Posts by Chika
667 posts • joined Tuesday 2nd October 2007 12:30 GMT
Posted in Happy 23rd birthday, Windows 3.0
Re: For people who knew no better
Actually, the "generic" hardware wasn't as generic as you might think. One of the biggest weaknesses of any PC and a problem that still haunts new PC releases today is of drivers that provide a way to make all this hardware compatible with each other.
The biggest problem was that Microsoft learned their trade as far as the market went at the fount of Big Blue, so when a new IBM system went in, they had a chance to ram a ton of glossy marketing literature down the unsuspecting throats of the buyers. They simply weren't aware of the competition. Once in there, the business market acted as the shills for the PC, eventually killing the competition by stealth.
As for Apple, they very nearly did go the same way as Commodore. It took a bit of good hype to pull them out of the doldrums; it was called the iMac. But for that system and the marketing that went with it, Apple certainly would have died as so many others did. Not that I'm a fan of Apple, but give them their due.
Posted in Happy 23rd birthday, Windows 3.0
Re: How many hours wasted?
Oh yeah. W95 for floppy. Twenty of them, as I recall...
I was using a Zip drive by that time. Much quicker!
Posted in Happy 23rd birthday, Windows 3.0
Re: Short Memories
I used to install Wfw3.11 which was a floppy for the DOS, another five for Windows itself and four more for all the extra gubbins. I then needed drivers for everything and one more for the TCP/IP stack.
Messy!
Posted in Happy 23rd birthday, Windows 3.0
Actually, as Michael gives us the lowdown on the Amiga, I could say something very similar for Acorn and the Archimedes. While the Amiga was beating the crap out of MS-DOS/Windows with superior sound and graphics, mostly because the people behind the PC at the time couldn't be bothered to develop that side of it or were seriously caught up in the politics surrounding the PC at the time (this, of course, was the time when the PC design was being extracted physically from IBM), Acorn were likewise doing the PC no favours at all when it came to the sheer speed of the processor.
You may have heard of it. It was called the Acorn RISC Machine. Or the ARM. It even got to the point that Acorns could actually run Windows as a side session! The operating system itself wasn't too shabby either and stands up well even now (try a RasPi running RISC OS 6, for example). While there is a command line for RISC OS, the GUI was not just an overlay as Windows 1, 2 and 3 were.
The problem was twofold with Acorn - they continued to innovate right up to the very end but were absolutely rubbish at marketing themselves. In effect, they shared this problem with Commodore in that they were happy to stick with their own market and didn't really do enough to move into other markets. The second problem, however, was the venture capitalists that eventually asset-stripped the company.
Re: This could be the most visionary piece of forward planning ever.
I like your thinking!
The problem is that there are so many that would probably want to take their places...
Re: Naughty Microsoft
95 % are Windows
Windows 95, still alive and kicking! Yay!
0.1% are Linux and they haven't got a clue either but got it because they were GIVEN it.
Probably because the ones that have it that you don't see do their own work, or it just doesn't go wrong that often (yeah, the last one is a bit far fetched as most users that expect something to go wrong will usually find something, regardless of the OS).
Re: Sporking hell
Not really. Consider that Microsoft wanted to stop referring to trial releases using names such as beta or release candidate, names that everyone knows and understands. A "consumer preview"? A "developer's preview"? Hence my comment. :)
Re: Do the Windows Shuffle!
That's probably Eadon, ya know!
Re: Words have a meaning .. don't mess with them!
Windows 1 was a strange beast. Apparently it could open windows but couldn't overlay them. Sounds familiar, that does!
Actually, there's supposed to be an ad somewhere on YT of Ballmer selling W1.
Oh noes! Re: 8.1 = 6... what?
Should have expected it. The minute somebody mentions version numbers...
ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!
Sporking hell
Actually, the biggest mistake that M$ made here wasn't so much that they insisted that TIFKAM would be the primary interface on show and no exclusions.
If they had put it in there, left the Start button in place and put the switch in to allow you to use one or the other, just as they did in early betas (yeah, I call them betas even if M$ don't like it - call a spade a shovel, why don't you?) then chances are that we wouldn't be arguing the toss. We could all switch to what we liked and everyone would be happy.
Or am I thinking too logically here?
