500 millions of XP computers. What will microsoft do?

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <[email protected]>,

Tell me about it. I've used Win98 for so long, that I find XP to be a
real challenge. Just simple shit will confuse me, for example, to find
files in 98, open START and click "FIND" In XP it's called SEARCH. I

And if you really wanted to do it quickly, you didn't bother messing
about with the mouse to open Start - you just did Win + F on the
keyboard.

And guess what? That still works in XP. (And, I think, in 7.)

know that, but I'm so used to using Find, it takes me twice as long to
think about what to do. I'll get used to XP, but I sure dont want to

Many of the other keyboard shortcuts still work - Win E for explorer,
for example. (And that opens at the root, too.) Even the Alt-Space menu
still works (including in 7) - and _that_ one comes from Windows 3.1
(possibly earlier)!

upgrade again. This is also the reason I dont see myself switching to
Linux. Not only is the OS totally foreign to me, but I'd have to
relearn every program. About the only programs thast Linux has, that

Me too )-:.
[]

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

Per Metspitzer:

I call it "moving the furniture around".

And still have not heard a plausible business reason why Microsoft does
this. On the contrary, I would expect a "furniture" committee within
MS to which each change has to be justified on functional grounds.

I don't doubt there is a reason.... just haven't heard it yet.

Yes, it _is_ puzzling - like you, I assume there _is_ a reason, but I
can't think what it is either. But surely it _is_ a good business
reason, or they wouldn't keep doing it.

There is _something_ in the argument that people hate change, so if they
find a genuinely better way of doing something, they have to drag us
kicking and screaming into using it: but there are enough examples of
where "the new way", though it has become standard because we've had no
choice, hasn't turned out to be particularly better (though there aren't
many where it's actually worse, if we're honest). But I don't think this
can be the main reason.

 

[Metspitzer]

[]

There is nothing to understand here. Microsoft is running a business
not some charity to support hobbyists and enthusiasts like Linux
developers are.

True, but if a business does not satisfy consumer wants and needs, they

That's the key word - "customers". In any normal business, that means
people who buy things. Not people who bought something 13 years ago; not
people who bought something two to five years ago second-hand, which
benefits the original seller not one jot; ...

That is not true really. It is like a car. Everyone needs a car.
Ford wants to sell even more cars so Ford starts making cars that
don't last as long. Toyota is eating their lunch today.

If they could only fix government where it works that way.

will fail. Even the huge MS monopoly could fail if they stop tending to
the needs of their customers. Of all the people I know who use

Oh, they do - and are showing no signs of failing.

computers, only 1 in 10 have gone beyond XP. Most of them say they dont
want a newer OS and are happy with what they have.

So not customers.
[]

A business can only make money, if they satisfy the wants and needs of
the consumers. In this case, it's not just a matter of tastes, but it's

The _paying_ consumers.

also costly to have to buy a new computer every 3 years. Personally, I
have no intention to do that. I have a computer that works, I'd rather
spend the money on other wants and needs.

 

[casey.o]

And if you really wanted to do it quickly, you didn't bother messing
about with the mouse to open Start - you just did Win + F on the
keyboard.

And guess what? That still works in XP. (And, I think, in 7.)


Many of the other keyboard shortcuts still work - Win E for explorer,
for example. (And that opens at the root, too.) Even the Alt-Space menu
still works (including in 7) - and _that_ one comes from Windows 3.1
(possibly earlier)!

I've never used too many keybd shortcuts other than the real common ones
like COPY PASTE etc. One of these days I'll have to search google to
find a whole chart that shows all of them, but I'd have to print it and
hang it on the wall by my computer. Too much stuff to remember.....

 

[casey.o]

| I've been happy running Win98 and my old programs all along, but
| W98 has become "broken" due to a lack of any browser that works properly
| since they went to Html 5. So, it's time to at least get XP working for
| websites. I can still use W98 for everyting else.
|

I can sympathize. I kept Win98 going for a long
time myself. But XP does have it's good points.
On the one hand it's a bit bloated and overproduced.
It's about 50% bigger than Win98. But those things
can be improved, somewhat. And it's not nearly
as bad as Vista/7. XP is also more stable and faster
than Win98 on the same hardware, as long as there's
adequate RAM.

