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What Kind of Sense Does Phone-Only XP Activation Make? | 49 comments (49 topical) | Post A Comment
XP activation woes[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#3)
by Anonymous User on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 02:54:25 AM PDT

What I do not understand is why cry babies like the author CONTINUES TO USE WINDOWS? Why don't people who are feed up with the outrageous greed and dangerous products produced of and by Microsoft learn to use a different operating system? Are they lazy or JUST PLAIN STUPID? I have not used any Microsoft product in my personally owned business for over three years now. We use Linux and Apple products and get along just fine without any Microsoft product at all. And we don't have to worry about constant security patches, viruses, spyware, computer freeze ups, product over pricing, dealing with ridiculous licensing procedures, or software activation. None of these problems exist outside of the "Microsoft World". I say to all you cry babies out there feed up with Microsoft - pull your head out of your behinds and move to another operating system. And to the smart-ass that will surely reply to this saying that the problems that I named above do exist with non-microsoft products - I say: No, they do not, you are so wrong! If any of the above problems do occur using Linux or Apple products it is on an insignificant scale. And not because these products are used by less people, but because these products are designed for REAL PRODUCTIVITY and not as advertising platforms, toys, and monopoly enablers.

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Employers[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#4)
by Anonymous User on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 06:48:20 AM PDT

If you don't own the company, you don't get to choose the OS. Especially with some specialty software that only runs under Windows. Grow up, the author isn't stupid, he just doesn't get a choice. Why throw out all his software to replace it with Linux/Unix and then HOPE there are drivers for his equipment?

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just moved to unix[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#45)
by Anonymous User on Thu Jun 22, 2006 at 01:21:37 PM PDT

I dissagree, one always has a choice, ALWAYS. I just recently realised that I was being a lazy cry baby, so I am going duel boot ( win. 2000 and Debian ) and will begin sorting out what I want to move from win. to Debian. Once that is sorted out I`ll deleat win. forever. So it takes more work, so I actually have to do something. Guess what, now I dont have a "microsoft computer" I have a computer. What I mean by that is exactly what the original thread said. Now I dont have a toy, I have a real computer, now I am not supporting a company that puts out junk and seeks only to make money with no care for customer satisfaction. TO THE ORIGINAL THREAD: harshly put but I believe you are correct overall, thanks. side note: I no longer have an x-box, and never will again... guess who makes it. I feel that supporting a company ( or anything for that matter) that isn`t interested in your happyness is stupid and wrong... more importently, I dont have to deal with microsoft lameness ever again unless I CHOOSE to, and I wont.

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In the real world ...[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#5)
by ChuckGabriel on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 08:35:30 AM PDT

... there are software packages (like AutoCAD and Microstation) that do not have OsX or Linux (or Unix) counterparts. Until someone develops alternatives to these products that can maintain the usefulness of all the legacy data and truly offer at least the same level of functionality, there will be people that don't really have much choice in terms of operating systems.

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just moved to unix[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#46)
by Anonymous User on Thu Jun 22, 2006 at 01:24:42 PM PDT

you always have a choice, get a new job, or learn to make the programs that you need for a os that isn`t microsoft. you see how you have a choice and not choosing is being lazy.. harsh but IT IS A FACT. qed

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Non OSS Games in OSS platforms[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#7)
by Anonymous User on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 04:05:47 PM PDT

Try gaming in *nix, BSD, etc. Yes it can be done, but most game co's write for Windows.

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I get tired of seeing statement like this.[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#11)
by Anonymous User on Sun Feb 27, 2005 at 07:29:06 PM PDT

Really, some times you have to use Microsoft because what you want to do runs only on their products.

Next is your simple minded statement about security. Please realize, that if 90 plus percent of the computers in the world used Linux/Unix and were Apple, you would be complaining about those instead.

By the way, don't feel to smug and secure. I'm already seeing security vulnerabilities taken advantage of in Firefox. Guess critical mass for bad old, bug ridden, security holed software is about 10 percent.

