1237ca852a27
tech



Hello Wayne - 

--8<--cut 

RJT>> I try not to fight it if I can avoid it. :-) 

WC> I'm just not at all used to this much by way of automated
WC> software and the stuff that goes on behind the scenes.
WC> Prior to 98 I had to configure things and had some clue as
WC> to the hows and whys of what was really going on. 

Shifting from DOS and W31 to W9x I had the feeling I was
driving a car with no brakes. Everything is fine until
something goes wrong then it crashes. :-\ 

WC> For most people just accepting that things in newer Windows
WC> releases happens is enough, for me it's unsettling and not
WC> as intuitive as I'd like. OTOH what seems intuitive to me
WC> often seems obscure to others and vice-versa. 

No OS is really 'intuitive' we just forgot how awkward it was
at the begining and then resent other OS not being at least
similar to the previous one we used. 

W9x not only changed the user interface it changed the
terminology. Subdirectories became 'folders' and temp
directories got buried under multiple subdirectories so that
just trying to empty temporary files became a puzzle. 

The location of user configurable options has been scattered
under 'edit', 'tools', and even 'view' depending what software
is executing. Anything meaningful is considered 'advanced'
according to the new menu structures and if you're not careful
you can reset the configuration trying to just backout of a
menu you don't want to deal with. 

The only intelligent comment I can ever make about customizing
Windows is to have image file backups of the OS partition handy
because as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow you will wish you
did if you do not. :-\ 

WC> Hope to get back to Linux soon but it may be some time due
WC> to current difficulties unrelated to hardware. 

If you watch ongoing discussions about Linux you will see that
Linux continues to change (and bloat in the process) adding
Plug-and-Play where the earlier versions required manual
editing. If you fall more than two 'distros' behind and need
help you are most likely going to be told that everyone has
newer 'distros' and what you can't edit with the proper values
is automated for them. Even what I consider a very basic
function to dialup an ISP and connect (PPPDial) gets few
replies from people who have not had to manually edit the
configuration for PPP in a long time and don't really care
anymore how it works or why it does not work when it does not.
I was stonewalled for several weeks just because of a
non-standard dialup and the need to put the 'older' original
files and binaries in it's place using Linux SlackWare v3.5. 

The guy who thought he was 'slick' enough to repackage
SlackWare v3.5 into a mini install wasn't slick enough to
figure out how to put back the standard PPPDial files and get
them configured properly. 

It all began to remind me of Windows users who are on top of
the world as long as everything autoinstalls and are totally
lost when their network card suddenly disappears from the setup
or their printer/scanner/whatever stops working. They never
actually set it up in the first place and have no idea where to
even begin testing to find the problem. Usually they reinstall
_all_ of Windows until it fixes itself. :-) 

I've seen the same thing happen with Linux users. They
reinstall and let the 'distro' try to figure it all out. 

I'm not saying I'm smarter than they are or that I could
manually install everything myself. I'm only saying this is
what we have come to and like it or not by the time you could
really understand a version of Windows or Linux your version
would be obsolete by several multiples and you would be forced
to re-learn and start over again. Not 100% but enough that the
chase is eternal at this point we can only search out just so
much information per day and since others aren't even trying to
find the information don't expect a great deal of help either.
:-\ 

>
>        ,                          ,
>      o/      Charles.Angelich      \o       ,
>       __o/
>     / >          USA, MI           < \   __\__
 

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