Some small features an incremental improvement over previous versions. Will MS ever stop innovating? Oh, you mean, unlike Linux, where the entire OS, from kernel to windowing system to desktop environment, is rewritten from the ground up with a completely new set of paradigms with each release?
Newsflash@ both Linux and Windows are relatively stable, mature systems. Revolutionary isn't always better than evolutionary.
Would I be out of order to point out that he's been using Vista since pre-beta 1? Beta software is always going to be buggy; that's why it's still beta.
For what I've heard, the only people who are getting crashes on *RTM* Vista are those using the beta nVidia drivers with SLI or 8800s. Nvidia have now released a stable version. So do you have any actual sources for Vista "locking up" or "not being robust", rather than vague meta-allegations, or are you just full of FUD?
Will somebody please tell Microsoft to STOP WASTING MY F****** SCREEN SPACE!!!!!! I want smaller icons... MUCH smaller, not bigger ones. If you don't like the default icon size, would I be too audacious to suggest you, err, change it? Microsoft aren't forcing you to stick with the defaults, you know. They're only the defaults because the majority of people like bigger icons. You don't? Fine. That's why you can change them. Go to the desktop, hold down ctrl, and use the scroll wheel to change the size of desktop icons. Or right click on the desktop, and click 'view' to get a slider. There's probably a way using control panel as well.
The control panel in windows XP even in classic mode is a complete waste of screen space. Why? Because there's too many options? You were the one who, a paragraph ago, wanted more customizability. Because they take up too much space in tile view? So change to list view. Or detail view. Or small icon view. Again, no-one forces you to stick with the defaults.
I can not perform the same tasks as easily as I could with XP. I LIKE my buttons sometimes in Windows Explorer now I ONLY can use the keyboard short cuts. Just out of interest, what do you mean by this? What can you only now do in Explorer using keyboard shortcuts?
where does 680 megabytes of my ram go? (still no explanation from those who posted replies) This there have been *tons* of posted explanations for every time someones asked this in the past. In short: it's the improved caching system, Superfetch, which basically loads data/programs/etc. it thinks you might use soon (based on past usage) into the RAM whilst your system's idling, which, if it guesses correctly, makes loading much quicker (of course, if an application requests the RAM, superfetch relinquishes it). The problem is, Task Manager isn't very good as expressing this. See http://thevistaforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=171 for more.
$119 1/3 the price of a Mac Mini. Under 1/5, I think you'll find. According to the Apple store, the cheapest Mac Mini is $599. Which comes with a 1.66Ghz processor, 512MB of RAM, and a 60GB hard drive. And doesn't come with a monitor. Can't say I'm that impressed.
Unless you're arguing that anything intangible, whether it be software, music, film, or picture, should be free, no matter how much work was put into it, just because it's not something physical; in which case we have so little common ground that there's little point in this discussion continuing.
The only difference between them is that Vista tells you which program it is that wants privelage elevation. In all other respects, they're functionally identical. Hell, they even both darken your screen in the same way!
And no, permissions were not invented purely as a method to, err, protect against "someone who has walked up to your keyboard while you're getting a cup of coffee". Apart from anything else, *no* permissioning system that doesn't also implement encryption can protect against someone dedicated who's got unrestricted physical access to your computer. Permissions were mainly originally to prevent users from doing anything they shouldn't be in a multi-user system (e.g. deleting things from someone else's userspace). Preventing either badly-written or rouge programs from affecting things they shouldn't is a more common modern use for them. Whilst they do provide weak protection from someone with physical access, that is not their main purpose. And all the above applies equally to Vista as to Unix-like systems.
"can't say that makes much difference to me; I'm admin of my own computer"
Being an admin of the computer and being logged in is considered bad by any security specialist. That's the whole reason you get popups in vista, so that you're not always an admin, that's the whole point of the "security". I actually meant it in the more literal way -- i.e. that it's my personal computer, so I am my own 'sysadmin' whatever kind of account I happen to be logged in as, and whatever OS I happen to be using. As you say, in Vista even an 'admin' account only has standard user priveleges except when elevated (if UAC is turned on), and in Ubuntu there isn't even a root account set up be default, so I'm not sure which OS you're accusing me of being logged in as root on...
