[GK]

Over at slashdot.org, there is a poll where some XP fanboys are clicking like mad to beat OS X, which is the current #1.

[Vanquish]

OSX is winning...

[wataru]

Originally posted by GK:
Over at slashdot.org, there is a poll where some XP fanboys are clicking like mad to beat OS X, which is the current #1.

So to retaliate you want a bunch of OS X fanboys to click like mad to beat XP?

[GK]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by wataru:
[B]So to retaliate you want a bunch of OS X fanboys to click like mad to beat XP?
fanboys AND fangirls are welcome

[::maroma::]

OS X tied with XP with 23%!

[kman42]

Originally posted by wataru:
So to retaliate you want a bunch of OS X fanboys to click like mad to beat XP?

Yes. It says quite a bit about the community when an OS with less than 5% market share can beat an OS with 85% market share in a poll. I would much rather be in a helpful community where people pull together and offer advice freely and without judgment.

As an example of how paranoid and mean Windows people are, I offer my recent experience. We have three PCs in the lab (soon to be replaced by Macs) all running Win 2000. We just got one up and running again after being useless for about a year. We generally have an admin acct and a working acct that everyone shares (it just works better for our purposes on this machine). A long story short, Win 2000 prompts you to change your password every month or so. Someone logged in as the admin, changed the password and then forgot what it was (the person who set up the machine made the two acct passes the same. doh!).

Well, this rendered the computer useless because the CD burning software got corrupted and we couldn't reinstall it. Nor could we change the admin pass or reinstall Windows. We couldn't even erase the HD and start over. So as the resident geek, I got brought in to fix it. I am quite willing to admit to hating PCs, but what transpired was quite dishearteing. I logged onto a PC forum and posted a thread about changing the password on a win2000/xp machine. I got six responses all saying "Search before you post" in a most belligerent tone followed invariably by "I wouldn't tell you how to break in to a stolen PC anyway". I then searched and found quite a number of threads on the subject. Everyone had differing stories about how they had lost their admin password. All of the threads were riddled with derogatory comments and accusations about stealing computers or other nefarious activities, with almost zero helpful comments. I had to spend three hours going through the threads to find one helpful post about a free linux startup disc for solving the problem. Go Linux! I find it very satisfying that I had to use a Linux disc to solve the problem.

I guess I am accustom to how people are treated here when they have problems. There are some asses, but even threads with common questions will generally contain an answer and no one is accused of stealing a computer just because they forget their password.

So I think that a great showing for the Mac platform in these polls refects the strength and camaraderie of our community.

kman

[Eug]

Originally posted by kman42:


Yes. It says quite a bit about the community when an OS with less than 5% market share can beat an OS with 85% market share in a poll. I would much rather be in a helpful community where people pull together and offer advice freely and without judgment.

As an example of how paranoid and mean Windows people are, I offer my recent experience. We have three PCs in the lab (soon to be replaced by Macs) all running Win 2000. We just got one up and running again after being useless for about a year. We generally have an admin acct and a working acct that everyone shares (it just works better for our purposes on this machine). A long story short, Win 2000 prompts you to change your password every month or so. Someone logged in as the admin, changed the password and then forgot what it was (the person who set up the machine made the two acct passes the same. doh!).

Well, this rendered the computer useless because the CD burning software got corrupted and we couldn't reinstall it. Nor could we change the admin pass or reinstall Windows. We couldn't even erase the HD and start over. So as the resident geek, I got brought in to fix it. I am quite willing to admit to hating PCs, but what transpired was quite dishearteing. I logged onto a PC forum and posted a thread about changing the password on a win2000/xp machine. I got six responses all saying "Search before you post" in a most belligerent tone followed invariably by "I wouldn't tell you how to break in to a stolen PC anyway". I then searched and found quite a number of threads on the subject. Everyone had differing stories about how they had lost their admin password. All of the threads were riddled with derogatory comments and accusations about stealing computers or other nefarious activities, with almost zero helpful comments. I had to spend three hours going through the threads to find one helpful post about a free linux startup disc for solving the problem. Go Linux! I find it very satisfying that I had to use a Linux disc to solve the problem.

I guess I am accustom to how people are treated here when they have problems. There are some asses, but even threads with common questions will generally contain an answer and no one is accused of stealing a computer just because they forget their password.

So I think that a great showing for the Mac platform in these polls refects the strength and camaraderie of our community.

kman

I don't know what Mac forum you read, but this forum is just as "belligerent" as good PC forums. And sometimes it's justified.

