OT: Why it is better to pretend you know nothing about computers

[Bob Eager]

Can't remember what I last tried on the 2000, but the other two are running 7.3 with no problem. I had to modify the capacity on some SCSI disks to get them down to the 4GB limit.

[Jaimie Vandenbergh]

The best thing is that internally Windows uses a flat heirarchy in the Unix style, so all the drives are first mapped into a single tree, then that's abstracted out to single letters again. Niiice.

Cheers - Jaimie

[Andy Burns]

I have 7.x on CD, but no CD drive on the 3300, the thing is 5.x is the right era for the machine, we had 3100s at the time (though they were SCSI disks rather than DSSI) the diags see the disk OK, VMSINSTAL boots from tape then refuses to install to the disk :-(

[John Rumm]

I always describe ME as Win 98 with the good bits taken out!

[Bob Eager]

But you can put them back if you want.

[Steve Firth]

I've done it several times now. Especially with lawyers who are the most prone to asking for free computing advice. The reaction is always the same, shock and outrage. When I point out that they could do the work on a Saturday evening just as they expect me to do, the reaction is even more extreme.

I did once get a car valet to agree that in return for free consultancy he would give my car his most expensive cleaning option. He lied, whenever I called to book the car in he was "too busy" to do the work. So the next time he asked for help I was "too busy" to answer him. He got angry about that.

I don't know what it is about computers that makes everyone in the world think that they deserve the free advice of a professional just because they meet them at a social function.

[Steve Firth]

Am I missing some irony here?

Why Windows morons have to stick to a file structure that should have died with the floppy disk is beyond me. At work I get exhausted by people saying "put it on the Z: drive". FFS, WinGeeks, get yourselves sorted out and move into the 21st Century (where people use mid-20thC technology, belatedly).

[Steve Firth]

ME was entirely appropriate since Windows ME showed all the classic symptoms of lassitude, weakness and inability to operate effectively.

And yet... all the WinGeeks ranted on about how good it was, until the next one came along then that was the best ever. And so it goes.

[Tim Streater]

Wouldn't surprise me if he wanted to improve on Windows but prolly the poor sap got told to make it compatible with the existing.

So the software I used on one machine in a small office, which was configured to write some stuff to D:, didn't work when used from another machine on the LAN, because then it needed to be Z:. F***ing hopeless.

Still, I don't need to give a monkey's these days.

[Tim Streater]

Strike a light! Where do you keep all that?

[Bob Eager]

Big house. The replica PDP-8s are quite small, though. It's all the PCs that take the space..!

[Bob Eager]

They don't, entirely. You can mount a drive on a node of the tree.

[Albert Ross]

I wish I'd thought of that! Would have saved some brain damage.

[Tony Houghton]

IME Win ME was less troublesome than 98, but I only had the original 98, not the SE version which I'm told was a big improvement. I think ME had an improved driver model (based on NT?) too and it was when installing

3rd party drivers that I found ME "just worked" whereas 98 required the fabled sacrificial goats.

[Steve Firth]

But in the main they don't do that and they cling onto the stupid A:-Z: crap that should have died out back in the days of the ark. And it's still an OS default. Even when that is overcome Windows still doesn't use file handles properly. It's so dimwitted that one can't move an open document or change the target of a shortcut because the idiot system will either lose it or refuse to permit the operation.

[Tim Streater]

This nonsense of not being able to move an open file (or rename it) in Windows used to piss me off with monotonous regularity:

1) Get attachment with an email 2) open it - ah, it's useful and I want to keep it, I'll move it 3) be told to get stuffed by Windows

Fortunately I've retired now so I don't have to deal with primitive technology any more.

[dennis]

Are you sure you aren't talking about linux? That is an exact description of what is said.

Also OSX users are the same but at least it is better than linux. ;-)

[Steve Firth]

I wish I had retired and didn't have to deal with it any more. OTOH the bizarre weaknesses of Windows are what keeps me in full time work. I reckon that if my clients were to abandon Windows then about 90% of my working day would disappear, and of course 90% of the time of the thousands who do similar or related work. it would save business/government a fortune.

However every time another solution is mooted the Windows morons will insist on a Windows-only system with everything that entails.

[tony sayer]

So what else might you cal a drive ?. Number 1, 2 3, 4 etc?..

Or give them names?. Ah! Can't do that, thats reserved for servers;)..

[tony sayer]

In article , Tim Streater scribeth thus

I manage that fine?. WIN 2000 PRO and Turnpike Ver 5.02 never a problem saving files!...