Re:I'm so confused! (Score 1)

Being an avid pc user, hard core gamer and a cable ISP tech, I can tell you that I have purchased every version of windows since it's inception. So here's a little about how much I trust the M$ update system. So first, I update from Win 3.1x to win95, for the nominal cost of $115. This upgrade was not that bad, as it still used the underlying HDD structure and the old FAT file system, so it wasn't a crippling upgrade on my system. So next I decide that win95 was interesting with this new fangled gooie interface so I update to the next version, which now updates you to a FAT32 which gives a little more disk space and a slight boost in performace. Again this has no problems interfacing with my old DOS files that were still in the o/s. I had no problems with anything again. Well I guess I lied earlier, because I skipped WinME, the crap software that it was and I moved up to Win2K. Now here's where it gets interesting. So now under the NT architecture, I find that this is an excellent way to do things, but due to imcompatibility issues with some of my older software, I opt to stay FAT32 and not ntfs. Everything works ok (except reinstalling every 3-6 months because of various vulnerablities that are exploited) for quite a while. So here we go, upgrade to XP build 2600, no service packs, it's just in it inception. I upgrade my system, and lo and behold, even with a FAT32 HDD, I have to upgrade ALL of my software, apparently in an effort to make more money M$ decided that it was in everyones best interest to not be allowed to run 16bit software on their new o/s. So here I am, running around with an o/s that always breaks, with 90% of my programs not loading because they are not a valid "win32" application. I deal with it, I get over it. Money spent, software upgraded. New Service Pack comes out and all is good (shoulda known it'd be too good to be true). New SP2 comes out and the auto upgrade goes through, crashes the system, screws my programs. So I wait until SP2 is released as an integrated install. Install new windows and lo and behold, now I have to format in NTFS, because any commercial copy of WINXPSP2 that you buy no longer supports FAT32 on installation. So here I am on a system that negates all of my old software, I can't play any old games for nostalgia, my old word processors and spreadsheets all are not working, and this is what M$ wants you to believe is nescessary. In any industry there is always that one group that wants to force you to upgrade, and as any logistical engineer can tell you this is called "planned obsolecence". In essence they force you to upgrade, in order to continue being able to use the newer products you have to give up the old ones. Now with M$ it never seems like the transition goes smoothly, I have a ton of software that I paid for that I can't use, and the inclusion of 8-16 bit extensions in XP would not have been difficult. The architecture was there, they just can't stand to see you not buying their newer software. Normally I would not be above upgrading, but in this situation, the plan was to make sure that every user out there on a M$ platform would be forced to spend additional money at M$ but also at all of the software vendors that had to upgrade their code to comply with M$. This has been one of the major reasons for the open source community (I have 7 boxes on linux and one on windows now) coming to the forefront. USERS DO NOT WANT TO BE FORCED TO CHANGE. Imagine the uproar that would occur if GM or Ford turned around and told you that you 2 year old automobile was no longer supported unless you put a new motor in it, because with the recent upgrades to you car model in their system, that this motor is better even though the old one is working just fine, and that if u don't do this at you own expense, the warranty will be void, but they are not willing to foot the bill. This comes down to M$ being a monopoly, and if you don't follow their rules, then you may as well rot. Thus the current migration of a lot of tech savvy users to open source. If there is an error in the o/s I don't have to give my credit card number and pay by the minute for someone to troubleshoot their issue on my pc. I can go in, edit the code, recompile the unit and run. Maybe if every one started to move away from M$ the problems would correct themselves, maybe they wouldn't. There is no way to guage this in a home user as most are a point and click user, without the knowledge or desire to learn something new (or are just plain unwilling to make a change). Trying to get someone who has only ever used GUI to use a command line that you *gasp* have to type in on the screen with the keyboard and not use the mouse. I really forgot where this was going, but the short is corps only want your money, and if they have to limit your options, or screw the customer they will. The stockholder demands it. Just look at the AMD lawsuit against intel for deliberately sabotaing the x86 AMD architecture by misleading the engineers and giving them plans that were deliberately flawed. M$ has no desire to change, nor does it's stockholders. In the end, the old rules still apply "caveat emptor". And as long as M$ is the only o/s that manufaturers offer on their systems, we're going to continue to get the bone on all sides. The alternative is grand, switch to linux, FreeBSD or something similar, and you remove M$ from the loop. You remove M$ from the loop, you hit their profits. You hit their profits, the stockholders will make the corporation change. THIS IS THE ONLY THING THEY UNDERSTAND! The alternative (a M$ world) is bleak and very unforgiving TheDrow