Beware Windows XP AKA FUCK Microsoft

The BBQ Pit
1

I just bought my kid a new computer… against all my better judgement, I bought a Compac (AGAIN, OH LORD will I never learn!?) And… Lordy lordy they ain’t got nuthin’ but Windows XP machines anymore at the friendly neighborhood Best Buy. I know, alarm bells should have been going off all around me, but what the fuck, I’ve been married 3 times, so I should talk about good judgement, right?

Long story short. The COMPAQ printer that was sold me along with this brand-new COMPAQ machine (a nice Pentium 4 1.5 gig, 512 Mb RAM, blah blah blah all the bells and whistles except maybe a good blow job)installs normally from the installation CD, no problemo, everything looks good, this fucker SCREAMS, right? But lo! and behold, when I reboot the machine, this stupid-assed Windows XP has “detected new hardware”, of course, how silly of me, I just had a clean install, so why one earth would I expect this machine to know that printer was there? Welp, XP demanded the installation CD again, so I complied, but… guess what?
Windows XP needed a file that WAS NOT ON THE INSTALLATION CD. Well, I’ll be dipt, what giveth here? It would seem, after a quick call to the friendly tech at the store, that I should “Just go to the Microsoft website and download the file.” And “That’s not a hardware problem, that’s a software problem (wait! this is deja vu all over again, how many times had I been given this go 'round from various monkeys?) and although Best buy had sold me BOTH the hardware AND the software, they did not WRITE the software, and hence were not to be held accountable for whatever the Gates Empire had foisted on all us consumers, which is to say an operating system in ‘Beta II’ testing.”

Compaq is selling peripherals which are not even compatible with the operating system on their own machines. Sounds like a good business plan, n’est ce pas? But it doesn’t stop there… Every single game I tried to load, and these are not old games, I’m talking The Sims, Black and White, every single one of them crapped out at one point or another. Leading me to call the tech at the 3-year warranty company who told me “Oh yeah, that operating system is full of bugs, I’d take the machine back and find someone to build a machine with Windows '98 on it.”

Which is exactly what I’m going to do.
Beat me, whip me, but please don’t make me run XP no mo.
Consider yerself warned.

PS. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, Microsoft has built into XP a slick little program set up to report all these bugs to them - yehright, when pigs fly out of my ass.

2

<double take>

Holy crow, it’s Nickrz. How you, cap’n?
I concur completely. I’m reasonably happy with W2K at work and 98 at home.

But I’m fucking ecstatic with Linux at school, by ghod.

3

Well, I’m not surprised about XP. Windows 2000 was supposed to be the most complicated software ever, and now they come up with the replacement in less than a year???

I think that most big e-tailers like Dell and Gateway will still let you put Windows 98 on your new computer. I’ve got ME and while I’m not really happy with it, it has the System Restore on it, so once I got it set up the way I wanted it, when something goes wrong, I just restore it.

4

Me and my wife both got computers recently - her a Dell, me a Gateway. Hers came with Windows ME, mine has Windows XP. I was a bit leery of XP at first, but I haven’t run into any problems so far.

5

First, the Compaq printer that came with your Compaq computer required a driver that wasn’t on the installation CD Compaq gave you? How fucking dare Microsoft treat you that way!

Second, right click on one of the shortcuts to any of those games’ executables. You should have a Compatibility tab there. I can’t promise that tweaking those settings will help, but it’s worth a shot.

6

Hey, Nickrz!

It’s gonna be a bitch being on the front lines with that one, but you might want to lurk around the Ars Technica forums. There’s some good chaps there already chugging away on XP, and if you start now, you might be down with the scene for the next five to ten years.

Unless it drives you crazy enough to win you twenty to life.

7

I’ve been running XP for about a month and a half now, and it’s the most stable OS I’ve run into in a while.

8

I’ve thrown every peripheral I could at my XP system, and most of them were detected and usable without any detection.

Guess what? Compaq screwed you over, not MicroSoft.

9

Oops.

Should read:

10

Once again, the Big Guy on Campus gets blamed for somethin’ that ain’t their fault.

