81–90 of 122 posts
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Problem is, it doesn't work right: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/262265
And if I picked a Linux distro from 8 years ago I'd find some bugs in it too. Use the current version of Windows, it has fewer bugs.
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I do. On my work computer the OS is Ubuntu, and on my home computer it is windows 7. Personally, I like the Windows interface.
He's not just talking about the GUI though. He's talking about the actual usage of the machine. Personally I find Windows to be a complete pain to use. The console is weak, the way files are laid out on the system irritates me, and their politics as a whole stinks. To each their own, but I concur with the GP.
Powershell is a huge step forward for Microsoft. I've been using it for about a year now and so far I'm very impressed. I'd even go so far as to say I prefer it to bash for certain tasks. The concept of passing objects around is, while strange at first, surprisingly intuitive and powerful.
If you're currently using a combination of windows + cygwin (as I was) I'd strongly suggest picking up a copy of "Powershell in Action" and giving powershell a shot for a couple of weeks. I'd be surprised if you don't switch to powershell.
I'll concede that overall powershell still has some significant obstacles to overcome before it's better than the linux command line, but just like when windows xp came out and people stopped making legitimate complaints about window's stability - with powershell released now, I think we'll start to see the same trend with people complaining about the windows command line - these complaints will no longer be legitimate.
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I do. I like Windows a lot. I'm completely platform agnostic and I've used all 3 major platforms at various times but I always come back to Windows. I think there's a quiet majority of people out there who are perfectly happy with Windows but they don't tend to talk about it, whereas you do tend to get a lot of outspoken Mac and Linux users who are willing to both champion their platform as well as bash Windows at an…
> I'm completely platform agnostic That means you don't know anything about platforms (agnostic = no (a) knowledge (gnosis)). I think you meant: indifferent =)
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He's not just talking about the GUI though. He's talking about the actual usage of the machine. Personally I find Windows to be a complete pain to use. The console is weak, the way files are laid out on the system irritates me, and their politics as a whole stinks. To each their own, but I concur with the GP.
Exactly. Powershell is some improvement, but still a pale imitation. Windows feels fragile, and often is when you try to do anything difficult. How to bring an ethernet adapter down then up with a script in Windows? Very difficult, WMI calls and such. In Linux? A line (really, a few characters) of script. Just one of the differences I've run into recently.
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Problem is, it doesn't work right: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/262265
And if I picked a Linux distro from 8 years ago I'd find some bugs in it too. Use the current version of Windows, it has fewer bugs.
Perhaps that last bit should read "Use the current version of Windows, it has fewer known bugs."
As software gets larger and more complex the tendency is for more bugs to be introduced. Open Source mitigates this problem by allowing everyone to inspect and fix it.
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And if I picked a Linux distro from 8 years ago I'd find some bugs in it too. Use the current version of Windows, it has fewer bugs.
Sorry, I have to use what the company provides, not what I wish the company provided. That's the real world.
Windows has an interface for doing what you asked. It had a bug / didn't work as described so they fixed it. Your company wont buy the fix, but that doesn't mean the fix doesn't exist. It means you can't take advantage of it, sure.
But saying Windows doesn't support it is deliberately misrepresenting Windows to make it look bad. It's spreading FUD, and it's wrong.
Plus, why did you bring WMI into this? You can't seem to do it with WMI: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa394595(VS.85).aspx "If you are not using DHCP, you cannot use WMI to disable a network connection". Were you just bringing WMI into it because it sounds scary and complicated and so would help shore up your FUD, or is there a way and this MSDN article is wrong?
(But you can do it by scripting the shell: http://mcpmag.com/columns/article.asp?EditorialsID=619 or by using Devcon to disable a hardware device from the command line: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311272/en-us )
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> I think there's a quiet majority of people out there who are perfectly happy with Windows I think there's a quiet majority out there who's never tried anything but Windows, and think of their computer as nothing more than a tool, completely oblivious to such abstractions as operating systems.
I think there's a big majority of computer users, quietly suffering under Windows and simply having no idea that there even exists an alternative.
There is an alternative, but it's not all sunshine and green grass either side.
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Give VirtualBox ( http://www.virtualbox.org/ ) a try. I run Photoshop CS4, Rosetta Stone v3, and backup my BlackBerry inside it with minimal problems. GIMP didn't do it for me either.
I use VirtualBox as well. And I also use WINE, but even though you can run Office 2K7 (and you can't go around it as a student, in particular as a business student) in WINE, which I do for short edits and to only view documents, I still mainly use Office on the emulated WinXP. Office fells snappier on the emulated machine, and especially because of Antialiasing of fonts text is easier to read. Overall it's just nicer…
The new ubuntu has better font smoothing by default however I don't think that transfers into wine sadly but at least you found a setup that works.
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> I think there's a quiet majority of people out there who are perfectly happy with Windows I think there's a quiet majority out there who's never tried anything but Windows, and think of their computer as nothing more than a tool, completely oblivious to such abstractions as operating systems.
I think there's a big majority of computer users, quietly suffering under Windows and simply having no idea that there even exists an alternative.
I use Linux/Mac/Windows every day and have no trouble switching between them. If you are suffering under either Mac or Windows, it's your fault, not the OS's fault. If you're suffering under Linux, it's because you aren't enough of a moron to be a full time computer geek like me.
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Honestly, the registry is no worse from an end-user POV than the /etc filesystem under Linux. In point of fact, given the diversity of file formats and sources in /etc, it's probably fair to say that the registry is equally navigable and understandable to the average Windows power user as the config tree is to a Linux fan. Because keys are typed and support ACLs, it's also arguably better-protected against accidental…
The main reason I hate the registry and much prefer /etc is that I can do `tar -czf backup.tar.gz /etc/*` and have a backup. I can also fix my machine if things are so bad I have to boot into single user mode. Scripts can easily look at system settings. On the plus side, the registry is more consistent; you don't have to figure out each program's config language. I think you can export pieces of the registry, and if…
regedit /e file.reg
restore the registry
regedit /c file.reg