[AccessD] Interesting Laptop / Vista commentary

Hi Drew

If you were to boil that list down to one single item, it would be Windows NT 4.0.
It ran and still runs rock steady on decent hardware. And with the virtual machines it has been given new life as you don't need to allocate more than 64 MB ram to such a machine.

Also, don't forget Windows 3.11. I know, I know, it was not an OS but a DOS shell but so was Windows 9x. We still use for some clients the great Program Manager which was carried forward to Windows 2000 and can be copied to WinXP (haven't tried Vista but I would be surprised if it wouldn't run on it as well). Further, Windows 3.11 made Access 1.x and 2.0 possible which has been the most important software release for at least me.

Finally, you miss Windows XP/2003/Vista 64 bit. It may not have much impact on users' experience - except for those working with graphics - but for servers it makes a big difference.

/gustav

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com 
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Drew Wutka
Sent: Monday, December 03, 2007 12:24 PM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: Re: [AccessD] Interesting Laptop / Vista commentary

Microsoft needs to do a paradigm shift.  If we were to rate their OSes on a
scale from 1 to 10 as far as improvements on previous OSes, here would be my
list:

Windows 95 - 8
Windows NT 4.0 - 9
Windows 98 - 3
Windows Me - -1 (yes, negative one)
Windows 2000 - 10
Windows XP - 3
Windows 2003 - 3
Windows Vista - 2

95 was a tremendous paradigm shift in how we use a computer.  It's interface
is still in use in Windows Vista.  Though it's much snazzier... but the core
functionality of how a window works is there.

NT 4, get's a 9, because it brought stability...

98....let's face it, the only real improvement was FAT32.... though there
were a few more OS features (like sfc)

Me... 98 with less features....

2000, Microsoft's best product...EVER. (Tied with Microsoft Access 97, in my
book).  Rock solid, feature packed, user friendly, dynamic disks, Active
Directory, the list goes on.

XP, in my opinion, XP has two redeeming qualities.  One, it takes the
stability of 2000, and makes it look more consumer friendly like Windows 9x.
Two, from a technical standpoint, the only feature I found handy in XP is
than in Computer Management, you can select multiple file connections and
close them at the same time...

2003, some nice new features, but still just building on the solid 2000
core.

Vista.....what XP was to 2000, Vista is to XP...unimpressive.

Drew

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com 
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Jim Lawrence
Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2007 7:14 PM
To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
Subject: Re: [AccessD] Interesting Laptop / Vista commentary

Yes John: That article is sad but the true... My current lap top, that does
have 2GB of RAM on it is my only Desktop (top of the line Toshiba as of last
spring) that could run Vista and the graphics is still second tier.

During the last 6 months I have been installing OSs on a variety of systems,
for a variety of continental wide chains and banking groups. Without
exception they are all using Windows2000 and sometimes Linux. The company's
senior IT people do not even trust XP and merely laugh when Vista is brought
up and suggest it is no more than a pretty but unstable desk-top toy.

I hope MS gets their business together before they find themselves competing
one on one with various flavours of Linux. I use to be able to make a fair
bit selling MS network installs but no more.

Jim