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Where does the big guy get all the blame? The way I read the OP, it’s compaq, not microsoft who is on the recieving end of the bulk of the rant.

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Puk, I’ll just quote from the thread title…

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Puk shamefully hangs his head in recognition of this glaring omision on his part.

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I’m definitely no Microsoft fan, but my new XP is doing fine so far except for certain software compatibility issues, but that’s “progress” for you.

15

Ive been running a whistler beta for a few months now and even on such an early version I find it far superior to the completed 2K.

Im running it on an old Fujitsu T-Bird , PII333 , 384MBRam , internal Zip250 , 2 HDD’s , microtek scanner , hp deskjet , kensington video cam , ive got an atirage pro in there and an SBlive Value.Ive got a red hat install and a copy of Millenium on there.
Software :Acrobat, illustrator , publisher, premier
Office 2002 , corel draw10 , dreamweaver , fireworks, quark express and act 2k along with some of our own software written for 98 all running perfectly. (em…not forgetting The Sims , AVP , Commandos etc etc etc)

Everything was picked up right from the start and is working perfectly. I love the new features and it gets my wholehearted support.

Im sorry youve had frustrating issues but if i can run the above config on a pre release flavour I think the problem does not lie with Uncle Bill and his boys. Your issues are indeed with them soon to be Hewlett Packard peoples.

16

Maybe I should clarify things a bit. I’m pissed at Compaq for selling a peripheral (the printer) they obviously had never tested with Windows XP. I’m pissed at Microsoft for selling Compaq an operating system that is still in Beta testing, using the consumer as their (free) troubleshooter.
I’m pissed at Best Buy for giving me the old “That’s not a hardware, that’s a software problem” spiel.

But I suppose I should be most pissed at myself, having presented as a gift a machine that had not been thoroughly tested beforehand. I wanted to show my 11-year-old son how to install hardware and software, etc. - this was his first personal machine. And then every single application I presented to this piece of shit (the machine, you nutrod!) made me look the novice by foiling my considerable troubleshooting skills at every turn. One, two, three strikes yer out, at the old ballgame. Sure, I could have located the missing printer driver quite easily online, but why should I have to? Why should I accept an operating system that cannot even run SimCity 3000 (a game bundled WITH the machine)? The answer is, I don’t.

I’m sure many people will be happy with XP. That’s fine. I just wanted to relate my experience should any of you be contemplating a purchase for that special child or whatever. Be forewarned: Windows XP is full of bugs that just may make your Christmas day a living hell.

17

Ok, first off, all the games you have mentioned so far (B&W, Sim City etc.) WORK FINE!

Second, the problem IS Compaq! NOT Microsoft! I guarantee I could get your Printer working within seconds (ok 10 minutes…) on windows XP.

I ran both the RC1 and RC2 beta, now I am running the Full version with NO PROBLEMS! I have thrown EVERYTHING at this OS including third party dual monitor software and a Korean TV tuner card software, BOTH of which ran without any problems!

“Windows XP sucks because I don’t know a Hard Drive from a Hard on!”

I Swear, if I hear one more rant about how ‘evil’ Microsoft is I am gonna explode! There is a reason they are as big as they are (Anti-trust!) and GOOD products (most of them… Windows 95 is a BIG exception)

Windows XP has exceeded all of my expectations and it is rather sad that people refuse to use it because “it’s Microsoft”!

I realize the OP is probably more pissed at Compaq, but Microsoft didn’t DO anything to you! All the stuff you are complaining about can be fixed in a matter of moments!

In conclusion, Fuck Microsoft? FUCK YOU!

OK, I’m done! :cool:

(Anyone feel like bitching about Windows 95 instead? I’m there!)

18

Just to clarify, the “Fuck you” is not directed at anyone specifically, it’s just a rebuttal to all those who would go around and bitch about Microsoft.

(Hmmm, that probably gets me in MORE trouble, there are a lot of you…:D)

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At the risk of sounding/being childish…No it’s not.

20

::Dooku puts on his MS T-Shirt, storms in here ready to do battle, reads all the positive Microsoft sentiment, faints::