[TechieXP]

Yes I remember I too had Copy II Plus. And I remember that rip off bus IBM made...it was called Micro-Channel. It looked exactly what PCI is today, except the connectors were much smaller and closer. That is one thing I always hated about IBM, their PC's always had non-standard parts and you couldn't install your own stuff. And the few components that were micro-channel were so expensive,...even for teh PC Jr.

I think anyone today can reverse engineer anyones code...MSFT did it years ago so it can't be that hard. Its probably just like what the scientist did in Jurassic Park. Get enough of the sequence and simply fill in the gaps.

Anyone remember when Apple sued Frankin for making Apple clones? I had one of them cost me 999.99 teh ost expensive computer I ever bought on a 3.35 salary. It had dual 5 1/2 diskdrives...I broke mine trying to adjust the drive speeds...without drives a computer for me was useless. By teh time I went to Franklin for replacements the cost was just to extreme. I was so angry I boxed it up and simply shipped the whole thing to them...even though I had it for over a year...they sent me a check back for the complete total.

And rgreen4...MSFT has gotten wise to that OEM trick. With Vista if you purchase the OEM version...it has a 10 install maximum. One friend of mine use to be really sneeky. He would go to Best Buy and look underneath teh systems in the store and copy down all the COA stickers and teh serial number. Then he would go home an call teh MFR and register the. And of course while under warranty you can get recovery CD's for free. Best Buy got wish to that and so all their laptops are mounted to the display and the desktops are hidden behind the display shelf.

I also remember that the installation floppies from MSFT used a programs that force teh 1.44MB floppy to hold 1.7MB of data. I later found a program to do that so that I could make copies of teh disketts. Later I found a way to just place all the disks on CD and have Windows 95 install as if it was using floppies.
I now how 2 DVD's I created that have all versions of DOS, and Windows.

In a Microsoft free world when I am 75 years old...I will still be able to run Windows of my choice. The coolest thing I like about MSFT stuff...is that even on todays hardware, with just a few modifications I can still run old versions of Windows. Imagine how fast Windows 3.x or 9x would run on todays system. ZoOm zOOm ZooM!

[WinTard]

I use Sourcer and IDA Pro to um tinker with anything and everything - to learn and understand what really goes on in there...

(And come to think of it, to number6, I do not appreciate the chilling effects of the DMCA. To me it is fascism pure and simple.)

Results 1 - 10 of about 350,000 for disassembler windows. (0.15 seconds)
>Free Disassemblers, Decompilers, Hexadecimal viewers, Hex editors ...
>14 Oct 2007 ... Debuggy is a Windows debugger, disassembler, Windows resource extractor, file hex editor, window sniffer and API spy all rolled into one. ...
>http://www.thefreeco...ssemblers.shtml - Similar pages

Those interested reverse-engineering topics can also look for excellent tutorials from:
google: Results 1 - 10 of about 18,200 for andrew bunnie huang. (0.13 seconds)

