My opinions:
DOS
I liked DOS. DOS was good in a way because it didn't do much and left
the system open for any application to do whatever it wanted. That could
be a good thing or a bad thing, but usually this was a good thing. Many
innovative (Non Microsoft) programs were written on top of MS-DOS. Because
they usually talked directly to the hardware, they were blazingly fast
compared to even the best Windows programs. The big problem with DOS is
when you have lots of hardware devices that require complex drivers such
as networks or cd-rom drives, fitting them in to that 1 Meg memory segment
becomes a splitting headache.
Windows 3.0
When I saw the user interface on this thing I thought "Is this a joke?"
I didn't have any software for it, so I played around with a copy for a
little while and then deleted it. Never was good for anything unless you
were overly desperate for a GUI for the PC.
Windows 3.1
When I heard they had come out with a revised version of Windows,
I thought "If they haven't gotten rid of that stupid Program Manager, I
am going to barf". Needless to say I spent quite a while upchucking. By
this time, people were getting desperate for a GUI for the PC. I wasn't,
but I had several programs that required this dogshit, so I installed it,
but only ran it when I need it. I did manage to customize the hell out
of out of it though. No blue screens of death for me... they were GREEN!
(It's been a while, but I think the commands were messagebackcolor=2 messagetextcolor=0
in the [386Enh] section of system.ini <<-I just tried it! It still
works in Windows 95!)
Windows for Workgroups
I didn't learn what this version of Windows could do until just about
the time I learned about Windows 95. I didn't mess with it much, but my
opinion of it was the same as Windows 3.1: Dogshit. The networking support
was kind of a plus: Dogshit plus.
Windows 95
After being forced to use Windows 3.1 at work, the new user interface
was a breath of fresh air for me. For my home machine, I was not impressed.
I installed it, messed around with it and uninstalled it.
Windows 95 OSR/2
I was highly impressed with the improvements in this version of Windows
95. The two things really impressed me in this version: FAT32 and Personal
Web Server. FAT32 is great because I can use large hard drives even in
real-mode Windows 95 (MS-DOS 7.1) and efficiently too. Sure its not HPFS
or NTFS or EXT2, but it works for me. Personal Web Server is no big deal
now, but at the time it was. It meant that any idiot on a network could
have a web sever without having a complex Unix box, or an expensive NT
server. At work this also meant not having to bow down to our central support
people for intranet web space. I was rather ticked off that I could not
uninstall IE 3 like any other component. It made an adequate GIF and JPG
viewer, it wasn't in the way, and it COULD be uninstalled by other means,
so I let it go.
Windows 98
Windows 98=Windows 95+IE 4. I hate IE 4 therefore I hate Windows 98.
Windows ME
Windows ME=Windows 98 minus the exit to DOS feature.
Windows NT 3.51
This was there ADVANCED version of windows and it still had the same
crappy user interface? Under the hood: OK. Above the hood: It sucks.
Windows NT 4
Functionally NT 4 is rather nice. One application crashing will almost
never take out the entire system or other applications. As for their user
interface though, they obviously just threw the Windows 95 shell on top
of NT 3.51, leaving numerous UI differences between the two. For example,
NT 4 has a dial-up phone book app instead of a connections folder. Also,
the security is a pain in the ass. You have to have administrative rights
just to set the friging clock or install a printer! Another thing that
I don't like about NT is the way it keeps multiple desktops for each user.
You have to be a friging expert (and have administrative rights) to make
program icons available to all users. Users get angry when the icons change.
In one case at my office, an NT Workstation user changed jobs and the new
person insisted on using this other persons userid/password because the
old user had set up a lot of shortcuts and stuff on the desktop that new
user couldn't get to. They had to call me in to move the stuff between
profiles. And the new user still wasn't happy because I hadn't set the
same background and color scheme for them.
Actually I think there may be a way for users to share a common desktop,
but I haven't had a chance to try it.
Windows 2000 (NT 5)
Even be further integrated in to IE. If you ask me, this whole web
integration thing has got to stop.
Windows XP
Holy crap, they brought back Microsoft BOB. Looks like a toy.
