Windows not sucking as much?

[hambone79]

I have been a die hard Linux user on my home computers for the past 10 years and I have been using it exclusively for the past 6 years. My only experience with Windows in this time was through my previous job. I am a Mechanical Engineer by trade, and the corporate configuration of Windows at my old job made running our CAD software an absolute nightmare. Couple that with the lack of competent IT support and I was left with a very bad opinion of Windows...especially Windows XP.

I lost my job a few months ago so I decided to get into the contract engineering business. I started out running the CAD software in Linux, but was forced to buy a machine running Windows since the newer versions of the software no longer support Linux. I have now been running Windows XP as my primary design environment for about a month and I have to say...it doesn't suck that bad! Could it be that the morons at my previous job screwed up the corporate hard drive image that badly? I think this is the case because I'm using the exact same hardware I was using before..only it doesn't suck.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

[JDShu]

That sounds like it makes sense... 6 years translates to 6 years worth of bug fixes right?

[NoaHall]

Or 6 years of bugs being made and viruses finding holes. Anyway, I agree, I like Windows now. Never liked XP, but vista and 7 are great. Ish.

[LowSky]

Um... hmmm 6 years away form Windows, you missed give or take two service packs. Also you don't have the the same anti-virus or corporate software included. Your machine is at least twice as fast, to make things run even better.

So its not that Windows got truely better, but that your using it in a different enviroment.

[Screwdriver0815]

which CAD software do you use?

I have to use Catia at work, in connection with Windows Xp and yes, it sucks.

You know that you have a powerful Cad-workstation with quad-core processor, 4 gb RAM and so on... but loading a midsize assembly is a real nightmare...

why? I don't know... maybe because Windows sucks

[JDShu]

I understand that most CAD software these days is run on Linux. At least all the engineers in my university all used Red Hat for whatever reason.

[Hyper Tails]

I had problems with xp but vista has gotten better in the past months, I really loved 7 beta and RC so i'm upgrade to windows 7 professinal

[Screwdriver0815]

I understand that most CAD software these days is run on Linux. At least all the engineers in my university all used Red Hat for whatever reason.

no, I don't think so.

Most cad is run on Windows.

I just know about Catia - they have a UNIX-version too. Its not Linux, its UNIX.

I can imagine that there are also UNIX/Linux versions of other CAD-systems

but my experience is that most big 3d-CAD is run on windows

[hoppipolla]

Yeah I enjoyed using XP for a bit again too :)

I do always end up returning to Linux for the convenience, the fact it's free, choice, security etc etc, but for brief periods I do also enjoy Windows! lol

That's cool if you're enjoying it though, at the end of the day use what you like to use :)

[Ric_NYC]

On the other side Linux is sucking less.
Ubuntu made it possible for me.
I use it 90% of the time.

[Jay Car]

I dunno...I think the only way Windows wouldn't suck as much is if it were a vacuum cleaner. I still have to use it (XP) sometimes, but every time I do it just makes my GNU/Linux machines seem that much nicer.

[sagarhshah]

i fix computers by profession
in my experience most of the times windows sucks coz of the user installing a whole load of software and not managing it properly eg.not uninstalling programs they are no longer using etc etc....yesterday i saw a computer which had 4 antivirus programs on it., once i took 3 out and left one on and gave it good ol spring clean it was working fine

having said that i can't see myself running windows on my main computer, ubuntu just seems to need less maintenance, also compared to windows forums linux forums tend to much more helpful in solving software issues than windows ones(typical answer i've seen on many windows forums :backup reformat and reload)

[tjeremiah]

Linux still cant do things Windows does easily. Even with 9.10, I still cant, for example, plug in my mp3 and expect it to play without terminal this and terminal that (a bit exaggerated).

I keep Windows around because sometimes, it actually does do things better and with less hassle. I dont dl lots of crap and dont receive virus.

And with my purchase of Win7 for 30 (im a student), I see Windows having a brighter future.

[lisati]

I've never thought that Windows sucks - I leave that to a vacuum cleaner. My own experience (which involves three machines at the moment with three different versions of Windows) seems to suggest that it's more likely to be bad management or poor choice of software or equipment.

[hambone79]

no, I don't think so.

Most cad is run on Windows.

I just know about Catia - they have a UNIX-version too. Its not Linux, its UNIX.

I can imagine that there are also UNIX/Linux versions of other CAD-systems

but my experience is that most big 3d-CAD is run on windows

You are correct. Catia, Pro/Engineer, Unigraphics, Solidworks, Solid Edge, and AutoDesk Inventor all run (primarily) on Windows. Pro/engineer was available for Linux for 3 versions, but now PTC says they have moved away from Linux because of a lack of adoption (I think the problem was a lack of a complete solution on PTC's part). Unigraphics is the only CAD software that currently runs on Linux.

[mivo]

Windows 7 is unexpectedly good. It took me by surprise, really. As for the tiresome "virus" argument, I never contracted a virus on XP. But then, I don't pirate software, do use NoScript in Firefox, don't mindlessly open file attachments, and do use my computers sensibly. I never quite understood how people end up with fifty viruses and three hundred spywares if they claim even minimal IT competence. It is not that hard to stay safe.

