Because Shiny Things Are Fun - The New New Windows v Linux Thread

Originally Posted by Sumguy ...TW: LOVE your user name! (I wasn't in a creative mood when I made mine- and believe me, it has nothing to do with math- as I have my hands full just remembering that two plus two equals five!...

What can I say? I'm a Wallace and Gromit fan. And I was a maths (another spelling difference) teacher.

Originally Posted by Sumguy ...I'll bet those F-35 Turkeys might actually work if they had tubes in 'em!...

You've just created a milestone for me - now every single forum I visit has F-35 jokes.

Originally Posted by Sumguy ...Hey, they made the first computers with tubes.... (Well, maybe beads- depending on what one's idea of a computer is.... Abacus repairman: "Here's your problem; a red one is out. I think I might have one on the camel")

Originally Posted by Woolie Wool ... He also doesn't know what he's talking about in regards to Windows 95 and autoexec.bat because he's saying you don't have to do things I have personally had to do to make DOS games function under 9x.

Yeah, I remember good old autoexec.bat and config.sys You most certainly did have to use them for DOS programs, if you had hardware where Windows didn't support it. The only way around it was to use hardware supported by Windows, but depending on the situation, you may have had to still use them anyway. So you're right in saying that.

Doesn't even matter if "Windows supported" it in many cases, because at least many of the DOS games I played (e.g. Doom) couldn't use Windows drivers for sound cards, at least not for things like the OPL synth. I've never tried it with a non-PnP card (they might work because a DOS program can just bit-bang them without having to go through a PnP TSR) but PnP sound cards for DOS demand a DOS driver whether Windows 9x has a driver for it or not.

Ahhhh, Plug and Play during the late MS-DOS era. We called it "Plug and Pray" and sometimes wished for DIP switches. I dream of one day installing a web browser on my DOS machine and posting on LinuxQuestions with it to see if the OS icon will display, but there be dragons in MS-DOS networking.

Originally Posted by Woolie Wool He also doesn't know what he's talking about in regards to Windows 95 and autoexec.bat because he's saying you don't have to do things I have personally had to do to make DOS games function under 9x.

I'll leave you to get on with your dick waving and assuming you know what other's know...

Linux is great, I really love it. I've been using it for a year or so now and am really pleased with it.

For all those Windows haters, I gotta say, Windows aint that bad and is actually probably more suitable for people who aren't so inclined to programming and the 'deep' system stuff, it's real great. Also, Windows supports far more programs and is more familiar to a greater number of people (I suppose). For gamers, somewhat like myself, it's also in my opinion one of the best choices around.

Linux also hasn't been around as long as Windows and so obviously isn't as widespread and hasn't had as time for development. I really enjoy using Linux and I think it's great for programmers.

I felt like a laugh, so I was reading some M$ jokes and found this one:

Originally Posted by http://jokes4all.net/microsoft-jokes?p=3 Bill Gates met God, and God said, "Well, Bill, I'm really confused on this one. I'm not sure whether to send you to Heaven or to Hell. After all, you enormously helped society by putting a computer in almost every home in the world, and yet you created that ghastly Windows. I'm going to do something I've never done before. I'm going to let you decide where you want to go." Bill Gates said, "What's the difference between the two?" God said, "It might help you decide if you took a peek at both places. Shall we look at Hell first?" Bill was amazed. He saw a clean, white sandy beach with clear waters. There were thousands of beautiful men and women running around, playing in the water, laughing and frolicking about. The sun was shining and the temperature was perfect. "This is great!" said Bill. "If this is Hell, I can't wait to see Heaven." God said, "Let's go!" and off they went to Heaven. Bill saw puffy white clouds in a beautiful blue sky, with angels drifting about playing harps and singing. It was nice, but surely not as enticing as Hell. Bill thought for only a brief moment and rendered his decision. "God, I do believe I would prefer to go to Hell." "As you wish," said God. Two weeks later, God decided to check up on the late billionaire to see how things were going. He found Bill shackled to a wall, screaming amidst the hot flames in a dark cave. He was being tortured by demons with pitchforks. "How ya doin', Bill?" asked God. Bill responded with anguish and despair, "This is awful! This is not what I expected at all! What happened to the beach and the beautiful women playing in the water?" "Oh, that," said God. "That was the screen saver."

Although, maybe I should have posted it to the Faith & Religion mega Thread instead...

Love it! My favorite Microsoft joke is this:

A private helicopter got lost somewhere over Seattle. The pilot had no idea where the heliport was, so he buzzed over to a tall skyscraper and called out of the window, "Where am I?" Someone shouted back, "You're in a helicopter over Seattle!"

"Ah," said the pilot, "I know where I am now. That must have been the Microsoft Building, so the heliport is over in that direction."

His passenger asked, "How do you know that was the Microsoft Building?"

"What they told me was true, obvious and absolutely useless."

Unintentional Modern Art

One of my favorite Microsoft stories, wasn't intended to be a joke, but it made me smile anyway.

You probably heard the one about the Windows NT conference at which Microsoft was presenting their future directions for NT. They mentioned that they were including a version of the Korn shell produced by Mortice Kern Systems (MKS). Someone from the audience mentioned that version was not compatible with ksh88 (a Korn shell specification). A Microsoft product manager insisted that it was compatible, there was a debate and the product manager insisted that the man giving the criticisms was mistaken about the compatibility issues. A different audience pointed out that the man from the audience who originally claimed it wasn't compatible, was in fact David Korn, the author of the Korn Shell.

