Very interesting.

I'm surprised that IE 9, which can only run on Microsoft's newest OS, only made it to 95/100 on Acid Test 3, while on my computer (running Vista) Chrome gets to 100/100 flawlessly. Why would they release a "brand new" browser that couldn't keep up with an existing and competing one?

>> ^sirex:

geeky, saliva heavy nasally voice; check !
"People need to realize that somewhere towards the end of Vista and into Windows 7 Microsoft has taken their crappy old software and made it work extremely well" -- I assume by this you mean "now when things crash the desktop is reloaded quickly".


I'm sorry you're screwing yourself out of a good PC experience. Best of luck.


In Kind,
Person That Doesn't Install Every Program Possible From Every Site They Visit Using Legacy Hardware From 1994


P.S.- When a program crashes nowadays you're pretty much guaranteed that they caused the error. Strangely enough Windows (and Mac OS) both refresh their desktops when leaving a program--funny; I wonder why.
P.S.S.- If I come across as a, "geeky, saliva heavy nasally voice" and I am a geek; but, you come across as a, "mouth breather". No hard feelings, right?

/Sorry, I have to do that, it's written into my DNA sequences.

geeky, saliva heavy nasally voice; check !

"People need to realize that somewhere towards the end of Vista and into Windows 7 Microsoft has taken their crappy old software and made it work extremely well" -- I assume by this you mean "now when things crash the desktop is reloaded quickly".

I just thought I'd point out that I've ran my main computer (of course I'm a hardware geek, so I know my stuff--no conflicts is another way to put it) for 4 years on Vista SP2 64-Bit WITHOUT ONE CRASH (this is a: on for 24/7 as it acts as a media server and Windows Media Center Extender-provider)! Now I'm on Win 7 64-Bit and same deal, nothing, no problems, no crashes, and I have my fair share of peripherals plugged in.

People need to realize that somewhere towards the end of Vista and into Windows 7 Microsoft has taken their crappy old software and made it work extremely well, considering what it has to do. It has drivers for virtually everything and if your a scientist, engineer, or something similar you're using Windows for this very reason: Windows will recognize your device and allow you to write a driver to let you do whatever you need it to do; easily!

People are afraid to switch out Windows XP. They're expecting to go through all the hassle only to get the same crap. But, Windows 7 is definitely a new breed of design for Microsoft. You can tell the old guys must have been canned or given an epiphany inducing lashing by Bill: Bill was retired from production for a long time, but when Vista came out, it literally pissed him off (as he was trying to use it himself) and there was a big bust-up/fight internally; so in a way I'm glad Vista started out as a complete and utter piece of crap that performed as well as a brick in a GrandPrix race. It led to Windows 7 and the service packs that made Vista very usable.

Again, back to why Windows IS successful even when it was crashing... You can right your own driver AND IT WORKS. Now days it works great, and the development software is pretty straight forward and is fairly good. That is the one thing he should point out in the video is the extremes Microsoft went to (and still does), to get an OS that would do everything. Yeah, it crashed and was buggy, but realistically you won't be running your new hardware on a MacOS. People with MacOS's (in the past especially) are one trick pony users. They do music or they do art. They don't need a virtual driver that supports incoming data from a USB blender/centrifuge that will let you write a program using the driver to tamper with the spin and modulation rate of the device while getting real-time data updates. Hell, the roving "Doppler on Wheels" uses Windows for this very reason.

Microsoft takes a lot of flak, but they filled their role very well and I was never surprised that it was buggy (however, I'll totally agree that the initial version of Vista was a complete an utter joke--like I said I didn't get it till they had their second service pack and had great user feedback; especially, since I went 64-bit).

Windows 7 though IS the OS to use or some sort of Linux distribution. But, with the great support built in, right off the bat (this time) and the easy to make drivers for developers and hardware vendors, it's getting hard to find a reason to not use it other than: "I hate Windows and/or Bill Gates".

Thought I'd write this bit if people didn't know the story or reasons why the latest Windows have changed direction so drastically.

I'm surprised he included Windows 2000 since that was basically an updated version of Windows NT (which wasn't included) and wasn't part of the home user upgrade path. It would have been more realistic to upgrade Win98 -> WinME -> WinXP.

I would have also liked to see him try upgrading through WinXP x64 just to see if anything blew up.

If I remember correctly WinXP can't be upgraded directly to Win7, so the only upgrade path is WinXP -> Vista -> Win7 for those masochists who refuse to install a fresh copy of Win7. I think that's Microsoft's way of trying to cut off legacy problems.