The expose clone is pretty cool, does it run fast? No idea, never used it. The comments suggest that for that particular version (which hasn't been updated since November), not as smooth as flip3D; but I've just looked at the guy's homepage annd he says that "In a couple of weeks, I will release a new version with several improvements" including "improved performance". In any case, if it ever does get abandoned, I'm sure someone else will take up the mantle, since it's open source.
Still though, linux's cube desktop with beryl is cooler and more productive imho. Yeah, I agree: the first person to write a good multiple desktop implementation for the DWM will get Three Cheers from me!
I didn't know that you could write stuff on top of vista's UI, is this possible in Win XP? Since XP doesn't have the Desktop Window Manager (which is based on what MS calls 'Windows Presentation Foundation', which used to be called Avalon -- who comes up with these names? -- and is thus Vista-only), all the cool Beryl-style effects are indeed Vista only. There are semi-cool add-ons for XP, though; there are loads of implementations of whole-window transparancy, for example (e.g. This one). 3-D XP stuff, though, is less good -- though it certainly exists (e.g. Madotate, (screenshot)), windows aren't interactive -- i.e. when a window is in 3D mode, you can't do anything with it; video will be frozen, etc. If you want proper, interactive 3D windows, you do need Vista or Linux with Beryl/Compiz.
It adds Windows Key + Tab 3d window switching. Let me tell you why this is horrible compared to OS X's expose or Linux' similar features Maybe, but at least it means that the core functionality (i.e. the new Desktop Window Manager) is there for anyone to build on. For instance, if you prefer expose, someone's already made an expose clone for Vista's DWM, and in the next few months I imagine we'll be seeing a lot more.
Security. Every time you want to do something that takes administrative access Vista throws two popup boxes in your face. [...] Disable the popups and you lose the whole "security" You can customize how Vista handles this. Instructions (nicked off lockergnome): Type gpedit.msc and click OK. Browse to Computer Configuration | Windows Settings | Security Settings | Local Policies | Security Options. Customize away.
BTW, I don't really get people who say that this approach is "not security" and then advocate Linux instead: I have Ubuntu Dapper, and it's 'graphical sudo' approach is almost identical to Vista's: if you want to make systemwide changes you don't have the permissions for, it pops up a box to type your password (though in Ubuntu, it's your password you type in; in Vista it has to be an admin's password; can't say that makes much difference to me; I'm admin of my own computer).
It sounds like this 'feature' just moves the page file to a flash device. Am I missing something? Yes. Moving the page file to a flash drive would be a really bad idea; for two reasons. One, a flash drive has pretty rubbish sustained read speads, because it's limited by the speed of the USB connection. A well performing swap file needs to have good sustained read speeds; that's something hard drives aren't bad for. Two, flash drives have a limited lifespan; lots of writes (which you would have with a page file), would wear it out pretty quickly. That's also something hard drives are pretty good at.
The point of Readyboost, AFAICT, is that it doesn't actually replace the swap file, it just acts as a cache for it; so in theory you get the best of both worlds: practically instantaneous seek times for quick access of small files from the flash drives, without any of the disadvantages of just keeping the swap on a flash drive.
No offence, but the whole article is based on utterly subjective opinions on both systems. Isn't that kinda the whole point of a review? To get the reviewers opinion on whatever it is they're reviewing?
If you just want raw benchmark figures, Tomshardware has hundreds, go nuts. But I don't know of any benchmark that can objectively measure ease of use.
Price: How much for media center edition? Ouch. $119. Hardly "ouch".
The article author pointed out the vast productivity benefits from the start menu, but honestly, if you're spending more than 1% of your time in the start menu you're not being productive period. I think the thing with Vista's start menu is that it has accessed to the full indexed search of your system, and so acts kindof like Spotlight on a Mac -- i.e. you can get to any application, control panel applet, email, document, file, folder, IE favourite/history, etc. by pressing the windows key and typing a few letters from it. I can see how that could be a productivity boost.
Care to define magnetodynamics, then? Admittedly I've only studied magnetostatics so far, but then I'm not very far through my degree. Since magnetostatics was defined as the study of static magnetic fields, I don't think I'd be making a particularly large logical leap to infer that magnetodynamics is the study of non-static magnetic fields. Since, according to Wikipedia, magnetostatics is a good approximation for all but rapidly alternating magnetic fields, I could even make a larger leap and infer that magnetostatics is generally used to study... rapidly alternating magnetic fields?
saying that a computer program could in any way make use of magnetodynamics to increase it's ability to recover data is pseudo-science. Remember, it has to operate through mutiple levels of abstraction: the OS, the drivers, the cache and the firmware. Care to explain how anything having to do with magnetodynamics could be used in a data recovery program that is meant to work across many different kinds of drives? That's a much better point; and one I think I'm forced to concede. On looking at the page where Gibson talks about magnetodynamics, there doesn't really seem to be any actual magnetodynamics. Oh well; point conceded.
