iDevelop

Apple has squandered the gift that was Vista

Hammer -> Nail Head. No questions about it.

Here is the thing…. I would love to have a Mac. I think OSx is really slick and it works. That said, there are a couple issues I have. It costs WAY too much. The last two laptops I have purchased were ~ $1000 < than the “equivalent” Mac Pro. $1000 is way too much for a “premium”. I would never spend that much more, ever. Not unless I become independently wealthy at least. I have more important things to spend that $1000 on. (The whole platform, 3rd party software included, is too expensive).

Another thing, and this isn’t necessarily Apple’s fault, but lack of game support. It is better. Definitely better than Linux. I will always need Windows for gaming. That is just the way it is.

I don’t get viruses, I don’t suffer mal-ware infections. It has more to do with the user than the OS. Having fewer viruses and malware type things targeting OSx isn’t really a good answer. That is changing every day and more are showing up in the wild. Remember that contest where 3 laptops, OSx, Linux, and Windows were hacked? The guy who took down the Mac said it was the easiest to compromise? Yeah, not a good sign. Sure, it is fine right now, but it might not (probably won’t) always be.

OSx doesn’t make you virus proof, just virus resistant, and only for now. It will change. Apple’s products are nice (I have an iPod and if Verizon carried the iPhone I would probably have one too). The premium is just too high for most of Apple’s products and I don’t see any value in the added cost.

Now, all that said. Windows 7 is pretty stellar and I am really excited for it. I wasn’t necessarily excited for Vista even though I like it. Windows 7 is also putting the hammer right to the nails head. It is taking Windows EXACTLY in the right direction.

I will have a more indepth review of my thoughts later.

However, it is total winsauce.

I just installed Win7 RC last night. Started ~10:00pm and when I went to bed at ~11:25 I had Win7 installed with all hardware drivers. Only had one reboot for the graphics driver (had full resolution w/o the driver at first boot) and the only ones I had to tell it to find, which it did on the internet and didn’t need a reboot, were 3/4 drivers for my card reader. I had installed Office 2007 Ultimate and the full CS3 from Adobe. It boots and shuts down stupidly fast.

Laptop is a T7500, 4 GB DDR, GeForce 8600M GT, 1×320 GB.

This is just a mini-rant.

PC World isn’t the only one guilty of this. Or rather Keir Thomas isn’t. He called Windows 7 Vista Mark II. Not only is that just plain silly it is fundamentally wrong. I wonder if he has even used Windows 7? This is the same as a forum post I read a while back with somebody ranting how MS should give away Windows 7 as a free upgrade to anybody with Vista and call it Vista Service Pack 2. This is also just plain silly and MS shouldn’t do that. Vista is a solid product even after its rough launch.

Doesn’t anybody remember how rough XP’s launch was?

This makes no more sense than it would have to call Windows XP, Windows 2000 service pack 5 or Windows 2000 Mk II. Notice the variance in kernel version AND release date is about the same between Win 2k and Win XP as there is with Vista and Win 7? It is a natural evolution of the Windows operating system.

Ubuntu gets a new “name” each time they release and their version change is about the same! 8.04 (Hardy Heron) -> 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) etc. Why can’t Windows (Vista -> Windows 7)?

Being a Linux, F/OSS, etc advocate doesn’t give you free license to say whatever you want about Windows. I still stand by the fact that I am just as safe on my Windows box as I need to be. I don’t even run an anti-virus application! No infections and the box has been up and running with Windows Vista since last May. Linux, stop Windows bashing. You are only making yourself look like a group of arrogant pricks. What happened to being “better” than that? Just because MS does “stupid” things concerning Linux and Patents does not mean that Windows is a less viable OS.

As the open source guru Jeremy Allison once pointed out, Microsoft will never disappear. But it can easily become irrelevant. This is happening already. Only the uneducated use Internet Explorer nowadays, for example. Most people use Firefox instead, and its with Firefox where the most useful and innovative features can be found.

Really? Uneducated? You sir, are an ass. I really wish that more Linux advocates would call each other out on things this. You claim to be better but you stoop to the same name-calling tactics used by the camp you are “against” which is one of the very reasons you are against them in the first place!

For the record, I use both Firefox and IE. While Firefox has gained ground, IE is still (I am pretty sure anyway) the most used browser. I guess “most” are uneducated. I guess I am uneducated. (::sigh::)

Being a MS Partner doesn’t give ME the right to out right just slam Linux, and I don’t. I even use Linux. How many hardcore Linux people use Windows at all, much less regularly. How many Windows defenders have compiled anything under Linux/Unix (or performed a Stage 2 Gentoo install)?

I “installed” a stage two of Gentoo my first year in college, and 3 or 4 times over a weekend no less. I screwed it up and once the power cord slipped out of my laptop causing the battery to die mid-compilation. Format and start over. It was a GREAT learning experience and I really think anybody who really wants to learn Linux should skip Ubuntu and spend a weekend with Gentoo.

But pretty soon XP will be a vague memory to most users. Microsoft may have slipped up with Vista, but you’re gonna get Windows 7 whether you like it or not. But don’t worry, because it’ll be faster and more secure! Just like XP was before it… and Windows Me before that! And 98 before that!

This is (in my humble opinion) the most tiring of pro-linux arguments. XP Is VERY secure. As is Vista. It comes down to the user mostly. How do viruses spread? Users clicking links or opening attachments in emails usually. Key word there, users. I could run XP without AV and often did. Just as I do with Vista. I don’t get viruses. I don’t have malware problems. I don’t have BSODs (except when I first started using Vista, the graphics driver was kooky, but as soon as I updated that, problem solved). I don’t have problems with Windows. Why does everybody think because you run Windows you are doomed? You aren’t!

With XP, Microsoft reached the top of the bell curve. It can only go down now, and the more it starts sliding, the faster the descent becomes.

I really strongly disagree. Again I doubt that you have used Windows 7 for more than maybe 15 minutes. Getting Windows 7 doesn’t seem like such a bad thing. Out of the box I can send Xvid and Divx encoded movies and videos to my Xbox 360. It supported my full monitor resolution out of the box as well (Linux does this, sometimes). It was snappy and responsive. Windows 7 IS faster than Vista and XP in a lot of ways.

Was it really that big of a deal to move to Win2k from NT? Or from Win2k to XP? Not really. No more difficult than migrating to a new version of Linux. Just different.

I am sure we can ALL admit that Windows ME should not be mentioned ever. I do believe it was good that MS released it though. They got some valuable information about what works and what doesn’t that you can only get from that kind of “mass” use. I think the developers benefited and so did future releases, and thus customers (Note: I don’t advocate releasing any old software or operating system version just for user feedback, that is what beta testing is for! WinME was just something that didn’t work out like it was supposed to, and that happens sometimes.)

Let’s end this Windows vs Linux today. Is one better than the other? For some applications, yes. Is one ALWAYS better than the other? Certainly not! They are DIFFERENT. The can fulfill some of the same roles and some other roles that the other doesn’t handle as well. Pick the best tool for your application! Use what works for you! If Linux works, great, I am all for you using it. Just remember that it is your opinion that Linux is better.

I reserve my right to get more FPS from my games than you and have access to more hardware faster than you. Don’t bash my OS because I don’t bash “yours”. I have converted my Father to an Ubuntu fan as well as his wife. I have used it and still do sometimes today depending on what I am doing.

I know this has been said, but why can’t Linux and Windows exist together without all the BS and Fanboi elitists ?

So much for a mini-rant eh?