now).
The question I have is, "do any of you resent the time your mom spent on the phone with me planning late-night festivities you were unaware of?"
I'm not saying this out of paranoia - I'm saying this from personal experiences. I took a trip about a year ago to attend my brother's wedding. As luck would have it, my birthday had passed while I was at my travel destination, and with all the wedding and family stuff going on, I failed to realize that my drivers license had expired while I was at my travel destination. When I went to go on my return flight, I was flagged for "special" scanning/treatment, and I've been "randomly selected" to be frisked every time I travel after that as well. They can look through my bags all they want, but I must admit I seriously dislike (though I tolerate it to avoid conflict with the TSA) being frisked like that by some stranger every time I travel.
I'm certain some good jokes will follow this, but at least learn from my mistake: make sure your drivers license (even though is technically valid 30 days after expiration) does not expire in the midst of your travels!
That's simple - the only businesses that have access to it now include MSDN subscribers and members of their partner program. This means it primarily affects developers who are the ones typically interesting in early adoption; however, they really don't support much of their own development tools right now. They won't support Visual Studio 2005 until SP1 is released first quarter next year, they won't support Visual Studio 2003, 2002, or 6 at all (though they do support Visual Basic 6.0 and Visual FoxPro 9.0). You can read up on this yourself, of course.
"Let him turn into toast."
Kind-of like this, right?
Irregardless of what their explanation is, they should not need more than 640K.
Just know that while your 16 bit apps will run under Vista, but this is only true for the 32bit version of Vista, as your programs will always fail to run in the 64bit version... This may not be a big deal now, but it could become a problem as 64bit processing becomes more common.
...students must learn to write cryptic code only they themselves are capable of maintaining. ;-)
It's one M$ is hoping to control/sway considerably:
To address your points 1 by 1...
...and less users on Apache and other alternatives.
That may be, but being a box of Kleenex tissues sitting in your home would be infinitely dirtier. Sorry d00d, but you opened your self up for that one.