Just when I was about to buy a computer.....

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Apple release their new OS 'Tiger' and Mr Gates is working on 'Longhorn'.
So, is it best to wait or what?

By considering Apple and Aicrosoft does this imply that you are not aleady locked into any hardware / software combination by need to use existing packages or applications? If so then why not slap on a nice new copy of the latest Ubuntu Linux after all it does seem to work with lots of boxes and you can get it for fr ee.

Depends if the present loss of utility in return for protection against obsolescence somewhere down the track bothers you.

By the way, if Longhorn is anything like the rest of Microsoft's rubbish, it'll be open to attack even before it's released onto the market. At least XP is patched and service-packed to the hilt now.

Personally, I'm going over to Linux (SuSe 9.3) as soon as I get a copy of it burned up by a friendly chap in the local user group.

quote:

Originally posted by Roy T:

quote:

Apple release their new OS 'Tiger' and Mr Gates is working on 'Longhorn'.
So, is it best to wait or what?

By considering Apple and Aicrosoft does this imply that you are not aleady locked into any hardware / software combination by need to use existing packages or applications? If so then why not slap on a nice new copy of the latest Ubuntu Linux after all it does seem to work with lots of boxes and you can get it for fr ee.

And they ship a live cd with Ubuntu as a matter of course - which means that you can run it from the CDROM and see if there are any hardware incompatabilities.

Same thing with SuSe 9.3 too - although I believe it's a live DVD rather than CD.

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Originally posted by Roy T:
By considering Apple and Aicrosoft does this imply that you are not aleady locked into any hardware / software combination by need to use existing packages or applications?

Roy,

At present I have a laptop running Windows ME and the blue screens of death. I appreciate one can never keep up with this lark but I thought it might be good idea to wait a while.

I hadn't heard of the Ubuntu Linux, thanks.

Regards.

George.

quote:

Originally posted by GML:
Apple release their new OS 'Tiger' and Mr Gates is working on 'Longhorn'.

So, is it best to wait or what?

I wouldn't let either hold you back. Tiger is just a minor point release of Apple's existing OSX operating system and it'll be a while before Longhorn takes over from XP as Microsofts main OS release.

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At present I have a laptop running Windows ME and the blue screens of death.

Windows ME really was a shockingly bad bit of software - Windows XP is streets ahead.

I took most of my PC's straight from Windows 95 & NT to XP as none of the releases in-between were worth having. I'm been running XP and XP Pro for several years now and I've yet to see the "blue-screen of death" on any of my computers.

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Originally posted by Deane F:
By the way, if Longhorn is anything like the rest of Microsoft's rubbish, it'll be open to attack even before it's released onto the market.

It's true of most operating systems but microsoft get it in the neck so much because theirs is so much more widely used. Apple are having to release a bug-fix for Tiger already, and while Linux is generally pretty straight-forward to install and use it can be a problem if you're using new or unusual hardware.

I've had a generally good experience with Linux but it's not always the most straightforward to install and in one case we had a machine which couldn't be used for ages because there was no driver available for it's gigabit network card.

MS and Linux both suffer from being open platforms, supporting a diverse and constantly changing set of hardware manufacturers. Apple should have it easier but in my experience all large software developments will contain bugs (it's usually a direct function of the number of lines of code). Because OSX is a simpler bit of code than the likes of XP, and because it's written for a very specific set of hardware, it should contain less bugs - due to the continual pressure for new releases though nothing ever gets released properly tested.

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Originally posted by Steve G:


I wouldn't let either hold you back. Tiger is just a minor point release of Apple's existing OSX operating system and it'll be a while before Longhorn takes over from XP as Microsofts main OS release.

Steve

I didn't see the smiley there; are you being serious? Tiger is much more than just a 'point release' in the same way other software has point releases. Tiger has major advances in 64 bit processing and core technologies amongs others. Of course, it also has a lot of nice user features too...

