Re: Disko Sucks & Boogie Nights

Gregory Alan Bolcer (gbolcer@endeavors.org)
Tue, 29 Dec 1998 09:53:41 -0800


Okay, I get to Windows bash today too. Dell computer sends me a bitchin'
new laptop. Several of the key draws include a 15" LCD, an 8 Meg hard drive,
and a Pentium II 300mhz. I throw in 192 Meg just to make sure. The
best part about this machine? The batteries actually last about 6 hours which
is about twice as long as my Micron p133 ever did with dual Li's.

Now the troubles.
Hardware:
I bought the machine for the games. Quake II, Command & Conquer Aftermath,
and Diablo, 3 of the most popular games of all time, all run under 640x480
resolution. This causes scan line problems with their screen that are
VERY noticable. After dealing with Dell half a dozen times, they still
can't recreate it. They are assuming that it's my particular screen, so
the solution? Send it in and they'll replace the screen. Second hardware
problem? My 8Meg hard disk starts making grinding/whinning noises. I try
and get it replaced, but they state that as long as I am not losing any
data they won't replace the disk. The CSA and I get in a long argument about
how often I back up my data and how if it was really important then I'd
back it up after each disk write so I wouldn't lose any in case their crappy
hardware fails. You'd think that they'd want to know as soon as possible
if they had a manufacturing problem. They finally send me a new disk, I
swap it out, the new disk makes more noise that the first one. Bastards.
Finally, you'd think from the Intel hoopla advertising bullshit that
a Pentium II 300mhz would be much faster.

Software:
Having all this disk trouble, I try and use the Microsoft System Agent to set
up some automated scandisk, defrag, and backups. Windows is so single user
centered, it can't even run an automated job without having to ask a
non-attention
paying user who's probably off sleeping someplace if they really want to
continue.
Take for instance, Defrag, I start it, it runs, runs, runs, finally says that
it has been unable to continue and has been stuck at 10% because defrag keeps
restarting, so please shut down all your programs. There's no other programs
running, and I've even disabled all the little stupid system things. Still
no luck. The only way I've been able to get it to complete is to sit there and
nursemaid the stupid thing AND by turning off the 'blank' screen saver. This
is the major problem why any version of Windows will never become the choice
for a corporate server OS, it's just too high maintenance, too unautomated, too
temperamental, too pouty, too moody, too unreliable.

Wintel, let's just be friends, I'm tired of being fucked by you.

Greg

Robert Harley wrote:
>
> Well FoRK is so quiet these days that I might as well inject two
> quotes for your enjoyment.
>
> >Clustering NT machines is like strapping together two Ladas to get
> >the reliability of one Mercedes.
>
> and from an Infoworld piece about "the higher segments of the server market":
>
> >"Intel is not losing to the competition because the chip is slower,
> >but because the OS is slower," said a source who asked not to be
> >named. "The customer doesn't just throw out NT, however. They throw
> >out the chip with it."
>
> I also liked one which I can't find now along the lines: Windows is to
> Unix what a comic strip is to a book.
>
> Seems like the general press are no longer just saying what their
> advertisers want to hear, they're telling it like it is: not only does
> the emperor have no clothes, he's a naked tyrant...
>
> Whatever.