A few weeks ago an “unofficial” preview release of windows XP SP3 hit the web. Now, Microsoft has responded and warned users of this preview package. “You would be well advised to stay clear of this FAKE SP3 package. It is NOT suitable for testing as it is NOT SP3.”
With WGA more and more people are going to be looking elsewhere for their Microsoft patches, security or otherwise.
?
Have you seen how easy it is to bypass WGA using just standard built in functionality of IE?
For an SP coming out *after* longhorn, I thought It’d be obvious that this was a fake.
Obvious is not a word really used on the internet :/
Wasn’t SP4 for 2000 released after XP?
Although I see your point, I just think there are exceptions to every rule, or in this case what “makes sense”.
A few weeks ago an “unofficial” preview release of windows XP SP3 hit the web.
And now microsoft decides to tell people! Huh typical of microsoft, next they will tell us windows 95 is out!!
Uh, Microsoft hasn’t publically issued anything yet. It looks like this was just one guy on a newsgroup warning people that “SP3” was really just a bunch of updates (some of them system-specific and potentially harmful) and not actually SP3.
Even worse! I rest my case!!!
Windows is a thing of the past anyways so who cares about stuff like that.
Windows is a thing of the past anyways so who cares about stuff like that.
Meh, 95% of the world disagrees with you
.
Thank you!
I am tired of all the Microsoft bashing. I own an apple mini, have a linux test server, and have a couple of partitions on my hard-drive that have various OSes (including Windows), so I’m not biased.
There is a market for everything…MS is a business. There are debates about the legality of thier practices, but I digress…
Windows is popular because it is useful and it works.[PERIOD] (Not to say that Linux doesn’t, but you get my point.)
These elitist comments just show immaturity.
Well, Microsoft bashing is popular of many different reasons. Some are bashing Microsoft in a sensible, mature way – and others are just bashing (and it looks stupid).
Personally I like bashing MS (poor OS seen from technical POW – as well as extremely unethical behaviour – but that’s business as usual), but I also give credit where it’s due. Win2K3 Server is very snappy, but the desktop still doesn’t work as one would expect it to (and this is true for all desktop environments I’ve seen so far).
Too many bugs, and some of these can be find in Gnome, KDE, OS/2, Mac OS X, BeOS and so on.
I wonder why there’s no truely mature desktop yet.
The short story is: There’s no perfect system.
“The short story is: There’s no perfect system.”
Too true.
Well put!!
I agree with you about all desktop systems coming up a bit short on one point or another.
I too would like to have a complete system that meets all my needs all of the time, but I think that is just a euphoric dream that will never come to fruition.
The hunt continues….
🙂
It is possible. It’s not that we don’t know what the desktop should do. The problem is it doesn’t do what we know it should do. It’s simply not being implemented.
Mac, Gnome, KDE, OS/2 and Windows all have issues in regard to printing. Drag and drop to printer just doesn’t work properly on any of these desktops.
I wonder if the filesystems in use perhaps are to be blamed? I really should write a paper on how to handle drag and drop to printer. But then, it must have been written already.
The implementation isn’t so much the problem, but the design; even Microsoft admits that in the heady days of the PC boom, they threw all the strict programming standards out the window and started bolting on features as they went rather than sitting back and think how the feature can be appropriately integrated into the operating system as part of a larger picture; even Alchlin acknowledged this environment, call himself a programmer from the old school (along with Cutler).
If the design is good, then its just a matter of putting it into practice; thats the easy part; know the language syntax and implement it.
As for GNOME, KDE and other operating systems; MacOS X got away with a good infrascture because alot of the work had already been done by NeXT – the framework was bloody brilliant, and core was fabulous, it was simply a matter of getting Carbon over and working.
For GNOME and KDE, it seems to be a never ending cycle of re-inventing the wheel for the sake of dogma and religious loyalties rather than simple praticality.
Exactally
“I am tired of all the Microsoft bashing”
I’m tired of evil people who try and f–k the majority with their lock in bullshit and the mindless clowns who support the evil people with their “hug thyself but exclude others” philosophy.
“Windows is popular because it is useful and it works.[PERIOD]”
Sorry you’re having a period this month, but Wintendo is popular because it’s been shoved on systems leaving the majority with no other choice to their knowledge. Its popularity has nothing to do with usefulness or how it works, troll.
