Posts by Pompous Git 3087 publicly visible posts • joined 24 Sep 2014
The only recourse here for those who really know hardware is to change the motherboard serial number to match the old one.
Wrong. You phone MS for a new activation code. I have done this several times when my hardware has changed. MoBo included. Then there's the excellent utility Windows.Loader by DAZ.
hmmm.... that's not how I remember things.
Please note that I didn't write that they gave all copies away. A lot depends on time and place. Here in Oz I've scored Visual Basic 3*, CorelDRAW! 8, Corel Word Perfect for Linux, NT 4 Server and a full Back Office Server for doing nothing other than turn up to a MS Tech Briefing. The samosas and coffee were free too. It's also worth noting that these were just the software; no documentation so benefiting Tim O'Reilly. For chump change, I scored Win95 including the Plus Pack, a Win95 T-shirt and silly hat, Small Business Server 4 and too much other stuff to mention.
Some of the freebies might seem a bit strange for MS to be giving away. These were from briefings given by Tech Pacific about MS corporate licensing. Very boring and irrelevant to my business of training computer users, but worth it for the freebies and excellent breakfast. And music. I first heard Portishead at one such bash.
* This was actually scored by a friend who went to a developer bash and given to the Gitling for his 9th birthday. By the time he wanted to learn C++, he was given an NFR of Visual Studio.
If it aint broke, don't try and fix it.
To the average user, there is zero 'need' to upgrade.
And there's the rub. MS have effectively broken Win7 and are offering Win10 as the fix. I'm finding the average user is perfectly happy with Cinnamon Mint as the fix. As is the local computer fixit dude who does these things for a living.
Actually, I think the thing I miss most when moving from a *nix desktop to a Win desktop is the simple copy'n'past, ie drag and highlight, then middle click to copy. No need to ctrl-c/ctrl-v (which also works, of course)
What I miss is the right click context menus when using a Mac, something I do rarely. Happily *nix has those useful right click context menus. I'd quite forgotten the middle button trick. Thanks for reminding me.
you should expect to pay for the creation of the various drivers and other development effort that ensured the same OS will work exactly the same on a totally different piece of hardware
Surely MS are colluding with hardware makers to force users to purchase new hardware by not providing drivers for existing hardware. Thinking of a friend's vinyl sign-cutter here and the transparency scanner I have that works under XP, but not under Vista or later.
I mean 48hours to copy a few files on USB3 when USB1 could transfer that much data much faster.
I feel your pain ;-) Dunno about W10, but I use Beyond Compare and my license covers Win, OS X and Linux. You can purchase individual licenses too. Before that I used to use robocopy (since NT 4), but no doubt that's been removed from W10 as well "for our convenience".
You'll be wanting winsock.dll ...got it on a floppy 'round here somewhere...
"As a gesture of good will, Peter Tattam, the sole copyright owner of Trumpet Winsock, has also issued an amnesty on any copyright infringement by all users (individual and corporate) of Trumpet Winsock indefinitely for use prior to Jan 2011. He does however reserve all other rights in the copyright of Trumpet Winsock."
The latest version supports IPv6 and if you feel so inclined, you can support Peter Tattam's good work even if you didn't do so when his Winsock was virtually essential.
Like you I'm retired so I don't need that sort of thing.
It's my firm intention to publish another couple of books, so I will be using InDesign and Win7 for that. I also transcribe music from tape and vinyl using Goldwave. I've been using the latter for nearly two decades and since it works extremely well and doesn't run under Wine (despite claims to the contrary) will also require Win7 for the foreseeable. Apart from that, *nix is fine for just about anything I can think of. That's assuming I can find a *nix DVD player that doesn't barf over stupid copy protection schemes.
... when MS released 3.11 (Windows for Workgroups). While the Truetype* scaleable font technology had been introduced with Win3.1, WfW introduced networking. Previously you needed a product like Novell's NetWare to network computers. Further, Netware charged big dollars for its TCP/IP stack and WfW included one for free.
