mike_morley

topic description says it all really. Has anybody had this problem before? I have also posted this in www.linuxquestions.org just in case.

You don't get much choice as to wether or not you upgrade to Vista. If you buy a new computer / laptop you wll get it as standard. Everyone will eventually have Vista. Trading standards should stop MS software from being installed on all machines as standard from stores and offer the consumer more choice. See how long it would be before they release a decent OS without bugs that take a couple of years to fix. My guess is quite quickly. Microsoft isn't an answer, it should be the question.

looks like it is going to be the Ponch approach. I am dreading it as my machine isn't the most accessable in the world Long gone are the days when I use to have it on the desk on a couple of dice.

dual boot. I hate to admit it but Windows has its place. There are some things it is not necesseraly better at but easier to do in Windows. Linux is more..... robust. It will allow you to do the things that Windows won't because Bill doesn't like us playing with all the toys in the play pen

Dispite my misgiving (http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=88992&hl=) I decided to give Vista another go. Ok it didn't crash. Ok it looks pretty. But I really don't see the benifts of using it over XP.... The extra functionality isn't that extra. I have given it a fair shot and I can't think of one thing that I would choose Vista over XP over (apart from the fact that it give me a reason to buy a better machine). The extra resource that Vista uses out ways (In my opinion) any benifits the new OS has. I know I am most likely alone in this view but I just don't get it!!! Someone please tell me what Vista is better at than XP. Give me a reason to put my hand in my pocket and spend my hard earnt cash!!! I mean for Gods sake it still has enough legacy software still in it it may as well be 3.1.

Hi all, I have an external harddrive (hdd in a metal case) and it is connected via usb. The drive is recognised as a USB mass storage device and it correctly gets the drives make and model. The problem is that it isn't visable in explorer nor in the computer management / Disk management subsection. Any clues as to what the problem might be would be much appreciated as it has alot of work on the drive from my college / Uni days (nostalga). Thanks in advance -Mike P.S. It is listed in the device manager as WDC AC34 300L USB Device

For eye-candy I would have to go with Enlightenment 16 / 17. For usability KDE (but I prefer Gnome to KDE) for the most useful.... bash shell

Try all the major distos till you find one you are happy using. I am currently using Fedora as a primary OS. I also have copies of Solaris, Debian, Gentoo, Suse, Slackware. The flavor you use depends on what you feel happy using. You will find that after you have installed a few different distros and installed packages you will find your own niche where you are happy it sit. Note: Enlightenment Desktop manager is a must! Eye candy to the max

somehow I think he was

because im a PC gamer and there is no substitute for gaming under Windows. also im not much a fan of consoles. this may be an over used reason, but its what keeps me with Windows. and i dont feel like learning a new OS when Windows works fine for me (hint: i said me). Best and worst point yet! Yes the only real platform to run games on (depending on) is Windows. But isn't that only because it is the most widely used platform. There are plenty of games that are now made to run native on various other OS. That said MSPC != work; XBox360 == cool; And it has to be pointed out again that the server that this forum is hosted upon is a Linux server... Why is that? Don't get me wrong I have used windows for ten years, I just find it now lacking in areas that it shoud now be excelling in for the amount of time it has been around for. They should be setting the trend! I just think now that MS have lost what it is all about. I am not a Linux die hard fan but I don't want to let myself get tied into bondage... It isn't my bag

The blue screen of death I was refering to I was using it as metaphor. What it really was was the black screen of black hole where nothing you can do (no matter how long you leave it) you are stuck within with no hope of escape (the best I managed was two hours of playing around). I will try Vista again, BUT it won't be on a machine that I own. The industry as it stands at the moment requires that we have an understanding of the Microsoft operating system. That said I won't look at Windows again for at least 3 - 4 years which (I hope) by that time they have sorted out all the problems that don't seem to plague the rest of the of the non-commercial OS's. If after this time (which again due to the nature of the beast) it hasn't resolved the problems that are inherent to MS software (bar notepad) I may be tempted to have another look at Windows. I am not making this opinion upon one beta release but upon ten years of experience of using various operating systems. I just don't think that even as a beta release that this OS has anything to offer other than a slightly improved GUI. Even then it leaves alot to be desired.

The reason for this is that Windows initially wasn't built as a networking operating system. To quote Good 'Ol Bill "The internet is going no where". That is why there are so many security holes in it. It is also the reason for not being able to modify your own files easily. They have built layers and layers of security upon something that should have been re-written from scratch as soon as the internet started to come to the forefront of technology. They are just being slack as far as I am concerened. Instead of releasing a good product they are releasing software that will force people to upgrade the software into the next decade (Visions of Elliot Carver from Tomorrow Never Dies).

I started with a Minix dual boot way back in 1995-96 which I suppose I did have problems with but that was only due to my lack of experience with computers in general. That said I still have the old 386 it was installed on and it still works (even the networking). With regards to it being a beta, even a beta shouldn't fall over in such a shameful way after 15mins. Even Windows 98 beta when that came out dispite its problems worked for a full day before it fell over. You forgot after the final release you have the Service pack 2 which closes all the security holes left in the original release. By the time it is a stable reliable platform Microsoft will have brought out Windows Everest Edition or what ever they are going to call the mountain of bloatware that they are going to force people to have installed on their machines when they want to buy a new one next time round. I just felt the need to add my two cents and to vent some pent up frustration. I think I need to get laid more

I have recently installed a beta version of Vista on my spare machine. Within 15 minutes of install I got the infamous blue screen of death. Not only that but to say that the speed that it ran was slow is an understatement. I started using Linux some time ago and haven't rebooted my computer in 5 months (that is when I first put the install disk in). Also reading the various articles on the net once you have installed it and want to make a major upgrade your machine (Motherboard, CPU), you will only be able to do this once. After that you will have to either make a request to Microsoft for leniency or repurchase a new license. The only reason I can think of for this is to make Microsoft more money. There is no security reason for this at all (unless anybody else can think of one). So the question begs, why should anybody use Windows at all anymore when there are free operating systems available that are more robust, reliable, secure, and that don't restrict the user? I believe that even though this won't spell the end Microsoft it is definitely the start. This is by and far the worst offering from Microsoft since... well ever! Even this forum is being run on a Linux server!!!