http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390 Ten thousand people <a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003460386_btview04.html">labored for five years</a> to create <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/">Microsoft Windows Vista,</a> and this week it will <a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4511501.html">finally be offered to consumers.</a>  To use it, you'll need to buy a copy for around $150.  You will probably also need to upgrade your machine (especially if you want to use the cool Aer en-us Wed, 31 Jan 2007 03:55:37 EST Mon, 5 Feb 2007 14:27:11 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#34 I think Win2000 was the sweet spot, too. Unfortunately, the people who write drivers for videocards do not.<p> I think you just got inordinately lucky, re: Win95. Count your blessings, rare one. Mon, 5 Feb 2007 14:27:11 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#33 <blockquote><i>Yes, my requirements are limited compared to some users, but I wonder just how many people do more with their computers than I do? Would they really miss the multitude of programs that are released for Windows?</i></blockquote>That depends o Sun, 4 Feb 2007 08:02:14 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#32 <blockquote>The choice offered by having a wider selection of hardware (vastly wider, I might add) available is only one of the reasons that Windows is a better system than Linux.  More important is the fact, only tangentially related to the structure Sat, 3 Feb 2007 22:08:09 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#31 <i>As for Windows Vista, I cannot drive home how useless this upgrade will be for users any better than Bill Gates can:</i><p> Well, nobody ever said Gates was a good salesman.  Regardless, most users will never upgrade to Vista, they'll get it with t Sat, 3 Feb 2007 21:54:41 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#30 Yes, I think my max uptime for Win2K was about 6 months, then we had a power outage.  Absent hardware issues, it's damned near bulletproof.<p> Unfortunately, the modus operandi of most software companies, and MS is no exception, is to force upgrades t Sat, 3 Feb 2007 21:27:37 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#29 <blockquote><i>Windows is not superior when you install it on hardware that is not designed for Windows</i></blockquote>The choice offered by having a wider selection of hardware (vastly wider, I might add) available is only one of the reasons that Windows Sat, 3 Feb 2007 19:31:27 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#28 Linux is not superior when it is installed on hardware that is not designed for Linux.  Also, Windows is not superior when you install it on hardware that is not designed for Windows.  Try installing Windows on a MacBook without Bootcamp (or what Sat, 3 Feb 2007 14:09:17 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#27 <i>the wireless support is just bad across the board.</i><p> Hell, yes. I just went through absolute hell getting wireless going on Edgy Eft on a home build. The Ubuntu forums were <strong>ahem</strong> less than helpful. Eventually, I had to ask a local g Sat, 3 Feb 2007 13:13:32 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#26 <blockquote><i>Microsoft should have turned on auto-update by default</i></blockquote>Let me clarify a couple things: when I am referring to Windows 2000 being the best OS ever I meant 1) it's the best <i>workstation</i> OS, and 2) I include updates as bei Sat, 3 Feb 2007 12:27:51 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#25 <i>But seriously, it's come a LONG way. When I first tried Linux in 1999, it got the refresh rate wrong on my video, the thing wouldn't recognize my modem at all unless I was a root user, and I didn't even try to print. But today, a default Ubuntu instal Sat, 3 Feb 2007 12:24:16 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#24 <i>If you apply the security patches offered by Microsoft, don't use Internet Explorer, and put your machine behind a firewall, then WIndows 2000 is absolutely secure.</i><p> Replace "absolutely" with "relatively" and I am with you.  But I do blame th Sat, 3 Feb 2007 11:49:41 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#23 <blockquote><i>Its plug-and-play vulnerability, unpatched by many 2000 curmudgeons...</i></blockquote>You judge the security of an OS by the actions of people who don't bother to apply patches?<p> If you apply the security patches offered by Microsoft, don Sat, 3 Feb 2007 10:35:16 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#22 <blockquote><i>2003 p0wnz 2000</i></blockquote>I was referring to the workstation version. Sorry for the confusion. Sat, 3 Feb 2007 10:21:36 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#21 I know what you are talking about.  It can be a pain to get Linux working in a world of Windows hardware.  But it is really much easier now.  Although personally, I've never owned a PC with a serious sound card, so maybe there are problems t Sat, 3 Feb 2007 10:17:33 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#20 <i> Linux gives you one command to find, download, unpack, and install a software package; </i> <p> While I love the idea of Linux, I've never been able to take the plunge. Every time I try to switch over, something goes wrong. I've tried SuSE, Ubuntu, Sat, 3 Feb 2007 08:46:56 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#19 Windows 2000 is one of the least secure operating systems Microsoft has ever released, and that's saying a lot.  