This pretty much sums up why I don’t try to do actual work on Windows computers anymore. I swear that the company logo on the front of those things is actually an evil sensor designed to detect when you’re trying to replicate the error in front of witnesses.
I won’t do Windows either. Microsoft owes me $200 that I paid for Windows 7 Ultimate and Office. My copy became “Not Genuine” after six months and tech support in India wouldn’t help me because my serial code was “for developers only.” No recourse.
Wierd. Did you purchase it on an actual microsoft website ? Sounds to me it’s rather the vendor that sold you an illegal windows.
As for me i’m no extremist. Windows, Linux and Mac have all their strength and weaknesses. While i don’t have currently the money to do something like that i’d look for a mac as work computer (i do developping, it’s easier to virtualize windows on a mac than mac on a windows), a windows as entertainement computer, and a linux as local server computer. To me that’s where each OS would shine best.
Long story: Yeah I bought from an online vendor. Microsoft said I had to contact the vendor for a new serial. I did this and Windows worked for a a few more months and then became “not genuine” again. At this point, Customer Service gave me no recourse. I was livid. The amount of time and frustration this event was taking from my life was beyond the $200 so I let it go as a sunk cost.
I maintained (and still do) that it’s not my problem…. it’s their problem. What if this vendor goes out of business and my copy stops working a few years from now? They need to go after the vendor, not me. I paid fair and square for their product, I have a receipt, and if they won’t honor it, then that’s bad business. If they can’t tell and honest customer from a scammer then they suck. I will never ever use a Microsoft product again. Ever. Screw them.
I’ve used Macs since the mid 90s. I’m not an Apple fanatic, and I have considered switching (see above) but I keep going back to them. They treat me well and I really do love the GUI but hate the hardware. I’ve even dabbled in building Hackintoshes, but that’s another story. I run a genuine Mac, fair and square, these days.
Huh, my [vague unspecified relative] had a similar problem on an old Vista box a few years back… which had no antivirus software and multiple “.torrent.exe” files in the downloads. You know the ones.
Regardless, I agree with DK on this one – while I stand by my description of Windows as spare parts from a thrift store held together with Duct Tape, it has some damn good server utilities for large enterprise networks (which are… tedious to learn). That, and a far larger library of software.
OS X shines brightest for graphical works (e.g. webcomics and animation) while still being friendly to GNU/Linux people (the Mac Terminal is simply beautiful to work with), and Linux is amazing as a server or sandbox to break things in, especially given all the compatibility packages available (AppleTalk, anyone?). That, and Linux still actually supports PPP dial-in connections.
I had Ubuntu and Fedora running in partitions, and I wish there was more software available cause I’d switch in an instant. However, I don’t really have any server needs.
In my humblest of opinions OSX is the best GUI bar none. It’s gorgeous and functional, and I can get work done quickly. While beautiful, Apple hardware is always a generation behind PC hardware and they don’t offer a product that suites my needs: a state of the art processor with upgradeable RAM, internal hard drives, upgradable graphics, and an external monitor. The new Mac Pros are $3000 where I could buy something slightly less powerful in a PC for around $1200. I currently am forced to use a hot-rodded 2009 Mac Pro.
I use Windows 7 at work and I find it clunky and quirky “parts from a thrift store held together by duct tape” is a great description. But all of my art software is also available on Windows and it runs the same so I could save alot of money if I switched, but as I said above, I find Microsoft adversarial and I won’t do business with them.
It is common to install the Windows on computers you are going to sell with a Developer key and only buy the actuall end user license when you sell the computer. Then you hand it to the user the key he owns in dead tree form.
You bought the key in dead tree form. That is what is worth the money. The disk is 10 cent a dozen (indeed you can download it from the MS page and burn it yourself).
If the dead tree key was not valid, they you truly were scammed by the retailer.
If you lost the dead tree key and tried to read out the existing key (not that hard since Vista), then of course you got one you did not own. Keeping the dead tree key around is the end users job.
That’s probably what happened. Thanks, Christopher.