Personally I think the advice "search before you post" is a valid one. Nobody likes reading the same questions day in and day out. And yes, whenever someone here asks a suspicious question, they get similar comments too.

[kman42]

Originally posted by Eug:
I don't know what Mac forum you read, but this forum is just as "belligerent" as good PC forums. And sometimes it's justified.

Personally I think the advice "search before you post" is a valid one. Nobody likes reading the same questions day in and day out. And yes, whenever someone here asks a suspicious question, they get similar comments too.

I beg to differ. I've been here for quite a while and although there is plenty of 'search before you post' comments, they are usually posted as an afterthought to an actual answer. And I have never seen anyone accuse someone of stealing a computer just because they can't remember their password. There are plenty of threads here explaining that you can just boot from the OSX CD to reset the root password.

My point is that 'search before you post' is only valid if there are actual answers in previous threads. This was not the case, only accusations of theft. I had to go through dozens of threads to find an answer.

The only suspicious activity around here that gets greeted with a negative response is "Where can I find this on hotline?"

kman

[Osirisis]

Originally posted by kman42:


I beg to differ. I've been here for quite a while and although there is plenty of 'search before you post' comments, they are usually posted as an afterthought to an actual answer. And I have never seen anyone accuse someone of stealing a computer just because they can't remember their password. There are plenty of threads here explaining that you can just boot from the OSX CD to reset the root password.

My point is that 'search before you post' is only valid if there are actual answers in previous threads. This was not the case, only accusations of theft. I had to go through dozens of threads to find an answer.

The only suspicious activity around here that gets greeted with a negative response is "Where can I find this on hotline?"

kman

Just for future reference, there is a checkbox in the Windows 2000 user manager to set the password to never expire, and another for user cannot change password. Might help limit the damage done by the user. You can also set up shortcuts to applications in the profile for the normal user so that the user will run it as if they were logged in as the admin. This also helps limit the chance of the user hcanging the password. Hope this helps

[kman42]

Originally posted by Osirisis:


Just for future reference, there is a checkbox in the Windows 2000 user manager to set the password to never expire, and another for user cannot change password. Might help limit the damage done by the user. You can also set up shortcuts to applications in the profile for the normal user so that the user will run it as if they were logged in as the admin. This also helps limit the chance of the user hcanging the password. Hope this helps

Thanks! Next time use a more belligerant tone so I feel like I'm reading a PC forum

kman

[someone_else]

Ummm... The poll is "Your Secret SHAME". I don't know about the rest of you, but I am not ashamed for liking (loving?) OS X and Linux.

[Spliffdaddy]

If you can't figure out how to reinstall CD burning software and Windows or format a hard drive....

[SMacTech]

Originally posted by Spliffdaddy:
If you can't figure out how to reinstall CD burning software and Windows or format a hard drive....

I wondered about that too.

[CyberGreg]

Originally posted by Spliffdaddy:
If you can't figure out how to reinstall CD burning software and Windows or format a hard drive....

That proves nothing... there could be many valid reasons for not knowing about these things, perhaps the CD software was preloaded, perhaps the PC came with just a software restore CD... what point does your post prove? Do you know how to format the hard drive in OS/2? How about boot to the console? WTF!

Kman - please PM as I have extensive PC experience and would be happy to help you in the future.

[Xeo]

Polls are fun.

[Spliffdaddy]

Polls RULE


< knows how to format a drive and 'boot to console' in OS/2.

Launchpad, anyone?

[Nonsuch]

Originally posted by Spliffdaddy:
If you can't figure out how to reinstall CD burning software and Windows or format a hard drive....

Ah, the "you're too stupid to use a computer" defense. I was wondering how long before this weasel argument showed up.

[kman42]

Originally posted by Spliffdaddy:
If you can't figure out how to reinstall CD burning software and Windows or format a hard drive....

What part of "we didn't have the admin passowrd" didn't you understand? You can't install the software without it. Nor can you re-install Windows without it or reformat the drive from the Windows CD without it (perhaps there is a way to boot into DOS or something from the CD and reformat, but that wasn't obvious and I couldn't get any help on the forums as I mentioned). I could have purchased some disc utility to reformat, but reformatting would have been a last resort anyway.

All I really wanted to do was reset the password without any data loss or hassle. Once I found the wonderful Linux disk image, I was more than capable of figuring out how to fix the problem. The difficulty was that Windows doesn't offer the solution, the Windows manual doesn't offer any advice, the MS web site has no advice, and the PC forums I visited weren't very forthcoming. here's the link to the NT Password Editor disk image just in case other people run into the same problem:
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html

(Note: if you stole the comptuer, don't use this software )

kman