>> ^Yogi:

It's amazing how perceptive, funny, and intelligent Brian Williams can be...and yet still I couldn't watch his program without stabbing forks in my eyes. How can you be this way and not see that your own network...your own show is soo full of shit?


I think he's like this because of the people that surround him; how could you not be. I would also try to make many a joke that they don't understand unless they look up a turn of phrase--on their iPad (a glorified non-cellphone/unless you really need/want to spend that much money on one-"buggy and slow"-device).

Yes, I've used my Dad's. It certainly has some nifty features (which have all been invented or used already), but since it's Apple and it has the name i"x", it must be a game changing, revolutionary, cutting edge, never crashes, solves: world hunger, bi-polar, cancer, Fox News, heralds baby Jesus's return to Earth in North Western Missouri; and it has a shelf/I'm mean battery life of 30.62 days--or so I've heard.

It was semi-slow (that wasn't very surprising); slow in two departments: switching and starting between and new apps or processes. Second, the Wi-Fi connection was flaky (either not downloading or when downloading, even including the occasional burst speeds, it averaged 22 KBps (as I say below it should at least be going 100-200 KBps [this is still incredibly slow], as his connection has a download rate of 1.2-1.5 MBps). I'll play with that a bit more (as I think it may have been the wireless router as he has a 14-Megabit connection).

The games were fun and a few of the apps were great. But, I'd rather have a lightweight fully functional notebook PC with a 16:9 screen, atleast 720p, and a fully customizable network adapter. ...And to be blunt, I'd much rather have Windows 7 or even Vista (fully patched), as both have great functionality and support plus their 64-Bit support is great. Plus I can put in a full Blu-Ray drive that comes with PowerDVD.

Better applications, better games and support. Yes, this is an anti-apple rant as I think all of their once "highly revered" features: functionality, non-crashing, no hacking (hah!), graphical editing applications (which is a "contract" feature), sound editing applications (same as the last), and it's "ease-of-use" (which is now a completely moot point). Apple is still successful, because they find niche products that do well; like the Nintendo DS. The iPod (although the screens break a bit to early, my only complaint) and the iPhone are great products and fill a gap in a niche market. The iPad does the same thing, but from what I've tried it needed another year (plus some spec changes like a 16:9 screen going up to 720p (which is HD not this stupid licensing agreement so they can use the logo on a nice, but NOT HD screen (I think it's XGA or 1024x768), a connection port that could handle a multitude of devices: usb, 1394, ethernet, gamepads, speakers, etc I know it does some of this already, especially in the bluetooth department.

But, I feel that it should have come with the large flash/ssd drive, cell phone features (which they do have, it just costs an arm and a leg), more functionality for the "touch pen" (some mouse-like buttons etc...), FLASH & FULL browser SUPPORT (not having flash, plus other regular features "kills it" in a lot of ways)--Apple has to have their money/way though; I don't think they've got any clue when they shoot themselves in the foot), and a slightly faster (or duo-core) processor to help the experience feel more smooth; they have a: "1GHz Apple A4 custom-designed chip" were as a Intel Atom that has an nVidia extension may have been a better choice (I'm not to sure about battery usage for these guys, but from the devices it was used in it wasn't too bad).

So in the end (damn this was WAY longer than expected) I think they should have refined it for another year. Got some REAL user feedback; give it to people that don't work for the ass-kissing mainstream Apple press-core (yes, I'm talking about the likes of Engadget). Then, actually work on their gripes! People already seem willing to pay an arm and a leg for their stuff, so if the price goes up one-hundred, don't worry all your loyal'ii will still buy it. Anyway...this didn't happen, so I was left feeling underwhelmed by it and would instead by a nice laptop.

BTW, Brian Williams is the shit!

/This post may seem anti=Apple and in a lot of ways it is, but I would like them to make a good tablet (or awesome tablet--if they'd pull their collective heads out of their asses). It seems to me that any company, right now, that takes some time and makes a fast, reliable, easy-to-use, with 720p (and lots of video/codecs support)...will destroy Apple's iPad longterm (right now I just see Android tablets, but the ones I've seen are underwhelming).

//If someone has seen a good tablet coming out that has some of the features that I'm talking about, please throw in a reply.

I want you to know that as an otherwise staunch atheist, I don't resent you for believing what you do. I, however, feel exactly the opposite of what you do - believing with heart and soul in a God is depressing - the God of the Bible is a wholly unsympathetic character, and while "goodness" in itself doesn't say anything about existence, it certainly changes what I want to believe.

