Comments on exo.blog: What Intel Giveth, Microsoft Taketh Away

I wasn't going to 'break the ice', but since linux...

2008-11-26T19:51:00.000+04:00

I wasn't going to 'break the ice', but since linux has been mentioned already, I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents' worth.

Puppy is indeed fast and lightweight, and even contains on the LiveCD applications to suit almost all 'normal' users. But, what's even better (or worse - for Vista) is that there is a version of Puppy linux that is made to look and act similar to Vista, has Compiz

This is really interesting--good work. I was surp...

2008-06-06T07:38:00.000+04:00

This is really interesting--good work. I was surprised that different RAM sizes made so little difference though, and I think it might have been because of the test methodology. Limited RAM makes a real computer slower because of paging, because the physical disk is at least thousands of times slower than RAM. However, if the host had significantly more RAM than the VM does, when paging hits

My computer doesn't meet the system requirements f...

2008-03-07T06:58:00.000+04:00

My computer doesn't meet the system requirements for Vista, and XP does everything I need, so I don't see any reason to ever buy it. Heck, my father still uses a computer with Windows 95 - it boots up fast and he uses it for internet access without any problem.

As for word processing, I tried using the free trial version of Word 2007 for a month, but was glad to get back to 2002. It was

My Vista machine running FreeDos is blazing, so I'...

2008-02-28T15:44:00.000+04:00

My Vista machine running FreeDos is blazing, so I'm not sure the XP to Vista speed comparison means anything.

Now to say XP runs all my applications and stores my data reliably and is faster than Vista, that is applicable. I'm sure this is how you mean it. The whole XP speed comments though get to me since it's really about the applications and how well they run on our machines.

well, a ex vista machine running xp and office 200...

2008-02-28T08:42:00.000+04:00

well, a ex vista machine running xp and office 2003 is pretty fast. just to through that in.

Running:
AMD Turion X2 Tl-58
2GB RAM

While I agree in premise to the text file comments...

2007-12-21T03:14:00.000+04:00

While I agree in premise to the text file comments, Windows 3.1 had them, the XML formatting is new for Windows at least. Since I've been working in Unix for 12 years I too am familiar with such technology in Linux. At least the flat file text is more advanced than VMS/Mainframe tech.

My main point in all of this is that bigger is not always better, and newer isn't necessarily new, i.e

Gary,Flat-file plain-text configuration files aren...

2007-12-20T21:18:00.000+04:00

Gary,
Flat-file plain-text configuration files aren't a Brand New Microsoft Innovation. That's how Linux configuration has always been done. I have a bunch of hidden directories, one for each application, in my home drive that for the most part contain plain text files of the configuration. Enlightenment window manager isn't plain text in there, though, and I think that's really stupid.

Random Stuff,I don't think advancing software is t...

2007-12-20T16:24:00.000+04:00

Random Stuff,

I don't think advancing software is the issue, but it's how it is advancing. Using old mainframe technology, i.e. shadow files, and the like is not advancing technology.

Some of the original ideas Microsoft had to Vista were cool. Get rid of the registry and use XML to handle configurations. Not only does it make maintenance far easier, and the applications load

Isn't the whole point to develop software that use...

2007-12-18T22:39:00.000+04:00

Isn't the whole point to develop software that uses all of my computer's processing power?

I mean, sure I could install Win3.1 on my laptop and have it run like the wind, but some of us actually do like things that look nicer and work better.

Besides, if you really want an absurdly fast but graphically depressing text editor, I'm pretty sure that wordpad is still in there

In response to Gary, I have to say that you appear...

2007-11-26T21:46:00.000+04:00

In response to Gary, I have to say that you appear quite fortunate and have a very optimistic view of the IT Industry as a whole.

Regarding the 'Green' uptake you could check out this interview about the issue.

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2007/11/09/green-centre-hot-air

It poses some good counter-points, despite being on the Inq...

Honestly, the hardware industry can force the issu...

2007-11-25T18:48:00.000+04:00

Honestly, the hardware industry can force the issue via the new "green" paradigm. We are seeing Intel do some of this already. Multi-core CPUs using less power, but running faster, solid state drives etc.

If business are given a choice of hardware that uses 30% less power, or more bloatware, they will go for the savings, simple economics. Then the software will follow because

Honestly, the hardware industry can force the issu...

