That analogy doesn't hold water. You go through metal detectors when you enter say, Best Buy. You aren't even their customer at that point but they've already 'treated you like a criminal'. Even if you're just driving past the store front to get to some other store in the mall, their cameras will have recorded you doing that.
Bottom line -- suggest a better way of preventing piracy, maybe then you'll have some moral high-ground for your complaint.
MS forces everyone to buy high-end PCs.. to surf the web... something my i815+celeron, 512 megs from 10 years ago still does perfectly well... under XP. 7 won't run on it, so I'll be forced to junk it.
Who's forcing you to buy Windows 7?
If you choose to buy Windows 7, who's forcing you to junk your old computer as well?
How are they forcing you to do this? Gun to the temple??
If MS did not implement DRM, the content industry would have to drop it because it simply would not work on most computers
I think iTunes (FairPlay DRM) is the most successful, most pervasive, and one of the earliest DRM implementations. And it works on Windows. There is a whole world of collusion in DRM in general -- making MS the poster boy for DRM is crazy.
Not a gamer, so I'm ignorant. Haven't they figured out a way to rip the stupid games to a PC yet? Or, to another console?
That's pretty ignorant even for a non-gamer:).. The 360 has uses a Power PC processor.. games disks contain machine code that's optimized towards a single target CPU and GPU -- never mind other platform differences.
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When they stopped making Atari consoles, and Atari games became hard to find, I abandoned the whole idea of game consoles.
The same argument applies to a cassette player, VCR, DVD player, CRT TV, etc.. You just gotta deal with the fact that stuff gets obsoleted..
Why not build a XBMC-based HTPC with a solid video card and a 360 wireless gamepad, so you can play console-style, while still retaining the option to play with a wireless KB+M?
I actually did have an HTPC (Windows Media Center rather than XBMC) -- but it was more effort than it was worth. The Xbox just works (except when it doesn't -- like when it RRoDs), Xbox Live just works (except when it doesn't), and the 360 looks good in my living room, is cheap, and all my gamer friends have 360s.
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The bottom line is this -- MS screwed up hardcore on the RRoD issue, and they have some (rare) outages on Xbox live -- but it's still the best experience I've ever had with a game console by miles. My opinion might change if my 360 ever RRoDs when it's out of warranty, but until then the worst that's ever happened so far is that I had to live without my xbox for about 9 days. I'll take that, for an awesome experience.
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Besides, I don't have any principle along the lines of "a faulty machine design will have no place in my home". When I consider the number of electronic gadgets that I've had fail on me -- HDDs, multiple phones, ipods, bluetooth adapter, bluetooth headset, flaky CD burners (I'm sure I'm missing a million other things) -- most of these things did not have any warranty on them when they died. Most of them didn't have design defects (or at least didn't acknowledge them) -- so fair game. This one (the 360) does have a design defect, so it has a longer warranty -- fair enough. MS will ultimately pay the monetary price for that defect. As long as it's not coming out of my pocket, that's all I care about.
You made a little mistake with one of your details. The article says that only 3.8% of people would NOT buy another xbox due to hardware failures. That's GREAT news for Microsoft - the message is that people love the 360 regardless of failure.
So here's the funny thing. My (anecdotal) evidence matches your conclusion. But my reading of that statistic doesn't.
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I own a 360. It had an unusually long life (for a 360) and died just before its 3-yr RRoD warranty expired. MS repaired it for free and paid for the shipping. I had to figure out the packing materials to send it in -- some new policy change and no amount of reasoning with customer service could get them to send me a coffin (they simply didn't have any to send out). I hated dealing with their customer service, so I can backup the survey on that as well. But in just over a week I had my xbox back, and I can't imagine life without it.
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Same story with the rest of my Xbox 360 owning friends. We're all hardcore gamers who play online for a couple of hours a day, for several months when titles like Halo/GoW/CoD/MvC etc. release, generally pick up most new games and play through their campaigns, use our Xboxen as media center extenders, have netflix accounts, etc. etc. We're just hooked. Not one single person in the group is on their original 360 (so that 50-something percent actually looks small to me) but not one of us would consider not having a 360.
