Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Microsoft Software Linux

Windows Nearly Ready For Desktop Use 670

Posted by Zonk from the keep-on-trucking dept.
wallykeyster writes "NewsForge (ed: a Slashdot sister site) has an interesting review of Windows XP Home, written from the perspective of a longtime Linux user (ed: Editor roblimo). The article clearly is intended to be somewhat humorous while making a point to the 'Linux isn't ready for the desktop' crowd. The reviewer does a fair job of pointing out the strengths of Windows along with the weaknesses that would be apparent to someone trying to make the switch from Linux." From the article: "Windows XP can't be considered consumer-ready until it has driver support for common LCD monitors during its installation and bootup procedure, especially if those monitors are easily and routinely recognized by popular Linux distributions. It's possible that the monitor manufacturers aren't willing to give Microsoft and other proprietary operating system companies the information they need to create appropriate drivers and that the manufacturers, not Microsoft, deserve the blame for this problem."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Windows Nearly Ready For Desktop Use More

Windows Nearly Ready For Desktop Use

Comments Filter:

  • Longtooth will solve these problems... (Score:5, Funny)

    by rice_burners_suck ( 243660 ) on Friday May 27, 2005 @08:00PM (#12660898)
    Windows is nearly ready for the desktop, and that includes security as well as LCD driver technology that actually works. This will all happen in the next major revision of Windows, Longtooth.

    Sources whom I consider accurate have told me that despite Microsoft's claims that Longtooth will be released by 2006 or 2007, the planned release date is actually late in 2019. Microsoft's secret goals for this version are:

    • To reduce the user's perception of the complexity of Windows.
    • To gain increased security from emerging threats, such as viruses, worms, spam, spyware, adware, malware, hackers, and phreakers, among others.

    Microsoft will accomplish these goals through a variety of changes. First, Longtooth will no longer be based on the Windows NT design philosophy, as were Windows 2000 and XP. Instead, Microsoft will release MS-DOS 9.0 2003, a 64-bit multithreaded DOS written in VisualBASIC.Net, and Windows Longtooth will run on top of that. Also, Longtooth will contain more code changes than any previous version of Windows, both in the number of changed source lines of code (SLOCs) and in the percentage of the total Windows codebase changed. Tremendous numbers of new features are being implemented in completely new code.

    More importantly, Microsoft employees are combing through the codebase, in a relentless search for code that is mature, stabilized, and proven. This search has proved difficult, but when found, such code will be marked for reimplementation. I'm told that most of this code will be reimplemented in VisualBASIC.NET, even if the prior version was written in another language, such as C or C++. Programmers making the new VisualBasic.NET code are not allowed to look at the code that already exists, so that fixes to known issues will not be known until well after the software is deployed to millions of users.

    The reason for these changes is simple: Study after study conducted by Microsoft has proven that security through obscurity is the only way to go, especially in an operating system deployed to millions of users, with many instances running mission critical applications in finance, industry, government, and other sectors. Microsoft has identified that viruses, worms, spam, spyware, adware, malware, hackers, and phreakers are able to compromise Windows security because vulnerabilities in the code are known. By changing much of the codebase, especially the stablest and most proven parts, Microsoft will thwart the efforts of malicious programmers, as it will take time for them to find the new vulnerabilities in the unknown code.

    To meet Microsoft's first goal of reducing the user's perception of the complexity of Windows, Microsoft will integrate a new technology, dubbed Microsoft Windows User Simplicity And Security Manager 2003, into Longtooth. This technology will hide all configuration settings from the user. All settings will be completely automatic, and the user will have no need to know or care what is under the hood. In reality, Longtooth will be the most complex version of Windows yet, with thousands of configuration settings controlling nearly every function of the operating system. The settings will be produced by discovery algorithms designed to automatically set a "sane" configuration. Since there will be no interface to modify any setting, the user will have no choice in his configuration, thus simplifying the user's perception of the system's complexity.

    To meet the second goal of increased security, these settings will be scattered throughout the OS, its components, and in other areas of the file system. For example, Microsoft knows that viruses, worms, spam, spyware, adware, malware, hackers, and phreakers are interested in moving the icons on user desktops without the user's permission, so settings controlling the number and size of icons appearing on the desktop will be scattered throughout parts of the registry, batch files, .ini files, web bookmarks, in the Windows kernel, in the file allocation table, in th

    • Microsoft has identified that viruses, worms, spam, spyware, adware, malware, hackers, and phreakers are able to compromise Windows security because vulnerabilities in the code are known.

