Still booting after all these years: The people stuck using ancient Windows computers
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Screen? In a elevator?
How else are you gonna show ads?
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I had a 486DX running DOS for writing and editing CAM programs for CNC mills, lathes, pipe bender, and a laser cutter. And for funsies, an even older Macintosh that booted from a 5 1/4" floppy that ran a CMM, (co-ordinate measuring machine). And the software for the CMM ran from another 5 1/4" floppy.
This was about 2017 before I retired as a toolmaker.
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I'm a bit depressed that I finally need to upgrade my last windows 7 machine. It looks like it's 10 for me now
https://www.fedoraproject.org/
https://linuxmint.com/
https://archlinux.org/
https://www.debian.org/
https://elementary.io/
https://system76.com/pop/There are many safe open source options. If you need help there are ample resources available. If you want to you can also DM me.
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I know it's not exactly the point of the article but for a lot of things, I reckon a good amount of 'innovation' was pretty pointless. I personally don't think I ever needed anything that Office 2003 can't do... (Of course I don't use any MS office to begin with but you get the point)
=Let(), Lambda and Regex were good additions to Excel imo
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Those screens can easily run on an integrated Raspberry Pi microcontroller, they dont exactly have complex graphics
We are far away from the release of the Raspberry Pi if that screen is running an early version of Windows CE. Putting a PC in the elevator to drive the screen was probably the most cost effective solution.
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"stuck" more like happy to not have to deal with the last 15-ish years of microsoft ruining everything they previously excelled at.
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How else are you gonna show ads?
I hate that you are right.
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I like the little typo ... c://
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https://www.fedoraproject.org/
https://linuxmint.com/
https://archlinux.org/
https://www.debian.org/
https://elementary.io/
https://system76.com/pop/There are many safe open source options. If you need help there are ample resources available. If you want to you can also DM me.
Yeah, I'm well aware. But how much of my time would it take to get a bunch of windows software running smoothly on Linux?
I do appreciate the offer of personal help, that's an extremely generous offer to an internet stranger. Sincerely, thank you!
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We are far away from the release of the Raspberry Pi if that screen is running an early version of Windows CE. Putting a PC in the elevator to drive the screen was probably the most cost effective solution.
Was but theres no reason to keep doing that
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I'd like a law that software / hardware companies who file for bankruptcies must release the source / files for their tech to an open source repository.
I like that idea bit it'll never fly. That software is an asset. A bankrupt company needs every asset to be sold to cover as much percentage of their debt to their vendors as possible.
I've been in a company that went bankrupt and I've been the vendor of a company that went bankrupt. Being the vendor was the harder experience. -
Was but theres no reason to keep doing that
New ones probably use something newer. The 20 year old elevator in a hospital will only be upgraded if something breaks.
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there's a word for those people: awesome
windows xp was peak; running anything before xp is legendary
Idk, it was horrendously insecure, would freeze a lot, and missing creature comforts like window tiling.
Tbh I think you're letting nostalgia blind you to XP's flaws a little.
If they kept refining Win7 it would've been great.
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I was tearing out ancient infrastructure for a new office and my eye kept going to a rectangular square box on the wall. Finally realized it was a PC! The cause of death was clear, PSU fan died, killed itself from heat. It was a form factor I had never seen, but standard nonetheless. It was running an answering machine system in DOS, still worked! Such a rare machine I've only found a single reference on the web and a single video about it. 1999, 486XS (I know, would kill for a DX, it's soldered on), upgraded from 2x 2MB SIMMs to a whopping 2x 64MB SIMMs. Imagine what that would have cost in the day!
LONG story, but I got it running Windows 95b. 3.1 was just too much challenge to get it networked and happy. Much pain was removed when I got a USB floppy emulator. Can't do jack without a floppy! Broke the network card drivers, need to start over. Had it running Doom with a legit SoundBlaster card and could RDP into over the network.
It was an amazing journey getting it all together and updated. Most of that knowledge is gone from the internet, and I sure don't remember all the tricks. Going to be my first token ring machine! LOL, had to get parts from Romania and trash cans.
Man, remember when people used to break into offices to steal the RAM?
My work experience in around 1995 was spent at a local computer firm.
At one point a group of men in balaclavas showed up, the boss stopped playing Doom long enough to cover the security camera and hand over a bunch of crumpled banknotes, and I was handed this pile of SIMMs to put in a test rig to make sure they were OK to sell.
I also had to straighten the pins on used/stolen 486 CPUs, and pretty sure at one point was taken to break into a warehouse. There was certainly nobody else in the whole building, and we loaded the van with a bunch of cheap looking boxes before taking them back to HQ.
The boss was also banging a girl in my class, which in later years I learned makes him a paedo. Times sure were simpler in 1995.
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I ran Linux 1994ish. Amiga OS before. Amstrad CPC 464 before. A friend ran Sinclair ZX-80, that was the first system I had access to.
aside from radio shack and texas instruments that i used at camp, i think i was sadly too young to do anything but windows 3.1
our first computer was a tandy sensation in the early 90s and i didn't really play with linux until maybe the mid 2000sexcept for playing with apple IIe and radio shack computers through school and camp, that is.
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MS DOS 6.6 for me - I enjoy the power of a 286 processor and much smaller instruction sets.
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It really depends what its used for.
Anything that is public facing would never work without constant maintenance and upgrades, be it a computer OS or some complex piece of hardware.
Yup, also especially for industrial applications, requirements and needs absolutely can change, and that means having to work around the equipment. I have seen firsthand the experience of trying to get new features into ancient applications. (Made worse by the fact that we took on support for it because the original company which had created the program had gone under).
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"stuck" more like happy to not have to deal with the last 15-ish years of microsoft ruining everything they previously excelled at.
Never thought I'd miss Ballmer, but here we are.
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Idk, it was horrendously insecure, would freeze a lot, and missing creature comforts like window tiling.
Tbh I think you're letting nostalgia blind you to XP's flaws a little.
If they kept refining Win7 it would've been great.
Technically, they did, and it was not great.
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I know it's not exactly the point of the article but for a lot of things, I reckon a good amount of 'innovation' was pretty pointless. I personally don't think I ever needed anything that Office 2003 can't do... (Of course I don't use any MS office to begin with but you get the point)
I've been trying tk get family to switch to Linux, but some are irrationally attached to MS Word. I wonder if Office 2003 will run in Wine?
