Why Does Windows Still Suck?

[fbrdphreak]

An extremely funny, yet sobering look at Windows from someone who doesn't have to deal with it everyday, ROFL

It is really long, so I pasted the beginning below and you can read the whole thing here.

Enjoy

So about a year ago, the SO finally upgraded her Net connection to DSL, carefully installed the Yahoo! DSL software into her creaky Sony Vaio PC laptop and ran through all the checks and install verifications and appropriate nasty disclaimers.
And all seemed to go smoothly and reasonably enough considering it was a Windows PC and therefore nothing was really all that smooth or reasonable or elegant, but whatever. She just wanted to get online. Should be easy as 1-2-3, claimed the Yahoo! guide. Painless as tying your shoe, said the phone company.

She got online all right. The DSL worked great. For about four minutes.

Then, something happened. Something attacked. Something swarmed her computer the instant she tried to move around online and the computer slowed and bogged and cluttered and crashed, and multiple restarts and debuggings and what-the-hells only brought up only a flood of nightmarish pop-up windows and terrifying error messages and massive system slowdowns and all manner of inexplicable claims of infestation of this worm and that Trojan horse and did we want to buy McAfee AntiVirus protection for $39.95?

Four minutes. And she was already DOA.

My SO, she is not alone. This exact same scenario, with only slight variation, is happening throughout the nation, right now. Are you using a PC? You probably have spyware. The McAfee site claims a whopping 91 percent of PCs are infected. As every Windows user knows, PCs are ever waging a losing battle with a stunningly vicious array of malware and worms and viruses, all aimed at exploiting one of about ten thousand security flaws and holes in Microsoft Windows.

Here, then, is my big obvious question: Why the hell do people put up with this? Why is there not some massive revolt, some huge insurrection against Microsoft? Why is there not a huge contingent of furious users stomping up to Seattle with torches and scythes and crowbars, demanding the Windows Frankenstein monster be sacrificed at the altar of decent functionality and an elegant user interface?


There is nothing else like this phenomenon in the entire consumer culture. If anything else performed as horribly as Windows, and on such a global scale, consumers would scream bloody murder and demand their money back and there would be some sort of investigation, class-action litigation, a demand for Bill Gates' cute little geeky head on a platter.

Here is your brand new car, sir. Drive it off the lot. Yay yay new car. Suddenly, new car shuts off. New car barely starts again and then only goes about 6 miles per hour and it belches smoke and every warning light on the dashboard is blinking on and off and the tires are screaming and the heater is blasting your feet and something smells like burned hair. You hobble back to the dealer, who only says, gosh, sorry, we thought you knew -- that's they way they all run. Enjoy!

Would you not be, like, that is the goddamn last time I buy a Ford?]

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Blah blah blah. People who think Windows sucks are elitist short-sighted morons who don't understand the value of "compatibility for people who don't give a fvck about anything else".

 

[conjur]

Blame Microsoft for being popular?


Caveat emptor

 

[Cristatus]

Originally posted by: Nik
Blah blah blah. People who think Windows sucks are elitist short-sighted morons who don't understand the value of "compatibility for people who don't give a fvck about anything else".

Agreed. Do you know how much time it takes to code such a piece of software, and and find out all the bugs? The only reason that windows is so secure is because there are bugs being found out constantly, and it's being secured more and more, constantly. Other than that, tell me a system that has such a huge compatibility list, and customizability of components.

 

[DougK62]

Comparing Windows to buying a car is incredibly retarded.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Originally posted by: logic1485

Originally posted by: Nik
Blah blah blah. People who think Windows sucks are elitist short-sighted morons who don't understand the value of "compatibility for people who don't give a fvck about anything else".

Agreed. Do you know how much time it takes to code such a piece of software, and and find out all the bugs? The only reason that windows is so secure is because there are bugs being found out constantly, and it's being secured more and more, constantly. Other than that, tell me a system that has such a huge compatibility list, and customizability of components.

:beer:

 

[HardcoreRobot]

stupid article

 

[fbrdphreak]

Am I the only one who thought the guy's ranting was funny? Hmph

 

[BriGy86]

theres plenty of free virsions fo firewalls and AV software out there

and one of the 1st things you should do before connecting a computer to the net is put those programs on..... what a moron

 

[toekramp]

windows owns

 

[MrChad]

I think ISPs should take greater responsibility and install firewall AND antivirus software as part of their software packages.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Originally posted by: BriGy86
theres plenty of free virsions fo firewalls and AV software out there

and one of the 1st things you should do before connecting a computer to the net is put those programs on..... what a moron

With the security, reliability, and cost of today's hardware firewalls, anyone who recommends a software firewall for anything other than target practice with a .12 guage... is a moron.

