Freeware:Tips, Tricks and Commentary:
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Operating SystemsMS-DOSFor what it did, MS-DOS was a great operating system. DOS stands for Disk Operating System. All DOS did was manage disks. Version 1 managed diskettes, Version 2 managed hard disks, and Version 3 managed networked disks. From version 4 on, MS-DOS (and PC-DOS and DR-DOS and 4DOS) was trying to be something it wasn't. What it was was a reasonably good platform for other programs and utilities, the pinnacle of which was QEMM and DesqView, by QuarterDeck Office Systems. Return to the top of this page. Windows 3.1Windows 3 was a good first shot at a graphical user interface. Too bad it was the third attempt at a good first shot. Windows 3.1, in its many iterations, was, logically, a kludge; a kludge that worked most of the time, but still a kludge. Windows for Workgroups 3.11 was the best Windows network client available, until... Return to the top of this page. Windows95 (and Windows 98 and ME)A huge improvement over Windows 3.1: a 32-bit operating system from the ground up, and not near the kludge Windows 3.1 was. It still relied on the underlying MS-DOS, though not nearly as much. (no, Windows95 did not do away with DOS.) If you are running Windows 95, by now you should have upgraded all your applications to 32-bit specific versions. The big failing of Windows 95 is the user interface. Someone told Microsoft that replacing windows and icons with a single button was a good idea, and they believed it. True, Windows 95 is significantly more customizeable that Windows 3.1, but out of the box, it is a big disappointment. If you are upgrading from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95, the safest and easiest way to do it is:
You can then install all your applications, and those which have Windows 95 versions which were not installed on your Windows 3.1 system, will install the Windows 95 version now. This is the simplest and cleanest way to install a reliable version of Windows 95. If you try to install overtop an existing Windows 3.1 system, Windows95 will bring with it some of the kludges that were a part of the old version. By the way, the process I've outlined above will result in the Windows 95 setup program scanning your system for a valid copy of Windows (which you just erased) to see if you are eligible for the upgrade, and when it doesn't find one, will ask for a Windows 3 setup diskette. Make sure you have one handy before you start this process. Return to the top of this page. Windows NTWorkstationAn excellent operating system. But, what does it offer to someone who might otherwise use Windows 98? Mostly, administrative headaches and less compatibility. ServerA nice Network Operating System. File and print services with a graphical user interface (and all the extra resources that requires). Return to the top of this page. Windows 2000ProfessionalThere are 2 ways to make a complex system more user-friendly.
Microsoft has chosen the second method, which I think is unfortunate. Windows 2000 Professional comes with a "Quick Start Guide" that is FORTY PAGES LONG! (One more indication that Microsoft has forgotten what the word "quick" means.) I can not beleive that, just to get USB support in Windows NT, Microsoft had to give us Windows 2000. ServerWindows 2000 Server (and Advanced Server) has a few very minor improvements over NT Server, and a few major new features that maybe 2% of organizations will need. If you've got NT Server, don't bother upgrading. Return to the top of this page. MacOSThis is as close to what a graphical user interface should be, as there is. (It's not perfect, but it's the best GUI out there.) Windows (and Windows 95) borrows heavily from the MacOS, but only enough to help, not enough to make them good. It's implementation is a problem, however. At its core is the basic code which dates back to the introduction of the Macintosh, and surrounding it are patches surrounded by patched surrounded by patches. (Open the System file with ResEdit, and count the PTCH resources.) Recent releases of the MacOS have simply consolidated all the small patches into fewer larger patches. I do not have a complaint about the general structure of the System Folder; I think it is vastly superior to the System Registry used by Windows 95 and Windows NT. It's just too obtuse in its implementation. It's complex where it should be simpler, and simplistic where it should be more elaborate. The safest and easiest way to install or update the MacOS is to do an Easy Install, and then a Custom Remove of all the stuff you don't want. Apple's Installer puts a simple face on a complex situation, and that simple face is often mistaken. Typically, if you do a Custom Install, some of the options which are required for the options you selected, won't get installed, and you can't change it. Return to the top of this page. OS/2A very nice operating system. But who cares? IBM can't sell it; they can't even give it away. Here's the perfect vehicle for software developers who don't want to be trampled by Microsoft. But there aren't enough of them to make OS/2 a success all by themselves, and IBM is incapable of generating any interest in it. (I can't help but suggest that Lotus products will succumb to the same fate, by the way.) Return to the top of this page. Unix (Linux, AIX, HP-UX, SunOS, etc.)First, a little history: As AT&T's nationwide network of computers grew, they offered to allow major universities around the country to connect their computers. The only catch: they would have to use UNIX as well. Many computer science departments balked, but the universities saw the advantage of being on AT&T's network as worth the disadvantage of running such a crummy OS. (BTW, this nationwide network of universities and research centers eventually grew, with some DoD funding, to become the Internet.) Since it's noble beginnings, UNIX has gone through many changes. AT&T quickly realized that it no longer owned UNIX, and allowed the users to determine its future. The users formed committees to decide what UNIX should look like and do. Who were the people on these committees? Mostly people with advanced degrees in physics, psychology, and