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But coming back to your point. I consider my group of gamer friends to be a bit of an exception. We're (admittedly) hardcore gamers, we're all nerds and use media center etc., so we get maximum out of our xboxes and we also fall into the category of having disposable income so it doesn't really hurt us to buy a new 360 if we had to (it's never come to that yet -- the RRoD'd consoles have always been under warranty). But not everyone extracts that much mileage out of the device -- they might not be hardcore gamers, they might not be savvy enough to setup media center (or might not care, or might not be aware of the feature), they might not have a decent 'net connection so they might not use netflix streaming. Or they might be the breadwinner, while their kid is the one playing the xbox. In any of these circumstances, I don't see them being as forgiving (or being as big a sucker). As long as they get free repairs they'll probably remain customers, though there will always be a latent irritation at having to send stuff in for repairs. The first time they have to do a repair on their own buck, is the last time they'll consider putting $$ down on an Xbox.
Look, you condescending fuckhead, all I did was ask someone to back up an empty assertion.
No you did not. You trolled. Look at your first post in this thread. I posted facts regarding product longevity, release dates, mainstream and extended support dates. Concrete facts. You replied with FUD. Look it up again.
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And all the Windows fanbois are suddenly all over me to call me names, and the Microsoft Mod Brigade mods me Flamebait.
Right -- people who oppose your point of view are fanboys. Very good.
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But do I see you upbraiding them? Noooo, you're there in the choir calling me names.
Well boo frickin hoo. You started the trolling, and now you expect me to come to your defense? Priceless.
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Hmm. Defensive much? Now who's the fucking fanboi here?
Just bloody annoyed at trolls like you for ruining what used to be a good site once upon a time (seems quite long ago now).
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As for flaws? How about utterly broken Z-order handling.... maddeningly irritating raise-on-focus.... inconsistent keyboard shortcuts.... crashing clipboard service.... hang of the entire desktop...
See -- you're just not getting the point. As I said, when there's a discussion about this stuff, feel free to go to town. You (and others like you) are trolling when you bring this nonsense up in a thread about a partnership between MS and Nokia (and every other unrelated thread that turns into a mindless slugfest). I could indulge you and start rationalizing these bugs, or pointing out more severe bugs in competing OSes, or pointing out places where you are incorrect -- but that would be me taking the bait. What's the mother fucking point of having so many different topics on the home page, if people like you reduce everything into "MS is teh sux"?
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Every equivalent flaw in a Linux distribution is cause for sarcastic remarks about 'the year of the Linux Desktop'
What the hell are you talking about?? I have not made one single negative comment about Linux. I didn't even mention Linux or OS-X or any OS other than Windows. Why? because I'm not a troll. I don't flame other peoples OS choices or post negative, unsubstantiated BS on unrelated threads. I merely get annoyed at people who do (thus subverting the thread) and in this case that was you. Next time you see a unsubstantiated & sarcastic post about the 'year of the linux desktop' feel free to jump in and pound the dipshit who said that. However, that was certainly not the case here. That makes you the troll, my friend.
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... yet when I use Windows, I am to take this in stride? Pull the other one, it's got bells on.
Wow -- you just don't fucking get it. You don't have to take shit in stride. Why do you even use Windows if it frustrates you so much? And if you have a problem on it, your solution is to post on some unrelated freaking thread on slashdot?? Talk sense man.
I have absolutely no problem with people using Windows.
Then why did your post contain non-factual FUD?
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I happen to think that Windows is a lousy OS, full of minor and major faults that nobody ever seems to acknowledge
(1) See what I mean about unsubstantiated FUD? (2) When there's a discussion of some of those flaws feel free to contribute. For now, the stuff you pointed out was utter fucking bullshit. (3) Your claim that "nobody ever seems to acknowledge" Windows' flaws is again, utter fucking bullshit.
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I do think that the kind of unqualified praise that appears in Slashdot threads like these is either by dumb fanbois or astroturfers.
Now what the fuck are you talking about?? Unqualified praise? I backed up every single point I made with good logic and facts. Go back to my response to OP and and you'll see concrete dates and facts. You have still to post one single fact or one single piece of logic. You've only posted your own colored opinion and presented it as fact.
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And if you check my posting history, you'll see that I have little patience for fanbois of any OS.
Your posting history has no bearing on this conversation. You posted bullshit and I called you out. Simple as that.
If anything, MS bends over backwards to maintain backwards compatibility.
I keep hearing that.
I also keep hearing tales of hardware no longer working because the driver model changed yet again.
See what I mean?