Windows Vista
Under the hood not much different from Windows XP (or 2000 or NT 4
or NT 3.51). Above the hood they poorly ripped off MacOS X. Copying a few
ideas would be no big deal, but they POINT BY POINT copied all of the major
features of MacOS X, and stuffed them in to Windows in ways that don't
entirely make sense. Oh, and new Digital Restrictions Management to keep
me from doing what I want with my computer and data? No thanks.
MSIE 1
This version of IE was complete crap. I always wondered why it wasn't
listed in add/remove programs. Now I know.
MSIE 2
What was the difference between this and IE 1 anyway?
MSIE 3
Almost a good browser. Netscape 3.0 was still better. Big enough though
that it REALLY should have been listed in add/remove programs so we wouldn't
have to install it if we wanted to use Netscape instead. Bill said that
it was an "integrated" part of Windows 95 OSR2. Why then can I skip installation
of IE 3 by editing a few lines in the Windows 95 set up files? Or uninstall
it by installing the downloadable version and then uninstalling. Made a
good GIF and JPG viewer though.
MSIE 4
The first time I saw this application, I felt there was something dark
and evil about it. I thought I was crazy feeling that way toward an application,
but as I learned more about it I realized that this feeling was not unjustified.
MSIE 5
It's evil to. I sense it is evil in a slightly different way though.
IE 4 was evil in a "maniacal laughing in your face because they could get
away with it" type evil. IE 5 is evil in a "scheming and plotting
to crush the last remnants of the resistance" type evil with a big dose
"1984ish - rewriting history" evil because of the way setup says "upgrading"
IE and "Restoring previous version of" IE even when no IE was previously
installed.
MSIE 6
How is this any different from version 5?
MSIE 7
Wow, they FINALLY blew the dust off of IE after all those years of
letting it rot. Firefox is still light-years ahead of IE though. Whoever
designed the UI for IE 7 was high on crack.
Netscape Navigator 3.04
This was probably the best version of Netscape. This is the version
I recommended to anybody if they didn't have infinite hard drive space
and RAM. Netscape 3 had most of the features that anybody would really
want from a web browser..
Netscape Comunicator/Navigator 4.0x
This version added useful stuff like spell checking in e-mail and the
ability to edit and send HTML in e-mail. Thing though is, it ran slower.
Even displaying graphics on a web page was slower than version 3. I don't
know what I need netcaster or that AOL instant messenger for though.
Netscape Navigator 4.5
Seen it. Doesn't seem dramatically different from 4.0x. I love how
it puts its icons in the IE 4 application tray and start menu. Now, if
it just had the option to ERASE the IE 4 icons then it would be perfect.
Mozilla
Mozilla beats the living crap out of IE. (Which is easy because IE
is
living crap)
Netscape 6.0
I nearly cried when they released this version... because it sucked
so bad. It wouldn't even render Slashdot correctly! There were also some
serious performance issues.
Netscape 6.1/6.2/7.x
MUCH BETTER!!!!! There were still a few performance issues, but they
were mainly shell related.
Firefox
Well, duh. Firefox rocks.
Macintosh
I used to hate Apple Macintoshes. But that was back in the DOS/Win
3.1 days when you had to be an expert to use a PC. I viewed Mac users as
idiots because they usually had no knowledge of how computers worked. Since
Windows 95 though, PCs now have the same kind of users Macs did. <whine>
"How do I point? How do I click? What is a mouse? I don't understand! Im
Confyoosed!" </whine>. Truth is, many Windows users make Mac users look
like nuclear physicists in comparison.
Linux
Linux rocks! A Bill free OS! Kewl.
ReactOS
ReactOS is the future of Windows. What Linux did to commercial Unix,
ReactOS will do to Windows.
MAME
Most old games are more fun than the crap you can buy today. One of
my favorite oldies is OutRun.
Screw the race, that guy should just make out with the hot chick.
YouTube
Recently I have been spending more time watching YouTube than actual
TV. There is such an incredible variety of stuff out there. With YouTube
I have discovered all kinds of interesting and wonderful shows - many of
which you will NEVER see on US television.
Unfortunately Google only bought YouTube to defend off the lawsuit(s)
against YouTube. If YouTube had outright lost that would have put a dent
in some of Googles plans. Win or lose, once the lawsuits are over expect
Google to pull the plug on YouTube (or cripple it to make it useless).
Comcast
Comcast is Evil. I still miss TechTV. They murdered it. There is nothing
on anymore. Oh, and my cable bill just went up again!
