I am a big fat hypocrite
Wednesday, August 1, 2001 by AJCrowley | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
Yes, it's true. After my little rant about how I wouldn't be upgrading to WinXP for some time yet, I finally caved. My Win2K install was starting to act up, and XP RC2 was up on MSDN, so I did the only thing a big fat liar such as myself could do and downloaded it. My main gripe with it before was the issues with sharing "protected" folders, and since this was on my main machine, I don't need to access these from my other machines. Anyway, after much tweaking, crashing and swearing, I got everything to work except for Gamespy Arcade, which absolutely refuses to co-operate. After all this, I'll probably stick with XP when the official release happens, but I still don't see any advantages whatsoever over Win2K except a few graphical tweaks.
Vaguely on the same topic, I was reading an forum about XP today (may have been on slashdot, if not something of the same vein). People were complaining about the system requirements of XP, and how it would rule many newbies out, as their hardware wasn't up to spec. This reminded me of something I was reading within the last few days, I have no recollection of where (maybe here?), but the general gist of the article was that Microsoft's OSs were being held back by the fact that they were always trying to cater to older hardware, to get more people to upgrade. Because Apple has control of the hardware used to run their OSs as well as the OS themselves, it places them in the position of being able to really get the most out of new technologies, by making their new software, which is bundled with the hardware to take full advantage of this. Anyway, I'm rambling now.
AJ
Vaguely on the same topic, I was reading an forum about XP today (may have been on slashdot, if not something of the same vein). People were complaining about the system requirements of XP, and how it would rule many newbies out, as their hardware wasn't up to spec. This reminded me of something I was reading within the last few days, I have no recollection of where (maybe here?), but the general gist of the article was that Microsoft's OSs were being held back by the fact that they were always trying to cater to older hardware, to get more people to upgrade. Because Apple has control of the hardware used to run their OSs as well as the OS themselves, it places them in the position of being able to really get the most out of new technologies, by making their new software, which is bundled with the hardware to take full advantage of this. Anyway, I'm rambling now.
AJ
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AJCrowley
Reply #2 Wednesday, August 1, 2001 9:59 PM
Reply #2 Wednesday, August 1, 2001 9:59 PM
I was with you when I wrote my little rant on XP the other day, and I'm with you now I'm running XP. There's no new features of any note that I wasn't already getting with 3rd party products on 2k, and there's a few little niggles that WORK ME INTO A RAGE - PREPARE TO MEET MY FISTS OF FURY WINXP...WHAAAAAAAA.
paxx
Reply #3 Wednesday, August 1, 2001 10:43 PM
Reply #3 Wednesday, August 1, 2001 10:43 PM
I might try XP some day, but I won't buy it, that for sure. Either I'll get my boss to pay for it, or most likely I'll wait till I buy my next computer and it'll come preinstalled on it.
DaWebMassa
Reply #4 Wednesday, August 1, 2001 10:47 PM
Reply #4 Wednesday, August 1, 2001 10:47 PM
AhHa! Another hypocrite joins the ranks!
I talked trash about Win2k when everyone first started using it and, after a reasonable amount of time waiting for the other suckers to debug it, I switched. Now, I refuse to touch XP, ever! (or at least until someone else solves the major problems, whichever comes first :>)
At least you can openly admit it Kris. Some of us just go on ranting months after we install something new.
I talked trash about Win2k when everyone first started using it and, after a reasonable amount of time waiting for the other suckers to debug it, I switched. Now, I refuse to touch XP, ever! (or at least until someone else solves the major problems, whichever comes first :>)
At least you can openly admit it Kris. Some of us just go on ranting months after we install something new.
CygnusXII
Reply #5 Wednesday, August 1, 2001 10:49 PM
Reply #5 Wednesday, August 1, 2001 10:49 PM
Four count em, four instances of svchost, that's the start. I'll get your Ball Rolling. All Four Instances totalling Roughly to 24 Mb's. Explorer in Win2K Pro average 3 to 4 Mb's / XP 18 Mb's.
Winlogon, gets a 5 Mb chunk. Total Usage Runs, Roughly in the 64 Mb's Range, Doing Nothing, but Sitting There. That's flat on it's back, in op mode by itself. Then the overhead with, the Restore Feature, Prefetch (and don't get something wonky in there.) And if someone can tell me how to disable the Low Disk Space, warnings, I would appreciate it. Not being able to get rid of the alternative log on screen.
(although I might have missed this one)
Now don't get me wrong, XP is kinda nice, but I think that, last about 20 Minutes.
Winlogon, gets a 5 Mb chunk. Total Usage Runs, Roughly in the 64 Mb's Range, Doing Nothing, but Sitting There. That's flat on it's back, in op mode by itself. Then the overhead with, the Restore Feature, Prefetch (and don't get something wonky in there.) And if someone can tell me how to disable the Low Disk Space, warnings, I would appreciate it. Not being able to get rid of the alternative log on screen.
