Why does everybody hate Windows XP?

[newfangle]

XP's advantages (in my experience):
-stable as hell
-auto updating is a timesaver
-after a format it is a pleasure to install XP and have it configure all your hardware for you (with the latest drivers too)
-Very user friendly, the most user friendly MS product to date (except maybe 3.1)
-free

Disadvantages:
-complete lack of freedom to tweak hardware (MS thinks we are all idiots don't you know?)
-Makes virtually all software on your computer obsolete (must have Office 2002, 2002 Antivirus, etc....)

Overall I love it though...

 

[nixon]

Oh yes, another thing is that I grow weary of the persistent built-in demands from Microsoft that appear everytime you have an non-responding application, to go tell about your computer, which version you have, personal settings, overall irrelevant computer specs. Now for some weird reason, I don't want them to get that information.

Anyway, that is one helluva an annoying function.

 

[boann]

xp certainly has been the most stable OS i have used.
i did have to have somethings adjusted so i could play
online civ games.
and i don't like that some of the older games won't work.
but stability is crucial to me....so i live with it.

 

[Jeratain]

I use XP - although I despise their new attempt to keep piracy at a lower level, it is a good OS.

As someone said earlier in this thread, it's just the traditional Microsoft bashing that everyone enjoys to get into

 

[Switch625]

98SE is the last Microsoft OS I will ever buy. So far, I've been quite happy staying off the OS treadmill over the last three three years. 98SE does what I need it to do, and I have enough knowledge to keep it working despite the glitches. I refuse to buy another OS from Microsoft, no matter how good it is supposed to be.

I make a visit to the Windows update site about every two weeks, and there always seems to be another patch. Disgusting.

 

[stormerne]

I'm a computer professional. I've been writing commercial software for over 20 years. I've just got myself a new home computer and my choice of operating system was Windows 2000 Pro. This was no mean feat considering how strongly XP is being pushed.

Why not XP instead? Three reasons. The two main ones are that XP is relatively flakey compared to 2000 Pro - I've never been able to crash 2000 Pro whereas XP will crash every day in the office. (Try running a Flash editor system on it.) And secondly this activation stuff is a nonsense. Thirdly, the fact that the default interface looks like it was designed for Toys R Us I find patronising and I think it shows what Microsoft considers the target audience.

 

[nixon]

But isn't Windows XP based on Windows 2000 foundations, which means that it should be just as stable as 2K?

I had Windows 2000 before I switched to XP, and I agree, I can't recall a situation where it actually crashed, same goes for XP.
The interface, is very bad looking, fortunately you are able to switch to a so-called "Windows Classic" theme.

 

[FredLC]

As for the interface, I agree that the blue color is offensive, and the background scene is as well.

But using no background, and switching the color to gray (that actually looks silver), it gets WAY better IMHO. Better than classic (despite that green "start menu" is still a little too colored for my liking, is there any way I can change that color? If it were dark grey than the menu would look really beautiful)

 

[hbdragon88]

Nixon: yeah, it's based off of the Windows 2000 code, but cause 2000 doesn't run games (or very badly) they had to do all these things to make it compatible for the consumer.

Who hates XP? I love it. It's the best OS, and much more stable than 98SE. There's also the clean snappy-interface and there's the ability to report a problem - which is handy, as I've had problems with programs that freeze.

Though I do hate its newbie-interface. They think that you're total idiots, so they make everything hard to do. I had no problem fiddling around with adding wallpaper, clearing "Recently Viewed Documents" w/o going through properties...and so on. Also with protecting all the documents and crap - hey, I want to see the hard drive!

One thing that bugs me is that it seems to take up more space. Office XP takes SO much longer to load up than Office 2000.

 

[hbdragon88]

As for the interface, I agree that the blue color is offensive, and the background scene is as well.

What blue color?

I have to say, yeah, I hate "Bliss" too. It was hell when I was an aide for my middle school computer class last year, and the teacher enforced that the desktop had to be "Bliss" - otherwise, he'd hand out an ALC (something like detention)

 

[FredLC]

Originally posted by hbdragon88
What blue color?

At least when I installed it in my PC, it was completely blue, except for the start button and the backgroaund scene (that, once removed, revealed even more blue behind it).

It was bliss when I found out how to change the setting to the gray/silver that I use now...

Here is what I got as standard:

And here is how I actually use it:

 

[TrailblazingScot]

Well I love XP Home Edition and wouldn't go back to ME even if you gave me £250 (well, I would take your money, go back and come back!).