There is a market for everything…MS is a business. There are debates about the legality of thier practices, but I digress…
There is no debate about the illegal nature of Microsoft’s business practices. Many court cases, including two by the government, have clearly established their illegal dealings. The only debate is in how MS should be punished. So far, that has only been to give them a slap on the wrist, or even less. Seriously, California “made” them give out coupons for money off your next MS purchase. That’s a punishment?!?
> Windows is a thing of the past anyways so who cares about stuff like that.
>> Meh, 95% of the world disagrees with you
.
And I’d say 90% of those users would disagree with you.
They don’t care about Windows. They don’t care about Linux. They just want whatever works. You really think they know (or care) about the next version of Windows coming out? Please.
I would say more like 98% of Windows users do not care what an OS is, and they are never going to be converted.
I got spyware on my PC ? OH well, I will click this website that says it will remove spyware for me. Then I can get back to my real work.
I got a virus ? No, I got an up-to-date virus scanner. Now can I get back to my real work?
I got a trojan ? No, I got a good firewall. Now I need to get some real work done.
WAIT, even that is wrong….
I got a virus/spyware/trojan ? What is that ?
What dort of computer do you have ? I have Windows !
Where is the Start button ?
So there you have it, even though the vast majority of computer users have Windows, they look at it as a tool. They use it because it does what they need, in a way in which they know how to do it.
I am an utter Linux fanboy, but, Linux needs these things;
1: A totally intuative DE that even noobs can understand.
2: Documentation written for people on the street. Remove the geekiness.
3: NO elitest attitude if someone asks for your help.
4: A willingness on YOUR part to do your bit !
I am an utter Linux fanboy, but, Linux needs these things;
1: A totally intuative DE that even noobs can understand.
2: Documentation written for people on the street. Remove the geekiness.
3: NO elitest attitude if someone asks for your help.
4: A willingness on YOUR part to do your bit !
I kind of see where you are coming from with this, but I think you are missing the point of Linux. As far as I can tell, Linux isn’t about taking over the desktop market and personally I wouldn’t want it to. I’m quite happy with the fact that Linux is a aimed at ‘geek’ users (however some DE’s are quite good for noob use). If Linux became the dominant desktop platform, it would also be the dominant virus/worm platform.
Despite my views on not wanting Linux to be popular on the desktop, I believe that a critical omission that is preventing widespread usage of Linux on the desktop is a technology similar to Microsoft’s Active Directory. For Linux to be a viable option in the corporate sector, it must be possible to manage 1000’s of machines with ease. No pretty user interface will ever win over corporations if it can be easily managed.
Despite my views on not wanting Linux to be popular on the desktop, I believe that a critical omission that is preventing widespread usage of Linux on the desktop is a technology similar to Microsoft’s Active Directory. For Linux to be a viable option in the corporate sector, it must be possible to manage 1000’s of machines with ease. No pretty user interface will ever win over corporations if it can be easily managed.
I am pretty sure that Novell ported their Directory Service to Linux… Furthermore, Redhat released something called Fedora Directory Server [1]. Now, I don’t know how it compared next to AD, but I believe that Linux is going alright in the business/corporate area. Many specializated applications are lacking, but they’re coming…
[1]: http://directory.fedora.redhat.com/
Personally, as network reliability increases, along with bandwidth, the days of the personal computer will eventually come to an end; soon you’ll see a fusion of the SUN vision. You’ll have a SUN Ray appliance at hope, you’ll pay your $30 to your local broadband provider, which will get you net access and a few gigs of local storage to store your documents on.
That same company also has an extensive WiFi network where by when you’re on the run with your laptop, it’ll only be a matter of putting up the antena and accessing your files via their webinterface or some other means, such as WebNFS – you’ll be able to do the same with mobile phones as they become like a morph between a PDA and phone.
In the end, the desktop will be a meaningless thing; those who wish to play games will simply go out and purchase a Playstation, XBox or Nintendo – its already happening today as people are opting out of a PC in favour of a laptop + a games console.
Network computer services commoditized like cell phone service? Guess it could happen; it’s easier and cheaper to get a cell phone than a landline in the Philippines. I’d just like to be sure my data is portable between providers.
“Thing of the past” which is used by more than 90% of all computer users today.
Aha.
Meanwhile, work on GoatseOS continues:
http://research.microsoft.com/os/goatseOS/throughthegates.jpg
Meh, 95% of the world disagrees with you
.
Yep that’s the herd who knows pratically zero of computers.
Ahah! I get it! You are so completely ordinary and boring a being that you’re looking desperately for something to differentiate yourself from the teeming masses.