But here’s the thing: the vendor was gracious and sent me a new serial number that worked for a while then Microsoft shut me out again after an update. Something is wrong with the way Microsoft distributes it’s software. They have the muscle to control and crush any vendor who doesn’t play fair. I feel it’s on them. They should have recognized I was an honest customer and treated me fairly. And this is all over small change (especially for them). All they have to do is satisfy me with a working serial of Windows and I’ll buy more of their stuff.
Instead, Microsoft made me feel like an idiot and a thief and I’ll always hate them for that.
Funny story: Once had this error. Connected a Keyboard. And it did react to F1. Except windows did not detect the Keyboard afterwards. Shroedingers keyboard.
Whoa, my little joke reply set off a storm of rants, didn’t it? 😛 I’ll add to it. 😛
I’m a weirdo who hates GUIs and loves the command-line. I stuck with DOS until it was clear cmd.exe had become an afterthought rather than a usable OS interface, and then I jumped ship to Linux. And then my eyes were opened, and it suddenly dawned on me that (MS)DOS was just a poor man’s ripoff of the *real* command prompt, aka the Unix shell. That is not to say that it’s the most logical thing, either (i mean, really? “grep” == “search for a pattern”? what kind of caveman babble is that?!). However, once you learn its quirks, you can get all sorts of things done with just a few keystrokes, as opposed to pointing-and-grunting down endless layers of submenus that never quite seem to have that one item you’re looking for. You can make the machine dance to your tune, instead of being forced to adapt yourself to the machine’s insistence that things must be done the MS way or the highway. I’m a fiddly kinda guy, y’see, and after so many years, I’ve tweaked my Linux UI into something that almost nobody else knows how to use — and I like it. 😀 I’ve almost entirely gotten rid of my rodent dependence (aka the point-and-grunt device with a tail), due to my custom setup having every function keyed to the keyboard. That way I can keep my hands on the keyboard and never have to keep switching back and forth, which is painfully slow (and distracting).
Anyway… (feeble attempt to get back on-topic) I think it’s quite apt that G.A.T.E.S. aka Simon turns out to be such a control freak… feels like the way Windows imposes its way of doing things on you and you’d better conform, else the universe will break. And if you keep doing it wrong, eventually it will forcefully reboot. Just like the way Simon is forcefully rebooting the universe now. 😀 Of course, the question now is whether it will come back up, or maybe the universe will boot up in Safe Mode due to detecting unexpected errors (aka interfering stoners), where stoning capabilities are greatly restricted, and all the characters are in low-resolution, pixelated form. *That* would be fun to watch. 😀
Command line, eh? I get how that could be awesome, but as an extremely visual person (obviously) I love my GUI. Different strokes. 🙂
And you bring up a great point about GATES being a control freak like Windows. I’ve never thought about it before, but I wonder if my hatred for Microsoft is coming though subconsciously through Endstone.
But yeah, command line is considerably more powerful than any GUI on systems with actual support for them (i.e. NOT Windows – though to be fair, PowerShell is an improvement), especially given how little bandwidth a simple SSH connection requires compared to something like remote desktop. Hell, PPP dial-in can even still be useful with them.
That being said, I tend to do a bit more gaming than I’d care to admit, and am almost completely dependent on spellcheck to type anything. So I use both.
A Wild Bluescreen Appeared!
End of Line
*LOL*
Nono, \EOL
<- meant EOF, but the pun engine had priority between brain and fingers…
The shutdown could “meerly” mean that the overstones stop working. He said he has to wait for the reboot before his modified reality becomes reality.
And if I know one thing, then that Reality altering technology has a really long P.O.S.T. phase.
We shall see… 🙂
Now would not be the time for a BIOS error.
“POST error: keyboard not attached. Please press F1 to continue.”
This pretty much sums up why I don’t try to do actual work on Windows computers anymore. I swear that the company logo on the front of those things is actually an evil sensor designed to detect when you’re trying to replicate the error in front of witnesses.
