I had to set up a Windows box, what a nightmare

Discussion in 'Computer Science & Culture' started by Fraggle Rocker, Feb 22, 2007.

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  1. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    I've been a carefree Macintosh user for many years. The last time I had to set up a PC was in the era of Windows 95. I had to buy a PC to use on a contract. Either that or replace my perfectly good ten-year old PowerBook with a new $2500 PowerMac just so I'd have software that was compatible with what the company was using. (A Mac-compatible version is available but it won't run on my old machine.) Needless to say I spent $1000, got a ThinkPad, and kept my trusty Mac for my personal computing.

    I could not believe how frustrating this was, and I cannot believe that the world puts up with it. Right out of the damn box... I plugged the thing in and pushed the "on" button. On a Macintosh, that means that within about two minutes perfectly toasted data will start popping out of what, in any reasonable universe, is just another appliance. But no, a PC is not an appliance, it is not even just a delicate laboratory instrument, it is a frelling little science fair project that haunts you every day of your life. The damn thing spent four hours "setting itself up." Just sitting there blinking at me with absolutely no user input. Can someone explain why the geeks couldn't have let it do that to itself before they shipped it? This wasn't even new from the factory, it was an off-lease refurb that presumably had already been gamma-tested (PCs never quite achieve the level of service that any other appliance would be required to give before anyone would pay money for it) for a couple of years.

    Then I had to install MS Office. Piece of cake, I'm thinking. At my old job I watched them do that on Windows 98 so how hard can it be on XP? Really, really hard, because you can't buy Office 2003 any more (unless I had taken the time to drive somewhere and pay list price for the privilege of having a cardboard box to throw away) so I had to download a "free trial version" of Office 2007. Everything is different.

    People's main complaint about Macs is that every time you upgrade your hardware you have to buy new versions of all your software, or vice versa. Okay, but at least you recognize the software when you get it running. (Not to mention that's a really good way to avoid having software that's been patched for ten years so it's full of ripple-effect defects and hacker back doors.) But no, Office 2007 is not recognizable. It might as well be Japanese software. All the menus have been reorganized, all the functions have been regrouped, it's like starting over. It took me two days to find the "Find" command (fortunately Ctrl F still works but my Mac-adapted fingers took a while to retrieve that kinesthetic memory) and my coworkers who have been using Word 2007 for months say I'm the first person who ever found it.

    I had a job that had to be done by Monday and by now it was Saturday afternoon before I actually got to start working on it.

    I guess I've been using it for three weeks now. I got my job done and several more. Still the company geek had to talk me through some pretty arcane setups before I could get onto their SharePoint site, something that the Mac figured out by itself. The computer still thinks it's on the West Coast and should be running Pacific Time, even though the same guy went through it with me and reset everything to Eastern Time. It no longer resets the clock to Pacific Time once a week without asking... but it keeps asking.

    And the agony of daily use. MS Word, this spiffy new upgraded 2007 version, crashes on me once a day. Microsoft must have a special file just for the reports my computer sends it on MS Word. It seems to happen if I have more than three documents open at once. Gee, maybe I should get a job at Microsoft, I figured that out in only three weeks.

    Once again, I'm forced to become a software mechanic in order to use my computer.

    How do all of you PC loyalists put up with this? Why do you put up with it? I can see it in the corporate world, because as I discovered there's just more software written for Windows and it isn't all Mac-compatible. But why does anybody want a Windows box in their home? Games, yatta yatta, okay. So get the Intel Mac and run Windows for your damn games and use OS/X the rest of the time. I could just as easily say graphics, yatta yatta, virtually all artists use Macs for good reason. Corporations have to make exceptions to their PC-only policy in their advertising departments or they wouldn't be able to hire any top-notch graphic artists.

    Moreover... In order to use a Windows box effectively, you have to have the aptitude, interest, temperament, and training opportunity to be a software mechanic. That's barely possible in big cities in the Western World. Do people really think we're going to "wire" the rest of the human race who don't have computers yet, by giving them Windows boxes? Can you imagine installing one in a school in Paraguay, a chief's hut in Botswana, or a tin shack in Myanmar?

    These people need appliances and a Macintosh is an appliance.

    If I'd had any inkling this was going to be so damn painful, I would have spent the $2500 and gotten a Mac anyway. I guess I deserve this for being so stupid.
     
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  3. Avatar smoking revolver Valued Senior Member

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    PC != Windows, I use Linux on my laptop and pc.
    Any way, if you dislike MS Word so much, giving OpenOffice a try won't hurt.

    http://www.openoffice.org/
     
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  5. RubiksMaster Real eyes realize real lies Registered Senior Member

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    I think you had a bad experience. Windows causes no problems for me. If you want to use a Mac, that's your choice, but I find Windows more enjoyable, because I can do a lot more with it. A lot of the things you see as annoyances, I see as features, freedom, and control.
     