Re: What IS surprising...
Good job they're about to bring out 8.1 then.
Let's wait and see what actually gets released before we actually start praising anything. Sinofsky might be history but that doesn't stop M$ cocking things up.
Re: @Barry Shitpeas
Sony's problems didn't help them, admittedly. The trouble is that Microsoft is making quite a few mistakes of their own, some of which look remarkably like those made by Sony.
Then again, both companies have flung a fair amount of dirt around, so you can't really blame Barry for his view of the situation. Well, not that much...
Re: Follow this simple yes-no rule
Err.. is there an echo in here?
Re: Alternating Succuess
Windows 3.x good? You never tried Windows 3.0, did you? And you might want to go into a bit more depth with NT - 3.1 really was pants!
And nobody ever puts Windows 1 or Windows 2 in these lists!
Agreed about Windows 2000. I still have a live server in my care.
Re: "...It's just you really have to work at it."
Maybe, maybe not.
Working at the support sharp end, as it were, I deal with a wide variety of different capability levels. The effort of getting some users out of Windows XP and onto Windows 7 is proving difficult enough, but you need to remember that these end users aren't necessarily trained IT folk. To that end, you tailor their experience to match their expectations and abilities, even if it is just a matter of putting a "Click this first", "Click this second" regime on the desktop. In that respect, and being a user of more than one operating system environment, the OS in use is immaterial.
Where the problem lies is when a user is used to running a system in a certain way and suddenly finds that it won't do it anymore. To that extent, there are desktop GUIs on Linux that can be easier for a seasoned non-IT user to work with than W7 or W8, for example KDE which, in its current guise or in the previous guise, looks a lot more like XP than any of its successors. As for being "messy", don't knock it until you try it. It might have been messy back when I was still working with RedHat 5.2 (alongside Windows 98), but that was a long time ago now.
So please be careful of your FUD. Make sure that it is up to date at least!
Re: Internet connection required
As far as I have seen to date, the people with the biggest obsession with online play are the people that own the servers....
Re: I shudder to think what the coolant used here is.
Oh come on! Now you really are taking the... nononononono, forget that!
Re: Obviously
Yeah, as long as it doesn't make to Pi soggy...
Re: Rest in peace Eadon
Why bother with the carriage? Just drive over him....
Did I make a grave misunderstanding?
Re: Heh
"...And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why most people prefer to run Windows..."
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why Windows fanbois tend to have the urine relentlessly extracted from them when they try to say anything meaningful about systems like this.
And yes, I have a RasPi myself which is quite happy running RISC OS with a Sunfish NFS link to my Linux server. I had some trouble with the display until I reloaded the OS. No problem since.
Posted in Ten Windows tablets
Re: Ten Windows Tablets - the Eadon Review
You may have a point, but the whole problem here is that Eadon won't give a considered opinion either way. All he sees is W8 and suddenly "it's crap". At least you have something to base your opinion of the specific dairy goodness (or badness!)
Re: …And we still have no idea what these patents are
I would imagine that Foxconn, at least, knows. I'd be very suspicious of any deal of this kind that was woolly enough not to specifically define which items are actually being licensed!
Hmm...
I'm not sure that I would have bothered with a computer called the Acorn Jobs. ;)
Posted in Ten Windows tablets
Re: Ten Windows Tablets - the Eadon Review
*sigh*
Would you like to give us a considered opinion before trotting this out? Have you tried any of them? Or perhaps you have an alternative device that you prefer? No?
I'm not a fan of W8 either but I'm not going to condemn every bit of kit I see just because of that. All it does is bore the shite out of everyone.
Re: Simple Explanation - MS MURDERED THE NETBOOK
"I had a linux netbook. There was loads of bloatware on it. Windows netbooks, on the other hand, often came with a clean XP install."
How many netbooks have you had?
OK, that's a bit harsh, since the XP loads had to be clean and lean as they wouldn't run that well if they were cluttered up with the junk they usually packaged it with. The problem was that, especially as time went on, this XP version was the severely limited "Starter Edition".
On the other hoof, if your Linux install was bloated out, the question would have to be "how did it get that way?" as most of what came with netbooks that I've seen was cut down junk with a severely limited front end. My own experience was to junk this immediately and get a proper distro installed on it.