 

[piroroadkill]

That article is completely retarded. Plain and simple. Carry on with your lives.

 

[jagec]

People who rant the way that guy did, just demonstrate how incompetent they are at computers.

That said, those people should probably buy Macs for their own good.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Originally posted by: MrChad
I think ISPs should take greater responsibility and install firewall AND antivirus software as part of their software packages.

:laugh: No way. An ISP just provides the connection. When I sign up for an ISP, I want speed and reliability. I don't want fuggin MSN software, proprietary versions of IE and OE (rebadged), and all kinds of other stupid mods to my OS. Then again, I run linux. They can *try* to install, if they want. :laugh:

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: jagec
People who rant the way that guy did, just demonstrate how incompetent they are at computers.

That said, those people should probably buy Macs for their own good.

:thumbsup:

 

[edmicman]

her problem was installing the yahoo dsl software. that's the most retarded thing i've ever seen - you shouldn't need ISP software to connect to the internet unless you're running AOL. the author still sounds like a tard though. I assume more than 3 percent of the PC users play games on a regular basis...

 

[Amused]

What a raving pile of sh!t.

I have NEVER had a virus or spyware on my PC. My 75 year old mother had ONE piece of spyware on her PC years ago, and she learned her lesson and has been clean since. My GF has NEVER had spyware or a virus.

If you get on the web and have spyware loaded in 4 minutes you need to fscking end yourself because you're too gawd damn stupid to live.

HOW FSCKING HARD IS IT TO CLICK "NO" ON A PROMPT???

 

[LikeLinus]

The guy missed the car comparison.

He should have thought of it this way. A lady goes into a car dealer and purchase a car. She then proceeds to run smack dab into a brick wall. Reason? SHE DIDNT KNOW HOW TO DRIVE.

You can't blame the software because someone didn't know how to properly patch and install antivirus software. Everyone now adays knows what a virus is. It's your responsibility to protect yourself. Same as it is to actually know how to drive a car if you buy one!

People are idiots..thats how the world is.

 

[Winchester]

SBC DSL is horrible. Everyone that I know that has ever signed up has had this problem even with up to date protection. The virus that shuts down the computer in 60 seconds as well. IMO it is SBC's fault/problem. They need to fix it.

 

[clarkey01]

Why did my old pII 233 with its 32 mb RAM seem more smoother running windows 95 then my 2000+ XP with 1 gig of DDR running XP?, does microsoft make XP more bloated for some reason ? ARRRRRR

 

[Babbles]

I think the people who moan and groan about Microsoft all of the time are just parrots who like to repeat what their 'friends' have said. I use Opera to surf the net because I think it is a superior product to MSIE, however I run Win2K and I love it. I think Win2K is the best OS ever (XP has this dummied down feeling that irritates me).

The author of that article comes off as a whiney no-nothing fool. His incompotence should not be misconstrued as the incompotence of Microsoft.

Anybody email the author by chance?

 

[TallBill]

Suck or not its my only option... GAMES GAMES GAMES!!!

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Originally posted by: Winchester
SBC DSL is horrible. Everyone that I know that has ever signed up has had this problem even with up to date protection. The virus that shuts down the computer in 60 seconds as well. IMO it is SBC's fault/problem. They need to fix it.

That's not the ISP's problem and they shouldn't be responsible to fix it. The Sasser worm has a corresponding patch from MS that you can download and put on a floppy to run on a computer that's not on the web. The patch is included in the Windows Updates.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: Nik

Originally posted by: MrChad
I think ISPs should take greater responsibility and install firewall AND antivirus software as part of their software packages.

:laugh: No way. An ISP just provides the connection. When I sign up for an ISP, I want speed and reliability. I don't want fuggin MSN software, proprietary versions of IE and OE (rebadged), and all kinds of other stupid mods to my OS. Then again, I run linux. They can *try* to install, if they want. :laugh:

:roll:

Obviously experienced computer users (who don't install the software in the first place) are knowledgeable enough to protect their computers without using the ISP's software.

My point was that providers such as AOL, TimeWarner, Comcast, Verizon and EarthLink should offer firewall software as part of their standard software package. Less tech-savvy users DO install the ISP's software, and they should expect a reasonable level of protection from their service provider.