I think the Find -> Search change was just part
of the effort to make it "webby". MS wants to present
Windows Find as integral with Web search. Personally
I find XP Find inferior to Win98 Find. It can't even look
inside a CAB file. As soon as I started using XP I
found Agent Ransack. I haven't opened the XP Find
applet ever since.

One thing about XP that really annoys me, is everytime I try to do damn
near anything involving a change to the OS itself, it asks me if I want
to "search online". I sure wish the programmers of XP would have the
smarts to make XP CHECK FOR AN INTERNET CONNECTION, BEFORE ASKING THIS
ANNOYING QUESTION. When I'm setting up a computer, it's NOT online.
And even if it was online, it sure would be nice if they offerred a
setting to turn off the "SEARCH ONLINE" feature ALL of the time.

You said MS made XP "webby". But not all computers are connected to the
ineternet. I dont know what businesses do, who have an office computer
that is used for bookkeeping, accounting, and other general office
needs, and is not connected to the internet. I suppose they just have
to keep clicking "NO" everytime they make any modifications to the OS,
just like I do. When you think about it, XP is pretty stupid. It does
not have the ability to check for an internet connection, BEFORE asking
"Do you want to search online". Awhile back, I posted that I was trying
to install a modem, and while trying to get or install drivers. XP asked
"Do you want to search online". Now, how the f##k would that be
possible? The programmers of XP must have been sleeping on the job, or
drunk when they created this part of XP, and forgot to put in something
that LOOKS for an internet connection first.

 

[casey.o]

LOL. In the old days they'd throw all us old fuddie duddies off the cliff
to make room for the new ones (you know, the ones that have a cell phone
attached to their mind and body, and can't part with it, even in a
restaurant sitting next to their spouse or friends).

Yep, I see this regularly. They sit in a restaurant or bar, and are 2
or 3 feet from each other, adn use their phones to communicate.
Apparently some of the chemical food additives, or maybe the drugs their
parents took in the 60's have caused some malfunction in their brains.
Or maybe they need some sort of 12 step program like Cellphones
Anonymous to cure their addictions.

What really annoys me the most is when they start taking pictures with
those phones. If they were just taking snapshots, it would not bother
me, but I know damn well, those photos will be on Facebook in a matter
of seconds, and I DO NOT want to be in any photo on Facebook, or have
anything to do with Facebook in any manner. Facebook is evil, and it
will likely be the downfall of the internet. It's the biggest source of
privacy invasion. I have gone thru great pain to install darn near 100
entries in my HOSTS file to block FB, and installed Facebookblocker in
Firefox, and anything else I can do to keep facebook away from me and my
computer. The last thing I need is some drunken idiot in a bar, taking
my picture and posting it on FB.

 

[IQN]

<[email protected]>

One thing about XP that really annoys me, is everytime I try to do damn
near anything involving a change to the OS itself, it asks me if I want
to "search online". I sure wish the programmers of XP would have the
smarts to make XP CHECK FOR AN INTERNET CONNECTION, BEFORE ASKING THIS
ANNOYING QUESTION. When I'm setting up a computer, it's NOT online.
And even if it was online, it sure would be nice if they offerred a
setting to turn off the "SEARCH ONLINE" feature ALL of the time.

You said MS made XP "webby". But not all computers are connected to the
ineternet. I dont know what businesses do, who have an office computer
that is used for bookkeeping, accounting, and other general office
needs, and is not connected to the internet. I suppose they just have
to keep clicking "NO" everytime they make any modifications to the OS,
just like I do. When you think about it, XP is pretty stupid. It does
not have the ability to check for an internet connection, BEFORE asking
"Do you want to search online". Awhile back, I posted that I was trying
to install a modem, and while trying to get or install drivers. XP asked
"Do you want to search online". Now, how the f##k would that be
possible? The programmers of XP must have been sleeping on the job, or
drunk when they created this part of XP, and forgot to put in something
that LOOKS for an internet connection first.

XP is the most studied operating system that has ever been made.
There is usually something you can do about most anoyances in it.

