[olug] Vista is AMAZING!!!!

[Neal R]

  This is why I don't run Windows ...


Aaron Grothe wrote:
> Hey All,
>
> As part of a project I'm starting I need to port a piece of software
> to a Microsoft Windows Box.  This is also when my second to last
> e-machine box has decided to go on to the great beyond 4 out of 5
> dead!
>
> I thought about building a box and getting an OEM version of Windows
> XP.  I haven't bought a box like the normal people do for a while so
> I decide why not see how far its come in the last couple of years.
>
> So I buy a Compaq with the following Specs
>
> Dual Core AMD 3800+ CPU
> 1 Gigabyte of Ram
> 200 Gig SATA hard Drive
> Windows Vista Home Premium
> Nvidia 6150??? GPU
>
> This is the most powerful box I have EVER bought.  It is at least
> twice as powerful as my last workstation.
>
> I open the box:
>
> o - No install discs, not even the classic system image CDs
> o - Pretty straightfoward, except for no parallel printer port or
> serial ports
>
> I boot the box
>
> o - It asks me to create an account.  It then takes over 10 minutes
> to "optimize my windows experience".  I rebooted twice because it
> gave me absolutely no idea what it was doing.
> o - After cutting my own system image restore discs, which I can only
> do ONCE I let Norton activation and the system updates fight it out
> for a while
> o - With no apps running I'm already up to 780Mb used!!!
> o - So after a bunch of updates I reboot
> o - Allow/Deny confirmations for everything are great.  I get asked
> for about 10 times to setup my machine
>
> Now I'm on boot #2
>
> o - The time for the box to boot is about 120 seconds, which is
> amazing - plus 30 seconds to login as a user
> o - I fire up Internet explorer to discover that Compaq has sold my
> toolbar space to Yahoo and anybody else who will pay for it
> o - With the raw amount of adware/spyware/bloatware on this machine. 
> I'm surprised they aren't able to give it away for free
> o - I decide to uninstall some of the software such as AOL and the
> like.  Guess what they're not in the program listing.  Ha! Ha! Ha!
> You can delete the Icon, but the love is always going to be there. 
> Unless you use msiinv to work get real access to the underlying
> packages if they actually used a package
> o - To verify something isn't wrong with the box I boot into Knoppix
> 5.1.1 to make sure everything is Ok.  The machine sings in way it
> never will again, until I buy my next Vista box and repurpose this
> one to be my Linux box
> o - If you're like me and I know I am.  You probably have an html
> file you have on your desktop with links you hit frequently.  Well
> know you're going to go to allow/deny every time you hit one, because
> they are in different zones
> o - I decide I'd like to be able to print from my Windows box.  I've
> got a HP 4050 N with a jet direct card.  Everything I have can print
> from it, the only box I had problems with was XP because it didn't
> like a real network printer, since it was home edition.  I let Vista
> search my network for a printer.  I'm pretty excited, it takes about
> 5 minutes.  Maybe its finding a printer I forgot about :-)  Nope. 
> NaDa.  So I give it the IP and work through a wizard.  It works. 
> Yea!!!  Printing to a network printer in Vista is now as easy as it
> was in Linux about 3 years ago :-)
>
> I can only conclude the following:
>
> o - When Vista is the only Microsoft Windows Option for OEMs you will
> begin to see an adoption of Linux that is higher than ever
> o - Vista is the single largest step back I've ever seen Microsoft
> take, largely because you have no choice.  ME was a choice, this
> really isn't
> o - If this is Premium I shudder to think what the poor bastards who
> got Vista basic are going through
> o - If you have to dual boot, hang onto Windows XP for as long as you
> can.   
> o - If you use Linux get ready for company, because a whole lot of
> people are going to be coming our way :-)
>
> I'm honestly thinking of seeing if I can get the project running
> under Wine so I can truly take advantage of this new box.
>
> Regards,
>
> Aaron
> 0-0-0
> "The Journey is the Reward" - Old Zen Buddhist Saying
>
>
>  
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