1) XP used the XPDM driver model. Vista bent over backwards by supporting it. Read that again. Vista worked with XPDM drivers that were meant for XP. Aero required WDDM drivers -- but Vista would still work with XPDM drivers. What the hell are you talking about??
2) XPDM drivers used to run in kernel mode. Poorly implemented XPDM drivers could cause a BSOD. MS addressed it by moving to WDDM in which most of the driver code is running in user mode. The WDDM driver is a huge improvement. So you see -- MS improved things, and bent over backwards to maintain backwards compatibility. XPDM is only not supported in Win7 (afaik). That's a 3-year overlap. What the hell are you talking about?? Are you saying MS should not try to improve things? Or are you going to whine/troll/astroturf about any silly thing that comes to mind??
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I also keep hearing astroturfers tell me that applications that break after an 'upgrade' to the newest Windows are the fault of the application writers for not sticking to MS' rules.
You're probably referring to UAC here. I guess you want an insecure OS? Besides, sticking to MS's app development guidelines even for XP would have ensured that you would not get broken by UAC. If you're referring to some developer using some internal/unpublished API -- well, what did they expect? So I repeat -- what are you talking about?
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And yet, you guys keep reassuring me that Microsoft bends over backwards to maintain compatibility.
I'm not reassuring you about anything because I don't give a fuck what OS you use. You apparently don't like people using Windows. Just be prepared with more than FUD next time, because every once in a while someone will call you out when you post BS.
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Welcome to Microsoft Newspeak, now even more doubleplusgood.
Welcome to Slashdot Newspeak, now even more doubleplusgood. See how that works?
That's a whole truck load of BS you just posted there my friend.
For many years, Microsoft has had the nasty habit of breaking their own software and data formats to force customers to upgrade.
If anything, MS bends over backwards to maintain backwards compatibility. Vista was their first OS in which you couldn't run DOS apps (at least w/o third party s/w). Office 2k7 is completely able to consume/publish in Office 2k3 formats. Office 2k3 is completely able to consume/publish in Office 2k7 formats. 64-bit Vista and 64-bit Win7 can still run your 32-bit Windows apps. Office 2k3, Office 2k7, Vista, Win2k3, WS08, XP etc. are all still supported (some are past their 5-year mainstream support lifecycles but are in extended support). What the hell are you talking about???
This was happening on a large scale with XP, mostly because Vista required a hardware upgrade, and because the 'upgrade' cycle happening during a time of budget tightening.
Prove it. You're running your mouth off in a public forum so be prepared to back your claims up. Large scale? Because of a hardware upgrade? Time of budget tightening? And MS considered all the factors when designing for Vista? References please!!
Really, Microsoft has been cannibalizing their own business for profits.
Nothing insightful there -- when you own 90+% of the market, you are your own biggest competitor. But cannibalizing? Please explain? They were eating their own sales to get more of their own sales? That doesn't even make sense!
they have been resorting to forcing upgrades
How did they force people to upgrade? References? Sources? Anything? Did they hold a gun to someone's head? Did they prematurely curtail the mainstream support of some product? Did they decide to forego an extended support lifecycle of some product? What on god's green earth are you talking about??
The end of Microsoft will be good for software development and for consumers.
There's absolutely no proof / logic by which you can make that claim definitively. No matter what you say, there will be counter-arguments that can be made. So understand that your view is simply colored by your MS hatred.
Microsoft has been a tax on computing and a hindrance to innovation.
This is slashdot, so I guess you'll get modded +5 Insightful for this kind of unsubstantiated drivel..
Windows 7 should be the end.
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You should be the one to decide that right?...
Just because you hate MS for some irrational reasons, doesn't mean they will stop trying their best. If you dislike Windows, you have other options that you can exercise. But pretending that Windows is somehow broken or a dying product is, well, typical slashdot trolling.
Look - your entire AOL rebuttal lacks facts, and so does the OP's original point regarding AOL. It's all just baseless accusation so far and the burden of proof is upon you to make a better case than these random accusations you're coming up with. I suggest researching this a bit more before you respond.
"Vice president of Intel, Steven McGeady..." -- whatever. It's just words..
More like an admission of guilt. "Yeah we seek to kill companies by using EEE." Just like a criminal in those court dramas.
In the middle of some random conversation, with some Intel dude, who later claims that this is what was said? Try "clutching at straws".
"Talking to someone who is in love with Microsoft...."
Whatever dude. Try using logic/facts instead of psychobabble..
