BillG and win-XP can kiss my ...... - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

#1 02-23-2003, 11:14 PM

ive always hated billy G, and now i hate him even more!

bought a new laptop replacement today. a compaq loaded with win XP home edition.

with all their HYPE about the multimedia experience, guess what:
XP-home doesnt even provide a basic photo editor!!!
but, plenty of links on the XP site to purchase MS photo software!

i am NOT suprised, but am terribly disappointed.
once again, thanks for nothing billy !!!

i did DL a photo program from download.com for free in about 5 minutes. last time i needed a win driver for a old printer, it was not available at MS, but found it a download.com easily!

ps- i heard someone on NPR one day trying to give a perspective as to bill's worth. the best anology was that if bill saw a $100 bill laying in the street, if he stopped to pick it up, he would be losing money. his time was more valuable than the cash!

#2 02-24-2003, 10:06 AM

The thing that really burns me is how much he whines about the handful of "bootleg" OS's out there. With what he charges for Winblows, and with it's continual aggrivating security flaws, driver incomatibilities, and other glitches that cause system lockups, he can take a flying leap before I'll hand the loser one red cent for his crap.

rickg · #3 02-24-2003, 10:33 AM

I really wish there was more available for Macintosh. I have a cousin that uses nothing but, and says he never has a problem with them. He is some kind of a network administrator guy at a big plastics company in Tacoma. But there are applications that you can only get for Windows. The Macintosh computers are plug-n-play-n-forget, the PC's are always having glitches!
Uncle Bill has too much of a monopoly in the computer industry. But hey! He's the only thing keeping the lights on in the Seattle area right now

MTI · #4 02-24-2003, 12:08 PM

Apple is turning into Microsoft-Lite! With all the applications bundled into OS X, the impact on the competition is enormous. The new OS includes iPhoto, iMovie, iMusic, Sherlock (search program), etc (including MS Internet Explorer). Microsoft got the feds on them for bundling IE and predatory practices, but due to Apple's smaller market share (hey, the OS only works on their computers) they seem to be immune from criticism.

Ashman · #5 02-24-2003, 12:50 PM

there are two sides to this coin.

one side is that of microsoft, who wants to include everything in its os. The other side, are allt he software companies, that lose tons ofmoney when microsoft includes programs for people to use.

XP home and XP pro while having the same underlying structure, are fairly different behind the scenes.

Now as far as software is concerned. you want photo editing software you get photoshop or paint shop pro. Microsoft can't compete with these products.

as far as anything else, you can easily get the software you need and have it work great.

XP comes with many drivers built in for many devices. Very old devices may be out of luck, but in some cases a windows nt or 2000 driver can work.

I happen to like XP a lot. it is very stable from my experience, runs plenty fast, and I havent had a problem doing everything I have wanted to do.

The computer manufacturer, is not required to bundle any software witht heir systems, and microsoft is not required to bundle anything with the os. They do bundle somethings because they like to include them int he os, but for the most part, thats how it is.

Tell ya what, go buy a brand new Mac, and tell me what software it comes with... hardly any, if any at all. I have had client's who bought brand new macs, and it didnt even come with a word processor.

So before you go knocking anyone, take a look at what is included with various computers. the manufacturers usually bundle software with the OEM version of the OS they are licensed to use. But they choose what to bundle.

Alon

rickg · #6 02-24-2003, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ashman
Tell ya what, go buy a brand new Mac, and tell me what software it comes with... hardly any, if any at all. I have had client's who bought brand new macs, and it didnt even come with a word processor.Alon

Agreed.
That was kind of my point with the Mac. While from what I've seen and heard it's a superior OS, they really killed themselves early on by not letting others make software for their proprietary os. (Kind of like the old Beta video players. They were a far better system than VHS, but they were badly marketed, and now where are they? Pretty much only in Japan from what I've seen.) There just isn't as much available for Mac's, and as you point out, they don't even come with as much, hence I don't own one. But IF they ever catch up..........

MTI · #7 02-24-2003, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ashman

Tell ya what, go buy a brand new Mac, and tell me what software it comes with... hardly any, if any at all. I have had client's who bought brand new macs, and it didnt even come with a word processor.
Alon

Alon, the new Macs come bundled with quite a bit. Photo editing (iPhoto), Movie Editing (iMovie), Music Management(iTunes), DVD maker (iDVD, with Superdrive), Data Syncronization for iPod, Palm OS, and bluetooth phones (iSync), MS Internet Explorer and the beta of Safari, Apple's new browser, Calendar Management (iCal), Cross Platform Networking (Mac sees Windows Networking resources), AppleScript language. Some vendors, especially educational deals, bundle AppleWorks, etc. for wordprocessing, spreadsheet, etc. Plenty of software with new Macs. Plenty of headaches like XP too. Drivers for older peripherals and software, outrageous charges for upgrades that are really bug fixes, and the reminder that the user is at the bottom of the corporate food chain.

rickg · #8 02-24-2003, 03:44 PM

Sounds like the differences are getting less and less. I suppose the day is coming where it won't matter. Actually, I think the more "improvements" that windows makes, the more like a Mac they get. I hope that's a good thing!

