Microsoft Longhorn FAQ's

Originally posted by outsider
Microsoft products have become better with every release, I remember windows 286, 386, 3.1 and on. I obtained my first real computer (not game machine) as a student in 1986 & I had a choice between spending 2k on a IBM PC running MS-Dos 3.x with a 14" color screen or 6k on an equivalently equipt Mac with a 9" grey monochrome screen. I choose the PC, because it was more affordable. Apple MAC's had the best desktop O/S at one time, but they were too greedy & lost the game and made Bill G on of the richest on the planet.

I did the CNE thing when Netware was big and then I jumped into MCSE thing when NT became popular & I could double my rate. I had many Netware systems that I built from the power supply on up run without a reboot for a year or more - until they came along with 4.X. If not for security patchs & such most of my 2000 & xp systems are stable as hell, because I don't use crapola hardware that I suspect most of the people who make comments like my machine turns off after 15 minutes etc do. Yes, I suspect 90% of those who complain that it's Microsoft problem, it's really a crappy computer hardware problem. I even do housecalls at some of my business clients homes, and most problems are idiot users going to porn sites, illegal software downloads, cheap xmachines & the like or expert 16 year old nephews who built their computer and didn't really have a clue.

The biggest problem I see with Microsoft is they're starting to dig in to try & maintain what they have and they're puting the screws to faithful customers with their new licensing models and anti-piracy policies that make it more difficult for managers & end users to stay with them. Yep, their starting to look like old Big Blue & Apple.


[edit on 29-12-2004 by outsider]

When organizations like USCERT advise against the use of Microsoft products
naturally Gates will pull every string he has to keep from getting dumped.

The transition of many corporations over to UNIX based BSD operating systems
is a direct reflection of their security concerns.

Microsoft will be forced to clean up their act or suffer the consequences.

Apple is NOT the only one putting together great workstation hardware combinations.
Companies like Alienware have high ratings for quality.

Unfortunately the use of Windows XP cripples the overall quality
compared to a G5 2.5 dual processor tower.

The next generation of Apple towers sporting dual core processors,
running OSX TIGER
should be quite impressive.

Regardless of your preferences, most of this gear will not be available till
mid-2005.

Good things come to those who wait.

I use XP Pro, and It runs fine. I never reboot (unless for a reason), it never freezes, and I havn't had a virus in over a year. I have no Spam or add-ware. My whole system runs pretty good. I'm pretty picky who a give my email to, so I dont get any spam, or viruses.
However.....I do download music & movies on Limewire &/or WinMX, So I get my share of # files. So overtime from various things like programs and games I download dont work and stuff I get garbage build up, not a big deal because I have plenty of hd space. So what I do every 6-9 months is I copy & paste my folder on the desktop, which has my vids, files, & pics, and I paste the whole (40gb) folder on my other hard drive (which I dont put much on, I'm picking about that one), and then I format my main one ( C: ) then install windows and all the software and drivers etc, then I cut & paste my folder back on to the desktop.

Some of my friends and family think its crazy to format a computer possibly 2 times in a year, but they call me when they dont know why they cant do a specific task anymore.

[edit on 30-12-2004 by Murcielago]

Originally posted by FallenFromTheTree
Unfortunately the use of Windows XP cripples the overall quality
compared to a G5 2.5 dual processor tower.

Just for the record, MacWorld (obviously, a magazine dedicated to Macs) once released a benchmark showing that Alienware AMD systems performed BETTER in most scenarios than G5 systems. I read this a while back, so no, I don't have a link.

Many of the benchmarks compared a very fast and HOT Wintel or AMD combo
to a single G5 processor.
The top of the line Apple G5 water cooled 2.5 dually
is faster than almost anyone could ever need.

The AMD and Wintel architechture bottlenecks at X4
while the Apple/IMB processors run at 8X

Since the whole industry is moving to dual core processors
the processor speed thresholds will not be so much an issue
as the overall system efficiency.
A matched pair of 64 bit G5 3Ghz processors on a dual core chip
is going to be way more than most average users will ever need.
The pros will be socking away their savings for the QuadraMacs.

The biggest and most legitimate gripe Apple users have is the desire to see
a better selection of GPU cards across the line.

This issue is being addressed with new cards available from both Nvidia and ATI.


Yes, it's very confusing and difficult to compare Apples to Penguins and Butterflies!

fallenfromthetree
A matched pair of 64 bit G5 3Ghz processors on a dual core chip
is going to be way more than most average users will ever need.

currently...maybe, but games are getting bigger and better prety quickly.
I would never say that a computer can be to powerfull, the faster the better.

Originally posted by Murcielago

fallenfromthetree
A matched pair of 64 bit G5 3Ghz processors on a dual core chip
is going to be way more than most average users will ever need.

currently...maybe, but games are getting bigger and better prety quickly.
I would never say that a computer can be to powerfull, the faster the better.

Some of the next generation gaming consoles will be going to the PowerPC chips as well.

