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Windows XP source code has leaked

gizmodo.com.au

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Re: Windows XP source code has leaked

#381

Post by stjohnswarts »

kwanbix wrote: post #301
blablabla123 wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me the main difference between (early) Windows and Linux is, Windows is quick to setup and quick to break. Linux is hard to setup and hard to break - I cannot tell how much time I spent tweaking my Linux desktop. Also I could for instance use an old SCSI scanner on Linux much longer unlike Windows where they eventually stopped developing drivers for new Windows releases. But now things are of course a bit differe…

It could be a matter of experience. If you are more experienced with Linux, it could be easier than if you are more experienced with Windows. For me, Linux is easy to install, and it has been for a while, but then trying to customize it to do what I want, is much more complicated than Windows. For example, I want RAR support. There is no LinRAR, so I had to download a library and install it. It wasnt that bad, but in…

A lot of it has to do with experience. Linux is definitely rougher around the edges than Windows and OSX, but it also allows you to be free to do what you want with the OS as a hacker or programmer. Also I don't like being tracked while I'm on my computer. OSX is much better than windows in that respect so I'll throw that out there for the record. Windows tends to be more opinionated and tries to bind you to it's work flow and update schedule. On linux you can have your system update everyday or once a year; not recommended but if you're airgapped it doesn't really matter. I choose freedom over walled gardens. I still play games on windows though, but that's the only reason :)

Re: Windows XP source code has leaked

#382

Post by stjohnswarts »

mogwai77dk wrote: post #221
josteink wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> First, it was the first solid (in relative terms) consumer operating system from MS. That was actually Windows 2000, based on the NT 4 code base. It was near perfect, given the era it was made in. The only reason I upgraded from Windows 2000 was that Microsoft was extremely reluctant to back-port USB- or WiFi-fixes and support, effectively forcing you to upgrade to XP if you wanted to fully use your modern hardware…

Windows 2000 was the first rock solid OS from Microsoft, targetting both desktops and servers,but the desktop version was targeted at business users, not consumers. The consumer version at the time was the horrible Windows ME.

Windows NT was -very- solid on good hardware. Would stay up for months with zero issues.

Re: Windows XP source code has leaked

#383

Post by stjohnswarts »

jacobwilliamroy wrote: post #196
pizza234 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally tried to use Windows XP (for my Windows systems, which is mostly VMs nowadays) for as long as I could. First, it was the first solid (in relative terms) consumer operating system from MS. Second, it was lightweight (in relative terms) in terms of UX and, somewhat consequently, engineering. With Windows Vista (but in particular, Windows 8), MS started to add complexity on every layer. Nowadays, I'm really…

i changed my windows 10 color scheme to bright red so I always feel like I'm in danger.

To remind you of how much telemetry they're sending out about you to God knows who? :)

Re: Windows XP source code has leaked

#384

Post by stjohnswarts »

asveikau wrote: post #56
matthewmacleod wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nostalgia is, it seems, a hell of a drug.

In early Windows XP days everybody said it was crap compared to Win2k. XP was the first one with product activation as well. And people called the Luna theme childish. Then Vista came along and people said XP was the good one.

Windows XP SP3 was solid as hell. It was easy to change the theme, which I always did along with the brain dead "hide extensions and system files" and ridiculous swap file settings that guaranteed you'd always be resizing incessantly

Re: Windows XP source code has leaked

#385

Post by stjohnswarts »

shp0ngle wrote: post #69
cblconfederate wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i think the consensus is that windows 95, XP, 7 were the least troublesome versions. I still think 7 > 10

10 has tons of under-the-hood improvements that are great, honestly. However, it also has a ton of advertisments everywhere, and those annoying auto-installing apps.

I really don't know what people are talking about ads? My win 10 has zero ads on it. I turned off all telemetry (i think) with a couple of programs dedicated to doing that. Maybe my pi-hole is blocking the ads?

Re: Windows XP source code has leaked

#386

Post by stjohnswarts »

Shared404 wrote: post #299
AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still have an XP laptop at work because it happens to have a serial port. Every time I use it I'm briefly shocked at how responsive everything is. That's on period hardware. God the future sucks. IT has been destroyed by complexity fetishists and resume driven development.

Not entirely. There's still Alpine, Gentoo, Void, Debian/Devuan -- All of which still run on reasonably low specced hardware, and can be loaded with XFCE/Tiling WM's for a lightweight UX. Outside of Linux and other FL/OSS OS's I have to agree though.

KDE runs in less than 400MB which would be fine on 2GB systems of the era. It's browsers and electron apps (browsers in disguise) that chew up all the memory, and once you start swapping it's over.

Re: Windows XP source code has leaked

#387

Post by stjohnswarts »

mrslave wrote: post #54
fimdomeio wrote: post #43

Forgeting about legality for a moment, this is great. Windows XP is probably the greatest operating system if you factor usability and how many people it has reached. It was also from a time where people still did not expect proprietary operating systems to be actively working against you. So it's great that this source will not be forever lost.

Completely agree. I was very slow to update XP, until both enough of a gap appeared, and Windows 7 established itself as the next high-usability Microsoft operating system. Even then my use of Windows was low. I now have no need for it at all. From what I've heard Windows 10 is not in the same class.

Stability wise it's just as stable. People forget that even back in the day windows updates could break your machine and wax fondly with their memories rather than realistically.

Re: Windows XP source code has leaked

#388

Post by stjohnswarts »

ccatcherjb wrote: post #371
fimdomeio wrote: post #43

Forgeting about legality for a moment, this is great. Windows XP is probably the greatest operating system if you factor usability and how many people it has reached. It was also from a time where people still did not expect proprietary operating systems to be actively working against you. So it's great that this source will not be forever lost.

Why and how do codes leak? I don't understand. Is it that some insiders are giving out the information?

Could just be a disenchanted employee.

Re: Windows XP source code has leaked

#389

Post by stjohnswarts »

jononor wrote: post #58
codegladiator wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> proprietary operating systems to be actively working against you Where is this happening ? Are we expecting this now ? What did I miss

The amount of user data collected in Windows 10 for example. Next to no user benefits, just value extracted for Microsoft. Automatic updates on reboot. For example when someone giving a presentation or class has to restart their computer for some reason (quite common in Windows still, or one just ran out of power). Boot up the computer, people waiting impatiently - and then have to wait for 5-30 minutes for the compu…

To be fair it asks to update or not to update. You can also set how often it does check and when it installs (at night). It's just a google search away.

Re: Windows XP source code has leaked

#390

Post by stjohnswarts »

oblio wrote: post #374
AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should they be forced to, at the expense of things that matter to them, though? That's the problem. Automatic updates were a default. People turned them off because they were annoying. One solution to this problem was to make them not-annoying, but instead Microsoft opted to become aggressive and force people to update. I will never hold anyone who thinks this is a good idea in high regard because they are active…

Microsoft forces them because it has to, there is no law for it. To drive a car, the car needs to pass a yearly inspection.

It saves them money in support calls.
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