Why do you still use Windows?
Posted February 12th, 2008 by Anthony Filed Under: Uncategorized
Something has been bothering me lately, like an itch in the back of my throat. Why do the majority of people still have an affection and adoration for Windows? The easy answer is that its commonplace, people don’t like change and its universal. But after all of its failures and bugs, the majority of users still use it. But that same majority still complain endlessly about it. So why not change to something else.
With the complete failure of Vista people still want XP on their machines, but XP is still not that great of an OS. I am a former Windows user, and I stopped using it because I was fed up. Now some of you will say that its just easy to use, but frankly I see otherwise.
At the time of XP’s released I was psyched. I could not wait for what I thought was going to the best and greatest OS. After the failure of Windows ME many people thought that it could not get any worse, only better. And at first it did. But something else was gaining in popularity at the same time, that was Broadband.
With the advent of Broadband people were becoming more connected, but at the same time they were becoming more infected.
I have used many different PCs in this time and almost every persons PC I used had some sort of malware on it. These machines would lock up more then my old Windows ME machine. Now at the time I was not aware of other OS’s, I was just as blind as the majority of people were. As I became the go to computer guy for everyone I knew I became more frustrated with Windows. I was astonished on how something so advanced at the time could lock up and run like something from 1997. Over the years since XP’s release it got slightly better but not enough to warrant any newfound love from myself. XP still needed regular maintenance to keep it running efficiently and I just found it silly that I had to run all these programs just so XP itself would keep ship-shape. So I decided I needed a switch.
In 2005 I made a blind jump faith to an new OS (not knowing anything about it), and I always ask myself why I did not do it earlier. The feeling of being free from Windows was like complete bliss. Everything ran smoothly on my new OS, and if I ran into any problems they were miniscule compared to what Windows would drop into my lap everyday.
Now you can argue that I don’t know anything and that if you know what your doing with Windows that you will never have a problem. But that is simply not true. Even the Windows PC’s of corporate America do not run smoothly and those machines are locked down and still wind up with numerous problems. You can argue they are user incompetent problems, but I have switched many a people over to a new OS, and I never hear a “help me” peep out of them.
So when will you jump onto a new OS bandwagon. There are many affordable options for cash strapped people. You have Linux and all its flavors, and Ubuntu is becoming quite popular among Open Source. It can even be installed to your existing hardware. If you have the extra cash and want to spend a little more you can buy a Mac. Though Mac Minis are affordable and have even better hardware in them their originals for the same low price.
If you are in need of a change but do not know now whether you want to spend the extra money, remember people we are all getting about $600 come this May or June to help stimulate the economy. So put it towards your “get away from Windows fund”.
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8 Responses to “Why do you still use Windows?”
I’m one of the people who love Windows!
I have Vista on my computer (yes, Vista), and I’ve never had the problems other people are experiencing. In fact, I really like it!
I used to work on Mac computers for my job, and although I know how to navigate the system, I just never liked it as much as I liked Windows. A personal preference, I guess. In addition, much of the software I need for my job and my education requires Windows.
So those are my reasons.
Typical bullshit mac fanboy propaganda. I’ve said it a million times and i will say it once more - there is nothing wrong with Windows. Like many other people, I built my own machine. I spent extra money for the quality components - not the ones that you get with your new Dell. I ran Windows XP with absolutely 0 problems for several years.
I have not installed an anti-virus on my machine since I first installed Windows XP Beta. To this day, I still do not have anti-virus or any type of anti-malware programs installed.
I have since upgraded to Vista 64Bit Ultimate. Again, nothing here to “protect” me from “bad” programs on the internet. I use this machine for heavy Photoshop work, web design, and RAW photo manipulation, among other trivial things.
Not once has Vista every crashed on me. Right now, it has been up running for well over 2 months without a reboot. I rarely close Photoshop CS3 or MS Visual Studio 2008. FireFox 2 has a memory leak so that needs to be restarted every so often, but thats a Mozilla problem, not MS.
The point is that there is nothing wrong with Windows XP or Vista. Vista is a complete overhaul of the Windows GUI - and it is what everyone wanted. Everyone asked for an updated interface to compete with OSX and this is what they got. I love it. I love OSX interface as well. Two different beasts with two pretty faces. Vista added alot of security features but what is the difference between being prompted to allow something to be done and being prompted to enter your password? Same security, different method of enforcing it.
The only reason that people are scared of Vista is because of stupid articles like this one and uninformed people who love to spread the hatred of Vista without actually using it - and I dont mean using it for 10 minutes - I mean actually using it day in and day out, like I do. Stop pretending to know everything about that which you know nothing about.
