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Virtual Computer Museum – VNC into Archaic Windows Systems

museum.trialanderror.tech

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Re: Virtual Computer Museum – VNC into Archaic Windows Systems

#11

Post by EvanAnderson »

jjbinx007 wrote: post #4
cdchn wrote: post #2

I think Windows 2000 is the only one I remember fondly.

I think it's a grossly underrated OS. As good as Windows XP but without the awful garish themes - it had all that made the Windows 98 GIU great but with the stability of Windows NT. Also, I don't think you needed to activate it and it didn't have much in the way of telemetry. We'll never have a Windows version as great again.

Windows Server 2003 had all the XP goodness but without the UI cruft. I ran it as a daily driver for a few years. Until Windows 7 came out it was the best version of Windows. Product activation was its downside.

Re: Virtual Computer Museum – VNC into Archaic Windows Systems

#13

Post by n8cpdx »

bandergirl wrote: post #8
Modified3019 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My only computer for a long time was old thinkpad, so I actually ended up skipping over windows XP entirely. I finally moved on after the first service pack for vista came out (in 2008), which was surprisingly alright in my experience. It ended up being more stable than win2000. The biggest problem with the older windows is that poorly written drivers (which is most of them) had a tendency to bluescreen the entire sy…

> [Vista] was surprisingly alright in my experience I never understood the hate for Vista. People were overly complacent and wanted a OS that ran on 128MB of ram like XP did. Vista was not that. When 7 came along, it was pretty much the same core, except now many computers were already Vista-capable. I was using the Vista Beta of my 2GB-RAM computer for 6 months before release and it was vastly better than XP.

Project Mojave was Microsoft’s attempt to correct this issue. It didn’t go well.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ihorvo2tEuA

Re: Virtual Computer Museum – VNC into Archaic Windows Systems

#14

Post by serf »

bandergirl wrote: post #8
Modified3019 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My only computer for a long time was old thinkpad, so I actually ended up skipping over windows XP entirely. I finally moved on after the first service pack for vista came out (in 2008), which was surprisingly alright in my experience. It ended up being more stable than win2000. The biggest problem with the older windows is that poorly written drivers (which is most of them) had a tendency to bluescreen the entire sy…

> [Vista] was surprisingly alright in my experience I never understood the hate for Vista. People were overly complacent and wanted a OS that ran on 128MB of ram like XP did. Vista was not that. When 7 came along, it was pretty much the same core, except now many computers were already Vista-capable. I was using the Vista Beta of my 2GB-RAM computer for 6 months before release and it was vastly better than XP.

I don't remember the specifics, but I do remember that Vista broke a ton of drivers I used for industrial equipment. Serial controllers, that kind of stuff.

If I remember right it had something to do with the transition to driver signing beginning around that era.

So, it represented a lot of labor.

>I was using the Vista Beta of my 2GB-RAM computer for 6 months before release and it was vastly better than XP.

you were blessed to have 2gb in 06. a lot of us didn't. [0]

[0]: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/CrYAAOSwpOZgQFm7/s-l1600.jpg

Re: Virtual Computer Museum – VNC into Archaic Windows Systems

#17

Post by vctrnk »

bandergirl wrote: post #8
Modified3019 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My only computer for a long time was old thinkpad, so I actually ended up skipping over windows XP entirely. I finally moved on after the first service pack for vista came out (in 2008), which was surprisingly alright in my experience. It ended up being more stable than win2000. The biggest problem with the older windows is that poorly written drivers (which is most of them) had a tendency to bluescreen the entire sy…

> [Vista] was surprisingly alright in my experience I never understood the hate for Vista. People were overly complacent and wanted a OS that ran on 128MB of ram like XP did. Vista was not that. When 7 came along, it was pretty much the same core, except now many computers were already Vista-capable. I was using the Vista Beta of my 2GB-RAM computer for 6 months before release and it was vastly better than XP.

Up to that point, most Windows iterations didn't require (for the time) big upgrades to run fine. Many PCs designed for a given version could run the next, maybe with a little elbow grease, but the bottom line is: the out-of-the-box experience on new AND upgraded PCs was mostly okay.

Then it came Vista. An OS designed for at least 1Gb RAM, preinstalled on machines who stubbornly refused to sell with more than 512Mb (even 384Mb, the horror!) for a looong time. I remember that, at least where I live, RAM prices sky rocketed just months afther Vista came out, because almost all people irremediably needed the upgrade.

It also didn't help that vendors were happy to fill new systems with their auto-installing crapware. While this wasn't Microsoft fault, it certainly helped to cement Vista's reputation as a very heavy-weight OS.

Having said that. I concede the point that Vista was pretty alright, provided your PC had the grunt to run it.

Re: Virtual Computer Museum – VNC into Archaic Windows Systems

#18

Post by stevekemp »

jjbinx007 wrote: post #4
cdchn wrote: post #2

I think Windows 2000 is the only one I remember fondly.

I think it's a grossly underrated OS. As good as Windows XP but without the awful garish themes - it had all that made the Windows 98 GIU great but with the stability of Windows NT. Also, I don't think you needed to activate it and it didn't have much in the way of telemetry. We'll never have a Windows version as great again.

Windows 2000 was peak-Windows for me, for sure.

Not quite as stable as Windows NT4, but pretty close, and it benefited from added support for USB and other "modern" things.

Re: Virtual Computer Museum – VNC into Archaic Windows Systems

#19

Post by mrpippy »

Long ago, Insignia Solutions (famous for the SoftPC/SoftWindows emulators) had a product called NTrigue which I think later turned into Citrix MetaFrame? Not sure about the lineage. Anyway, it was an early NT terminal server product.

I remember they ran an open-to-the-Internet NT 3.51 server, you could download the ICA Client and connect to it. Imagine leaving a Windows terminal server that wide-open now.

Re: Virtual Computer Museum – VNC into Archaic Windows Systems

#20

Post by sixothree »

another2another wrote: post #7
cdchn wrote: post #2

I think Windows 2000 is the only one I remember fondly.

Windows 7 was also pretty decent, and managed to somewhat redeem the horror that was Vista.

Windows 7 was a beautiful operating system. It completely redeemed the absolute "horror that was Vista" for a lot of people.
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