Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion
XP or Vista user — take the poll!
Lashiec:
Of course, and next year I'll be playing Crysis in Opera :D
I don't know where all this fuss and desire to push web apps comes from. How do you run a browser without an OS? Are they going to transform the OS into a full-blown browser? I've been months trying to imagine a world with only web apps, and I really can't make up one. The future, I say, will be composed of desktop and web apps. Of course, big companies want to go web all the way, for they can charge you dearly for using their apps, and you can't escape its influence. But, what about all the small developers? How do they fund their developments? What about DonationCoder, for example? How do you run mouser's apps on a browser? AutoHotkey? Where do you store your information, in your hard disk, or in the megacorporation servers? I can also sense the FSF feelings conflicting over this, you can't make a web app OSS (unless you get all the code and you modify it yourself in your IDE, I mean, an IDE over a browser)
I'm not even taking into account the massive amount of memory needed to run some of the apps you usually run on your desktop, not all the security considerations. I think that all those articles are written by narrow-minded people (it's my harsh side again!) that really thinks everyone is using his/her computer to write some documents here and blog there, so they don't take in consideration other people needs. The worse part is that the software world wants to move in that direction, and so do some users.
I said it before, I really appreciate web apps. But a synergy between the two models will be better for everyone. After all, considering the amount of work done in different locations by a single person, it's better for this one person to do all this work in a web-running app, instead of carrying that work between different machines. Not to mention the amount of work needed for a web-based world to become true doesn't compensate for a minimum increase in productivity. A paradigm shift won't bring anything really valuable. After all, computers didn't make the world better, instead they made us their slaves! ;)
Bah, I'm sounding like and old jerk instead of a young guy! ;D
PD: I know! All of this is a Apple conspiracy to push the iPhone!
justice:
I been working with vista since march. I loved it, hated it, tuned it, loved it, hated it, and now i'm ready to go back to XP again as soon as my project at work is finished. Gradually I've turned off a lot of improvements in Vista to make it run faster: first defender, then search indexing, then UAC,then aero, then themes etc but really I might just as well go back to XP then. I loved the explorer improvements, breadcrumbs, version restore (why they don't put it in every vista version god knows it would be fantastic for home users), backup center, better file renaming, networking settings, individual volume per application, improved security etc, but the software support to take advantage of it all is not there yet.
Vista is not a bad OS, but the rest of the world needs more time to adjust.
Application authors will probably need another year to optimize applications for vista, and until Windows XP support becomes a problem, just stick with what you have, it works reliably even though XP has its problems, but when things stop working you know what you're missing.
It's always been stable though, even though the programs that run on top of it have had issues.
Reading the msdn interviews about the under the hood improvements (superfetch, less hd activity) I was very hopeful hope it just doesn't deliver performance wise.
Carol Haynes:
Webapps seem to be the way things are going ... it's not too strange when you think of it. MS can't convince people (other than large companies) to move to a subscription based license of software and neither can other companies. It isn't strange then when webapps start to appear which use a subscription model (or will in the future). Webapps are the future cash cow.
What no one seems to have thought about is that when webapps become the de-facto office standard who will need fast hardware? Software sppeds will depend on the server rather than the client computer so only a basic system will be required - and will effectively run forever on the cheapest OS available. MS will still tie people into buying new versions of windows (the only way to install .Net v510 and WebApps 379.2) but anyone with a brain will long since have shifted to a new OS that just runs a browser and will have left MS's inferior webapp system.
I seriously think this may be the demise of MS if they are not careful - their web presence has never been a happy experience for users whereas other web providers (even small ones) produce rather better web based apps and websites.
Trouble is by the time this all shakes out Linux will have been fragmented so far and be so tied up with proprietary stuff as companies try to customise it in non-standard ways (within the GPL system) that Linux will probably die before it ever gets into wide circulation - or remain a geek-haven.
As to this topic - I can't see me moving on from Windows XP until I absolutely have to. Vista adds nothing that will benefit me (and great deal that will do the opposite) and the way things are going Windows 7 will be even worse in the pros/cons balance. Anyway 2010 will probably be too soon.
I am going to have to start thinking about Linux as an alternative in the medium term.
