[PLUG-TALK] What Windows Is _Really_ Like

glen e. p. ropella gepr at tempusdictum.com
Fri Jun 23 21:41:37 UTC 2006


Rich Shepard wrote:
>   I cannot imagine Windows disappearing completely. It will be the OS of
> choice for the clueless masses you reference. Unless, that is, Apple pulls

I'm a bit behind on my PLUG reading; so, sorry for referring back to such an old
dialogue...

I think it's foolish to claim (or imply) that Windows is a bad OS.  Windows
opened the door to computing for hundreds of millions of people.  Granted, the
previous DOS-based Windows shells sucked pretty bad.  But, competent users can
make it perform quite well.

   "It's a poor craftsman who blames his tools."

Beyond that, the OS underneath NT and XP is quite good.  It's the shell that
results in all the problems.  And anyone who understands the OS can easily
puncture the shell in the same way that a competent unix person can puncture X11.

To sum up, anyone who levels blanket criticisms at Windows is really just
showing their own incompetence.  All tools have their appropriate context.

----

The only legitimate criticism we can hit Windows with is that it's proprietary,
making it a less applicable tool overall.  But it shares this problem with all
the other proprietary stuff out there, and the issues involved goes to the very
core of our economy, which relies in part on intellectual property assurance
from the gub'ment.  So, it doesn't make sense to criticize Windows without also
criticizing things like patent and privacy laws.

-- 
glen e. p. ropella, 971-219-3846, http://tempusdictum.com
Liberty is the only thing you can't have unless you give it to others. --
William Allen White



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