Open Forums are where authors and commenters can talk about anything. Nothing is off-topic, but standard rules of civility and decorum still apply.
Twice every day, my Windows Vista for Business computer suffers a Blue Screen of Death. It’s a pretty blue, full of bits of fascinating knowledge about my PC that I never knew existed. But the B.S.O.D. wipes out whatever I had been working on. And now I have discovered the problem.
It happens because I shout profanities such as #!@$*{@! at my computer. The computer senses my sin and executes immediate punishment. I kinda like that. My computer has acted as a morality check for me.
No. Wait.
I shout #!@$*{@! AFTER the Blue Screen of Death.
Oh that frakking #!@$*{@!
You said “frak.”
…..I love you. BSG fans unite.
I’ve heard that Vista is just…not a happy operating system in general. Considering that XP is such a good OS (as far as Microsoft OS’s go) my plan is to wait until the first service pack is released to address all of the bugs.
So say we all!
Might I suggest the rather obvious solution? Get a Mac *big grin*
Because I am fairly sure Macs are liberal, not to mention I suspect they are at least a little bit gay … so I tend to think they will start swearing at the neo-con bull out there even before you do, and so agree with you when you do too 😉
That, and they just frakking rock!! (BSG yay!!) lol
Oh, and btw, I’m a nerd and know a LOT of comp engineers … they are all saying things about Vista like a) needs at least 4 Gig of RAM (not just 2 like MS suggests), and b) will probably be an okay operating system around Service Pack 1 or 2.
Right now they are all saying it feels like a beta release … so at least you know you’re not alone …
Course, I will just sit here and revel in my Mac-ness 😉
Mac’s freeze, they just don’t bother to tell you why! As for Mike, I have no sympathy in this area. He loaded a beta copy of Vista late last year. It was so impossible to use, that he went out and bought a $300 copy once it went on sale – sadomasochistic if you ask me.
I have been a MS enthusiast since the early 90’s and Windows 3.1 (and DOS before), but after seeing what was to come with Vista, I switched cold turkey to Linux and never looked back. I thought about getting a Mac, but the hardware and software are way too expensive, repair is problematic (closest place for repair to me is 45 miles away) and in the end, it’s just Apple’s own flavor of Linux. Why not get that and free software as well?
If we are declaring which OS is more liberal, then Linux has Mac beat hands down; it shares the wealth equally and is free to all 🙂
But whatever you do, don’t shed a tear for Mike over Vista – he asked for it!
Mac’s freeze, they just don’t bother to tell you why!
Eh, like you can make heads-or-tails of what the billion-odd windows freeze messages tell you? 🙂
And they may freeze occasionally (very very rarely), but it’s the program freezing, not the operating system, and it’s ridiculously easy to unfreeze it, not to mention everything restores like a cinch, and just one program dying doesn’t take the whole operating system down with it.
*Cue NY accent for PC* “I’m taking you with me, bub!!”
I’ve used PCs for a long long time, from back when I just ran DOS prior to the release of Windows, and once I switched to Macs, I never looked back, even after playing with Linux.
They really aren’t that much more expensive, for their quality … and I’d rather pay a little extra for something that is going to last, and I say that as a broke-arse grad-student … plus, OSX and the hardware design are just so damn pretty! 🙂
That said, on the off chance they drag me screaming from my ibook and imac, I’d go Linux a million years before I went back to Windows, let along Vista …
In 1986, I bought my first PC. Those were the days before the internet, and I had illusions of doing great programming deeds with it. It ended up being a $1600 check book register. XT Turbo — remember those? I splurged and got a 20MB hard drive and brand-spakin’ new EGA graphics. I was hot $#!t. I’ve been MS/Intel/AMD ever since. (Including the dreaded Windows ME)
So year, I was very deep into the whole Microsoft identity. But that all changed last September. That’s when my laptop died and I replaced it with a Mac. I couldn’t be happier.
And the great thing is, is that after all these years, change is possible. I know. And I didn’t leave Microsoft because Microsoft was so terrible. I left Microsoft because I found something better.
heh…
Well to be perfectly honest, I so rarely had any problems in XP that I was willing to hang around to find out what the next incarnation would look like. But Vista is just such an incredible let down, esp after all those years. I still take care of plenty of XP based client machines, and it’s really a breeze, but for my own use I have to have some confidence in the future of what I’m running. I am enjoying Linux.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that reason for using a Mac – “it’s just so pretty!” But there is no way around the fact that I can replace anything in a PC for a few bucks, and when I want the latest speed I can build a new one for less than a Mac mini, even less if I use some existing parts. Equivalent power and features on a Mac would cost $1-2K.
But for some people (like Mike) I would recommend a Mac – he needs as few problems as possible and a zero learning curve – not because he isn’t smart but because he has no patience.
BTW, if you still use any XP machines, there is an option you can check to keep one program from dumping the entire session. It’s rarely the OS but by default a program can bring it all down with certain errors.
Yes Jim, but be honest, you still have needs that can only be satisfied by Windows, right?
