[rescue] NeWS

[Phil Stracchino]

Steve Sandau wrote:
> My first example would be Windows networking. Windows is *so* terrible 
> at networking that I don't think that Windows should be allowed on any 
> network. Starting with Windows 3.11's stupid error messages like "The 
> network is busy" and "No network provider accepted the given path" 
> through the awful organization of DNS components in Windows 2000 and XP, 
> Windows networking has always been a disaster.
> 
> For hundreds of dollars, I expect better. Solaris does better, and free 
> software does better.
> 
> And, I haven't even touched security, the lag time in accepting new 
> concepts (like the Internet, ssh), DRM, recycling old code in new 
> products (and denying it, like "no DOS in Windows 95), finding new 
> hardware on the 200th reboot, refusing to produce standards-based 
> programs, and so on.

One word:  Stability.

Hell, on all of the consumer versions of Windows, Microsoft DIDN'T CARE
about kernel memory leaks, because the developers figured the chances of
a Windows machine staying up long enough for it to matter were so slim
they weren't worth fixing.

> Yes, each Windows version (with the possible exception of PlaySkool 
> Windows, i.e. Windows XP) has been an improvement over previous 
> versions. So?

Windows ME.

Worst.  Windows.  EVAR.

> There are many, many reasons to complain about Windows. Don't get us all 
> started here. Most rescues are not to run Windows.

I run Windows 2000 Pro on one of my boxen, my wife runs it on one of
hers, and my eldest daughter runs it on hers.  Basically for one simple
reason:  Because those boxes are gameboxen, and the games (with few
exceptions) run only on Windows.  The one exception in my case (i.e. the
one non-game reason for Windows) is Quicken.  Once I finally finish
getting this machine reinstalled with Gentoo instead of Slackware, I
hope to be able to ditch Quicken for Gnucash.


One of the best reasons of all for not running Windows, though, is the
attitude illustrated by a conversation a friend of mine had one day
while working at Microsoft.  The product manager for XP Home basically
forced his company on her at lunch one day, and couldn't stop bragging
how proud he was that Microsoft had adopted his product strategy for XP
Home.

His strategy, as he described it, could be summed up as "Make XP Home
suck so badly that people who want to do anything serious with it will
be FORCED to upgrade to Pro."  And he put it in pretty much those terms,
and made it sound like an accomplishment.


-- 
 Phil Stracchino       phil.stracchino at speakeasy.net
    Renaissance Man, Unix generalist, Perl hacker
 Mobile: 603-216-7037         Landline: 603-886-3518