      Damn, I knew that Hyper Terminal exploit was going to bite me in the ass!

    • Re:Longtooth will solve these problems... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 27, 2005 @09:14PM (#12661416)
      As much as I love Linux (and the uNix-y underpinnings of the Powerbook I'm typing on at the very moment), I have to say that most of us geeks just don't get it - nearly all users in the world are technophobes who appreciate and need computers but have neither the desire, knowledge or need to access/tweak/control every last flippin' setting.

      In many ways this post was really good, really funny and spot on... but I keep wondering when we'll will grok the fact that the things we find important (fine control, infinitely flexible features, elegant abstraction, cool frameworks) are astonishingly unimportant and even intimidating to the most of the world's technology users.

      I really have no love for MS but at the same time, from a techno-secularist perspective, can you fault them for at least trying to give *the people* what they want and need? Is Linux giving the people what they really want and need? Is Apple? Are you?

      Oh yeah, I almost forgot... no one except geeks gives two sh*ts about what language any software is written in. But they do want it to be safe. And they defintely need it to work.

      Frankly, I wish we'd stop being so damn smug about all this. And I wish we'd stop deluding oursleves into believeing that somehow the cool, geeky-tweeky OSs are the same ones that users want to buy and, subsequently, actually use.

      • Re:Longtooth will solve these problems... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by acidrain ( 35064 ) on Friday May 27, 2005 @10:15PM (#12661745)

        And I wish we'd stop deluding oursleves into believeing that somehow the cool, geeky-tweeky OSs are the same ones that users want to buy and, subsequently, actually use.

        Funny thing is, so called "power users" influence the buying habits of the masses. It is just like the perfume companies that market to the trendy 30 year olds with power suits because other women imitate them. People consult any nerds they know before making the big step of buying a computer hoping for some inside tips.

        The people who make purchasing descisions for large companies are also computer nerds. You can see this in the slow adoption of desktop linux in large corps and government.

        Really though, you just need to take a pill, the guy was just posting some grade A nerd humor.

  • thank you (Score:3)

    by Phil246 ( 803464 ) on Friday May 27, 2005 @08:01PM (#12660901)
    this made me smile at least :)
    Wouldnt call it news worthy but it made me smile

  • amusing but... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Transient0 ( 175617 ) on Friday May 27, 2005 @08:01PM (#12660913) Homepage
    large parts of it read as a critique not of windows per se but rather of the whole money-for-software framework.

    examples:
    Base Cost (as compared to Linux)
    CD-Key
    Expense of Additional Applications
    • 1. What does CD-Key have to do with the whole money-for-software framework? Maybe it would with software that checks in with a central server, but otherwise, why would anyone that copies a 650MB CD not also copy a 20 byte key?

      2. The point remains. It takes up a godawful amount of hard disk space, costs more, and you get inferior software. So what exactly are you paying for?
    • The article was meant as a review for someone switching from a GNU/Linux desktop to windows. So software cost of things that are free on linux is something to consider.
    • The other part was drivers. Windows has a very limited set of included drivers. If you do a fresh install of Windows XP, I guarantee that no hardware accelerated OpenGL games such as Quake 3 will run. Microsoft only ships video drivers with OpenGL support removed, in an attempt to lock game developers into using DirectX. You will have to locate a complete video driver yourself, usually online. You would hope that XP will have a driver for your ethernet card or modem, but often it won't. Sometimes you won't

      • And how's that different than Linux? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Sycraft-fu ( 314770 ) on Friday May 27, 2005 @09:32PM (#12661525)
        So I've been playing with Linux on my desktop receantly, Fedora Core 3 specifily. I've used Linux in server settings for a long time but never on the desktop, figure it'd be good to get some experience. Now, as you point out, when Windows is installed, it lacks hardware OpenGL acceleration. It does have a basic software layer, but it's slow. Direct3d acceleration also doesn't work. It only does 2d, and not all that fast. Easily solved, however. I go to ATi's site, download the driver, and click install, the rest is taken care of. DirectX, OpenGL, and the GDI are all fully accelerated.