Kuan · #9 02-24-2003, 03:48 PM

People complain when Microsoft bundles things together, people complain when the OS comes with not enough features.

rickg · #10 02-24-2003, 04:08 PM

I personally don't really care what the computer I buy comes "bundled" with now that I think more about it. We buy generic computers at work that don't really come with much more than Windows and a few basic applications. What I see as the bigger issue between PC's and Mac's , is what is available for them whether they come with it or not. There are some more dedicated type programs that are not out there for Mac's, such as the software I use for programming our CNC milling machines. Maybe I'm behind the times now, but not long ago there was too big a limitation in many of the specialized needs for Mac's.

MTI · #11 02-24-2003, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by 123c
I have thought about switching back to mac, because back in the day when I was using them, they were way better than anything else out there. Only if they had more software, I would probaly be using one right now. I am sure all the old mac's I have laying around are worth a bit.

I use PC's primarily, but stumbled on a great deal on an iMac (made me an offer I couldn't refuse!) and loaded the new OS X 2.4, which is Unix covered over by Apple's GUI. I agree about the specialized and business software. The Mac niche is in page layout and printing design so a lot of businesses pass it by, probably because the IS staff is afraid of it.

But for general home use, it really cooks! BTW, if your old Macs are anything less than a 233mhz G3, they'll make very nice doorstops soon since backward compatibility is not a strong suit at Apple.

#12 02-24-2003, 05:39 PM

Hey guys, dont knock on Bill Gates or Microsoft. I am a big fan of his. As a businessman myself, i want to learn how to step on top of people and climb to the top of the mountain. By the way, I own a small computer consulting company and those "blue screen of death" and various crashes and bugs, and viruses targeted for windows products= business for me. If it wasnt for Microsoft, i would be out of a job and no Benz's. so lets be nice to Bill :-)

1) Macontosh is Microsofts "research and development department", trash bin=mac; recycle bin=windows

2) Windows NT=OS/2 modified. Remember how they "teamed up" with IBM only to steal there technology (OS/2) and then say bye bye IBM and hello Windows NT.

3) Getting out of the lawsuit by donating money to competitors. Absolutely brillant! Well not getting out, but you know what i mean.

4) He holds the record as the largest donation by a living person.

Any more tidbits i forgot to mention? No seriously speaking, i understand where you are coming from, but you have to admit, the guy is brillant and has some positive effects in a weird way. If windows products were 100% perfect then a lot of repair/consulting, etc type businesses would be out of jobs.

By the way, I hate XP and I hate "go back" features, I enjoy 98, 95, etc. that are more prone to crashes, as long as its not for my personal computer ;-)

rickg · #13 02-24-2003, 05:44 PM

Sounds like detroits "planned obsolesence". Make 'em so they break, so everyone has to buy a new one every few years

rickg · #14 02-24-2003, 06:02 PM

I use XP both at home and at work, and so far the only real problems have been a reduced backwards-compatability with some of the software, which is to be expected since it's more of an "NT" platform than "98" or "Millenium" was. Funny thing is, we've had some real wierd problems getting XP to play along well with our main server, which uses NT, just an older version. It'll randomly kick a computer off the server, requiring a re-boot. And setting up a new computer the first time is a random "sometimes it works right off, sometimes it don't" bunch-o-fun!

MTI · #15 02-24-2003, 07:04 PM

I have the iMac setup next to a WinXP PC and the differences are not very striking. The Mac boots faster, but Win XP does come up a lot quicker than any flavor of Win98 or Win2000 used to. Installing the OS, on the Mac it's 2 CD's with no multi-digit/alpha product information number to send online to Cupertino . . . with Windows XP, you pretty much have to send over the digital DNA to Redmond. The Apple mouse and keyboard pretty much suck. Luckily the iMac will recognize a USB MS Intellimouse, even the right mouse click! Getting on the internet . . . on Win XP, you can use the guide, answer questions about the connection, whether you use a proxy, etc. On the iMac, plug the ethernet cable in, launch the browser and you're on! It figures it all out for you. I haven't tried this yet, but for XP you can add voice recognition and speech confirmation with an external mic and some software if you want more than "You Got Mail"; with the iMac, it's part of the OS and the mic is built in and you can choose what "voice" the computer uses. XP is a lot more forgiving than old Win and the blue screen of death has only shown up once (bad memory module) and the ability to switch between users is great. With the iMac, OS X 2.4 appears to be very stable. Both suffer from driver shortages from time to time and nothing is more fun than finding out that the only upgrade path for your favorite CD burning software is to upgrade (pay$) for a new version instead of downloading a patch!