Paul G. Allen wrote:
On Sat, 2007-06-09 at 11:32 -0700, Darren New wrote:
In any case, I've never understood folks who hate Windows. You have to
use it a different way than you use UNIX, but that's like hating C++
because it isn't Tcl. Windows has strengths and weaknesses, things it
does well that Linux doesn't, and vice versa.
You make it sound like "people who are used to Unix just don't know how
to use Windows properly". I hated Windows *long* before I was
introduced to Unix.
I started off with a Tandy Pocket PC with a whopping .9K of memory which
allowed me to program in BASIC. It was good. It allowed me to program
functions that went beyond those that were built in. Later, I had
another one that had a cozy 1.8K of memory. (Very stable.)
Then, in a high school class, I got to program on an Apple II and an
Apple IIe. (At this point I had only *heard* of the mouse but couldn't
grasp the concept from the description of it.) I created a keyboard
based paint program that eventually grew too big for the Apple II so I
could only use the Apple IIe after that. It turned out quite good.
(Very stable.)
I then was introduced to a computer that ran ZDOS and CP/M. I modified
a CP/M role playing game that was rather limited. (Very stable.)
Then I became familiar with Amiga, and often programmed (simple things)
in BASIC and became very familiar with the CLI commands. (Many Guru
visits. Not so stable. But nice.)
Somewhere around that time, I heard of the Mac and the Atari ST (or
somesuch). The Mac was greyscale only. The Atari had great sound.
(The Amiga had great video *and* great sound.) (The Mac was fairly
stable I think, more or less, and the Atari's stability I didn't know.)
Then I encountered DOS and Windows 3.1 (which is when I became aware of
Windows 3.0 and wondered why I had not even heard of Windows before that
and why they would skip right up to version number 3). I increasingly
became frustrated with Windows, but had no alternative for the PC. And
no matter how much the PC advanced or how much Windows advanced, I never
saw Windows on the PC perform nearly as well (graphics and sound) as the
Amiga. However, regarding lockups, I don't remember if Windows or Amiga
was worse. Regarding virus vulnerability, I think Windows is second
only to the Amiga.
I had absolutely *zero* familiarity with Unix or Linux at that point,
although by that time I had *heard* of them.
Then OS/2 came out. But Microsoft's FUD went into high gear to make
people believe that a few months later Windows 94 (IIRC) would blow the
doors off of OS/2 and caused everyone to hold off. A few months turned
into several, and Windows 94 was in danger of turning into Windows 96.
But by the time it was finally released, it was called Windows 95
(barely). And it barely held a candle to OS/2. OS/2 was solid.
Windows 95 came out. In some ways it was better than Windows 3.1, in
other ways it was worse. And the worse outweighed the better, so much
so, that I started looking for an alternative. (OS/2 was far better,
but clearly was slipping into the shadows.)
I found Linux, but at that point it was still too arcane for me. It was
CLI intensive. X windowing was available if you could figure out how to
configure it (which I could *not*). And I had virtually no familiarity
with Linux commands or configurations. Still, I installed Linux on a PC
that was too old to be useful for anything else, and I played with it a
little, here and there, primarily when my frustrations with Windows were
running way too high and I needed a break. (This was at work so my time
was limited. I had only one PC at home, a 386 with msdos 5 and windows
3.1 on a 100M HDD. And if dual boot was available back then, I was
unaware of it, or I would have tried it.)
Windows 98 came out. Again, the worse outweighed the better. But Linux
GUI had advanced sufficiently for me to work with it. I still had to
learn a lot of commands. But X was far more stable than Windows and
allowed me to get into the guts of it whereas Windows was making it
increasingly harder to get to the guts.
The better Linux got, the more I hated Windows. But my hate for Windows
started long before I had even heard of Linux.
Microsoft is great at creating sludge, but masters of spin.
I eventually got Linux to dual boot on my PC at home. Then I started
using it more and more, and windows less and less. And my frustration
levels decreased steadily. I continually looked for alternatives on
Linux for things I was then doing in windows. Eventually, I got to a
point where I no longer *needed* to use Windows for anything, except as
a reference to look at for support questions from my mother and
friends. For that reason, I still have windows 98 which came with a
used PC that I bought some time ago. Several times, I had forgotten it
was still on my HDD.
My most recent frustration with Windows was that Vista refused to allow
me to install a software firewall that I could trust. I do *NOT* trust
Microsoft's built in firewall. I think I will install a router in
between my friend's laptop and her cable modem, though I doubt that this
will stop Vista from sending spy data back to Microsoft, but what can
you do? I do not trust Microsoft, at all.
Trying to think of something Windows does well besides propogate
viruses, wroms, and trojans....
....Have to stop, severe headache now.
On the more serious side. I hate Windows because I've used many
different OS's on many different platforms. Windows (any version) is the
worst POS I've ever used.
PGA
Even considering the many Guru visits on my Amiga, I must agree.
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