It's 20 years on, and Windows still doesn't have...

[KimmoK]

But do you all realise its not even possible to play back any modern video on an Amiga

What is modern video?
In most households I believes videos are DVDs. But surely you mean blue ray?

Watching videos is not any core use of a desktop computer, but I think Amigas can play almost all videos in our household (except some few HD video files).

To me windows is a very poor platform to run SW on. But it has most of the needed SW, that's why also I have to use it at work, I never use it at home any more (unless I set up some emulator to PLAY with).

I think there are very few (perhaps none?) things where Amigas OS (or MOS) limits Amigas usability. It's the lack of SW that is the most usual problem, then the lack of MIPS.

[danwood]

Reading some comments here I cant help but think you are all still using a very old version of Windows. Some of you are even comparing it to AmigaOS, which is plain ridiculous. For example; okay, so Windows lacks a way to save multiple sets of preferences for videoplayers, in the way the Amiga does when saving screenmode prefs, for example. But do you all realise its not even possible to play back any modern video on an Amiga, even without subtitles? Windows may not be perfect, and for sure is not much 'fun' to use (like AmigaOS) but it IS the most advanced, complete and evolved operating system around these days. And Windows7 is very speedy indeed on my 2006 pc. I even use IE9 and I think its alright.

It's only fast because they "threw hardware at it", lighter OSes run rings around Windows speed-wise on modern hardware.  

I'd argue OS X is more advanced and complete personally, but each to their own.

[danwood]

Really?
I was using Windows before 3.1 (started with Windows 286), and while it was fun to play with, I wouldn't use the word great..  And I did a LOT of work with 3.1. ( and 3.11 - WFW networking was fun...)

At least not until possibly 98 2nd Edition..  That was really good...
(I can see people thinking 95 was great, but I didn't think it was there yet..)

Yeah, 2k was very stable, but there was too much it couldn't do for my tastes..

I'd class XP as a really great OS tho...  Once they got past the initial compatibility issues (got the vendors to update their drivers.. ) that is..

That said, I think Workbench 2.0 was pretty far ahead of the competition from MS...

desiv

Totally agree, even "Mr Windows" Paul Thurrott (a former Amiga head) agrees that Windows 3.1 was "a joke" (in his words) compared to the Amiga.

My first Windows PC ran Win 98 (first edition) and it was a nightmare to use, I'd get BSODs at least a few times each day, I ended up going back to my A1200 as my main machine for a few more years, it wasn't until XP that I started using a Windows PC as my main computer.

[persia]

I'm just glad they got rid of the flop up windows ball menu thing that listed the apps folder, the one that was formerly known as start.  It was just an annoyance.

[warpdesign]

It's been 20 years, and the Amiga still doesn't support...

...multi-core (SMP)
...dual head (yes, multiple screens on the same gfx card)
...memory protection/ressource tracking (yes, you'd think by now every OS would suppport it ?)
...multi user support

What's more constructive for the Amiga ? Pointing out (eventual) Windows flaws ? Pointing out Amiga's own flaws ?

I'm not sure keeping saying Windows suck will improve the Amiga... Maybe some of you think it does, but it's not the way it works... Apple is now the king before they stopped caring about Windows. Certainly not by keeping on insulting Windows...

[Bamiga2002]

It's been 20 years, and the Amiga still doesn't support...

...multi-core (SMP)
...dual head (yes, multiple screens on the same gfx card)
...memory protection/ressource tracking (yes, you'd think by now every OS would suppport it ?)
...multi user support

What's more constructive for the Amiga ? Pointing out (eventual) Windows flaws ? Pointing out Amiga's own flaws ?

I'm not sure keeping saying Windows suck will improve the Amiga... Maybe some of you think it does, but it's not the way it works... Apple is now the king before they stopped caring about Windows. Certainly not by keeping on insulting Windows...

Amiga doesn't need every feature Windows has, it's meant to be a real personal computer and not a "cloud" computer. And Windows doesn't need sympathy but AmigaOS does :knuddel:

[Roj]

It's been 20 years, and the Amiga still doesn't support...

...multi-core (SMP)
...dual head (yes, multiple screens on the same gfx card)
...memory protection/ressource tracking (yes, you'd think by now every OS would suppport it ?)
...multi user support

What's more constructive for the Amiga ? Pointing out (eventual) Windows flaws ? Pointing out Amiga's own flaws ?

I'm not sure keeping saying Windows suck will improve the Amiga... Maybe some of you think it does, but it's not the way it works... Apple is now the king before they stopped caring about Windows. Certainly not by keeping on insulting Windows...

If I held out any hope that the Amiga and its descendants still had a snowball's chance I never would've posted this topic. At this point I'd just like to see some of the things that made Amigas so comfortable get recognition and be implemented on Windows. Although I'm sure that's equally pointless.

