#$@%!^* Windows'98

[Calliander]

That 1) looks like XP's graphis just circling around layered on top of each other, and 2) stupid, and not 3D. What application does any of this have? "Not a practical way to watch Star Wars," but YOU CAN DO IT! WHOO!!!

[Lhadatt]

1) You are correct.
2) It's a demo. It even said that on the link. It's not meant to show actual application. And yes, it is 3D -- check the movie with the wavy dialog boxes. That certainly looks 3D and/or vectorized OS X-style to me.

MS is not going to reveal their tricks while Apple is able to issue a patch to OS X that can co-opt any new interface features before MS's product hits the market. That may sound stupid, but we have no solid idea what the next iteration of Windows is going to look like because MS hasn't said anything other than "it will be 3D". Check the previous pages on that article, it clearly goes into what they have planned, even if it doesn't show it in demo form.

[Calliander]

That's true.

But why does it have to be 3D? What's the benefit? Virtual desktops are way better than 3D. I can't even think of what 3D would entail for an OS. Panther's fast user switching turns the screen into a cube and rotates, but that's about all I can think of.

[Lhadatt]

Why does OS X need a vector graphics engine?

MS's reasoning is on that article. Click on "previous" to get to the other pages of it.

[JMET]

Something is needed to push the sales of newer faster hardware..

Microsoft has always led the pack in pushing this move...

[burgundy]

Originally posted by FPM
I've been using Mandrake Linux for a few weeks now. I would say its even a little more stable than XP, it hasn't crashed once since I installed it. I am quite impressed

I'm considering Mandrake. I know almost nothing about configuring an OS. Can I handle Linux? I basically use my PC for browsing, media and documents.

[FPM]

Originally posted by burgundy
I'm considering Mandrake. I know almost nothing about configuring an OS. Can I handle Linux? I basically use my PC for browsing, media and documents.

Mandrake detected all of the hardware. No configuring for the most part. There are linux video players that you can get (I use XINE), and Mandrake comes with an audio player. Linux should have anything that Windows has for documents.

[DArque Bishop]

Agreed.

Mandrake should come with OpenOffice, which provides something like 95% compatibility with MS Office documents. If you want to take a look at it beforehand, there is a Windows version available at http://www.openoffice.org/ . I agree as far as Xine goes, as well... I used it for DVD playback on my Compaq laptop running Linux, among other things. Web browsing should be handled by Mozilla and Konqueror (which Apple's Safari is based on), and personally I think they're superior browsers to MSIE. Also, gaming isn't barren either... there are binaries for UT, UT2003, all of id Software's games, among others... not to mention the WineX project at http://www.transgaming.com/ .

To be on the safe side, I'd get a copy of Running Linux by O'Reilly Publishing, as Linux really is a different beast from Windows. Amazon has it for sale here.

[JMET]

Prepare for a rough first couple weeks while you get used to it and get everything tweaked and configured.

Mandrake should include most software you would want and should also install all hardware correctly.

3D graphic card drivers will probally need to be installed manually however if you want 3D performance in games.

The biggest thing is getting used to the look of different browsers and fonts etc....

[burgundy]

I received my new PC and had zero trouble installing and configuring Mandrake, although I have to download the drives for my GeForce manually. (I'm not online with it yet.)

I'm also trying to get more comfortable with the command line, although I realized I was using UNIX pretty frequently when I was in school, and didn't realize it.