Three days experiences with Windows XP wonderland as a Mac OS X geek
I have made my living using OS X and occasional Linux and *BSD and a*nix and Solaris for quite a while; the last time I had to run Windows for any purpose as my main thing was when NT was the thing. Since then it's been OS X and then all these other OS to do everything but Windows. I even had XP license at some point, but I did not agree with its EULA so I could use it. That was when I didn't really want to even install NT on my pc as it was so RAM hungry. It's been a while...
So, now that I have had to use it for three days here some ranting. I had occasionally used XP even before, in any language that it happened to be (mostly German or English) but didn't really like it. So now it's been a painful three days. No wonder I've had headache every evening, and have not stayed attached to the PC even one minute more than needed (to get home to use OS X). And for the specs : XP professional with service pack 2.
If you have any howto ideas for my these annoyance, please tell and make my XP usage less miserable. I don't know if I can do another week.
Active Directory
- Active Directory seems old and retarded. Also while you have all users in AD and no users that would not be in it, and you sync ALL account passwords to AD password, so when you then reset your AD password, why on earth would you choose to not sync also kerberos password to it?
- How do I add and edit records to AD on the non-Server version of XP?
ACLs, access, admin, usability etc
- I'm not impressed overall.
- There is also something that I find to be very poorly designed : when you have given a user admin rights, you can see ALL files all users that are on local computer or the parts of network you have admin rights to. This is a very poorly designed feature.
- The root level is stupid. So root / 'documents and something' and in that folder the user folders. Why not /users/ folder?
- Shortcuts. Who on earth came with alt-f4 o close a window? I have to reach my fingers too far (apple-w works so much more comfortably) for it. Also what are the shortcuts for 1) viewing all applications that I have open at the same time (windows bottom bar is not fast enough, I don't want to use the mouse to click here and there but use the keyboard shortcuts) 2) viewing all the windows I have open on the same time, of all applications, 3) to view all windows of the same application?
- I get annoyed as I rarely hit control-anything outside the terminals. So now to hit control-c etc .. I keep hitting the next key on left from spacebar-c etc. Ugh.
- I found a desktop manager program. MSDW or something similar (not those letters but .. how many desktop manager programs are there for XP)? I don't find it in applications list, system preferences control panel etc, and I can't right click it to get to it's settings. 4 desktops with 1 2 3 4 on them and a windowish small dot to view all. How do I set a shortcut to get to that? To view all desktops / # 1 / # 2 etc? If I need to move the mouse to the windows bottom bar every time I need to get there is wasting a lot of time. There has to be a shortcut to get it even close to being productive.
- Help menu. Microsoft help menu is annoying. It makes OS X help seem to be 10 years further. (not that I would like that application that much either).
- How do I find the correct thing in Control panel when I look for something, without opening all options?
- How do I switch on fast switch for multiple users?
- Where do I edit directory info such as AD, OD, Netinfo ...? Apart of command line?
GUI
- The default GUI is ugly. And corporate versions are even fuglier. After changing the nauseating blue to silver, and changing all fonts etc it seems a bit better. But when you can't customize it adding anything extra to make it look e.g. like NeXT, OS X, Solaris, Mac OS 8 or anything else than the XP-fugly look, or even uglier gray pre-XP Windows look, in comparison to those looks even the red stapler guy of Office Space is handsome.
- GUI in most applications is annoying. I want a clear menubar on top where I can find hte options fast, and to see then then the shortcuts so I can perform faster.
- GUI of Microsoft Office 2007 : why do they make it look like a webpage that it pestered with javascript? Tell me how do I view the shortcuts for the commands? I don't want to go and click on thingies multiple times when here is a keyboard shortcut for the command that I need and am looking for. The overly WYSIWYG GUI is really annoying as it seems to be intended so deeply to computer illiterate consumers. Is there a way to swithc on hte proper menu view and to see the commands as text and shortcut tips for them?
Start > Applications
- Why does the "show all applications" has to have so retarded path? And why are applications in so many subfolders? Why can't I just have a clean list of applications in a folder in alphabetical order like in Mac OS X (after getting rid of the icon view for all windows)?
System Tray
- How do I get rid of the annoying updates and messages (you've got mail from soandso, new networks found, people that I have no clue who they are signed in to a lousy messenger service that I don't even want to be using)? They are really annoying, and disrupt my work, and make me want to do violent things to the PC. I don't want to see the messages when I don't want to be interrupted - those are worse than having genie effect and 5 icons of OS X applications bouncing to get attention while you are watching a movie full screen. I want to decide when I don't want to see those unwanted updates and that's it.
