Microsoft Windows 8 - Page 7 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

WDBCB20 · #91 11-02-2012, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Air&Road

There's a LOT of truth in the above statement.

If Reno had been even slightly computer literate, she could have nailed Bill Gates to the barn door and his hide would still be stretched out there.

In the very early versions of Windows there were hooks that were called "undocumented features." For application developers that knew about and understood how to use the "undocumented features," they could do things within their applications that were almost impossible for developers to do that did NOT have this information. They could also make the applications MUCH more efficient, which was important for some products during that time of very low performance hardware.

Before Windows there were a number of very popular, non Microsoft Applications such as Word Perfect and Lotus 123. There were also the ones from my industry at the time including FactoryLink, Fix and Wonderware.

Once Windows came on the scene, Microsoft developed Word and Excel, to name a few that VERY QUICKLY took over Word Perfect and Lotus' markets. This was because Word & Excel were developed with knowledge of the "undocumented features."

In my industry, FactoryLink and Fix were two of the earliest players in the HMI market, but when Windows came onto the scene, Wonderware came from being many laps down to the clear leader in a VERY short amount of time. I found out later that Wonderware developers had access to the "undocumented features." FactoryLink and Fix were working hard to develop a decent Windows version of their products but were nowhere even in the same ball park as Wonderware since they didn't have access to information regarding the "undocumented features."

If Reno would have had enough knowledge to understand about the "undocumented features" ruse, I expect she could have fined Microsoft into the next galaxy with such Anti Trust violations.

What is very telling about all of this is that someone like myself, whose computer literacy does not go much deeper than the on/off switch and clicking on a mouse, started suspecting something like this as far back as my first word processor on Win 3.11. - Word Perfect. Which I found more user friendly, intuitive and preferable to the annoying MS Word. And of course later there was Netscape versus Internet Explorer.

So you have to wonder, if a computer Neanderthal like myself could smell Gates' rat a mile against the wind, why Reno's Justice Department with the inexhaustible resources of the US government including the option of availing itself of expert witnesses like yourself, failed to nail Gates.

Was there some nudge nudge wink wink of the following sort going on?:
Gates to prosecutor: "Ah, I see you are running our fine innovative operating system on those DOJ computers. We wouldn't want to have a situation where our innovative service packs with our innovative security fixes would become unavailable because of any anti-innovation decisions which would wish to hamper our innovative innovating of innovations now would we?"

If our justice system would lean more towards Justice instead of system, then Gates could possibly have been indicted for innovative industrial sabotage that has slowed down IT progress 20 years by making sure that competitor's software ran even worse than his own software on his Operating System on which he holds a virtual world monopoly acquired precisely by means of this innovative underhandedness.

davidmash · #92 11-02-2012, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamesDean

Its really all personal preference. Personally, I think that menu is largely inefficient when compared to its successors, especially the Windows Vista/7 variants.

I also prefer a clean desktop sans more than a dozen or so icons.

Its far quicker to type in a program name rather than look through two or three columns of listings.

I have an empty desk top. All my apps are categorized and in folders in my start menu. The apps I routinely use are in my quick bar thing at the bottom.

Ara T. · #93 11-02-2012, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Air&Road

The "blue screen of death" was common in NT and even Windows 2000. Even with all the wringing out of beta code on very early XP versions we did, I can't remember getting the blue screen of death, although it might have happened once or twice. XP is where it seemed to come together in the NT type world.

I got blue screens on a weekly basis. Was never a fan of XP. Granted it wasn't as bad as Windows 98 but i always found XP less stable than 2000.

I'd install Win8 in a heartbeat but i dont need that startup screen. Just silly of MS to force that on desktop/laptop/nontouch devices. There were some hacks for Win8 betas that allowed for a start menu like we have now, but MS has done away with those.

spdrun · #94 11-02-2012, 05:37 PM

It's a Microsoft product. As soon as adoption is widespread, there will be interface hacks. Guaranteed.

pawoSD · #95 11-03-2012, 01:33 AM

While XP was clearly good progress at the time it was released, it is over 10 years old now, it was only sold in most cases as a 32-bit operating system, limiting to ~3.5gb ram, this is a huge hindrance by modern computing standards. Software has become much larger and more sophisticated, and needs an equally solid foundation to run upon to take advantage of all capabilities. Lately we have been deploying higher end (cad) stations and even laptops with 32GB of Ram, compared to what was out there 7-8 years ago this is truly remarkable. It will be interesting to see how long they can keep this up.

