First (?) call for Micro$oft to abandon Vista.

[Hammer]

redrumloa wrote:
HERE.

The road ahead looks dangerous for Vista and Microsoft must realize that. With Mac OS X hot on its tail, Vista is simply not capable of competing at an OS level with some of the best software around. If Microsoft continues down this path, it will be Vista that will bring the software giant to its knees--not Bill Gates' departure.

Of course, categorically dumping an operating system is quite difficult and with millions already using the OS, chances are Microsoft won't find a good enough reason to do it. And while I can understand that argument, there's no reason the company can't continue to support Vista and go back to the drawing board for its next OS. Even better, go back to XP--it's not nearly as bad as Vista.

As a daily user of Mac OS X, Ubuntu and Vista, I'm keenly aware of what works and what doesn't. Mac and Linux work.

The time is up. Microsoft must abandon Vista and move on. It's the company's only chance at redemption.

MacOS X Leo has it's own issues. For example

Data Loss Bug In OS X 10.5 Leopard

OS X Leopard Firewall Flawed

Leopard Upgraders Getting "Blue Screen of Death"

Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard:Software Incompatibilities

[Hammer]

One thing you may not know is Apple is gaining market share, while M$ is actually losing market share. There is a very real chance M$ can be toppled.

Unlikely, since Apple is only a single PC vendor.

Refer to http://www.itfacts.biz/index.php?id=C0_7_1
Note worldwide non-Apple PC shipment vs Apple's PC shipment.

[Hammer]

Funny, that. I heard that Nintendo's Wii is giving both these systems a major headache thanks to its innovative controls which offer a MAJOR break from the standard thumb-twitching joypad

Factor in the lower price for Wii.

With Halo 3's release
Xbox 360 Beats Wii in September Console Sales

[Hammer]

Okay: it has BOTH a lower price AND an innovative control system. Sounds like a win-win situation to me. And a loose-loose for PS3 and Xbox.

In regards to "loose-loose", note "With Halo 3's release
Xbox 360 Beats Wii in September Console Sales" statement.

And buying an expensive game console just to play Halo is not particularly smart from a financial POV

In terms of cost, X360 slots in the middle of Wii and PS3.
Smartness is irrelevant against actual results.

[Hammer]

when I think about Front Row vs WMPlayer i laugh.

Ermm, use ‘Windows Media Centre’ instead of WMPlayer.

[Hammer]

x86 Linux and Windows and Macs (whichever version you are talking about) are inefficient bloated resource hogs: GB of superfast memory, CPU''s running in the 1000's of MHZ,Terrabyte hard drives. WTF!!!! The OS is supposed to control the way the user interacts with the PC ie icons, menus, windows , dialogs, mouse pointer movement.

If that was the case, why not install Windows CE X86, Windows NT3.x or ReactOS 0.3.3?

Why isn't the computer ready to go when I power it up, why don't we have zero boot times, why don't programs start instantaneously when I double click on their icon

On my laptop (ASUS G1S) laptop, wordpad.exe starts instantaneously when I double click on it's icon.

why do menus stall before opening, why does everything go slower when i read a cd/dvd/hard drive

There are poorly written shell add-ons that may slow down shell’s menu operations.

Compared to the rest of the system (e.g. GPU/FSB/CPU/primary memory), HD’s throughput didn’t improve much.

WHY ??Because the hardware architecture that any new computer you can now buy is based on the Windows-design

This statement is false.

ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) architecture was developed by HP, Intel, Microsoft, Phoenix and Toshiba. Note Microsoft and Toshiba in HD-DVD(another topic)...

Look in "Device Manager" -> Computer -> "ACPI x86 based PC" (HAL.dll, HALACPI, HALMACPI.dll). HAL = hardware abstraction layer.

Anyway, Intel and Phoenix are developing embedded style lite OS(extensions for firmware) for the X64 PCs i.e. Hyperspace.

Why can't this built into the hardware ie in the peripherals themselves so the OS immediately knows all about the hardware when its powered-up?

How does an X64 PC display itself and accepts keyboard inputs before loading Windows NT/2K/XP/Vista? My ASUS G1S laptop can display bitmap graphics(for OEM logos) from BIOS boot-up.

Standard PCs starts up as "real mode" 86 i.e. 8086 based PC. Note that some X64 PCs uses UEFI instead of BIOS.  

UEFI or BIOS based drivers was not designed with Windows NT family in mind. It's false to think that a modern X64 PC is designed for Windows NT/2K/XP/Vista. In actual reality its was designed for IBM-DOS/PC-DOS/MS-DOS (for BIOS enabled PCs).

IF an X64 PC was designed specifically for Windows NT family, it would have a minimal Windows NT (shown during Windows XP/Vista CD/DVD install) built-into it's frimware(e.g. XBOX 360), but this is not the case.

X64 PC's firmware is Intel's and Phoenix's domain (as illustrated in Hyperspace's development). There’s very little chance for Microsoft to push the other near-mono/duo-poly titans (e.g. Intel, Phoenix/AMI) from that domain.

In classic Amigas, parts of AmigaOS are already active after Kickstart disk prompt. The classic Amiga architecture is mostly govern by a single corporation, while X64 PC is govern by serveral large corporations i.e.  Intel, AMD, Phoenix and Microsoft.

ATI or NVIDIA XP/Vista driver includes things like JIT-complier i.e. optimise shader programs for specific GPU cores. Modern GPUs are akin to an array of FPU co-processors.

[Hammer]

I haven't read this entire thread, bui I say screw XP, Vista and all this other crap. Get a cou[ple dedicated software enthusiasts, code an os, and you have one of the most responsive, intuitive OSes on the market. Gates don't know the first thing abput software.

Microsoft knows about business desktop software and the middleware to support it. Refer to Windows CE/PocketPC for Microsoft's lite OSes.