* Prior to this you needed to build individual fonts or you used Adobe Type Manager and Postscript fonts. The former was much cheaper, but excruciatingly slow; the latter was eye-wateringly expensive. Further, Win3.0 was very limited in the number of fonts you could install.
but it's taken quite some time for MS to realise that things like multiple virtual desktops are much more useful features than smartphone/tablet like tiled desktop menus.
Windows has actually had API support for virtual desktops since NT 4, but there’s no user interface for it. You need a tool to enable it and those have been available for time out of mind as they say.
Remember how Windows 3.0 changed the rules for MS-DOS applications, and EVERYBODY scrambled to "get on board" ?
Er... no actually. Most commentards and programmers at the time referred to Windows 3.0 as a nine day wonder. The world of business computing was always going to be DOS. In referring to the time BillG recalled that even though MS were giving away the SDK for free (IBM were charging ~$US1,000 for the OS/2 SDK), there was a dearth of programmers interested in writing software for Windows. So he put together a team to write what was to become MS Office and as BillG put it: "They had no choice".
I can't say I have anything against Macs, really. After all, they're Unix underneath. It's just the price. I wouldn't even say I couldn't afford one if I really wanted one, it's just that there's good enough cheaper elsewhere and always better things to do with spare cash.
That depends to a large extent on what you need a computer for. If, for example, you're into full time publishing, then you're most likely going to be running Adobe InDesign. That only runs on Windows or OS X. As is being discussed here, to continue running that on Win7 requires a constant battle with MS. Since engaging in that battle requires time, and time is money, then it's a no-brainer to run your business on OS X. The extra cost of the hardware is far less than the cost of doing battle with MS.
And DR-DOS had worked around it by then.
Remarkably prescient considering that Windows 286/386 were the current versions when I purchased DR DOS, because MS refused to sell its DOS (3.x) at retail. Dunno about Lotus or Word Perfect. I was running Quattro Pro and Sprint. I do remember lots of complaints from Lotus customers because there was a limit on the number of times you could install 123 and you had to keep the floppy in the disk drive so you needed a two floppy machine to run it.
Actually, from my recollection, no previous Windows version seems to have triggered this amount of ire. In fact I don't think all the previous versions put together have done so...
As an ex-MS Certified Professional and half of a Certified Solution Provider (aka MS Shill according to the Linuxen) and recent convert to Cinnamon Mint (11 months ago) I agree. Wholeheartedly and with great conviction.
After 5 years of what is arguably the best Windows ever, MS decided to make using a Win7 machine as unpleasant as possible. While the last 11 months running Mint haven't been completely smoo, fixing the occasional gotchas has been far easier than even the minor issues that Win7 presented. So I'm rather more grateful than angry. So it goes...
VLC and smplayer can cope with any multimedia file you throw at it.
Yesterday it was snowing, so Mrs Git said: "Let's watch a video". VLC on Mint 18 crashed when attempting to play my "Do Not Adjust Your Set"* DVD. After extracting the video with DVDFab running in Win7 inside a VMWare virtual machine, it played the now "pirated" video fine. Not quite as smoo as it used to be when the machine was Win7 running Windows Media Centre, but then MS decided for whatever reason they didn't want me to be able to run WMC.
* Yes, I know "Do Not Adjust Your Set" was a kiddies' TV show, but it's still very funny even after all these many years.
I told HP that I didn't want Windoze, but they insisted that I couldn't have the computers unless I took their pre-loaded crapware.
I take it you didn't say: "Well I'll just have to place my order with Dell then"? It might have saved you a lot of faffing around.
[Aside] As far as crapware goes, I was pleasantly surprised by its absence when I purchased my ASUS Zenbook with Win7. [/Aside]
windows 10 is actually significantly better than windows 7, is it different yes...