sociology. They were users, not developers, who, because of the positions they held in academia, were accustomed to getting what they wanted, regardless of whether or not it was good or made sense. So, that's Unix: a series of kludges mandated by committees of people who didn't know anything about computers. The only reason I can see for someone wanting to use it is because they already know it (and it's all they know). So why aren't the Unix users dying out? Because academia continues to require candidates for advanced degrees in anything, to learn it, thereby ensuring that there will be a future generation to take over in those committees. Return to the top of this page. Software PiracyIssue #1In the late '80's ADAPSO (currently known as ITAA), a computer industry trade group, was preparing to testify before Congress about Software Piracy. It polled it's members, asking them to estimate how much money they were losing to software pirates. Microsoft responded with quite a large figure, but most of the other members said that either they had no way of knowing or that it wasn't very much. ADAPSO added up all the numbers and was preparing it's presentation materials when Microsoft said the total was too low and demanded that ADAPSO increase it. ADAPSO doubled the total, but Microsoft continued to balk. ADAPSO doubled it again, but Microsoft still wasn't satisfied. ADAPSO told Microsoft that they were going before Congress with the original numbers because they were testifying under oath and had nothing to support the inflated estimates. Microsoft withdrew from ADAPSO and formed the Business Software Alliance which testifies before Congress with very large estimates of revenue losses due to software piracy. Issue #2In the mid- '80s, Borland had a line of inexpensive programming languages, the flagship of which was TurboPascal. Every highschool kid that dreamed of being a computer programmer could learn to write programs without spending a lot of money by buying one of these products. Microsoft had a line of professional programming languages, all of which cost much more than Borland's Turbo- line, so it countered with it's line of pogramming languages like QuickBasic and QuickC. These also became very popular with amature and budding programmers, many of whom grew to become professional programmers. In the early '90s, Borland had some financial and management problems, and it's Turbo line languished. Microsoft saw this as the market drying up, so discontinued it's Quick product line. Young people with an interest in computers had no way to experiment (legally). Currently, software companies are complaining that they can't find competent entry-level programmers in this country, so they want to either shift their software development outside the US or bring entry-level programmers in from other countries. It turns out the countries that developed these new programmers are the ones that permitted the most software piracy in the '90s. Is it possible that the new programmers that these companies want to employ learned to write programs without spending a lot of money by buying pirated copies of Microsoft's professional programming languages? See what happens when you pirate software? Your children get good jobs! Return to the top of this page. UtilitiesOperating System "Enhancements"Today's operating systems are tremendously complex beasts; it is surprising that they work at all. Anything you do to add levels of complexity to the operating system will undoubtedly reduce its reliability. Even if it might provide you with some useful function that is not available by other means, I strongly suggest that you refrain from installing it. Return to the top of this page. Screen "Savers"Screen Savers are not. Your screen doesn't need to be saved. Screen savers were created to prevent a single image from "burning in" to your monitor. The burn-in effect was apparent with the old Pong games that people used to connect to their TVs. After playing Pong, they could still see the game court when they were watching Bonanza. Monitors don't burn in. Color monitors never burned in, and monochrome monitors don't burn in anymore. I've been working with computers since 1980, and the only monitor I ever saw with an image burned in was in a government office; it was an IBM PC XT with a Hercules graphics adapter and a monochrome display, and was only used for running Lotus 1-2-3. It was turned on every Monday morning when it loaded 1-2-3, and was left on until the following Friday evening. After 5 years, you could see the row and column headings when the monitor was turned off. That's the only monitor I ever saw with an image burned in. Know what? Nobody cared! The only function of any value which screen savers provide is the security aspect of their operation. If you get up from your computer, a screen saver can keep casual observers from looking at what's on your screen. Return to the top of this page. UpgradesThere is a small company, not too far from us, a general contractor, whose two person office is getting along fine with a PC-XT and WordStar. The husband creates draft documents in longhand, and the wife types them into the computer, and all is well. They have been able to do anything they have needed to do just fine, and she has had the time to learn everything there is to know about WordStar. The problem is that the wife has had to come back to the office because the husband couldn't hire anybody who wants to work on WordStar. The last employee he had left to get a better job where she could keep her job skills current. He can't even get his children to work in the office part-time. You don't always have to jump on the latest upgrade as soon as it comes out, but you should plan to implement it before your people see their job skills eroding. Upgrades don't have to be disruptive, and they can be seen by your staff as your attempt to get them the best tools to do their jobs. Return to the top of this page. Well Written ProgramsA well written program:
How many well written programs do you know of? My list is pretty short, and in no particular order.
I would be pleased to hear of any candidates you might have. |
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