Computers.

[Jack Williams]

Just an observation: My old Compaq has Windows XP Professional, and my newer Lenovo has Windows Vista Business.
Fine. But I notice that Vista is not as smart. On the XP if I have a photo to put up onto two sites, one (Flickr) for full size, and one (here, for instance) needing downsizing; to distinguish between the two, all I need to do is not have dot after one of them, or a bigger space after it, and I can find them next to each other on the browser.
Not with Vista. Far too subtle. Instant conversion to unwanted size as if just the same. To get them different sizes, I have to give the other version a completely different name so to it, it is a completely different picture. Pathetic.

[Caultron]

Windows XP was a very good release, and a lot of people still cling to it.

[Sinned]

A lot of companies are still using XP - I know more than a few ( I'd have to at least take my tights off to count them ). Makes sense as it is probably more stable than most Windoze and postpones having to retrain lots of people. Companies have applications that run on it and their internal Helpdesk guys know pretty much all the quirks and problems with it. Go to the newer ones and what have you got - a lot of testing, pain and steep learning curves for all involved. Having been employed with companies that have lots of servers and thousands of desktops and laptops I know that you just can't buy a batch of laptops, install the apps and send them out. There are lots of people who aren't savvy and new scares them. As a developer I know that you just can't assume that the apps will run on the new version so lots of testing and training of the Helpdesk. Arrrgh!!!! Been there.

As an IT Manager it is difficult to justify all this expense of upgrading, for what? But the main problem is that older versions become unsupported and if staying with MS then you have to upgrade eventually. I have known of companies that have skipped a version or two of Windoze before upgrading. Interestingly remember that Big Blue was dominant in the 70's and 80's but lost their crown to MS? Well, MS doesn't seem to be as dominant as it once was. Cycles in the sand?

[Kilted_John]

I'd consider either downgrading the Vista machine to XP, or upgrading it to 7. Vista was a rather buggy release compared to XP or 7. Was a bit like Windows ME, compared to 98SE.

Re: the file naming, that's interesting... Maybe try using an underscore instead of the dot.

-J

[Tor]

Interesting. My system will cheerfully let me distinguish between two files merely by case - e.g. "Foo.txt" and "foo.txt". Nevertheless, I prefer to distinguish by adding -size to the name - so a small version of "foo.jpg" becomes "foo-sm.jpg". Works well and unambiguous even when I have multiple sizes to keep track of. I've also appended the larger pixel dimension to the filename.

[crfriend]

Makes sense as it is probably more stable than most Windoze and postpones having to retrain lots of people.

This.

It's not the direct "cost" of the upgrade paid to MS for the latest whizz-bang release (or, in the case of ME or Vista, escape), it's the cost of retraining all the people and the cost of lost productivity during that retraining period. These are non-trivial expenses once you get into "real company" size. Even the cost of re-evaluating how one's own custom applications (if any) or older "off the shelf" software will run on the new version is trivial in comparison to the cost to the business of people-related costs. So, it absolutely makes sense to keep things as stable as possible for as long as possible.

Interestingly remember that Big Blue was dominant in the 70's and 80's but lost their crown to MS? Well, MS doesn't seem to be as dominant as it once was. Cycles in the sand?

IBM was dominant in electronic computers from the first-generation devices in the 1950s, and in the unit-record era before that; they only started losing ground in the 90s, primarily to the same cancer that saw off the multitude of minicomputer companies that drove many local economies from the '60s to the mid '80s.

[Sinned]

crfrnd,
I have worked for some sizeable companies. Imagine 200 servers, 10,000 desktops, and over 1,000 laptops. Some of them used by say, Shop Managers who are rather nervous about anything new. Testing of connectivity and the performance of apps can take over 6 months and the retraining of all the personnel certainly makes this a non-trivial cost. As a member of the testing staff, whilst it was always good news for job prospects, I would inwardly groan at the upcoming project. And all for what - an overblown and buggy new system to do nothing really different. Maybe the user interface was different but the functionality that the average user would use wouldn't really have changed. At least on mainframes the interface remained remarkably constant and restrained. Has bindoze been a real step forward. In some ways maybe as even before MS came on the scene there were X-windows as the forerunner and even Apple had a windows environment before MS. There are others. Has MS really been a success. To me they have provided a system that has come under attack on all sides and is a system that I really dislike but being surrounded by others who just wants something familiar I guess I am stuck with it for the moment. But I am thinking of buying another machine just for my use and then I can really do what I want with it.

