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Axemantitan

macrumors 6502a
Mar 16, 2008
542
97
I wonder if if will follow the usual tick-tock of Windows releases: i.e. 98 good, ME bad, XP good, Vista bad, 7 good, 8 bad, 10 good, (11 bad?)
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
What is the Mac OS equivalent to Registry? Is it Finder, or something else?
Macs use files called plist which is the equivalent. You mess around /system/library or /library, you could render your system or apps unstable just as easy as making windows unstable with the registry.
 
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DaveFromCampbelltown

macrumors 68000
Jun 24, 2020
1,781
2,877
Macs use files called plist which is the equivalent. You mess around /system/library or /library, you could render your system or apps unstable just as easy as making windows unstable with the registry.

But does that apply under Big Sur, with its locked System Volume?
I understand that when you boot under Big Sur you are using a working copy of the System Volume. I haven't tried it, but if it becomes corrupted, it gets replaced with a good copy when you reboot.

As well, there is no one Grand Unified Plist File. Each application and subsystem may have its own plist file. Corrupting one may stop one thing, but not the whole OS.
 
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ian87w

macrumors G3
Feb 22, 2020
8,704
12,638
Indonesia
I wonder if if will follow the usual tick-tock of Windows releases: i.e. 98 good, ME bad, XP good, Vista bad, 7 good, 8 bad, 10 good, (11 bad?)
I don't quite agree with this since I have used pretty much all those versions.

98 was actually not that good. The good one was 98 SE. ME was actually good, it's more stable to me than 98. But there's win2k with its NT origin that took the cake. XP was a mess initially, until SP2. Vista was the stepchild since many PCs were under specced back then, but it lay the groundwork for 7. People think 7 is better simply because the hardware caught up. 8 was completely underrated. 8 was actually faster than 7, but people don't like the start screen.

Imo 11 will be just one of those feature update for Windows 10. The current Windows 10 is already quite different than the first version.
 

iHorseHead

macrumors 68000
Jan 1, 2021
1,580
1,999
The appeal of Windows is backwards compatibility. The world needs it very badly.
True, as I've mentioned before there are surprisingly many companies using apps from the early 2000s and even from the 90s. Those aren't apps that you can just find from Google, but many companies have their own specific apps. Microsoft can't move on as easily as Apple.
 

nickdalzell1

macrumors 68030
Dec 8, 2019
2,787
1,670
There are still some database systems running on SCO UNIX. An OS from...1969 originally???

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if some old mainframes with those spinning tape reels running some Fortran are still going somewhere. They just don't make 'em like they used to. You just don't get rid of whatever is working.
 

diamond.g

macrumors G4
Mar 20, 2007
11,410
2,641
OBX
But does that apply under Big Sur, with its locked System Volume?
I understand that when you boot under Big Sur you are using a working copy of the System Volume. I haven't tried it, but if it becomes corrupted, it gets replaced with a good copy when you reboot.

As well, there is no one Grand Unified Plist File. Each application and subsystem may have its own plist file. Corrupting one may stop one thing, but not the whole OS.
How does the system know if a system related plist file is corrupted? I didn’t think plist files had any sort of error checking.
 

nickdalzell1

macrumors 68030
Dec 8, 2019
2,787
1,670
How does the system know if a system related plist file is corrupted? I didn’t think plist files had any sort of error checking.
I would bank on some type of System File Checking that can compare the files on both partitions, and if one is noticeably corrupted, it replaces that with the backup. Windows has been doing that since XP/2K.
 

satcomer

Suspended
Feb 19, 2008
9,115
1,977
The Finger Lakes Region
There are still some database systems running on SCO UNIX. An OS from...1969 originally???

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if some old mainframes with those spinning tape reels running some Fortran are still going somewhere. They just don't make 'em like they used to. You just don't get rid of whatever is working.

That’s why back in day Apple bought Next to get the BSD open Unix operating system beside Steve Jobs! This resulted into the Mac OS X beta!
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
BSD open Unix operating system
More accurately, they bought Next for NextStep, not BSD, They didn't need to buy Next to start using BSD, where as NextStep offered a full graphical OS that would be far easier to modify for the mac
 

11235813

macrumors regular
Apr 14, 2021
144
225
With all the resources they have, they still can't figure out how to make a usable file manager with tabs. Shame on you Microsoft. Just hire a decent UI designer already.

The terrible thing is that the company I work for makes me use Windows at work. If I weren't forced, I would want nothing to do with anything Microsoft or Google does.
 

AutomaticApple

Suspended
Original poster
Nov 28, 2018
7,401
3,378
Massachusetts
Just hire a decent UI designer already.
Microsoft is one step ahead of you. :)
With all the resources they have, they still can't figure out how to make a usable file manager with tabs. Shame on you Microsoft.
You should give this application a try.
 
