What version of Windows do you use?

[Icosahedron]

I don't believe Icosahedron proposed there be only one OS or that all OS's had to be identical.

Correct, CG, thanks.
My understanding of computers is very limited and I have no idea what is possible, only what is desirable from the POV of a user such as myself.

the problem is then the money.

The root of all evil. Precisely.

And we could always move into the car analogy which seems popular as well: should we only have a single car manufacturer so that all the parts can be standardized? I mean, who needs 16" wheels when 15" are perfectly fine?

But you don't need to have only one manufacturer in order to get an agreement that 15" wheels should be the standard across all manufacturers.
The production of all manner of wheels in 1" increments and similarly incremental profiles, simply increases the world's carbon footprint for no appreciable gain.

However, this is straying off topic.

 

[Gojifam58]

Ok, it's now three years later and MS shoved Win-7 at us. Personally I don't like it much at all compare to older versions. For one thing they pushed a lot of gimmicks into it that I just don't use but are the basis of the system, all while allowing basic functions that I did use to be either hard to find or not there at all. The most maddening thing is that Win-7 allows MS to hijack your computer when their trying to palm off one of their buggy "security" programs on to you - if you don't have something like Norton to block them you cannot use your PC while their pop-ups are there.

Would gladly have an updated Win-98 over this piece of trash.

 

[BytePro]

Have multiple Windows 7 PCs used nearly daily since the betas - no such problems.

MS doesn't push security programs - UAC and Action Center 'pop-ups', and automatic updates are easily disabled. 'Pop-ups' stopping you from using the computer and claiming to be from MS are not (commonly a sign of a TDSS/Alureon infection).

Norton - well that is like getting a new car and ripping out the factory wiring in lieu of some jury rigged lamp wire, gleefully installed by a neighborhood con man. I reload machines infected with such, if feasible, or spend hours ripping it out.

 

[Gojifam58]

Be thankful then - Win -7 has me seriously considering saving up for a Mac. ...and the program that hijacked my PC came off of the MS site.

I can only go with what I have experienced myself, not being a computer genious, and all I can say is that while I loved Win-98 and even XT, I have little good to say about lose-7, casual users I've spoken to have little to say as well.

...as for ignoring the "security" programs from MS, there's good reason to - they don't do the job well and cost too much. MS thinks of themselves as a Cadillac company but they provide a product that has more in common with a Jugo. No wonder they are attacked so often.

 

[BlackBat242]

Glass ones... that open by sliding sideways.

 

[Icosahedron]

Ok, it's now three years later and MS shoved Win-7 at us. Would gladly have an updated Win-98 over this piece of trash.

I agree. I've poked about with Win-7 on somebody else's machine, and it looks like yet another bloated monstrosity from Gatesville, once again incorporating all the worst parts from the previous versions, with, as you say, the stuff you need hidden behind all the pathetically useless bells and whistles (if they've left the useful stuff in at all).

I agree, gimme Win-98 any day. If it could handle USB properly, I'd still be using it now.

If I could find a Linux UI I could understand, I'd be out of Windows faster than a cat burglar with a rottweiler on his tail.

Yes, it's three years on, and I've now found a Linux UI I can understand.
Alas, there is some software I use that won't run on it, so I still have to revert to Windows 2k sometimes (I won't touch anything newer), but for the most part I'm on Linux now. Still don't understand the command prompt stuff, but this baby works without it.

I have a 'live RAM' version on CD, so when I switch off, any adware, spyware, malware, forced updates and general internet crap that isn't blocked all evaporates into the aether, and I don't have Mr Gates snooping around and telling me what he thinks I should be doing all the time.

Heaven.

And it loads faster from the CD than my mate's Win-7 does from his HDD.

 

[aramis]

Icosahedron: WINE runs a lot of Win-ME and WinXP stuff.

I run MacOS X 10.6, with WINE, and lots of stuf runs fine. For the stuff that runs in dos mode only, I run DosBox.

And for QBasic programs, I recompile for mac using QB64. There are Windows and Linux versions, too. Gives you a way to run all those old BASIC programs you have lying about.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

W7 is an improvement on Vista, and they're both fine once you disable UAC's nagging.

W8, OTOH, looks like it'll be unusable on a desktop machine

 

[BlackBat242]

W7 is an improvement on Vista, and they're both fine once you disable UAC's nagging.

That's "damning with faint praise"!

W8, OTOH, looks like it'll be unusable on a desktop machine

 

[Icosahedron]

Icosahedron: WINE runs a lot of Win-ME and WinXP stuff.

Thanks Aramis. I knew that Windows emulators exist, but I haven't got around to experimenting yet.

Plenty of time. I'm just enjoying the sudden drop in stress factor for now.

Somehow, adding WINE to Linux feels like putting jacked suspension on a Ferrari...

 

[PFVA63]

Hi

I think I use Vista on both my home computers, XP-Tablet Edition on my Tablet, and Win 7 on my notebook and I haven't had any problems with any of them.

Pat

 

[aramis]

Thanks Aramis. I knew that Windows emulators exist, but I haven't got around to experimenting yet.

Plenty of time. I'm just enjoying the sudden drop in stress factor for now.

Somehow, adding WINE to Linux feels like putting jacked suspension on a Ferrari...

WINE isn't exactly emulation. It's compatibility libraries that allow running windows programs in Unix or Linux.

 

[shadowcat20]

Out of the 4 functional machines in our house we have 3 systems

ME for my old game/business comp (Off Line)
Vista for my wireless Gateway hub comp (online)
XP for my Ladies notebook (Online)
XP for my ladies money/household comp (Off Line)

The important stuff is on offline comps for security reasons with all transfers of info by thumbdrives.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

Out of the 4 functional machines in our house we have 3 systems

ME for my old game/business comp (Off Line)

Yikes...even MS think that version sucked...

 

[BytePro]

ME was simply 98SE rebranded for Y2K with a few media apps bundled. There never was a separate development fork for ME.

The common misconception was that MS dropped support for it as patches and updates often left it off the listings. MS Devs simply referred to it as 98.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

ME certainly had a reputation for being far less reliable than 98 or 2k.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/125772-2/the_25_worst_tech_products_of_all_time.html

 

[shadowcat20]

It is the only system some of my older games will run on....

 

[Omnivore]

I run Windows 7 on my desktop with various breeds of Linux running in a VM as needed. I still have XP on my old laptop though. Haven't had any problems.

 

[Hemdian]

ME was simply 98SE rebranded for Y2K with a few media apps bundled. There never was a separate development fork for ME.

The common misconception was that MS dropped support for it as patches and updates often left it off the listings. MS Devs simply referred to it as 98.

There were some differences in the install process too. Back then, when doing an install, I liked to format the C drive, install DOS, then copy the Windows CD to the hard drive and install Windows from there. That way, when installing other programs or changing features, it didn't ask you to re-insert the Windows disk. Couldn't do that with ME ... DOS wasn't seperate anymore (or that's how it apeeared in the short time I played with it).

 

[Hemdian]

I run Windows 7 on my desktop with various breeds of Linux running in a VM as needed. I still have XP on my old laptop though. Haven't had any problems.

I wonder how much YMMV across differed editions. For Vista and 7 I went with the Ultimate edition and liked both. (There were some initial driver issues with Vista but that wasn't the O/S fault, that was the hardware makers not getting their finger out.) Maybe it's the Home Premium editions that suck?

Anyone know how to run a winform .NET application on an iPad2?