In article <e0dnt0$2ecg$1@digitaldaemon.com>, Aarti_pl says...
>
[...]
>
>Who can say that Windows is still User Friendly? :-P
>
>BR
>Marcin Kuszczak
>
>
It is User Friendly...
if the only thing you do is notepad.

Unix, is novice hostile... Windows, is expert hostile.

In article <e0e94k$41o$1@digitaldaemon.com>, Lars Ivar Igesund says...
>
>pragma wrote:
>> 
>> Also, linux is not without its warts too.  I'm having a hell of a time trying to get it to support Nforce3 from a floppy install - AFAIK, it can't be done w/o some serious hacking or using a CD instead.
>> 
>> - EricAnderton at yahoo
>
>That is more of a case of nVidia sending out cease and desist orders to those trying to create open drivers. Instead you have to use their binary blob that's usually less stable (and definately harder to debug for the communities.)

Ahh, hence why the "forcedeth" for Nforce3 (the netboot driver disk has it for Nforce2) seems strangely absent from things.  And I thought they simply turned their heads while it was being developed?

I tried mucking around with that download, but it looked like it wanted to build a new kernel, rather than just spit out a module to use.  I found that quite odd.

- EricAnderton at yahoo

In article <e0ea8l$5q8$1@digitaldaemon.com>, Sean Kelly says...
>
>Walter Bright wrote:
>> 1) Keep a crib sheet of all the settings, passwords, serial numbers, registration follderalls, etc.
>
>Definately.  I have an emergency sheet locked away with such information on it.

I've found that taping an envelope to the inside of your case (if you wind up in there as much as I do) is about as fail-safe as it gets for keeping this safe from any clutter or whatnot in your lab.

- EricAnderton at yahoo

Joel Lucsy wrote:
> Walter Bright wrote:
>> A few days ago, Outlook Express starting acting flaky - my account names were forcibly converted to 1, 2, 3, etc., and retyping in the correct ones refused to stick. Then, windows update started failing with useless messages consisting of 8 digit hex numbers.
> 
> Ever thought about running Thunderbird? I've been running it since it first came out and have never had corruption that wasn't my own fault.
> 

I also started using Mozilla Thunderbird recently, and it seems *very* convenient.
Furthermore, I configured it to look as OE (which I couldn't with other 4-5 newsreaders I tried last week) while it is much more useful and reliable (and it doesn't have unread-message-count bug which I was unable to defeat with OE several days ago).

So, consider using Mozilla Thunderbird as a better replacement for OE.
(I used OE (mail & newsgroups) for 3 years and not used it last 2 years because of switching to The Bat due to big security problems in OE)

In article <e0eant$65v$1@digitaldaemon.com>, Sean Kelly says...
>
>MS seems to be built on the idea of finding the most complex solution possible for simple problems.  Sometimes I think they do it so they can farm out contract work.

Its funny you mention that.  I was watching a program on the history of the space station this morning; it went through the Russian and American programs and compared them side-by-side over the decades.

To paraphrase: "The Russians tended to devise the simplest possible solution to a problem and then never change it except when needed.  In constrast, the Americans tended to create the most sophisticated solution possible so that in theory it could never break; they would revise and improve upon those solutions only after they were proven to work."

The similarities between this and the OS wars just floored me.  Your mention of contract work around Windows just takes the cake. :)

- EricAnderton at yahoo

James Dunne wrote:
> pragma wrote:
>> In article <e0e770$21p$1@digitaldaemon.com>, John C says...
>>
>> [snip]
>>
>> Also, linux is not without its warts too.  I'm having a hell of a time
>> trying to
>> get it to support Nforce3 from a floppy install - AFAIK, it can't be
>> done w/o
>> some serious hacking or using a CD instead.
>>
>> - EricAnderton at yahoo
> 
> I set up my dual-boot XP/Gentoo machine at home using VMWare since I have an nForce motherboard.  I can't really do a network install booted into Linux without drivers for the network card... so VMWare to the rescue.  I set it loose to use the physical hard drive so I can install Linux onto my HD and boot into it later, *after* I download the nVidia drivers for my system.
> 
> I decided to leave it installing in a VM because it takes a helluva long time to install Gentoo (compiling, compiling, compiling...).  I think I had it running for > 2.5 days before I had a minimally working system. Now I barely use it and just use XP as the regular OS.

