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Windows XP source code has leaked

gizmodo.com.au

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Re: Windows XP source code has leaked

#201

Post by HeadsUpHigh »

pizza234 wrote: post #116
matthewmacleod wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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 still have a desktop running windows XP that my parents refuse to upgrade, partially due to a piece of software licensed per computer that costs >300$. Thankfully chrome no longer opens half the websites so they are limited on the web side at least. 14+ years of service, the only times it blue screemed were due to hardware breaking down. Rock solid.

Re: Windows XP source code has leaked

#202

Post by bayindirh »

Gibbon1 wrote: post #199
bayindirh wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you provide a source? I love to read that kind of stuff.

I think it's a dead tree source. Might still have it.

Thanks! I like (reading) dead trees tho. I might find a copy or someone might have scanned it.

Edit: Comment made me look like an enemy of forests and trees so, clarified the situation.

Re: Windows XP source code has leaked

#203

Post by blablabla123 »

pizza234 wrote: post #116
matthewmacleod wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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…

> First, it was the first solid (in relative terms) consumer operating system from MS.

I used Windows 3.1 for years and I never had to reinstall it for stability reasons. At some point I also switched to XP and after 2 years it wouldn't boot anymore because of a blue screen appearing before the graphical interface would show up. That made the decision easy for me to use Linux exclusively - which I had on dual boot already for a considerable time.

To me Windows 95-XP were really frustrating to use since random parts of the system (CD-ROM, Word, Games...) would stop working at random times. Or for instance on Windows 95 sometimes the system would only boot if I opened and closed the (empty) CD tray.

At work I sometimes used Vista and 10, I think they are okay but macOS and Linux are far more fun.

Re: Windows XP source code has leaked

#204

Post by garaetjjte »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #155
asveikau wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Don't forget Windows 2003 Server in that list. That, to me, was the ultimate Windows. Had the XP stuff, but with the ugly theme disabled by default. Was super stable even compared to Windows 2000. Was lightweight. Only annoying thing was it came with sound disabled, but a few clicks in the Control Panel after installing, and you were golden.

And contrary to consumer versions, free trial was available!

Re: Windows XP source code has leaked

#205

Post by mysterydip »

bayindirh wrote: post #176
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…

> That was actually Windows 2000, based on the NT 4 code base. It was near perfect, given the era it was made in. I also remember Windows 2000 fondly. It was really really stable. Even if it looked like it's frozen like a polar ice cap (they weren't melting that bad back then), a short coffee break would give it enough time to normalize itself and continue like nothing happened. Should retry it in a VM sometime. :)

I actually ran a series of them in VMs for years because of their quick response and light resource usage, and they still ran all the stuff I needed. Loved that OS

Re: Windows XP source code has leaked

#208

Post by Jaruzel »

kasabali wrote: post #93
asveikau wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That doesn't prove anything. People said it was crap because it was. Then SP1 was released with 1+ year and it became pretty good. By SP3 it was rock solid because that's 7 years of bug fixes keeping other changes to minimum. That's what giving bugs does to software, no surprise here.

It's worth mentioning that WPA2 for WiFi doesn't work in XP unless you install SP3, regardless of the WiFi drivers you use.

As this leak is only XP SP1, it will be missing a lot of the bugfixes and upgrades that XP added by SP3 (and beyond).

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