It would be like me saying that my disk recovery program makes use of the Van der Waals force. There really is such a force, of course... I'm afraid I have to admit that I'd never heard of it. Damn, I need to actually turn up to more of my lectures...:)
The criticisms on the Wikipedia article you linked to were all regarding internet security. That says nothing whatsoever about how good or bad Spinrite is. I happen to write terrbile poetry; that doesn't say anything about how good any Mathematical papers I may produce would be.
No, open source code is not necessarily free as in beer As I understand it, whilst "open source" is not necessarily freeasinbeer, "Open Source" is. Like the difference between "champaign" and "Champaign": both are fizzy wine, but only the latter is made by traditional methods in the Champaigne region of France.
Open source doesn't just mean access to the source code. The distribution terms of open-source software must comply with the following criteria:
1. Free Redistribution:
The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources. The license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such sale.
From the ReadyBoost FAQ:
Q: Won't this wear out the drive?
A: Nope. We're aware of the lifecycle issues with flash drives and are smart about how and when we do our writes to the device. Our research shows that we will get at least 10+ years out of flash devices that we support. Of course, I don't personally know whether that's true or not, but at least it shows they've put *some* thought into the issue.
If only other kernels had developed some way utilizing the full amount of physical memory for caching purposes nearly a decade ago.... But then, I guess people will always be excited by the incorporation of old features into modern operating systems if their expectations are kept low. Assuming you're referring to Linux; I was under the impressions that the Linux caching system was similar to Windows XP's Prefetch, as opposed to Vista's Superfetch. Could you confirm otherwise, and/or point me to a source that does so?
I doubt it. A good performing swap file needs to have good sustained read speeds, which hard drives are better for, rather than just good seek times, which flash drives are better for. I think the point about readyboost is hat you get the best of both worlds.
how is it "that Vista's just using the extra RAM to cache frequently used apps, documents, etc." when those "frequently used apps, documents, etc." aren't/haven't been running? Is Microsoft Vista psychic? Yes, it is. Well, in theory. It tries to predict what program/data you might use (based on historical data of what you've used in the past), and pre-emptively loads them into memory before you actually run/open them yourself.
TFA:
One of the most interesting examples of a software "abuse case" came to me rather abruptly on an airplane flight from Las Vegas to Orlando in mid 2005.
Each seat in the airplane had a small touch screen monitor built into the head rest of the chair in front, and on this particular airline, passengers could watch a variety of television channels and play a few simple games. One such game looked remarkably similar to the classic strategy game Tetris, where players use their skills to manipulate falling blocks on a screen to try and form horizontal lines. I'm a big fan of Tetris; for a few months in 1998 I was borderline obsessed with it. I would start looking at everyday objects and start mentally fitting them together with other tings in the room to form weird line configurations. One of the options on this particular airborne version of Tetris was to alter the number of blocks one could see in advance on the screen before they started falling.
To give myself the biggest advantage in the game, I pressed the + control as many times as it would allow and got to the maximum value of 4. I then put on my "bad guy" hat on and asked: How *else* can I change the value in this field? Near my armrest was a small phone console; you know, the one where you can make very important calls for a mere $22 per minute. I noticed that the phone had a numeric keypad and that it also controlled this television monitor embedded in the seat in front of me.
