Why is Windows so bloated?

[R.Youden]

I was playing around with my girlfriends PC (she also has an eMac and iBook, don't worry!) as I want to set it up on a KVM with my old PowerMac. Anyway I tried connecting my Apple Pro keyboard to the Windows box. Why oh why is it so difficult! On a Mac you plug it in and off it goes, works perfectly. On Windows you have to wait to install 3 drivers! For God's sake it is a keyboard! Help me if I try to install something complex. I thought USB was plug and play, not plug - wait 5 minutes - then tentatively play until it crashes!

<Hugs MBP>

 

[R.Youden]

Oh no, I am just as bad! I put <Hugs MBP> in my post!

 

[yellow]

Strange, I never had a problem getting a WinXP box to recognize an Apple keyboard. No drivers needed.

 

[bearbo]

I was playing around with my girlfriends PC (she also has an eMac and iBook, don't worry!) as I want to set it up on a KVM with my old PowerMac. Anyway I tried connecting my Apple Pro keyboard to the Windows box. Why oh why is it so difficult! On a Mac you plug it in and off it goes, works perfectly. On Windows you have to wait to install 3 drivers! For God's sake it is a keyboard! Help me if I try to install something complex. I thought USB was plug and play, not plug - wait 5 minutes - then tentatively play until it crashes!

<Hugs MBP>

forgive me, but i think you are bloated.

does keyboard not need drivers?
did you provide proper driver so it does not crash?

one can say the samething about OS X cannot take those graphic cards designed for Windows.

 

[R.Youden]

Strange, I never had a problem getting a WinXP box to recognize an Apple keyboard. No drivers needed.

Thats the other thing that gets me, why are no two versions of Windows the same? They have 63 different versions of XP and you cant do the same thing on two machines.

 

[R.Youden]

forgive me, but i think you are bloated.

does keyboard not need drivers?
did you provide proper driver so it does not crash?

one can say the samething about OS X cannot take those graphic cards designed for Windows.

Indeed I agree, but to the same extent at least we know they dont work. For crying out loud this is a keyboard with two USB ports in. I had to get another keyboard that I had used on the machine and connect both to the PC to press Return to contine with the installation! Why doesnt Windows pre install generic keyboard drivers?

 

[bearbo]

Thats the other thing that gets me, why are no two versions of Windows the same? They have 63 different versions of XP and you cant do the same thing on two machines.

i've been able to replicate everything i want to do on all the Windows XP boxes, and they behave the same...

again, i think you are the one thats bloated, not windows. any capable person can run any OS just dandy

but apparently you cannot

 

[R.Youden]

again, i think you are the one thats bloated, not windows. any capable person can run any OS just dandy

but apparently you cannot

Hello Mr High And Mighty! Get out of the wrong side of bed today did we?

The point I was trying to make is that Microsoft just make things to difficult for themselves. This is the reason that I use a mac, at work I have had to set up far more complex Windows systems than your normal "PC Box" and it has been so tedious. They just need to get back to basics and make sure things run well. I dont know what Vista will be like but I hope they make things far more user friendly. Unlike some of the users on this board today!

 

[codo]

I get bored of these threads. I'm sure people get bored of reading people saying they get bored of reading these threads.

Just absurd comments. Windows is fine, check your drivers - It takes two minuets...

 

[yellow]

again, i think you are the one thats bloated, not windows. any capable person can run any OS just dandy

but apparently you cannot

I think that is uncalled for. It's perfectly reasonable for someone to complain about product X being more difficult to configure/use than expected.

Just because your experiences may vary doesn't give you license to **** on someone who doesn't have the same experience.

 

[bearbo]

Hello Mr High And Mighty! Get out of the wrong side of bed today did we?

i'm not the one complain about my inability to use correct driver for keyboard

The point I was trying to make is that Microsoft just make things to difficult for themselves. This is the reason that I use a mac, at work I have had to set up far more complex Windows systems than your normal "PC Box" and it has been so tedious. They just need to get back to basics and make sure things run well. I dont know what Vista will be like but I hope they make things far more user friendly.