(although I might have missed this one)
Now don't get me wrong, XP is kinda nice, but I think that, last about 20 Minutes.
paxx
Reply #6 Wednesday, August 1, 2001 11:03 PM
Reply #6 Wednesday, August 1, 2001 11:03 PM
Come on, the XP crowd hasn't shown up yet? Hey guys, slacking on the job?
Jafo
Reply #7 Thursday, August 2, 2001 2:31 AM
Reply #7 Thursday, August 2, 2001 2:31 AM
I'd only use XP if only someone would do some skins and themes for it....and walls, too....there aren't enough walls....
hoverboy
Reply #8 Thursday, August 2, 2001 2:44 AM
Reply #8 Thursday, August 2, 2001 2:44 AM
DaWebMassa - Wait until someone else solves the major problems? What major problems? XP is built on the Win2k(NT) kernel, and you're already running Win2k, so if anything, this kernel is at least as good as the Win2k kernel, but with fixes and updates. I've been using XP since Beta 1 and have yet to see a 'major problem' in my day-to-day use. The big thing that XP has over Win2k is app compatability. I'm a big gamer and I've yet to find a game that I can't run. I'm sure that there are some games out there that don't run under XP, but I've yet to come across them. I'm also big into old school DOS games, like the Ultima Collection. Under Win2k it pretty much wasn't an option to run those, however under XP they all run as if they were running on the 9x kernel... minus the 9x crashes
hoverboy
Reply #9 Thursday, August 2, 2001 2:51 AM
Reply #9 Thursday, August 2, 2001 2:51 AM
Oh yeah, as for the Product Activation hype that I see people ranting about: I've swapped out/upgraded everything on my machine except my motherboard and my NIC and have never been prompted to "call Microsoft" to re-install XP to verify anything.
Also, for those of you who don't like the built in XP themes, new start menu, or new windows explorer layout, it can all be turned off to look and feel exactly like WIn2k, and you can DesktopX it from there
Also, for those of you who don't like the built in XP themes, new start menu, or new windows explorer layout, it can all be turned off to look and feel exactly like WIn2k, and you can DesktopX it from there
Tarkus
Reply #10 Thursday, August 2, 2001 3:30 AM
Reply #10 Thursday, August 2, 2001 3:30 AM
CygnusXII: This will get rid of the Low Disk Space warnings:
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
NoLowDiskSpaceChecks REG_DWORD 1
hoverboy: I don't believe WPA is fully enabled in the betas. In fact, MS has said they don't care how many machines you put the betas on. So I wouldn't put too much stock in how it's working now.
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
NoLowDiskSpaceChecks REG_DWORD 1
hoverboy: I don't believe WPA is fully enabled in the betas. In fact, MS has said they don't care how many machines you put the betas on. So I wouldn't put too much stock in how it's working now.
Tarkus
Reply #11 Thursday, August 2, 2001 3:32 AM
Reply #11 Thursday, August 2, 2001 3:32 AM
Argh...It looks like WC truncated that key. Let me try it again.
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
NoLowDiskSpaceChecks REG_DWORD 1
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
NoLowDiskSpaceChecks REG_DWORD 1
CygnusXII
Reply #12 Thursday, August 2, 2001 3:53 AM
Reply #12 Thursday, August 2, 2001 3:53 AM
Thanks, Tarkus..giving it a try.
I already hacked the reg to get rid of Messenger, and the other crap.
I already hacked the reg to get rid of Messenger, and the other crap.
SickPuppy
Reply #13 Thursday, August 2, 2001 4:09 AM
Reply #13 Thursday, August 2, 2001 4:09 AM
Still haven't managed to try XP BUT I have got Media Player 8 RC1 running on Win2K and it's fantastic compared to the sloth that is 7.1. It's fast, good looking and doesn't crash at every opportunity it gets. Well worth getting if you have 2K and hate 7.1's complete bloated uselessness.
www.winoscentral.com in the downloads section under MP3.
www.winoscentral.com in the downloads section under MP3.
AJCrowley
Reply #14 Thursday, August 2, 2001 4:38 AM
Reply #14 Thursday, August 2, 2001 4:38 AM
Hoverboy spake thusly:
The big thing that XP has over Win2k is app compatability. I'm a big gamer and I've yet to find a game that I can't run.
-and-
Oh yeah, as for the Product Activation hype that I see people ranting about: I've swapped out/upgraded everything on my machine except my motherboard and my NIC and have never been prompted to "call Microsoft" to re-install XP to verify anything.
Uncle AJ Replies:
I never had any trouble getting anything running on 2k (except Dungeon Keeper 2, for which a patch was released). I have had trouble getting a number of things running on WinXP (eg Gamespy Arcade), and have had to spend a long time messing with other things so that they will work (eg SBLive drivers and software for surround sound).
