Geek Stuff
I think I am going to wait for awhile. Bill Gates will just have to pay his mortgage without me.
Skipper—like you, I’ve got a MSDN subscription, and as such I’ve had my copies of Vista all the way back to when the first Longhorn Beta came out. So, in my case, like in your case, all of the hoopla over Microsoft’s Vista release is just that—hoopla. Whooptee Doo. The people who actually use this stuff have had it for some time now.
Personally, I’m not in any rush to adopt it. XP and Server ‘03 serve my Windows needs just fine, and they run with the hardware that I’ve already got. Take those along with the Linux stuff I’ve also got on hand, and I’ve got all my bases covered for the time being. I’ve always had an aversion to upgrading the OS just because it is new, since it usually means that I’ve also got to upgrade the hardware as well. Not to mention the other usual pains that come with OS upgrades, namely the hassle of making it communicate well with your existing systems.
It’s not worth the hassle. Not when the only real benefit to me is just cosmetic—and I for one am not impressed with cosmetics.
Maybe someday I’ll break down and upgrade my development systems. Most likely that will be after the bugs are out and hardware appropriate to run it becomes more mainstream—especially so since I do the majority of my development work on notebook machines.
Posted by gb_in_ga
01/30/2007 at 03:52 PM
While I can see why some for benighted folks must use Windows, I can’t see why you would want to. Yes, I did use it for much of my AF career, but as soon as I could I got them to supply me with a Mac. It may be a taste or “handedness” issue, but one is designed to work like humans, and the other (Windows) is designed by Borat. In the 20 years that I have been using a Mac, I have yet to encounter the first virus.
Vista, from what I can see is visually where the Mac was about 3 years ago. While it will become the de facto standard for most people, I keep hearing a lot of folks both in business and at home who are saying they will just wait until they buy a new PC with it installed.
Again, if you really want to upgrade, get a Mac.
I look forward to all the flames…
Posted by Spike72AFA
01/30/2007 at 04:12 PM
Spikey, it’s just not worth reacting to your statement. When Mac has 600 different vendors making compatible machines, cheap software from zillions of different sources, and the OS upgrade goes for $100, then I’ll think about it. Until then I will not play into the Only One Source computer game, and I’ll always be tempted to punch the shit out of snotty Mac users. Your product isn’t better, its just different. Hell, these days its not even a Mac, since the new ones have Intel Inside just like normal PCs.
But a MacSmak was not why I posted. Skipper, can you put up a parts source list for that machine? Or, if that feels too much like an endorsement, could you email me the list? What you built sounds red hot, much more like a major server (half a friggin terabyte!!) than a desktop PC, but for under $1500 it would be hard to resist.
Nobody makes viruses for macs because more people use Linux than the Mac OS. That’d be like dumping time and money into making a bench specially designed for people with only 1 leg and an eye patch. Pirate benches aren’t exactly in big demand, is the point I’m trying to get across here.
I can’t justify upgrading to an OS that uses more system resources than a lot of games. Sure it looks pretty but why does that matter? Windows XP runs fine for me, does what I need it to do, that’s good enough. I didn’t even get XP until fall 2005
I went to the official Vista/Office 2007/Exchange Server 2007 kickoff in Boise today. The “event” was mostly a waste of time. I could have learned more from a 30 minute infomercial.
First, the people doing the presentations were described as “IT Evangelists”. According to the dictionary, one definition (besides being a minister of some sort) is “an enthusiastic advocate”. Wow, these guys can sure sell the eye candy that Vista is chock full of. I agree, skipper, that Aero is pretty nice to look at, however, looking nice and working are two different things, and what I saw today didn’t work very smooth.
The best moments occured when the programs stopped responding, the demonstrations didn’t work right because the “evangelist” didn’t do something right, or when there was so much stuff going on that the system had to be rebooted to get itself sorted out. There were probably 800 people in the room and we had a pretty good time laughing every time there was a problem that took more than 10 seconds resolve. (In some fairness, they were also demonstrating some things on the still-beta longhorn server, and it was causing problems.)
