I Hate Microsoft Windows

Monday, January 08, 2007

  Having to use Windows is horrible, there's no scripting and - but before I start moaning, let's look at what's just happened and then hint at the solution. I've been using Windows for an hour. There are a few problems, some minor usage quirks like hitting return after entering my username to login and getting an error message, instead of the cursor moving down to the password field, and some major incompatibilties like an inability to cut and paste tables from Word into Outlook. (Why is an email program called Outlook?) Come on, Office is supposed to be a suite. The first few columns of the table do not get transferred. The table cell does not resize so that I can type the numbers in. Suddenly sending a helpful email to my boss becomes a major challenge.

Printing is a big problem in Windows. I made a selection by dragging the cursor across some text. CTRL/P. (Why use the CTRL key on the corner of the keyboard, further away fom the letters?) The print dialogue had the selection option greyed out! I thought I could get around this madness by only printing page 37. Stupid Windows then printed the entire document.

(That reminds me: why are there different print dialogues? If I want to print an image from Internet Explorer I do not get an option to scale the image to the paper, but if I print from Photo Editor then I do. And that's another thing: the program is called 'Microsoft Photo Editor', not 'Photo Editor'. Why does Microsoft always do this?)

"Hardware Threshold Alert: HP Client Manager has detected that your disk space threshold is below 22 percent" (sic). Leaving aside the neologism and that I do not want HP to manage me, I do not wish to be informed about thresholds. Usage, maybe. Maybe they meant usage and wrote threshold.

"Java (TM) updates are ready to download." Great, I love Java. I kicked off the install but "the NTVDM CPU encountered an illegal instruction". What does that mean - can't they write it in English like on other operating systems? Another annoyance is that it is not possible to copy/paste the error text from the alert (which also contains long numbers) in order to pass it on to support, so I imagine most people won't bother. As with the Outlook problem above, Windows has put obstacles in my way so that the job does not get done.

The attitude of Windows users is: don't worry about it. I can't understand this, coming from the Mac community. We would scream and holler on Macfixit.com or the Apple forums if there were similar problems with the Mac OS and Apple would have put it right years ago. Yet the Windows users, millions of them, just put up with this crap. It never gets fixed. Their workflow is interrupted and has extra steps. Weird. They need a web site.

Labels: computing, rant

ω   9:14:00 PM.

Programmable computing devices

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

  Backpack for your mobile.

GeekBrief TV is a tech news podcast presented by "Cali Lewis". She's cute and informative.

The Amiga is back! This article is old and a bit of a tease but brings us more-or-less up-to-date with the Amiga computer. For more info see amiga.org, amigaweb.net, amigaos.dk, wiki.aminet.net, www.amigafuture.de, www.amiga-hardware.com... in these days of Mac and Windows it might seem an anachronism but imagine how its virtual memory multitasking OS would fly on modern hardware.

For both Mac and Windows: Subway maps for your iPod. Or for webmasters, how about a portable CSS guide: just copy the westciv Style Master CSS podGuide to the Notes folder on your iPod.

Rather than packing an obliterator ray in your holiday luggage, you can remove unsightly people from your snaps with Tourist Remover, a free online photo tool.

PC myths: IBM's BIOS.

macbillboard has smashing desktop wallpaper, especially some beautiful isometric artwork.

Get free PowerPoint templates from A PowerPoint Blog.

Persuasive game: Disaffected! sounds a bit depressing to me. It puts the player in the role of a copy shop employee.

Disaffected! gives the player the chance to step into the demotivated position of real FedEx Kinkos employees. Feel the indifference of these purple-shirted malcontents first-hand, and consider the possible reasons behind their malaise -- is it mere incompetence? Managerial affliction?

For Mac only: free games. Actually, most games are free for people like me who seldom get to level 3, thanks to demo mode. macgamefiles.com

David Weiss works at Microsoft as a software design engineer in the Mac Business Unit. A programmer, in other words?

todo.txt is a way of maintaining a to do list with text and scripts from the command line, on Unix or Mac OS X.

Julian Wright is doing superb work on mobile.feisar.com to make sure iSync works with all the latest Sony Ericsson mobile phones via Bluetooth and he also provides icons and themes. Makes me wanna trade-in my old Alcatel.

Mac Webdesign Workflow recommends some great software for making web sites - will he ever use Dreamweaver? Oh, the tension.

For all you presentation fiends, Les Posen's CyberPsych Blog is strong on Keynote. Al Gore and Steve Jobs do not use PowerPoint!

Hello Mac - the lost 1984 video clip collection. Steve Jobs spoke faster then.

I reboot my Mac at home every five or six weeks, when Apple sends me a system upgrade, otherwise I would never need to. Windows machines, on the other hand, need frequent rebooting. Crash Test.

The workaround is to reboot them periodically, and savvy Windows sysadmins typically do this as a matter of routine every month. If they fail to do this, their servers will progressively slow down, choking on their own detritus. Eventually, after a tad under 50 days, they'll automatically shut down, even if they're managing one of the most safety-critical tasks in the world.

Announcing the Apple iProduct. The riposte: Apple Haters Unite!

Dashboard Widgets Showcase.

Take a virtual tour around Apple Store Fifth Avenue.

Realize your strange ideas and creative desires with Apple's iLife Tutorials for iPhoto, iMovie HD, Garageband, iTunes, iDVD and iWeb.

Naughty. HandBrake copies DVD films to iPod or PSP format. Update thanks to Technorati Profile I know this now called MediaFork.

A new use for old Macs: MacQuarium.

Hrmpf! is a good Apple blog.

295 different Apple Mail icons. I use the Boris Karloff icon.

I have dreams about taking this to concerts. iTalk is a high quality stereo microphone for the iPod. In the seventies I took a big cassette recorder with me to lots of concerts and no-one seemed to mind. It's tremendously evocative listening to Hawkwind occasionally filtered by the unique acoustics of the toilets in the Hammersmith Odeon.

Labels: Apple, computing, links, Macintosh

ω   8:58:00 PM.

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Comments by: YACCS.
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