In other words, the netbook, regardless of OS, died of injuries inflicted by its makers. How those injuries occurred has already been mentioned above.
Re: XP users should say 'thanks' to the penguins
1. I used WinME
2. WinME crapped up many times.
3. I recall that I wiped all six machines that were supplied with WinME and loaded them with spare Win98SE licences.
I know of folk that persevered with WinME, but I had my limits!
Re: Dude just use Mint
Linux bigotry? OK, I'll grant you that there are some real zealots out there, but can't you say the same for Microsoft fanbois as well?
I agree that there are serious problems running some software from the Windows environment on Linux. Wine is not a panacea for all that ails you. However, would you not also agree that part of the problem relates to people that insist on using brand names to justify their OS choice rather than actually looking at what they actually need? The same argument can be aimed at those who resist moving from XP to W7, or to iOS, or wherever.
Yes, like you, Phil, I have access to various OS loads, both on virtual and physical metal, and I know what I like and what I can do on each machine. You may think it strange that I do much of what I do on Linux, but it does what I want it to do. Then again, I do much of my video stuff on Windows 7 and have a Windows XP machine that may be used to do my vinyl transfers when I get a round tuit.
I'm not suggesting that everyone needs to change, but neither would I appreciate somebody forcing the choice down my throat. After all, I still use RISC OS. Just think how old that system is!
Yes, I recognise all of the above with one notable addition.
Actually, I rather enjoy getting old kit to work, but my biggest gripe is when somebody goes out and buys a nice, shiny new machine, gets it home, plugs it in then hasn't the slightest clue how to use it. One of the latest bugbears is where a user with only a slight grasp of how to use Windows XP suddenly goes out and buys a Mac of some sort because one of his friends or colleagues has one and it looks nice. BLOODY HELL! A computer is NOT a fashion accessory! But they do it all the same but expect the same degree of support from me that they get for whatever they used to use.
To an extent, I'm lucky in that I've been exposed to many different systems over the years so I have a good idea where to look on any given bit of kit, but it still beggars the question; if you don't know how to use it, why buy it? Learn about it first, then you have a better idea about whether you should buy it. The shame is that, in every situation, the problem all comes back to a failure to ask the first, basic rules of IT procurement:-
What do I need it for? If you can't answer that, go buy a pencil and a pad.
Does this machine do what I want it to do? If not, what are you doing buying it?
Do I know how to make it do what I want it to do? I refer you to the previous answers.
If the system I have does what I want it to do, why do I need to change it? You buy new kit to resolve a legitimate problem, not just because it's shiny.
Would that more folk would ask these questions, then this problem would not be so acute.
Not that amazing, really. It's been some time since its release and not a lot has changed. Yes, it may be a bit faster than W7 but not that much and, should you ever switch off Aero on W7, that increase is barely perceptible. OK, I agree that "mee too" trolls are a pain - they were frowned on in some places when I was a net noob so why we have them now is a bit of a mystery, but what you are seeing now isn't really that different from what we saw with Vista. While there are those that like W8 and will champion it, just as some folk did with Vista, the majority villify this version because they just don't like it.
I'm saying little about my opinion of W8 myself, partly because other folk have said everything already, partly because I'm fed up doing it. My sole W8 installation, I shall say, has been deleted and, beyond my only W7 system and what gets done at work, everything else is Linux or RISC OS and is unlikely to change anytime soon.
Re: Will "Windows"™ brand OS offers Windows again
> It's the STD of OS options.
STD? What has Subscriber Trunk Dialling got to do with Windows? Or are they going back to acoustic couplers for network access now?
Re: 8.1?
> > They could call it Windows Crap, and Windows Still Crap, but then what would they call 8.3?
> Windows Professionally Crap?
Windows Even More Crap.
Spotting an typo...
"an popular third party Android mobile"
That's the second time I've seen that grammatical error on this site today.
Posted in Review: Renault Zoe electric car
Interesting idea, but...
I hate how it looks. The Sierra "jelly mould" was bad enough, especially as so many cars picked up on the idea, but this looks like a heavily stylised computer mouse with wheels!
Vote me down if you must, but I hate this!
Re: I'm gonna start up my own social network
They might try to sue the crap out of you...