        So I get Fedora installed. It comes up, and recognises my card correctly and we go. However the interface is a little sluggish when it comes to refreshes. I run a GL app and discover it's using software rendering which is very slow, and low quality. So I again go to ATi's site and download the drivers, ATi does have Linux drivers as well as Windows. Then begins my quest:

        The drivers are RPM, so I tell them to install, no dice, conflicts with Mesa. Removing that proves to completely hose X. Ok so leave Mesa there, force the ATi installation. X comes up and it looks like it's using the ATi driver, but still no acceleration. Dig around on the net, turns out you have to run a script to make them work. Ok, run script, no dice, can't find something. Consult with Linux guy, says the error means they need kernel headers, maybe source too. K, thought those were there, I told it to install all the dev stuff. Whatever, get kernel source, recompile kernel, and now headers are there. Try script again, no dice. More digging turns up reference to drivers being for 2.6.10 not 2.6.11 but try these patches. Patch files, run script, success. Then run next script, no dice, won't install the module. Linux guy looks at it, not sure why. Decide to just try 2.6.10 since I have something else that likes that anyhow, there's actually an apt package (no not yum, apt, apparantly you can get that for Fedora) that is supposed to make it work all nice and easy with that. Try that, it goes and installs successfully. Reboot and.... reports the kernel module is incompatible on bootup.

        And that's where it stands until I go back to work next week.

        I'm failing to see the big advantage here. While it looks like Mesa is a more complete implementation of GL than comes with Windows, it's still software so the quality is horrible and it;s so slow that it's totally unusable for professional work, or even gaming.

        Now in Windows the problem was a simple fix. Download a driver, click install. Everything else was handled and it works superbly. In Linux, I've gone through quite a lengthy process and it STILL doesn't work. I'm sure I'll solve the problem on Tuesday, however I can gaurentee a non-techie would have given up long ago.

        • Re:And how's that different than Linux? (Score:5, Informative)

          by t35t0r ( 751958 ) on Saturday May 28, 2005 @02:50AM (#12662729)
          This is why i love gentoo and won't ever use any other linux distro, this is even faster than going to ati and downloading the driver for winxp if you already have your kernel setup and pointed to by /usr/src/linux:

          If you don't already have a kernel
          1) emerge gentoo-sources
          2) genkernel ..most already do at this point, so all you need to do are these steps:

          3) emerge ati-drivers
          4) opengl-update ati
          5) fglrxconfig , follow the directions, if you can't or don't want to understand it, then go buy a mac or use winxp.
          6) restart X (no reboot required), ctrl+alt+backspace will do just fine ..i've switched between my R9600 and GEForce 5500 so quickly because of Gentoo's setup ..the geforce has better drivers but its DVI output doesn't want to work (won't even POST) so it's sitting in a box.

  • Great article! On more than one level:

    • it's cute
    • it's genuinely funny
    • and most importantly (in my opinion), it's rock solid in its logic... Setting aside for a moment its humorous side, the article makes a honest, clear, and I think compelling case for linux! Right on and congratulations!

    On the other hand, I'd like to make my own contribution as to one of the most ongoing and glaring "needs fixing" of XP....

    I think one thing that will eventually make Windows XP for HOME (or PRO) ready for the desktop is fixing the START button. I'm still trying to explain to some of the people I have to support "LOGOFF" and "TURN OFF COMPUTER" are accessed by clicking the START button. It's hard to explain to them why when even I don't get it.

    • Re:oh, and another thing before XP's ready (Score:5, Funny)

      by DrSkwid ( 118965 ) on Friday May 27, 2005 @08:07PM (#12660952) Journal
      simple, it is time to start stopping

    • Re:oh, and another thing before XP's ready (Score:5, Funny)

      by angle_slam ( 623817 ) on Friday May 27, 2005 @08:15PM (#12661035)
      Throwing a disk in the trash to get it to eject seemed to confuse a lot of people, also.
    • You're right, there SHOULD be a "Shutdown" button in there.
    • Obviously the "START" button comes from the world of consoles. In most console games, pressing the START button would open an ingame menu usually also including a quit game option.
      • Obvious to game players. I've never played a game in my life where I've seen that (granted, I don't really play computer games)...

