Lame computer rant

The BBQ Pit
1

I seem to recall that one of the selling points of USB (when it was first introduced) was that it was plug and play; you’d plug in your USB peripheral, Windows would say “ooh, a new device” and would possibly ask you for a disk, then you would be able to start playing with your new toy staight away.

So how did we get from there to where we are now? (for some devices, you have to install the software first, then reboot, then plug in the device, then give it the disk again, then reboot again…)

While we’re here, is it only me that remembers Windows 95 being touted as ‘the first OS to do away with DOS’ - “Oh no, it doesn’t really run DOS, it’s an emulation”, then similar claims being made about Win98, 2000 and XP.

2

Plug and play! Instant fun! No tech knowledge required!

Or should that be “plug and boot up and swear and switch off and reopen machine and wiggle and put together and boot up and swear and check Windows settings and swear and check drivers and swear and check references and conflicts and swear and switch off and…”?

We’ll let the users decide.

pan

3

USB plug 'n play works fine for me.

But then, I don’t use Windows. :slight_smile:

4

Depends on the device. I bought a USB Optical mouse, plugged it in, Win98 detected it and downloaded the driver automatically from the Windows Update site, and it worked fine instantly without a reboot. Slick as snot.