A week of Windows!

[Technoid]

http://www.newsforge.com/os/03/10/09/0552252.shtml?tid=13

[TnT]

LMAO

My copy of Windows XP Pro seems to have a program included with it called 'Windows Messenger' that, as far as I can tell, is some sort of ad delivery mechanism.

[bsdgeek]

ROFL, that was great.

[Claymonkey]

Dear LORD, I didn't realize there were Linux users this ignorant and just plain dumb. I swear 90% of his complaints about windows were just him being misinformed or not being bothered to look AT ALL! He keeped complaining about missing features in Windows that were literally two clicks away if he wanted them. Did my eyes deceive me or did he say he couldn't figure out how to turn off Windows Messenger? Gah, I could bitch for hours about this but what's the point. If he's not willing to take the time to learn why should I take the time to complain.

[Technoid]

Originally posted by dparadis
Dear LORD, I didn't realize there were Linux users this ignorant and just plain dumb. I swear 90% of his complaints about windows were just him being misinformed or not being bothered to look AT ALL! He keeped complaining about missing features in Windows that were literally two clicks away if he wanted them. Did my eyes deceive me or did he say he couldn't figure out how to turn off Windows Messenger? Gah, I could bitch for hours about this but what's the point. If he's not willing to take the time to learn why should I take the time to complain.

uhm, you are missing the point

The point being that seen from his point of view, Windows is as "weird" as Linux is from a windows users point!

and that said:
You reacted almost exactly as a linux user would have if it had been a windows noob complaining about linux being "weird"

[MultimediaMan]

He's still a fanboy. There are a few glaring omissions: let's cover a few...

I am not a computer game person, so the existence (or lack) of particular game titles in a particular operating system does not affect me at all.

He doesn't game, therefore he is, by definition cloistered, or a closet CLI zealot (J/K but he glossed over a major sticking point of Linux becoming a mainstream alternative for the Desktop). He ignores a large portion of the market segment altogether, and obstinately thinks he's relevant.

I would like to see a Linux version of Paint Shop Pro, but I doubt that it's going to happen soon. And right now, there isn't anything truly equivalent in Linux to Quark or Photoshop. But I see plenty of Linux development activity in the graphics software area (both commercial and free), so this complaint won't last. But right now it's a real factor for Windows users considering a total switch to Linux.

There is no doubt about the fact that Windows has more applications available for it than Linux does. You can debate the value of all those applications forever without coming to any sane conclusion. I'm generally satisfied with what's available to me in Linux...

[Ronald Reagan Voice]There you go again...[/Ronald Reagan Voice] He goes back to the mantra of "It's coming for Linux", when in reality, it isn't coming any time soon, and if/when it does, it will likely NOT be free.

This Windows thing about needing special drivers for every bit of hardware is irksome. Setting up a wireless network card in Windows is tedious compared to Linux, where it's a 'click-click-click and you're done' thing. And in Windows, if I plug in my Linksys PCMCIA card instead of my SMC one by mistake, nada. In Linux either one will work (since I have models that have similar chipsets). In general, I find it easier to add or remove hardware pieces or peripherals in Linux than it seems to be in Windows.

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire: Legacy support in Linux SUCKS...anybody here who has had to suffer through using ISAPNP and manually loading/compling modules would agree that Windows is far superior in this regard. Also, he avoids mentioning the "little things"...like commonly available 3COM, Linksys and DLink NIC Cards which can drive the user to distraction when trying to find a version of Tulip or Tornado that actually works. Windows XP driver signing is one of the smarter things to come down from Redmond. And our beloved author completely misses the boat with Telephony Modems and Broadband Modems, too. Windows XP however, never seems to have to have installation/detection problems with hardware that has signed drivers.

He also complains about having to pay for mIRC, when he obviously hasn't priced Motif (Think StyleXP, but for Linux, on Steriods) for Linux lately: His argument is a non-argument. It is free with Trillian 0.74 and a host of other free IRC clients: Google is your friend. Ooops, I forgot, Linux doesn't have a Googlebar.

I use both Linux and Windows, and I rather like Mandrake 9.2 and Windows XP, for different reasons: I actually triple boot Win98SE (I know Win98SE can't see the second processor, but it does run some software that XP won't - mainly most Hard Disk Vendor's cut down version of Ontrack), WinXP-SP1, and MDK 9.2 on a Dual P3 700 I built up as a Utility PC: Mandrake brings a smile to my face when brought up on the SMP Kernel, it is fast and smooth...and it can compile like crazy. Some things are easier to work on natively in on OS as compared to another.

[WxDude]

Multimedia Man Said:

Google is your friend. Ooops, I forgot, Linux doesn't have a Googlebar.

That's not true. As I sit here at my Linux/Mozilla box at work, I have the google bar for Mozilla.
Here's the link to it: http://googlebar.mozdev.org/



Enjoy.

-Wx

[bsdgeek]

Originally posted by Technoid
uhm, you are missing the point

The point being that seen from his point of view, Windows is as "weird" as Linux is from a windows users point!

and that said:
You reacted almost exactly as a linux user would have if it had been a windows noob complaining about linux being "weird"

Exactly, it's just a light-hearted parody.

[MultimediaMan]

WxDude: My Bad, but it's obvious he didn't try very hard to look for another Client.