{Make no mistake, he's a EE, PhD from MIT} I highly recommend his blog: http://bunniestudios.com/blog/

~~~~~~~~~~
More is less; Less is more.
{Famous Unix quote about the more and less utilities}

You can never regret what you have not said.
~ WinTard's mom

A man does not know what he is saying until he knows what he is not saying.
{Chinese Proverb}

Silence is the true friend that never betrays.
{Chinese Proverb}

Performance through lightweight.
~ Lotus Car's mission (using Toyota's engines)

[TechieXP]

Dig that!

I was just thinking about how lucky we were to have seen teh changes that have occured in the PC Industry and see where we have been and where we are now and how we got here. After reading the thing in a DOJ report about how MSFT cause a barrier for new companies and how the DOJ is constantly on them is so tiring. If teh governement has there hands to much in this industry...we would probbaly only be just getting Windows 95 at this point.

I think teh barriar MSFT creates is it eliminates us getting cheap cheesy poorly wriiten software. What MS has done and I don't care what means because I am not a lawyer and since I dont get paid to care I don't. But what they ahve done is created a standard that at teh very least ensures that if someone comes into teh market, they at least have to be above that level. And that level has been set so high that only a company with a huge backing can measure up.

And it has limited how many players have and will remain at the card table. I am not sure if this is a fact based on the movie Pirates of Silicon Valley, but if it is true Bill made a very interesting statement. The concept is to provide something people really need, and make sure you're the only ones that give it to them. This is what made MSFT do a smart move to license their software vs sell it outright. That guy at Southern Computer I bet wanted to commit suicide after selling his DOS of $50K...I think he later becae an employee so at least he got to take part in soe of teh growth and I am sure he has eraned his fair share.

But competition is a mutha...and if you don't have wat it takes...you will be beaten. I am sure MSFT thwarted some concepts that potentially could have been godsends to this industry...but I do feel much of teh pusing they have done, pushed things much faster. If they had gone at teh rate it was back the...do you think we would have 32x cdroms? or finally have emerged from floppies? Have HDD's exceeding 1TB....back in the old days a HDD was smaller than a floppy. I remember a 500MB disk drive costing 1000's....

Basically Apple and MSFT has unbeatable concepts and even to this day 30 years later no one has been able to even come close enough to be considered a threat. But time will tell. Just as Sears had there day...the reign of Apple and MSFT will start to show some age. However both companies have teh potential to lead this industry for another 3 decades providing they can secure the proper balance.

I think it will be a few years before we will ever be without a desktop PC...there are things they can do that a console or portable device simply can't replace. But iPhone shows that potentially we can and will have a pocket sized device that will be as powerful as a desktop...all that is needed is a way to hook up a few extras and its on...

One thing we can be assured of is this...as teh future gets ore fancy...there will be a need for gadgets of some type...and gadgets require software to make them do what they do. Whats makes a phone so great now is software as Steve said. iPhone and Macs are just OSX...we see it as hardware but without teh software its nothing...it a fancy, expensive...table. Just like Bill said...the Altair without his software was simply a box with lights that blinks. And even IBM had teh wrong idea thinking the money was in the hardware. Unless hardware is designed for a specific task...its nothin...software makes that hardware have abilities beyond its own limitations. Software turned a CD Player into a recorder...and the greatest thing about software is you can create hardware that doesn't even exist and use it as if it is real...

Time is going to make teh PC better then ever..and I hope to 2 main players continue to lead teh front.

[GetReal]

"with just a few modifications I can still run old versions of Windows"



First modification would be to dump memory. Been a while since running Win-3 here but Win-98se won't handle memory in excess of one Gb on any computer I have tried---don't know if this is a design of the OS or something in the Bios. This is a reason I still have so many computers cluttering my workshop---have 2 old programs that require olders OS (a bible and a printable-annotatable calendar) as new "comparable" software offers much less and costs much more! And yes, I have tried my programs in later OS with "compatability" enabled, etc., still crash. Also, haven't noticed a really big difference in apparant speed with old software on new 3.2 Ghz computers.

[WinTard]

@SkateNY, my dear friend, thanks to your input, this thread was resurrected from obscurity. I enjoy the arguments you put forth, as they foster a good discussion. Which turned out entertaining and informational. Better than the news!

Please do not take my comments personally about Apple. I am simply sharing my knowledge, and perspective at the moment. Yet thanks to you, my views towards Apple have significantly evolved towards the better. It is harder to be agnostic than simply going with the flow.

I would like you to keep on doing what you do sparking things up, and be the catalyst helping enabling our community to think... harder! That is what I like about you. Sincerely, your friend WinTard.

~~~~~~~~~~
True friendship is never serene
~ Marie de Rabutin-Chantal

Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
~ Dalai Lama

Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
~ Dalai Lama

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.
~ Thomas Jefferson

[cystarkman]

Skate, Techie, Wintard

How the be-jeezers did this start up again. This thread is going to have be monitored for the guiness book of records "longest running off topic rant in a forum thread"

The content has improved from it's haiatus.

