PureBasic Forums - English

epog10 wrote: So I use Win98 because Microsoft seem incapable of bringing out a new operating system (with presumably lots of new bells and whistles that I don't need), without 'improving' the basics.

So with Windows Explorer on the desktop. View the C: drive.
Win98 - 1 click. WinXP - 3 clicks.
The list goes on.

I understand this type of argumentation, but would it not be better to change your XP installation so, that you have the same comfort like 98? It may be some work, but i think you would get around some software problems with newer software?

I used Windows 98 years ago and then directly changed to Windows XP when it came out. I was and i am still pleased with it. I tested the official Vista beta and I bought later a Systembuilder version and used it like over an year. There were some things that annoyed me: Mostly they had to do with the UAC. As a developer you do want to pay attention to all these things if you just want to write a little test code. I still remember minutes of searching files, that my program created: They were placed into the virtual File Storage :roll: . Then suddenly my HDD got more and more bad sectors, so i went to the store and came back with a new HDD. I put in the vista installation CD and became a Bluescreen. Then i put in the windows XP CD and everything went fine and i am still using it. I do not miss much features of Vista. I just wrote a little search program, like the one in the start menu of vista, which i placed into the Quick Launch.

epog10 wrote: Now these things are installed as a 'hole-in-the-wall' or kiosk display. The machines are likely to be unaccessible. Switching on or off is at the mains wall socket, or an area contactor, or a mains run-up sequencer.

I think Linux would be a better system (as you can customsize it more for this use), but as you mentioned already, you have to know many things about the GTK and so on, because PureBasic does not support enough builtin commands. In this case i would maybe not even use a Linux with a graphical interface, but a console version which uses Libvga or the Framebuffer, then you can directly draw on the screen. As you do not need any input, it should not be to hard to do this.

epog10 wrote: Perhaps I should start signing my postings 'Grumpy Old Man'

A 'Grumpy Old Man' is a person who does not change the system, because he has something against new things, but you just have arguments, why you still use an old operating system, so it does not fit

DarkPlayer

Using google analytics to monitor who visits my web site (which has a wide demographic of users and is a non-technical site) I have had 459 visits from May 24 - Jun 23:

78% Windows
- 53% Win XP
- 29% Vista
- 16% Win 7
- 1.5% Win 2003
- .5% Win 2000

15% OSX
3% Linux
3% iPhone
1% Android / Blackberry / Symbian

Basically, the users of the PB Forums are probably not widely representative of the typical computer user...

Anyway, hope this helps.

Basically, the users of the PB Forums are probably not widely representative of the typical computer user...

Exactly. I have a win98 machine used only for testing, an xp pro, vista and a win7. PB users are generally not your target user/customer (except for very niche products), and people on here tend to be fairly tech-savvy/dev oriented. Your average user will probably have vista or 7, with a small segment still using XP, where as people who use win98 for everyday computing are probably unlikely to try new software or spend any money on it.

If you 'officially support' win98, you're making it harder on yourself, and letting the wrong type of user hold you back, but it can't hurt to test on 98 and offer some backwards compatibility for apps; but for games, forget it.

When Win7 came out, I got a flood of new bugs to fix in older programs, and had to rewrite a lot of stuff (the main reason I abandoned B3D and started looking more at PB for more than just apps).

So make it work on win98 if you can, but only 'officially' support XP/2000/Vista/7.

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Innesoft wrote:

Basically, the users of the PB Forums are probably not widely representative of the typical computer user...

Exactly.

I know that this is not a representativ for the general user, but my intention was the following: PB users are normaly "fairly tech-savvy/dev oriented" as you call them, so they should know about the risk and disadvantages of old operating systems, so how many do still use them at every day use?
As you can see, there are still some people in the forum.

Innesoft wrote:a small segment still using XP

This may be right for the normal end users, but at least in big companies, this is wrong. Windows XP is the most used OS in the buisness sector.