With Apple, the point releases are major OS releases (10.1, 10.2, 10.3). The 0.0.x releases are 'point releases'in the way you mean (10.3.1 etc).

I suggest you look at

http://www.apple.com/macosx/

Regards

Stephen

Stephen, don't man! Its just not worth it

According to reports longhorn is set for release in 2006 but they have given up trying to include the stuff they promised.

Even the search technology is looking doubtful at the moment. It must be difficult for Microsoft because of the shear amount of hardware out there. I saw a picture of what longhorn is supposed to look like, but according to beta testers its a bit naff, looked alright to me.

So, does anybody know what language Microsoft is using for Longhorn? Or will it be open to buffer overflows and therefore inherently unsafe for a while? And will they finally fix up there file system I wonder. Personally, I think MS is just plain irresponsible.

I saw a brief techy programme on Sunday (?) morning and neither Tiger nor Lonhgorn appeared particularly special. OK this is ripe coming from me being at the forefront of technology Bring back the abacus I say Going back to the original question - if you keep on waiting you may eventually find utopia or as I suspect you may just keep on missing it (utopia that is).

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Personally, I think MS is just plain irresponsible.

Amen to that, bro'.

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Originally posted by Deane F:
Personally, I think MS is just plain irresponsible.

I don't think they're irresponsible, they're just trying to fulfil a far, far more difficult remit than the likes of Apple will ever have to.

It's so easy to have a pop at Bill Gates and MS isn't it? The man and his company have worked hard to bring a tecnologically innovative series of products to the market place at affordable prices.

No one has been forced to buy MS products, which, for most of us have revolutionised our home and work-place.

Bill Gates comes across as a pretty decent bloke to me. I have a lot of respect and admiration for him.

John.

It is very easy to criticise a company for their dubious business practices re licensing, buying out rival companies, locking out other products, purchasing the press etc etc.

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Originally posted by Derek Wright:
It is very easy to criticise a company for their dubious business practices re licensing, buying out rival companies, locking out other products, purchasing the press etc etc.

All those things (other than purchasing the press which seems to primarily be a government function in the UK) are standard practices in the software industry. MS as the largest software developer does it more that anyone else, Oracle as the 2nd largest does it a lot too.

Oracle are probably "worse" if you view these things as an issue as they don't just buy up small competitors but the large ones too (e.g. the recent Peoplesoft/JDEdwards aquisition).

The locking out/bundling thing is only an issue due to Microsofts size. Apple do the same with Itunes as MS did with Media Player but so far I've heard little in the way of complaints.

Apple's initial "can't be bothered" stance on the Tsunami relief music file sales/distribution hardly disclosed them as a company with wonderful ethics either. Be in no doubt - if Apple had MS's market share we'd see a lot more commercial restriction that we're seeing now.

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Bill Gates comes across as a pretty decent bloke to me. I have a lot of respect and admiration for him.

I tend to agree with that as imho Bill Gates & Microsoft brought computing to the masses rather like Ford did for cars but some of the business methods used by Microsoft (and some other big firms) do not sit too well when viewed from standpoint of how some people would wish a business would conduct it's self.

So on balance I give him maximum respect for his good works across the globe and insist upon my choice software to run on my bit of kit.

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Originally posted by Steve G:
Windows ME really was a shockingly bad bit of software - Windows XP is streets ahead.

I took most of my PC's straight from Windows 95 & NT to XP as none of the releases in-between were worth having. I'm been running XP and XP Pro for several years now and I've yet to see the "blue-screen of death" on any of my computers.

Same here, except for one particularly nasty trojan horse which managed to exploit some (pre-SP) security holes.

quote:

Originally posted by Stephen Bennett:
I didn't see the smiley there; are you being serious? Tiger is much more than just a 'point release' in the same way other software has point releases. Tiger has major advances in 64 bit processing and core technologies amongs others. Of course, it also has a lot of nice user features too...

I suppose if I'd paid £89 for Tiger I'd want to consider it rather more than a point release as well...