Bill Gates -- Well, for what it's worth...

[ArBiTaL 24]

EDIT: Sweet Jesus, 11-02? I felt like i've posted in this thread before. Who can we blame for digging this one up?

Ah, that'll be me :S

I saw it and felt i had to post, i haven't posted in a windows/linux discussion for a while, and wanted to air my views
i think i just found it doing some search for something :S

But, whilst not liking linux (i personally don't get on with it) don't you, even SLIGHTLY, dislike windows?

1. It's has bugs. I believe windows98 had something like 48 million of them?

2. It crashed *far* too frequently. Like, a restart a day at the most

3. Windows (especially XP) is very bloated and slow, i run XP on a 550 and it's slow as hell. This is probably due to the backwards compatability that allows XP to run 16 bit win95 and dos programs

4. about 99% of viruses ONLY run on various versions of windows. Ever seen that with linux? macOS?

5. Lots of spyware. I don't know about this for sure (a friend told me) but i hear that by using things like the error reporting and such, microsoft has their own forms of "spyware" that they use to build profiles about users and (maybe) sell it on to other companies. In other words, spyware.

6. Although not illegal, microsoft includes things like IE with windows, and make office which is the most popular home/office productivity suite. This deprives other companies of making thier own similar products successful. Did you see the statistic the other day? something like 95% of users still use IE. This isn't because it's any better, it's because they (most normal average joes) don't know any differant. Why can't microsoft strike a deal with another company, and maybe distribute mozilla or opera or something with windows instead? why not just not include anything? i'm surprised antitrust laws haven't stepped it and MADE the split it up. Which brings me to...

7. Microsoft have had so many antitrust and anti-competative laws brought against them i can't count. They were going to be split up at one point, but microsoft's nifty lawyers managed to bat it all off. The only reason no-one's going against them now is because they know that microsoft will just bat off all the claims. Try and tell me with a straight face that microsoft ISN'T breaking anti-competative laws!
If AMD were to go under tomorrow, intel would most likely be forces to scale down production or split up, or something similar, so doesn't that logic apply to MS?

Sorry to drone on and one, i just feel i didn't explain my MS gripes properly in my first post

I'm not saying linux is perfect. I could write another list (maybe twice as long) with gripes about linux. But i don't even LIKE linux that much, it's just an occasional experimental thing for me, which is why doing that would be a lost cause. As i don't care for macs, that just leaves Windows basically, which i don't like.
I use windows, i have no choice in the real world, doesn't mean i like it.
The truth of the matter is, i don't like ANY of them at the moment. I'm waiting for either microsoft to make a nice, clean, unbloated OS free from spyware, bugs, and virus proof. Also NO DRM or anything similar, with higher security and stability.

OR i'm looking for someone to make a user-friendly, easy to use, fully compatible (with windows programs) version of linux that maintains it's current properties of being very secure and stable. Maybe this new distribution could install drivers and stuff all automatically, like XP, but allow more veteran users to delve under the bonnet if they so wish?

Maybe more companies would start making 2 versions, a windows one and "newlinux" one? maybe this new distribution could become a serious competitor to windows?
I dunno, just throwing ideas around

 

[nil_esh]

"I am absolutely convinced that no wealth in the world can help humanity forward, even in the hands of the most devoted worker in this cause. The example of great and pure personages is the only thing that can lead us to find ideas and noble deeds. Money only appeals to selfishness and always irresistibly tempts its owner to abuse it. Can anyone imagine Moses, Jesus or Gandhi with the moneybags of Carnegie?" -Albert Einstein

 

[XWRed1]

I'm waiting for either microsoft to make a nice, clean, unbloated OS free from spyware, bugs, and virus proof. Also NO DRM or anything similar, with higher security and stability.

Not going to happen. Specifically, bloat and drm are the future of the Windows way.

I'm waiting for either microsoft to make a nice, clean, unbloated OS free from spyware, bugs, and virus proof. Also NO DRM or anything similar, with higher security and stability.

If you have such a burning need to run Windows programs and have something just like Windows, then just run Windows.

 

[ArBiTaL 24]

Not going to happen. Specifically, bloat and drm are the future of the Windows way.