[WinTard]

{quote:title=cystarkman wrote:}{quote}Skate, Techie, Wintard

How the be-jeezers did this start up again. This thread is going to have be monitored for the guiness book of records "longest running off topic rant in a forum thread"

The content has improved from its hiatus.

Well, substantial progress has been achieved! And as far as entertaining and lively, PCWorld Rocks! We've got a great community of opinionated knowledgeable people, and that is outstanding! Anything less would be uncivilized.

As far as the Guiness world record, another contender for the off topic rant thread is the 10 Ways Microsoft's Retail Stores Will Differ From Apple Stores based on my stats provided and categorized by email notification count.

I'm having great fun participating in the PCWorld Community Online Discussion Forums! :^0

And I hope everybody else is too.

Mods: Only ~600 posts (or rants, depending you your perspective), not one liners, by a wintarded misfit in seven weeks; How many members here? I hope you have unlimited space allocated in the database to these forums? ;)

~~~~~~~~~~~
When everyone thinks alike not much gets thought.
~ Johan Norberg

Strong lives are motivated by dynamic purposes.
~ Kenneth Hildebrand

Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.
~ Rodin

Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.
~ John Lennon

The art of living lies less in eliminating our troubles than in growing with them.
~ Bernard M. Baruch, 1870-1965, American Financier and Statesman

[SkateNY]

Great post.

[SkateNY]

My memory lane...my first computer was an Amiga 1000. Boy did I love that machine. Too bad Commodore was such a screwed-up company at the time that they didn't even give themselves a chance to compete with an outstanding piece of hardware.

[SkateNY]

"And let's be real here. The only reason Apple is so much in the news, and prospering, is they finally adopted the Industry Standard PC Architecture and became a PC look-alike. And use the exact same parts, designs, like any other PC. Pretty it up."

Unless consumers are completely stupid, unaware, and care absolutely nothing about price...I don't think so.

Apple has survived through good times and bad. If all they did was "pretty up," they'd have been gone a very long time ago.

Shame on you. You should know better.

[WinTard]

I stand by my words, and am not ashamed at all. Shame on you for thinking that I would compromise myself, or my principles. I simply state what I believe. But I can accept we do not agree fully on the Apple situation and probably never will. That is your right and mine as well. And that is good. Now had it not been you my friend, I would have substantiated why I think Apple is a PC, uses the same components as a PC, packages it in a nice presentation, and charges premium for it. But I won't go there. Even if you ask. But I will, if someone else asks... ;

~~~~~~~~~~
You don’t have to be wrong for me to be right.
~ Brad Hirschfield

Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
~ Dale Carnegie

The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.
~ Socrates, 470-399 B.C., Greek Philosopher

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.
~ Warren Buffett

The way I see it, If you want the rainbow sometimes you gotta put up with the rain.
~ Dolly Parton

Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.
~ Guillaume Apollinaire

[SkateNY]

I don't disagree with you. My only point is that Apple's appeal has more to do with likability and productivity than it does with window dressing.

[WinTard]

Agreed. These are superior points for Apple. Also, I think ultimately Quality is never expensive. Thus explaining the satisfaction level of so many Apple users. I really have no problems with Apple. But you made me realize it was the 'nagging' users, insisting on comparing this and that, and dumping all over non-Apple products. For instance, this AppleBasic is better than GWBasic, when in fact it was written by Bill Gates himself... But I digress.