Posessing no knowledge or skill of real value, you turn to (ahem) computer technology, and based on the fact that you think that your chosen toy^^^technology or ideology, you believe yourself now to be a superior being.
Well, too bad for you it’s all delusion, and you’re still the same sorry assed shit sandwhich you always were, albeit not a Windows using one.
Grow up kid.
do you feel better now.. Did that make YOU feel more superior..
friggin idiot.
“do you feel better now.. Did that make YOU feel more superior..”
Nope. But it shure was a full two minutes of fun!
–friggin idiot 😉
“shure” Heheh. I spell gud 😉
And besides, he was badmouthing a few hundred million people, wheras I just made a crack about one. Tit.
Haha Anonymous is right.
Yep that’s the herd who knows pratically zero of computers.
That 95% could care less about what OS the computer has. They go to the big box retailer, buy the PC with the OS pre-loaded, take it home, go to work. GNU/Linux, OS-X, Microsoft Windows XP, whatever, they don’t care and don’t need to care. They are more than happy to leave the arguing about what’s the best OS to the OS bigots.
Ahah! I get it! You are so completely ordinary and boring a being that you’re looking desperately for something to differentiate yourself from the teeming masses.
Lol.
Windows is popular because it was cheap at the right time and cornered the market.
If it was only about working and working well, we would all be running BeOS! 🙂
Nope, we would all be running OS/2, maybe dual booting between OS/2 and Linux, or OS/2 and BeOS
Microsoft deserves to be bashed in the same way and for the same reason that AOL does. The product may be “popular” (as in “used by a large number of people”) but that sure as hell doesn’t mean it’s any good, or that the company that makes it is particularly innovative or a good corporate citizen. I do believe that in the late ’90s Windows was the best OS out there, but today in 2005, it’s the worst. Most of the Baby Boomers (the Yahoo and email generation) are stuck in the ’90s and haven’t progressed beyond email, Windows and AOL, but for people who actually pay attention and keep up, Windows just isn’t doing it for us anymore. Windows now feels like the classic MacOS did in the ’90s, a relic from a previous decade that’s just plain dull to use.
Yet the relic can run the mathematics and engineering programs I need…
Some people have better things to do than checking emails, writing documents, watching videos and chatting. And for these people, the OS doesn’t matter: it’s the applications. Be elitist as you want, but that is the reality.
Yet the relic can run the mathematics and engineering programs I need…
Some people have better things to do than checking emails, writing documents, watching videos and chatting. And for these people, the OS doesn’t matter: it’s the applications. Be elitist as you want, but that is the reality
——————————————–
Only in your distored reality bub
As a student the OS really doesn’t matter, its support for applications, drivers, etc.
I do some simple stuff (write reports/etc) where both Windows and Linux would work… BUT windows has support for my Printers whereas Linux doesn’t.
Now, for more complex stuff. I tend to do some Architectural Stuff, and the AutoDesk Suite, not only works, but is easy. Now, if that would run on Linux, I might consider switching, but it doesn’t, and there are no free (as in beer or otherwise) equivs. that support linux.
As per hobbies, writing software. I can do everything I want with windows, PHP, MYSQL, C, Pascal, so. Its not his distorted reality, its well, the “real” reality…
And, maybe we should stay on topic next time…
Face it, folks. Windows is a sub-par OS, not matter how you slice it. It’s as holey as swiss cheese.
So what if 95% of the computing community uses it? That certainly doesn’t prove that it is worthy of its place. The plain fact is, most users don’t realize that there is a choice. Then, when they do, they’ve wrapped up so much dough in Microcrap Office and have become reliant on MS pseudo-standards that they won’t abandon ship.
So, get this. MS has purchased Giant AntiSpyware and will be offering a SUBSCRIPTION to its AntiVirus product. What’s wrong with this picture??? Shouldn’t the clowns over at MS be trying to solve the problem with their OS that allows these threats to wreak havoc on users’ machinces rather than treating symptoms with AntiVirus and Spyware tools? Hell no, because they can make money from the idiot users for these “utilities”. Why should they fix their OS?
But, alas, MS drones will continue to rationalize everything MS does.
Of course, sane people are using an alternative OS and realize that these rationalizations are just plain RIDICULOUS.
Take the alt-os dick out of your ass.
windows is subpar…what is linux? ops that’s right, even more than subpar.
Ooh, great argument there, bub!
