rec.autos.simulators

> >I don't have XP yet but my two cents ... I usually give every Win OS
about 6
> >months to a year to "settle in" and let all the OS geeks bash their
brains
> >out on it :-)  I didn't even try Win ME yet (still have 98).

> You don't want ME either, it's crap. But I happen to like XP. The only
> driver I had to install was for my Santa Cruz soundcard, every other
> piece of equipment is supported, although I did install newer vid
> drivers and VIA drivers. Even my printer (Epson 870) is supported
> right in WinXP. Never had such a painless install of Windows yet.

> And isn't XP supposed to be incrypted such to prevent 'illegal'
> distribution?  Sounds more like a 1 billion dollar attempt at theft than
> anything else.  True, the multimedia and browser enhancments are nice, and
> yes, conferencing is now a click away, instead of the phone features our
> businesses already have (by the way).  Gee wiz, they're some reasons to
> s***the thousands of working OS's already in place.

> MS is betting XP will be the next great leap since Win95, and even paid
> Sting to sing a song about it. How cute :)
> I'm thinkning Win95 was huge because of the leap from Windows, whereas ME,
> XP were more cosmetic than anything else.

> On another note, I take exception to your reference to small business
> support.  Consulting is consulting. Your fooling your resume if you think
> the size of the customers you work with means anything.  Oh, and I'm just
> curious, since I recall the first PC I bought in '82 was an Atari 800,
just
> exactly what PC technologies were you 'working with' then?  I think I
> remember a Radio Shack TRS80 or something like that, oh an that IBM thing
> running DOS we used in college in '84 to crash the mainframes in our labs
:)

> Don't laugh, that Atari got me my first programming job :)

> Seriously, if you consider what's going on today, and I consult on PCs as
> much as the next guy, anything we used older than 3-4 years ago is
landfill
> now; an experience long gone by in comparison to today's technology...2.0
> Ghz CPUs will be under $500 by xmas, 100Gb drives under $300, all that
> memory for less that what a decent mouse costs, and my trusty Win98SE oem
> for 90 bucks.

> :)

> Tim White
> INTRAC Motorsports
> www.birds-i-view.com/intrac

> > >     First off, this is not a repsonse to get at you. It is not
intended
> to
> > > be dissing you or anyone else.

> > > > I've heard this twice today.  ME is NOT a POS, it's a much more
stable
> > OS
> > > > versus 95/98 IMO.

> > Your experience differs obviously.  Your an IT consultant for small
> > business.  I'm an IT professional for a large company.  I've also been
> > working with and using PC technologies since 1982.

> > You mention that your companies software doesn't work on ME, spent tons
of
> > time on development,etc.   Well I don't run your software and I don't
> expect
> > every piece of software to work on ME.   However, not one application at
> my
> > company has issues with ME, even old DOS FOXPRO applications.   Not one
> game
> > I own refuses to run on it.  Even some of the DOS ones work with the
boot
> to
> > DOS tweak.

> > You mention that it's not an option for your customers to upgrade to
> another
> > OS to run your software, that's a weak argument for so many reasons.
If
> > they wanted it bad enough, they'd upgrade.

> > System restore is not the end all, be all, for system backups.  As a
> > consultant I'd of had my customers purchase a tape drive to back their
> > systems up or give them a ghost image on CD for faster recovery.

> > XP Home is not faster than ME on my system, some games stutter for
> example.
> > I won't blame the OS yet though as some of my hardware drivers may not
be
> up
> > to stuff.  Another example is XP resource hogging.  Look at the large
> number
> > of services running in the background that aren't needed for ***.

> > You mentioned that security updates aren't available for ME, that's not
> > true.  I've been able to get security updates for this OS for quite some
> > time now.

> > Your main beef seems to be that you've spent a lot of time trying to get
> > your software developed to work on ME and it hasn't panned out.  I'm
> sorry.

> > I won't get into a big debate on this, like I said IMO it's not a POS.

> Don't let the word "Pro" coerce your decision.  If you aren't running NT
> Domains at home, there's not much to miss.  Save the $100.

> Activation is no problem, unless you wanna cheat :)

> The phsycological effect of Microsoft having a leash stuck up yer ***is
a
> bit harder to overcome...

> It is very, very stable as long as you follow the rules. Supported
hardware
> and drivers and software.

> It's far better for *** than either 98, ME (yuk) or Windows 2000.
> Compatibility with games is far better than with Win2K.

> This is my system (home-built, of course), and I have ZERO issues with
> anything:

> ABIT KG7 (non-RAID) Motherboard.
> Antec PP-352x 350w Power Supply.
> VisionTek GeForce 3 Ti500.
> AMD AthlonXP 1800+.
> 512MB Crucial PC2100 DDR CAS2.5.
> Maxtor D740X 80GB ATA/133 Drive.
> Turtle Beach Santa Cruz (folks, this is THE sound card for use under
Windows
> XP).
> Intel In-Business 10/100 NIC.
> Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 Speakers.
> Mitsubishi DiamondPro 2060u 22" monitor.
> Dymo LabelWriter 330 Turbo Label Printer.
> HP LaserJet 6L.
> Epson Stylus Color 800.
> Epson Stylus Photo 1270.
> Logitech Cordless Freedom Pro Keyboard/Optical Mouse.
> TDK 16/10/24 CDRW.
> Pioneer DVD-113 DVD Drive.
> Logitech Momo Wheel.
> Logitech Rumblepad.
> Logitech Force Feedback Joystick.

> As far as software goes:

> Office XP.
> Visio 2002.
> DriveImage 5
> PartitionMagic 7
> FileMaker Pro 5 (seems ok, but not heavily tested yet).
> FileMaker Pro 5 Developer (seems ok, but not heavily tested yet.
> Winzip 8.
> Plus! XP (yeah, yeah.  I feel screwed too).
> Connectix Virtual PC 4.2.
> Quicken 2002.
> DVD Profiler.
> Nascar Racing 4
> Grand Prix Legends.
> Max Payne.

> blah, blah, blah...

> I haven't gotten around to installing a lot of games yet, but so far so
> good.

> The only game that is causing me grief is EA F1-2001.  I'm not suprised,
> though...  It just don't feel 'right'.

> With the exception of F1-2001, I can really, truly honestly say that this
is
> the best running computer I have EVER had.  I have a lot of stuff smooshed
> into one box, and it has not caused ANY problems whatsoever.

> It should be noted that I am not into or interested in overclocking.  If
you
> are, your mileage may vary...

> -Larry

> > Now that Win XP is out, is there anyone who thinks it is a good move
from
> ME
> > or '98?

> > Especially, is the activation process working and does it offer an
> > advantages for Racing sims.

> > Andi.

> >Do you run GPL?  If so do you get a lot of static, poping etc in GPL?
> >I have a Santa Cruz using the latest drivers and those are issues with
> >my card.

> I have SB Live and get the same problems -- seems that it might be
> something in the game itself rather than the card you happen to have.

> > I have SB Live and get the same problems -- seems that it might be
> > something in the game itself rather than the card you happen to have.

> I think it supposed to sound that way. Loud and dirty. It's been that way
on
> every soundcard I've had since the game came out.

> > The static creates a sudden and very, very brief framerate hit so I
really
> > don't think it suppose to sound like that. Its pretty strange it happens
> > also with the games default sounds.

> I haven't installed it on XP yet so will later today and see how it is. I
> have a Santa Cruz card and some games under XP drop the sound out on
> occasion until I force a new sound to play. Should be new drivers soon.
One
> thing you can try is to turn the sound hardware acceleration down a notch
> under your multimedia properties.