End of Line
I won’t do Windows either. Microsoft owes me $200 that I paid for Windows 7 Ultimate and Office. My copy became “Not Genuine” after six months and tech support in India wouldn’t help me because my serial code was “for developers only.” No recourse.
Screw Microsoft. Don’t do Windows.
This has been a public service announcement. 🙂
Wierd. Did you purchase it on an actual microsoft website ? Sounds to me it’s rather the vendor that sold you an illegal windows.
As for me i’m no extremist. Windows, Linux and Mac have all their strength and weaknesses. While i don’t have currently the money to do something like that i’d look for a mac as work computer (i do developping, it’s easier to virtualize windows on a mac than mac on a windows), a windows as entertainement computer, and a linux as local server computer. To me that’s where each OS would shine best.
Long story: Yeah I bought from an online vendor. Microsoft said I had to contact the vendor for a new serial. I did this and Windows worked for a a few more months and then became “not genuine” again. At this point, Customer Service gave me no recourse. I was livid. The amount of time and frustration this event was taking from my life was beyond the $200 so I let it go as a sunk cost.
I maintained (and still do) that it’s not my problem…. it’s their problem. What if this vendor goes out of business and my copy stops working a few years from now? They need to go after the vendor, not me. I paid fair and square for their product, I have a receipt, and if they won’t honor it, then that’s bad business. If they can’t tell and honest customer from a scammer then they suck. I will never ever use a Microsoft product again. Ever. Screw them.
I’ve used Macs since the mid 90s. I’m not an Apple fanatic, and I have considered switching (see above) but I keep going back to them. They treat me well and I really do love the GUI but hate the hardware. I’ve even dabbled in building Hackintoshes, but that’s another story. I run a genuine Mac, fair and square, these days.
And so ends my rant. 🙂
Huh, my [vague unspecified relative] had a similar problem on an old Vista box a few years back… which had no antivirus software and multiple “.torrent.exe” files in the downloads. You know the ones.
Regardless, I agree with DK on this one – while I stand by my description of Windows as spare parts from a thrift store held together with Duct Tape, it has some damn good server utilities for large enterprise networks (which are… tedious to learn). That, and a far larger library of software.
OS X shines brightest for graphical works (e.g. webcomics and animation) while still being friendly to GNU/Linux people (the Mac Terminal is simply beautiful to work with), and Linux is amazing as a server or sandbox to break things in, especially given all the compatibility packages available (AppleTalk, anyone?). That, and Linux still actually supports PPP dial-in connections.
End of Line
I had Ubuntu and Fedora running in partitions, and I wish there was more software available cause I’d switch in an instant. However, I don’t really have any server needs.
In my humblest of opinions OSX is the best GUI bar none. It’s gorgeous and functional, and I can get work done quickly. While beautiful, Apple hardware is always a generation behind PC hardware and they don’t offer a product that suites my needs: a state of the art processor with upgradeable RAM, internal hard drives, upgradable graphics, and an external monitor. The new Mac Pros are $3000 where I could buy something slightly less powerful in a PC for around $1200. I currently am forced to use a hot-rodded 2009 Mac Pro.
I use Windows 7 at work and I find it clunky and quirky “parts from a thrift store held together by duct tape” is a great description. But all of my art software is also available on Windows and it runs the same so I could save alot of money if I switched, but as I said above, I find Microsoft adversarial and I won’t do business with them.
It is common to install the Windows on computers you are going to sell with a Developer key and only buy the actuall end user license when you sell the computer. Then you hand it to the user the key he owns in dead tree form.
You bought the key in dead tree form. That is what is worth the money. The disk is 10 cent a dozen (indeed you can download it from the MS page and burn it yourself).
If the dead tree key was not valid, they you truly were scammed by the retailer.
If you lost the dead tree key and tried to read out the existing key (not that hard since Vista), then of course you got one you did not own. Keeping the dead tree key around is the end users job.
That’s probably what happened. Thanks, Christopher.