I'm old enough to remember the days of the real monopolies with computer companies such as Apple and IBM. When you had to buy everything from them, OS, software and hardware. Computers that cost thousands when that was money!

IBM made a mistake not locking the PC up in patents and Microsoft MSDOS standardized a generic computer. IBM and Bill Gates changed the world forever. Give credit where it is due, you would not have any choice if that did not happen. At best you may have had pay Apple $5000 a piece for their latest Mac and $1000 for an Apple ink jet printer for it. To that end, I doubt you would have even had the internet to blast everyone outside your little world with anyway.



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Oh My![ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#16)
by Anonymous User on Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 09:56:19 AM PDT

The post you responded to was uncivil and uncalled for, but really ... Do you work for MS or something? Firefox may not be perfect but it is a lot better than IE which is simply a horrible product. Apache may not be perfect but it is many orders of magnitude better than IIS which is the most insecure product I have ever seen. IBM made no mistake by avoiding patents - the market would be much smaller and they wouldn't have all those consultants running around making them a fortune selling services. If Bill Gates became an investment banker instead of starting MS (and buying DOS - not writing it - so it would have existed either way), there would still be BSD, Linux, whatever Digital Research would have produced, and probably plenty of other alternatives. If he did start MS and didn't illegally use it's monopoly power to destroy competition (which the company has been convicted of on 2 continents), who knows what great software would exist today.

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Hacking Exposed (the books) page count[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#19)
by Reziac on Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 11:37:43 AM PDT

Hacking Exposed, 2nd edition:
Windows section (Win9*, NT*, and Win2K), about 150 pages.
Netware section (all versions through 5.x), about 65 pages.
UNIX section (meaning primarily linux), about 45 pages.

PLUS the entire second volume, Hacking Linux Exposed -- 560 pages.

http://www.hackingexposed.com, if you want to buy your own copies. Very informative books, should be studied by every sysadmin for any OS.
~REZ~
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because it's gripeline[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#17)
by Anonymous User on Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 11:08:17 AM PDT

if the author switched off microsoft he wouldn't have as much to write about. it's all about gripes and he needs his job.

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Midrange ERP[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#20)
by Anonymous User on Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 11:48:07 AM PDT

90% of the midrange ERP packages on the market were developed in the late 80s/early 90s under the MS Windows client/server environment.  Once you have committed your medium-sized business to one of these products you are stuck:  you can't just swap it out.

sPh

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Your ignorance certainly shows.[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#22)
by Anonymous User on Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 12:04:31 PM PDT

Hmmm virus and hacking doesn't occur on non-windows platforms? Or the ones that do are irrelavant? What fantasy world are you living in? You are just totally out of the loop, over zealous and a bigot.

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No viruses on Apple/Mac networks? Hah![ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#31)
by Anonymous User on Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 07:57:49 PM PDT

Yeah, right. I was recently an IT manager stuck managing tech support staff on a network that was ALL Macs. We had viruses via e-mails, we had Macs freezing/hanging all the time, we had second rate software that was about two generations behind versions written for MS OS's, etc. etc. etc. I'm happy for you that you don't experience viruses and other nasties, but trust me, Macs are NOT the answer to everyone's problems. It was actually a relief to get back to Windows.

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Mac Memories.[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#37)
by foxyshadis1 on Wed Mar 02, 2005 at 08:17:10 PM PDT

Supporting System 9 was one of the worst experiences of my life; I only found out later that the constant crashes in everything were due to a statically compiled library bug that Apple never officially adknowledged. I guess someone came out with a way to fix it, but it was too late for me. OS X is also much better at networking and stability, except enough of our business software was system 8/9 that I never saw most of those benifits. And Mac is still a few generations behind MS in built-in management, though I like where it's headed.

I hope that someday I'll have the ability to use alternative platforms that are better than MS's in every respect, not just a few, but as a web programmer who's been burned by a need for compatibility with many browsers I wonder how many features and testing cycles will be eliminated from massively cross-platform software for cost and compatibility reasons.

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What Kind of Sense Does Phone-Only XP Activation Make? | 49 comments (49 topical) | Post A Comment
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