After the debacle that was Windows 98, I fled the PC for good, and have never been happier. And I was someone who could build Windows networks from scratch, including installing the cards, running the cable and crimping the ends(!), so I wasn’t some computer ignoramus.
I just realized my time was valuable, and I’d rather spend it doing real work than fighting the latest malware or searching for a printer driver. And Mac applications are so much more intuitive, so I get my work done even faster.
Besides, with Boot Camp, you can run Windows on your Mac now, so if there’s some Windows program you absolutely cannot live without, you don’t have to abandon it.
The fact that the Mac and its OS looks pretty is just a bonus. 🙂
The real question is…..is there hope for Mac users? Is change possible??
😉
But there is no way around the fact that I can replace anything in a PC for a few bucks, and when I want the latest speed I can build a new one for less than a Mac mini, even less if I use some existing parts. Equivalent power and features on a Mac would cost $1-2K.
I might agree to a certain extent when you are talking about a desktop (though thanks to the user experience, I’m still planning on sticking with a Mac in regards to that route when I finish the Phd), but not when it comes to laptops.
Equivalent quality and performance laptops tend to be, in my experience at least, MORE expensive for PC models than what you can get off the shelf with Apple.
Not to mention, of course, as you say, they simply work right out of the box, so to speak. After I got used to the differences between OSX and Windows, I simply found OSX so much more intuitive, which surprised me, as I used to think it wasn’t.
And honestly, while I consider XP to be the best Windows version, in hindsight I am really not that impressed with it. The level of the tying of programs to the OS meant there is intrinsically an instability that OSX gets around by distancing the two. Not to mention of course the simple HUGE amount of maintenance and protection I had to do on my PC that I hardly ever have to do with my Macs.
I agree, it does sound like Macs are the way to go for Mike 🙂
The real question is…..is there hope for Mac users? Is change possible??
I’m sorry Pam, but once we go Mac, we never go back 😉
We become our true selves, and revel in the freedom and love of not having to pretend we are something we are not … we just know when we see another mac-user across the room at our local starbucks (it’s mac-dar, don’t you know) …
Release your inner true self, Pam, and throw off the cultural mac-phobia our culture as drummed into you. The hate on macs that people express is just evidence of what they truly want 😉
You need a Mac. Macs at worst have an application hang. That’s typically because the app was written wrong or it’s finishing something and is taking too long cause it got stuck in a loop. You can just right click in the dock and tell it to force quit and you’re good to go. And my Mac hasn’t had anything equivalent to the BSOD in over a year. Actually this one never has. My last powerbook did after 3 years and counltess falls, have the logic board start to go… but I got my new MacBook and I’m good to go.
Actually, it’s the little glowing Apple logo on the back of the laptop that gives it away. 🙂
But seriously, David Malcolm is right. Ever since I upgraded to Mac OSX Panther, and now Tiger, my Mac has never crashed. Ever. Ever ever. On the rare occasion, some individual apps have crapped out on me–like Yahoo Messenger (which is probably poorly coded) and Safari (which still has some bugs)–but I Force Quit and relaunch those apps. No biggie. Everything else hums alonge.
What is also nice about the Mac is that you never need to shut it down, just put it to sleep. As you are well aware, for a Windows machine, rebooting is common for a variety of reasons. Up until recently, when I had to install new software updates, I didn’t reboot my iMac for three months straight (nor did I need to). I just put it to sleep, and then it would snap to attention when it came out of sleep and I would go to work. It never once crashed during that time. Ever.
I think I will hug my iMac now.
I used a Mac Quadra from 1992 to 1995, and an iMac G4 (Luxor lamp variety) from about 2002 to 2005.
The Mac interface was very pretty, but less pretty than Windows Vista. More importantly, the Mac’s e-mail clients (including Entourage) were somewhat inferior to Microsoft Outlook; the few available games were released for the Mac 18 months after their PC versions; and few Mac applications supported extensive right-clicking — I’m a right-click fanatic. Plus, the G4’s CD/DVD drive door never worked quite right, and with time the machine took longer and longer to boot. The machine periodically locked up when I had numerous applications open, forcing me to forcibly quit all programs and reboot, or sometimes force a shutdown. During the three years, I graduated from OS X 10.1 to 10.2 and finally 10.3 — maybe I was demanding too much from the G4, not providing enough memory, etc.
Anyhow, I switched back to Windows.
That being said, I’m very impressed by the Intel Macs, and my next computer will be one of those.
Open forums are where folks get to talk about things that don’t normally get talked about at XGW. Isn’t anyone going to talk about VT, abortion, Iraq, or how good/bad XGW is? 🙂
Enh. I’ve been using XP for years and haven’t had a problem with it.
Sure. Vermont is a scrappy little state, but at least they’re about to pass a civil unions bill… but why doesn’t anyone also talk about Oregon, too? Where’s the love for the Big O?
Abortion should be legal, and from what I’ve read so far, Kennedy’s decision makes no sense.
Iraq is a disaster.
And I’ve always found XGW’s insistence that people never deviate from the imposed topic on a certain thread to be stifling and contrary to the ideals of free speech.