I am curious as to why a spiritual world makes more sense to you than a physical one? To me the physical world makes sense, because all I have sensed exists in the physical world, we can measure it, smell it, observe it, test and manipulate it. It's all really there and when you see some of the fantastics vistas the physical world presents to us or just contemplate the complexity of something as simple as a physical object like an hourglass, you cannot help be be in awe. Each grain of sand interacting against the other, causing each other to fall in a random but precise manner.

As Douglas Adams put it "Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" Putting in a spirit world makes no sense to me, seeing as it explains itself just nicely without it.

Finally I saw this comic which you might like or dislike, anyway, it's worth a read: http://www.everythingdiescomic.com/?s=44

>> ^lantern53:

My God is pretty awesome, which totally makes sense to me. I don't believe He was ever jealous. Anyway, not believing in God, I think, would be very depressing. To think there is no spirit world goes beyond what is totally believable...in other words, a spirit world makes far more sense to me than a physical world.

@kasinator you can. it's just a Microsoft Surface, and this is a suite they built for it. I understand it's running Vista SP1, and probably a customized gui due to the touch software. that gui however is likely not available without a previously purchased unit. you can try the spare parts link though if you want to try to order just the screen.

@RFlagg they did in vista, and the availability for it is still there in win7, called DreamScene. I think they technically scrapped the project, but if you do a google search for "DreamScene" you'll find a lot of stuff on how to enable it for both Vista and 7.

--

Also, LCARSx32 is pretty nice, although I'm pretty sure they stopped developing it. Voice recognition and all.

Jebus, there it is! Looks like vista too.
>> ^kasinator:

>> ^gwiz665:
But where is the start menu..?

look at the bottom in the middle screen

These are great - I'll keep these in mind as well...
I'm starting to get leery of downloading these programs of the internet though - I have no idea if they're dropping Trojans or other bad stuff along the way!
(the more of these I try, the higher my odds of of getting something nasty in there.)

>> ^xxovercastxx:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-ways-to-reset-the-for
gotten-windows-administrator-password/
I've used the 1st and 3rd methods in that article before.
Here's another instructional:
http://www.howtogeek.com/h
owto/windows-vista/change-your-forgotten-windows-password-with-the-linux-system-rescue-cd/

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-ways-to-reset-the-forgotten-windows-administrator-password/

I've used the 1st and 3rd methods in that article before.

Here's another instructional:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/change-your-forgotten-windows-password-with-the-linux-system-rescue-cd/

Anyone else use LogMeIn on their iPhone? I curently use it to do basically use my iPhone like it's a Windows Vista PC. I've used 3D Studio MAX, Flash, Photoshop etc. all through my iPhone. Probably won't get an iPad but if I did I'd probably use LogMeIn to control my Windows computer with the iPad interface.

^ Valve Going Out of Business: I think this is seen as a bigger issue than it really is. You can make backup copies of your steam games, and Valve could always turn off the required authentication system if needed. This leaves me with two concerns, but I don't think they're specific to Valve:

-What about online games that use Steam's server browser (this would also affect non-steam games that use their company's servers to search for active games).

-What happens if the Steam servers go down and you haven't backed up your games? Well, you're probably out of luck at that point(same if you lost your game CD on a non-steam game). Of course, chances are that you would have advance warning for something like that so you could download them before the cutoff.


Stuck Updating Client: I looked around and most of the people reporting this issue ended up figuring out that it was their firewall software that was causing the issue. Apparently it let them download the content but wouldn't allow the .msi to run. I also found the instructions below, but I didn't spend a lot of time researching it. Hope that helps.


Windows 7 / Vista solution

1: Load up Steam, wait till it's stuck on 99%.
2: Press "Start" button, type "msconfig" into the search bar and press enter.
3: Under the "Boot" tab where the "Boot options" are, tick "Safe boot" then tick "Network".
4: Restart your computer and allow it to load up in safe mode.
5: Everything will most likely look big and ugly.
6: Load up Steam, once it completes the update, log in.
7: Press "Start" button, type "msconfig" into the search bar and press enter.
8: Under the "Boot" tab where the "Boot options" are, un-tick "Safe boot".
9: Restart in to normal Windows.
10: Run Steam successfully.

I can get no liveleak vids to work here at all, I get nothing. Not a grey loading bar, not a window that wont work, just pure nothing. Anything with liveleak just gets a big blank space and zippady do dah there. I can right click and click on settings to see the flash player options, but other than that I can never see anything.

Not sure what fixed for you Burd, mines still all busted. I'm using Vista and Firefox atm, but it started back when I was still using XP so /shrug.