2007-11-25T18:47:00.000+04:00

Puppy Linux on Core 2 Extreme, SMP kernel, and ...

2007-11-19T23:41:00.000+04:00

Puppy Linux on Core 2 Extreme, SMP kernel, and init 3, ROCKS!!

Enough said!

"Won't an Uber-geek write DX10 for Linux and save ...

2007-11-19T20:57:00.000+04:00

"Won't an Uber-geek write DX10 for Linux and save the world ?"
Another lucrative option would be game devs starting to use OpenGL more (here's to id Tech 5?).

"Everyone loves to bash Microsoft"
I don't hate Microsoft, I hate big fat slow awkward software. (I also hate it when tooltips frequently pop BELOW the taskbar. But I guess tooltips-above-taskbar is a Vista

Talk about CPU utilization, threads and memory hog...

2007-11-19T18:31:00.000+04:00

Talk about CPU utilization, threads and memory hogging are great, but for me, it comes down to one thing: user experience.

I work in IT, and if my users have a slower experience, without vastly increased feature set or enhancements, they won't be happy. Thus, we won't be considering Vista, until it is absolutely necessary.

symbolset hit the nail on the head, when he said Word

This is the complete opposite of what the Apple co...

2007-11-19T17:38:00.000+04:00

This is the complete opposite of what the Apple computers are doing. Same hardware goes faster with new OS. Have you tried running Vista on a P3 ... Ya right!

As a software developer (Windows only) I'm very ha...

2007-11-19T14:36:00.000+04:00

As a software developer (Windows only) I'm very happy that every version of anything that MS does is slower than its predecessor.
That's when my company can start selling our own software, properly built, always tested in a P2-300mhz with 128Mb before sent to any customer.
(and to whoever started the discussion about the Wintel term, can't you just see that's not the point of the article?)

It just fits with our disposible attitude to every...

2007-11-19T12:34:00.000+04:00

It just fits with our disposible attitude to everything in this world. If we DEMANDED that software got MORE efficient (not less) so a PC "seemed" more useful for a few years longer, people wouldn't be on the upgrade path. I can't see it in Wintel's interests that this happens. Heck, I still play with my 8-bit Atari and it seems fast to me for some things..... The HP laptop I'm working on now I

I felt the article lost credit when reading the sp...

2007-11-19T11:36:00.000+04:00

I felt the article lost credit when reading the specs used, windows XP RTM in my opinion was certianly noticebly more bloated than windows 2000 mainly because of themes. When I first used windows 2000 I had 256meg of ram but upgraded to 512 before I stopped using it, I moved to windows xp with 512 ram and upgraded my ram twice over the years and now have 2 gig of ram. Vista when the day comes I

I totally agree with the article. I'm no computer...

2007-11-19T09:42:00.000+04:00

I totally agree with the article. I'm no computer expert, but the trend of "more power, so fatter code" is ridiculous.
About Office: For me, the specific numbers are not important, the bottom line is: why can't I have a simple program to do simple tasks quickly? I think most people would be surprised to realize that all their typical documents could be typed up in Wordpad and no one would

Excellent, excellent article. I have just one tiny...

2007-11-19T02:55:00.000+04:00

Excellent, excellent article. I have just one tiny correction: OOXML is not an open format. It is binary cruft in an XML wrapper, and patent encumbered, don't let the Microsoft market-droids tell you anything different!

Microsoft have admitted their standard isn't open by trying to force it through ISO. If they had nothing to worry about they wouldn't have attempted all that bribery and

Interesting article. The conclusion I have drawn ...

2007-11-18T23:04:00.000+04:00

Interesting article. The conclusion I have drawn from this is a business model developed by the Wintel duopoly. Without this model the hardware/software developers would not survive, hence, technological progress.

Quote:"Some claim the MS OpenXML [sic] format is n...

2007-11-18T22:15:00.000+04:00

Quote:
"Some claim the MS OpenXML [sic] format is not true XML and is somehow "XML wrappers around the binary blobs." This is completely disingenuous and patently untrue in terms of textual document content."

Wrong.

One reason that OOXML is not valid XML is that it uses bitmasks. These are not part of XML, and

2007-11-18T05:53:00.000+04:00

"By contrast, Office 2000 consumed a paltry 9MB, which translates into a 12x increase in memory consumption (i.e. 170% per year since 2000)."

has someone got their math wrong or is it just me?