        But, assuming I did, and should know derivation...., it doesn't change the experience for the people I support who are just trying to get along with their computers as best they can.... It doesn't help when the paradigm is that bizarre.

    • Re:oh, and another thing before XP's ready (Score:5, Funny)

      by nuggetman ( 242645 ) on Friday May 27, 2005 @08:20PM (#12661064) Homepage
      I'm still trying to explain to some of the people I have to support "LOGOFF" and "TURN OFF COMPUTER" are accessed by clicking the START button

      1996 called, they want their whining back. if these people haven't figured out where these things are by now perhaps they shouldn't be using computers.

      • Re:oh, and another thing before XP's ready (Score:4, Insightful)

        by orasio ( 188021 ) on Friday May 27, 2005 @09:18PM (#12661447) Homepage
        But you are talking from a windows-user point of view.
        Lots of people have already been introduced to windows, and they eventually get to know the gestures needed to do the tasks.
        The point if that the letters on the widgets don't help.
        I use a Gnome desktop.
        It has two buttons at the top of the screen (the actual top, not near-the-top, so you don't have to learn to aim accurately with your mouse to hit them).
        One is labeled "Aplicaciones" ("apps" in spanish) and the other next to it, "Acciones" ("actions" in spanish).
        People who use my computer have no trouble using it, even if they haven't even seen a gnome desktop before. I have no task bar, and my buttons are on top, but as they are the only widgets (other than desktop "Navegador Web Firefox", and home directory icons) that call your attention, it's not difficult to figure out what you need to click.
        Windows, at first, is just too hard as a metaphor fr a desktop, if you don't already know how to use Windows, of course.

    • Re:oh, and another thing before XP's ready (Score:5, Funny)

      by baryon351 ( 626717 ) on Friday May 27, 2005 @08:23PM (#12661084)
      I have to support "LOGOFF" and "TURN OFF COMPUTER" are accessed by clicking the START button. It's hard to explain to them why when even I don't get it.

      Tell me about it. There was this other operating system I once used where to uninstall a program, you used apt-get

      It's hard to explain to them when even I don't get it!

      apt-get remove something. How nuts.

      • <pedantic>

        You really should be using dpkg --purge instead of apt-get to remove programs that you're actually trying to remove.

        The difference is that by default apt-get will remove files included in the package in a manner equivalent to dpkg --remove. However, as with dpkg --remove, it will not remove configuration files, and can thus leave some cruft behind on your system.

        Debian kicks ass in part because you can keep a system clean for years without unneeded effort. Using "remove" where you really

    • Fix the start button? Fix the on/off button!! (Score:4, Informative)

      by Simonetta ( 207550 ) on Friday May 27, 2005 @08:30PM (#12661128)
      Personal computers are the only machines that don't turn off and on when you press the on/off switch.
      Sometimes I press the off switch and some asshat program pops up a window and says that it won't terminate until I move the mouse to some little point on the window and click it. I can't do that because I've already turned the monitor off. I come back hours later and the fucking machine is still ON!
      When I press the OFF switch, I want the stupid machine to turn off. Turn Off Now. No windows, no prompts, no "Are you sure?", no nothing...just turn the fuck off.
      Linux is the worst PC operating system in this regard. Press the off key and the system reacts like you're trying to shut down the Defense Department. Page after page of scrolling lines indicating that this and that mickey-mouse section of the OS is exiting. Who gives a fuck? Just turn off! Now!
      Turning the PC on is just as bad. It has to load 100 million bytes of code that haven't changed during the last 1000 times that I turned the stupid thing on. Here I have a 128 Megabyte Flash Disk about the size of my little toe and costing $17. So why the fuck can't I have all the OS on the Flash drive? So that it will go on at the moment that I flip the ON switch! C'mon guys, we're not booting from floppies anymore! It's time to leave the 1980's PC mentality!
      Turn off and on when the user changes the state of the off/on switch. Such a truly revolutionary and mind-boggling concept!
      Of course someone will point out that after months of study, research, experimentation, and trial compiling, (and hours of waiting and staring at the monitor), I could configure the system to do something resembling instant off/on when the switch gets pressed.
      So why the fuck is this not the fucking default state of the machine! C'mon, guys, the ENIAC days are gone. This thing on your desk is an appliance. And like all appliances, it should go off and on when you hit the off/on switch!
      • you can configure windows to shut down even if one or more applications are not ready, it is in the power options section of the control panel.
        • I have looked all over that control panel. It has tabs for "Power Schemes", "Advanced", "Hibernate", and "UPS"

          Under Power Schemes: a dropdown for presets that changes the dropdowns for the times after which various things will shut off.

