TheByte

Centurion

Hahaha I knew this day would come.

Mikael

Microsoft extends Windows XP's stay:

Microsoft extends Windows XP's stay | CNET News.com

NSL

Sorry it took me this long to reply, Luw. Vista is actually more reliable than XP in my case, but slower installed on the same system. XP always gives the errors and freezing out of the blue whenever it wants. I could be browsing the web and all of a sudden the computer freezes. A real pain.... I've also wiped the systems out and re-installed them fresh to no avail, unreliable errors, now after my last re-installation, I get errors when logging out, or shutting down/restarting the system.. on the other hand, I must say that their line of servers have been quite reliable, from Windows 2000 Advanced Server, to Windows 2003 Enterprise Server. Only problem I see is the frequent patch upgrades, that very often force the servers to be rebooted.... something that almost never happens on a UNIX server.

I don't disagree with you as well, Ray, I do like Windows, it's just that Mac OS X is far superior, you should try it, just like UNIX is far superior than DOS, and that is hands down, no contest. There's an edge on reliability and security you just can't get with MS Windows.
And on the Mac OS X, no problems plugging in anything to ports, not like in Windows, you just plug in your camera, drives, video cam, etc, just like if you'd be plugging it into a wall outlet. And the same thing removing it... no risk of damaging some windows32 system files, or drivers that are missing/gone for whatever reason. You can even unplug your keyboard and mouse at any time while running the Mac to just clean them, then plug them in again and guess what? the OS keeps running flawlessly! no need to 'reboot'.
And what if you are using their wireless bluetooth peripherals? no problem, they get detected automatically, no need to 'reboot'. You see, in the DOS (Windows) world, everything has to be solved by 'rebooting' and more often than you think, you find yourself praying it all comes back OK .

Installing new software in a Mac? No problem!, it's as simple as drag and drop. A single file (.app) contains all the files that make the program so you just drag that file to your applications folder (or anywhere else you want); just double click it, and voila, you are running the new program. No mess with files being dumped in your Windows system folders, dragging the Windows OS down with useless DLLs once you decide to uninstall the program/software.
To uninstall software in Mac OS X, simply drag your app file to the trash bin! There's no Add/Remove Programs. It's not needed!
I could go on and on with how different and much more advanced and reliable the new Mac OS X (UNIX based) is compared to Windows, you just need to test drive it yourself.
All these things, I know they are common to everyone that uses a Windows PC.... most people have come to 'accept' these problems as normal things, but in fact all these things are nuisances that are gone in Mac OS X. Not to mention, that OS X is also giving you the most advanced GUI in the world right now. And no, this is not a Mac fanatic talking, in fact, all the older Macs, read: previous to UNIX up to Mac OS 9, were a pain, and they also crashed like DOS... it is the UNIX OS inside that makes this new Mac OS X the best OS in the world right now.

In fact, it is ironic to mention that currently my most reliable MS Windows box is my Mac . I use Parallels (like VMWare) and run Windows inside the Intel based Mac. So slick!

There are many reasons why Microsoft should drop DOS and adapt UNIX as their next OS. A Windows (UNIX based) would make their systems extremely reliable, and far more secure...
I remember years ago, Microsoft had already started a UNIX R&D lab... who knows, maybe they'll surprise us in the future .

Mikael

Just saw this. World's largest computer magazine (by circulation) calling Vista the biggest disappointment of the year is not a good thing at all.

#1. No Wow, No How: Windows Vista

Five years in the making and this is the best Microsoft could do?

It's not that Vista is awful. The integrated security and parental controls are nice, and the Aero interface is as whizzy as it gets. Searching and wireless networking are much faster and easier than under XP.

It's just that Vista isn't all that good. Many of the innovations the operating system was supposed to bring--like more efficient file and communications systems--got tossed overboard as Microsoft struggled to get the OS out the door, some three years after it was first promised. Despite its hefty hardware requirements, Vista is slower than XP.

When it debuted last January, incompatibilities were rampant--in part because hardware and software makers didn't feel any urgency to revamp their products to work with the new OS. The user account controls that were supposed to make users feel safer just made them feel irritated. And at $399 ($299 upgrade) for Windows Ultimate, we couldn't help feeling more than a little gouged.

No wonder so many users are clinging to XP like shipwrecked sailors to a life raft, while others who made the upgrade are switching back. And when the fastest Vista notebook PC World has ever tested is an Apple MacBook Pro, there's something deeply wrong with the universe.

We have no doubt Vista will come to dominate the PC landscape, if only because it will become increasingly hard to buy a new machine that doesn't have it pre-installed. And that's disappointing in its own right.



From: PC World - The 15 Biggest Tech Disappointments of 2007

Amo

I'm fed up of reading articles about how 'rubbish' Vista is. I really think it is over-exaggerated. I know Vista has its flaws, but its probably the best OS I have used - or my favourite anyway. Just my opnion.

Imhotep Evil

Nope. That was the first windows (a GUI for DOS). The roots of the more recent MS OSes is the MS-IBM OS2.




UNIX is even older than DOS.
Linux is a very tricky thing, as people confuse the kernel (the real Linux) with the OS (GNU or GNU-Linux) and/or the distribution (Ubuntu GNU-Linux).
And BTW GNU means:
GNU's
NOT
UNIX
tough it's a UNIX like OS.


For all its problems MS weren't full control freaks like IBM, Apple or stupid enough like the UNIX boys.

Gullwing

My one year old HP laptop (XP) crashed and lost everything a week ago. I have not gotten it to do anything since then. I just got a new similar spec vista laptop. I still haven't figured out much about it and don't have an opinion about it yet. For the most part it seems fine and haven't had any problems yet.