Microsoft Taking Official Petitions to Keep XP Alive
 

And you would be trapped.
"Canuck57" wrote in message
news:e6B0k.116$ze2.109@pd7urf1no...

"Unknown" wrote in message
...

Microsoft of course. If you don't mind losing your money, buy apple.

Don't own either. But if I did, would be Apple.

Think, if you bought Apple (AAPL) a year ago, it is up over 60%.

Think, if you bought Microsoft (MSFT) a year ago, it is down 10% of so.

Even looks like Red hat has turned around this year.

Microsoft Taking Official Petitions to Keep XP Alive
 

Aren't YOU keeping up with technology. Did you buy a plasma or LCD TV set.
Are you going digital?
Crippled shareware indeed. I don't use virus programs either. I don't shell
out hundreds of bucks every 3 or 4 years. Your words not mine. If you do
that's your business. Media playthings?? Are you a child?
"Dave" wrote in message
...
Unknown wrote:
Your argument is totally ridiculous. The primary reason for Microsoft's
popularity is simply because it is so flexible.
What do you want your computer to do? Microsoft's OS does it. Who uses
Microsoft's OS? Everyone. Corporations and businesses alike.
Can't you get that through your head?

Corporations AND businesses? What's Google use? Are they neither?

Until you break free from the uptight and paranoid world of crippled
shareware and continuous virus scans; from having to shell out a hundred
bucks every 3 or 4 years for a new OS (then hundreds more for the
horsepower to run them); from having to pay hundreds of dollars extra for
compatible word processors and media playthings; you'll never understand.

Microsoft Taking Official Petitions to Keep XP Alive
 

"Unknown" wrote in message
...

Your argument is totally ridiculous. The primary reason for Microsoft's
popularity is simply because it is so flexible.
What do you want your computer to do? Microsoft's OS does it. Who uses
Microsoft's OS? Everyone. Corporations and businesses alike.
Can't you get that through your head?

You must be a newbie to the business. This is just history repeating
itself.

Times have changed before. Microsoft, unless it changes it's ways will be
the next Novell. BTW, Novell does sell Linux SUSE and would not doubt
NetWare, but is far behind RHT. In the desktop, I wouldn't doubt Ubuntu has
eclipsed SUSE.

Lets list some tech companies that have seen better days, or specifically
major chunck of their business activitied evaporated in market share
ownership, many which were heavy into workstations:

Digital
Compaq
Sperry/UNIVAC
Novell
NorTel
Bell Labs
BaaN
IBM (PC, mainframes and workstations, they evolved to services)
Amdahl
Wyse
Tandy/Radio Shack
Apple (as in II and IIe but recovering)
Commodore (PET, C64)
Data General
Motorola (MC6802 or MC6809 anyone?)
Zilog
Zerox/PARC
SCO (Yep)
(more that I have missed for sure)

Even Linux has road kill. Survival of the fitest.

Now I am not saying Microsoft is going out of business. I am saying it's
price elasticity is shot to hell, innovation has peeked, and market share in
the total market is shrinking. Linux chewing away at the bottom, and Apple
chewing away at the top represents a major problem to future business growth
of Microsoft. Market maturization, commoditization and saturation too.

With Vista, there is a market brand damage and the Microsoft can do no wrong
attitude is under more pressure than ever before. This is likley going to
accelerate.

I will predict Q3 and more so Q4 financial reports this year is not going to
be nice for MSFT as it has to spin a new marketing model to grow. Which is
what the purchase of Yahoo was all about. Bill and Steve know their market
predicament and MSFT futures or they would have made such an offer. MSNBC
is another. MSFT is a 2 trick pony, MS-Windows and MS-Office.

Both which can now be economically replaced with FLOSS.


"Canuck57" wrote in message
news:85v0k.179962$rd2.36576@pd7urf3no...

"Billy Smith" wrote in message
...