I am happy we agree on some points. Have you noticed we actually agree on most major points, and stumble on the small ones? I could have been more considerate with the term "pretty"... Sorry about that. I can be a moron quite often...

~~~~~~~~~~
Men trip not on mountains they trip on molehills.
{Chinese Proverb}

One who minds the feelings of others is no fool.
{Chinese Proverb}

It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.
~ Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790, American Scientist/Publisher/Diplomat

[rgreen4]

Enough. The beauty of Apple products and whether they are worth the money has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH WINDOWS 7. The topic at hand is the different versions of Windows 7.

Skate and Wintard - this is a constant problem. Yes I did get a little off topic, but you two have carried on this discussion of a completely unrelated company and product long enough.

If you want to discuss the various versions of Windows 7, continue to discuss it here. If you want to discuss something, anything else, take it outside by starting a new thread. I might suggest this one as it's the one topic you can't get off topic in.

[GetReal]

Right On! I mean when enough is enough, then enough already. This topic has clearly covered everything possible to be said about versions of Win-7 by everyone even slightly interested or opinionated, so les just let it die, as it near was, and have no more off-topic yacking by anyone, even if otherwise it was probably interesting, definately, sorta, maybe, occasionally, rairly or even not....yes suh.
It seriously bothers me lots seeing all these wasted words on my display! UhHuh & LOL.
;-)







Oh yeah, good pointer to that other forum. Nice idea there, really!

[WinTard]

{quote:title=WinTard wrote:}{quote}
204. Mar 13, 2009 10:38 AM in response to: PCWorld
Re: Windows 7 to Ship In Five Different Versions

I am a bit annoyed that a Microsoft Windows 7 thread has turned into yet another Apple vs Microsoft, or Linux vs Microsoft. But such is life.

From my perspective, who cares if a company is doing well for itself. What matters is what they are doing for me. I would advise others to consider that thought.

No comments on Apple from me, or else, it will turn into yet another futile bash fest.

I say both Microsoft and Apple are great companies with great products. Where's the beef?

~~~~~~~~~~
Think much, talk little, write less.
{French Proverb}

With all due respects to everyone: You're right rgreen4. I shall in the future attempt to ignore off topic issues, or simply respond: Off-topic, please take it elsewhere.

[SkateNY]

Since when did this become a life and death struggle?

A sense of humor requires several things; perspective is one among them.

[rgreen4]

The prospective is this. This is PC World's website, and in order to post on this site, we all have to comply with the standard and rules they set. One of these is that after discussion has been taken too far off topic, the moderators are tasked with taking it back on topic. This thread diverged so far and the discussion was so far off topic members were generating complaints.
Thus it has to be taken back on track. If you do not like that, then on Tuesday you can send a PM to Krissy to complain, however, you should be advised that there have been complaints and several moderator discussions. It was suggested that if you want to discuss your topic with WinTard further, then take it to a new thread. You can create one at any time in the General Talk area, but the hijacking of news discussions and other question threads has to stop.

[AuroraDizon]

Please do not keep posting off topic disucssions in this thread. You are welcome to start your own thread in the general discussion forum. Please understand that users who have replied to this article get emails whenever a reply is made to it and you will be spamming their email.

[TechieXP]

yep that is true. I think that is a design limitation. When those OS's were released, most sustem didn't exceed 256MB of ram. 9x always had poor memory management compare to NT. The most it could use in total was 512MB. However 384MB (128x3) appears to be more correct.

Even though its not totally the same, using programs like Virtual PC or VirtualBox which are both free would give you what you need to us the older OS's.
Witm my present board the issue is the multi[le cpu's. My board doesn't allow me to turn off the other 3 cores. But I have a spare Pentium 4 laying around and a 512MB memory module.

This may sound weird, but I miss Windows ME sometimes. I was able to get it to work perfectly after patching teh heck out of it and making some registry changes.

One of the other features I missed from 9x was the Plus! Packs. That is what MSFT should bring back which could include many of the features thay have rolled up into Windows. Like the extra games, Media Center and the Windows Live/Essentials.

As far as speed on a typical program like Word and similar there isn't much different. I did however notice a difference in games. I didn't realize how bad the video in some were until trying to run them on better cards. 640 x 480 still looks terrible :-)