And as for product activation, the crackers are never too far behind. I will own a legal copy of WinXP, but I'll probably crack it rather than activate it anyway. I really don't care much for the principle of the new product activation, and activation keys are only good for 10 installs. I reformat frequently, and really don't feel like explaining this to MS to get a new key when the time comes.
The big thing that XP has over Win2k is app compatability. I'm a big gamer and I've yet to find a game that I can't run.
-and-
Oh yeah, as for the Product Activation hype that I see people ranting about: I've swapped out/upgraded everything on my machine except my motherboard and my NIC and have never been prompted to "call Microsoft" to re-install XP to verify anything.
Uncle AJ Replies:
I never had any trouble getting anything running on 2k (except Dungeon Keeper 2, for which a patch was released). I have had trouble getting a number of things running on WinXP (eg Gamespy Arcade), and have had to spend a long time messing with other things so that they will work (eg SBLive drivers and software for surround sound).
And as for product activation, the crackers are never too far behind. I will own a legal copy of WinXP, but I'll probably crack it rather than activate it anyway. I really don't care much for the principle of the new product activation, and activation keys are only good for 10 installs. I reformat frequently, and really don't feel like explaining this to MS to get a new key when the time comes.
paxx
Reply #15 Thursday, August 2, 2001 6:51 AM
Reply #15 Thursday, August 2, 2001 6:51 AM
hoverboy: Have you tried Tomb Raider on Win XP? It'S the only game I can't play on Win 2k...
paxx
Reply #16 Thursday, August 2, 2001 6:54 AM
Reply #16 Thursday, August 2, 2001 6:54 AM
Oh, and BTW, although I'm generally not in favor of cracks and warez, in XP's particular case I am not opposed to it. Microsoft will never make me cry over a loss of money... boohoo!
Anyway, I evaluate to one out of two the chances that if I ever get XP it will be a legal copy...
Anyway, I evaluate to one out of two the chances that if I ever get XP it will be a legal copy...
JavaBrain
Reply #17 Thursday, August 2, 2001 9:59 AM
Reply #17 Thursday, August 2, 2001 9:59 AM
Jafo: "I'd only use XP if only someone would do some skins and themes for it...."
Use WindowBlindsXP. It uses the same API's as "Visual Styles" uses and integrates into the "appearance" tab with the visual styles.
M$ isn't supporting third party skinning of XP (yeah, there are hack ways of doing it, but not reliably). But, WindowBlindsXP does it wonderfully.
There. I did my Stardock plug for the day. I'll shut up now...... at least for the next 30 seconds....
BTW, before anyone flames me, I know he was poking fun at all the XP "stuff". I just needed a reason to plug WB!
Use WindowBlindsXP. It uses the same API's as "Visual Styles" uses and integrates into the "appearance" tab with the visual styles.
M$ isn't supporting third party skinning of XP (yeah, there are hack ways of doing it, but not reliably). But, WindowBlindsXP does it wonderfully.
There. I did my Stardock plug for the day. I'll shut up now...... at least for the next 30 seconds....
BTW, before anyone flames me, I know he was poking fun at all the XP "stuff". I just needed a reason to plug WB!
DaWebMassa
Reply #18 Thursday, August 2, 2001 10:05 AM
Reply #18 Thursday, August 2, 2001 10:05 AM
Hoverboy... I understand from whence you speak. However... Win2k was built on the existing NT kernal and while it expanded the useful apps arena (games mostly), it also created it's own share of compatibility problems. To this day I still cannot reliably burn a CD even after trying no less than four different apps and two different drives. I know I'm no alone because the newsgroups and support boards are full of people like me. Soooo, what do I do to burn CD's? Boot 98 or NT (I have four OSs installed) which I should NOT have to do.
Thus, as I was saying, I will wait...
As for registering stuff... as AJ said, I don't think I'd ever feel bad about M$ losing money but I do buy what I use frequently. However, the thought of M$ having anymore info about me than I give them is FRIGHTENING! Therefore, ditto to what AJ and Paxx said too.
Thus, as I was saying, I will wait...
As for registering stuff... as AJ said, I don't think I'd ever feel bad about M$ losing money but I do buy what I use frequently. However, the thought of M$ having anymore info about me than I give them is FRIGHTENING! Therefore, ditto to what AJ and Paxx said too.
craeonics
Reply #19 Thursday, August 2, 2001 10:50 AM
Reply #19 Thursday, August 2, 2001 10:50 AM
As I have no conscience, I await the blue disc version before I try it.
Tarkus
Reply #20 Thursday, August 2, 2001 12:12 PM
Reply #20 Thursday, August 2, 2001 12:12 PM
DaWebMassa: MS collects no personal info when you activate. That is a myth spread by the paranoid and MS bashers. They don't ask for your name, address, email, anything like that.
http://www.microsoft.com/WINDOWSXP/guide/activation.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/WINDOWSXP/guide/activation.asp
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Reply #1 Wednesday, August 1, 2001 9:36 PM