OS wars

ClymAngus · Post by **ClymAngus** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 1:06 am

True, I fear it is a near inevitable human condition to clump with one hand and slag with the other.

Disembodied wrote:
Pretty much, yes... although I think the song he linked to paints a rather rose-tinted view of the past. I remember vicious VIC-20/Commodore 64 v ZX Spectrum battles, with everybody joining in to kick the ORIC, and to point and laugh at the Dragon 32, the Lynx, and the Aquarius. Everybody except those insufferable aloof BBC Micro snobs... Then later we had the bloody and protracted Amiga v Atari ST punchups, too. If we'd had the internet back in the day no doubt those old fanboy wars would have moved out of the real playground and into the virtual.

CptnEcho · Post by **CptnEcho** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 1:45 am

Cmdr James wrote:
... I have OSX, linux and windows systems and ue all 3, and I guess many of the other posters are the same. ...

I've installed and use Windows XP and some flavors of Linux (Debian & OPENSuse) on my own systems.
I've installed and used DOS(5&6), Windows 3.x, Windows 95 and Windows 98 on my own systems. I've had minimal experience with Mac's.
I'm neither an O.S. guru, nor a neophyte.

I'm just one of the members of this forum who validates what Cmdr James has written.

Website · Post by **DaddyHoggy** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 11:31 am

I have a very old laptop (12 yr old HP 800CT) running W95
I have a less old laptop (IBM Thinkpad 600) running W98SE and Ubuntu Fiesty
My 7 year old daughter's PC is an old Celeron (1.2GHz) running W98SE
I have my main PC (old XP2800+) running XP SP2 and Ubuntu Gutsy
My media player PC that just runs XP SP2

At work I mostly have XP SP2, but have several machines that are either dual boot W2K and/or Red Hat 9

There are things I like and hate about them all. But only my W95 lappy has NEVER crashed/BSOD on me!

pagroove · Post by **pagroove** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 8:05 pm

It's sad that so many games do have to run on Windows otherwise Linux is far more stable. The person who invented the registry must be BBQ'd like a Trumble.

For example: I've spent 2 weeks to get GTA4 to run. First I had to update to SP3. But that wouldn't work directly without renaming the catroot folder (a sollution from the Mircosoft tech forums). Just all these tiring operations to run a game. It was worth it in the end though but that's off-topic.

But first I had to ensure that upgrading in this way would not destroy my system. I'm now in the situation that I bought Acronis to backup my whole OS and HD on an external HD just to prevent re-installing due to hd-failure or registry errors.

Cmdr Wyvern · Post by **Cmdr Wyvern** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 6:07 am

How to repair Vista:

1) Wipe the drive and install XP Pro.
2) Wipe the drive and install a Linux distro of your choice.
3) Or say "Stuff it!" and go get a Mac.

wackyman465 · Post by **wackyman465** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 12:12 pm

Or just freak out, start smashing the computer until it works again (hard drive is totally wrecked) -- "percussive maintenance"

You know the light you get on your car, the one that says "maintenance required"? Well on my car it says "maint reqd". What exactly is this "maint", how did it get damaged, and why is it "reqd", not "wrecked"?

Cmdr Wyvern · Post by **Cmdr Wyvern** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 1:05 pm

wackyman465 wrote:
Or just freak out, start smashing the computer until it works again (hard drive is totally wrecked) -- "percussive maintenance"

You know, the idea behind computer repair is to make it work, as opposed to insuring that it never functions ever again.
That is why the Hulk will never achieve geek status.

"Hulk fix!" <CRUNCH> "oops."

wackyman465 · Post by **wackyman465** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 1:30 pm

Well, you can ask whether smashing a vista computer will make it work better than before, and the answer might be yes, seeing as "barely" is better than
"not at all".

Cmd. Cheyd · Post by **Cmd. Cheyd** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 4:45 pm

Been on Vista Ultimate x64 on my home rig for... 2 years, I think. Can't argue with a $45 price tag for it.

From a user standpoint, it's fine. At worst, disable UAC. (Worst part of Vista, and made worse by bad programming practices at the third party ISVs.)

From an admin standpoint, I was SOOO hating it until SP1 and the Remote Server Administration Tools released. Now, it's fine.

wackyman465 · Post by **wackyman465** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 11:07 pm

$45 for windows vista? 45 USD? Where?

Cmd. Cheyd · Post by **Cmd. Cheyd** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 11:47 pm

@Wackyman - I'm a former MS employee (2000 - 2002). I still have a lot of friends there.

$45 USD is the company store price for Vista.

wackyman465 · Post by **wackyman465** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 12:10 am

I suppose you aren't really supposed to speak to us lowly mac users then.... I shall speak words that will make your ears burn with pain... itunes! ipod! vista! AGHGHGH I said it! I said it again! I said it again! I said it again! I said it again!

Does anyone get my monty python reference?

Hey, that gives me an idea for an OXP - the Monty Python: a variant of the PCC, it turns you into a newt.

"I got better."

Cmd. Cheyd · Post by **Cmd. Cheyd** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 12:22 am

No problem talking to you "lowly mac users". I just feel sorry for you guys for paying so much for your hardware, and then bootcamping your way to Windows... Seems the long way to do things.

Nah, seriously... I'm not a zealot. Use the best tool for the job. All 3 major OS variants have their strong and weak points. Combine that with user/admin knowledge, and you can quickly find the best solution for a given problem.

Cmdr Wyvern · Post by **Cmdr Wyvern** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 9:10 pm

wackyman465 wrote:
I shall speak words that will make your ears burn with pain... itunes! ipod! vista!

MS loves Apple, enough to copy Apple shamelessly. (At least in look if not functionality.)

Here's the words that make Billy cuss and Steve throw chairs:
Firefox...Google....Tux...Ubuntu...Debian...RedHat...R.M.Stallman...VMWare...Java...Sun...Mozilla...WINE...GNU/Linux...Flash...ODF...OLPC...OpenOffice...ReactOS...EEE-PC...(utter lack of) Security...Nintendo...Playstation...Convicted Predatory Monopolist. And that's just a few among many.

Wiki pages · Post by **Thargoid** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 9:16 pm

Especially if the other gets them on a triple word score...