          Under Advanced: "Always show icon on the taskbar" and "Prompt for password when computer resumes from standby". For power button, a dropdown for "when I press the power button on my computer", which is set to "shut down", but there's nothing indicating unconditional shut
      • heh..pretty good. I totally agree. there are a number of things like that in the computer world
      • Use hibernate. Just hit the button and the computer will be off some 10 seconds later. When you next push the power button, everything will come back just as you left it.

        I have never seen a program that asks if you are sure if you want to hibernate or tries to stop the process. I've hibernated while games were running without any problems.

        Go to the power options control panel (type powercfg.cpl into the Run box). In the Hibernate tab, check "Enable hibernation". Click apply. Then on the Advanced tab, wher
      • Motor vehicles are machines that don't park themselves when you turn off the ignition.

        Sometimes I turn off the ignition and some hasshat motorist flips a finger and says I'll get a ticket if I don't pull over to the shoulder of the freeway. I can't do that because I've already bailed out of the car. I wake up hours later and the fucking cops are still THERE!

        When I turn OFF the ignition switch, I want the stupid car to be parked. Be parked now. No driving home, no opening my garage door, no complaints

    • "and most importantly (in my opinion), it's rock solid in its logic... Setting aside for a moment its humorous side, the article makes a honest, clear, and I think compelling case for linux! Right on and congratulations!"

      If by rock solid, you mean completely full of spin. You must be easily manipulated.
    • "I'm still trying to explain to some of the people I have to support "LOGOFF" and "TURN OFF COMPUTER" are accessed by clicking the START button. It's hard to explain to them why when even I don't get it."

      Is it really that hard to understand that you're STARTing the shutdown or logout procedures?
      • You're forgetting that to most people, "shutdown" is a command to do an action, not a command to perform a procedure. You could argue that yes, technically shutdown is a procedure and not a single action, but people don't think that way. When speaking of single actions, "start" does technically work (you can "start to run", "start to kick", "start to jump"), but nobody thinks that way unless the "starting" is important in and of itself (ie: "started to kick, but pulled back"). When they're thinking of a spe
    • I'm still trying to explain to some of the people I have to support "LOGOFF" and "TURN OFF COMPUTER" are accessed by clicking the START button.

      1995 called. No, they don't want their joke back, because it's been beaten to death. They're just asking that you please give it a decent burial.
  • ...or are Microsoft and Linux debates turning into epic yet somehow very stale regurgitations of old arguments (much red-state/blue-state squabbles)?

    At this point, I wish there were a viable third option. I guess osX counts as a third option, but still... I just want something to break the monotony. Where is a OS/2 Warp upgrade when you need one?

    Either way, I fear it has become impossible for /. to go a day without a Linux/Windows "discussion"

    Maybe I'm wrong... *shrug*

  • Microsoft replies (Score:5, Insightful)

    by lecithin ( 745575 ) on Friday May 27, 2005 @08:06PM (#12660949)
    Microsoft:

    Linux nearly ready for server use.

  • asdf (Score:3, Insightful)

    by m85476585 ( 884822 ) on Friday May 27, 2005 @08:07PM (#12660953)
    I doubt that most users would put up with this problem. I suspect that most would simply return their copy of Windows XP to the store where they bought it and go back to familiar, user-friendly Linux.

    You can't return commercial software. You would have to call Microsoft and pay $35/call (or is it $35/minute?)
  • I am pleased to see the same standards for "ready for the desktop" applied to Windows for a change.

