Thread: Why does it seem like everyone uses WinXP?

Originally Posted by owenjh

with under 100mb of disk space (cough cough compact flash cough cough) Try doing that with windows.

If you do a search, you will see that win95/98 can be shrink down to about 25-50 mb. I think there is a guy who had a usable win95 with 5MB footprint.

Also, if you use XPe, you can get XP to shrink to about 25MB an it will cold boot to usable screen in about 5 seconds.

I am a linux person but winblows does have it's uses.

Compact flash is slow. Why in gods name would you want to boot from it? It's also expensive for any decent amount of storage, over $200 for a gig. So you would have to have a Hard drive anyways.

There is no need for Linux in a car computer. There’s absolutely no gain other then it being free. Windows can handle MP3, GPS, Movies, Net Stumbling just as well as Linux can. In the case of GPS, Windows does it 10 times better.

Who cares if Windows takes up a "lot" of space? The best value for hard drives ($ per gig) is currently at 120GB drives. Even if windows took 50 gigs of space, you still have 70 for media, that’s more then enough for MP3's and video. I haven't seen anything less then a 20GB drive on the shelves in quite some time.

No. You won't get a head crash. I don't think a single person here has had a head crash while driving (Please correct me if I'm wrong).

Linux is great, I have a Deb box. I'm not saying that it can't be done. People here have done it.

For most people though, it's more trouble then it's worth.

Correction - I know somebody who has had a hard drive head crash - when his car rolled over in a car accident! Funny but at the same time, not funny.

Amazing what these drives can withstand...

Originally Posted by mindtool

Correction - I know somebody who has had a hard drive head crash - when his car rolled over in a car accident! Funny but at the same time, not funny.

Amazing what these drives can withstand...

Ok. You're right. If you have a head crash it's the least of your worries, and probably the cheapest thing that just got damaged.

FWIW ... the company i work for has a building controls device that runs of XPe ... it has a 256mb compact flash card with the XPe image loaded on it.

my experience with XPe on this device is it sucks. and it does indeed take about 10 minutes to boot. Of course I don't know if that's all XPe's fault as I think we have monkeys working for us at corporate

Originally Posted by fluffy2097

There is no need for Linux in a car computer. There’s absolutely no gain other then it being free. Windows can handle MP3, GPS, Movies, Net Stumbling just as well as Linux can. In the case of GPS, Windows does it 10 times better.

the main reason to run linux in a car is it's way more stable and more importantly, you aren't investing in M$ ... YOU may not have a problem with microsoft but a lot of people do.

i myself have big problems with them. they can make good software when they try (2k and xp are very good OSes compared to 98) ... but their refusal to adhere to industry standards (W3 standards in particular) is what really gets me.

So any chance I have to get awawy from M$ i do.

Anyway, XP is quick and easy for Car PCs ... but linux definately has a palce as well.

Originally Posted by shakes

FWIW ... the company i work for has a building controls device that runs of XPe ... it has a 256mb compact flash card with the XPe image loaded on it.

my experience with XPe on this device is it sucks. and it does indeed take about 10 minutes to boot. Of course I don't know if that's all XPe's fault as I think we have monkeys working for us at corporate

I have seen XPe boot under 10 seconds before so you have trouble with your XPe setup.

As for MS I think it should be split into 3 seperate companies. One for hardware (phones, game consoles, etc), one for OS and one for software. The reason behind it is that when you have one person doing everything you make crappy stuff.

Also, they should work on improving a working OS. What's the deal with a new OS every 2-3 years? It screws up the OS and really screws up the customers. Their OSes are never truely finished. XP is pretty decent (and they are coming out with longhorn) Win2k3 is amazing for MS and they are going to get away from it and start a new OS "Blackcomb" If I know that Blackcomb is coming out in 4 years time, why do I want to upgrade to 2k3 if my 2k servers are working? Do you see the logic behind that?

Enough with this from me for now.

Originally Posted by Seraph

I have seen XPe boot under 10 seconds before so you have trouble with your XPe setup.

Like I said, I don't doubt it. We hire idiots to work for Corporate.

Originally Posted by Seraph

As for MS I think it should be split into 3 seperate companies. One for hardware (phones, game consoles, etc), one for OS and one for software. The reason behind it is that when you have one person doing everything you make crappy stuff.

I agree ... however it can be done. Look at companies like Yamaha ... they make everything from ATVs to keyboards ... and generally have high quality products.

Or HP ... their IT Hardware is pretty good ... and they make some of the best medical equipment around ... and their EE measurement tools aren't half bad either.

Originally Posted by Seraph

Also, they should work on improving a working OS. What's the deal with a new OS every 2-3 years? It screws up the OS and really screws up the customers. Their OSes are never truely finished. XP is pretty decent (and they are coming out with longhorn) Win2k3 is amazing for MS and they are going to get away from it and start a new OS "Blackcomb" If I know that Blackcomb is coming out in 4 years time, why do I want to upgrade to 2k3 if my 2k servers are working? Do you see the logic behind that?

Preach it brotha! Just as everyone gets around to upgrading something else comes out.