[ltp] [offtopic] how to use windows?

[Igor V. Rafienko]

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on Jun 9, 2007, 01:24, Alexey I. Froloff wrote:

[ ... ]

> There were lots of pre-installed sh*t, like tablet tools, google=20
> desktop/picasa, symantec antivirus and so on.  Windows boots for about=20
> 2-3 minutes and then for about 5-7 minutes it was so slow, than any=20
> slower and programs will be running backwards.


The infamous craplets. The faster this gunk is removed, the happier camper=
=20
you'd be. But this seems to be very en vogue and for rather obvious=20
commercial reasons.

Consider removing craplets window xp's equivalent of having to patch your=
=20
kernel in order to get APS to work. Or in order to enable power saving for=
=20
your intel 2915abg. Or in order to enable suspend-to-disk (unencrypted=20
suspend-to-disk is *much* easier on windows than on a number of linux=20
distros). Or doing deep voodoo with fglrx in order to get a remotely=20
usable screen resolution for ATI cards.

[ ... ]


> How do you burn ISO image from Windows XP?  Short answer: You can't.=20
> Long answer: Download Nero Burning Rom (trial version, 150 megabytes,=20
> don't know how much it costs).  By turning "advanced user mode" on I've=
=20
> found 200K DLL that adds "Burn ISO image" menu item to context menu.


There is no reason to do something so complicated: grab this,=20
<http://www.cdburnerxp.se/>, and be happy.

I do not think it is fair to say that one cannot burn ISO images from=20
windows xp. One can. *Just* like with linux -- by installing a third party=
=20
application that does just that. One could perhaps argue that such an=20
application should have come by default with windows, but hey, it is a=20
different discussion (although installing a trial version of norton,=20
rather than a full-fledged version of avast/AVG/cdburnerxp, strikes me as=
=20
a poor decision wrt consumer-friendlyness).

Nero is not the only available choice for burning ISO images.


> While downloading linux installer CD I tried to watch Pink Floyd
> Pulse DVD concert.  "Wow!  DVD disk detected.  Wanna watch with
> Windows Media Player?", asked Windows XP?  "OK", I replied.  "You
> can't watch DVD", said Windows XP, "because you don't have
> codecs."


VLC? Mplayer? Surely other 3rd party tools. Asking microsoft to supply=20
codecs for every digital format "out of the box" is akin to asking Linus=20
Torvalds (or Andrew Morton, or whoever the maintainer of the relevant=20
kernel tree is) to do the same.


> Menu, Plugins, Download Plugins, Codecs...  5-6 links, click...
> "Only now and only for you these pretty MPEG-2 codecs for only
> $14.95 and I'm cutting me own throat!"...  So I gave up and
> installed linux.


Good call.

However, in all fairness, this is not a proper comparison. A linux=20
*kernel* alone will not give you mplayer's goodiness. There are additional=
=20
packages like amarok, mplayer, vlc, xine, k3b, etc. that one has to=20
install in order to have a usable multimedia experience. They are easy to=
=20
install too (for most distros), but they are still additional packages.

Of course, some distros have been so smart that:

1) they have these packages on a liveCD
2) a liveCD can be used why the OS + packages is installed.

Would the windows experience have been better, if the "typical" ninja=20
trick tools came with XP by default? Certainly! Microsoft chose=20
differently though. Their choice includes a worthless browser, but working=
=20
suspend-to-disk; it includes a useless media mplayer, but SMAPI support=20
out of the box; the list goes on...

Your gripes strike me as somewhat unfair, albeit not unreasonable. There=20
is plenty of potential for improvement, windows and linux "first time=20
boot" alike.


> How do people use Windows?  You can't just apt-get install / emerge /=20
> whatever your-favorite-applications.  You can't upgrade all your=20
> installed applications.


A centralised package manager would be nice. That's what thinkvantage=20
software updater tries to do (but it does it so poorly compared to=20
several linux distros and their package managers).


> Some (most of) applications you have to buy.


That's unfair. There *are* free burners/players/image processors/etc. for=
=20
windows; just like for linux.

Do you have any numbers to substantiate your "most of", or is this more=20
out of frustration than actual data?


> You can set up nice workplace, probably with free components but you=20
> should spend a lot of time searching for it and then tracking updates=20
> manually.


That is a windows problem, indeed.

Some windows-centric applications are catching up on this though. Firefox,=
=20
thunderbird, ImgBurn, etc. have an "update" feature, which checks the home=
=20
page of the software package for updates and fetches the next version=20
automatically.

It's not a centralised package manager (would be nice, though), but it is=
=20
a step in the right direction.

The easiest way to get comfortable with windows is to make a list of=20
"ninja trick" tools that one finds useful, and install these tools on=20
first boot with windows. Much like the packages one selects when one=20
installs linux for the first time.





ivr
--=20
<+Kaptein-Dah> igorr: for f=E5 parenteser
<+Kaptein-Dah> igorr: parenteser virker som lubrication under iterasjon
<+Kaptein-Dah> igorr: velkjent
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