 

[Jeratain]

Originally posted by hbdragon88
Though I do hate its newbie-interface. They think that you're total idiots, so they make everything hard to do. I had no problem fiddling around with adding wallpaper, clearing "Recently Viewed Documents" w/o going through properties...and so on. Also with protecting all the documents and crap - hey, I want to see the hard drive!

That's because there are people out there who have no clue what they are doing, and they need help. And then there are those out there who think they can clear up HD space by deletings files that are vital because they don't know they are vital. So they install these safety measures to protect the users from themselves.

 

[WildFire]

My backround (its mainly my Dad's and Moms computer and she likes the Huskies)

 

[hbdragon88]

Originally posted by Jeratain


That's because there are people out there who have no clue what they are doing, and they need help. And then there are those out there who think they can clear up HD space by deletings files that are vital because they don't know they are vital. So they install these safety measures to protect the users from themselves.

I know, but it ticks me off how they warped everything up - not just the newbie stuff, but everything else. My Documents is now under "owner" under something that I forgot. Before it was the C drive. And you know when you open My Computer? By default the side part doesn't show the folders.

 

[SunTzu]

I have XP and it works great, although i'm having some problems.
When i try to alt-tab out of my Delta Force 3 game while its loading a MP game i get the blue screen of death. Thats the only time i've found that i get it.
But for some reason my AOL will freeze when trying to open some pages using the AOL browser, not sure if its my modem or what...anyone know if XP can fix this?
XP runs damn fast on my computer, since i have that 2.8ghz 512mb ram lol really no problems, although for some reason i can't install my X-Com Apocalypse game!!!

 

[ainwood]

Originally posted by nixon
Oh yes, another thing is that I grow weary of the persistent built-in demands from Microsoft that appear everytime you have an non-responding application, to go tell about your computer, which version you have, personal settings, overall irrelevant computer specs. Now for some weird reason, I don't want them to get that information.

Anyway, that is one helluva an annoying function.

Nixon,

That "feature" can be turned-off. I saw it the other day (and promtly did turn it off ), and can't exactly remember "how" I did it. Its somewhere in the control panel though. System section? Under error reporting or similar?


Sun Tzu,

It may be a cunningly evil M$ plan to destroy AOL and get people to use IE as their browser.

 

[nixon]

Thanks very much, ainwood. Finally nailed that sucker. You are right, it can indeed be turned off.

Control Panel > System > Choose Advanced in System Properties, and then click on "Error Reporting".

Wonderful, thanks again!

 

[RoddyVR]

we got xp at home as soon as it came out, and untill recently it was realy sucky.
NOTHING had xp drivers (thats MUCH better now)
we were on dial up so that "loads updates automaticaly" thing SUCKED, you couldnt do ANYTHING online cuase it would always be doing an autoupdate.
its original version (like everything else from MS) was FULL of bugs, they seem to think that the consumers are their "testing department".
Now that i have DSL, its ok, cause i dont notice the autoupdate anymore and it keeps it updated prety well.
not being able to run old games is a pain (have one game that wont do sound, and a bunch just dont work)
it seems to realy dislike my video card, cause i think it leaks the memory it uses for it and then crashes the graphic intencive games after about an hour or so.

i cant believe ANYONE would say that XP is stable!!!!
the only way to have it stable, that i can immagine, is to get the latest PC and load only software that was published AFTER xp came out. but with that sort of "commitment to an OS" anything would run well.

 

[Sparrowhawk]

I run XP home edition, and for the most part I am satisfied. It usually takes me 4 hours or so on any virgin system to get my preferences, folders, and interface the way I want them - regardless of the OS. In XP's case, I set it back to windows classic settings and customized from there.

I have previously spent 3.5 years in the hell that is Win98. I'll admit that I know it better than any other piece of software out there (w/ exception of Civ ) because it was always gumming up. With a few exceptions, I find XP far more stable.

Things that annoy me about XP:

- LAN issues. In my apartment there are 2 machines running Win98 that communicate just fine with each other, but XP won't talk to either for file sharing ("Network Neighbourhood" etc...) - though it plays LAN games just fine.

- Ctrl-Alt-Delete doesn't override running programs. Perhaps my biggest gripe. When a program crashes on the computer, keying the magic trio does not override it and immediately bring up the task manager. Instead, it waits for the problem to finish using system resources (read: never) before the handy window pops up. And killing the unresponsive program via "end program now" takes forever.

- Streaming video crashes the computer. This really pisses me off too. Want to watch a trailer for a movie online? Hah! Might as well forget it. I have yet to do so successfully. Windows Media player sits there forever at a loading screen before crashing the system, and Quicktime (true to its name) doesn't even wait that long before crashing things irreperably.