There were some examples of the new development stuff. Basically, applications will be huge on fancy graphics and premade modules that require little modification. At least, that seems to be the idea. Exchange Server 2007 will be 64-bit only. Time for new hardware if you don’t have a 64 bit system already. However, some of the new functionality is pretty cool. Office 2007 is now considered a platform, is not compatible with prior office versions, and is designed to nearly be a subsystem of the OS. Having used office since about version 3, I can’t say that I am real impressed with the looks of the new one, and the fact that we are now going to have compatibility problems between 2003 and 2007 is going to upset a lot of people real soon. Oh, and ActiveX 10 requires new hardware to run. It will not work with existing video cards.
The whole 8 hours was pretty much devoted to gimmicks and features that look good (when they work) but did not convince me that this is God’s gift to computing. However, as of today, computers with Vista will start rearing their ugly heads and this IT professional will end up having to support it starting tomorrow.
*Whistling*....
Comrades,
I still miss GeoWorks..... I think about that gui often, and wish like hell someone had shot Gates before he made a pact with IBM for Windows. Ah well…
Personally, as much as I really WOULD like to have a kustom built system with a sharktank and all the neon fixin’s, I’m not sure what I’d do with it. I still like DOS 6.2, and the current machine I’m using has XP, but only because it came pre-loaded. The wife has an HP laptop but I haven’t seen the need for it as yet. Heck, I don’t even have a cell phone. Haven’t needed one of those either. In fact, there’s a lovely little Magnavox 386-SX upstairs that the kids use for homework. Not online, but it’s a great machine for doing writing and making reports. 85 meg hard drive. Uses GeoWorks and DOS 6.2, btw.
Hell, my problem is that the only thing I need a computer for is for surfing, a port to upload images from my camera, and some sort of programs like PSP-8, etc. I write a lot, but I need the images mainly for ebay sales, etc. Oh, and the Jukebox is neat, but not required.
So there ya go. I’m probably a dinosaur, and I could care less about whistles and bells and fancy-shmancy software, programs, etc. I just need a good port to surf, and a place to store images and write my reports for my research. Some gaming would be nice, but heck, I can’t seem to get DOOM or SWOTL or Aces over Europe to run on this new XP machine, so there’s that.....
I mean, really.... I still can’t seem to find out what’s blocking all the pop-up comment boxes these past few months. Everytime I come here, I have to log in and use control with the mouse to get the box to open.
Respects,
Posted by Gwedd
01/30/2007 at 09:42 PM
I’LL WAIT FOR THE MOVIE
Posted by Mojomatt
01/30/2007 at 10:05 PM
Okay, Skip, I confess. Pleeeaaasssee don’t ban me.
I, uh, well, that is, uh, oh, I don’t know, it isn’t so bad, is it, don’t blame me, a man’s gotta eat, baby needs new shoes, the dog is hungry, but, well. Here it is.
I WORK AT MICROSOFT!
There, I said it! Whew, boy, that feeeelllllsssss gooooood! What a weight off my chest.
Okay, so, I Work For Bill. And Steve. So what? It’s not like I molest children or help terrorists. Actually, I help kill them occasionally but that is another story. Yeh.
Anyhow, about Windows Vista - and, by the way it is Windows Vista, not just Vista as that is already a copyrighted name and MSFT has agreements with them that they will always use Windows Vista in all print and interview stuff.
It took me a day and a half to download and get help desk to help me work through some stuff. AND I AM RIGHT THERE IN REDMOND!
Anyhow, Skip, I concur with your assessments and yes, it is all a big conspiracy with the PC makers to generate a new burst of PC sales. This makes them happy and the volume licensing guys at MSFT get HUGE revenue numbers from new OEM deals and bizniz deals.
But I did not say that.
Hey, what? Where am I? Hey, Skip, you, you drugged me or hypnotized me! I didn’t say nothin’ ‘cause, I know nnnnnnnotink! Nnnnnnnotink!
Bye!
Rickvid! You have taken the first step. You have confessed to being
an alcoholica MicroWeenie. Step back from The Dark Side, son. Linux is good.OK. Windoze Vista, it is.
As for the rest of you requesting a shopping list for a monster WINDOZE Vista machine like mine, I’ll post the ingredients here later this week. Stay tuned.
