By writing the title the way I did, one of the reasons windows suck(s), is shown. You cannot tell what I am writing about. This article could be about the windows in your house, or Microsoft’s OS, Windows.
Microsoft gave their operating system an incredibly stupid name, christened after the ‘windows’ on your screen that you minimize, maximize, move, and forget which is which when you have more than one Internet Exploder open and aren’t using Firefox’s tabbed browsing. If I were to say “Windows” to someone, they would generally think of the glass ones on the side of your house. But if I said Mac OS X to someone, they would think of something related to computers. Why Microsoft couldn’t call their operating system something that doesn’t cause confusion, like PC OS, or something named after Bill Gates, like how Linux is named after Linus Torvalds, I don’t know.
Also, after who knows of many generations of Windows, you still click on Start to end. I remember when my Mom was first learning how to use Windows, and wanted to turn the computer off, I told her to click Start, which got me a “No, I want to turn it off!” I told her; if you want to turn it off, click start, and then shut down. This didn’t make her very happy.
And then to simply write a document, you have to buy an entire office suite that includes programs you don’t need, like Microsoft Access, and costs as much as another car. Even Windows itself costs a crapload. And the new Windows Vista, it has 5 different kinds, Windows Vista Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate, Business, and Enterprise. If you buy one with more features that require better hardware, and Microsoft decides your hardware isn’t ‘good enough’ or what they like, you can’t use all of the features.
Windows also has many more viruses and attacks than Apple or Linux do. Windows firewall by itself is horrible. It tells you it blocks a program from accessing the Internet, but it really doesn’t. Even if you do buy a better firewall or virus scanner, you still have a much higher chance of getting screwed over by ‘malicious code.’
Windows also has less useful stuff than other operating systems. Their user accounts in XP are horrible. Even to do something simple, like revert your desktop back to defaults, they don’t even have a default button. You have to find the right ‘scheme.’
Microsoft itself isn’t great either. If you go and mod your Xbox, you can get banned from Xbox Live. Why should Microsoft be able to do that? What if you did it a legal way by using a modchip and put on an application built with OpenXDK, not an illegal version of Microsoft XDK. Backing up your own games is legal, also so Microsoft can’t do anything about the burned game issue. The only things they should be able to do is void your warranty if you mod your Xbox, and only ban you if you cheat a ton in games while playing on Live.
Overall, Microsoft and Windows just suck. The only good thing related to them is that Bill Gates donates money left and right. There are so many better and cheaper alternatives. Linux, the open-source, free, better operating system. OpenOffice, an open-source, free office program. Mozilla Firefox, an open-source web browser that is much better than Internet Exploder. Open-source alternatives to everything. But the computing world will never change, and everyone will use Windows, a few people using Macintoshes, and the random Linux guy.