[Tibuda]

I never thought "Windows sucks", "MS is evil", etc. Windows XP is the best MS OS I have used, and I see very positive critics of Seven. That said, I'll stick to Linux, as it satisfies my needs very well.

[hambone79]

i fix computers by profession
in my experience most of the times windows sucks coz of the user installing a whole load of software and not managing it properly eg.not uninstalling programs they are no longer using etc etc....yesterday i saw a computer which had 4 antivirus programs on it., once i took 3 out and left one on and gave it good ol spring clean it was working fine

having said that i can't see myself running windows on my main computer, ubuntu just seems to need less maintenance, also compared to windows forums linux forums tend to much more helpful in solving software issues than windows ones(typical answer i've seen on many windows forums :backup reformat and reload)

I think you hit the nail on the head. I think most of the problems I had were related to our completely absurd software configurations at my old job. For instance, they were running Symantec as the corporate AV software. Not only did it break Pro/Engineer, MS Office, and Adobe Acrobat on 3 separate occasions but it was configured to scan every file that was pulled from a network drive. This was very irritating because we had Pro/E configured to load off of our application server and save files to a special file server so that we could backup from a central location (this was engineering's doing...not the IT staff's...they wanted to backup from individual workstations).

I use a similar server/workstation model at home, but my AV software isn't scanning every file I pull off my file server. This isn't a bad thing because I'm using the ClamAV on-access scanner on the fileserver. I also limit how much my Windows machine accesses the Internet by keeping it behind a proxy. Above all, I keep the software install on this machine to a bare minimum of what I need to do my engineering work.

[Screwdriver0815]

You are correct. Catia, Pro/Engineer, Unigraphics, Solidworks, Solid Edge, and AutoDesk Inventor all run (primarily) on Windows. Pro/engineer was available for Linux for 3 versions, but now PTC says they have moved away from Linux because of a lack of adoption (I think the problem was a lack of a complete solution on PTC's part). Unigraphics is the only CAD software that currently runs on Linux.
as for power-demanding software, like CAD or simulation, I had a nice experience recently:

I had to load some assembly stuff into my workstation (files from the network) to do some package studies. I had to reload them a few times because the workstation simply could not manage the load. One nasty quirk of windows is, that as soon as the load average on the processor reaches 99% or 100% for a longer time, the system simply collapses and gets stuck... you also have to be constantly at the desk, in case anything weired happens. That you can maybe do something to avoid a system crash. Anyway, finally I managed to get my work done.

Next to me a colleague worked at another workstation which was used for crash simulation, running Red Hat Enterprise Linux. He loaded the files... and then he started the simulation... the workstation was running, the fans started to blow like some turboprop-engines... and I asked him what he is doing, and why this thing is blowing like a helicopter. He said "this will be now the background noise until monday, no surprise: this thing runs on 100% load for the next two days" and smiled. Okay, it was friday, we went home for weekend... The next monday, the simulation-workstation was running quitely again... work done. No crash, results as expected... this is the way like it should be: the computer does the work. The user can rely on that. Its not like that, that the user has to care about an operating system. Its the other way around.
This event made me a bit sorry because I am not allowed to use an OS at work which does the work for me and which does not suck.

[Mistrblank]

Could it be that the morons at my previous job screwed up the corporate hard drive image that badly?

I know some people are going to say it's years of bug fixes and years of hardware updates and speed increases. But I'm going to say that this is likely the case as well. There are plenty of backseat Windows admins out there that think they know what they are doing because they took a Windows class at their local technical institute. They break things in Windows without regard and do it with a god complex.

I work in an IT group currently managing AIX and Linux servers, but I'm forced to work in a Windows domain and to have my desktop run Windows XP. We currently run SP2 (TWO!!) with a number of services turned off and countless dialogs disabled on the system. I am not allowed to change my theme or anything appearance related (aside from my resolution). Key services are turned off. They deploy the same image to our laptops that we use for remote access. All wireless services are disabled and thus rendering the laptop useless because I have nowhere at home that is a good place to direct connect the laptop, I have and use wireless for a reason.

Fortunately I can use Wubi. I'm also building a business case based on our slow adoption and integration of Service Packs (not even different OS versions) to put everyone on a Linux or Mac infrastructure where I am.

[3rdalbum]

Linux still cant do things Windows does easily. Even with 9.10, I still cant, for example, plug in my mp3 and expect it to play without terminal this and terminal that (a bit exaggerated).

Really? I can do that. I have a Sony X-series Walkman. Maybe you shouldn't switch operating systems - you should switch MP3 players!

[ticopelp]

I used XP for many years and got a lot of use out of it. I liked it fine. I only switched to Ubuntu because Vista looked so terrible and Microsoft was going in some very irritating directions at the time with trusted computing and DRM.

I doubt I'll ever go back. I don't miss Windows at all, but I don't think it's useless or evil.

[espresso_steve]

I'm stuck on the fence. I've been a microsoft engineer since the days of DOS 4.0... Now Win7 looks good, but there have been some huge sucking moments in between. I've only ventured into Linux in the last year... and very glad I have... it all makes sense! Yet it will take a lot more to topple the MS beast.