Should we laugh or cry? Government pays Microsoft £5.5m to extend Windows XP support
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Where Windows scores highly is in the ability to lock down a machine and impose (and then vary) a central group policy. Linux developers dropped the ball on that one, which is part of the reason why MS has maintained such a stranglehold on the desktop. Linux can undoubtedly achieve much of the same control, but it's still in pieces.
We had our solaris systems tighter than the PC network NIS+ is great. In fact tight as a ducks arse on a pond would be a fair description. Even the Chinese users couldn't butcher the workstations into mandarin.
And as with most things M$ they where just copying Netware with the controlled networking. In fact I can't really think of anything major in the last 15-20 years that they have come up with themselves.
The only major upgrade in my view was when they released NT which I still have my MSCSE card for somewhere. But yet again they had to get the old boy that wrote OpenVMS in to do that for them.
Win 8 is lets be a tablet phone thingy and complete and utter annoying bollocks.
Actually I am using 8.1 just now and its not that bad for day to day use. I just have a applications folder on my desktop with shortcuts to the stuff I use in it just like I did in previous versions and it goes straight to desktop on login so I never see that panels crap. I have local accounts so never get involved with windows live accounts or what ever they are called.
But I would definitely not call it vastly superior to XP more of different.
They don't seem to realise that the features which they see as superior hold absolutely zero interest to the majority of users.
Its the same with office out of 900 users I would say only 5 of ours ever got near using any of the fancy office stuff the rest of them wouldn't have a problem with open office as long as everyone else was using it and there wasn't any file conversion issues and formatting going to pot between the two.
Last edited by mad_jock; 14th Apr 2014 at 10:09.
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"to the vastly superior Windows 8.1."
says who?
Most users who are sticking with XP liek it, they don't need nything "enhamced" and tehy don't want to waste all the time and money involved in "upgrading" to what are less useful products many of which are reallyaimed at phones, tablets etc
says who?
Most users who are sticking with XP liek it, they don't need nything "enhamced" and tehy don't want to waste all the time and money involved in "upgrading" to what are less useful products many of which are reallyaimed at phones, tablets etc
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Win95 to WinXP (perhaps before you were born, mixture?)
Yes I have seen my share of Windows95 and I don't miss it. Just like I don't miss Windows NT or Windows 2000 and just like I'm sure the clinger-ons of this world won't miss XP once they accept the fact they must rid themselves of it.
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Once the market is there for a fully networked up Linux desktop it will be provided. Either as a complete installation or a standalone purchased system like netware was.
The clingers on are going to be the death of the IT model of today mixture if you like it or not. And to be honest its about time things changed.
My lasting memory of dealing rooms and diving under desks was the number of female dealers who didn't wear knickers to work.
Just been having a bit of a search on Linux and its networking.
It appears every thing on the client side is good to go.
NIS is functional on the server side of things.
NIS+ was in development and there is a requirement for it but nobody is developing it currently for Linux servers.
NIS+ is still a mature system and still available on Solaris servers.
http://linux-nis.org/nis-howto/HOWTO/
Here is a link for those that are interested. I have worked with NIS+ and I didn't set it up but it didn't seem bad. We had samba for pc file services and the NIS+ was the PDC for the PC's as well and handled all the login in traffic using I might add a third of the network traffic that a windows PDC uses.
The clingers on are going to be the death of the IT model of today mixture if you like it or not. And to be honest its about time things changed.
My lasting memory of dealing rooms and diving under desks was the number of female dealers who didn't wear knickers to work.
Just been having a bit of a search on Linux and its networking.
It appears every thing on the client side is good to go.
NIS is functional on the server side of things.
NIS+ was in development and there is a requirement for it but nobody is developing it currently for Linux servers.
NIS+ is still a mature system and still available on Solaris servers.
http://linux-nis.org/nis-howto/HOWTO/
Here is a link for those that are interested. I have worked with NIS+ and I didn't set it up but it didn't seem bad. We had samba for pc file services and the NIS+ was the PDC for the PC's as well and handled all the login in traffic using I might add a third of the network traffic that a windows PDC uses.
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NIS was pretty cool back in the day, in fact Linux still uses remnants of it to let you pick your namespace sources (nsswitch.conf). Unfortunately the NIS protocol transmits passwords with low security over the wire.
Had a lot of "fun" recently setting up the Microsoft Active Directory System as the sole user account management system for both Windows and Linux in a hierarchical Windows domain environment. Managing users on both platforms was then done through ADS alone. The trick was to install the NIS schema extension to ADS but not run the NIS service, then use the Samba Winbind and Kerberos protocols instead.
