I remember again why I left.

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Mystic

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The old computers where I work were recently upgraded to the Windows XP Professional version of Windows. The computers had been using Windows 2000 NT. These computers also run special software that was developed to run on the Unix mainframes.

It is still a disaster. Some programs will not run and I don't know how long it will be before everything is cleared up. And remember, we have professional IT people working on this stuff.

At my home where I have been using Apple Computers for a long time I have repeatedly installed new operating systems without any major problems. I have owned Microsoft Windows computers in the past. Now I remember again why I left.
 
at my last job, employees were not allowed to run macs, or linux for that matter.

only windows 2000 or windows xp. because everyone used the same windows platform, we enjoyed a very stable network and rarely had any problems.

i left because it was a boring job and it didnt pay very much. i was head of IT.
 
Actually I was the one who encouraged the upgrade to Windows XP Professional. I thought it would make things better. But until all of this gets cleared up it has right now make things worse.

Now don't get me wrong. I like Windows XP Professional. I just like Macintosh Operating System 10 better. I even like the way Windows XP Professional looks, even though most Mac people say that it looks ugly.

We have some very talented IT people. We did lose our 'computer lady,' as I called her. She left for a better job. We still have some amazing people, including a woman who is very talented and has written some very impressive custom software for us.
 
Windows XP is a pretty good OS. Its better than 2000 Pro which I had previously. You can definitely tell the way things load up at boot that xp is better. XP needs to be tweaked by turning off services that are not necessary since it loads a ton at startup, especially when you install other apps..I do this in MSCONFIG as well a administrative/services. Any add on software will want to load at startup. You need to stop that. You allow base os to start, virus, firewall. It should be no more than 25-28 processes running on a home system.

If you tweak it,it will treat you right.

I am having a problem with my new system getting to hot. The fan only turns at 4100 rpm's and is not enough to keep the chip cool. It looks like I will be shopping for a new heatsink. Its overclocked.
 
For years I was amazed that so many people liked Windows, as it was the most unreliable product that I had used since my BSA motorcycle. Before being 'made' to switch I use to use a DOS multitasker when working with large spreadsheets, and initially IT said that it was impossible for me to work with such large spreadsheets. With Windows I learned to run a stripped down system, turning off as many processes as possible, shutting down applications when not being used, and installing as much memory as possible. I still had regular crashes, until XP came out. Since using XP, on both of my PCs at work and on my home PC, the only time I have crashes is when IT installs bad drivers on some network device, typically a printer.

I've been asked by people to get large spreadsheets working, where they've hit over 40 megs before I got them downsized.
 
When I was a Sys Admin, I had *nix system servers that would be hammered 24/7. It was not unusual to have system running for over a year without ever being rebooted. That includes being patched (which was rare) on the fly by just stopping starting processes. Further, they weren't virus incubators. Once you experience that kind of robustness, anything from MicroSlop, by comparison, is like a toy operating system. It took 3 times as many Sys Admins to support the same number of MicroSlop boxes compared to us *nix Admins. I could go on for hours.
grin.gif
 
Unix servers and applications seem to be a lot more reliable than MS stuff, we use them for bigger stuff, but our facility, like many others, floats on a sea of spreadsheets. Data seems to migrate on a common path depending on need; spreadsheet to relational databases like Access, and then to Oracle/SQL. Unix folk suggest using vi for everything :^)
 
quote:
Originally posted by 1sttruck:
Unix folk suggest using vi for everything :^)
Click to expand...
lol.gif


Heck, I still use vi...I wonder how many popups get by a character-mode web browser.

XP sure is better than anything MS has made, but it's not great by any stretch.

quote:
Originally posted by 427Z06:

It took 3 times as many Sys Admins to support the same number of MicroSlop boxes compared to us *nix Admins. I could go on for hours.
Click to expand...
Can I get an Amen for HP-UX 9.04!?! An HP G30 box at my old job is still running. In service date was Novemeber, 1993. Incredible!

Let me go on for hours....
smile.gif

I just spent two days dealing with an NTFS.SYS issue with Windows 2000 Server. Ever hear of the saying "that server goes up and down like a 2 bit wh***?" THAT'S what I was dealing with, about 15 reboots an hour. Thank God for Safe Mode otherwise I'd still be in the server room. Rather than fighting it any longer, I'm moving the data to a new Netware 6.5 server. Oh yeah, it's a wise decision by Microsoft to see that Windows 2000 won't have any more service packs.

Suse Linux and Netware 6.x. It makes for happy employees and unstress IT guys. Anyone going to Brainshare this year? or the MCPTechmentor conference in Orlando in April???
 
quote:
Originally posted by Mystic:
The old computers where I work were recently upgraded to the Windows XP Professional version of Windows. The computers had been using Windows 2000 NT. These computers also run special software that was developed to run on the Unix mainframes.

It is still a disaster. Some programs will not run and I don't know how long it will be before everything is cleared up. And remember, we have professional IT people working on this stuff.

At my home where I have been using Apple Computers for a long time I have repeatedly installed new operating systems without any major problems. I have owned Microsoft Windows computers in the past. Now I remember again why I left.
Click to expand...
Windows is the biggest Disaster to befall this Planet since the last Ice Age. It is a bigger disaster than even the last Great Flood, bigger even than the Pacific/Indian Ocean Tsunami.

I have never had to un-crash a Mac after 18 years of computing. I started using Windows after MBA school, and it seems I have to un-crash my Win PC every other month.

For serious computing, I use my Mac.
 
I have 3 computers here that I built in my network. Two are XP Corporate Professional and one is Windows 2000 Pro and I have almost never had a problem with these systems. These computers are on mostly 24/7. I agree mshaft leaves alot to be desired, but XP is decent if you tweak the OS. Most software config issues are do to user intervention anyways. Alot of lockups could be do to hardware, chip overheating, etc.. I would switch to Linux if it was more widely used and I had the time to relearn. Unfortunately the networks are all Windows based that I and the wife work with so we are tied in.
 
Many a sys admin has ended up with psychological problems at Carleton University. The combination of MS software, thousands of students, and too few employees out right drives them nuts! It's sad seeing them slowly loose it while you're going to school there.

I like using windowsXP at home but one of these days I'll have to learn how to program under Linux and its permission system. That will not be fun.

Steve
 
windows is very reliable if you follow this simple procedure: turn it off at the end of the day and turn it on the morning. this gives the operating system time to rest.

what really irks me is the line, "we support all the operating systems: windows 98, windows 2000, windows xp, ..." right. windows is the world.

most of the unix servers around here have uptimes predicated by the stability of the power to the building.
 
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