This is a continuation of a thread that began with Kevin Carter in the Canon section. We began drifting with the topic of software degrading with time. Noel, who is knowledgeable with computers and software, claiming that Vista doesn't degrade with time, and I take the opposite view. I am sure Kevin Carter doesn't care what we think about Vista. So I am beginning a new thread. And because this topic is off-topic--that is, Vista is not directly related to using our cameras--I thought the Soap Box forum was appropriate.
Recently Lenny participated with the following comment.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lenny Hartley  I agree with your comments regarding operating systems Ive been involved in IT
for over 30 years and when we started locking down systems our workload decreased
significantly, because users were loading all sorts of rubbish, I even got a
callout one Sunday night at midnight as a guy could not get a game he had downloaded onto his laptop working!!! |
Let me begin by stating that, while I appreciate Noel's and Lenny's experience, I am not swayed by it. I have never swayed on an argument just because someone says, "I am really smart and have copious degrees from Ivy League universities and have tons of experience."
We've all met some people from prestigious schools, with impressive degrees, and who have worked for a number of years in a particular field and are still bozos. And we've also met others who are young and inexperienced but whip smart, driven, passionate, and results oriented who succeed when others were positive that they would fail.
Rather than chest thumping, I am swayed by facts, logic, and results. As one my former results driven bosses always said: Never let the cold hard facts get in the way of a really good story.
So far, we have kept the temperature moderate. I certainly aim to keep the temperature moderate or cool. I have no desire to get into an overheated discussion.
I have a lot of respect for Noel. We have discussed how to improve our Photoshop techniques and I know that Noel brings a lot of knowledge (results) to bear.
But with regard to Vista and software remaining stable, I disagree. My viewpoint is that Vista is a crappy operating system, one that Microsoft rushed, one that its board of directors isn't happy with, one that Apple ridiculed (rightly so), one that stopped many people from upgrading, and one caused many people to stop using Microsoft products and start using Macs, and one that degrades with time.
So why do I think my operating system degrades with time? One, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence by dissatisfied users everywhere who experience slow start-ups etc. Just Google and you'll find it. I have already provided one article of several. Two, I too know computer gurus, and one in particular who has worked with key Microsoft developers (as in key software creators of their software packages) to develop high end solutions for its customers. And he, in particular, hates Vista. He's advised me to stick with XP because it is more stable. I am still using Vista. And three, most importantly, I notice my computer takes longer than it did only two months ago.
With regard to articles, Noel seems to suggest that these online and print experts--whoever they might be--don't know computers as well as he does. I am not interested in getting into a you-know-what contest in discussing credentials. Besides, as I mentioned, I am not big on credentials and experience.
Next, my expert versus Noel's and Lenny's expertise. Again, we're back to "my expert is better than your expert." That's a useless debate.
So now we're down to my third argument, my personal experience of using Vista. Noel seems to hint that it must be that I am loading a bunch of junk on my pc. Actually no. I am rather careful about what I load on my pc. For example, I have loaded no games other than those that came with Vista. I have standard MS Office applications. I have Adobe CS4 and Acrobat, a password manager, FTP program, anti-virus, and other serious business applications. In fact, I even use Secunia to ensure that all my programs are current and that I do not have any open threats.
I have always noticed that after I do a fresh install, my personal computer runs faster, like it did when it was new. And that's after I have reloaded all my applications again. I suspect Lenny that your customers enjoy a performance boost too after you've rebuilt their pc?
My pc is not a low-end pc. Rather it is one of Dell's higher end pcs. It's got a high end graphics card, accelerator, quad processor, four gigs of ram etc.
Being an (mechanical) engineer, I know that the
second law of thermodynamics is a b*&^%h. With increasing time, entropy (randomness) increases. And with that increase in randomness comes a slower operating system.
As patches are installed and software is upgraded and replaced, stuff happens. I notice that my Norton 360 anti-virus eliminates various registry entries because of errors, missing files, or whatever. Again, increasing entropy.
I know that the "techies" often don't like Norton products. Whatever. It's what I am using and will continue to use. Any anti-virus program will have its share of issues, though some might be better than others. Norton, however, does have a substantial market share, and it is a legitimate program for users to have.
Moreover, I don't know of a single appliance or complex tool that doesn't degrade with time. Not one.
To suggest that something doesn't degrade seems to me to run counter to reason. In this miraculous world, products don't degrade, entropy remains constant or decreases forever, scientists have discovered how resolve string theory to very beginning of time when density was infinite and time was zero and have discovered other universes to subject their theories to
falsification, and scientists have discovered
entanglement between our universe and another universe where another user in a different universe experiences the exact same problem with his Canon as Kevin Carter does with his.
I have yet to meet any reasonable person who hasn't experienced a slow down in their pc performance with time. Perhaps Noel is one of those rare individuals whose pc never degrades. But even one of the technical people (has all the appropriate Microsoft certifications) that I speak with on an occasional basis taught me a strategy to create mirror images of my OS partition so that when stuff happens, I can revert to an earlier copy. Like him, I find that on rare occasions that I need to revert back to an earlier mirrored image.
So Noel, I am not sure how you want to kick the can further. And Lenny, a question for you: Do your users experience a performance boost when you rebuild their pcs from scratch--that is, reformat the hard drive and reload everything?
Okay guys, your turn.
I wrote this quickly, so please forgive any and all typos.
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