It was such a cheap, elegant and secure solution that any large organisation should be able to apply if they are looking to phase out Windows desktops in favour of Linux and keep the burden of managing two disparate user account systems down.
Had a lot of "fun" recently setting up the Microsoft Active Directory System as the sole user account management system for both Windows and Linux in a hierarchical Windows domain environment. Managing users on both platforms was then done through ADS alone. The trick was to install the NIS schema extension to ADS but not run the NIS service, then use the Samba Winbind and Kerberos protocols instead.
It was such a cheap, elegant and secure solution that any large organisation should be able to apply if they are looking to phase out Windows desktops in favour of Linux and keep the burden of managing two disparate user account systems down.
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cattletruck I don't really know about NIS I have only ever worked with NIS+
Active directory another good idea stolen from netware.
Why earth would you want Linux desktops taking to a windows server?
Now getting windows to speak to *nix server I can. But to get *nix desktops to talk to expensive licensing, hardware hogging, servers that broadcast un-necessary ****e on your network?
Active directory another good idea stolen from netware.
Why earth would you want Linux desktops taking to a windows server?
Now getting windows to speak to *nix server I can. But to get *nix desktops to talk to expensive licensing, hardware hogging, servers that broadcast un-necessary ****e on your network?
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Depends what it is to do and the reason for doing it. And also where the server is your connecting to.
Had some pillock that wanted 400 users to use a terminal server in the US from the EU.
When I had dig into it a bit more I discovered the reason was because his solution for his project was an access database and the terminal server solution was to allow data input.
Yanks really don't like to be told to knob off and don't be so stupid.
Had some pillock that wanted 400 users to use a terminal server in the US from the EU.
When I had dig into it a bit more I discovered the reason was because his solution for his project was an access database and the terminal server solution was to allow data input.
Yanks really don't like to be told to knob off and don't be so stupid.
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mad_jock, NIS/NIS+ were dropped in favour of the more formal LDAP technology of which openldap was a nice easy replacement. ADS is just a glorified LDAP which if you are already using because you have Windoze users then it makes sense to stick your *nix users on it too. It just simplifies things. NIS/NIS+ concepts still pervade in most *nixs today (e.g. nsswitch.conf) and I doubt will ever go away.
The only issues I had with my setup described previously is your typical Windoze admin was not able to grasp these advance concepts easily and they constantly kept breaking stuff because there was no technet article for them to follow by rote which put them in the dangerous situation of having to think for themselves. Otherwise it worked very well.
Microsoft have really lifted their game on network security and in my opinion they are finally doing things right - they had too. This is why they say that the biggest changes with Win8x were under the hood. But that still doesn't make me a fan of "the Microsoft way".
The only issues I had with my setup described previously is your typical Windoze admin was not able to grasp these advance concepts easily and they constantly kept breaking stuff because there was no technet article for them to follow by rote which put them in the dangerous situation of having to think for themselves. Otherwise it worked very well.
Microsoft have really lifted their game on network security and in my opinion they are finally doing things right - they had too. This is why they say that the biggest changes with Win8x were under the hood. But that still doesn't make me a fan of "the Microsoft way".
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Windoze admin was not able to grasp these advance concepts easily and they constantly kept breaking stuff because there was no technet article for them to follow by rote which put them in the dangerous situation of having to think for themselves
I once spent a day trying to teach 2 of them the concept of how the dot files work. Two days later they were removed for the sudo group and put back into the dip**** group and given up as a lost cause. They had all the solaris training books but still 6 months later they couldn't manually mount a volume or for that matter seem to grasp how we could ln a common directory into 40 pc users home directory's without having to give them all another network drive in 10 seconds while drinking a can of coke and only typing with one hand in the project managers office on his spark5. Apparently you need at least two state of the art lcd monitors, an ergonomic wrist support, a special admin keyboard, a fancy chair to sit on and a blue shirt which says "Microsoft MSCSE qualified" on its left tit.
It just shouldn't be possible with a pair of cargo shorts, A t-shirt which has "I am root, if you see me laughing you better not have store any thing important on your local disk." on a goldfish bowl 10 year old 10kg monitor with a mouse that requires a holographic grid to work and a keyboard that you can bang nails in the wall with, while standing drinking pop using a command line text editor.