"Dave" wrote in message
...
Billy Smith wrote:

How do you explain this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Top500_OS.png

What it says to me is that your corporate and university level people
working with supercomputers are going to Linux versus Unix or in the
case of Microsoft they aren't going to use it. Thats doesn't mean that
Microsoft makes a bad product for the general consumer market. Linux
does have its use and one of its uses is that it tends to be rather fast
for an operating system. However, if you consider speed anything you
should use Linux. Yet when you use a wide variety of PC appplications,
you will find that they aren't usable in Linux format. You can partition
your drive to use both Microsoft based stuff and Linux or you can stick
with what you know.
For most people, they are not going to use Linux because A: There is no
need for using it and B: They don't have the capability to babysit Linux
based systems. The average computer science grad or expert in the
computer field very well might get some usage out of it. For most
people, they are content in using Microsoft Office or whatever works for
plug and play applications.

Theyr'e not going to waste their time formatting their hard drive to run
a program and system that while being faster doesn't have the applicable
uses that a Microsoft system has. The Microsoft systems have that
advantage because you can put in any XP or Vista or 98 based software of
which I have at least one in each operating system. You can put in any
program that is made for that system and use it. That cannot be said for
converting your system to Linux no matter how much faster it may be. Its
not really worth the time for most people

If you want to put Linux and make it customizable to your system that
works for those applications then go for it.. For the general computer
user that exists in the general public, then most people go for
Microsoft. They're not going to use Linux and I would venture than
Microsoft is much more recognizable than what Linux has been or probably
will ever be.

Linux is still at the infancy state of the computer realm. Its not going
to catch on all that much for the hundreds of millions of computer
users.

Thats why Mac will never be a viable competitor to Microsoft. They're
still stuck in the proprietary and infant stage. Just like the Iphone. I
would have actually been interested in getting an Iphone but when I have
to use ATT for service, they can forget it. I used to have Cingular and
it was a joke for phone service but also their customer service section
was incompetent at best. I can actually pay my bill through Verizon and
know what I actually owe. Nice concept isnt it.

Macs will never become more than fancy overpriced boxes for graphics
users, game players, etc. You never see that many Macs ever used for
servers, internet commerce, etc. Thats why you can go to the Apple store
here in Louisville and find out that a Mac will cost you 1500 to 2000
dollars when a basic Vista/XP computer will net you half those amounts.
When Apple learns to market their computers and systems correctly and
produce something worth really having, then they will take off. Until
then, they don't have a prayer competition wise.

If you mean is Linux finished growing up and fully mature? Heck no, it
has only begun. I suspect it will be evolving well past my lifetime.

Linux is vastly superior to Vista in most ways, you bet. I place it just
on the heals of XP right now but ahead of Vista. I will grant, XP is
quite mature, but stagnant. Where as Linux is still, and will always
perpetually evolve.

The Linux maturity is going to be evolutionary and not the dump
everything change now you see with Microsoft products. Where as
Microsoft has a grand-batch mentality. The later can't get continuous
improvement, can't evolve. Take Vista, is now in maintenance mode. Its
active development has ceased! Understand that. They all moved on to
Win 7 for the next disruption.

Mind you, Vista is a bad batch of soup, the best place is the garborator.

Microsoft Taking Official Petitions to Keep XP Alive
 

On Sun, 1 Jun 2008 11:38:01 -0500, "Unknown"
wrote:

Your argument is totally ridiculous. The primary reason for Microsoft's
popularity is simply because it is so flexible.
What do you want your computer to do? Microsoft's OS does it.

I had no idea people wanted their systems to crash so often.

Microsoft Taking Official Petitions to Keep XP Alive
 

"+Bob+" wrote in message
...

Microsoft doesn't care about stability or the fact that each new OS
requires more and more HP to run effectively. Otherwise there would be
an SP4 and/or there would be official upgrade releases that added new
features. Instead, we get a bug ridden, driver lacking, software
incompatible, new OS every few years. Face it: they care only about
selling you a new OS.