In the workplace, Vista is not taking off (and I can attest to this personally) because it is radically different than Windows XP is. The security features are a big change, and the servers have not been updated to be able to apply group policies to much of Vista’s new security. Windows Server 2008 will change that.
Additionally, there are alot of programs that do not run on Vista because they were not written with future compatibility in mind. That can not be blamed on MS either. Besides - if the users of these incompatible programs decided to switch to Mac or Linux, they would be in the same boat - stuck without that program that they obviously need.
The only two reasons that Windows computers “crash” is because of 1) shitty hardware - and thats just what you get from Dell, HP, Compaq, and any other manufacturer who is selling you a “top of the line” machine for $300. 2) Stupid users. You wouldnt let a blind person fly an airplane so why would you expect a computer to run normally when being controlled by someone who doesnt know what they are doing? I too have seen many Windows based machines fall victim to spyware, adware, and all that fun. Is that a product of Windows? Is that Microsoft’s fault? Hell no. That is the people who installed it. That is the fault of the people who dont think twice about installing any program they come across on the internet, or via email.
Give those same dumb people a Mac or Linux and once they are given the opportunity to screw it up, rest assured, they will. OS X and Linux are just as vulnerable as Windows is (and the security experts have time and time again pointed that out) but nobody is going to focus on writing a spyware program for the tiny percentage of non-Windows users. It’s not worth their time. Let those two groups grow (alot) and you will see attacks growing, and once they do grow, you will start hearing alot more problems with those OS’s.
The point is that you need three things to make any system work properly
1) Good and compatible hardware (not that discount shit)
2) Well written software (that has been QA tested - not Kazaa and PartyPoker)
3) People who arent morons and can operate a computer
How do you know you don’t have a virus or a tiny insignificant trojan that is silently stealing all your information?
“I have not installed an anti-virus on my machine since I first installed Windows XP Beta. To this day, I still do not have anti-virus or any type of anti-malware programs installed.”
Then if its a hardware problem as you say, then how come systems that run Linux can run extremely efficient on low end hardware.
Also not once in the post did I mention that I was a Mac user. So Bryan why did you have to call it “Typical bullshit mac fanboy propaganda.”
And you are not the typical windows user, you have extreme hardware and patience.
If Microsoft built their own hardware maybe they would be actually have a stable OS, but those greedy corporate types only think about money, which will eventually cause their downfall.
In my honest opinion the only kind of software that will survive will be Open Source. Windows will be a thing of the past, and Mac OS X will phase into its UNIX and Linux roots.
Everything will be web based and we will finally see the end of the corporate controlled tech world.
Long live Linux!! Long live the Tech Geek!!
I know i dont have any virus or trojan becuase I never download anything that could give me one. How do you know that you dont have one on your mac?
Additionally, shitty systems do not run Linux with out problems. They might run low end distro’s fine - which essentially would be the same as running a low-end version of windows, say Windows 95 for example. If you want your nice shiny Ubuntu installation to run with Comiz Fusion enabled, its going to need the same advanced hardware capabilities as OSX and Vista.
How does NOT making hardware make Microsoft greedy? if anything, i would have to say that APPLE is the greedy one, because they will not support OSX without THEIR hardware. That sounds to me like they are forcing you use THEIR hardware which much be purchased from THEM - THATS what I call greedy.
By the way, OSX has no linux or unix roots. It has roots in BSD.
Finally, how can someone who has never used Linux make a statement like “Long live Linux” and keep in mind, configuring and maintaining a Linux based system is immensely more dificult than maintaining Windows or OSX.
Remember Microsoft did not become what they are today from customers who are advanced PC users. So.. “Additionally, shitty systems do not run Linux with out problems. They might run low end distro’s fine.”
Low end distros are fine for the majority of people. They don’t know what the fuck they are doing anyways.
Next.. “How does NOT making hardware make Microsoft greedy? if anything, i would have to say that APPLE is the greedy one.”
Because licensing your software out creates you more money because it gets your software on many more devices, thus the obvious market share microsoft has, and a net worth of 275.85 billion and Apple has a net worth of 72.92 billion. Apple could have followed microsofts lead and done the same years ago, but they decided they want their software to work with the best hardware and the least problems.
Oh and a little wikipedia search would have gave you this:
“NeXTSTEP was based on the Mach kernel and BSD, an implementation of Unix dating back to the 1970s.”
And since Linux has its roots in Unix therefore my analysis of Mac OS X having Unix and Linux roots is accurate.
Another rabid iTard….
Failure of Vista? Just.. LOL
Go back to your fantasy fruit-computer filled world.
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