"Microsoft could screw them the same way the screwed PowerPC Mac owners."
See what I mean about logic? You think Microsoft screwed PowerPC Mac owners?? Unfuckingbelievable! The platform had enough issues that Apple themselves moved away from it. You need to build a stronger case than the nonsense you just posted. Same thing for ARM. You're simply missing a motive/advantage for these silly actions you propose.
Your comment did indeed come across as the usual anti-MS-bashfest, hence my response, but this is much more measured - thanks!
In terms of scales of evil - this stuff is just too subjective. If you frequent this particular site too often you'd think MS is the devil's spawn -- there's simply no balance here.
So like I mentioned to other people so far, is there acutally a scenario in which you can imagine ARM getting screwed over by MS? Note that ARM processors run virtually 100% (if not exactly 100%) of the world's smartphones. This is a significantly larger market than the netbook sector, and expected to grow at alarming rates for the forseeable future. What's the worst MS can do? Make some promise to create an ARM windows, and then pull out at the last minute? What exactly will they achieve by doing that? What would their motive be??
Thanks for the insight!
Do you know if that complexity translate into a higher IPC for x64 designs? We already have 32-bit ARM processors clocking in the 1GHz region. If they've got low IPCs compared to x64 processors it might explain some of the performance difference (i.e. that ARM is following a true RISC style approach).
Take yourself a little less seriously for 5 minutes, and try to come up with a credible scenario in which MS can fuck ARM over. Remember for those 5 minutes that TFA refers to CPU architectures. Try to resist MS-bashing just long enough to stay on topic..
In any case, let me address a bit of that garbage you spewed:
"Vice president of Intel, Steven McGeady..." -- whatever. It's just words..
You don't think Active-X was simply a plugin architecture? Why do you suppose other browsers have plugin architectures? All of them are trying to break compatibility with each other???
"Microsoft put pressure on AOL to make its IM networks ** interoperable ** with competing instant messaging services, an outcome that eroded AOL's market leadership."What exactly are you complaining about here???
Adobe Systems refused to let Microsoft implement built-in PDF support in Microsoft Office, citing fears of EEE."And this is proof that MS is evil? Adobe disallowed something, therefore MS is evil??
"A decade after the original Netscape-related antitrust suit, the web browser company Opera Software filed an antitrust complaint against Microsoft with the European Union"Find me a 100% standards-complaint browser, I'll show you a software maker who has a right to complain. Opera and Safari do a better job than most, but nobody is 100% compliant.
Spreadsheet non-conformance with ODF standards" -- ODF 1.0 and 1.1 do not support formulas. The result? All ODF spreadsheet implementations are application dependant. See here for detials. Note MS's complete transparency in the implementation process.
"Apple Inc., Mozilla Foundation, and Opera Software formed the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group to create open standards. Microsoft has so far refused to join."See here: (Chris Wilson of Microsoft was invited but did not join, citing the lack of a patent policy to ensure all specifications can be implemented on a royalty-free basis.) - What, again, was your objection?? Also note - WHATWG was formed to accelerate standards creation - not to avoid browser war incompatibilities as you claim.
That leaves you with 2 out 10. It's still pretty damning, but it's even more damning that 8 out of 10 of your accusations have no basis. So I repeat, stop taking yourself so seriously. Try seeing past the dogma for 5 mins, so you can respond with something related to the article itself rather than this off-topic drivel.
Actually it's kind of true. And that's only part of the reason that this is a good idea (for Microsoft).
AFAIK (and I don't know much) - ARM chips don't require a translation layer that converts machine code to microcode - and this results in huge efficiency gains (compared to x86/x64 chips). If that's the case (second disclaimer - I don't know much about this so I could be wrong) - but if that's the case, the future of laptops/netbooks/mobile devices/perhaps even datacenters probably has ARM in it somewhere. After all, power efficiency is important in all these areas, and only getting more important with time.
So in other words, MS themselves might want to think about building ARM versions of Windows irrespective of any persuasion from ARM.
The reason Intel having MS by the balls comes into the picture -- Intel has been 'sleep around' a little over the last few years. For example Moblin. Or recall the Mac Book Air processor that debuted exclusively with Apple before an PC OEMs even knew it existed. So MS might want to keep Intel on their toes as well and let them know that they're not going to be the only game in town forever (with due apologies to AMD who are putting up a game fight).