JamesDean · #96 11-03-2012, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ara T.

I got blue screens on a weekly basis. Was never a fan of XP. Granted it wasn't as bad as Windows 98 but i always found XP less stable than 2000.

I'd install Win8 in a heartbeat but i dont need that startup screen. Just silly of MS to force that on desktop/laptop/nontouch devices. There were some hacks for Win8 betas that allowed for a start menu like we have now, but MS has done away with those.

This seems to work pretty well:

Windows 8 Start Menu, Windows 7 Start Menu

Hatterasguy · #97 11-03-2012, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Botnst

But I'd rather have a Mac.

I'm going all Apple, once my current HP (my 3rd) gives up, I'm getting an IMac.

I used to make fun of Apple until I bought my mom a laptop from them. I can see why people like them now, they just work. You don't have to mess with crap, they are just so nicely set up. Kind of like the Lexus of the computer world.

pawoSD · #98 11-03-2012, 11:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

I'm going all Apple, once my current HP (my 3rd) gives up, I'm getting an IMac.

I used to make fun of Apple until I bought my mom a laptop from them. I can see why people like them now, they just work. You don't have to mess with crap, they are just so nicely set up. Kind of like the Lexus of the computer world.

Apple products tend to be designed (and used) by those with a limited scope of needs from the product. If it does e-mail/pics/video/surf the web, then they are happy with it. The markup on their products is truly astonishing. I am betting its all going to head downhill in the not too distant future, they can't keep coming out with new significantly better versions of the same product forever.

TheDon · #99 11-03-2012, 11:11 PM

I stopped by the Microsoft store and did enjoy using the metro interface on the surface and the ability to switch to a traditional desktop is nice. I think once the surface pro comes out I will get one

My iPad is useful but it's not really meant for doing actual work. It's a media consumption device and really nothing more.

Hatterasguy · #**100** 11-03-2012, 11:25 PM

They will keep doing just fine. Not everyone wants to learn to build a computer or deal with all the BS that involves. They sell a wonderful package with awesome support that frankly just works.

Not to mention they just look cool, the new IMac is freaken awesome.

cmbdiesel · #**101** 11-04-2012, 12:34 AM

Don't forget where you put your checkbook when you go Mac.

They might be sexy and all that, but just try to find an old one that still works.

spdrun · #**102** 11-04-2012, 12:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmbdiesel

Don't forget where you put your checkbook when you go Mac.

They might be sexy and all that, but just try to find an old one that still works.

Depends on the model - some Apple products have flawed hardware, others are pretty robust. I kept my first iPhone for ~3 years. Try that with a Crapberry. Macbook - 3 years. iBook-G4, 5 years old when I sold it.

"Fallen from the truck" parts on EBay are also pretty reasonable should you decide to fix the device yourself.

cmbdiesel · #**103** 11-04-2012, 12:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spdrun

Depends on the model - some Apple products have flawed hardware, others are pretty robust. I kept my first iPhone for ~3 years. Try that with a Crapberry. Macbook - 3 years. iBook-G4, 5 years old when I sold it.

"Fallen from the truck" parts on EBay are also pretty reasonable should you decide to fix the device yourself.

Not talking about phones, although iPhone performance drops off considerably after 6 months.

5 years... for a laptop over 1K... no thanks.

And just for laughs, what outdated OS was your G4 running when you offloaded it on whatever stupid bastid purchased it? Tiger???

spdrun · #**104** 11-04-2012, 12:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmbdiesel

Not talking about phones, although iPhone performance drops off considerably after 6 months.

5 years... for a laptop over 1K... no thanks.

And just for laughs, what outdated OS was your G4 running when you offloaded it on whatever stupid bastid purchased it? Tiger???

Leopard, I believe. I'm running Snow Leopard on my current Macbook. Not in any huge rush to upgrade, actually. Stable SMB sharing support is more important to me than being able to use the latest AppleKrapps and iKloudKrap.

cmbdiesel · #**105** 11-04-2012, 01:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spdrun

Leopard, I believe. I'm running Snow Leopard on my current Macbook. Not in any huge rush to upgrade, actually. Stable SMB sharing support is more important to me than being able to use the latest AppleKrapps and iKloudKrap.

Leopard, although possible, would have slowed that machine to a standstill....

That is, if the logic board hadn't failed already and turned it into a brick.