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Legacy Update: Fix Windows Update on Windows XP, Vista, Server 2008, 2003, 2000

legacyupdate.net

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Re: Legacy Update: Fix Windows Update on Windows XP, Vista, Server 2008, 2003, 2000

#111

Post by coretx »

eyelidlessness wrote: post #85
Koshkin wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That was the best version Microsoft ever made No. 7 was a rollback on Vista. The best one which was not a step back but rather a step forward was Windows 2000. (Some even swear by NT4, which I feel also has some merit.)

Win2K was the only version of Windows I ever ran as a daily driver. I had access to Macs from an early age (since System 7 and through all the processor architecture transitions, except I haven’t gotten an M-series yet), but sold my Mac and couldn’t afford a replacement for some time around the XP transition. My completely unqualified ranking… - 2k: excellent, top Windows - XP: fine, if you turn off all the UI change…

- 3.x was just a GUI for MS-DOS.

- 95/98 are a OS on their own although still having quite some old DOS code in there.

All others versions are following the NT tree.

NT 4.0 for non-x86 hardware deserves a honorable mention despite the fact i'm absolutely not a Microsoft fan. It was quite impressive during it's time, but hardly to be seen anywhere.

Re: Legacy Update: Fix Windows Update on Windows XP, Vista, Server 2008, 2003, 2000

#112

Post by coretx »

userbinator wrote: post #62
causality0 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Give me a new Windows that isn't dripping with contempt for the user.

1990s Microsoft: "Where do you want to go today?" 2020s Microsoft: "Where do we want you to go today?"

1990s Microsoft: "Where do you want to go today?"

2000s Microsoft: "Where do you want to try to go today?"

2010s Microsoft: "Where did you go today ?"

2020s Microsoft: "Where do we want you to go today?"

/completed that for you

Re: Legacy Update: Fix Windows Update on Windows XP, Vista, Server 2008, 2003, 2000

#113

Post by supertrope »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #79
ahartmetz wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, 2000 was by far my favorite Windows. Very solid, very clean style. I have a burning hatred for the visual design of Windows 7 (and Vista to a lesser degree) - it may have been technically great, but the design felt appropriate for a toothpaste, not for an operating system. I could only stand XP with the 2000 style as well. What the hell were they thinking?

You can switch Win7 to classic theme and pretend it's an improved Win95. That's what I do in my VMs since I don't need to be burning cycles and RAM on eyecandy.

Ironically in Vista and newer the GUI is GPU accelerated and switching to the classic theme switches from GPU acceleration to CPU rendered.

Re: Legacy Update: Fix Windows Update on Windows XP, Vista, Server 2008, 2003, 2000

#114

Post by joe5150 »

kitsunesoba wrote: post #51
Animats wrote: post #34

I could see staying with Windows 7. That was the best version Microsoft ever made. Microsoft finally figured out how to make it stable, and it didn't have all the ad and cloud crap nailed in. You can run current Firefox, current Thunderbird, and current LibreOffice, which covers the basics. Most Windows software still works.

Windows 7 also had the best customization/theming, followed by XP. Both 7 and XP had some amazing looking community-made .msstyle themes but 7's theme engine allowed for things like full transparency while XP was limited to 1-bit transparency. This was nice in that it offered UI looks that were more modern than the classic theme yet more understated than the gaudy Luna/Aero. Then Windows 8 came along and decided flat…

This truly has me nostalgic for the days of breaking my computer trying to replace the theme, system icons, explorer shell, etc with untested crap to make it look cooler.

Re: Legacy Update: Fix Windows Update on Windows XP, Vista, Server 2008, 2003, 2000

#115

Post by bombcar »

Grazester wrote: post #109
codegeek wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows XP wasn't bad either. Windows 98 was great as well for its time.

I cant remember Windows 98 offering anything over 95 OSR2.

I remember holding out for 98 SE which had working USB or something.

Re: Legacy Update: Fix Windows Update on Windows XP, Vista, Server 2008, 2003, 2000

#116

Post by coretx »

accrual wrote: post #75
userbinator wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1990s Microsoft: "Where do you want to go today?" 2020s Microsoft: "Where do we want you to go today?"

I miss the all the research that went into developing 95's UI. So much effort went into making computers usable and discoverable for the lay person. The user was the focus of the OS. Seems a little less so now, especially with some of the usability that went away with 11.

Literally more or less all UI research from that era came from elsewhere and MS still screwed it up. Probably on purpose to sell new versions at a later date. Even the MAC UI R&I from that era comes straight from systems such as NEXT and the Amiga. Jobs was no creative genius, but he indeed was focusing on the user. Today, only free software seems to do so. Something the previous is built upon, and developed further.

Re: Legacy Update: Fix Windows Update on Windows XP, Vista, Server 2008, 2003, 2000

#117

Post by wnevets »

alar44 wrote: post #102
wnevets wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm asking who is looking for and deploying exploits for an OS no one uses.

Plenty of manufacturing still uses outdated OSs because they have to because they vendor no longer exists, doesn't care, or the machine itself is old and no longer supported. Manufacturing plants are also excellent targets.

But no one is spraying the internet with exploits to catch those manufacturing plants running ancient OSs. Attacks on those places and their ancient OSs would be reserved for targeted attacks.

Re: Legacy Update: Fix Windows Update on Windows XP, Vista, Server 2008, 2003, 2000

#118

Post by coretx »

bitwize wrote: post #25
throwaway0x7E6 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

really? who, when? I have actually lived through that era, and I can't remember there being negative sentiment about XP. I don't know about the dark corners of the internet, but the people in my circles were neutral about XP, hated Vista, loved 7, hated 8, hated 10 and hate 11 to this day, the only criticism of XP I saw is about the UI, which doesn't make sense to me - switching it was a matter of 3 clicks

XP was the first Windows with phone-home DRM.

Some NT versions did that too.

Re: Legacy Update: Fix Windows Update on Windows XP, Vista, Server 2008, 2003, 2000

#120

Post by userbinator »

archontes wrote: post #19
danogentili wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about switching to Linux? :) If you're running legacy OSes, you're most definitely not playing recent games with DRM or doing anything that can't be done on a recent Linux system.

I still believe that linux is unsuitable for the vast majority of people. I virtualize all of my workstations with proxmox, and have the ability to backup and restore snapshots quickly, and without that ability, the number of times a gui recommended kernel update would just kill large portions of my system is too damn high. Kernel 5.15 still seems to be incompatible with running two monitors on a GTX 1080TI with any…

Linux is suitable for the vast majority of people... in the form of Android. Unfortunately that's just not suitable for any sort of actual work.
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