Re: [NTLK] Re[2]: Re[2]: Convincing argument against MS

From: Eric L. Strobel (fyzycyst_at_comcast.net)
Date: Thu Jun 13 2002 - 09:55:05 EDT


on 6/12/02 5:28 PM, Bradford Schmidt at brad_at_bradfordschmidt.com wrote:

>
>>> The point is that they dumped on 4-6 million users by not enabling
>>> hardware acceleration under X - and then changed their tune only
>>> when a lot of noise was made...Point is, business is business...
>
>> Did you notice the speed increase from OS X 10.0 to 10.1? Notice how
>> they didn't ship the OS with CD/DVD authoring? I had the latest
>> Superdrive G4 and 10.0 couldn't use its authoring capabilities.
>
> And that is inexcusable. Really, 10.0 was crap. And they knew it.
> It was no more than a beta to 10.1, which has some brilliance to it.
> But they wanted to ship, so they did.
>

Ahhh, but if you wait for perfection, sadly, it never comes. True, 10.0 had
rough edges that were easily uncovered by even slightly sophisticated users.
The alternative, though, would be to chase the illusory "last bug" and end
up never releasing anything. And there was (and still is) a very large
escape hatch. Simply set up the Mac to boot to OS 9.x. Pity the poor
WinTel users who upgraded to XP, had up to 40% of their software fail, and
(if I understand correctly) had no such easy route of escape.

I guess one question is, if Apple had waited a year (which, BTW, has
provided them a year's worth of user feedback) and released 10.1 as the
initial release, would your beef about the older Rage hardware seem as
large? What would your response be, looking at the improved support in
10.1.5? After all, they're *almost* there now.

If I were doing it, I'd also support new machines first, then the next
oldest machines, then the next oldest, etc. I think that's the savviest way
of maximally utilizing scarce resources. In the time it takes to support
ever older machines, some of those folks are upgrading or getting additional
(newer) Macs. So, at some point, you reach a 'knee in the curve' where
demand for implementing the new OS on old hardware will naturally fall off.
The problem is that Apple doesn't have 75,000 programmers (or whatever MS's
total is), so some things have to be done later, rather than doing all in
parallel. As a result, support for some folks' hardware is delayed and for
some, it never comes.

Although this is, in fact, a business decision, that does not mean that it
is a decision coldly calculated to squeeze the most money out of the poor
unsuspecting consumer. (Which is what my perception is of what some folks
in this thread are saying about Apple.)

None of this, though, addresses the original question -- Give a
technical/usage-based argument why Windows is so poor?

(In my case, using Windows is like trying to run a marathon in a vat of
molasses. Sure, you might eventually get there, but it's a struggle every
step of the way. Maybe it's a left-brain/right-brain type of thing, but
I've tried to use Windows a number of times over the years and I've just
never been able to be at all productive in it. I could eventually do
everything I had to do, but I prefer to try and exceed the minimum
requirements on tasks and Windows makes it nearly impossible for me to do
that. It is rarely one single huge flaw, but rather the entirety, from the
ground up, is, to my mind, flawed.

But for specifics' sake: Back when machines still had floppies, why in the
world couldn't Windows ever figure out that I'd just stuck a floppy in the
drive (and what use is keeping around the directory of an ejected floppy)?
And what's up with that second mouse button? What good is it when it has a
different effect in different applications (or no effect whatsoever)? And
whose brilliant idea was it to so tightly couple VB and the OS that every
pimply-faced fiend can churn out virii by the hundreds? Why has Windows
become synonymous with "insecure", unless you have a PhD (sorry, an MCSE) to
properly set the OS up so that it's more secure?)

Whew! My fingers are tired... :-)

- Eric.

-- 

Eric Strobel (fyzycyst_at_NOSPAM^mailaps.org)

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