It was thus said that the Great Zane H. Healy once stated:
>
> >The folks I see having problems with their MS-OS-based systems generally are
> >the ones that (1) hand around the "chat" rooms (where their computers get
> >"social diseases"), (2) try to squeeze more performance out of their
> >computers by violating the components' specifications, (3) try to get their
> >computers to do other sorts of things for which they (or their software)
> >weren't intended. Now, that's not to say it doesn't happen otherwise, but
> >from where I sit, that's what I see.
>
> OK, I've observed of people useing Windows, there is always the occasional
> person that doesn't have problems. I've also noticed that the *only* time
> I hear about this is when someone else points out how unstable Windows is!
In 1996 I started work on a project that required the use of Windows95 [1]
so the company found an acceptable 486 and I managed to do a fresh install
of Windows95 [2]. I then installed only two third party applications:
Netscape and Java.
For the year I used the machine it never crashed on me nor did I ever have
any real difficulty unless it was making a drastic change, like changing the
mouse (you wouldn't belive the problems I had in changing from a bus mouse
to a serial mouse, which I needed to do several times [3]) or changing the
SLIP settings.
It was really amusing when I took the machine into the office and tried
getting it installed on the local network there. Nothing like trying to
telnet to a box only to have it attempt to dial up, then use the network
card. That was fine for several months.
It was only when my machine was used by someone else [4] did problems
creep up. Up to that point I only had Windows95, Netscape and Java. But
for the new person, they had installed Microsoft Office and some other
business applications needed. When I resumed using the machine it would
crash (actually, freeze) quite often. It was only after it didn't fully
boot did I have to do an emergency dump of critical files off the system. I
then tried reinstalling the system following the same procedure I did a year
before (format, install MS-DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows95 upgrade, PlusPack).
Continuous attempts over two days (where the system was so sluggish I could
actually see it drawing pixel by pixel) convinced me to install Linux on the
machine, after which I never had a problem again.
The only changes hardware wise to the machine was the addition of a
network card months before. Nothing else. I could never figure out why
Windows couldn't be reinstalled. To my knowledge, the machine is still
running Linux to this day.
-spc (Then there's my friend who is doing development under NT and has
constant crashes. It's not reassuring that he's working on a
phone switch that runs under NT ... )
[1] A major Java applet. At the time the only two platforms that had
Java development systems were Solaris (which we could not afford)
or Windows95, which we could.
[2] Fresh install of MS-DOS 6.2, then Windows 3.1, then the Windows95
upgrade, then the Windows95 PlusPack for the SLIP stuff.
[3] My machine was used for trade shows but the bus mouse was mine.
When my machine was taken for trade shows I would slap a cheap
serial mouse on the system.
[4] I was out of the office for about two months and the company needed
my computer for the new secretary. It was a very small company.
Received on Thu Apr 06 2000 - 15:45:09 BST
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