Don't disagree with that at all. However that is the problem, neither home
consumers nor businesses want to rework their computer infrastructure every
3 years.

But, the problem for them is that there are really not that many new
features to add to an OS. Look at a comparison of 2000, to XP, to
Vista. What have they really added in terms of user features? VPN? I'm
at a loss to find anything else that's more than a refinement on the
user side. On the system side, they've simply gobbled more HP to
deliver the same set of user features (that's not a feature, it's a
major flaw).

Agree there. So between extra resources and additional DRM...we have Vista,
offers noting else.


I long for a return to the old days, when OS vendors built an
operating system then continually refined it in each release to make
it better. Wholesale replacement was not an option because customers
demanded stability and reduced life cycle costs. Over time, we ended
up with some incredibly stable, bug free, solid, dependable OS's. You
can't do that if you keep replacing your code wholesale.

Linux, the BSDs and Solaris do this. I have run Solaris 7 programs on
Solaris 10. Big departures can occur, like SunOS to Solaris but are decades
apart. Linux, is a series of incremental improvements. Continious
improvent taken seriously.

XP can compete with Linux and do well, but Vista....nada. Vista is like
the
Titanic after the water was leaking in. Vista drives people to Apple and
Linux. It will be slow at first, but will pick up as word spreads. See
Eee
PC sales....suppliers can't keep the Linux varieties in stock.

Not to worry. Windows 7 will fix everything! (Note sarcasm, see above,
note repeat cycle).

Been around too long to believe that Win7 will fix much. For everything it
solves, it will create new issues.

In fact, it is going to create a situation where you have 3 major OSes in
place for Microsoft alone. XP, Vista and Win 7. Not to mention variations
there in and of others like W2008. I anticipate MS-Windows 100 OS pickup.

(since XP was made)
(Assuming Win7/W2008 follows Vista/2003 fragmentation)

(5) Windows Server 2008 Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Itanium, Web
(3) Windows Server 2008 (No Hyper-V) Standard, Enterprise, Enterprise
(4) Windows Server 2008 x64 Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Web
(3) Windows Server 2008 x64 (No Hyper-V) Standard, Enterprise, Enterprise
(5) Windows Win7 OEM: Ultimate, Business, Premium, Basic, Enterprise
(5) Windows Win7 Full: Ultimate, Business, Premium, Basic, Enterprise
(4) Windows Win7 x64 OEM: Ultimate, Business, Premium, Enterprise
(4) Windows Win7 x64 Full: Ultimate, Business, Premium, Enterprise
(5) Windows Vista OEM: Ultimate, Business, Premium, Basic, Enterprise
(5) Windows Vista Full: Ultimate, Business, Premium, Basic, Enterprise
(4) Windows Vista x64 OEM: Ultimate, Business, Premium, Enterprise
(4) Windows Vista x64 Full: Ultimate, Business, Premium, Enterprise
(4) Windows Server 2003 Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Web
(4) Windows Server 2003 x64: Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Web
(2) Windows Server 2003 Itanium: Enterprise, Datacenter
(3) XP Home, Pro, MCE (2003 & 2005)
(6) XP OEM Home, Pro, Pro x64, MCE, Tablet, Mini (EeePC)
(10) CE (List is long, includes pocket PC, phone etc, this is conservative)

Did I miss any? Any not quite right?

70 not including CE, which makes at least 80+ different ways to buy
MS-Windows sold since XP was introduced.

I pity the poor MSCE that has to carry all those DVDs to a consulting gig.

No wonder the M$ salesperson can't remember pricing....as the above comes in
diffent different, business licensing and retail. And even then the support
variations.... Whew.

No wonder they can't fix Vista, engineering is buried in configuration
management issues.

Microsoft Taking Official Petitions to Keep XP Alive
 

On Jun 1, 11:33*am, "Canuck57" wrote:
"Unknown" wrote in message

...