Who knows maybe Jobs & Co. will see the light and make MacOS available to PC users - then I might be tempted, but I don't want to get locking into Apple hardware (or prices).
Curt:
So wise words you all have written! :up:
Of course Vista will grow BIG as time goes bye, and I am looking forward to install it in 1, 2 or 3 years from now, but not at the moment. I imagine justice may be right when he said that the world needs more time to adjust to Vista (and vice versa!). The programs Vista users have for now may merely be programs developed for XP and modified for Vista; not taking advantage of what Vista can do.
Meanwhile 'someone' out there expects XP to somehow stay for long periode of time:
React Operating System
ReactOS® is an advanced free open source operating system providing a ground-up implementation of a Microsoft Windows® XP compatible operating system. ReactOS aims to achieve complete binary compatibility with both applications and device drivers meant for NT and XP operating systems, by using a similar architecture and providing a complete and equivalent public interface.
ReactOS is the most complete working model of a Windows® like operating system available. Consequently, working programmers will learn a great deal by studying ReactOS source code and even participating in ReactOS development.
ReactOS has and will continue to incorporating features from newer versions and sometimes even define the state of the art in operating system technology.
In short, ReactOS is aiming to run your applications and use your hardware, a free operating system for everyone!
Please bear in mind that ReactOS 0.3.3-RC is still in alpha stage, meaning it is not feature complete and is not recommended for everyday use.
--- End quote ---
Release time:
The long awaited 0.3.3 release is branched; the usual preparations for releases are under way. You should already know we skipped a version number and that this release is primarily bug fixes from the massive kernel rewrites that have been taking place. Stability being the primary motivation of this release, I can safely say this is a big improvement from the 0.3.1 release.
The outlook looks bright on future releases, ever closer to the 0.4 goal of beta status. The stated goal of 2 month releases is upheld (.3.2 was skipped ~2 months after 0.3.1 was released). It should be repeated that 2 month releases are not set in stone; releases are done at the convenience of the developers and at such a time when the code base is deemed worthy of a version bump.
The actual full release will occur soon, currently waiting on further testing, change logs, minor bug fixes, and other stuff. The Release candidate can be downloaded here. Changelog is still a work in progress, but can be viewed here.
--- End quote ---
Alpha, not Beta, but RC, though: http://www.reactos.org/en/index.html
steeladept:
I agree whole-heartedly that web applications are the wave of the future, and I rue that day every moment I see it come closer. While it does provide convenient access to all data, it has a couple serious drawbacks for the end user. These drawbacks are the same advantages companies see, so consider these carefully.
1) Web apps immediately lend themselves to a subscription based model. They provide a steady income stream to providers and provide up to date applications to the user without intervention - but what happens when you are short of cash that month? Do you forgo eating, or your data that you make your living off of (see next)?
2) Since the company controls the application, they control who uses it, when, and to some extent how.
3) Data security - Do you trust all those companies with your data? Do they make it available to you when you want it / need it regardless of your current user status? Do they turn over private data to unauthorized persons or authorities? I certainly don't advocate ANY criminal activity, but in the United States where you (supposedly) have the right to privacy unless a full court order and proper warrant is attained, will you still have that privacy when a third company has access to that same privacy? What recourse do you have? What responsibilities would the company holding the information have? Would corporate moral obligations change this? It didn't for Google in China...
Dang, I had more, but I forgot them now. It doesn't really matter however, because these are enough to consider. I do have to disagree about this being the end of Microsoft though. I foresee Microsoft creating a "bare metal" OS that basically is a web browser and/or a VM. You then load your choices into that browser/VM as appropriate. Think this might be far off? VMWare already has this technology and has been promoting it for at least a year. They created a VM-OS that runs off the hardware (no host needed). Then you load your VM machines into it. It is currently only in their Enterprise level offerings (ESM and GSM), but the technology is there. If Microsoft created an OS that connected automatically and ran the browser as the desktop, that is all they would need. Since they can do that already (just need to take out all the excess fluff), they could repackage it that way and give it to hardware manufacturers for a song. Microsoft would be happy to maintain dominance, Hardware manufacturers would maintain margins, and consumers would be happy with lower costs. The only piece of the puzzle left is GOOD web applications that make people willing to give up their OS to load applications locally.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version