:-)

Originally Posted by rigor One of my favorite Microsoft stories, wasn't intended to be a joke, but it made me smile anyway. You probably heard the one about the Windows NT conference at which Microsoft was presenting their future directions for NT. They mentioned that they were including a version of the Korn shell produced by Mortice Kern Systems (MKS). Someone from the audience mentioned that version was not compatible with ksh88 (a Korn shell specification). A Microsoft product manager insisted that it was compatible, there was a debate and the product manager insisted that the man giving the criticisms was mistaken about the compatibility issues. A different audience pointed out that the man from the audience who originally claimed it wasn't compatible, was in fact David Korn, the author of the Korn Shell. :-)

It's O-K, they'll just fix it with a patch, later....

Great story! I'll remember that one!

Originally Posted by Peter_Will_Barker Linux is great, I really love it. I've been using it for a year or so now and am really pleased with it. For all those Windows haters, I gotta say, Windows aint that bad and is actually probably more suitable for people who aren't so inclined to programming and the 'deep' system stuff, it's real great. Also, Windows supports far more programs and is more familiar to a greater number of people (I suppose). For gamers, somewhat like myself, it's also in my opinion one of the best choices around. Linux also hasn't been around as long as Windows and so obviously isn't as widespread and hasn't had as time for development. I really enjoy using Linux and I think it's great for programmers.

Then you don't seem to have much idea of what you're talking about. It's actually got very little, if anything to do with how good or bad the system is or isn't. Windows comes pre-installed on 9 out of every 10 PC's sold. If Linux distributions did instead, then Linux would be far more popular.

There are plenty of Linux distro's that someone with little to no knowledge could use, for any number of purposes.

Suggest you research it a little more.

UNIX 1971
BSD 1978
Windows 1985
Linux kernel 1991
Distros 92

jamison20000e, I didn't say that Linux come before Windows. I was saying that it's got little to nothing to do with how long a system has been around - as you point out, the BSD's have been around a lot longer than both Windows and Linux, do you see any of the BSD's pre-installed on a PC - I've never seen it happen even once. Yet I'm sure there would be people that say the BSD's are the best - so how come they haven't been pre-installed on you're average machine then? So it just goes to prove it's got nothing to do with how good, bad, secure, insecure, etc the system is.

Originally Posted by jamison20000e UNIX 1971 BSD 1978 Windows 1985 Linux kernel 1991 Distros 92

While modern day FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, etc have their roots in BSD, it was not until 1991 with the release of Net/2, that the first "fully free" release was available. Then you had the USL vs BSDi legal troubles finally resulting in the release of 4.4BSD-Lite r2 in 1995, the last release from UC Berkeley. If it had been resolved a lot sooner, Linus might not have had to write his own kernel.

I'd also say that the name "Windows" has had different significance over the years. There was the now defunct 16bit or 32bit Windows 1.x -> Windows ME, which all ran on MSDOS and there is the current generation of OS/2 / NT based Windows. Which goes back to the late 80's, but the first MS only NT release being in 1993.

Plan 9, Solaris and a few more also emerged in the early 1990s.

So all we can really say is that a lot of the OS in use today began to emerge around that time.

Originally Posted by jsbjsb001 jamison20000e, I didn't say that Linux come before Windows. I was saying that it's got little to nothing to do with how long a system has been around - as you point out, the BSD's have been around a lot longer than both Windows and Linux, do you see any of the BSD's pre-installed on a PC - I've never seen it happen even once. Yet I'm sure there would be people that say the BSD's are the best - so how come they haven't been pre-installed on you're average machine then? So it just goes to prove it's got nothing to do with how good, bad, secure, insecure, etc the system is.

The only reason Win-D'ohs comes pre-installed on most PCs, is because Microsoft used/uses very aggressive guerilla business practices to corner the market. They did this when the personal computer market was in it's infancy, offering computer manufacturers the ability to purchase their OS's very cheaply, in exchange for requiring that they install MS operating systems exclusively on all of their computers- thus saturating the market with an inferior product- but one which is familiar to moist people, since it has come pre-installed on every PC they have ever bought.

The average consumer not being very computer-savvy (especially in the past) merely sticks with what is familiar and common, for fear that they might have to learn some new tricks.

What's more, since Windows cornered the market early-on, it ensured that most software; hardware; peripherals; and basically anything made to interact with a computer, would be Windows compatible, since the manufacturers of those things would have to cater their products to the OS's that come with nearly 100% of new PCs.

Even Apple, with all of their resources and a superior product can only hold a small share of the market in light of the above; so it is no surprise that more obscure OS's which were once considered only the province of bonafide computer geeks; and which the majority of the general public does not even know exists, would be passed over by most in favor of what is already installed on their computer when they pull it out of the box.

In my own case, I didn't seriously start looking into Linux until I became disgusted with MS's performance, and it's propensity for spying on it;'s users; and it's ever-increasing bloatware and malware- about 9 years ago. I had heard of Linux, but didn't know much about it, and thought it was probably too complex for me- a non-geek. I investigate Macs 1st- but didn't like their cost, nor the proprietary nature of everything in their world- so I then investigated Linux....and have now been happily MS-free for 9 years!

I just purchased a new computer a few weeks ago; really wanted to get one without MS pre-installed....as I don't care for the idea of a part of what I pay going toward a product (Windows) that I will not use, and to support a corporation (MS) which I detest- but alas, the deals were so, that one can get a better 'puter at a far better price by paying the "Microsoft tax" than by buying a virgin PC- So I held my nose and bought a nice PC for under $400...and nuked Windows after booting it up one time!

There are many millions of people using Linux- especially outside of the US. More people are hearing about Linux; and more people are using it- even here in the US. As Linux use grows, so does the demand for Linux-compatibility; as compatibility increases, people will have no excuse not to use Linux. (This is why, I always let manufacturers know when I am would have bought one of their products, but didn't, because it was not Linux compatible. How much trouble is it to throw in a driver for Linux, or make their softwate compatible- since it was pronbably written by a Linux user, on a Linux machine, anyway?!)

/tome