Your argument is totally ridiculous. The primary reason for Microsoft's
popularity is simply because it is so flexible.
What do you want your computer to do? *Microsoft's OS does it. Who uses
Microsoft's OS? *Everyone. Corporations and businesses alike.
Can't you get that through your head?

You must be a newbie to the business. *This is just history repeating
itself.

Times have changed before. *Microsoft, unless it changes it's ways will be
the next Novell. *BTW, Novell does sell Linux SUSE and would not doubt
NetWare, but is far behind RHT. *In the desktop, I wouldn't doubt Ubuntu has
eclipsed SUSE.

Lets list some tech companies that have seen better days, or specifically
major chunck of their business activitied evaporated in market share
ownership, many which were heavy into workstations:

Digital
Compaq
Sperry/UNIVAC
Novell
NorTel
Bell Labs
BaaN
IBM (PC, mainframes and workstations, they evolved to services)
Amdahl
Wyse
Tandy/Radio Shack
Apple (as in II and IIe but recovering)
Commodore (PET, C64)
Data General
Motorola (MC6802 or MC6809 anyone?)
Zilog
Zerox/PARC
SCO (Yep)
(more that I have missed for sure)

Even Linux has road kill. *Survival of the fitest.

Now I am not saying Microsoft is going out of business. *I am saying it's
price elasticity is shot to hell, innovation has peeked, and market share in
the total market is shrinking. *Linux chewing away at the bottom, and Apple
chewing away at the top represents a major problem to future business growth
of Microsoft. *Market maturization, commoditization and saturation too.

With Vista, there is a market brand damage and the Microsoft can do no wrong
attitude is under more pressure than ever before. *This is likley going to
accelerate.

I will predict Q3 and more so Q4 financial reports this year is not going to
be nice for MSFT as it has to spin a new marketing model to grow. *Which is
what the purchase of Yahoo was all about. *Bill and Steve know their market
predicament and MSFT futures or they would have made such an offer. *MSNBC
is another. *MSFT is a 2 trick pony, MS-Windows and MS-Office.

- Both which can now be economically replaced with FLOSS.

Free/Libre/Open Source Software [FLOSS]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FOSS



"Canuck57" wrote in message
news:85v0k.179962$rd2.36576@pd7urf3no...

"Billy Smith" wrote in message
...

"Dave" wrote in message
...
Billy Smith wrote:

How do you explain this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Top500_OS.png

What it says to me is that your corporate and university level people
working with supercomputers *are going to Linux versus Unix or in the
case of Microsoft they aren't going to use it. Thats doesn't mean that
Microsoft makes a bad product for the general consumer market. Linux
does have its use and one of its uses is that it tends to be rather fast
for an operating system. However, if you consider speed anything you
should use Linux. Yet when you use a wide variety of PC appplications,
you will find that they aren't usable in Linux format. You can partition
your drive to use both Microsoft based stuff and Linux or you can stick
with what you know.
For most people, they are not going to use Linux because A: There is no
need for using it and B: They don't have the capability to babysit Linux
based systems. The average computer science grad or expert in the
computer field very well might get some usage out of it. For most
people, they are content in using Microsoft Office or whatever works for
plug and play applications.

Theyr'e not going to waste their time formatting their hard drive to run
a program and system that while being faster doesn't have the applicable
uses that a Microsoft system has. The Microsoft systems have that
advantage because you can put in any XP or Vista or 98 based software of
which I have at least one in each operating system. You can put in any
program that is made for that system and use it. That cannot be said for
converting your system to Linux no matter how much faster it may be. Its
not really worth the time for most people

If you want to put Linux and make it customizable to your system that
works for *those applications then go for it.. For the general computer
user that exists in the general public, then most people go for
Microsoft. They're not going to use Linux and I would venture than
Microsoft is much more recognizable than what Linux has been or probably
will ever be.