  • monitor data (Score:2, Interesting)

    by sytxr ( 704471 )
    It's possible that the monitor manufacturers aren't willing to give Microsoft and other proprietary operating system companies the information they need to create appropriate drivers and that the manufacturers, not Microsoft, deserve the blame for this problem.
    But they do give the information to the Linux developers ?
    SCNR

    • Re:monitor data (Score:3, Informative)

      by be-fan ( 61476 )
      He's saying that toungue-in-cheek. He's trying to point out that hardware support is the fault of the vendor, not the OS developer.
  • How many articles have we read that describe how difficult it is to get Linux installed. Apart from the truth or otherwise of this assertion, it makes a huge assumption that is simply not true: The majority of Windows users do not install Windows, ever. At most, the "average" Windows user may use the wipe-out and re-image CD that most OEMs provide nowadays.

    Given that it is quite easy to buy a PC with Linux pre-installed, why should difficulty to installing Linux be an issue if it apparently not an issue t

  • on the contrary (Score:3, Insightful)

    by l0perb0y ( 324046 ) on Friday May 27, 2005 @08:12PM (#12660988) Homepage
    You forget, Windows is "ready for the desktop" because it actually IS The Desktop.

    As far as just about every PC user is concerned.

  • A bit unfair (Score:3, Insightful)

    by David Horn ( 772985 ) <david&pocketgamer,org> on Friday May 27, 2005 @08:13PM (#12661005) Homepage
    Windows XP has always (for me, at least) been exemplary when it comes to detecting hardware. The fact that the setup (after copying files for less than a minute) leapt into high colour mode was impressive to say the least.

    On my IBM Thinkpad and home brewed PC, everything worked straight out the box, apart from the TV card (which didn't work in Linux at all!).

    I have had nothing but trouble configuring X for graphics - this is a bit of a cheap shot and the author should know better.

    • Re:A bit unfair (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Seumas ( 6865 )
      Maybe this doesn't count, but just look at how impossible it is to get linux running on a laptop. Even if you go to a vendor that sells OSless laptops and qualifies them on a couple linux distrobutions, you'll still find that most of them have caveats... like "wireless does not work yet" and "firewire is not recognized" and a number of other things.

      I really wanted a linux laptop, but I couldn't find anything affordable, powerful and complete (meaning it has drivers to support everything the laptop has).

      Do

      • Re:A bit unfair (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Mr. Slippery ( 47854 )

        I really wanted a linux laptop, but I couldn't find anything affordable, powerful and complete (meaning it has drivers to support everything the laptop has).

        Easiest to buy preinstalled:

      • Re:A bit unfair (Score:3, Insightful)

        by mangu ( 126918 )
        just look at how impossible it is to get linux running on a laptop


        OK, I'll byte. In the last ten years I've had three laptops, a TI Extensa, a Sony Vaio, and an HP/Compaq, all running Linux. The only problem I had was getting the modem to run in the Vaio.


        Ooops, sorry, I didn't mean to feed the trolls...

  • Non compatible hardware (Score:2, Interesting)

    by mangu ( 126918 )
    There's more than LCD monitors that don't work with XP. From my experience:
    1) Adaptec SlimSCSI APA-1460A PCMCIA card will make the computer reboot
    2) Genius ColorPage HR-2 scanner, ditto
    3) JVC camcorder, I don't have the part number because my cousin borrowed it, ditto
    People have told me that these things don't work because of "broken device drivers", but I don't want detailed technical analyses, I want them to "just work", like they do with Linux.
    • Oh, I've got one. My CompUSA USB wlan adapter. Doesn't work on XP, no matter which driver I try to install.

      Funny thing is, it used to work on XP, on that machine no less. Linux uses it happily.

  • I hate windows, (Score:3, Insightful)

    by darkonc ( 47285 ) <stephen_samuel@b ... m ['n.c' in gap]> on Friday May 27, 2005 @08:17PM (#12661045) Homepage Journal
    but then, most of my experience has been fixing people's (sometimes horribly) broken MS Windows installataions. Since 2000, just about everyh roommate that I've had has moved out running Windows on their box. After working with Linux for about 4 months, my most recent roommate caught me by surprise when she asked me to remove the Windows partition from her box (it really does just get in the way).
    • After working with Linux for about 4 months, my most recent roommate caught me by surprise when she asked me to remove (..)

      When i got to this part i thought that it's a myth that slashdot geeks don't get laid and Linux does have a sexual magnet effect after all, but then i continued to read on.