[crfriend]

[...] Has MS really been a success.

From a marketing perspective, absolutely yes -- they completely dominate the marketplace; Apple is merely allowed to exist as a foil to keep what remains of the Justice Department at bay. From a strictly technical perspective, however, they've not been very successful at all.

The one big technical jump for them was when they acquired Dave Cutler from DEC before DEC committed suicide and he brought Mica along which was the genesis of NT (This is well-documented elsewhere). But, even with a fairly mature and well thought-out kernel architecture they managed to make a hash of it, primarily in the video-driver realm which was, for years, the main virus-vector into Windows after they migrated to NT from DOS.

Nowadays with "Write Once Exploit Everywhere" problems like Active-X and Java where security takes a back-seat to bling, the NT kernel is less of a problem, but just with the massive market-share (those less charitable call it a monopoly) that MS commands means that their platform will be the one that criminals primarily develop illicit programs for.

Worse than the Microsoft monopoly is the one that Intel holds on the processor architectures in use. I am just waiting for somebody to write a true cross-OS virus that'll get itself into the microcode of the underlying Intel processor and do nasty things. Think "Stuxnet" on a global -- or at least national -- scale. Other than a Raspberry Pi or other small embedded system just try to find a machine that doesn't have an Intel processor in it -- just try. (I have several, but all are better than a decade old, and I'm a bit of a "special case".)

[Tor]

Right off the top of my head I can come up with the ARM based Lemote Yeeloong for a laptop. Underpowered by todays standards, perhaps, but a genuine computer. There is also the Fuloong mini box that is approximately a desktop but just as tiny as the Yeeloong and has no more power. Beyond that, however, I know of nothing without searching.

Tor

[Jack Williams]

Not sure where that puts my Lenovo T61, but after catching up on all that, I'm chuffed that I appear to have Vista under control after all!
Yeah, this is Intel.
At the same time, I am a person who knows a piece of professional equipment when I see one, (see the Hitachi drill on Jack Track) and that's what I spotted in the computer shop. Heavy by laptop standards, but NASA launched them into space. Not about to "crash".

[TomH]

Yes, Jack, the Lenovo T61 has to be a great professional computer. I've owned and used a T60 for a few years now. It's tough and quick for me. Running Win 7 for a year or so and used as a back up now because I've been able to depend on it as I try out newer, faster laptops that are available on the used market. I resell the ones that don't excite me since I have a limited supply of cash available.
I like the Dell Latitude line also and they have treated me good.

[Jack Williams]

Yes I considered moving to Windows 7.
Do you think that would be a good move?
Yes, Dell. I use a great Dell 24" monitor with it that I've had for a few years now. Has a great menu and can be used as a DVD screen, with big choice of colour, contrast ,
languages, you name it.
Have it in French at present, Spanish recently.
Interestingly, the Google "Search" on the Lenovo follows it. It says "Recherche" right now!

[Kilted_John]

Highly recommended. Vista, like Windows Me, was notorious for being rather tempermental. Sister loaded up iTunes onto her Vista laptop back in '08. Caused a BSOD. One that kept recurring until the hard drive was nuked and repaved with a fresh copy of Vista installed on it.

Windows 7, however, is like XP. Pretty stable.

-J

[Jack Williams]

Confused. Does that mean stick with Vista?
Actally a friend has the XP conversion disk, which I tried, but it wouldn't work as it was impossible to go back to an earlier thing.
I guess that would be like them admitting that the earlier thing was better, and that would never do!
Actually, noticed the Police, when I was seeing them about something were using XP.
I also notice the equipment in the bank is Lenovo.

[Jack Williams]

Actually, when the cops fired up their antique desktop, there was Brian Eno's tune, just like my old Compaq!
Imagine the cost if they had to constantly "upgrade" to the latest flim-flam.