howell@thorin.cs.unc.edu (William Howell) (11/03/88)
Does anyone really use Windows? or is it a marketing facade? I can't believe that very many people would put up with the problems that this product has. I'd be interested to know if anyone is really having success with this product. And if you aren't, i.e. if I am not alone with this many problems, what hope is there that the Presentation Manager will be any better? The latest two problems; 1) Excel consumes 206 KB of conventional memory on a PS/2 with Windows/386 and 6mb of memory. This translates to that you can't run Microsoft Word and say a terminal session at the same time. Correct me, but I thought that was the basic reason for the product. 2) I ran Word, called up a file from a 5.25" diskette in drive B. Everything is going fine. I then go to print it. Windows complains that it can't find the Windows system, to please insert it in drive A (3.5"). The mouse becomes disabled, and all I can do is press the Enter Key to acknowledge okay. Of course I don't have a Windows system on a 3.5" diskette and none of the distribution diskettes would do the trick...so a soft boot...a loss of work...and I am back running again. I don't know how many times Windows hangs my machine, but it is getting ridiculous! I'd like to hear from anyone that has some ideas that might help or confirm these problems. Thanks.
spolsky-joel@CS.YALE.EDU (Joel Spolsky) (11/04/88)
In article <5047@thorin.cs.unc.edu> howell@thorin.cs.unc.edu (William Howell) writes: >Does anyone really use Windows? or is it a marketing facade? >I can't believe that very many people would put up with the >problems that this product has. YEAH! lets bash Windows! yay! I would really love to see a spate of windows-bashing postings!!! +----------------+---------------------------------------------------+ | Joel Spolsky | bitnet: spolsky@yalecs uucp: ...!yale!spolsky | | | arpa: spolsky@yale.edu voicenet: 203-436-1483 | +----------------+---------------------------------------------------+ #include <disclaimer.h> Windows(TM) is probably a registered trademark of MicroSoft. Who cares.
cem@ihlpa.ATT.COM (Malloy) (11/04/88)
>>Does anyone really use Windows? or is it a marketing facade? >>I can't believe that very many people would put up with the >>problems that this product has. > >YEAH! lets bash Windows! yay! > >I would really love to see a spate of windows-bashing postings!!! I use MicroSoft Windows all of the time. Most of the software that I use runs under Windows. The problems that I have had depend on the application that I use. I use three different versions of Windows. Windows/286 (enter win) and Windows/386 (change path and then enter either win386 or win86). Each has a function. With enough experimenting I have found which application works best under which Window. I do not "bash", you shouldn't either. Simple rules: 1.) If you don't like it, don't use it. 2.) If you must use it and don't like it, get another job. 3.) If you can do it better, do it! 4.) If you do it, send me an evaluation copy. Clancy Malloy AT&T Bell Labs att!ihlpf!cem
bkliewer@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (Bradley Dyck Kliewer) (11/08/88)
In article <5047@thorin.cs.unc.edu> howell@thorin.cs.unc.edu (William Howell) writes: > >1) Excel consumes 206 KB of conventional memory on a PS/2 with > Windows/386 and 6mb of memory. This translates to that you > can't run Microsoft Word and say a terminal session at the > same time. I used to use Windows/386 extensively, although now I mostly use OS/2. Are you sure you're interpreting your memory usage correctly? I've had at least two copies of Word, one copy of QMODEM, a copy of Paradox, and Excel running at the same time on an AT with 4.5 Meg. I've never really understood how Windows/386 allocates memory, but it does seem odd -- I believe I loaded Excel last, which may be the key to the problem. The biggest problems I've had with Windows/386 were file based e.g. Word and Paradox clobbering each others files. Also, when the system is close the memory limits, the chances of a protection violation seem to increase substatially. Bradley Dyck Kliewer
howell@bashful.cs.unc.edu (William Howell) (11/08/88)
In article <14794@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> bkliewer@iuvax.UUCP (Bradley Dyck Kliewer) writes: > >I used to use Windows/386 extensively, although now I mostly use OS/2. >Are you sure you're interpreting your memory usage correctly? I've had >at least two copies of Word, one copy of QMODEM, a copy of Paradox, and >Excel running at the same time on an AT with 4.5 Meg. I've never really >understood how Windows/386 allocates memory, but it does seem odd -- I >believe I loaded Excel last, which may be the key to the problem. > This problem has grown even more confusing as we have two PS/2 mod 80 machines, each with DOS 3.3, Windows/386 2.03, and Excel. Each machine has its own set of software, but the same version of everything. On one machine loading Excel consumes 206 KB of conventional memory and you can't do much else, while on the other it consumes a token amount of conventional memory and you can load and run all types of applications. Anyone from Microsoft read this newsgroup, and might want to venture a guess? And while I am on differences between the two, one system can run the terminal desktop accessory in small print size and the other cannot, the size remains virtually the same large size. Yet another strange Windows occurance between two identical machines!