I've supported some of these homebrew Access frankenstein "apps" after the original "developer" is long gone. "Utmost satisfaction" is not how I would describe users' experience.
"The point of all this? It gives parity to native C++ and managed.NET code. Instead of being separate, each with its own different capabilities and strengths, they will be peers. If Microsoft adds new APIs to core Windows, the WinRT system will ensure that they're seamlessly available to managed code, meaning that.NET developers will no longer be at a disadvantage relative to native ones. Conversely, existing native applications can be updated to use the new UI without having to be substantially rewritten to use.NET. This same flexibility applies to Microsoft: putting native and.NET code on an equal footing opens the door to actually seeing.NET applications shipping with the operating system."
and
"Far from being a developer disaster, Windows 8 should be a huge leap forward: a release that threatens to make development a pleasure for native, managed, and Web developers alike. The unification of the.NET and native worlds; the full hardware acceleration; the clean, modern APIs; Avalon as the primary solution for creating Windows UIs—this is what Longhorn's WinFX promised all those years ago, and this time around it looks like it might actually happen."
My 14-year old at the time would constantly get an XP machine infected. I bought a Vista PC (now upgraded to 7), turned on UAC, put MSE, set it to auto-update, and gave him a limited user account. He calls me when he wants to install a game and no problems since (about 2 years ago).
Did the same thing for my mom and dad, no problems since...
As an FYI for those of you that haven't used Steam. It works really nicely and got me back into gamin after about 8 years away.
Here is how it works:
1. You download and install the Steam software and setup an account.
2. You can buy games off of steam (usually for a ridiculously low price and they have specials/packages/deals all the time). Steam downloads and installs the game to your computer with one click. Steam also manages the game files and future updates for you.
3. Now this is where it gets good. You can go to another computer (a Mac or PC) and download steam and have your same games on there. If you use the "Steam cloud" it even brings your game-specific settings over.
There is also the steam community, where you add friends and can see what games they are playing, chat, etc.
It's actually a nice, packaged little system which makes it easy to just have fun playing games and connect with others who like playing the same games as you.
Take a look at the Dell Precision line, specifically the MX series. It's what we use for developers and, slightly modified, for executives. Solid machines, lots of options, and very well build. The MX6400 (which has a 17" inch screen) would meet your needs. It does have a large price tag though. Everyone that I know that has a Precision laptop loves them.
Regardless of which machine you choose, if I were you I'd wait the three weeks for Windows 7 to come out. Get the ultimate version it comes with virtualization built-in. You get an XP VM for free and you'll be able to run 98, etc. on it. I've been using the RTM for a while and it's awesome.
Good luck.
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I've supported some of these homebrew Access frankenstein "apps" after the original "developer" is long gone. "Utmost satisfaction" is not how I would describe users' experience.
We're talking about Microsoft here. They've always gone through great pains to allow backwards compatibility. Windows 8 will be no different.
Just last week I took a 10 year old app written in VB, *copied* it to windows 7 and it fired right up and worked perfectly.
"The point of all this? It gives parity to native C++ and managed .NET code. Instead of being separate, each with its own different capabilities and strengths, they will be peers. If Microsoft adds new APIs to core Windows, the WinRT system will ensure that they're seamlessly available to managed code, meaning that .NET developers will no longer be at a disadvantage relative to native ones. Conversely, existing native applications can be updated to use the new UI without having to be substantially rewritten to use .NET. This same flexibility applies to Microsoft: putting native and .NET code on an equal footing opens the door to actually seeing .NET applications shipping with the operating system."
and
"Far from being a developer disaster, Windows 8 should be a huge leap forward: a release that threatens to make development a pleasure for native, managed, and Web developers alike. The unification of the .NET and native worlds; the full hardware acceleration; the clean, modern APIs; Avalon as the primary solution for creating Windows UIs—this is what Longhorn's WinFX promised all those years ago, and this time around it looks like it might actually happen."
Or just open a command line in any version of Windows and type ver.
My 14-year old at the time would constantly get an XP machine infected. I bought a Vista PC (now upgraded to 7), turned on UAC, put MSE, set it to auto-update, and gave him a limited user account. He calls me when he wants to install a game and no problems since (about 2 years ago). Did the same thing for my mom and dad, no problems since...
Duh. Use Stargates.
Developers can also sign up to receive the WER reports for their "in the wild" applications: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb513641(VS.85).aspx
As an FYI for those of you that haven't used Steam. It works really nicely and got me back into gamin after about 8 years away.
Here is how it works:
1. You download and install the Steam software and setup an account.
2. You can buy games off of steam (usually for a ridiculously low price and they have specials/packages/deals all the time). Steam downloads and installs the game to your computer with one click. Steam also manages the game files and future updates for you.
3. Now this is where it gets good. You can go to another computer (a Mac or PC) and download steam and have your same games on there. If you use the "Steam cloud" it even brings your game-specific settings over.
There is also the steam community, where you add friends and can see what games they are playing, chat, etc.
It's actually a nice, packaged little system which makes it easy to just have fun playing games and connect with others who like playing the same games as you.
Check your power, that's an awful lot of problems. We have dozens of dell servers and thousands of PCs w/o issue.
Take a look at the Dell Precision line, specifically the MX series. It's what we use for developers and, slightly modified, for executives. Solid machines, lots of options, and very well build. The MX6400 (which has a 17" inch screen) would meet your needs. It does have a large price tag though. Everyone that I know that has a Precision laptop loves them. Regardless of which machine you choose, if I were you I'd wait the three weeks for Windows 7 to come out. Get the ultimate version it comes with virtualization built-in. You get an XP VM for free and you'll be able to run 98, etc. on it. I've been using the RTM for a while and it's awesome. Good luck.