Significantly better because it doesn't have Windows Media Centre, so you can no longer watch TV? Significantly better because it pops up a dialog box every few minutes complaining about a "graphics issue"? Significantly better because there's no longer an HCL to decide which video adaptor might work with W10? And what the fuck does "it made learn have to learn stuff" mean?
Microsoft is going to introduce a monthly subscription fee for Windows 10 usage (Windows 10 Enterprise E3). The cost will be $US7 per user per month. The good news is it only applies to enterprises, for now. That's $US84 per year. Presumably when consumers become charged monthly the cost will be higher.
I find Mint 18 LTS even better.
While my main machine remains on 17.3, the entertainment machine is now running 18 and it has solved a minor problem I was having with my ASUS U5 external sound card. Oddly, while Mint 18 has no problem with the UEFI BIOS on that machine in secure boot mode, Win 7 does. Go figure...
If you work in IT you become very cynical about upgrades.
Indeed. Which is why, even in retirement, we install them on a machine that isn't essential to what we use computers for. Even though the testbed for Win10 was my main desktop machine, my Zenbook was prepped for a holiday we were about to take nearly a year ago. Win10 generated repeated messages about a "graphics problem". Searching for the MS HCL drew a blank. How the fuck do you decide what video adapter to purchase as a replacement when there's no HCL?
That's when I installed Mint on three out of the four computers in regular use in the Git household. Mrs Git still prefers Win 7, but MS haven't attempted to fuck with that install maybe because it's on a Macbook that dual boots OS X.
f you're referring to the OS then I can only recall perhaps half-a-dozen BSODs on NT-family Windows in the last 25 years, and those were all due to physically failing hardware or dodgy drivers (usually ones produced by graphics vendors who had a choice between benchmarks and correctness).
Pretty much my experience, except...
I had a core solo Toshiba laptop that would immediately BSOD (and only BSOD) after XP SP3 was installed. It ran Win7 reliably for several years and was sold on to a friend. When Win7 started behaving badly a few months ago, I upgraded it to Mint 17.3. Runs like a charm. So I suspect it was something to do with SP3, rather than a hardware issue.
Electric charging for the masses needs a MASSIVE upgrade of the entire grid.
Or for every electric vehicle owner to own a small coal-fired (because it's cheaper than diesel) electricity generator for their transport needs. Might even be able to get a government subsidy program going to fund them ;-)
Is there any concerted push by MS to ensure (for example) that Adobe doesn't port its applications to Nix?
No idea, but Adobe ported FrameMaker to Linux many years ago. I was a beta tester. It was a very decent word processor and page layout tool. When the beta timed out, I went back to PageMaker on Windows. Adobe certainly have the expertise.
I think it was Dell that had an option for Linux preinstalled on one of its laptops instead of Windows, yet the computer with the free OS cost more than the MS one!
Some people would rather complain than do things for themselves of course. You can purchase Dell sans Windows and install the OS of your choice. Why pay Dell to install Linux?
I was shocked when the "genius" at the local Apple store quoted me $AU200 to replace the dead hard drive in my Mac Mini (the drive was extra). I purchased a replacement drive for half the price and it took me all of 20 minutes to replace the drive and that included finding a video how-to and a paint scraper from the shed.
There's no need to be defensive and slag off other platforms - Windows isn't going away any time soon. Those who love it can still enjoy it and for those who don't there are an ever increasing number of great alternatives available.
Indeed! Why make a strait-jacket for yourself?
Windows 10 is much better than Windows 8 and 8.1, and is much faster than Windows 7 on multi-core machines.
Yes, it's very much faster. Especially on the machine I had dedicated to watching television. Without that pesky Windows Media Centre hogging all those cpu cycles, the computer is very definitely fasterer. It doesn't do very much other than be fast, but if that's what floats your boat, why don't you try compiling your own Linux kernel with Gentoo? That's free too.
Speed's not so important to me though, so I'll stick with Mint and just watch a bit of TV and listen to some music :-)
I dual boot and run W7 on my desktop, but the lappy is permanently Mint only. I spend hardly any time in W7 these days.