Its plug-and-play vulnerability, unpatched by many 2000 curmudgeons, has given birth to a thousand botnets.<p> <i>and far, far easier to m Sat, 3 Feb 2007 07:04:28 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#18 2003 p0wnz 2000 Sat, 3 Feb 2007 06:55:37 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#17 <blockquote><i>Aren't you missing something in your list?</i></blockquote>Yes, I am missing something. But AmigaOS is dead, more or less. Fri, 2 Feb 2007 20:18:22 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#16 <strong>cough</strong><p> Aren't you missing something in your list? At the moment I am typing this message on none of the OSes that you have put on your list.<p> I only reboot my iBook when installing system updates that require system reboots. I run the Fri, 2 Feb 2007 20:03:18 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#15 The things is that you <b>shouldn't</b> have to update your video card that often.<p> Of course, all of us here care about the environment, and so we all believe that we should only replace, and hence throw away, things that really are broken beyond use. A Fri, 2 Feb 2007 19:59:46 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#14 <blockquote><i>Windows 2000 I think was the sweet spot</i></blockquote>Absolutely goddamn right. Windows 2000 is the best OS ever.   Stable as hell (I've run desktops with 2000 for months without rebooting), faster than Windows 98, and far, far easier Fri, 2 Feb 2007 09:32:55 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#13 Win95 was better than you give it credit for.  It was always rather stable for me, more so than Win98 or WinME.  The user interface was also a <i>vast</i> improvement over win 3.x.<p> I actually used NT 4.0 at home as a Desktop OS for years - cal Fri, 2 Feb 2007 08:12:42 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#12 I am really not understanding the concern here.  If you are not attempting to crack DRM'd content, revocation will most likely be the result of the discovery of some vulnerability in one of the drivers used to display said content.  <p> The curre Thu, 1 Feb 2007 23:28:54 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#11 Seems as if I screwed the link up. I mean to link you to my recent <a href="http://www.wetkarma.com/2007/02/vista-bugs-and-solutions-ive-discovered.html">blog entry on vista</a>.<p> The worst bug right now (now that I've gotten past the issue of the AGP gr Thu, 1 Feb 2007 19:15:54 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#10 wetkarma, I think you're absolutely correct.<p> Your heinous bugs link doesn't chart for me. What's the worst bug? Did you build & install yourself? Thu, 1 Feb 2007 18:36:36 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#9 <i><br> Windows Vista - Supposed to be: WinXP, but really pretty and cool, plus a media interface to kill for... Actually:<br> I don't know, but I ordered WinXP Media Edition from newegg for $109.00 (USD) that comes with a free Vista upgrade coupon. I have Thu, 1 Feb 2007 09:39:15 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#8 That's really funny. Wed, 31 Jan 2007 18:54:33 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#7 Let's review Windows, from my consumptive viewpoint, shall we?<br> Win95 - Supposed to be: Amazingly next big thingish. Actually: Dumpy, clunky & crappy. So much so, that there soon followed...<p> WinNT 4.0 (at work, so who cares, right?)<p> Win98 - Su Wed, 31 Jan 2007 14:57:04 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#6 Or, continue to use Windows XP until enough freeware/shareware is written for Vista to obviate the problem. Wed, 31 Jan 2007 13:19:42 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#5 We'll just have to wait for the EU anti-competition lawsuit so that we can get a non-viral version of Vista. Wed, 31 Jan 2007 12:22:41 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#4 <ol> <li value="1">Tribal Videografix goes out of business...or decides to make cocconut cell phones.  Either unable or unwilling to pay fees on a per unit or per year basis.<p> <li value="2"> MS stops revokes certification.  Why? Because i Wed, 31 Jan 2007 11:52:00 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#3 I'd sure like to see something more than a link to a link that says some guy read some document that said your cert could be revoked if you didn't pay your annual dues.  I've never heard of any hardware licensing that required such a thing.  So s Wed, 31 Jan 2007 11:01:57 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#2 You can, as long as the tribes continue to pay licensing fees.  If they go bankrupt and stop paying the fees, or if they piss off the wrong companies, your video card is retroactively broken. Wed, 31 Jan 2007 10:21:23 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/1/30/151920/390#1 ...I can no longer use those artisan video cards, hand crafted by tribes of native peoples, using only the materials and device drivers they harvested by hand in the manner of their ancestors? Wed, 31 Jan 2007 10:06:50 EST string http://www.treesandthings.com/search/