Outlook 2003
- How do I set the preferences so that I will view ALL the messages header info by default? Microsoft help files are useless, and I found only one way to view header info at all : double click message to open it in a new window, then go view or tools to > some option that opens an info window where you have header info. And when you close that it will bug you to save or discard changes (what changes?). That is not a solution, that is a really lousy workaround. There HAS TO be a way, especially since that functionality has existed in all other mail programs for as long as I remember - that was my default view in Eudora 10 years ago (sad how a great program just hasn't really evolved since). It has been an option in Mac OS pre-X, in any mail application that I can remember, and even in hotmail webmail (the most lousy webmail every) in the deep 1990s. Why 1) does it not exist in Outlook or 2) it is hidden so annoyingly that I have been sweating for 3 days to find it and bugged an IT department of 30 people and searched thru kbase to kbase and not found a way? Does Outlook really suck that bad?
- What do I use for addressbook? The builtin thing in Windows and Outlook are out of question as I found those not reliable and also not comfortable to use. The closest to comfortable addressbook application I have found is AddressBook on Mac ..
- How do I add proper encryption to Outlook 2003? Something like GPG or PGP. I dislike Thawte and similar and prefer to have the encryption option there.
- The proprietary formats Outlook uses with Exchange would be a long enough to make me not do anything else this weekend than write about it. (However I shall not, as I have to unstress myself and get ready for the next Bigger Thing next week. More to come after that Big Thing)
Random
- Why would you telnet to a server to then ssh from it to somewhere else? Why not ssh directly, and secondly - why telnet anything at all? I could have understood 10 years ago but not any more.
- Applications folder is really annoying, and opening applications from Start > Aplications button is so slow as you'll need to browse too many poorly organized and classified subcategories.
- The best corporate wide security policy for computers I have seen so far was not being allowed to run any business critical programs under Windows.
- It annoys me to notice how Microsoft is trying to keep forcing people to buy their products and to be forced to upgrade constantly ... like Active Directory = proprietary format, as are all newer Office formats, are are Windows mediaplayer formats, as are so many other programs bundled with it. If EU wanted years back a Mediaplayer free version of Windows, why is it still not there? And what kind of logic do you even use to tell that Windows mediaplayer has business use but iTunes doe not? If you use them for legitimate business uses, you could use either.
- Applications opening multiple instances, and sometimes just new windows. I don't get the logix? It's also wasting resources to have 5 instances of the same application open on the same time.
Trying to summarize ..
Comfort in use : 5 (scale 0-10, 10 best)
Visual : 6
Features : 5 (makes me want to install any Linux on it)
Value for money : 1 (for retail price. You can get all the same features, working better, for free, in any Linux distro.,. just pick one that does not take you there via rpm hell).
Would I use it on my own compuer home : no.
Vista review to follow when I'll be forced to use that three days in a row ...
So, now that I have had to use it for three days here some ranting. I had occasionally used XP even before, in any language that it happened to be (mostly German or English) but didn't really like it. So now it's been a painful three days. No wonder I've had headache every evening, and have not stayed attached to the PC even one minute more than needed (to get home to use OS X). And for the specs : XP professional with service pack 2.
If you have any howto ideas for my these annoyance, please tell and make my XP usage less miserable. I don't know if I can do another week.
Active Directory
- Active Directory seems old and retarded. Also while you have all users in AD and no users that would not be in it, and you sync ALL account passwords to AD password, so when you then reset your AD password, why on earth would you choose to not sync also kerberos password to it?
- How do I add and edit records to AD on the non-Server version of XP?
ACLs, access, admin, usability etc
- I'm not impressed overall.
- There is also something that I find to be very poorly designed : when you have given a user admin rights, you can see ALL files all users that are on local computer or the parts of network you have admin rights to. This is a very poorly designed feature.
- The root level is stupid. So root / 'documents and something' and in that folder the user folders. Why not /users/ folder?
- Shortcuts. Who on earth came with alt-f4 o close a window? I have to reach my fingers too far (apple-w works so much more comfortably) for it. Also what are the shortcuts for 1) viewing all applications that I have open at the same time (windows bottom bar is not fast enough, I don't want to use the mouse to click here and there but use the keyboard shortcuts) 2) viewing all the windows I have open on the same time, of all applications, 3) to view all windows of the same application?
- I get annoyed as I rarely hit control-anything outside the terminals. So now to hit control-c etc .. I keep hitting the next key on left from spacebar-c etc. Ugh.
- I found a desktop manager program. MSDW or something similar (not those letters but .. how many desktop manager programs are there for XP)? I don't find it in applications list, system preferences control panel etc, and I can't right click it to get to it's settings. 4 desktops with 1 2 3 4 on them and a windowish small dot to view all. How do I set a shortcut to get to that? To view all desktops / # 1 / # 2 etc? If I need to move the mouse to the windows bottom bar every time I need to get there is wasting a lot of time. There has to be a shortcut to get it even close to being productive.