But here’s the thing: the vendor was gracious and sent me a new serial number that worked for a while then Microsoft shut me out again after an update. Something is wrong with the way Microsoft distributes it’s software. They have the muscle to control and crush any vendor who doesn’t play fair. I feel it’s on them. They should have recognized I was an honest customer and treated me fairly. And this is all over small change (especially for them). All they have to do is satisfy me with a working serial of Windows and I’ll buy more of their stuff.
Instead, Microsoft made me feel like an idiot and a thief and I’ll always hate them for that.
Rant over. 🙂
Funny story: Once had this error. Connected a Keyboard. And it did react to F1. Except windows did not detect the Keyboard afterwards. Shroedingers keyboard.
Luckily the days of PS/2 are long behind us.
*looks at the giant mess of adapters connecting my modern stuff to 90’s stuff*
That being said, at least the adapters themselves are plug-‘n-play.
End of Line
Whoa, my little joke reply set off a storm of rants, didn’t it? 😛 I’ll add to it. 😛
I’m a weirdo who hates GUIs and loves the command-line. I stuck with DOS until it was clear cmd.exe had become an afterthought rather than a usable OS interface, and then I jumped ship to Linux. And then my eyes were opened, and it suddenly dawned on me that (MS)DOS was just a poor man’s ripoff of the *real* command prompt, aka the Unix shell. That is not to say that it’s the most logical thing, either (i mean, really? “grep” == “search for a pattern”? what kind of caveman babble is that?!). However, once you learn its quirks, you can get all sorts of things done with just a few keystrokes, as opposed to pointing-and-grunting down endless layers of submenus that never quite seem to have that one item you’re looking for. You can make the machine dance to your tune, instead of being forced to adapt yourself to the machine’s insistence that things must be done the MS way or the highway. I’m a fiddly kinda guy, y’see, and after so many years, I’ve tweaked my Linux UI into something that almost nobody else knows how to use — and I like it. 😀 I’ve almost entirely gotten rid of my rodent dependence (aka the point-and-grunt device with a tail), due to my custom setup having every function keyed to the keyboard. That way I can keep my hands on the keyboard and never have to keep switching back and forth, which is painfully slow (and distracting).
Anyway… (feeble attempt to get back on-topic) I think it’s quite apt that G.A.T.E.S. aka Simon turns out to be such a control freak… feels like the way Windows imposes its way of doing things on you and you’d better conform, else the universe will break. And if you keep doing it wrong, eventually it will forcefully reboot. Just like the way Simon is forcefully rebooting the universe now. 😀 Of course, the question now is whether it will come back up, or maybe the universe will boot up in Safe Mode due to detecting unexpected errors (aka interfering stoners), where stoning capabilities are greatly restricted, and all the characters are in low-resolution, pixelated form. *That* would be fun to watch. 😀
Alright, I’ll shut up now.
Command line, eh? I get how that could be awesome, but as an extremely visual person (obviously) I love my GUI. Different strokes. 🙂
And you bring up a great point about GATES being a control freak like Windows. I’ve never thought about it before, but I wonder if my hatred for Microsoft is coming though subconsciously through Endstone.
hmmmm…..
Most definitely. LOL.
Hooray for command-line shells!
But yeah, command line is considerably more powerful than any GUI on systems with actual support for them (i.e. NOT Windows – though to be fair, PowerShell is an improvement), especially given how little bandwidth a simple SSH connection requires compared to something like remote desktop. Hell, PPP dial-in can even still be useful with them.
That being said, I tend to do a bit more gaming than I’d care to admit, and am almost completely dependent on spellcheck to type anything. So I use both.
End of Line
Secure Boot would’ve avoided all this mess…
Unless you’re trying to dual-boot.
End of Line
If your production universe is dual-booting, you’re doing something wrong.
I finally decided to check this comic out about a week ago, just to find out that it is about to end. That’s exciting, however!
Still, I wanna know who let that nerdy teenager become head of the S.P.I.R.E. project.
Thanks for stoppin’ by and welcome. 🙂
ALERT: Shutdown cannot proceed. The following processes are still active:
dragonform.dll
toadwarriors.msi
braininterface.exe
Terminate processes or Wait for them to conclude normally?