Windows XP is Boeing 747
Beside computers, I am a civilian aircrafts kind of fan! Among them, I love Boeing, especially 747 and 737 series. The simply ROCK! Here is an interesting comparison I found while surfing the web and it actually makes sense:
Windows XP was introduced in 2001 and today (Apr 23 2009) nearly eight years later still is going strong in the gaming, corporate and IT world.
The original Boeing 747 was introduced in the early 1960’s and today, almost half a century later the jumbo jet is still going strong!
Very likely Boeing has said it will extend the life of the 747 perhaps up to another 3 decades by introducing the 747-8 variant (the 747-400 is the latest) and in all the 747 will have an operating lifespan of some 75+ years. That is an amazing feat if one considers the rapid pace of accelerated change the aviation community went through in its nascent years from 1903 – 1970’s.
From 1995 to 2001 in this short 6 year period MS introduced operating systems ranging from Windows 95, 98, to Windows ME, 2000 and Windows Xp… Etc
From 2001 – 2007 there was only one major operating system introduced : Vista.
As Desktop PC matured so did the evolution of the OS. Windows XP ‘works’ and like the Boeing 747, users are finding the value of sticking to it.
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In recent years and with the 787 Boeing has introduced new concepts such as “flex wing”, all electric drives /engines (no more bleed, etc), cartoonish engine designs, complete fly-by-optics implementation, and in the ~censored~ it has introduced military “HUD” head-up-displays in commercial airliners, videos cameras/sensors attached to strategic places both external and internal of the airplane to allow pilots a 360 degree fully situational awareness, “touch screen” ~censored~ displays, etc etc etc….
This is going in the direction of Vista, Windows 7 and Flight Simulator X and Office 2007. Microsoft plans to bloat the newest Windows 7 even more so than Vista, plans to increase the DRM, plans to further turn the PC into a dummy locked down console and plans to restrict even more what applications, users and hardware can do. The new operating system will be the paranoid middle man that will get in the way every step of the way.. Already MS PAINT uses the dreaded and much counter intuitive “ribbon interface” from Office 2007. Pretty soon taking some text into notepad and drawing some circles in paint will require a PhD in BS.
What has the world come to? I fully plan to use Windows Xp until after 2012
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I don’t like Vista too but this is over the top. How can you compare some aircraft models to Windows versions? You talking things here like you’re an expert but obviously you’re not.
First, newer 787 is designed to provide safer and more cost efficient flight. You might as well fly in an old prop aircraft when you call a state-of-the-art jet engine as “cartoonish engine design”, In fact, who will provide us future engineers work if everyone says electronics aid and enhancement in design are bloats.
Second, have you even used and compared Ribbon interface? In fact most people find it easier to use functions than digging around dialogs and clicking at incomprehensible tiny icons. Use the product yourself before bashing it!
Third, you’re talking about pirating intellectual properties here. It’s very obvious because you complained about DRM, anti-piracy lock down, etc. Who cares about DRM? Who cares about restrictions? In fact, tighter security policies in newer versions of Windows do restrict certain applications. Not that normal users should worry about this extra protection.
Fourth, newer versions of Windows are created for newer generations of hardware, ie multi-core processors, 64-bit technology, SSD, GPGPU, etc. I bet you don’t even know every of these. New codes are needed to fully use those hardware. Plus, new features are always integrated in new versions of Windows. If you don’t need the extra security features, fine by me. Windows 98SE is perfect for you. In fact, DOS should be fine if you’re complaining about bloatness. No virus targets DOS now.
Finally, I bet you never used Windows 9x before. Most people started using computers during XP’s era. Vista was suppose to come out in ‘04 but Microsoft chose to concentrate on improving XP, hence XP SP2. So Vista as an entirely new OS was pushed to 2007. (Do you have any idea how hard is it to program a 2.5GB OS?) With the huge gap in between, most people who’ve used XP only were reluctant to move to the new OS. New computer users who jumped into the Vista bandwagon were not so inclined to downgrade to XP, especially after SP1 release. The same thing happened during 9x to XP transition. Only advancements in technology and better Windows pushed 9x user to XP. I can do a 50MB 98SE install, so should I say XP is FULL of bloat? Long time users who’ve experienced OS transition are more willing to move to new Windows versions (and able to put up with the pain of it).
