Some quick thoughts on technology.

[Chris Pall <x97pall@wmich.edu>]

I was looking through an issue of PC Computing today and this came to
mind.

The cover : "THE REAL WIN98"

Inside are the top ten reasons to buy Win98. Here are my bebunkings...

1) Smart Setup, easy updates.
-1) I don't have to say a word to debunk this one. They debunk it
themselves. In the "why not to buy win98 section, they state that the
setup suffers from schizophrenia from the myriad of options it avails
for installation. Debunking the debunking - while win98 may offer a
choice between "active-setup", "update wizard" or blah blah blah, Win98
will offer very little in the way of customization on setup, just like
it's predecessor. Additionally, they mention that these multiple setups
will cause confusion for corporate sites. What are they talking about?
Have the lost their minds? Corporate sites don't run setup when they
install windows. I can't believe they even print things like that.

2) Better crash protection
-2) If it's as good as Windows NT's, I'd look out.

3) Free disk space
-3) Four paragraphs explaining how FAT32 saves you space. Why did FAT32
not appear until now, 2-4 years after it was required? Why is Microsoft
spending more time integrating browsers and less time managing your
files? - something that an OS is supposed to do.  (It doesn't support
drive compression but that's ok, Microsoft probably shouldn't be doing
that anyway)

4)Your PC will run (slightly) faster.
-4) Only if you're running a Penium and not a Pentium II however. I
don't know if it was stated here before or not but due to the 16 bit
code in Windows 95 & 98, they both run slower on Intel's newer line of
chips. While we all may find the backward compatibility a nice feature,
let's not lie about what we're giving up...

5) Hassle Free Startup
-5) This "startup" refers to the boot menu that shows when you have a
problem with starting the OS. Perhaps they could add a "multi-boot"
option. Oh yeah, I forgot. That's not in their best interest. (

6) Runs better on a notebook.
-6) I don't have a notebook, so I can't really "debunk" this one BUT I
know when I use my desktop, there is a little thread on my computer that
runs that shows me my battery life. (it doesn't actually show on
anyone's computer, but it's there, running in the background)

7) Double your desktop space (allows a second monitor)
-7) Wow, Microsoft finally added a "geek" feature to it's product. I
wonder if it actually works.

8) Phone smarts (better area code control)
-8) Is this an OS problem? I'd rather have a computer that didn't crash.

9) WebTV on your PC
-9) Actually this is the entry that got me to write this thing. They
have a channel guide. I remember some time back a message being posted
here about how Microsoft had basically stolen a competitors technology
and integrated it. Add this onto the list of things that I would rather
not be here in leui of a functioning OS.

10) Plug and play works.
-10) Their next sentence is... Plug and play is still imperfect. Why the
contradiction? Couldn't come up with another reason to buy Win98 so you
decided to make up something and then take it back? This is outrageous.

They listed a set of 10 reasons not to buy it... in short, (the schitzo
reason, the fat32 compression reason, no security, no Microsoft fax
(this is a good thing), the help isn't any, the DOS prompt has been
changed, no scripting language, missing video drivers, backup blues
(this has been a problem since DOS 3.0), and the last reason they give
is because there won't be a 99 or 2000, so why buy 98 when you can buy
NT.

Good question.

Which brings me to my next topic....

Here's another interesting factoid. Buying a larger monitor will save
you time and money. Why? Because with the "larger" space, you "could"
set your monitor to a higher resolution and therefore you won't have to
flip the pages so much in some applications like browsers or
spreadsheets. PC Computing, in their infinite wisdom, calculated time
saved based on this (and using a couple guinea pig users) and figured
out that

So what were they're results? Changing from a 15 inch monitor to a 17
inch monitor will save you 156 hours a year, or 36 minutes a day based
on a Monday - Friday workweek. No vacation. The estimate for the amount
of money you save? $3915. Calculated at $24.?? dollars an hour. It
depends on what you make so they offer the spreadsheet to calculate your
own savings at their website. I couldn't find it. I thought I might save
myself 36 or so minutes by avoiding the ads on their website. I mean of
course, the whole magazine. Just in case you are wondering, you would
save 204 hours a year by getting the 19 inch monitor over the 15 inch
monitor.

That's all for now...

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                       Christopher Pall
                      ThinkBiz, DPS, WMU
                       Ann Arbor, MI USA

                      x97pall@wmich.edu
       http://members.tripod.com/~ChrisPall/index.html
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