I then touched the screen in front of me to highlight the number "4" in the options configuration shown in Figure 1. I tried to enter the number 10 into that field through the phone keypad with no luck: it first changed to the number "1" followed by the number "0". Frustrated, I then made the assumption that it would only accept single digit values. My next test case was the number "8"; no luck there either, the number didn't change at all. I then tried the number 5: success! '5' is an interesting test case, it's a "boundary value" just beyond the maximum allowed value of the field which was '4'. A classic programming mistake is to be off by 1 when coding constraints. For example, the programmer may have intended to code the statements:
0 < value < 5
When what actually got coded was
0 < value = 5
I now had the software exactly where I wanted it, in an unintended state; the illegal value 5 was now in my target field. I then turn my attention back to the screen and hit the + button which, to my complete surprise, incremented the value to 6! Again, an implementation problem, the increment constrain probably said something like "if value = 4 do not increment." In this case, the value wasn't 4 but 5 so it happily incremented it to 6! I then continue to increment the value by pressing the + button until I get to 127 and then I pause for a moment of reflection. 127 is a very special number; it is the upper bound of a 1 byte signed integer. Strange things can happen when we add 1 to this value, namely that 127 + 1 = -128! I considered this for a moment as I kicked back a small bag of peanuts and in the interest of science I boldly pressed the + button once more. Suddenly, the display now flashes -128 just for an instant and then poof...screen goes black.
Poof...screen of the person next to me goes black.
Screens in front of me and behind me go black.
The entire plane entertainment system goes down (and thankfully the cascading system failure didn't spill over to the plane navigation system)!
After a few minutes of mumbling from some of the passengers, a fairly emotionless flight attendant reset the system and all was well. I landed with a new-found respect for the game of Tetris and consider this to be the most entertaining version of it I have ever played.
but how much waste [i]s there when you load up something that wasn't and pushes out the things it decided to pre-load? Almost nothing. The time it takes to erase something from RAM is negligible.
The memory used for the "SuperFetch" function is not part of the os? The superfectch function is part of the OS. The things it is caching are not (usually*). The actually Superfetch code will take up some memory, but it will be negligibly small compared to the amount taken up by the documents and data that it is caching.
(* I say 'usually' because if someone often uses, say, WMP, then it may well happen that Superfetch will cache WMP into memory, and if you count WMP as 'part of the OS' (thhough the EU would disagree with you), then indeed, Superfetch will find itself caching part of the OS. This is the exception, however.)
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Newsflash@ both Linux and Windows are relatively stable, mature systems. Revolutionary isn't always better than evolutionary.
Would I be out of order to point out that he's been using Vista since pre-beta 1? Beta software is always going to be buggy; that's why it's still beta.
For what I've heard, the only people who are getting crashes on *RTM* Vista are those using the beta nVidia drivers with SLI or 8800s. Nvidia have now released a stable version. So do you have any actual sources for Vista "locking up" or "not being robust", rather than vague meta-allegations, or are you just full of FUD?
Unless you're arguing that anything intangible, whether it be software, music, film, or picture, should be free, no matter how much work was put into it, just because it's not something physical; in which case we have so little common ground that there's little point in this discussion continuing.
It's the approval dialogs in Windows that are insane. WTF are you on about?
Ubuntu authentication prompt when running as a standard user
Vista authentication prompt when running as a standard user
The only difference between them is that Vista tells you which program it is that wants privelage elevation. In all other respects, they're functionally identical. Hell, they even both darken your screen in the same way!
And no, permissions were not invented purely as a method to, err, protect against "someone who has walked up to your keyboard while you're getting a cup of coffee". Apart from anything else, *no* permissioning system that doesn't also implement encryption can protect against someone dedicated who's got unrestricted physical access to your computer. Permissions were mainly originally to prevent users from doing anything they shouldn't be in a multi-user system (e.g. deleting things from someone else's userspace). Preventing either badly-written or rouge programs from affecting things they shouldn't is a more common modern use for them. Whilst they do provide weak protection from someone with physical access, that is not their main purpose. And all the above applies equally to Vista as to Unix-like systems.
Type gpedit.msc and click OK. Browse to Computer Configuration | Windows Settings | Security Settings | Local Policies | Security Options. Customize away.
BTW, I don't really get people who say that this approach is "not security" and then advocate Linux instead: I have Ubuntu Dapper, and it's 'graphical sudo' approach is almost identical to Vista's: if you want to make systemwide changes you don't have the permissions for, it pops up a box to type your password (though in Ubuntu, it's your password you type in; in Vista it has to be an admin's password; can't say that makes much difference to me; I'm admin of my own computer).
The point of Readyboost, AFAICT, is that it doesn't actually replace the swap file, it just acts as a cache for it; so in theory you get the best of both worlds: practically instantaneous seek times for quick access of small files from the flash drives, without any of the disadvantages of just keeping the swap on a flash drive.
If you just want raw benchmark figures, Tomshardware has hundreds, go nuts. But I don't know of any benchmark that can objectively measure ease of use.