Uh, strike abortion and the war from that list – Mike was having a minor stroke. That ain’t happening.
It’s a big blogosphere out there, ranging from oppression to anarchism. We try to remain somewhere in the middle so that discussions can be most productive. Considering the topics, that’s not always an easy job but I find the result quite amazing actually.
Okay. Let’s discuss cannibalism, then. Specifically, should it be grounds for leniency in murders because it’s less wasteful?
Haha!! Mike, sweetie, you are way too cute! 😀 This post made my day!
Chauder
I only have rare problems with my WinXP system, ususally its MS-IE giving me problems because I tend to open so many windows whilst surfing. Though the other day I perfomed a magical shut-down when I guess I accidentlly hit the Windows key (damn thing I never use it) and some other magical key-strokes; and then Windows bitched at me for not closing my MS Office apps.
But after reading this, I am getting this feeling of being inadequately queer. Like maybe I should get a Mac!
And to top it off now all the “frelling” I do is “frakking” behind the times.
I guess I gotta update my sci-fi linguistics wetware.
;~)
And I’ve always found XGW’s insistence that people never deviate from the imposed topic on a certain thread to be stifling and contrary to the ideals of free speech.
It’s just a way to avoid the really important questions:
Is Starbuck a messiah? A cylon? A cylon messiah? A cylon messiah with bees in her mouth, and when she barks she shoots bees at you?!!!
micro$oft needs to stop focusing on “flash” and recenter their goals to something seemingly unobtainable for them: substance.
i certainly find it odd that thousands of unpaid developers, over a decade, from all corners of the world, have delivered Linux – a system which does not have such flaws like windoze; but thousands of highly paid developers, over 20 years, from one or two offices, have yet to accomplish something which works properly.
although i am a windows user myself (and i have tried to move to Linux with limited success because of all the stuff i have attached to my computer), i can’t see myself ever moving past XP because i just don’t trust microsucks to deliver.
if i had paid the several hundred dollars’ extortion for vista, and had bsod issues, i know i would certainly be pissed beyond measure. my time is important. i’m not gonna be microsoft’s software guinea pig AND have to pay for it, too.
I’m disappointed that the BSOD has been resurrected in Vista – XP was fairly solid.
That said, my personal systems are a mix of Mac and Linux at home, and both have served me quite well, without any of the odious bits that have been imposed in Vista.
The BSOD merely means (to me) that I’m going to sit back and wait for SP1 or later before I even consider purchasing Vista. Given the licensing games M$ is playing, I may well drop the platform entirely.
As soon as I started reading about Vista, I bought an XP laptop to make sure I wouldn’t have to deal with this new boondoggle for several years. I read all about it and didn’t like anything I read.
what about britney??? doesn’t anyone want to talk about britney???
😉
Bah, Britney doesn’t know how to use a computer. 😉
A lof of the reasons I was looking forward to Vista anded up beign features that they dropped entirely! Remember WinFS? The revolutionary new file system that was going to replace NTFS? Well first it was put on hold and made to be a later update after the product was released, and then it was outright canceled 🙁
Is Starbuck a messiah? A cylon? A cylon messiah? A cylon messiah with bees in her mouth, and when she barks she shoots bees at you?!!!
In space, nobody can hear you buzz…
Are you running Cox security suite? Uninstall your security suite and install a different security software and you’ll be good. 🙂
For Pam Gottaloveher Ferguson to say:
I had to respond.
I know there are people who think you can change OS. The issue is a little easier now that both Macs and PCs can utilize the same central processing unit. Some users are adept at using their disk utilities to partition the hard disk to use either OS at their whim. Though, I have never seen a purely 50-50 percent partitioning…most lean towards using one OS most of the time and they only jump over to frolic for a short time in the other OS. If they are smart and safe about it, this can work well for some people.
There are some who love the OS they got from the start but know deep inside they always had a yearning for the OS that maybe suited their artistic side. Such radical change is not impossible. Some go through the expense of buying another hard drive and load the other OS onto it and deftly swap the disk drives when nobody from the LAN Admin-group notices or they do it in the privacy of their home. There is a downside: The expense of duplicating the accessories and the supporting software is quite daunting. In this case, the yearning can be so strong you opt for a whole new chassis, board and joystick interface.
And if you are so inclined there are even those rebellious unique Unix users who delight in living a somewhat productive life but tend to play by themselves. They can spend hours alone delving into drivers and various flavors of Unix to keep them satiated.
Where do you fit on the scale? Maybe you can find happiness with what you have. That might take some careful introspection and counsel from others who have paved the way for you. Heed their advice and not those who market the OS. Both camps are likely to be biased (of course) and even some support groups are using the media to obfuscate the user.
Cowboy:
I gotta love that response! 😉
I choose to be loving and tolerant toward all OS and their users, recognizing that my OS dilemmas, while mostly hidden, have caused many troubles for my central processor. Particularly when I’ve not been cautious about what sorts of software I load, allow my anti-virus program to expire, or am otherwise clumsy in the way that I take care of my system.