It's possible (even likely) that the compromised sites mentioned in TFA only have payloads that exploit windows boxes.
It's proof positive of the theory that no OS/browser/plugin/software-in-general is immune to security issues. Windows is the the main target - that's all..
Slashdot Mirror
That analogy doesn't hold water. You go through metal detectors when you enter say, Best Buy. You aren't even their customer at that point but they've already 'treated you like a criminal'. Even if you're just driving past the store front to get to some other store in the mall, their cameras will have recorded you doing that.
Bottom line -- suggest a better way of preventing piracy, maybe then you'll have some moral high-ground for your complaint.
MS forces everyone to buy high-end PCs.. to surf the web... something my i815+celeron, 512 megs from 10 years ago still does perfectly well... under XP. 7 won't run on it, so I'll be forced to junk it.
Who's forcing you to buy Windows 7?
If you choose to buy Windows 7, who's forcing you to junk your old computer as well?
How are they forcing you to do this? Gun to the temple??
If MS did not implement DRM, the content industry would have to drop it because it simply would not work on most computers
I think iTunes (FairPlay DRM) is the most successful, most pervasive, and one of the earliest DRM implementations. And it works on Windows. There is a whole world of collusion in DRM in general -- making MS the poster boy for DRM is crazy.
Not a gamer, so I'm ignorant. Haven't they figured out a way to rip the stupid games to a PC yet? Or, to another console?
That's pretty ignorant even for a non-gamer :) .. The 360 has uses a Power PC processor .. games disks contain machine code that's optimized towards a single target CPU and GPU -- never mind other platform differences.
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When they stopped making Atari consoles, and Atari games became hard to find, I abandoned the whole idea of game consoles.
The same argument applies to a cassette player, VCR, DVD player, CRT TV, etc.. You just gotta deal with the fact that stuff gets obsoleted..
Why not build a XBMC-based HTPC with a solid video card and a 360 wireless gamepad, so you can play console-style, while still retaining the option to play with a wireless KB+M?
I actually did have an HTPC (Windows Media Center rather than XBMC) -- but it was more effort than it was worth. The Xbox just works (except when it doesn't -- like when it RRoDs), Xbox Live just works (except when it doesn't), and the 360 looks good in my living room, is cheap, and all my gamer friends have 360s.
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The bottom line is this -- MS screwed up hardcore on the RRoD issue, and they have some (rare) outages on Xbox live -- but it's still the best experience I've ever had with a game console by miles. My opinion might change if my 360 ever RRoDs when it's out of warranty, but until then the worst that's ever happened so far is that I had to live without my xbox for about 9 days. I'll take that, for an awesome experience.
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Besides, I don't have any principle along the lines of "a faulty machine design will have no place in my home". When I consider the number of electronic gadgets that I've had fail on me -- HDDs, multiple phones, ipods, bluetooth adapter, bluetooth headset, flaky CD burners (I'm sure I'm missing a million other things) -- most of these things did not have any warranty on them when they died. Most of them didn't have design defects (or at least didn't acknowledge them) -- so fair game. This one (the 360) does have a design defect, so it has a longer warranty -- fair enough. MS will ultimately pay the monetary price for that defect. As long as it's not coming out of my pocket, that's all I care about.
You made a little mistake with one of your details. The article says that only 3.8% of people would NOT buy another xbox due to hardware failures. That's GREAT news for Microsoft - the message is that people love the 360 regardless of failure.
So here's the funny thing. My (anecdotal) evidence matches your conclusion. But my reading of that statistic doesn't.
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I own a 360. It had an unusually long life (for a 360) and died just before its 3-yr RRoD warranty expired. MS repaired it for free and paid for the shipping. I had to figure out the packing materials to send it in -- some new policy change and no amount of reasoning with customer service could get them to send me a coffin (they simply didn't have any to send out). I hated dealing with their customer service, so I can backup the survey on that as well. But in just over a week I had my xbox back, and I can't imagine life without it.
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Same story with the rest of my Xbox 360 owning friends. We're all hardcore gamers who play online for a couple of hours a day, for several months when titles like Halo/GoW/CoD/MvC etc. release, generally pick up most new games and play through their campaigns, use our Xboxen as media center extenders, have netflix accounts, etc. etc. We're just hooked. Not one single person in the group is on their original 360 (so that 50-something percent actually looks small to me) but not one of us would consider not having a 360.