Colour me unimpressed by that article. My Physics lecturer for one would be fascinated to hear that magnetodynamics is a "pseudoscience"...
The criticisms on the Wikipedia article you linked to were all regarding internet security. That says nothing whatsoever about how good or bad Spinrite is. I happen to write terrbile poetry; that doesn't say anything about how good any Mathematical papers I may produce would be.
Hmmm. On further Googling, you appear to be completely right; I was under a misconception. Apologies.
But anyway; from the OSI definition of Open Source: The Open Source Definition
Introduction
Open source doesn't just mean access to the source code. The distribution terms of open-source software must comply with the following criteria:
1. Free Redistribution:
The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources. The license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such sale.
A: Nope. We're aware of the lifecycle issues with flash drives and are smart about how and when we do our writes to the device. Our research shows that we will get at least 10+ years out of flash devices that we support. Of course, I don't personally know whether that's true or not, but at least it shows they've put *some* thought into the issue.
I doubt it. A good performing swap file needs to have good sustained read speeds, which hard drives are better for, rather than just good seek times, which flash drives are better for. I think the point about readyboost is hat you get the best of both worlds.
Each seat in the airplane had a small touch screen monitor built into the head rest of the chair in front, and on this particular airline, passengers could watch a variety of television channels and play a few simple games. One such game looked remarkably similar to the classic strategy game Tetris, where players use their skills to manipulate falling blocks on a screen to try and form horizontal lines. I'm a big fan of Tetris; for a few months in 1998 I was borderline obsessed with it. I would start looking at everyday objects and start mentally fitting them together with other tings in the room to form weird line configurations. One of the options on this particular airborne version of Tetris was to alter the number of blocks one could see in advance on the screen before they started falling.
To give myself the biggest advantage in the game, I pressed the + control as many times as it would allow and got to the maximum value of 4. I then put on my "bad guy" hat on and asked: How *else* can I change the value in this field? Near my armrest was a small phone console; you know, the one where you can make very important calls for a mere $22 per minute. I noticed that the phone had a numeric keypad and that it also controlled this television monitor embedded in the seat in front of me.
I then touched the screen in front of me to highlight the number "4" in the options configuration shown in Figure 1. I tried to enter the number 10 into that field through the phone keypad with no luck: it first changed to the number "1" followed by the number "0". Frustrated, I then made the assumption that it would only accept single digit values. My next test case was the number "8"; no luck there either, the number didn't change at all. I then tried the number 5: success! '5' is an interesting test case, it's a "boundary value" just beyond the maximum allowed value of the field which was '4'. A classic programming mistake is to be off by 1 when coding constraints. For example, the programmer may have intended to code the statements:
When what actually got coded was
I now had the software exactly where I wanted it, in an unintended state; the illegal value 5 was now in my target field. I then turn my attention back to the screen and hit the + button which, to my complete surprise, incremented the value to 6! Again, an implementation problem, the increment constrain probably said something like "if value = 4 do not increment." In this case, the value wasn't 4 but 5 so it happily incremented it to 6! I then continue to increment the value by pressing the + button until I get to 127 and then I pause for a moment of reflection. 127 is a very special number; it is the upper bound of a 1 byte signed integer. Strange things can happen when we add 1 to this value, namely that 127 + 1 = -128! I considered this for a moment as I kicked back a small bag of peanuts and in the interest of science I boldly pressed the + button once more. Suddenly, the display now flashes -128 just for an instant and then poof...screen goes black.
Poof...screen of the person next to me goes black.
Screens in front of me and behind me go black.
The entire plane entertainment system goes down (and thankfully the cascading system failure didn't spill over to the plane navigation system)!
After a few minutes of mumbling from some of the passengers, a fairly emotionless flight attendant reset the system and all was well. I landed with a new-found respect for the game of Tetris and consider this to be the most entertaining version of it I have ever played.
"I would not characterize WINE as an independent implementation of the Windows API" -- Dsanfte
"Wine is an Open Source implementation of the Windows API" -- WINE
Who to believe, who to believe...
(* I say 'usually' because if someone often uses, say, WMP, then it may well happen that Superfetch will cache WMP into memory, and if you count WMP as 'part of the OS' (thhough the EU would disagree with you), then indeed, Superfetch will find itself caching part of the OS. This is the exception, however.)