[desiv]

What's more constructive for the Amiga ? Pointing out (eventual) Windows flaws ? Pointing out Amiga's own flaws ?.

Constructive for the Amiga?
I'm not expecting anyone to do anything to AmigaOS as a result of this thread. ;-)
I still use 3.1...

It's (for me) not meant to be constructive or destructive.
Just a comparison of different features sets between the 2...

desiv

[LoadWB]

Totally agree, even "Mr Windows" Paul Thurrott (a former Amiga head) agrees that Windows 3.1 was "a joke" (in his words) compared to the Amiga.

You have a link to that quote?  Might make for an interesting read.

I'm just glad they got rid of the flop up windows ball menu thing that listed the apps folder, the one that was formerly known as start.  It was just an annoyance.

With the metric shyt-tonne of programs I have installed on my system the Start menu is a welcome beast for organization.  Now I have to have every single program plastered across the task bar or thrown around "Metro."  Or I can just clutter up my desktop with a shyt-tonne of icons, which is actually currently set to not show icons.

Ah, well.  I guess this technological troglodyte will have to get dragged kicking and screaming into the "future."  Or use something else.  Ideally, by the time I have to support Windows 8 in the business environment I will be out of this profession.

[commodorejohn]

I'm just glad they got rid of the flop up windows ball menu thing that listed the apps folder, the one that was formerly known as start.  It was just an annoyance.

Yeah, now they just have a full-screen pop-up that lists the apps folder in vastly larger icons and wastes massive amounts of screen space. I can see how that's going to be a lot less annoying.

Ah, well. I guess this technological troglodyte will have to get dragged kicking and screaming into the "future." Or use something else. Ideally, by the time I have to support Windows 8 in the business environment I will be out of this profession.

That's why I'm keeping an eye on Haiku...

[runequester]

Besides there's no reason the amiga GUI features couldn't be built in to something else. Im still astounded there's not a proper, full featured counterpart to KDE and Gnome (especially with the path Gnome 3 is taking)

(AmiWM is neat and all, but veeery feature-incomplete)

[KimmoK]

@warpdesign

>What's more constructive for the Amiga ? Pointing out
>(eventual) Windows flaws ? Pointing out Amiga's own flaws ?

1) we must not blindly mimic windows, we must avoid it's mistakes
2) we need to be happy what we already have, otherwise this is sad hobby
3) we must not forget to improve things, look what is done elsewhere and do it better

> Apple is now the king before they stopped caring about
> Windows. Certainly not by keeping on insulting Windows...

Apple is the king of insulting windows. Just check official Apple adverts from youtube.

But the the reason for their success is that they are different than windows. ((THEY have proper multiuser support, security, stability, etc.)) They focus on doing things in smarter way, instead of just selling 99% sh*t to silly companies & people. (btw. MS is far better in HW than in SW, IMHO. ;-) )


(It would be pretty interesting if one day MS designed cell phone is best with meego SW) :-D

[lsmart]

It's been 20 years, and the Amiga still doesn't support...

Amiga wasn' t really developed since 1994, so there is small wonder it doesn' t support all you could wish for.

Pointing out (eventual) Windows flaws ? Pointing out Amiga's own flaws ?

If Windows had just learned a few lessons from Amiga, it might be the best OS there is. Unfortunately many of the resources that where poured into the development of the GUI of Windows were wasted. Due to a bad styleguide.

I own a copy of the "Windows User Experience" book from Microsoft press. It`s three times as thick as the Amiga User Interface Style Guide and is written poorly by comparison.

I'm not sure keeping saying Windows suck will improve the Amiga...

Amiga will not improve. Maybe AROS will, but I am not sure. You may hope for some up to date software and maybe some hardware, but there are no resources for real improvements that will benefit Joe Random.

Windows will change substancially, but it seems that they "improve" it for a different target audience than us: Sony Tristar, Time Warner, Intel, ASUS, D ELL, HP and Microsoft.

[chris]

Ideally, by the time I have to support Windows 8 in the business environment I will be out of this profession.

I said that when XP came out... and guess what?

[LoadWB]

I said that when XP came out... and guess what?

Things are a bit different for me.  I was using XP starting with the betas and was extremely impressed, so XP wasn't a game-stopper for me.  I was appalled at Vista and happy to learn it wouldn't last long.  And as much as I despise the Vista user interface was has perpetuated into 7, I would be happy to stick with 7 for a while and relegate the advanced functionality I need to use -- which the GUI makes more distant -- to command line rather than this abomination which is Windows 8.

As well, I have more long-term business options available to me within the next 18 months, so I don't have to stay in this field for much longer.  And there's always the chance of falling back on my Solaris/Linux experience.  Right now, though, I'm leveraging my virtualization knowledge more and more.

[danwood]

You have a link to that quote?  Might make for an interesting read.
.

It was on an episode of Windows Weekly podcast iirc, can't remember the episode number sadly, but it was sometimes last summer.