Mind.random()

No offence. Being a programmer i understand how hard it is to develop and maintain a simple web application.  And creating an operating system is no child’s play. I fully understand.  But there are some compelling questions which come to my mind whenever i hear of the news about Windows 7.  Leave an offending note if you find my questions too naive.

What did Microsoft have in mind during the release of Vista?  That they could change the whole consumption pattern of the PC users?  “Vista has come out. Let’s sell all our hardware and buy new ones. Oh yes. Even the one you bought 2 weeks back”.  Wow. Didn’t they learn the Windows Me lesson –  a bad product will not be bought.

Windows 7, on the preview, looks exactly like Vista with the “Aero” look.  I am sorry. My mind maps “Aero” with “Slow”.  Microsoft claims that they have considerably reduced the size of the operating system to run on “lesser configured” machines.  WOW-Addition by subtraction!!!

As far as my understanding of the Windows OS is concerned, Windows is definitely not modularized.  History tells that, that is the reason they came up with the crappy idea called “registry”. If somebody tells me that Linux could work live from a floppy,  I won’t feel surprised.  But how can they just strip off things from a non-modularized heavyweight like Vista?  By pressing the “Delete” key? And don’t tell me that Windows 7 is not an extension of Vista but is a totally new operating system kernel and a whole new architecture.  It would sound like IE 7 is definitely not IE 6 because it has tabs.

I seriously doubt whether Windows 7 had the “being lightweight” goal during its planning stages.  It looks like it is a marketing strategy.  With Mac sales booming up and more people migrating to Linux or even worse downgrading to XP,  how are they going to retain their market share.  Lots of Corporate customers have already downgraded their OS to XP.  Heard that Windows has made a 4% loss on Vista sales.  Scoop news is this - Windows 7 was supposed to be released in 2010 and heard today that they are planning to release it in the mid 2009. Pre-release in the history of Microsoft? Unbelievable. I hope you all remember the wait time for Vista after the scheduled release date.

Gadgets all over the desktop instead of the side bar (like Mac), the new touch interface (like apple products), virtual disks (like Solaris) and of course “Linux” like stability — all these doesn’t sound something new.  Has Microsoft totally lost creativity? Isn’t this the same house that popularized the WIMP?

Surprisingly, I saw somebody comparing SnowLeopard with Windows 7.  Must be Steve Balmer.

In my opinion, Microsoft had their chance and they blew it up. Period.

Never thought it is that easy…

Tags: hack

I accidentally came across this wonderful and short article on why Linux filesystem doesnt need defragmentation.  Is ext2/reiserfs/all other filesystems available for linux realy superior to FAT/NTFS?

Why Linux performs better than Windows? 

Tags: linux

“I hope you realise that windows is more than just Office ? Its a whole system that runs the computer from start to finish, and that is a very difficult thing to acheive. A lot of people dont realise this.”

“Microsoft just spent $9 billion and many years to create Vista, so it does not sound reasonable that some new alternative could just snap into existence overnight like that. It would take billions of dollars and a massive effort to achieve. IBM tried, and spent a huge amount of money developing OS/2 but could never keep up with Windows.”

“Apple tried to create their own system for years, but finally gave up recently and moved to Intel and Microsoft.”

Confused whose quotes are these?

This is the comment given by this guy on this article.

And he talked this on this page.

“It wont be long until Windows XP is no longer supported, and when that happens, what is Linux going to do ?

Linux will have to find a way to work under Vista from here on, since it wont be able to rely on XP being readily available anymore.

Linux may seem like a good alternative to Office, but all that is happening in linux is that the windows interface is cleverly hidden away. It still needs the drivers and software services in order to run, and in most cases - that happens WITHOUT a valid windows licence.

This is just plain piracy.”

If you wanted to roll the floor laughing, then just read digger’s comments on his “quotes”

Tags: fun, linux

You’ll be able to ignore most viruses
Each time the Windows community gets up in arms about the next big virus that is circulating around the globe, you can go about your business on your Mac without really worrying. However, you do have to be careful to not forward on infected files from one Windows user to another.

People will help you for no reason
Other Mac owners are usually fairly willing to help you get up and running on the Mac. This may be self-serving on their behalf, because it helps sell more Mac stuff which in turn justifies their investment in a company with less than 10% market share, but it’s still a perk.

You’ll have some “ah-ha” moments
From time to time you’ll be pleasantly surprised because the Mac will do something that you completely didn’t expect, because you’re used to how Windows would do things. For instance, you put a picture into the Address Book, and it appears automatically in iChat and then on your phone.

Keyboard shortcuts will drive you nuts
I spent years honing the craft of keyboard shortcuts on Windows, to the point where it was mostly muscle memory pressing the keys for me. On the Mac, it seems like there are two or three different ways that the various shortcuts are implemented, and it drives me nuts to this day.

You’ll regret your purchase, but you’ll get over it
You’ll have a few moments where you really, really wish you had purchased that Dell laptop for $399, and you’ll seriously consider taking the Mac back to the store, but eventually you’ll get over it and wonder what the hell you were thinking.

You’ll spend more money than with Windows
From the initial hardware purchase, to software, to more frequent OS upgrades, you’ll likely end up spending more money than someone with a Windows box - but you’ll find you often get good value for your extra money. And Apple will keep coming out with new shiny objects that you really, really want to have.

You’ll generally sell your used Mac for a decent price
Apple computers tend to retain their value better in the used marketplace. Even a two-generations-back non-Intel laptop will sell for $250-300 on craigslist.

>>read all points

Tags: Apple, mac