For all people, who also think that XP is dead, should take a look at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Opera ... _share.svg

Fluid Byte wrote:

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This is an error of this board, you can not vote if you have standard style selected :roll:

DarkPlayer

Tried to vote but got that message above. Put me down for XP, 2000, NT 4, Linux and 7 64-bit (which was a major mistake).

when i try to vote its keeping on comming up invalid option selected

i use
win x86 : xp , 7
linux x86

Blue Steel wrote:when i try to vote its keeping on comming up invalid option selected

Yes - that's a feature
voting is only enabled if you choose the standard board style

as OSs I use:
- WIN XP SP2 , 86
- LINUX Suse 11.1, 86
- WIN '98 / Suse 9 (old laptop)

Besides XP has only been connected to the internet for activation and the first settings. I prefer surfing via Linux and have always run unharmed with it.

greetings ~ Vera

at the risk of ridicule through quoting myself:

78% Windows
- 53% Win XP
- 29% Vista
- 16% Win 7
- 1.5% Win 2003
- .5% Win 2000
15% OSX
3% Linux
3% iPhone
1% Android / Blackberry / Symbian

So > 40% of ALL desktops are WXP and about 30% are Vista / Win7 - Win98 is dead, if your app works on it thats nice, but don't bother trying to maintain support for it - because there are virtually no Win98 users left out there. Certainly Win98 is unlikely to be supported on new PCs.

Lets look at the other figures, WinXP is prevalent in business and home. Vista has rarely been installed in business, those that have done so will soon refresh to Win7. Win7 is prevalent in homes, but is increasingly deployed onto businesses. BUT whereas home users will typically buy a PC and use whichever OS comes with it, Businesses have standard builds which they will resist changing because of the resultant affects on Server connections and the major headache of rolling out a new desktop build to 100's if not 1000's of existing desktops. Never mind the cost of re-licencing on such a huge scale. Few businesses will want to run a dual desktop environment, so WXP will go unsupported in 2014.

So is your app business or home oriented? Who is your intended market?

Expect WXP to be around for a some years to come...

I have a netbook using Android... it is very annoying but looks iPadish.... I have a Fujitsu slate using XP Pro that does all I really want a pad to do.

I like that because then people are not attempting to FORCE me to use a net hobbled OS that the President can shut down for up to 6 months with no real argument except "security"

I like 7

I like XP Pro

I have OS X and do not like it... click and wait sometimes if you are printing... multitassking STILL has some issues...

At home I use Windows XP Home SP3 and at work I use Windows XP Professional SP3.

Thinking about going to 32 bit Windows 7 Home Premium at home but XP is working just fine. Will probably end up waiting until XP takes a dump on itself to switch to Windows 7.

DarkPlayer wrote:This may be right for the normal end users, but at least in big companies, this is wrong. Windows XP is the most used OS in the buisness sector.

Absolutely, and by a large margin. Globally, over 60% of systems out there are still running XP, with Vista at about 15% and Win7 a bit over 12%. A couple of months ago, I was reading an article that it's estimated in the United States alone, about 80% of the office computers out there are running Windows XP SP2. This has some corporate IT folks freaking out because didn't plan for the fact that XP SP2 reaches end-of-life on July 13th, 2010 (Windows 2000 also reaches end-of-life then). After that date, if you're running Windows XP you have to upgrade to SP3, otherwise you won't get any security updates or fixes for the operating system.

Of course, Microsoft is already sending up the signal flares that Windows XP is considered a deprecated platform. The new version of Windows Live (Mail, Messenger, etc.) isn't being released for the platform and I imagine as we get closer to the end-of-life for XP SP3 (which is in 4 years) we'll see more products requiring Vista/7 as a minimum. Planned obsolescence coming to a system near you!

I suspect Vista (in real terms) will become obsolete long before XP

150 million Windows 7 licenses have been sold. Beats out the others in sales. Apple is doomed, doomed I say... MUhahahahahahahaha.

That makes Windows 7's the best-selling operating system ever.

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/bl ... unced.aspx

Of course most business systems are and will be running XP for some time yet. Businesses are not computer enthusiasts that want the latest and greatest, they are computer users that just want their computers to be reliable and productive so they will be slow to embrace newer technologies preferring to keep using what works for them rather than to leap into the unknown.

I suspect most businesses won't switch away from XP until there is less than a year of support left for it. At that point I also suspect that most businesses will move to Windows 7 and skip Vista entirely.

I myself am in the same situation with my home system. As long as XP continues to perform well I see no reason to replace it. But should the time come that XP starts giving me problems such that it needs to be reinstalled, then I will most likely switch to Windows 7 which I already have for when I need it.