For the first time in years I have just had a look at the geek gear, its expanded incredibly.
http://www.zazzle.co.uk/anyone_who_t...14869261963111
I would if I could get that one changed for our passenger services lady's
Last edited by mad_jock; 15th Apr 2014 at 10:32.
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in my opinion they are finally doing things right
A small concession is that the "update" security-related patche are available seperately for this month.
And if that isn't bad enough, this "update" isn't even available through WSUS yet, even though it's been out for a week.
This is only a mild pain in the ass for my small company with ~10 servers, but I dread to think what it's like for companies like HP with workstation numbers in the 6 figure range, or even worse, those who are currently mid-deployment.
And, if you experience problems with this "update" you're then left to fend for yourself. At least those who experience troubles with 8 to 8.1 (and there are plenty) can roll back and still get security patches (if not IE11)
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XP end of support
First and foremost, XP was (and is) the stable platform that most MS users were waiting for.
It was hugely successful and popular with all users at all levels, however MS was never going to provide support for ever, it's not their MO.
I still use XP basically because I spent a good part of my life supporting it and it does what I want, I'm not interested in the social 'Meeja'/Web front end of Win8 and Win7 would have required new hardware for no appreciable gain.
I understand there are some risks by continuing with XP but I'm not unduly concerned, it's like having an old car which is running well - why upgrade when it ain't broke?
I'm also typing this on a IBM Z60m, at least 10 years old, upgraded to SSD and more than adequate for browsing and still faster than some new machines.
I don't like changing because I have to, simply because someone draws a line in the sand, and I suspect I'm not alone.
It was hugely successful and popular with all users at all levels, however MS was never going to provide support for ever, it's not their MO.
I still use XP basically because I spent a good part of my life supporting it and it does what I want, I'm not interested in the social 'Meeja'/Web front end of Win8 and Win7 would have required new hardware for no appreciable gain.
I understand there are some risks by continuing with XP but I'm not unduly concerned, it's like having an old car which is running well - why upgrade when it ain't broke?
I'm also typing this on a IBM Z60m, at least 10 years old, upgraded to SSD and more than adequate for browsing and still faster than some new machines.
I don't like changing because I have to, simply because someone draws a line in the sand, and I suspect I'm not alone.
It still fills a non internet need here which none of the more recent releases can enable.
And when I have to use it, everything is familiar and friendly, to a degree I haven't been able to realise with V7 or 10. Mostly they work OK though .....
No serious complaints ... (well most of the time - bluetooth on W7 being the frustrating exception)
FOR
Psychophysiological entity
I was given a big Dell that had been working on XP. It was in a case that I would have died for when I made AutoCAD workstations. You know, just to impress the customers. Phenomenal bit of engineering.
Anyway, when I fixed the faults, XP worked astonishingly well on the Pentium Quad - a chip with more heat sinking and plumbing than I'd ever seen. I took a fancy to the little-used Hitachi 7200 rpm drives, but concluded at 13 years old, the heat they generate was an indication of their worth in the modern world. I gave the lot away.
I have two laptops that I can't load W10 on - Despite being an i7, Sony won't write the drivers having sold the Vaio name to a group of investors. (that was direct from my contact in Sony.)
They run well on W7, but I miss some of the 10 toys. Also, the updates have to be done via a method I learned on How To Geek and it's a bit of a fiddle.
I used to love Sony, but after they replaced my TV's LIGHT ENGINE with an offering with plastic lenses, I knew the end was nigh. Just plain deception, for some, anyway. When the tekkie saw me looking at the pixels with a loupe, he probably thought I was mad - until he learned the truth. $2,500 part. I guess Sony panicked.
Anyway, when I fixed the faults, XP worked astonishingly well on the Pentium Quad - a chip with more heat sinking and plumbing than I'd ever seen. I took a fancy to the little-used Hitachi 7200 rpm drives, but concluded at 13 years old, the heat they generate was an indication of their worth in the modern world. I gave the lot away.
I have two laptops that I can't load W10 on - Despite being an i7, Sony won't write the drivers having sold the Vaio name to a group of investors. (that was direct from my contact in Sony.)
They run well on W7, but I miss some of the 10 toys. Also, the updates have to be done via a method I learned on How To Geek and it's a bit of a fiddle.
I used to love Sony, but after they replaced my TV's LIGHT ENGINE with an offering with plastic lenses, I knew the end was nigh. Just plain deception, for some, anyway. When the tekkie saw me looking at the pixels with a loupe, he probably thought I was mad - until he learned the truth. $2,500 part. I guess Sony panicked.