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  7. daktaklakpak God is irrelevant! Registered Senior Member

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    To me, installing XP is like a brain dead procedure.

    OS/X is just a toy that I play inside the VMWare.
     
  8. Avatar smoking revolver Valued Senior Member

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    Windows and freedom and control?!

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    That's ridiculous! It doesn't even have a proper console.
    The first thing that I noticed when I switched to Linux 6 or so years ago was how painfully little control over your system Windows actually offers.
     
  9. Nickelodeon Banned Banned

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    I'm not a huge fan of Windows - but I never had problems like that. Windows XP is usually quite stable. Though most of your problems semm to be with Office.

    As for Word 2007: yeah I heard they changed things around quite a bit compared to previous versions - but thats almost inevitable. Prior to that Office hadnt really changed much in the past few versions (aprat from growing bigger). Perhaps MS Office 2007 is still way too buggy.
     
  10. RubiksMaster Real eyes realize real lies Registered Senior Member

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    It really depends on what you use your computer for. While you may not have as much control as linux, you certainly has more than with OS/X. You can always find a way to do what you want.

    The console is fine. Windows is more of a visual system, where text-based consoles don't really have much place. I've never just been sitting there and thought "boy, I wish Windows had a better console."

    It probably is buggy, because it's new. Anyone who criticizes software as having too many bugs, I challenge them to write multi-million line programs that function perfectly. It's no trivial task. And yes, it was bound to change, because without change, there can never be innovation or progress.
     
  11. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    Forty years ago I thought it was fun to program computers. I also thought it was fun to rebuild carburetors. Now I just want my car to take me where I'm going because I have more important things to do. I feel the same way about my computer. The only "control" I want over it is for it to execute the fairly simple commands I give it. I realize that my "computer geek" plaque has been revoked over this, but I'm sure I speak for about 98 percent of the human race when I say that a computer is supposed to be an appliance, not a hobby.

    I had to get MS Word because I'm editing a huge MS Word document with miles and miles of intricate formatting. Otherwise I was going to try OOWriter. I tried Nisus but it was pretty primitive. Geeze I miss WordPerfect, I don't understand why they don't market it to the Mac community.

    For one thing, I loathe this stupid "mouse" thingie that forced me to re-learn basic hand-to-eye coordination... through trifocals. I worked my way through college as a typist and I want to keep my hands on the keyboard where they belong. With WordPerfect you can do that. As far as I can tell, the people who build software for Windows have not yet noticed that PCs have a row of Function Keys.

    I want to type quickly, not play around with cartoon icons.
     
  12. S.A.M. uniquely dreadful Valued Senior Member

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    I used PC for over 10 years before I switched to Mac.

    Its like getting a Lamborghini after chugging along in the assembled car you built from scratch.
     
  13. spuriousmonkey Banned Banned

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    I use OpenOffice too.

    I don't really understand the obsession in many fields with the complex formatting. It seems to unnecessary in many cases.
     
  14. Xerxes asdfghjkl Valued Senior Member

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    I don't understand this Mac-fanboyism, Fraggle Rocker. Apple took a good operating system (BSD) and turned it into something that can't run on anything but the latest hardware.

    Linux does everything that I want it to, on any hardware, without any problems, and without demanding me to give up my freedom.
     
  15. Avatar smoking revolver Valued Senior Member

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    Not exactly *any hardware without any problems*, there are exceptions with some wireless and usb devices, also some laptop screens.
    And there are quite a few laptops with exotic hardware configuration that are not so good with Linux.
    I look up on Google compatibility with Linux before I buy any new hardware.
     
  16. Xerxes asdfghjkl Valued Senior Member

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    well... most hardware. Still a heck of a lot more than any mac.
     
  17. Nickelodeon Banned Banned

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    I'd agree to a limited extent. This is Microsoft were're talking about not some piddly little software company - its not like they have a lack of resources.

    Also companies sometimes bring out software too early (under pressure from marketing perhaps?) before properly testing it.
     
  18. domesticated om Stickler for details Valued Senior Member

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    IMO- this is not an issue of 'which is better". This is more along the lines of a user becoming highly specialized along with the product. It's akin to the person who drives an automatic all their life suddenly having to deal with manual......sorta (windows is pretty darn easy) .

    Any OS I've ever had the opportunity to use involves a period of time where I learn the ins and outs of the system. I will say that I had an easier time learning "desktop gui" operating systems as opposed to all the older command line systems (IE- Apple 2e).
    I don't think I've ever been politically motivated towards system loyalty. I've always felt like proficiency follows experience, but I do find myself using the system that I'm used to more than the others.
     
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