I think my pc

[AnOther]

Showing your age a bit there [;-)]

[tracteurtom]

Have you ever stopped to think  were would computers be today without Microsoft ?????  My guess is that they would  be 10 years behind todays machines in software development, lots of non standard machines all incompatible - like 10 lots of different style Macs all incapable of talking properly to each other !

Now, we all like to bash Bill Gates, but I think, we own him alot, he may work in dictatorial ways, but at least he software works for the majority of people.  So, you  "experts" if your not prepared to agree to the EUL, download updates etc, battle on regardless using Linux / OSX, see if Bill cares !  I bet you bought a Sony Betamax didn't you - go on admit it [:D]

[Onion van man]

[quote user="pcwhizz"]Have you ever stopped to think  were would computers be today without Microsoft ?????  My guess is that they would  be 10 years behind todays machines in software development, lots of non standard machines all incompatible - like 10 lots of different style Macs all incapable of talking properly to each other ![/quote] I could well be wrong but, Wasn't the standard for the PC set by IBM ?  Hardware is not driven by software, Actually Its the other way round. Think how many programs actually used Dual CPU machines to their full extent when they were launched, I can only think of a few encoding programs that made the second CPU do anything.

[quote user="pcwhizz"]Now, we all like to bash Bill Gates, but I think, we own him alot, he may work in dictatorial ways, but at least he software works for the majority of people.  So, you  "experts" if your not prepared to agree to the EUL, download updates etc, battle on regardless using Linux / OSX, see if Bill cares !  I bet you bought a Sony Betamax didn't you - go on admit it [:D]

[/quote]

I wish I did OWN him. [:D] I don't have anything against Bill Gates or his products. His products have become the choice of the world, Mainly bought by people that think Windows is a computer, Hoover is the term for a vacuum cleaner and that all MP3 players are called 'ipods'. [:P]

Joking aside, there is only 3 or 4 real operating systems out there (discounting all the individual distros using the Linux Kernel)  Its like everything, you need a standard which makes life simple. Windows is that product in the same way as VHS was to video recorders. Like it or not, I can't see it changing any time soon.

[tracteurtom]

Haha classic  [:D]  must be more careful with my spellings, just think, owning Bill  Gates, ouf !

Yes, IBM  did set the standard for the PC, but it was  Bill  Gates,  working for IBM at that time, that wrote the DOS, and then, much to IBM's disgust, he left and setup Microsoft, taking the DOS copyrights with him (I think ?), very clever man.

But, as you say the hardware and software develop at their own pace, each developing on from the previous, working  on whats available.  My point was that without the single mindedness of Microsoft, the  PC would be very different today and worse for it.  As an aside, is it not  true that today's hardware is more than  a match  for most domestic software ?  The only "killer"  apps (home use) that can make full use of the cpu and graphics hardware are games,  and how many top spec PCs sold are used for games, not many I  would guess.

An old colleague of mine (I'm from an electronics hardware background) used to say software is something and nothing - 1s and 0s he meant !  How times have changed, software is everything these days.

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

Sorry, Whizzer, but Bill was never an IBM employee; Microsoft was founded in the mid 70's. In 1981 the company got the contract to supply an OS for the PC then went out and bought (IIRC) QDOS and repackaged it.

The thing that made PCDOS (MSDOS as sold by IBM) a world standard was a combination of IBM's reputation at that time ('Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM') and the later cloning of its design by Compaq and all the others.

Yes, in his day Bill was a good programmer, but he was always a much better businessman.

Try looking here for a reasonably accurate history of Microsoft

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft#1975.E2.80.931985:_Founding

[tracteurtom]

oh well, you  live and learn, I shall retreat, cap in  hand..............................

[AnOther]

I tend to take the opposite view pcwhizz, in my opinion games are what drive the top end of the market because outside of those and intensive professional graphics applications most home users could happily cruise along on something very modest by todays standards.

The internet doesn't need it, you can happily work that with a 486, similarly word processing, simple spreadsheets, the list goes on but you'll notice I have not mentioned any specific OS and obviously the choice of that hugely influences the hardware required to run it.

May I also respectfully point out that its a common misconception that Bill Gates wrote DOS when he most certainly did not. With the prospect of a lucrative deal with IBM, he bought it, tinkered with it, and sold it to and the rest is, as they say, history. It's all chronicled here if your's bored one afternoon  http://www.mackido.com/History/Gates_a_Genius.html

It's an interesting read and an insight into the morals and integrity (or lack thereof) of the boss of the worlds largest software company, but then I think we probably know enough about them already [geek]

If Windows hadn't developed as it did doubtless something else would have come along. There have been several efforts at rival OS's over the years but with the head start MS have had most have fallen by the wayside, and not necessarily through lack of technical merit or innovation, more the impossibility of competing with a giant ruthless opponent.

EDIT: Albert posted whilst I was composing so beat me to it !

 

[Tim]

[quote user="pcwhizz"] I bet you bought a Sony Betamax didn't you - go on admit it [:D][/quote]

 

Well, I did say earlier that I wanted to put a slightly more positive slant on Vista - but I didn't expect this thread to develop this way - but, yes, I did buy a Betamax - a Sony Hi-Fi sound one when they were first launched - I got over 20 years of hard use out of it with only one change of heads and then went on to sell it for over £200.00 - try doing that with your old VHS machine. It's now residing in a proffessional studio somewhere in the North West of England.

Whoops! I may have started another little exchange off here - sorry!![6]

 

Tim

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

Was going to say that Betamax was superior to VHS. Only VHS was better marketed and became the standard.

[Onion van man]

[quote user="ErnieY"]

I tend to take the opposite view pcwhizz, in my opinion games are what drive the top end of the market because outside of those and intensive professional graphics applications most home users could happily cruise along on something very modest by todays standards.

The internet doesn't need it, you can happily work that with a 486, similarly word processing, simple spreadsheets, the list goes on but you'll notice I have not mentioned any specific OS and obviously the choice of that hugely influences the hardware required to run it.

[/quote]

I Agree Ernie. Without games pushing the boundary of graphics I doubt there would be much use for Crossfire or SLI graphics solutions.

I think the fact that you can surf the web and check email on a reasonable mobile phone backs up your view of not needing a super computer for everyday things.