Linux is still at the infancy state of the computer realm. Its not going
to catch on all that much for the hundreds of millions of computer
users.

Thats why Mac will never be a viable competitor to Microsoft. They're
still stuck in the proprietary and infant stage. Just like the Iphone. I
would have actually been interested in getting an Iphone but when I have
to use ATT for service, they can forget it. I used to have Cingular and
it was a joke for phone service but also their customer service section
was incompetent at best. I can actually pay my bill through Verizon and
know what I actually owe. Nice concept isnt it.

Macs will never become more than fancy overpriced boxes for graphics
users, game players, etc. You never see that many Macs ever used for
servers, internet commerce, etc. Thats why you can go to the Apple store
here in Louisville and find out that a Mac will cost you 1500 to 2000
dollars when a basic Vista/XP computer will net you half those amounts..
When Apple learns to market their computers and systems correctly and
produce something worth really having, then they will take off. Until
then, they don't have a prayer competition wise.

If you mean is Linux finished growing up and fully mature? *Heck no, it
has only begun. *I suspect it will be evolving well past my lifetime.

Linux is vastly superior to Vista in most ways, you bet. *I place it just
on the heals of XP right now but ahead of Vista. *I will grant, XP is
quite mature, but stagnant. *Where as Linux is still, and will always
perpetually evolve.

The Linux maturity is going to be evolutionary and not the dump
everything change now you see with Microsoft products. *Where as
Microsoft has a grand-batch mentality. *The later can't get continuous
improvement, can't evolve. *Take Vista, is now in maintenance mode. *Its
active development has ceased! *Understand that. *They all moved on to
Win 7 for the next disruption.

Mind you, Vista is a bad batch of soup, the best place is the garborator.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Microsoft Taking Official Petitions to Keep XP Alive
 

Very stupid comment. Ever stop to think what causes the crashes?
"Adam Albright" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 1 Jun 2008 11:38:01 -0500, "Unknown"
wrote:

Your argument is totally ridiculous. The primary reason for Microsoft's
popularity is simply because it is so flexible.
What do you want your computer to do? Microsoft's OS does it.

I had no idea people wanted their systems to crash so often.

Microsoft Taking Official Petitions to Keep XP Alive
 

"Adam Albright" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 1 Jun 2008 20:21:06 -0400, "Billy Smith"
wrote:

You are talking to Adam Not So Bright. Its amusing these guys keep
complaining about crashes but Ive had XP for about 6 years and no crashes,
Vista about a year and no crashes. Nice.

Did I miss some "logic" in that silly comment? No, just another patsy
that doesn't have a clue. Let me explain the facts of life to the
armatures here one more time in simple terms maybe they can
understand.

How often one might expect to see Windows "crash" is proportional to
what you use your computer for. An analogy would be you wouldn't
expect your car to have a major mechanical breakdown if all you did
was drive it up and down your driveway once a week. However if you're
trying to tow a two ton boat and trailer up a steep hill for miles
every weekend then something breaking down is far more likely to
happen.

It is obvious from reading many of the posts here that a lot of people
merely "play" with their computer. That's like driving that car back
and forth on your driveway. Of course just surfing the web, reading
email, maybe writing some short document or crunching some numbers in
a spreadsheet isn't stressful to your computer or Windows so expecting
it to see crashes under those circumstances would be silly and yes if
that's all I did I wouldn't expect Windows to crash for years either.

On the other hand some of us actually WORK with our computers
stressing it to the limit like that car straining to pull that boat
and trailer up a steep hill for mile after mile. The chances of
Windows crashing when it is running under heavy load increases the
likelihood something will hang, stop working or the system just
getting sluggish.


Using the logic of running a severe strain on your computer resources, it
might be prudent to actually invest in a system with the proper tools to
complete the job. Instead of running a GB of Ram maybe its time to expand.
Same goes for processors, hard drives and having a backup external hard
drive in case something major fails.