I won't bore you with the details. I've written a bit about this on my LJ, but the gist is that I believe 12.3 to be an improvement on 12.2 in most respects, though there are a few niggles that have been a contant annoyance since version 12 took over. Boots a lot quicker than some of the older versions, plays nice with UEFI, even looks reasonable, though some of the designs on KDE 4 are a bit offputting IMHO. It even took KDE 3 without the faffing about that 12.1 or 12.2 had (though it still has issues).
I never expect oS to do the business with every release, but they came close this time. As for the niggles - I have ways of getting around all that!
Re: KDE submenus still don't work
Have a number of different KDE environments at my disposal, from KDE 3.5.10 under openSUSE 11.4 right up to KDE 4.10 under openSUSE 12.3. Currently have a VNC session open to a server running oS11.4 and KDE 4.6 release 6.
Never noticed this problem on any of them.
*Sigh* I remember seeing an Iyonix on display at a local UG around the time it was first being released. Was very impressed. Was very broke. Wasn't working. Didn't get one as a result.
Bugger.
Re: Programmer's File Editor
They have, but don't let it stop you mentioning it again. Damn fine bit of kit, IMHO.
Kate?
Not bad, especially the versioning side of things, but KWrite is a lot less messy.
Having said that, I still prefer to edit text in a CLI environment on Unix and Linux, so vi is the usual way I do it.
Then, of course, there's RISC OS and !StrongED.
Re: PFE?
PFE. Used it in the 90s, still have it to hand now, albeit on a rather creaky XP box. When I first started editing, it was all group edits on teletypes, then I switched to EDT on PDP-11s, then vi on Unix. Then I was introduced to PFE, and it became a mainstay because you could use it in so many different situations where many editors back then were either over-engineered or just couldn't cope.
Posted in Top tools for junior Linux admins
My own faves
OK, as I came into Linux from Unix anyway, I already had a number of fave commands which worked well going over, including find (especially find . -exec which is damn useful for things like large scale permission fixes), grep and such.
One tool I was introduced to, however, was webmin (www.webmin.com) which is a web based front end which I've used on various flavours of Linux including openSUSE and RedHat/Fedora. It cuts a lot of time and effort out of the everyday configuration tasks on a system. Certainly with SuSE, I can combine procedures using Webmin and YaST, but Webmin takes a lot of the need for tools like YaST and its equivalents on other systems out of the equation.
I'm also something of a fan these days of Nagios (www.nagios.org), amonitoring tool which can be used to monitor quite a large range of devices, from switches up to servers, Linux, Unix or Windows. I tend to use Nagios Core and build my system from there.
So why argue? You make the tea, you say, so you are in charge of boiling of water and mixing of ingredients.
That makes you a Refreshment Assembly Engineer, at the very least!
Re: Unsurprising really..
"Old hat"... Now there's a good reason to stop using something. </sarcasm>
Re: Lord of the flies
...or a spider?
Re: Fear is one solution...
I've heard that one before. It was related to playing a DVD out of its intended region.
Next time somebody tells you that something is illegal, ask them for the law that applies in this case.
Re: ManagementSpeak overload
Yes, well they knew this would be a touchy subject!
Re: I want a new netbook
Sounds very similar to the Aspire One I bought some years ago. I still have the recovery CD for what was shipped with it but with OpenSUSE 11.4 and KDE 3 (if you know me well enough, you'll know my opinion about KDE 4) now nicely fettled in there after a couple of false starts with its various predecessors, it's a fine beast and is never likely to see Linpus or whatever it was. Not bad for a sub-£200 machine, though the SSD in it is one of those early ones that runs a bit slow.
It seemed to me (yet again) that whoever designed the package was attempting to dumb down the front end because they had no idea of the skill sets of the eventual users. This is a bit stupid given that the KDE front end isn't really that different that a user can't find their way around, and GNOME 2, MATE, Cinnamon or whatever aren't unfriendly either and would probably work well on a netbook (I don't have one to hand but I wouldn't be surprised if somebody else here could vouch for them).
Too many companies are too eager to reinvent the wheel, and underestimate the user base too, whether from the GUI design side or the cost side.
Re: @peter storm
New one on me. Benz was French, was he now? Live and learn... DERP!!!