  • Ironic, and still serious (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Husgaard ( 858362 ) on Friday May 27, 2005 @08:19PM (#12661054)
    I got a great laugh by reading the article. But when looking at it again, I see that is based on facts. The Linux desktop(s) really have outdone the Microsoft desktop now. This used to be a problem for the adoption of Linux on the desktop but no longer, I think. Although I primarily use Linux and MS-Windows Home Edition only occasionally, I have to agree that (while there may still be other problems with Linux) the desktop is at least as good as the desktop produced by Microsoft.

    And I don't want to start another flamewar about what the best desktop for Linux is...

  • monitor driver (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Sebastopol ( 189276 ) on Friday May 27, 2005 @08:19PM (#12661055) Homepage
    Why the ferk does a monitor even need a driver?

    It bugs me when mundane devices need drivers.

    Like keyboards and monitors.

    What's next, my power supply will need a driver?

    • Re:monitor driver (Score:4, Interesting)

      by StarManta.Mini ( 860897 ) on Friday May 27, 2005 @08:39PM (#12661178)
      What kills me is printers. I mean, there are very few ways printers differ, really, until you get to high-end and professional printers. But every single home printer requires its own goddamn driver! In order to get them to "just work", Apple has to include 1.5GB of printer drivers. (Presumably, Windows still operates on the "install drivers as you need them" philosophy.)
      FIFTEEN HUNDRED FUCKING MEGABYTES.
      TO SQUIRT INK ONTO A PAGE.

  • A Slashdot Editor writes an 'article' for NewsForge, which is then linked to from Slashdot by a submitter. Maybe if they put half the effort into Editing Slashdot that they do writing 'articles' for other people, the quality of the site would improve substantially.

    As for the article itself, one piece of hardware doesn't perform correctly with the myriad of drives available and we're supposed to gush heartily about it? I think not.
  • OS News, January 2003 [osnews.com].

    It's time for Windows on the Desktop

    Posted by special contributor Richard Keiichi Yamauchi, Jr.

    Some of you might be thinking, why? Well, I think it's about time. MCSE's, VB Programmers, and techies have been using Windows for years, and I think it's about time Windows moves to the desktop for ordinary people.
    ...
    We've heard it year after year after year: "This is the year Windows is for the masses on the desktop." Well, then another version comes out and still "Joe Longkne

  • You laugh, but, (Score:3, Interesting)

    by pair-a-noyd ( 594371 ) on Friday May 27, 2005 @09:23PM (#12661472)
    This article is dead on.

    About 2.5 years ago I installed Suse 9.0 on my son's PC and he hauled it 900 miles away up to college.
    Since then, it has crashed several times during power failures and became so badly corrupted that it was unusable. Not to mention, 9.0 is soooo old now..

    My son is no computer prodigy and was left without a working PC. He was unable to find a single person in his school or area that could help him fix the problems and I can't just drive up 900+ miles to reinstall Suse.

    His only option left was to install XP. There are plenty of XP "hotshots" around. So, he bought a student discounted version at the campus bookstore and his friend set about to install it for him.

    Onboard nic = not recognized.
    Onboard audio = not recognized.
    Nvidia video card = not recognized.

    One thing he forgot to take with him, the mobo and video drivers discs (which were NOT needed for Linux).
    So, for the past two weeks he's sat around with no internet and no sound and shitty video while I tore the house apart looking for the discs.
    I finally found them and overnighted them to him.

    What I want to know now is, how/where is he going to get the program M$ word which is REQUIRED by his school? ALL of his classes distribute word files and require homework to be turned in in word format and powerpoint.

    Is the college going to provide him with a free copy of these programs? (they should, at $8k a semester!) I hope so because I sure as hell ain't gonna pay for it.

    And now he is open to all the problems the winders people constantly suffer.. His first year there, the entire campus became a huge petri dish, EVERY computer on campus was infected, except his Suse machine. No longer will he enjoy that exclusive privilege..

  • Journalistic integrity? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by NineNine ( 235196 ) on Friday May 27, 2005 @09:33PM (#12661532)
    I can't believe it. Has Slashdot gone so far downhill that they now write their own massive flamebaits, post them on another one of the corporate websites, and then point to it, calling it an article? Is Slashdot getting so desperate for traffic that they've resorted to this kind of ridiculous garbage? At the very least, they should have put the silly foot icon next to it so it's obvious that it's a joke. But then again, the picture of the Bill Gates Borg is about as juvenile as you can get. I now consider Slashdot's "jounalism" to be on par with the Onion as far as accuracy. Unfortunately, the Onion is actually funny, whereas Slashdot, more and more, makes me just surf elsewhere.