Consider that a good backup drive from Western Digital costs maybe 100-200
USD and that would protect you from system crashes should they occur. The
average computer these days is very capable though. You're not running a
Windows 3.1 system or Windows 95 with 128 mb of RAM. Those were quite
different days at that time frame.

What is quite interesting to me is that often I have Windows Media player
working at the same time as doing QuickBooks, website development, and
working on business projects at the same time. Not to mention a multitiude
of other pop up things like Weatherbug, etc. I've never had the issue with
doing anything with graphics and pictures on here and having any issues.

For us so called amateurs as you call us, incorrectly spelled I must add, we
tend to know what works and what doesn't work. Its not rocket science for
the unwashed masses that you claim us to be.

What I have noticed over the vast many years I have been working with
computers is that out of the box systems tend to be clunky in ways. Either
not enough of a processor to do the job or not enough RAM to keep up with
the system. Hard Drives generally do what you need unless you need the
external for backup and in business and personal record keeping, that is
exactly what you must have just in case your drive fails.

My personal experience is that a lot of new systems are made new without
enough RAM which explains a lot of why your computer locks up. It has very
little to do with your operating system. Add a 100 buck piece of RAM and
you'll find that your computers operating efficiency will be better, your
program load times improved, and you will have less in the way of your
operating system hanging up.

Also, it might be prudent to use some good quality software from a
recognized vendor. The usual cheap way of doing things is not the best way
no matter how much you may save. I'm not suggesting that throwing money at a
problem is the end all. What I am suggesting for the people that bitch and
moan about their systems, is that doing things the right way will keep your
system operating smoothly. With that said, purchase a quality system with
the proper components that you need for the system. Buy a good processor,
good amount of RAM and good software. Add an external drive for backup and
do the job right the first time. Theres nothing like doing a job right the
first time and that saves you one a lot of headache and two a lot of time
and money figuring out what goes wrong later. You say that you can't afford
to do it right, then maybe you should examine what you have been doing and
figure out a way to operate your system with a minimum of headaches.

It isn't always the system that is at fault. In fact, with the new patches
coming up over time the operating systems generally improve. This isn't
precision parts manufacturing for the military jet fighter brigade. If
you're looking for that in mass production of anything, you better keep
looking and expect to pay out the cash to get something that performs
flawlessly.

Microsoft Taking Official Petitions to Keep XP Alive
 

On Jun 1, 7:04*pm, Adam Albright wrote:
On Sun, 1 Jun 2008 20:21:06 -0400, "Billy Smith"

wrote:
You are talking to Adam Not So Bright. Its amusing these guys keep
complaining about crashes but Ive had XP for about 6 years and no crashes,
Vista about a year and no crashes. Nice.

Did I miss some "logic" in that silly comment? No, just another patsy
that doesn't have a clue. Let me explain the facts of life to the
armatures here one more time in simple terms maybe they can
understand.

How often one might expect to see Windows "crash" is proportional to
what you use your computer for. An analogy would be you wouldn't
expect your car to have a major mechanical breakdown if all you did
was drive it up and down your driveway once a week. However if you're
trying to tow a two ton boat and trailer up a steep hill for miles
every weekend then something breaking down is far more likely to
happen.

It is obvious from reading many of the posts here that a lot of people
merely "play" with their computer. That's like driving that car back
and forth on your driveway. Of course just surfing the web, reading
email, maybe writing some short document or crunching some numbers in
a spreadsheet isn't stressful to your computer or Windows so expecting
it to see crashes under those circumstances would be silly and yes if
that's all I did I wouldn't expect Windows to crash for years either.

