Thread: "Windows Sucks". Discuss. (AKA Why do you like your OS?)

I get the pleasure of dealing with many different versions of Windows and Linux every day. Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista (which really sucks right now), Windows Longhorn (soon), RedHat Linux, Suse Enterprise Linux, Novell, AND soon to be Solaris.

Some days there's nothing that really works right in that laundry list of operating systems.

One of these days I want to buy a Mac Mini or small Macbook and dual boot XP with it. Then again I doubt I'd have any need to dual boot since the only compelling reason to do so is to play games with only Windows support. I dont play any games, so no need for Windows.

Originally Posted by bwknight

I get the pleasure of dealing with many different versions of Windows and Linux every day. Windows XP... Windows Vista (which really sucks right now)...

Why doesn't THIS surprise me???

...far be it from ME to say 'I told you so'...but, well....

-whatever

-Lou

Originally Posted by bwknight

Windows Vista (which really sucks right now)

You're being kind. My wife was in the market for a new Windows laptop, and after seeing Vista she went screaming to the Apple store and got a macbook. With Parallels and XP, so she can still do stuff for the office, but at least she doesn't have to deal with that atrocity that is Vista every day.

Vista: It's Windows ME for the new Millennium!

...you're preachin' to the choir, brother....preachin' to the choir!...

-whatever

-Lou

Jimbo,

Couldn't agree with you more. It's just a mater of priorities and whatever floats your boat.

I'd love to make my own bread each morning from wheat that I grew myself, but sometimes you just gotta eat.

Cheers,
David.

Originally Posted by drsch3

... but sometimes you just gotta eat.

Cheers,
David.

Yeah, but with Microsoft calling the shots, it's...

"Life's a sh#t sandwich.....take a bite, or starve!"

-whatever

-Lou

Lou,

You need to buy yourself a shiny new abacus.

No rebooting, no drivers, no installation. Updates, you can just replace the beads every now and then with shiny new ones.

It'd be great!

Cheers,
David.

Originally Posted by drsch3

No rebooting, no drivers, no installation....It'd be great!

Cheers,
David.

Heaven on earth!

-whatever

-Lou

First of all, when i talk about windows, I mean the NT line of systems (2000, XP, Vista).

ME was based on the 9x kernel and was an example of what would happen if frankenstein designed an OS by grafting on things that don't really fit.
the 9x kernel should have had a stke pounded through it's heart and buried under a crossroads a long time ago.

That being said, we use windows (NT line) as a development platform and have never had stability problems.
If you can use decent hardware (intel, MSI, nvidia, ...) you'll get decent drivers and end up with a stable system.
If not, than you are indeed shafted.

I am into systems programming (drivers, services, DCOM etc) and I really like developing on windows because
- debugging multithreaded apps with Visual Studio is not too hard.
- I can install 2GB of searchable and indexed documentation that describes any API that was every released. This documentation is usually very accurate and actually matches the API.
- The API is very rich, and allows you to create neat stuff.
- Microsoft hosts newsgroups where experienced programmers like myself hang out to help newbies with their newbie problems.

I have also done large projects on Linux, and my main gripes are:
- we don't need no stinking documentation. Read the (sparsely documented) source code if you want to know anything.
- This documentation describes how the API worked 2 major releases ago. DO NOT use that API anymore. You should use these ones, which -incidentally- are not documented. Why do we ship the outdated version then? Well you have to have documentation, don't you?
- debuggers are for idiots. if you need a debugger to debug a multithreaded app, you are clearly not a real programmer and do not deserve to program for linux. That is why all gdb based debuggers lose context and actually trigger unexpected exceptions when stepping through MT apps.
- PNP and power management? what do you think this is? Windows?
- If a network connection disappears when you are moving a file across NFS, it is perfectly fine for the shell to freeze and halt all IO operations on a server grade system without even the option to kill it.
- RTFM, RTFM? Well I did RTFM, and guess what, TFM did not tell me anything, except that it was probably written in farsi, then translated into sindarin, into klingon and then to english. Oh, so I should WTFM? well If I could WTFM, I wouldn't be here, getting abused by a 19 year old because I had the audacity to ask newbie question, now would I?
-...

Linux has it's strong points too. it is a protable platform, and anything written for it can be portable too.

But for my pruposes, I'll stick with windows thank you very much.

Windows vs. Linux is like Gilette vs. straight razors.

If you do not want to put effort into it you buy Windows/Gilette.
If you are prepared to put more effort into it and get exactly the results you like you get Linux (or whatever) and a str8.

For me computers are a necessity to run my surgery, I cannot afford to experiment so I buy and use Windows.