Re: some further comments...

While it may seem that XP is in a state of constant crisis, our experience
is that when we converted from 98 to XP we got lots of support calls up
front because things were different, but they dwindled quickly. We have
systems out there that have been in virtual continual use for three or
four
years with no real problems. The number of technician trips to the desktop
went way down, and we feel that is because of the stability of our
configuration. For one thing, no user is ever given local admin privs.

I'm looking at it from a point of view of someone
who owns their PC, which highlights a big issue with
NT systems that MS has blurred over, and as a result
gets blurred over in these discussions: Even though
MS made a "Home" version of XP, all of their versions
are basically the same thing. They're all network
workstations.

On a network you usually can't trust the person
sitting at the PC, but you can trust the network itself.
For home and small office users it's just the opposite:
The person using the PC generally owns it or is trusted,
but the Internet is risky.

It seems that with XP, MS has designed something that's
better suited as a workstation than Win9x is. (And it's even
maybe a little safer for home use if people are completely
non-techie, with it's rudimentary firewall and auto. update.)
So "in the enterprise" you get a machine that allows you to
limit user control and is better designed for intranet use, but
home and small office users get a machine with loads of
unnecessary, poorly documented, and often risky services
running. They also get a machine that works against them.

As someone who owns their own PC, my biggest complaint
with XP (well, after the product activation, bloat and
spyware :) is that it lies to me. And that adds a lot of wasted
time and confusion to everything. There's a constant sense
that MS views the customer as an adversary and has decided
to appoint themselves as default system administrator for
anyone who doesn't already have one. For instance, Windows
File Protection could have been designed to simply show a
msgbox that says, "You may not delete that file due to file
security. Click here if you would like to understand and/or adjust
file security settings." Instead, WFP lets you delete the file,
then puts it back again from a secret stash! Usually after you've
closed the folder. No explanation. Little documentation. No
configuration. The ability to stop WFP altogether is basically a
"secret tweak".

I think that at the root of these problems is mixed motives
on the part of MS. They want to make a better, more secure
OS. They also want to reduce support costs. They also want to
satisfy corporate customers. They also want to phase out
3rd-party access to the API and switch their customers over
to a services box. They also want to leverage their user base
to gain some control over the Internet and profit from the
sale of so-called "art". (Music and films.)
But they can't be all those things. Some people might want MS
services, but other people just want a PC that works the way
they expect. Even MS seems to be getting confused about what
the product is.

Apropos of all that, I saw a telling article at the Register the other
day, where they said that the French police are replacing XP with
Ubuntu. One of the reasons they gave for the switch is "gaining
control of the software".


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: some further comments...
    ... but the Internet is risky. ... They also want to reduce support costs. ... satisfy corporate customers. ... to gain some control over the Internet and profit from the ...
    (microsoft.public.scripting.vbscript)
  • Some 10K foot level Qs concerning possible product
    ... My company is the vendor of a large XP/2K based control and automation ... client tools could all be run on other machines in the network. ... Configuration and management would still be from ... but we'd want to support a two disk RAID configuration for more robust ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.embedded)
  • Re: How to spoof MAC-address in SuSE Linux?
    ... > that in their contracts and they threatened the customers and stuff. ... ran more then one PC on the network while it was not allowed to do so. ... Here there are several providers that close all ports till 1024 and some ... support you think you are going to get is gone. ...
    (alt.os.linux.suse)
  • Re: How to spoof MAC-address in SuSE Linux?
    ... The Finnish ISP:s were telling that it was illegal and they prohibited that in their contracts and they threatened the customers and stuff. ... At least I have not heard that people were banned because they ran more then one PC on the network while it was not allowed to do so. ... The moment they notice you have a network, the support you think you are going to get is gone. ... connects my 7 PCs and now YOU broke the internet. ...
    (alt.os.linux.suse)
  • Re: Designer problem (bug?) selecting user controls (Corrected Version)
    ... this is a worse handling problem with the Windows.Forms Designerfor ... our customers and is critical. ... controls and designer support. ... > use mouse to select a range to select the user control, ...
    (microsoft.public.dotnet.framework.windowsforms.designtime)
Loading