Heat issues and processor speed limitations in the 90nm and 65nm chips
are the very reason that multicore processors are being used to make
these systems run more efficiently.

The links I have provided do a lot better job of explaining all this that I ever could.

If you can get by on the system you have now for a bit longer,
I think most of you will be very pleased that you waited.

Fallen
If you can get by on the system you have now for a bit longer,
I think most of you will be very pleased that you waited.

Bit longer? why only a bit? and pleased that we waited for what?
(i'm confused what your talking about)

Originally posted by Murcielago

Fallen
If you can get by on the system you have now for a bit longer,
I think most of you will be very pleased that you waited.

Bit longer? why only a bit? and pleased that we waited for what?
(i'm confused what your talking about)

If you are considering the purchase of a new computer system,
I would hold off till at least spring 2005.

Apple, Wintel and AMD systems will ALL be moving to dual core processors.

If you only need a basic system, this doesn't matter much, but if
you are dreaming of a super system, these puppies will put the current gear to shame.

Is Intel doing any dual?

I still love my Linux/BSD environments. I'm a programmer and live the hacking aspect of those OSs. If i want to i can change whatever i want. I just can't do that with windows. There also is the security aspect. I can even audit code of programs that need to be extremely stable/secure.

Still I have to admit that linux isn't ready for the desktop yet. But I'm still convinced that this will change. Even more so with Longhorn approaching.

Oh, and btw hi to the fellow gentooist I've seen in this thread.

Originally posted by zerb
I still love my Linux/BSD environments. I'm a programmer and live the hacking aspect of those OSs. If i want to i can change whatever i want. I just can't do that with windows. There also is the security aspect. I can even audit code of programs that need to be extremely stable/secure.

Still I have to admit that linux isn't ready for the desktop yet. But I'm still convinced that this will change. Even more so with Longhorn approaching.

Oh, and btw hi to the fellow gentooist I've seen in this thread.

Hi, just wanted to point out: It is perfectly possible to override and re-implement anything windows does. I have worked on projects were we patched the core Printer-driver architecture within NT 4.0.

It's just much harder to do without the source code. You really have to dig around and be careful what you put on your machines.

XP does this very thing with the 6.0 COMCTRLS DLL. If your programs have a manifest XML entry in their resource file it will load 6.0 COMCTRLS (and get all the cool look and feel improvements) but if it does not have this manifest then it will load the old 5.x (buggy) COMCTRLS.

Look at a product called window blinds (I think this is the correct name). They implement an entirely private COMCTRLS library over win 95, 2000, XP etc� They do this to allow all sorts of customizations. Very neat...although I don't use it.

Nothing is preventing you from writing your own COMCTRLS dll and linking to it during compile time. Except, of course, it's an amazing amount of work. Microsoft's API is now very mature and stable...so why rock the boat?

Override specific controls behavior is pretty straightforward in Win-32 programming and does not require you to meddle with the source code. Adding libraries is easy enough (although I avoid the SYSTEM directory as a repository for my DLL�s�which fixes 99.9% of �DLL HELL� problems).

This is the difference between LINUX and WIN32 environments. Microsoft contends that there should be a central authority that publishes core libraries and you (the hacker) should probably implement descendant objects / code rather than fiddle with very complex systems. This is probably best.

For example: SUSE is a nice system, I like it. But I'll never go into the QT libraries and fiddle around. Too much can go wrong and the next patch may break what I'm doing.

Originally posted by MrNice
This is the difference between LINUX and WIN32 environments. Microsoft contends that there should be a central authority that publishes core libraries and you (the hacker) should probably implement descendant objects / code rather than fiddle with very complex systems. This is probably best.

For example: SUSE is a nice system, I like it. But I'll never go into the QT libraries and fiddle around. Too much can go wrong and the next patch may break what I'm doing.

I agree that it is perfectly possible to get the job done under WIN32 but i still like having the ability to fiddle with kernel code itself.

Now that you mentioned QT, you should really take a look at it. It is a pleasure to develop cross-platform applications with QT as your toolkit. It offers a reasonable and easy to comprehend API for a wide range of tasks. But one thing is true, if you start to fiddle with the details in SUSE it's going to get back at you sooner or later.

Originally posted by FallenFromTheTree

A matched pair of 64 bit G5 3Ghz processors on a dual core chip
is going to be way more than most average users will ever need.

That's one statement you will surely want to take back someday. I remember when 8 Mhz was all most average users ever needed, then 20, 25 and on. We have a long long ways to go my friend.

Originally posted by FallenFromTheTree
If you are considering the purchase of a new computer system,
I would hold off till at least spring 2005.

Always something better around the corner if you need/want now get it now. First gens are always expensive & problematic.


[edit on 4-1-2005 by outsider]

I found this diagram over at AppleInsider.
/www.articasemi.com...



When you read the article below understanding that the newest Apple gear
may allow the use of dual operating systems, then consider the image above.

Drool!