sister wants a computer for making movies and...

[Asher]

"I'm typing File but instead of showing me the File menu it's typing it in some white space! Like it's mocking me! PCs suck! They are complete **** "

[Q Classic]

sorry, ag, but asher's most recent responses are dead on, with a few caveats:

dell's shipping those new logitech mice, which really suck. i use a good microsoft optical mouse, and it doesn't.

luna, the default theme, sucks. which is why a good many people i know use "classic", instead of fisher-price.

otoh, i have to agree wholeheartedly with asher on the old imac mice... which were quite possibly the worst things i've ever seen for use with a computer.

[Asher]

Aggy knows what he's talking about.

I finally turned on ClearType and it doesn't work properly. The text is still jagged and frankly it's not much better than when it was turned off.

[Asher]

Forgot the pic.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Asher

Surely it's still better than the iMac's cheap keyboard and the hockey-puck mouse?

The Apple Pro keyboard spanks this piece of crap, ergonomically. And the puck mouse has been gone for over three years. Apple's optical mouse spanks this one.

But I'm sure that's Dell's fault, not MS's.

Right.

No, honestly, I expected more. The graphics are lousy too.

1) Did you calibrate it?
2) Bull**** -- take a screenshot (hit Print Screen on the keyboard, paste it into MS Paint, upload it here)

Oh, so I have to calibrate it, instead of the perfectly intuitive step of turning it on. Stupid....

IE doesn't come with popup blockers (duh). If you want those, there's hundreds of freeware programs that are painless to use. Ever heard of Google?

Too late, I'm using Netscape now. How ****ty - a browser without ad blocking.

Like?

When I post a reply the smilies board takes up the whole screen for a couple of seconds before it reduces to normal size.

You find XP's distracting? I think that's poor word choice, OS X is the one filled with excessive blending and animation. XP's default theme is annoying condescending and tacky.

X's colorful stuff isn't distracting. At least I never find it so. I find my eyes being consistently being drawn to the button bar, which I find annoying.

[QUOTE]

Switch to Silver or Windows Classic, or theme your own with the hundreds of free ones online.

I might try the silver one. But no - it isn't there. But when I click more themes it takes me to MS's page where I can buy software that I suppose contains themes.

The first time you open an MS Office application, it does some configuration with the installer.

This is a more serious problem it gives out a 1706 error each time the program launches (although if you press "cancel" a couple of times it starts). I think this may be the tech guy's fault rather than XP's.

What doesn't work about it? Don't tell me you're not bright enough to figure out how to use MS Word...

Just did.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Asher
Forgot the pic.

That's what it looks like. Not much better IMHO.

[Q Classic]

When I post a reply the smilies board takes up the whole screen for a couple of seconds before it reduces to normal size.

it's the way ie renders it, not the fault of windows proper.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Agathon
The Apple Pro keyboard spanks this piece of crap, ergonomically. And the puck mouse has been gone for over three years. Apple's optical mouse spanks this one.

But I'm sure that's Dell's fault, not MS's.

Quite frankly I hate Logitech.

I use an MS Intellimouse Explorer 3.0, which I adore, and an MS Nature Keyboard elite, which I also adore. Apple doesn't make anything even close to comparable.

Oh, so I have to calibrate it, instead of the perfectly intuitive step of turning it on. Stupid....

Nope, you don't have to. It's one of the subtle advantages of Windows, it lets you do more if you want to. It defaults to the most-widely-used style, but there's 6 different variations that work better on different kinds of monitors. Some work better on Trinitron CRTs, other on non-Trinitron CRTs, some on LCDs, etc.

Apple doesn't let you choose -- they just take 1 variation and force it on everyone.

Here's the tuning page, check out how painful it is to use!!! http://www.microsoft.com/typography/...pe/tuner/1.htm

When I post a reply the smilies board takes up the whole screen for a couple of seconds before it reduces to normal size.

That's because Markos didn't specify the size of the icons. Once the icons are cached it doesn't do that. It does it in Opera and Mozilla too the first time you load it...

I might try the silver one. But no - it isn't there.

Oh my God.
Yes it is, look harder.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
sorry, ag, but asher's most recent responses are dead on, with a few caveats:

dell's shipping those new logitech mice, which really suck. i use a good microsoft optical mouse, and it doesn't.

luna, the default theme, sucks. which is why a good many people i know use "classic", instead of fisher-price.

otoh, i have to agree wholeheartedly with asher on the old imac mice... which were quite possibly the worst things i've ever seen for use with a computer.