Unlike some of the users on this board today!

i'm not sure if i doubt about the bolded part, or the rest of them... they just don't seem consistent

Unlike some of the users on this board today!

are you saying i'm not user friendly? this does not even make sense

maybe you are indeed the one got out the wrong side of the bed.. if you even got out the bed

I get bored of these threads. I'm sure people get bored of reading people saying they get bored of reading these threads.

Just absurd comments. Windows is fine, check your drivers - It takes two minuets...

exactly.

 

[R.Youden]

I get bored of these threads. I'm sure people get bored of reading people saying they get bored of reading these threads.

Just absurd comments. Windows is fine, check your drivers - It takes two minuets...

I agree there is nothing wrong with Windows in general. I just can't fathom how Apple can get "simple" (yes simple not gfx cards etc) so right but a Windows machine (only two months old) has such difficulty. Is this a general thing or machine specific. If it is specific to a particular machine then fine but I dont see this is reason for board members to accuse others of being incompetent!

 

[bearbo]

I think that is uncalled for. It's perfectly reasonable for someone to complain about product X being more difficult to configure/use than expected.

Just because your experiences may vary doesn't give you license to **** on someone who doesn't have the same experience.

i wouldn't have been "uncalled for" if he didn't make those subjective comments because of his own ... unsuccessful experience.

i didn't see he complain about apple keyboard... and i'd believe if he try to plug in a "PC webcam" in mac, he'd be cursing the PC webcam rather than OS X

my point is, i cannot stand when people think windows XP is trash because something they didn't do right

 

[IJ Reilly]

I've had similar issues with XP and USB devices. The keyboard on my XP box never has worked entirely correctly. The numeric keypad doesn't function in some situations, and the other day the mouse simply stopped working. I had to reboot the PC to get it going again. I've also had to reinstall the keyboard drivers on occasion. This is something I've I never had to do on a Mac. The Mac has always been better at plug-and-play than Windows. I don't know why anyone would want to defend Microsoft on this count.

 

[R.Youden]

I am not saying something didn't go right did I now? The keyboard works fine, my point is why did it take so bloody long to install and why was it so difficult (or painfully slow for want of a better term). And also please dont question my statements about how much PC knowledge I have when you dont know anything about it.

 

[R.Youden]

I've had similar issues with XP and USB devices. The keyboard on my XP box never has worked entirely correctly. The numeric keypad doesn't function in some situations, and the other day the mouse simply stopped working. I had to reboot the PC to get it going again. I've also had to reinstall the keyboard drivers on occasion. This is something I've I never had to do on a Mac. The Mac has always been better at plug-and-play than Windows. I don't know why anyone would want to defend Microsoft on this count.

I can't believe we have two incompetent users on this board; we must both me banned and never allowed back on!

 

[bearbo]

I agree there is nothing wrong with Windows in general. I just can't fathom how Apple can get "simple" (yes simple not gfx cards etc) so right but a Windows machine (only two months old) has such difficulty. Is this a general thing or machine specific. If it is specific to a particular machine then fine but I dont see this is reason for board members to accuse others of being incompetent!

i am not saying you are incompetent. i'm sure you are since you can "set up far more complex Windows systems than your normal "PC Box" and it has been so tedious"

at least, i'm not saying you are incompetent in general, just maybe in that specific or particular case

back to the topic, i think the reason the keyboard causing windows crash is because the driver is not right. and that's understandable from all perspective in that windows might not have provided the driver specific for apple keyboard (or at least the driver is not 100% compatible). so unless you find the correct driver somehow and install that, it's not the keyboard nor windows' fault

i agree a lot of cases OS X is much simpler than windows, but this is not one of them.

 

[yellow]

i didn't see he complain about apple keyboard... and i'd believe if he try to plug in a "PC webcam" in mac, he'd be cursing the PC webcam rather than OS X

Which means you didn't even really read the post, you just read the title, got mad, skimmed the post(s) and got busy with your angry pokes at the OP's skills with a computer.

my point is, i cannot stand when people think windows XP is trash because something they didn't do right

That's fine, that's your opinion, however it's far more constructive for you to say exactly that, rather than accusing him of being "bloated" and/or incompetent. Your posts appear to be argumentative to me.