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But coming back to your point. I consider my group of gamer friends to be a bit of an exception. We're (admittedly) hardcore gamers, we're all nerds and use media center etc., so we get maximum out of our xboxes and we also fall into the category of having disposable income so it doesn't really hurt us to buy a new 360 if we had to (it's never come to that yet -- the RRoD'd consoles have always been under warranty). But not everyone extracts that much mileage out of the device -- they might not be hardcore gamers, they might not be savvy enough to setup media center (or might not care, or might not be aware of the feature), they might not have a decent 'net connection so they might not use netflix streaming. Or they might be the breadwinner, while their kid is the one playing the xbox. In any of these circumstances, I don't see them being as forgiving (or being as big a sucker). As long as they get free repairs they'll probably remain customers, though there will always be a latent irritation at having to send stuff in for repairs. The first time they have to do a repair on their own buck, is the last time they'll consider putting $$ down on an Xbox.
Look, you condescending fuckhead, all I did was ask someone to back up an empty assertion.
No you did not. You trolled. Look at your first post in this thread. I posted facts regarding product longevity, release dates, mainstream and extended support dates. Concrete facts. You replied with FUD. Look it up again.
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And all the Windows fanbois are suddenly all over me to call me names, and the Microsoft Mod Brigade mods me Flamebait.
Right -- people who oppose your point of view are fanboys. Very good.
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But do I see you upbraiding them? Noooo, you're there in the choir calling me names.
Well boo frickin hoo. You started the trolling, and now you expect me to come to your defense? Priceless.
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You're a fucking hypocrite. And a Windows fanboi.
See what I mean about your posts lacking facts?
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Now fuck off.
Have a nice day.
Hmm. Defensive much? Now who's the fucking fanboi here?
Just bloody annoyed at trolls like you for ruining what used to be a good site once upon a time (seems quite long ago now).
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As for flaws? How about utterly broken Z-order handling .... maddeningly irritating raise-on-focus .... inconsistent keyboard shortcuts .... crashing clipboard service .... hang of the entire desktop ...
See -- you're just not getting the point. As I said, when there's a discussion about this stuff, feel free to go to town. You (and others like you) are trolling when you bring this nonsense up in a thread about a partnership between MS and Nokia (and every other unrelated thread that turns into a mindless slugfest). I could indulge you and start rationalizing these bugs, or pointing out more severe bugs in competing OSes, or pointing out places where you are incorrect -- but that would be me taking the bait. What's the mother fucking point of having so many different topics on the home page, if people like you reduce everything into "MS is teh sux"?
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Every equivalent flaw in a Linux distribution is cause for sarcastic remarks about 'the year of the Linux Desktop'
What the hell are you talking about?? I have not made one single negative comment about Linux. I didn't even mention Linux or OS-X or any OS other than Windows. Why? because I'm not a troll. I don't flame other peoples OS choices or post negative, unsubstantiated BS on unrelated threads. I merely get annoyed at people who do (thus subverting the thread) and in this case that was you. Next time you see a unsubstantiated & sarcastic post about the 'year of the linux desktop' feel free to jump in and pound the dipshit who said that. However, that was certainly not the case here. That makes you the troll, my friend.
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... yet when I use Windows, I am to take this in stride? Pull the other one, it's got bells on.
Wow -- you just don't fucking get it. You don't have to take shit in stride. Why do you even use Windows if it frustrates you so much? And if you have a problem on it, your solution is to post on some unrelated freaking thread on slashdot?? Talk sense man.
I have absolutely no problem with people using Windows.
Then why did your post contain non-factual FUD?
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I happen to think that Windows is a lousy OS, full of minor and major faults that nobody ever seems to acknowledge
(1) See what I mean about unsubstantiated FUD? (2) When there's a discussion of some of those flaws feel free to contribute. For now, the stuff you pointed out was utter fucking bullshit. (3) Your claim that "nobody ever seems to acknowledge" Windows' flaws is again, utter fucking bullshit.
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I do think that the kind of unqualified praise that appears in Slashdot threads like these is either by dumb fanbois or astroturfers.
Now what the fuck are you talking about?? Unqualified praise? I backed up every single point I made with good logic and facts. Go back to my response to OP and and you'll see concrete dates and facts. You have still to post one single fact or one single piece of logic. You've only posted your own colored opinion and presented it as fact.
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And if you check my posting history, you'll see that I have little patience for fanbois of any OS.