While my optometrist was running the fundus camera via XP in a VM on OSX, he appeared to be running W7 in a VM on his lappy. He mentioned several Linux distros that I might find interesting in the more restricted environment of my lappy.
Of course the downvoter of my earlier comment would no doubt splurge a six figure sum on a new fundus camera to keep MS happy rather than turn a far less expensive, older machine to good use.
Yesterday The Git had his biennial eye test. His optometrist has retired and been replaced by a franchise. The new optometrist used all the "latest" automated gear before a final check with glass. The Git noted that the software was running on WinXP and the optometrist pointed at the Mac Mini where it's running on a VM. After the receptionist's computer had been pwned by MS, it seemed safer to do that rather than risk continuing to run Win7. He said that luckily the software running in reception continued working, but the software that came with the hardware is non-upgradeable.
There are a few bits not provable there either. Think of prime numbers for example.
Easy enough to determine whether any given number is prime or not although tedious for very large numbers. And there are several proofs that there is an infinite number of primes.
I would have thought Kurt Gödel's incompleteness theorems would be a better example.
Hey WiFi is energy passing through our body, how can it not do something
I don't think anybody is suggesting that EM radiation from WiFi (and mobile phones for that matter) don't do "something". If I were you, I'd worry more about neutrons from radioactive substances such as potassium in bananas and potatoes (K40) and radium in brazil nuts. Come to think of it, there's C14 in everything that has been alive within the last 50,000 years or so. Maybe you should only eat stuff that died at least 50,000 years ago.
She is called Dr because she has a doctorate not because she is a medic
True, but it is a doctorate in medical research. Perhaps you missed that.
FWIW, long before the program she did on statins, The Git was prescribed statins by a doctor at the Royal Hobart Habattoir. When obtaining a second opinion from a specialist cardiologist, The Git was told taking statins when you don't need them was irrational. Heart disease has many causes, not just above average cholesterol in the blood.
Worth a read:
Statins and All-Cause Mortality in High-Risk Primary Prevention
the absence of prior convincing data for all-cause mortality has led some researchers to question the benefits of statins among individuals without a history of CHD, including Abramson et al who stated that “in some subgroups statins cause serious unrecognized harm, which negates the beneficial effects if the benefit is small—ie, most primary prevention settings.”
It's a science show, right?
About as "scientific" as the Science Show.
What if I told you pedophilia is good for children, or that asbestos is an excellent inhalant for those with asthmatics, or that smoking crack is a normal part and a healthy one of teenage life, to be encouraged? You’d rightly find it outrageous, but there have been similar statements coming out of inexpert mouths, distorting the science. These distortions of science are far from trivial, our neglect of what may be clear and urgent problems could be catastrophic and now a professor of psychology at UWA has shown what he says is the basis of this unrelenting debauchery of the facts…
[Robyn Williams, on The Science Show, Saturday 24 November 2012]
Needless to say there have never been any such statements.
the Clintstones are well known to have shredded a bunch of documents at the Rose Law firm related to Whitewater... (according to actual testimony from a courier in 1994). "What evidence?" Exactly!
That's all very well, but it's a damn sight easier to shred paper documents and hope that there are no existing photocopies than it is to delete every copy of an email. This is where Phil Jones (CRU) and his pals came unstuck. FOIA (whoever he/she/it is) had taken the precaution of backing them up or copying an existing backup.
A genuine conspiracy theory here would be a man in the middle attack on what is described as "an insecure server" from the NSA for example. Never mind the Norks, Russians, al Qaeda, Uncle Tom Cobbley... Whoopsie! I wan't supposed to mention Uncle Tom. How embarrassing!
But we've left reason far behind, haven't we?
Much to The Git's amusement, Australia's climastrologists were so successful in their claim that "the science is settled", that their employer (CSIRO) sacked most of them. Why fund research where none is needed?
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