It seems to me that a lot of these comments are off topic for the news item that was posted. This news item did not deal with any kind of comparison between Windows and Linux. It didn’t contain any reviews or benchmarks or anything that would put the two OS’s in competition. The news item simply dealt with the fact that the ‘pre-release’ SP3 packages that were ‘leaked’ were not genuine.
That being said I believe most of us here (more tech savvy individuals) probably wouldn’t have trusted the ‘pre-release’ packages anyway.
True XP sucks out of the box….but try some other progs and tweaks for streamlining XP and you will find out XP can run extremely fast! I was about to switch to Linux reluctantly because of the lack of various softwares I use, like video editors and games mainly, and then I stumbled on programs like nLite and projects like Mindows and MicrowinX and whooohoo! It is like XP reborn. No need to switch!
Windows isn’t at all innovative, the GUI is rather clumsy and unrefined and until Windows NT it was utterly pathetic compared with the alternatives. I don’t think Microsoft really deserve any credit for Windows. With all their resources and decades of work they’ve never managed to completely match alternative OSes like RISC OS, NeXTSTEP and BeOS that were created by much smaller companies.
Having said that, Windows 2000/XP really isn’t a bad OS, in my experience it’s stable and is at least as fast as a typical Linux or Mac OS X installation. Linux + KDE/GNOME suffers from at least as much complexity, kludge ridden design and bloat as Windows. For every Windows annoyance there’s a similar situation in Linux, such as having to mess about with config files and compiling software to get things working.
Then there’s the unmatched hardware and software availability for Windows, especially when compared with more obscure alternative OSes. After all, most of the time the user is working in an application, not messing with the OS. When working in an application the difference between the main modern OSes is pretty small, so things like the quality of available apps is one of the most important things.
I’m aware of the limitations of Windows and the potential advantages of other operating systems, but while I still have to replace hardware and downgrade some software to switch to a different OS I’ll stick with Windows.
Why people care about SP, i dont have SP1 or SP2 i never update my computer until a program request it, so then i download the Sp’s….
Sygate FW, Avast, Ad-Aware… No-more , No Less…
“i dont have SP1 or SP2 i never update my computer until a program request it”
Me neither. But then again, I hardly use Windows and it isn’t networked.
I think the important issue here is Windows xp has a fake sp3 preview package floating on the net. This might be of concern for atleast some people who like to download the latest fixes and test them. I personally think that windows xp sp3 has nothing to do with linux or mac os x, though I could be wrong.
How is can anyone be critical of linux for a fake windows xp sp3 pack is beyond me. Every operating system has an upside and a downside. All we have to do is choose one that benefits us. Some people find windows suitable for their needs and some find linux suitable. I find linux easy to use.
Microsoft has the games market for now, as soon as games will be as working on all linux’s and bsd’s, a major part of those 95% hurd will go over. IMHO quite a few has already gone over to other OS since Windows is crashing now and then too much and gets too full of viruses, worms and adware.
>> Windows is crashing now and then too much and gets too full of viruses, worms and adware.
Where do they find people like you?
It really wouldn’t kill you to develop some critical thinking skills. This involves the following:
* Stating your point
* Offering some evidence
Thanks.
– Microsoft Fanboy
the best,ultimate service pack for windoze is Linux or BSD*
have nice day!
If it’s a boring topic, nobody’s going to do it, and these be OSnews, there are many who will not be able to resist the opportunity at a good flame war. It’s tradition here.
jesus christ.
everytime i’ve looked at a windows/microsoft related article on this site i browse thru the comments, and its all linux roxors your boxors, windows sucks a$$. i mean seriously, who cares? oh i know tons of people will be replying go, oh well you should care, well the fact is i’ve tried alternative os’s, and i found windows to be the most convienent, there i said it, i’m sorry, but i don’t find it fun trying to get linux to recongose my video card for a couple of hours, admitidly i’ve never tried with my current card but all previous ones i’ve had, never managed to get all the features fully working
and i’m sorry that linux fanboys hate the way plug and play works in windows, and, woah, whats that, it wasn’t invented by the people who wrote linux? whats that, who was it made by? …. nah, i think someone found a description of it on one of the moon landings, oh, what? no i don’t care, 95% of windows users are proberbly happy, otherwise they would of complained, i know people who are geeks, and they pretend to like linux, but if u go over there house u’ll never find fully working linux distro, they always have to use windows because that always works for them, so what if it crashes from time to time, you can’t tell me linux doesn’t crash, i’ve seen it happen, it does happen! i know thats a shock but get over it