Your posting history has no bearing on this conversation. You posted bullshit and I called you out. Simple as that.
If anything, MS bends over backwards to maintain backwards compatibility.
I keep hearing that.
I also keep hearing tales of hardware no longer working because the driver model changed yet again.
See what I mean?
1) XP used the XPDM driver model. Vista bent over backwards by supporting it. Read that again. Vista worked with XPDM drivers that were meant for XP. Aero required WDDM drivers -- but Vista would still work with XPDM drivers. What the hell are you talking about??
2) XPDM drivers used to run in kernel mode. Poorly implemented XPDM drivers could cause a BSOD. MS addressed it by moving to WDDM in which most of the driver code is running in user mode. The WDDM driver is a huge improvement. So you see -- MS improved things, and bent over backwards to maintain backwards compatibility. XPDM is only not supported in Win7 (afaik). That's a 3-year overlap. What the hell are you talking about?? Are you saying MS should not try to improve things? Or are you going to whine/troll/astroturf about any silly thing that comes to mind??
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I also keep hearing astroturfers tell me that applications that break after an 'upgrade' to the newest Windows are the fault of the application writers for not sticking to MS' rules.
You're probably referring to UAC here. I guess you want an insecure OS? Besides, sticking to MS's app development guidelines even for XP would have ensured that you would not get broken by UAC. If you're referring to some developer using some internal/unpublished API -- well, what did they expect? So I repeat -- what are you talking about?
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And yet, you guys keep reassuring me that Microsoft bends over backwards to maintain compatibility.
I'm not reassuring you about anything because I don't give a fuck what OS you use. You apparently don't like people using Windows. Just be prepared with more than FUD next time, because every once in a while someone will call you out when you post BS.
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Welcome to Microsoft Newspeak, now even more doubleplusgood.
Welcome to Slashdot Newspeak, now even more doubleplusgood. See how that works?
That's a whole truck load of BS you just posted there my friend.
For many years, Microsoft has had the nasty habit of breaking their own software and data formats to force customers to upgrade.
If anything, MS bends over backwards to maintain backwards compatibility. Vista was their first OS in which you couldn't run DOS apps (at least w/o third party s/w). Office 2k7 is completely able to consume/publish in Office 2k3 formats. Office 2k3 is completely able to consume/publish in Office 2k7 formats. 64-bit Vista and 64-bit Win7 can still run your 32-bit Windows apps. Office 2k3, Office 2k7, Vista, Win2k3, WS08, XP etc. are all still supported (some are past their 5-year mainstream support lifecycles but are in extended support). What the hell are you talking about???
This was happening on a large scale with XP, mostly because Vista required a hardware upgrade, and because the 'upgrade' cycle happening during a time of budget tightening.
Prove it. You're running your mouth off in a public forum so be prepared to back your claims up. Large scale? Because of a hardware upgrade? Time of budget tightening? And MS considered all the factors when designing for Vista? References please!!
Really, Microsoft has been cannibalizing their own business for profits.
Nothing insightful there -- when you own 90+% of the market, you are your own biggest competitor. But cannibalizing? Please explain? They were eating their own sales to get more of their own sales? That doesn't even make sense!
they have been resorting to forcing upgrades
How did they force people to upgrade? References? Sources? Anything? Did they hold a gun to someone's head? Did they prematurely curtail the mainstream support of some product? Did they decide to forego an extended support lifecycle of some product? What on god's green earth are you talking about??
The end of Microsoft will be good for software development and for consumers.
There's absolutely no proof / logic by which you can make that claim definitively. No matter what you say, there will be counter-arguments that can be made. So understand that your view is simply colored by your MS hatred.
Microsoft has been a tax on computing and a hindrance to innovation.
This is slashdot, so I guess you'll get modded +5 Insightful for this kind of unsubstantiated drivel..
Windows 7 should be the end.
???
You should be the one to decide that right?...
Just because you hate MS for some irrational reasons, doesn't mean they will stop trying their best. If you dislike Windows, you have other options that you can exercise. But pretending that Windows is somehow broken or a dying product is, well, typical slashdot trolling.
Seriously, this is a fucking stupid post.
Seriously, kdawson is a stupid fucking mod.
I wouldn't call that a simple reason. More like a simplistic one..
Well, it's not like the OSS guys are talking about options here.
Quote from TFA: "Open source supporters argue there has to be real political will for open source projects to succeed in the public sector."