So true.. except that it only takes ~8 hours to compile the base system on an Athlon XP. You can download all the necessary drivers to a FAT-partition before starting the installation. That way you can run things natively.

-- 
Jari-Matti

In article <e0dmeo$2cmk$1@digitaldaemon.com>, Walter Bright says...
>...
>
>Do you know it takes THREE HOURS to install Windows from scratch? Gads, you install XP from the CD which requires rebooting several times, then again from the XP SP2 update CD (rebooting n more times), then you log in to Windows update and update/reboot 4 or 5 more times. Why can't Windows Update download everything at once and reboot only once?
>
>...
>
>Most of the other apps aren't too bad, if you were smart enough to keep a crib sheet of all the serial numbers, registration numbers, and funky passwords. The whole job takes about 12 hours.
>
>...
>
Yep! It's like someone else pointed out in another message, these things will happen once in a while to everyone. And even moving to another non-Windows OS won't save anyone from having to rebuild their OS from time to time. And giving up computers all together isn't an option...so "no pain, no gain." Plus Windows XP is the best version of Windows that Microsoft has ever put out. Well I'm glad to hear you're back up and running. :)

David L.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
"Dare to reach for the Stars...Dare to Dream, Build, and Achieve!"
-------------------------------------------------------------------

MKoD: http://spottedtiger.tripod.com/D_Language/D_Main_XP.html

In article <e0ef6h$c29$1@digitaldaemon.com>, BCS says...
>
>In article <e0dnt0$2ecg$1@digitaldaemon.com>, Aarti_pl says...
>>
>[...]
>>
>>Who can say that Windows is still User Friendly? :-P
>>
>>BR
>>Marcin Kuszczak
>>
>>
>It is User Friendly...
>if the only thing you do is notepad.
>
>Unix, is novice hostile... Windows, is expert hostile.
>

Stick with your vi editor if you'll like, as Unix based OSs aren't for everyone. Also, I really don't agree with your "Windows, is expert hostile" comment, but to each his own.

David L.


-------------------------------------------------------------------
"Dare to reach for the Stars...Dare to Dream, Build, and Achieve!"
-------------------------------------------------------------------

MKoD: http://spottedtiger.tripod.com/D_Language/D_Main_XP.html

Juan Jose Comellas wrote:
> At some point in the past, the only way to be able to be certified
> "Windows-logo compatible" was if you used the registry to save your
> program's settings. I guess they wanted to make it really difficult to
> switch computers without reinstalling. The registry is probably the worst
> abomination to come from Redmond and it's the cause of most of the problems
> Windows has.

The registry problem also prevents me from upgrading to new versions of Windows. Microsoft complains that a lot of people refuse to upgrade Windows, but this is a big reason why. After all, if you've been running for years and you've lost your original install CDs or the registration code, you'll *lose* your apps when you upgrade.

David L. Davis wrote:
> Yep! It's like someone else pointed out in another message, these things will
> happen once in a while to everyone. And even moving to another non-Windows OS
> won't save anyone from having to rebuild their OS from time to time. And giving
> up computers all together isn't an option...so "no pain, no gain." Plus Windows
> XP is the best version of Windows that Microsoft has ever put out. Well I'm glad
> to hear you're back up and running. :)

Well I'm not saying that it won't happen, but so far it's saved me. I haven't had to (or wanted to) rebuild my Linux system yet, and saving all my files is cake.

I fix a whole bunch of Windows machines all the time because most people don't know how to keep it protected (when I ran it I didn't have as many problems). But with all the spyware/adware/virus/trojan/etc. most people are sitting ducks, whereas they have no problems with a Linux system in this area. Only things they have problems with are, "how do I open this file someone sent me?", which I get the same amount of questions with Windows. So while this may happen once in a while to everyone, I think it happens more often to most non-tech users (which is probably most users).

I echo the registry sentiment already mentioned, but I also think the whole integration of the web browser into the operating system, as well as the active x fiasco was a huge mistake. I have heard they are finally fixing this in IE 7... but I'm kinda stuck on Linux now.

Lucas