[Kooldino]

Originally posted by dparadis
Dear LORD, I didn't realize there were Linux users this ignorant and just plain dumb. I swear 90% of his complaints about windows were just him being misinformed or not being bothered to look AT ALL! He keeped complaining about missing features in Windows that were literally two clicks away if he wanted them. Did my eyes deceive me or did he say he couldn't figure out how to turn off Windows Messenger? Gah, I could bitch for hours about this but what's the point. If he's not willing to take the time to learn why should I take the time to complain.

Agreed. I noticed that too.

@Technoid - but most WIndows users complian about stuff that's MUCH harder to fix under linux.

[leech]

As far as the driver issues go.... Let's look at the MODERN linux distro. ISAPNP? Bah, thing of the past, any new distro comes with either Hardware detection that automatically sets that up, or you can use sndconfig (worked flawlessly for my SB Awe64). Tulip? Who cares, most distros will detect whatever nic you have in your system (assuming the kernel has the driver for it, which in most cases it does)

Let's take a good example of a Linux vs. Windows Driver installation;

I purchased myself an Creative Labs Audigy 2 Platinum. Now, as everyone knows, Creative labs probably has the WORSE drivers EVER. This pretty much proves that....I figured since it was one of those 'parts of it work' under linux, I decided to try and set that up first... It went FLAWLESSLY. Mind you, I was upgrading from a SB Live 5.1 card. Since the driver is the same under ALSA (emu10k1) it was detected without any configuration on my part, except for having to change the volume for the surround sound. That's it, end of story.

Now to get the card into windows.... I booted up, it detected the new card and asked for me to insert the CD, which I then did. It started to install the drivers over, and then having popped up the "Installation has now finished, please restart your computer". It FROZE. Hard lock. Had to turn off the hard switch to get it to die. Then when it booted back up it would stay at the blue screen showing nothing but a mouse cursor. So then I proceeded to curse, find my WinXP Pro CD, then I tried the repair.... Well the repair finished, I booted back into windows only to find that NOTHING would load. The start bar would pop up, but then MSN messenger would crash, Yahoo messenger would crash... EVERYTHING would crash, no IE, not mozilla... Well, you get the point, it was dead in the water. So I basically had to wipe the old Windows Install, and install fresh. And even THEN, all of creative's drivers are 'upgrades'. Most hardware manufacturers that I've seen (Matrox included) just recommend you uninstall the old, then install the new... NOT CREATIVE. They have you install the one on the CD, then run this update, and make sure you then install the mediasource update, then this other update, then ANOTHER media source update, etc. (ok, maybe that's an exaggeration, but you get the point.)

Now, let's compare these. One is created by the actual manufacturer. The other is created by opensource programmers. Yet the opensource one was the one that was easier to install (even if I hadn't already had a sblive, it would have been either auto-detected by the distro, or alsaconf would have done it.)

Also as a side note, ISA doesn't mean crap for the most part anymore, because no modern systems have them. Everything has gone to USB1.1 or USB2.0 or Firewire (which is funny, because I know USB2.0 was in linux before XP.)

Oh and about the Googlebar, even the gnome panel has an applet for it, thank you very much. Let's see Windows XP do THAT (at least with the default shell... but then again if you know enough to change shells, then you would have no problem running linux anyhow.)

Leech

[leech]

Oh, and I'm not sure if everyone understood this, but he's talking about the windows messenger SERVICE, not MSN messenger. Though I think everyone on MURC knows that.

Leech

[MultimediaMan]

I await your response to the Tulip or Tornado Driver issues...

[Taz-Matt]

I must say I have no opinions on that because the two systems have their goods and bads. I'm not an expert in linux though, I'm actually starting to learn it. But damn, the first day I used windows, I found where the refresh rate was, and I was able to change resolution without logging off. Maybe it's because I'm in my first week of learning linux but I didn't found the refresh rate yet and how to change the resolution without logging off on RedHat 9.

I know it has numerous advantages though and I've learned how to use a printer connected to another computer on WinXP from my linux box in a matter of minutes. And I know I'm better off with Apache, PHP and MySQL than IIS and company to make the web sites I do (the reason why I'm learning RH).

So I think there are good and bad sides to both of them. It's like somebody who has had Windows computers all his life switching to a Mac. I saw people reacting like "Man, this is much easier in Windows" and I saw the same thing the other way too so, is it because people are accustomed to one system that they dislike the one they are now trying? I think that's the reason that he's complaining on little things! I could too but it's like humans, I accept the differences and try to work with the good sides.

The one bad side of windows though would be the price! Man! In Canada, when WinXP got out, it was 299$ for the Home and 449$ for the Pro! What a Scam! They would cut the price to like 99$ for the Home and they would sell 5 times more copies. If you make the math, I think it would be worth it and save them extra efforts to stop illegal copies. (I worked at a local computer store and 80% to 90% of people wanted to purchase WinXP but didn't cause they thought it was a rip off...)

In short, I have no preferences, I just found a use for the two of them...

[leech]

Originally posted by MultimediaMan
I await your response to the Tulip or Tornado Driver issues...

I've never had this problem, like I said, it's generally auto-detected with any new distro. I know my Libranet did it, and MDK does it, as well as RH.

Leech