Warp wrote:
>   By the way, what *does* Vista offer over XP? Besides DirectX 10, that is.
> In other words, why should anyone switch voluntarily?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_and_safety_features_new_to_Windows_Vista
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_Window_Manager
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management_features_new_to_Windows_Vista
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Imaging_Component
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Color_System

I didn't see mention of them in the wikipedia articles, but there are 
supposed to be great improvements in how Windows utilizes all types of 
memory (RAM, flash drives, and hdds).  Things like using available 
memory to preload your favorite programs, swapping data out to flash 
drives instead of magnetic drives, etc, as well as better memory 
partitioning and protection (OK, that parts in the "Security and safety" 
above).

>   From what I have seen, the list of planned but later *dropped* features
> is larger than the actual list of new features, compared to XP.

That's true of any software project, isn't it?  But realistically, you 
can't offer everything to everyone.

Besides which, some of the features just weren't good ideas.  I mean, 
making the entire file system a relational database?  IIRC, they didn't 
drop that one because of implementation problems, but because in 
practice it sucked.

>   I can't resist the urge to, once again, admire Apple as opposed to MS.
> Each new version of MacOS X has been faster and lighter than previous
> versions, and with new useful features. Most MacOS X users *want* to
> upgrade to the later version. Usually they don't need to be forced.
> (Sure, exceptions *always* exist, but this is my general impression.)

I recently had the opportunity to turn a white box PC into a Hackintosh, 
and the results were less than astounding.

OK, I can understand things not working quite right since it wasn't 
actually a Mac (though the main components were the same ones that Apple 
uses, CPU, GPU, etc).  But honestly, working with the OS itself... 
maybe I'm just at the point where I'm OS agnostic, and don't care what 
system the computer runs, as long as it does what I want it to do. 
After using it for a while on the white box, Mac OS X failed to impress me.

What *does* impress me is the rabid fervor of its fans.

...Chambers

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