If you want to get right down to it, the claim (title) that Windows is "bloated" is pretty much the opposite of what the OP is claiming to have troubles with, as a "bloated" OS would undoubtedly have all the drivers already available. Which apparently isn't the care here. So, the thread title has little to do with the heart of the post. But this is semantics and pointing it out wasn't constructive to the original post.

 

[IJ Reilly]

i agree a lot of cases OS X is much simpler than windows, but this is not one of them.

Actually, it is one of them. In my experience, anytime you expect plug-and-play performance, you're far more likely to get it on the Mac.

 

[yellow]

so unless you find the correct driver somehow and install that, it's not the keyboard nor windows' fault

From a technical standpoint, yes it IS Window's fault.
The lack of a correct driver shouldn't cause the whole OS to belly-up.
It should, at the very least, be designed to bitch and complain.
Which I believe WindowsXP is designed to do.

It could just as easily be an issue with the USB port or the motherboard's firmware. Which has nothing to do with Windows, or drivers.

 

[R.Youden]

Which means you didn't even really read the post, you just read the title, got mad, skimmed the post(s) and got busy with your angry pokes at the OP's skills with a computer.



That's fine, that's your opinion, however it's far more constructive for you to say exactly that, rather than accusing him of being "bloated" and/or incompetent. Your posts appear to be argumentative to me.

If you want to get right down to it, the claim (title) that Windows is "bloated" is pretty much the opposite of what the OP is claiming to have troubles with, as a "bloated" OS would undoubtedly have all the drivers already available. Which apparently isn't the care here. So, the thread title has little to do with the heart of the post. But this is semantics and pointing it out wasn't constructive to the original post.

I agree to an extent what you mean about the title. What I meant to say is that it is bloated because it takes so much more effort to make the system run. What fustrated me is that you need three things to make a PC or Mac work: A keyboard, mouse and monitor. It is not as if I was using an Apple Bluetooth or a keyboard with a million and one extra keys for emails etc and I complaied that they where not mapped because this is to be expected in some cases. But why can I plug a keyboard for Windows into a mac and it works fine (except the crazy mail and www keys which I accept wont work) but I can't plug a basic 109 key layout into a Windows machine and it doesnt work?

I have set up some complex servers that travel all over the world and communicate with a single factory and they run Windows Server and I think that it is great, never had any real problems. But as soon as I run Windows XP home edition (which I am sure the vast majority of people use) it take 5 minutes to make the keyboard work?

 

[Eidorian]

I find that OS X is just as bloated at Windows XP in terms of file size and drivers.

I just find that Windows' implementation is TERRIBLE. You get prompted to death for drivers (even if you already have them) and mounting a drive requires you to repeat the same steps every time if you've never mounted it before. It's very annoying when you're giving presentations and 2-3 minutes are wasted just waiting for flash drivers to mount.

 

[bearbo]

Which means you didn't even really read the post, you just read the title, got mad, skimmed the post(s) and got busy with your angry pokes at the OP's skills with a computer.

tell me when OP says anything negative about the keyboard

now who's presuming?

If you want to get right down to it, the claim (title) that Windows is "bloated" is pretty much the opposite of what the OP is claiming to have troubles with, as a "bloated" OS would undoubtedly have all the drivers already available. Which apparently isn't the care here. So, the thread title has little to do with the heart of the post. But this is semantics and pointing it out wasn't constructive to the original post.

i dont think its necessary to discuss what did the OP had in mind when he said bloated.

 

[bearbo]

Actually, it is one of them. In my experience, anytime you expect plug-and-play performance, you're far more likely to get it on the Mac.

that's your experience, mine (anybody else i know in person) differs, at least in that aspect.

 

[R.Youden]

tell me when OP says anything negative about the keyboard

Why should I complain about a keyboard that has worked fine on a number of machines for the last 5 years?