FT's attack on Windoze

Daniel James

In article news:<5lf9srF7trniU1@mid.individual.net>, Hugh Newbury
wrote:
> There's an unusually direct attack on Microsoft and its Windoze by
> John Gapper in an op-ed article in today's FT:
>
> http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/aa31eea2-6...0779fd2ac.html

Interesting ... and it's refreshing to see a member of the press
prepared to be overtly critical.

However, I got the feeling that the tone of the piece was motivated
more by the writer's own frustration at a single misbehaving Windows
laptop than by any real perception of the reliability (or otherwise) of
Windows. Whatever I might feel about Microsoft's business practices, or
the overall (un)usability of Windows, or the annoyance caused by
activation and registration, or the trend towards terminal
screen-bling, or DRM ... I can't actually say that I find Windows to be
unreliable.

Yes, Windows 2.x was interesting but essentially unusable. I know, I
tried to use it. Win3.0 was buggy and horrid, Win3.1 was lots better,
Win95/8 worked OK most of the time as long as you had plenty of RAM and
didn't run apps that leaked resources ... but NT has always been solid
and fairly reliable, and since Win2k has actually been pretty good.

The idea that the pile of festering bug-ridden under-specified
toenail-clippings called Windows Mobile is *more* reliable than Windows
XP is just so incredibly laughable as to discredit the whole piece.

It seems that the FT's John Gapper has a faulty laptop and a propensity
for ranting, that's all. Shame, really, as if he'd kept his hair on the
piece might really have been damning to Windows's street-cred.

Cheers,
Daniel.

Chris

Andy Burns wrote:
> On 21/09/2007 08:56, Chris wrote:
>
>> It's true that 3rd-party apps are responsible for some of MS's
>> headaches. Just like in Linux some proprietary apps/drivers like
>> realplayer and nVidia have made Linux less stable and/or secure.
>
> If a userspace app makes linux itself less stable/secure it's Linux's
> fault, if realplayer wants to crash itself, fine, let it, people can
> walk away from it.

You're right. I wasn't clear in my post. The recent vulnerabilities
found in proprietary linux apps didn't make Linux less secure, only the
user IIRC.

> If proprietary kernel device drivers make linux less stable/secure it's
> the user's fault for installing them, choose open source drivers over
> proprietary even if functionality is lower, or use hardware from a more
> open manufacturer

True, but when people want fancy 3D effects or the ability to play games
then there isn't much choice

Andy Burns

On 21/09/2007 10:11, Chris wrote:

> but when people want fancy 3D effects or the ability to play games
> then there isn't much choice

Fancy effects are a luxury, you shouldn't compromise just for that,
besides r300 and intel (maybe unichrome too for all I know) are already
good enough for wobbly windows, spinning desktops and google earth.

Games are a luxury too, but I accept that people may have bought
machines specifically or partly to run games, it'll be interesting to
see how quickly radeonHD gets to the point of being gamer-worthy.

Gary Beldon

On Thu, 20 Sep 2007 17:36:06 +0100, Maurice Batey wrote:

> Interesting! But I was surprised to see him claim that:
>
> "Microsoft has stuck to the principle of "backwards
> compatibility" - that all software written for earlier
> versions of Windows should be able to run on newer ones."
>
>I hadn't realised that...

Hmmm, it isn't strictly true.

Try to run a 16-bit app on 64-bit windows and you'll be told it isn't
compatible. 32-bit apps run on an emulation layer (WoW64).

They've only maintained backwards compatibility within a specific API,
so 32-bit apps written for win95 should run fine[1] on 32-bit Vista.
Given the options I think they've probably made the right choices, it's
just a shame they implemented it so badly.


[1] Yes, I know lots don't, but that's mostly (IIRC) because of
tightening up of security and changes to the driver model, not changes
to the API.

7

Hugh Newbury wrote:

> Hi:
>
> There's an unusually direct attack on Microsoft and its Windoze by John
> Gapper in an op-ed article in today's FT:
>
> http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/aa31eea2-6...0779fd2ac.html
>
> Enjoy!
>
> Hugh


I like the use of the word "frenemy". Using your friends
until your friend becomes too successfull at which point
they are your enemy and destroy them.
Seems to summarize all of Micoshaft Corporation's
activities in one word - not to mention other companies like Appil
corporation.