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The lesser of many evils - old Windows better than XP

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Githyanki:
So I gotta use windows some time for various reasons, games mostly, plus I gotta a lot of old files in .doc and even DOS formats.

Anyway here's my thoughts on the various WinOS's:

Win 3.1: Anyone remember this POS?

Win 95: Suxors, but still usable.

Win 98: Better than 95, the one I use.

Win ME: Wtf is it? I dunno.

Win 2000: Still no clue.

Win XP: Okay I will never use this one. Too many privacy security violations. Too many broken paradigms. It's ridiculous that you don't own the software, you "license" it. It's ridiculous that you can only put it on one machine. It's ridiculous you can only change your hardware around so many times and it gets obsolete on you. You know damn well that when Microsoft settled with the Dept. of Justice that they built in backdoors for FBI, local police, whoever wants to waltz in and cruise your HD.

I'm not having it. I hate spyware, whether it's from Xupiter, MS, or the DoJ. I'm not having it. I run a firewall and block communication with MS.com. I run spybot every couple days and have to run a special background proggy to prevent the BS active x crap from being used to hijack my browser and install spyware. Spyware is a worst problem than viruses, I don't get viruses, and when I do I simply dont open the attachments, and I never download warez. And I sure as hell dont use broken Outlook Express, the viruses playground. Spam is less a problem too if youre using free webmails as your main ID and never publish the mailto:link anywhere.

Anyway thats how I've learned to live with Windows, but Ive been using PCs since the DOS days. I pity the vast majority of Win-users who barely know their way around the machine.

xyle_one:

quote: I'm not having it. I hate spyware, whether it's from Xupiter, MS, or the DoJ. I'm not having it. I run a firewall and block communication with MS.com. I run spybot every couple days and have to run a special background proggy to prevent the BS active x crap from being used to hijack my browser and install spyware. Spyware is a worst problem than viruses, I don't get viruses, and when I do I simply dont open the attachments, and I never download warez. And I sure as hell dont use broken Outlook Express, the viruses playground. Spam is less a problem too if youre using free webmails as your main ID and never publish the mailto:link anywhere.
--- End quote ---

you know what... i do not have to deal with any of that. i use jaguar & redhat8. no problem. ever. i understand that windows sucks, so i dont use it (well, i do at work, but i fucking have to and it drives me insane). as for games.. buy a system that was designed around gaming, like a game cube or playstation. i certainly do not see the logic in spending 2500 on a computer to play games, especially when i could take that money to Best Buy (dirty dirty place) and buy a system, some controllers, and a shit-load of games. plus have some money for some beers and maybe even a new tv to play it on. since it seems like you hate windows. why not just ditch it altogether?? there really is no reason to use it.

Fett101:

quote:Originally posted by Githyanki:
It's ridiculous that you can only put it on one machine.
--- End quote ---


Um... isn't that always the case with purchased software?

Githyanki:
"Um... isn't that always the case with purchased software?"

No more than one machine at the same time, right. But I hang on to software for years, and as I replace and upgrade old systems, I reinstall. Let's face it, PhotoShop from four years ago is as good as PhotoShop bought this year, for all but the most demanding professionals. Same with Word, etc. I bought it, I have a right to make a backup, and a right to move it from machine to machine. I am not paying a subscription fee or letting it talk to MS.com all day long with copies of my documents.

As far as games go, games on a console system are in no way the same as PC games. As a hardcore gamer who's been in the business for nearly a decade, take my word on that. On a PC I can play real-time strategy games and the best first-person shooters, with tons of mods and different team and free-for-all gams. I can play massively multiplayer roleplaying games, and use a keyboard to talk to people: typing to people in Phantasy Star Online with a Nintendo controller is absurd.

And I didn't pay $2500 for my PC, I paid $1200 for it three years ago, and I can upgrade super cheap today, hardware prices are as low as I've ever seen them. Nothing wrong with a Mac/Cube duo or a PS2/Linux box if that's what you prefer, I just happen to prefer PC games to console ones.

Anyway there are tons of niche strategy and wargames, offbeat RPGs, that you simply don't get on a console. Plus PC games are cheaper, you customize them, mod them, etc. Put it this way: PC games are to console games what Linux is to Windows (not the best analogy, and obviously PC games are not open source, but it's a good analogy in terms of their customizability and the freedom afford the gamer).

So I simply prefer the PC gaming experience, though I have a console too, for sports games and fighting games. Sure, consoles are coming around to PC genres (notice the new online console rpgs and a great FPS like Halo), but it's not always the same thing. There's no way you could do something like Neverwinter Nights -- where one player acts as gamemaster and makes scenarios for the other custom-made characters played by people around the country -- on a console today.

However, if Microsoft going forward decides to kill the PC gaming market -- trying to force everyone to their Xbox 2, which as I understand it will have all the PC gaming capabilities of a current PC (HD, DSL, 3D chip, headset, keyboard, mouse) -- then that's really going to kill PC gaming.

Blizzard, EA, etc. make millions each year on The Sims, Warcraft 3, etc., and Microsoft doesn't get one cent. And while MS does okay in PC gaming, they don't own the market, because it's a hit-driven creative business, and they haven't leveraged their monopoly as effectively. But kill the PC gaming market and force all the big PC publishers to shift development to Xbox and it's win-win. For them.

It's not like PC game programmers don't want to support Linux (a programmer-run company like id Software for example does), but most game publishers are big, publicly-traded companies that have other priorities. But if Linux grows the install base and Palladium and the next MS destroy the PC gaming industry, you could see the smaller/shareware developers moving their niche market software to Linux. I would hope this is the case.

Sorry, long post : )

Stryker:

quote:Originally posted by Fett101:


Um... isn't that always the case with purchased software?
--- End quote ---


no, some companies let you put them on multiple computers. zuggsoft's zmud is one example. but for the most part, yeah... only 1 computer.

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