- Help menu. Microsoft help menu is annoying. It makes OS X help seem to be 10 years further. (not that I would like that application that much either).
- How do I find the correct thing in Control panel when I look for something, without opening all options?
- How do I switch on fast switch for multiple users?
- Where do I edit directory info such as AD, OD, Netinfo ...? Apart of command line?
GUI
- The default GUI is ugly. And corporate versions are even fuglier. After changing the nauseating blue to silver, and changing all fonts etc it seems a bit better. But when you can't customize it adding anything extra to make it look e.g. like NeXT, OS X, Solaris, Mac OS 8 or anything else than the XP-fugly look, or even uglier gray pre-XP Windows look, in comparison to those looks even the red stapler guy of Office Space is handsome.
- GUI in most applications is annoying. I want a clear menubar on top where I can find hte options fast, and to see then then the shortcuts so I can perform faster.
- GUI of Microsoft Office 2007 : why do they make it look like a webpage that it pestered with javascript? Tell me how do I view the shortcuts for the commands? I don't want to go and click on thingies multiple times when here is a keyboard shortcut for the command that I need and am looking for. The overly WYSIWYG GUI is really annoying as it seems to be intended so deeply to computer illiterate consumers. Is there a way to swithc on hte proper menu view and to see the commands as text and shortcut tips for them?
Start > Applications
- Why does the "show all applications" has to have so retarded path? And why are applications in so many subfolders? Why can't I just have a clean list of applications in a folder in alphabetical order like in Mac OS X (after getting rid of the icon view for all windows)?
System Tray
- How do I get rid of the annoying updates and messages (you've got mail from soandso, new networks found, people that I have no clue who they are signed in to a lousy messenger service that I don't even want to be using)? They are really annoying, and disrupt my work, and make me want to do violent things to the PC. I don't want to see the messages when I don't want to be interrupted - those are worse than having genie effect and 5 icons of OS X applications bouncing to get attention while you are watching a movie full screen. I want to decide when I don't want to see those unwanted updates and that's it.
Outlook 2003
- How do I set the preferences so that I will view ALL the messages header info by default? Microsoft help files are useless, and I found only one way to view header info at all : double click message to open it in a new window, then go view or tools to > some option that opens an info window where you have header info. And when you close that it will bug you to save or discard changes (what changes?). That is not a solution, that is a really lousy workaround. There HAS TO be a way, especially since that functionality has existed in all other mail programs for as long as I remember - that was my default view in Eudora 10 years ago (sad how a great program just hasn't really evolved since). It has been an option in Mac OS pre-X, in any mail application that I can remember, and even in hotmail webmail (the most lousy webmail every) in the deep 1990s. Why 1) does it not exist in Outlook or 2) it is hidden so annoyingly that I have been sweating for 3 days to find it and bugged an IT department of 30 people and searched thru kbase to kbase and not found a way? Does Outlook really suck that bad?
- What do I use for addressbook? The builtin thing in Windows and Outlook are out of question as I found those not reliable and also not comfortable to use. The closest to comfortable addressbook application I have found is AddressBook on Mac ..
- How do I add proper encryption to Outlook 2003? Something like GPG or PGP. I dislike Thawte and similar and prefer to have the encryption option there.
- The proprietary formats Outlook uses with Exchange would be a long enough to make me not do anything else this weekend than write about it. (However I shall not, as I have to unstress myself and get ready for the next Bigger Thing next week. More to come after that Big Thing)
Random
- Why would you telnet to a server to then ssh from it to somewhere else? Why not ssh directly, and secondly - why telnet anything at all? I could have understood 10 years ago but not any more.
- Applications folder is really annoying, and opening applications from Start > Aplications button is so slow as you'll need to browse too many poorly organized and classified subcategories.
- The best corporate wide security policy for computers I have seen so far was not being allowed to run any business critical programs under Windows.
- It annoys me to notice how Microsoft is trying to keep forcing people to buy their products and to be forced to upgrade constantly ... like Active Directory = proprietary format, as are all newer Office formats, are are Windows mediaplayer formats, as are so many other programs bundled with it. If EU wanted years back a Mediaplayer free version of Windows, why is it still not there? And what kind of logic do you even use to tell that Windows mediaplayer has business use but iTunes doe not? If you use them for legitimate business uses, you could use either.
- Applications opening multiple instances, and sometimes just new windows. I don't get the logix? It's also wasting resources to have 5 instances of the same application open on the same time.
Trying to summarize ..
Comfort in use : 5 (scale 0-10, 10 best)
Visual : 6
Features : 5 (makes me want to install any Linux on it)
Value for money : 1 (for retail price. You can get all the same features, working better, for free, in any Linux distro.,. just pick one that does not take you there via rpm hell).
Would I use it on my own compuer home : no.
Vista review to follow when I'll be forced to use that three days in a row ...