Which is why they've been discontinued for years.

So luna sucks, the logitech mice sucks.

All I added to that is that:

Cleartype doesn't work very well (not as good as X anyway). The Help is crap. IE doesn't block pop ups. The icons are mixed and This version of Word has something wrong with it.

What's there for Asher to be right about?

[Asher]

Originally posted by Agathon
That's what it looks like. Not much better IMHO.

"Not much better."

Christ Agathon, you're either completely blind or completely biased. No wonder you think it's crap -- you've no idea what you're talking about, AT ALL, even when it's a simple observational fact like this!

[Q Classic]

cleartype does work very well. at least, it does on the computers i have.

i've found that help sucks just as badly in mac osx as it does in winxp.

ie never did block pop ups, so it's not something you can really blame on windows xp.

the icons aren't mixed, at least not on mine.

and that version of word having issues is probably more dell than windows.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Agathon
Cleartype doesn't work very well (not as good as X anyway).

This is so stupid it pretty much invalidates your whole "impression" of XP off the bat...

OS X uses ClearType 1.0, doesn't offer you any configuration options.

XP uses ClearType 2.0, offers you configuration options, but you're either too dumb or too blind to notice that it isn't jaggy, and it's actually a better implementation than OS X's. Go ahead, try using fonts under size 8 -- they actually work with 2.0!

The Help is crap.

To be honest, I've no idea if this is the case. I've never used it. But my parents seem to have no problems using it, it even points to items on the screen for you...what did you not like about it?

IE doesn't block pop ups.

That's because pop ups pay for the sites you use bandwidth/server resources to view. IE will never block popups, you use a third party tool or another browser. It's akin to a cable company shipping a set-top box that blocks commercials...won't happen.

What's there for Asher to be right about?

Every damn thing in this thread.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Asher

Nope, you don't have to. It's one of the subtle advantages of Windows, it lets you do more if you want to. It defaults to the most-widely-used style, but there's 6 different variations that work better on different kinds of monitors. Some work better on Trinitron CRTs, other on non-Trinitron CRTs, some on LCDs, etc.

My mac does that. It is just smart enough to work out what I have and do it automatically - although I can change it if I want.

Apple doesn't let you choose -- they just take 1 variation and force it on everyone.

No they don't - you can change it if you want.

Here's the tuning page, check out how painful it is to use!!!

Still the same. Must try harder, MS.

That's because Markos didn't specify the size of the icons. Once the icons are cached it doesn't do that. It does it in Opera and Mozilla too the first time you load it...

Not on my computer it doesn't.

Oh my God.
Yes it is, look harder.

Nope. It must have been removed. It isn't on the list and I searched the whole machine and it only has Luna and Classic. (I searched for all the *.Theme files).

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Asher

"Not much better."

Christ Agathon, you're either completely blind or completely biased. No wonder you think it's crap -- you've no idea what you're talking about, AT ALL, even when it's a simple observational fact like this!

OK - I have the dell in front of me and the emac next to it. The emac's font display looks better to me - especially with detailed fonts.

Of course I must be wrong because I am looking straight at it.

I've had enough of this computer. I'm off back to the emac.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Agathon
My mac does that. It is just smart enough to work out what I have and do it automatically - although I can change it if I want.

No, it doesn't. It just defaults to the single variation.
I would point you to the ClearType whitepaper as proof, but somehow I think it'd be over your head and you'd still not believe me.

No they don't - you can change it if you want.

Oh really? How do I access calibration on OS X then?

Not on my computer it doesn't.

Are you in some kind of weird alternate dimension than everyone else?

Nope. It must have been removed. It isn't on the list and I searched the whole machine and it only has Luna and Classic. (I searched for all the *.Theme files).

Silver is a variation of Luna.

You know what? I take it all back -- stick to OS X, XP is obviously too difficult for you.

But let's think here for a second. What do we mean when we say "Silver"? It's a color, right? And you don't see it listed in the themes listing, right?

Hmm. Well that's odd, obviously we can draw the conclusion that it's MISSING!

But perhaps if we had any kind of intuition whatsoever, we could check the conveniently labled "Color Scheme" combo box on that same page, right below the theme selection, which reveals our lost style -- SILVER!