Friday, April 18, 2008

Why I Still Run Windows 2000

Via Luis, who blogs from a different dimension, a few minutes of validation for Apple and penguin lovers, and few minutes of commiseration for those still absorbed by the Borg:

(alt. video link)

Posted by bjkeefe at 3:55 PM
Labels: , ,

5 comments:

John Evo said...

XP is fine with me.

Until I get a Mac Book.

6:03 PM, April 18, 2008
bjkeefe said...

I'm pretty much the same as you. The only difference: when my current Windows machines die, I'll change from part-time to full-time Linux use.

6:06 PM, April 18, 2008
Aidan said...

don't forget, Apple spent a good 10 yrs screwing their customers, not allowing easy hardware upgrades, and not selling their OS separately. And it wasn't such a great OS, at least not until they replaced it with the current Unix kernel. Apple allowed this to happen!

Ubuntu rocks, but even it still takes work. Firefox isn't nearly as stable on it vs. windows, many web apps don't run, and install ain't always easy if you want to dual-boot (the hours wasted...).

I'll probably buy a Mac for next computer, but hoping that I don't need one for a while!

7:42 PM, April 18, 2008
bjkeefe said...

I don't want to get into a holy war about Apple. I agree, somewhat, about the bad aspects of their closed system mentality, but I also think they had every right to offer a product that they could fully control as an alternative to the wild west nature of PCs, with their instabilities and incompatibilities. I'd also argue that no one was required to pay more, in order to get new Apple hardware, or at least not nearly to the degree that PC users were forced along upgrade paths by Microsoft's burgeoning software bloat and consequent hardware requirements. For many people, the new versions of Windows and Office were must-haves, just to be able to work with colleagues. This has lessened in the past few years, I'll grant.

Back to Apple fans, I'd say that for who chose to lay out the extra money for the shiny hardware, they did get something extra in return. Again, up until recently.

I agree that OS X was a vast improvement. In fact, I bought a Mac just for that reason, thinking, great GUI with Unix under the hood. However, they turned me off when they started breaking Unix, and when they abandoned their pledge about preserving some of the open aspects of that foundation.

I also agree about Ubuntu. The principle reason I still mostly use a Windows machine is for the exact reason you offer -- Firefox, along with many other third party apps, get most of their resources and focus devoted to the Windows version. Since I'm not doing much development these days, I prefer the machine that will, say, run my preferred browser best.

I'd be happy if someone gave me a Mac, but I don't see myself buying one unless, say, I start getting into video editing or something else that Mac does better. For email, surfing, and programming, Linux works fine, and I am happy to trade off less sexiness in hardware for the benefit of being able to buy a perfectly serviceable machine for $200.

8:11 PM, April 18, 2008
Beth said...

Excellent. The first time I used a PC and was given instructions on how to use it (and then left on my own) I could not figure out how to quit.
Who'd have thought you'd go to "Start" to stop???
(I love my Mac.)

8:47 AM, April 19, 2008

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