That's political wrangling. Build a better product and the rest will follow. "Political will" is well, politics.
Insightful??
Do you prefer a UI that hides the actual contentbased on window size? If a windows getting smaller, something's getting hidden, y'know..
"This is an obvious case of EEE"
Look - your entire AOL rebuttal lacks facts, and so does the OP's original point regarding AOL. It's all just baseless accusation so far and the burden of proof is upon you to make a better case than these random accusations you're coming up with. I suggest researching this a bit more before you respond.
"Vice president of Intel, Steven McGeady..." -- whatever. It's just words..
More like an admission of guilt. "Yeah we seek to kill companies by using EEE." Just like a criminal in those court dramas.
In the middle of some random conversation, with some Intel dude, who later claims that this is what was said? Try "clutching at straws".
+5 Insightful, sir!
"Talking to someone who is in love with Microsoft...."
Whatever dude. Try using logic/facts instead of psychobabble..
"Microsoft could screw them the same way the screwed PowerPC Mac owners."
See what I mean about logic? You think Microsoft screwed PowerPC Mac owners?? Unfuckingbelievable! The platform had enough issues that Apple themselves moved away from it. You need to build a stronger case than the nonsense you just posted. Same thing for ARM. You're simply missing a motive/advantage for these silly actions you propose.
Your comment did indeed come across as the usual anti-MS-bashfest, hence my response, but this is much more measured - thanks!
In terms of scales of evil - this stuff is just too subjective. If you frequent this particular site too often you'd think MS is the devil's spawn -- there's simply no balance here.
So like I mentioned to other people so far, is there acutally a scenario in which you can imagine ARM getting screwed over by MS? Note that ARM processors run virtually 100% (if not exactly 100%) of the world's smartphones. This is a significantly larger market than the netbook sector, and expected to grow at alarming rates for the forseeable future. What's the worst MS can do? Make some promise to create an ARM windows, and then pull out at the last minute? What exactly will they achieve by doing that? What would their motive be??
Thanks for the insight! Do you know if that complexity translate into a higher IPC for x64 designs? We already have 32-bit ARM processors clocking in the 1GHz region. If they've got low IPCs compared to x64 processors it might explain some of the performance difference (i.e. that ARM is following a true RISC style approach).
Take yourself a little less seriously for 5 minutes, and try to come up with a credible scenario in which MS can fuck ARM over. Remember for those 5 minutes that TFA refers to CPU architectures. Try to resist MS-bashing just long enough to stay on topic..
In any case, let me address a bit of that garbage you spewed:
That leaves you with 2 out 10. It's still pretty damning, but it's even more damning that 8 out of 10 of your accusations have no basis. So I repeat, stop taking yourself so seriously. Try seeing past the dogma for 5 mins, so you can respond with something related to the article itself rather than this off-topic drivel.
Apply things in context -- we're talking CPU architechtures here. How exactly do you propose that MS might fuck ARM over?
Actually it's kind of true. And that's only part of the reason that this is a good idea (for Microsoft).
AFAIK (and I don't know much) - ARM chips don't require a translation layer that converts machine code to microcode - and this results in huge efficiency gains (compared to x86/x64 chips). If that's the case (second disclaimer - I don't know much about this so I could be wrong) - but if that's the case, the future of laptops/netbooks/mobile devices/perhaps even datacenters probably has ARM in it somewhere. After all, power efficiency is important in all these areas, and only getting more important with time.
So in other words, MS themselves might want to think about building ARM versions of Windows irrespective of any persuasion from ARM.
The reason Intel having MS by the balls comes into the picture -- Intel has been 'sleep around' a little over the last few years. For example Moblin. Or recall the Mac Book Air processor that debuted exclusively with Apple before an PC OEMs even knew it existed. So MS might want to keep Intel on their toes as well and let them know that they're not going to be the only game in town forever (with due apologies to AMD who are putting up a game fight).
Do you mean, like they fucked Intel over on IA32/IA64?
Or the way they fucked Alpha over (when NT used to run on that arch.)?
Oh that's right -- they didn't!
And for that drivel you wrote to be ranked +3 Insightful just goes to show how worthless this site has become.
It's possible (even likely) that the compromised sites mentioned in TFA only have payloads that exploit windows boxes.
It's proof positive of the theory that no OS/browser/plugin/software-in-general is immune to security issues. Windows is the the main target - that's all..