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- Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
- Path: sparky!uunet!mcsun!sun4nl!utrcu1!infnews!kortink
- From: kortink@cs.utwente.nl (John Kortink)
- Subject: A worse Windows than Windows ?
- Message-ID: <1992Aug17.003525.6989@cs.utwente.nl>
- Sender: usenet@cs.utwente.nl
- Nntp-Posting-Host: utis96
- Organization: University of Twente, Dept. of Computer Science
- Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 00:35:25 GMT
- Lines: 58
-
- s047@SAND.SICS.BU.OZ.AU (Jeremy Lee) writes :
-
- >Windows is getting NICER??!?! *cough splutter choke*!! There is a
- >fundamental flaw in the semantics of that sentence. First, windows was
- >never nice, so to imply that it is getting "nicer" is false. I have seen
- >and used 3.1, and from all outward appearances, the greatest single
- >major change is that they are using that horrible new logo everywhere.
-
- Well, I use it on my (spit) MSDOS box, but I must admit it feels a lot
- smoother than 3.0, and the file manager is 'less worse' now. It is also
- more stable as far as I've experienced. It doesn't throw up as many
- UAE's as 3.0. Latter does this with a frequency that can be described
- as 'when it feels like it'. 3.1 too, but is less throwuppy.
-
- >Plus, a LOT of old software is very unstable or won't work at all under
- >the new Windows. Not even Microsoft software. Great way to get everyone
- >to spend lots more money on upgrades eh?
-
- I don't do anything really serious under it, so I can't deny or confirm
- this. Most PD and shareware apps will run fine.
-
- >[...]
- >Excel. It takes 3Mb to install Dos5. I have a friend with a 40Mb drive.
- >He's a pretty average user, a commerce student who only barely knows his
- >way around Windows, let alone DOS. His HD is full, and he can't work out
- >where all the space has gone. Also, over the past few months, his
- >Windows has been getting slower, and slower, and s l o w e r... And he
- >can't work out why.
-
- Well, what I found out (shock, horror) is that when you choose the
- auto-install, it creates a HUMONGOUS swap file, without asking (14 Mb or
- somewhat on my 120Mb HD). I think it depends on what you have free when
- you install. Maybe your friend is experiencing something related to this,
- or Windows is desperately swapping. Anyway, I snatched back my 14Mb. Let
- it find it's (virtual) memory elsewhere (like in RAM, I have 4Mb, so it
- should be able to do something useful with it, or whatever is left after
- it has booted).
-
- In short, I think Windows is still quite horrible, but, to satisfy your
- craving for correctly weighed terminology : less horrible than before
- I'd say. There *is* some nice software to be run under it. Then again,
- I prefer the command-line under 4Dos anytime (and I mean *anytime*,
- Windows makes me quite desparate quite quickly, quite profoundly).
-
- God, isn't the Archimedes nice !
-
- (Imagine a commercial based on this. Seriously frustrated bloke or
- blokette switches off PC, shifts over to Arc, and, after switchon,
- sighs, wide smile : auto-loading all his favourite apps, playing a tune
- in the background. Doing some serious work with lots of clickety-click.
- Hands of the clock flying around. Yawns, smiling. Puts on big nightcap
- (with Arc logo on it, of course). Etc. You know, standard cliches ...).
-
-
- John Kortink
-
- Student of Informatics at the University of Twente, The Netherlands
- NETMAIL : kortink@cs.utwente.nl DISCLAIMER : the usual
-