  • Windows will be ready for the desktop when ... (Score:3, Informative)

    by elronxenu ( 117773 ) on Saturday May 28, 2005 @12:47AM (#12662383) Homepage
    ... presented in no particular order ...
    • I can install and remove scads of software with one or two commands
    • Microsoft implements "Focus follows Mouse"
    • Multiple desktops become standard
    • They get rid of those stupid drive letters
    • Configuration becomes human-readable (and understandable) and acquires revision control
    • The user interface becomes less responsive. Yes, you read that right. It seems that Microsoft works hard to make every possible piece of screen real estate "do something, anything!" and so a mistaken keypress or mouse click is likely to cause my document to be translated into Swahili or something
    • I no longer have to give up fundamental rights, like the right to free speech, to use it
    • It stops deciding how much text I want selected
    • Microsoft ships a real shell like bash with it, not that cmd.exe rubbish
    • It comes with konsole and openssh out of the box

    I stay away from Windows as much as possible. If I had to use Windows more I'm sure I would have a longer list.

  • Read an article about Longhorn in the recent Ct (Score:3, Interesting)

    by MemoryDragon ( 544441 ) on Saturday May 28, 2005 @05:03AM (#12663003)
    The end user wont notice intially but over time, they will and then they will start to cry, and they will cry out loud.

    Just one word DRM everywhere.

    Microsoft took one step away from their original Palladium plans developers wise, you wont have to pay a huge amount of money to get the permission to program for (for now it is still open), but due to the demands of the Content industry, they introduced an entire secure layer which is basically encrypted from the hardware (harddisk etc...) back to the transmission into the digital output, it never really leaves the encryption state, with the possibility to lock the affected box remotely out. What happens is, that they bascially made a vault for the content providers, which will be enabled in longhorn. Remember parts of the technology already is in place. SATA has extensions for encryption on hardware level, same goes for DVI ouput, with the TCPA you will have a crypto chip on every box as well with the private key stored on the chip. You wont get the stuff you are used to instantly taken away, but I think the turning point will be with the move to BlueRay or whatever HDTV next gen DVD will be, then the users will start to scream, but too late, as much as they are mentally bound to it. Linux and other systems probably wont give them an alternative as well, since the players there will follow the same strict rules if they will exist at all and the remote lockout can affect the hardware (consumer hardware as well, but just blacklisting certain keys in future DVD replacements.

    Those who now long and rave for longhorn should think twice, they will have the severe problem that they will get it. Xaml, total onslaught on the W3C after Microsoft successfully torpedoed the W3C into oblivion by not supporting their standards and lying on their fat asses for 8 years. Replacement technology for PDF in place, which in the long run also will become Windows only. Trivial patent grabbing left and right just in case we want to sue the competition into oblivion, and having DRMed the system left and right without informing the users (dont expect the journalists except a few mags writing about those things, most of them are either ignorant about TCPA, NGSCP (Palladium) or on the payroll of Microsoft)

    When Palladium comes out, in the beginning it wont make that much of a difference to the end user, everything will work perfectly, but then extended services will be pushed in and the end user will slowly be fed with DRM hell (try this nice HDTV movie, WMx of course, that is another onslaught area, of trying to take over the movie codec protocolls and getting rid of the pesky mpeg consortium), you wanna save it do it... You wanna give it away oops... sorry man, you can move to alternatives if you want, but then you will loose your already bought 20-30 movies. A few years later... no more buying man, just renting.

  • Viruses/Worms (Score:3, Interesting)

    by taskforce ( 866056 ) on Saturday May 28, 2005 @05:07AM (#12663012) Homepage
    I have not yet gotten any viruses or worms on my Windows XP computer, nor have I experienced nearly as many system crashes as I did with pre-XP Windows versions.

    I like the fact that he's realistic; if you keep XP SP2 autoupdated, run Windows Update every now and again and keep the Firewall up it's actually very easy to avoid viruses and worms unless you have a habit of retardedly clicking everything people show you.

Slashdot Top Deals

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." - Bert Lantz

Close