correct me if i am wrong, but don't windows XP/2000 and windows 7 both use significant parts of the NT kernel, and aren't they the best OSs MS offers?
You are correct my good man. Came here to say YOU ARE USING NT.
It's time to bring back Windows NT
21–30 of 35 posts
Re: It's time to bring back Windows NT
#22"Tech old-timers like myself fondly remember Windows NT and all it stood for"
This is just rose tinted glasses really.
Remember all the "there must be a better way" conversations that were rampant in the NT3/4 eras. If you're in any doubt, pick up any old IT magazine of the 90s and remind yourself what we were concerned about. Things that Windows 8 does in its stride: hardware compatability, backups, speed - these are distant memories these days.
Usability was a bigger problem then than now. Fewer people in general had any idea about computers - how many can recall a first hand experience of a new-start talking into the mouse as a microphone (or similar caper).
Re: It's time to bring back Windows NT
#23I know a few old time Windows IT people, when they mention NT it's usually in the same sentence as a cuss word.
Well it's kind of double edged, there where a lot of people who where forced to move from Unix workstations to NT because it supported some windows apps and companies wanted to standardize on Windows. Those people generally cuss the advent of NT. On the other hand people that where forced to try to maintain a all Windows shop with only 3.11 and 95 hailed it as a saving grace as trying to serve a Workgroup from 95 or 3.11 was an exercise in frustration so was any serious workstation type work.
Re: It's time to bring back Windows NT
#24correct me if i am wrong, but don't windows XP/2000 and windows 7 both use significant parts of the NT kernel, and aren't they the best OSs MS offers?
The actual version numbers:
2000: NT 5.0
XP: NT 5.1
Vista: NT 6.0
7: NT 6.1
8: NT 6.2Re: It's time to bring back Windows NT
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
For a long time, NT stood for "Not Tested". Remember that Windows NT used to crash after 49.71 days when the uptime counter overflowed. Most people never noticed this because the server would crash for other reasons long before that.
It was windows "No Thanks" in my circles. But win 2000 was a gem - I liked it much more than XP back in the day.
This is like reminiscing over days that seemed better but probably weren't. NT was fine, though I did get more bsods with it than I did with OS/2 during the time I used it. Wrote a lot of fun code using Windows 95 and 2000, but wrote a lot of fun stuff using DOS as well. Made about the same money with all of them.
Re: It's time to bring back Windows NT
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
It was windows "No Thanks" in my circles. But win 2000 was a gem - I liked it much more than XP back in the day.
Win2k was as good as Microsoft got. Reliable, stable, functional. Happily that was the last Windows platform I developed for.
Apart from the fact you had to reboot to change just about anything and there was no USB support, it wasn't bad for the era.
Stable where MacOS at the time was anything but, with the no-nonsense Windows 95 theming. As far as a desktop operating system, it was a pretty good package.
You didn't have the command-line tooling of Linux, but at least you could install it on your computer without having to dive into X configuration hell.
Re: It's time to bring back Windows NT
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you think OSX is based on?
I wouldn't use OSX in an enterprise either. For almost exactly the same reasons.
What's wrong with OS X in the enterprise?
Many large companies have ended up with large installations because of a choose-your-own-laptop policy.
Re: It's time to bring back Windows NT
#28"Tech old-timers like myself fondly remember Windows NT and all it stood for" This is just rose tinted glasses really. Remember all the "there must be a better way" conversations that were rampant in the NT3/4 eras. If you're in any doubt, pick up any old IT magazine of the 90s and remind yourself what we were concerned about. Things that Windows 8 does in its stride: hardware compatability, backups, speed - these ar…
If when you started your career, Windows NT was the shiny new thing, then maybe you would remember it fondly. You wouldn't know any better.
For me, Windows NT was like some kind of joke that nobody understood, instead taking it as a serious server platform even though it had uptimes usually measured in hours or, if you were really lucky, days. I'm pretty sure server admins at the time would be seeing Blue Screens of Death in their nightmares.
Re: It's time to bring back Windows NT
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Win2k was as good as Microsoft got. Reliable, stable, functional. Happily that was the last Windows platform I developed for.
Apart from the fact you had to reboot to change just about anything and there was no USB support, it wasn't bad for the era. Stable where MacOS at the time was anything but, with the no-nonsense Windows 95 theming. As far as a desktop operating system, it was a pretty good package. You didn't have the command-line tooling of Linux, but at least you could install it on your computer without having to dive into X confi…
Pretty sure Win2k did have USB support, though you may have needed to install a SP.
Re: It's time to bring back Windows NT
#30Nostalgia for a time that never existed doesn't bring the world to a better place. It certainly doesn't help the state of technology.