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Axemantitan

macrumors 6502a
Mar 16, 2008
542
97
True, as I've mentioned before there are surprisingly many companies using apps from the early 2000s and even from the 90s. Those aren't apps that you can just find from Google, but many companies have their own specific apps. Microsoft can't move on as easily as Apple.
I used to work for one of the largest credit unions in the US. Our primary computer program was ©1985. It used a command-line interface and was older than a fair percentage of the employees using it.

Fortunately, our PCs were running Windows 7 Enterprise Edition, not MS-DOS or Windows 1.0.
 
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tkermit

macrumors 68040
Feb 20, 2004
3,586
2,921
That phrase means that both are bad options. Which OS would you prefer to use?
Indeed. Apple is the lesser of two evils these days. I remember John Siracusa saying that Windows isn't even good enough to be criticized (I'm paraphrasing). That's starting to apply to Apple's operating systems as well. The annoyances are piling up and I've long stopped caring to give Apple feedback. I think I'm just starting to hate computers in general.
 

AutomaticApple

Suspended
Original poster
Nov 28, 2018
7,401
3,378
Massachusetts
That phrase means that both are bad options. Which OS would you prefer to use?
Yeah, What about Chrome OS or Linux?
Fortunately, our PCs were running Windows 7 Enterprise Edition, not MS-DOS or Windows 1.0.
Well...
Untitled.png
 

DaveFromCampbelltown

macrumors 68000
Jun 24, 2020
1,781
2,877
Ok, I have been playing with Win 11 now for a few days.
Initially I run it as a Virtual Machine under Parallels. I was impressed that it worked so well for an initial beta.
I have expressed elsewhere that I think it is basically Win 10 with a shiny new coat of paint, and some performance tweaks. So have a number of others, including Chris Titus on YouTube.

I have now installed it as a native install on a USB 3 Flash drive, via Hasleo's WinToUSB, and am running it off my iMac.
I manually installed the WindowsSupport software package.

I am impressed enough that this will be my main Windows for the near future. All the software I normally use has installed and is running nicely.

However, while some things are a little faster and snappier than Win 10, Win 11 is still much slower than macOS or Linux, using the same software on the same hardware.
For example, compiling the lshort.tex file that comes with the TeXLive installation takes 22 seconds on Win 10 and Win 11, but 10 seconds on macOS and 8 seconds on Ubuntu Linux.
Opening a large Word file (the text of Darwin's Origin of Species) takes about 3.5 seconds on Win 11 and 2.5 on macOS.
Opening the same file with LibreOffice and WPS Office is quicker still. IOW, using Microsoft software opening a Microsoft document under a Microsoft OS is slower than opening the same document with a Linux based software on macOS.

BTW, none of the reviews I have read have mentioned that if you right-click on the Windows Start Button, a whole host of goodies appear, including Task Manager, PowerShell and Computer-, Device- and Disk-Management.
 

11235813

macrumors regular
Apr 14, 2021
144
225
The only thing good about Windows is that Chrome is optimized for it, so Chromium based browsers run smoother on it than any other platform. After trying to get hardware accelerated video on Chrome working on Linux for a long time, and giving up, I can appreciate Windows for this. Even on macOS, chrome uses too much CPU when playing 4K and 8K videos, compared to Windows. Other apps like OBS screen recording also use minimal CPU on Windows, while hogging all resources on other platforms.

None of that is worth the usability and UI consistency nightmare though. Just use a decent OS like macOS or Linux and buy a faster computer to compensate for the speed difference in these use cases.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
Fortunately, our PCs were running Windows 7 Enterprise Edition
The problem is you're putting yourself at risk, given that there's no security updates. Given the increase tempo in cyber attacks and malware, its something I'd personally want to avoid. Many of the cyber attacks are leveraging out of date/non-patched systems.
 

iHorseHead

macrumors 68000
Jan 1, 2021
1,580
1,999
The problem is you're putting yourself at risk, given that there's no security updates. Given the increase tempo in cyber attacks and malware, its something I'd personally want to avoid. Many of the cyber attacks are leveraging out of date/non-patched systems.
Businesses still buy security updates from Microsoft for Windows 7.

"For users of Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Enterprise, you can purchase extended security updates through January 2023".

Microsoft is not Apple that drops the updates just like that. Windows 7 is still supported and even Windows 7 embedded is still supported.
 
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maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
"For users of Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Enterprise, you can purchase extended security updates through January 2023".
Yes, but that adds up rather quickly. Reportedly its 50 dollars per machine, this year, and 100 dollars next year. have a 100 computers, you're literally throwing away 5,000 dollars in 2021. That doubles to 10,000 next year. Let's say you have 1,000 computers, something that's probably more likely in medium/large enterprises that haven't moved off - we're talking 50,000 dollars that you're wasting

Source
 
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