Take this registry tweak, for instance:

http://www.pctools.com/guides/registry/detail/1217/

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <[email protected]>,

I've never used too many keybd shortcuts other than the real common ones
like COPY PASTE etc. One of these days I'll have to search google to
find a whole chart that shows all of them, but I'd have to print it and
hang it on the wall by my computer. Too much stuff to remember.....

I find my hands remember a lot of the shortcuts, without my brain
getting involved - certainly Alt-space C to close things, for example (a
lot quicker than mousing the X, and I find less of a stretch than
Alt-F4). And Alt-space X and alt-space enter. _And_ all of those work in
'9x, XP, and 7 (and probably did in 3.x, and maybe in 8 as well if
you're not using tiles).

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message

<[email protected]>
(e-mail address removed) wrote: []

"Do you want to search online". Awhile back, I posted that I was trying
to install a modem, and while trying to get or install drivers. XP asked
"Do you want to search online". Now, how the f##k would that be
possible? The programmers of XP must have been sleeping on the job, or
drunk when they created this part of XP, and forgot to put in something
that LOOKS for an internet connection first.

There is always the chance you were installing a dial-up while you had a
broadband connection, or vice versa, though I agree they could check
whether you've got _any_ connection first.

XP is the most studied operating system that has ever been made.
There is usually something you can do about most anoyances in it.

Take this registry tweak, for instance:

http://www.pctools.com/guides/registry/detail/1217/

Hmm. "allows you to disable the ability to use Windows Update to locate
updated drivers for hardware in Device Manager." Bit cutting off your
nose to spite your face, that: I think casey.o was objecting to it
offering to do the impossible, viz. go online when it can't; turning off
the ability to fetch updated drivers altogether is too far the other
way. (Though on the whole, updating drivers if your present ones are
working OK and you don't have any reason to believe newer ones will
improve or fix anything, is often not a good idea.)

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <[email protected]>,
(e-mail address removed) writes:
[]

(OT, but still ...)

What really annoys me the most is when they start taking pictures with
those phones. If they were just taking snapshots, it would not bother
me, but I know damn well, those photos will be on Facebook in a matter
of seconds, and I DO NOT want to be in any photo on Facebook, or have
anything to do with Facebook in any manner. Facebook is evil, and it
will likely be the downfall of the internet. It's the biggest source of
privacy invasion. I have gone thru great pain to install darn near 100

Privacy? What's that? (I share your concerns, but - especially in the UK
- I think it's largely a forgotten concept, and certainly not one many
younger folk worry about enough.)

Get a strong UV LED, and build it into something like a pen you can keep
in your pocket. It's a pity you have to do something like that though.

Alternatively, have a word with the proprietor of the restaurant, to ask
if they've ever thought of setting up a no-photo zone: you'll be thought
crazy at first, but I think it could catch on - like no-phone carriages.

entries in my HOSTS file to block FB, and installed Facebookblocker in
Firefox, and anything else I can do to keep facebook away from me and my
computer. The last thing I need is some drunken idiot in a bar, taking
my picture and posting it on FB.

[Why, are you doing something in the bar you shouldn't (-:? (And yes,
I'm fully aware that's not the point - I'm just asking in jest.)]

 

[BillW50]

Use to work on OS/2 also. I liked that one.
Ran Windows programs much faster and more stable
than Windows. IBM were such idiots that they
killed it off. Sad to see it go.

I too was an OS/2 user and I never saw OS/2 run Windows programs more
stable or faster. Heck only one Windows session had access to sound
while the others were locked out (depending on your sound card). I had
Windows programs that would crash under OS/2 that ran perfectly under
Windows 3.1 too. OS/2 was really flaky with Windows applications IMHO.

 

[Todd]

I too was an OS/2 user and I never saw OS/2 run Windows programs more
stable or faster. Heck only one Windows session had access to sound
while the others were locked out (depending on your sound card). I had
Windows programs that would crash under OS/2 that ran perfectly under
Windows 3.1 too. OS/2 was really flaky with Windows applications IMHO.

Hi Bill,

Fascinating. I mainly ran Lotus apps. (before IBM
bought them).

WFW 3.1 was a nicely done. I kind of miss it.

-T

"Get your facts first, then you can distort
them as you please."
--Mark Twain