...Which is why i don't like windows...

If you have such a burning need to run Windows programs and have something just like Windows, then just run Windows.

I have neither a wish for something just like windows nor run windows programs. I'd like programs, equivelent to the windows programs, but a second set designed for the "new" linux i discuss. I am prepared to learn a new interface but it had to be as easy as windows to learn. Linux is just a pain, both the GUI and command prompt.

 

[fiji]

That's funny.....shame there's no piccie

Don't knock Bill Gates. I know everyones least loved company is Microsoft, but think carefully about what Bill and Microsoft have done for the computing industry.

If you're old enough, think back to the days when it was large mainframe systems and terminals......

If you had an IBM system, You had to buy IBM peripherals, IBM software, IBM support etc etc... Same went for the other computer manufacturers (Data General being the foremost in my mind)

Heaven forbid if you wanted one make to talk to the other! Then it was all sorts of programming shenanigans to transfer data.

What Bill and Microsoft should be thanked for is standardising the computer industry, making it more accesible and user friendly, and more importantly, compatible with each other.......

and then he wanted to monopolize the computer industry

 

[mrgreenjeans]

Funny this came up.

I was thinking about this topic earlier today for some insane reason. I set up my previous computer running Linux "to buck the status quo", downloaded the OS and necessary files to get her up and running, which I did, right into a brick wall! I couldn't get nowhere near the utilities or programs necessary to make it a productive machine without spending a ton of time I didn't have. The learning curve was daunting and discouraging. Three nights later I reformatted and installed XP Pro.
I was thinking earlier about MS as a business and a product. When considering the complexity of the product and the variations on the applications, the concept is overwhelming. I couldn't think of a comparable business model employed at any time in the history of the world! Henry Ford built autos, but it was 10,000 of the exact same model with the exact hardware under the hood, add some leather, power windows, etc. Now consider how many users there are to this forum and that I've yet to see a computer configured exactly as mine, yet they all function, and on a high percentage, function well, running the same base product as supplied by the 'manufacturer', When I expand that to world wide usage, the variations of each application, and the percentage of the them that perform the tasks for which they are designed, for me, puts the whole argument in a different light.
Sure it's not perfect, but quite an accomplishment in anyone's book. Hell, he's not perfect, and neither is his company or software, but many technological inroads available to us today are a result of his efforts and foresight. Kudos to Mr. Gates, imperfections and all!

 

[JigPu]

While Windows may not be the perfect OS we all want it to be, Linux isn't exactly peaches and cream either.

I recently (~3 months ago) downloaded Mandrake 9 to see what it was like. I had the partition waiting on my hard drive since I built the computer a year ago. I finally got the CDs, and began the install. To my supprise, it was VERY user friendly, and I was able to go through the install trusting it to make the right choices for me.

X and KDE loaded up (right now I'm a gnome man myself) and I was in buisness. Everything worked right off the bat like a windows installation, right down to my internet connection (which was being run though another computer via XP's ICS). Even cooler was when I was showing it off to my mom, and (HORRORS!) it froze! I had read somewhere about CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE to restart X since it was unlikely linux was frozen. I hit the keys, and to my supprise, X shut down and I still had a functioning computer. I was begining to become a Linux beliver and was hoping to not go back to windows for about a month. It was just too cool!

Well.... That didn't exactly happen... After 5 days or so, I began to get bored with Linux. I couldn't load up any of my favorite programs (since they wern't for Linux), and I just couldn't get WINE to work. Playing TuxRacer (while challenging ) was getting a little old. I rebooted and went back into XP. Aaaahhhh.. Back to normal.

Right now, linux is user friendly enough to be used (need a few more drivers though... my optical mouse dosen't work, and I can't get X to like my 9500), though there is a SEVERE lack of off the shelf software. I realize that for most normal things, you can download an equivlant, but in my world of 56K, you don't want to download anymore than you have to

It would probably help if I really knew BASH along with what and where everything is. I don't feel comfortable using a GUI OS unless I can work 'under the hood' when the need arrises (or I get bored ). I know DOS like the back of my hand, and I'm sure I would like Linux much better if I got to know BASH and learned the basics of compilation and such.

JigPu