From what I’ve read, you should keep using XP until 2014 when Microsoft ends its extended support. By then you can run Windows 7 on your 64-core, 64GB RAM computer. Do some serious research before you write anything on a blog for students of varsity. Hope my emotion right now does not offend you.
Thanks for your reply and joining the discussion. I read your comment this morning before leaving for school and left it to be replied when I came back. I respect your point of view and have a friendly advice for you. There is never an absolute wrong or right statement. When I, as a citizen, dare to open up and sound out my opinion, I am not intending to prove it right! Instead, I want to know other’s opinions and attract supporters on my side! This is the true nature of democracy which is the thing that you and many other people have to learn. It is not your fault because you are not coming from a democratic background. I suggest you to first try to control your emotions before starting a discussion as only weak people with no answers shout and scold!
I do not want to open my resume here, but as an experienced computer science student with more than 5 years of tertiary education in the field have my own point of view and have this right to publish it; no matter how right or wrong it might sound to you! My other suggestion is you never again bet on things you are not certain to! I’ve been using computers since the time DOS did not belong to Microsoft and as an experienced Linux Kernel Developer have some idea of how hard it is to develop software.
What I posted was not actually my article and I just shared it with everyone here because I found it interesting and sensible!
If you want to send the author to China to be executed because of his different view point, be my guest.
I would personally like your comment more, if it was having a more civilized literature. Apart from the literature and the parts about me, I appreciate your comment.
Emotion always get into the way when I’m criticizing. Again, forgive me if I had offended.
I sense a certain “fanboy-ism” aura when I read this article which is something that IMO shouldn’t be here. This sort of thing should stay in a tech site or somewhere for Linux/Mac fanboys. If you are what you said you are then please write something that is suitable for your identity, not something that a 15 year old Mac junkie would write. It’s totally childish.
You’ll be angry too if someone says Linux is for nerds and it will never get beyond the realm of HPC/server. So who is it that’s civilized? The author or me pointing out the mistakes that a civilized being should not do? I’m just speaking out directly and controlling my emotion as the best as I can.
You should quote the original author who wrote this. We don’t study 5 years in uni without touching the issue of plagiarism. And seriously, the article is way unsuitable for this kind of site. It should be neutral and not supporting either sides. I don’t respect favoritism, especially from an engineer.
I’m a Malaysian so democracy isn’t a question. But what’s the difference between being outspoken and being emotionally controlled? In what ways a literature be civilized? You and I are from different background so our views will be different. I must say that your reply reflects who you are, contrary to the one writing that article. So please post something that’s ‘civilized’.
That’s what I said, we should try to control our emotions while being in arguments because shouting and scolding is the most obvious sign of defeatism, no matter how right we are.
I do not know about you, but I am one of the earliest members of this blog or perhaps you could know me as one of the founders, quote my name to Saad, and I have never heard of such policy you are talking about. What we agreed on by joining this community was that we could post our opinions and anything WE THINK IS interesting as long as it does not insult people’s believes nor violates the local and international laws. I don’t think this one does any of them!
About the referencing, you are right, but that’s the result of my best to make a reference as this was a forum post by a user and it requires you to be a member before you can read it and that’s why I thought it would not be a good idea to post its address up here.
Why this article should not be there? it is just a blog and does not reflect anyone’s official believes nor it claims to do so! We want everyone to feel safe and free to share whatever they think is interesting or even not!
I appreciate your time and effort to point out the author’s mistakes, but when you do it with an offending language, you’d make them more aggressive and stubborn. Do not you think so?
If someone wants to be a fan boy, so be it! I personally think if there was no favoritism, if there were no biased ideas and thoughts, different, and in some cases nonsense, ideas, then we would not be having all these fantastic human creatures around us now! We are learning to become engineers not by lecture slides and exams, but by learning to think freely and trying to apply them again and again, no matter how many times we fail!
We have a webmaster, Saad, who is in charge of eliminating any material which is against the policies of this blog. I’d like to ask him to read the article and remove it if it violates the policies, which I strongly doubt!
Thanks and I hope we will have another discussion soon. I enjoyed it
That’s why everyone should put out a disclaimer when they criticize.
I’m sure other tech enthusiasts would frown upon this article, which IMO is akin to racism in tech world. If it’s the blog’s policy to allow such freedom then so be it. Just don’t let any negative element creep into here. You know what I mean.
Glad you’re doing your job.