Why is Windows so bad?

[Mord]

Really? I'll give it a try...

I have a Quadra 950 (ca 1992) which originally came with a 68040 at 33 MHz. I've increased the RAM from the original 16 MB to 136 MB (it maxes out at 256 MB), maxed out the onboard video RAM to 2 MB and added two video cards (the system has three 21" Radius displays on it), added a CD-ROM and CDR, pulled the floppy drive so I could have room in the case for three hard drives (though I only have two right now, 9 Gb and 1 GB). I also upgraded the processor to a PowerPC 601 at 66 MHz with 1 MB of L2 cache (though I thought about doing a motherboard upgrade to a 9150 which has a 601 at 120 MHz with 1 MB of L2, but this is working just fine for now). It originally came with System 7 but I'm using Mac OS 8.1 on it now.

I also have a Power Macintosh 7500 (ca 1995) which originally came with a PowerPC 601 at 100 Mhz (no L2 cache). When I got it it came with 32 MB of RAM which I've upgraded to 512 MB (it maxes out at 1 GB), and maxed out the onboard video RAM to 4 MB. It has three PCI slots, which I could use for a video card, but it is running fine as it is so I haven't added any. I currently have two drives in the case (9 GB and 4 GB) along the CD-ROM drive. I upgraded the processor to a PowerPC 604e at 225 MHz with 256k of L2 (I could go as high as a G4 at 800 Mhz with 1 Mb L3 cache). When I got it it was running mac OS 8.1 it is now running Mac OS X Server 1.2v3 (Rhapsody 5.6).

I have a Power Macintosh 8100 (ca 1994) which originally came with a PowerPC 601 at 80 Mhz with 256k L2 Cache. I increase the RAM from 16 MB to 208 MB added Apple's AV video card (with 2 MB of VRAM and included S-video in and out) and a second video card to run my two 16" monitors. I upgraded the hard drive to 2 GB and the processor to a G3/500 with 1 Mb of L2 cache. This system is currently running Mac OS 8.6.

My trusty PowerBook G3 (Sept 1998) originally came with a G3 at 266 MHz with 1 MB of L2 and 32 MB of RAM. I upgraded the hard drive to 8 GB and moved the original 4 GB drive into one of the expansion bays (so it has two hard drives now) and replaced the original CD-ROM drive with a CD-RW in the other expansion bay. I increased the RAM to 512 MB and upgraded the processor to a G4 at 500 MHz with 1 MB L2. Originally this system was running Mac OS 8.1, it has since run Mac OS X Server 1.2 and is now running Mac OS X v10.2.

On the non-Mac side, I have an SGI Indy (ca 1994) which originally came with 32 MB of RAM and an MIPS R4600 processor at 133 MHz with 512k of L2 cache. It originally had a 1 GB drive and was running IRIX 5.3. I upgraded the RAM to 128 MB (maxes out at 256 MB) and replaced the hard drive with a 9 GB (with room for a second hard drive still). I upgraded the processor to an MIPS R4400sc at 175 Mhz with 1 MB of L2 (gave me a 60% increase in floating point operations) and upgraded the operating system to IRIX 6.2 (5.3 was a 32-bit OS, 6.2 is 64-bit). I also added an Indy Video and Cosmo Compress cards, the Indy Video added two Composite and one S-Video in ports and one Composite and one S-Video out ports (the Indy came with one Composite and one S-Video in ports) and the Cosmo Compress lets me capture video at full frame rate (29.97 frames per second) at full frame size. This makes this the best system I have for capturing video.


PC user seem to characterize the users of any platform other than Windows as being religious... Which is their way of putting down those users. It comes from an inferiority complex and is quite understandable.

As for any hate for Microsoft that I have, that comes from direct dealings with Microsoft and their lawyers. It has nothing to do with me being a Mac user (or user of any of the other platforms I enjoy), it has everything to do with Microsoft and how they do business.

you ever heard of xpostfacto? it'll let you put os x on nearly any pci mac, up to 10.1 on a pre g3 cpu and up to 10.3 on almost anything with a g3.

 

[IJ Reilly]

The bad guy here was the snitch, not Microsoft.

This is absolutely untrue. Microsoft has long implemented an aggressive policy of hunting down license infractions, or even rumors of license infractions. Nonprofit organizations, universities, businesses, hospitals -- they don't care who they harass, so long as they get every last penny that they think belongs to them. Also, before making a statement of this kind, you ought to consider what kind of company doesn't hesitate to bring down its entire weight on an individual or organization based on nothing more than a tip.

 

[RacerX]

The bad guy here was the snitch, not Microsoft.

I had explained to their lawyers that this was an Apple/Adobe/Quark based business, and that none of their systems was running Windows... and they still pushed forward.

Once the situation was known, any excuse for Microsoft was lost.

I didn't mind that they had a hair trigger, but when they were clearly off target and kept pushing forward... that was inexcusable.

Apple would have done the same thing in the same situation--the Mac rumor sites are a case in point. If you have a trademark, a trade secret, or a copyright, you have to enforce it yourself. If you know that someone is infringing on it, and you don't act to enforce it, you can lose it.

Yeah, but Apple had evidence of misdoing... Microsoft didn't. And when Microsoft was given the proof they wanted, the least they could have done was compensate.

All I saw was a company bullying people around. I don't see how that is comparable.

At least if Adobe had sent in their lawyer there would have been the fact that this business makes it's money from Adobe products. All that Microsoft did for these people was cost them money.

you ever heard of xpostfacto? it'll let you put os x on nearly any pci mac, up to 10.1 on a pre g3 cpu and up to 10.3 on almost anything with a g3.

Yes, I'd been following it's development from very early on.



Why do you ask?

 

[Mav451]

PC user seem to characterize the users of any platform other than Windows as being religious... Which is their way of putting down those users. It comes from an inferiority complex and is quite understandable.

Eh, I'd avoid making that inferiority complex accusation.

Most people who do that are:

Duke fans. Yankee fans. Laker fans (well not this year, hahaha). Oh yeah, and 90% of Republicans I met are like that too.

Hopefully you aren't any of the above, so you don't fall under that ugly mold.

 

[RacerX]

Eh, I'd avoid making that inferiority complex accusation.

It is not an accusation... it is an observation. There is a difference.

For example, from what I've seen someone with an inferiority complex would frequent sites of other platforms to try to prove (mainly to themselves) that their choice was actually the right one. Someone without such issues would just use what they are using and not care if they made a wrong choice, because they didn't if they are happy with the choice they made.

Of course we don't have anyone like that around here.

And I can happily say that I've never posted in a Windows forum. I don't use Windows, so I have no need to join such a forum. I'm part of a number of Mac forums, SGI forums and NeXT/Rhapsody forums, and have posted at Groklaw... but all those fall into areas in which I'm an active user.

Most people who do that are:

Duke fans. Yankee fans. Laker fans (well not this year, hahaha). Oh yeah, and 90% of Republicans I met are like that too.

Hopefully you aren't any of the above, so you don't fall under that ugly mold.

None of the above.

 

[IJ Reilly]

I didn't mind that they had a hair trigger, but when they were clearly off target and kept pushing forward... that was inexcusable.

You don't know the half of it (or maybe you do...). Microsoft employees are trained like that. The corporate culture is to stomp on necks and take no prisoners. Even the butterfly has fangs.