On the other hand some of us actually WORK with our computers
stressing it to the limit like that car straining to pull that boat
and trailer up a steep hill for mile after mile. The chances of
Windows crashing when it is running under heavy load increases the
likelihood something will hang, stop working or the system just
getting sluggish. *

? armatures ?
Arm ~ Arm-Chair {Too Relaxed and Set-Thier-Ways}
Matures ~ Getting Old {and Getting Lazy}

Microsoft Taking Official Petitions to Keep XP Alive
 

On Sun, 1 Jun 2008 22:31:40 -0400, "Billy Smith"
wrote:

Using the logic of running a severe strain on your computer resources, it
might be prudent to actually invest in a system with the proper tools to
complete the job. Instead of running a GB of Ram maybe its time to expand.
Same goes for processors, hard drives and having a backup external hard
drive in case something major fails.

There you go again, jumping to conclusions. I built, not bought a top
of the line high performance system. I have not one but five external
drives ranging in size from 500 GB to 1 TB. Another TB inside the box.
I have a screaming fast video card loaded with it's own high speed
RAM, ultra fast high performance 2 GB of memory. Yep, a Intel Dual
core processor too.

What is quite interesting to me is that often I have Windows Media player
working at the same time as doing QuickBooks, website development, and
working on business projects at the same time. Not to mention a multitiude
of other pop up things like Weatherbug, etc. I've never had the issue with
doing anything with graphics and pictures on here and having any issues.

The fatal mistake you make is just because you don't see problems
others can't/don't. What seems to be the long standing mantra of
Microsoft fans is the foolish assumption if they don't have issues the
other guy must not know what he's doing if he does have problems.

Hell, that's Frank's theme song. I beg to differ. The chorus I hear
constantly is it ain't Windows fault. Again I beg to differ. Over the
years I've seen every version of Windows do the dumbest, most stupid
things imaginable. Sometimes with NOTHING but the OS installed, yet I
have to put up with morons like the idiot Frank that won't accept
there's a damn thing wrong with Vista and wouldn't believe it if Bill
Gates and Steve Ballmer whispered in his ears there is at the same
time.

For us so called amateurs as you call us, incorrectly spelled I must add, we
tend to know what works and what doesn't work. Its not rocket science for
the unwashed masses that you claim us to be.

You tend to jump to conclusions as you are now. Everything you assumed
about me is incorrect. Am I an "expert" on Windows? Well you tell me.
I've used every version going all the way back spanning over twenty
years. I can measure the time I've used Windows in the tens of
thousands of hours. I have yet to encounter a Windows problem I
couldn't fix, on my own, without ever once needing to reinstall the
OS. Can you say as much? Can anyone here?

What I have noticed over the vast many years I have been working with
computers is that out of the box systems tend to be clunky in ways.

Which is why I've built my own from the ground up for at least the
past 15 years.

Also, it might be prudent to use some good quality software from a
recognized vendor.

Like Sony, Adobe, etc.?

The usual cheap way of doing things is not the best way
no matter how much you may save. I'm not suggesting that throwing money at a
problem is the end all. What I am suggesting for the people that bitch and
moan about their systems, is that doing things the right way will keep your
system operating smoothly.

Duh... you mean like I've done for twenty years plus?

With that said, purchase a quality system with
the proper components that you need for the system. Buy a good processor,
good amount of RAM and good software. Add an external drive for backup and
do the job right the first time. Theres nothing like doing a job right the
first time and that saves you one a lot of headache and two a lot of time
and money figuring out what goes wrong later. You say that you can't afford
to do it right, then maybe you should examine what you have been doing and
figure out a way to operate your system with a minimum of headaches.

It isn't always the system that is at fault. In fact, with the new patches
coming up over time the operating systems generally improve. This isn't
precision parts manufacturing for the military jet fighter brigade. If
you're looking for that in mass production of anything, you better keep
looking and expect to pay out the cash to get something that performs
flawlessly.

Windows is INCAPABLE of performing flawlessly. That is what fanboys
can never get in their heads. Need proof? Just browse Microsoft's own
Knowledgebase. You'll see how screwed up Windows is and always has
been.