Posted 08/05/2008 at 03:21:21pm

I've been using 64 bit Windows since XP Pro x64, about three years now, and although there were certainly some compatibility issues with drivers I found that most of the hardware and software I used worked just fine, including games (although Star Wars Galaxies would hang from time to time). But I don't have a ton of either.

I then got Vista 64 and pretty much the same. Apart from the instability of Vista in general at the beginning it now is very good with only the occasional hang at boot up (at least it's right at the start) and can use basically everything. Sometimes you have to go hunting for drivers but they are there. I've even been able to use my Nostromo n52 controller and the Asus MyCinema TV tuner, both of which I had trouble with in XP x64.

Overall my experience with 64 bit computing in general and Vista 64 in particular has been rather good.

Posted 08/01/2008 at 01:49:38pm

Well, yes. Microsoft must be thinking that the design is too similar to their own to be just a coincidence. Of course, it could be a coincidence, that's what the judge will try to determine. All companies have to defend their patents, at least show that they're willing to fight for them.In the case of MS at least they spend money in research and development, marketing and manufacturing. It's not like they just buy patents and then sue whatever has the same color.

Posted 07/23/2008 at 03:28:10pm

Hmmm... my Commodore 64 booted from ROM and was ready to go almost as soon as you flipped the switch. The reason those kind of systems went away is because replacing and upgrading the OS is much easier when it's on a floppy or hard drive, if they can figure a way to combine both (ROM daughterboard?) maybe they'll be onto something. Specially, as others have mentioned, in laptops.

 As it is right now it feels more like a gimmick, but it sure has potential.

Posted 03/03/2008 at 11:29:32pm

I've had a pretty good experience using 64-bit Vista for almost a year now. Although drivers were rare at first, now I even have my Asus P-7131 TV Tuner working with PowerCinema 5, and the nvidia drivers for the 8600 GTS seem a lot better than they used to be. Granted, my components are not that hot, I use the onboard sound and only have 2GB of RAM; but I have found surprisingly few problems. Stability was an issue at first, but the October-November updates seem to have fixed that almost completely (though there's the occasional crash, but what windows doesn't crash occasionally?). Gameswise, I haven't had any problem with newish games (Crysis, Bioshock, Medieval II, Oblivion) or even older ones (SimCity 4, FIFA 2004, Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed!). Some have required a bit of tweaking (Silent Hunter III, IL-2, Empire Earth only works at 640x400). Ironically the only ones that just plainly refuse to run are the Combat Flight Simulators from MS. In general my experience with Vista has been pretty good. But that's just me, maybe I'm lucky.

Posted 01/17/2008 at 11:13:58am

Now we have to worry about giant killer robots controlled by crazed telepathic monkeys flinging robot feces.

Posted 01/05/2008 at 02:56:57pm

I knew that would happen :P LOL!

Posted 12/20/2007 at 11:19:04pm

If it was supposed to increase security then stopping IE6 from connecting to the internet was just right. Why break the solution?

Posted 11/20/2007 at 04:18:58pm

I understand why you discourage people from not using an antivirus and firewall, but you should also stress the importance of being paranoid about security. I find that it's far more dangerous to think you are safe because you have an antivirus than not having an antivirus and being paranoid about what your computer is doing. Personally, I don't use an antivirus or firewall either and haven't for over 15 years. I've never had any problems. Do I simply not know if I have a virus or not? Yes, but running an antivirus will only tell you whether it found something or not, not if you have a virus. I am very careful about what stuff I download, what goes in and out of my computer (I use a sniffer), what's running in my system and keep all my software updated. I run a virus scan twice a year or so and I've never had a problem in all this time. Am I still at risk? Sure, but so is everybody.

Posted 09/09/2007 at 12:16:50pm

unless you have Vista 64 bits, then you'll have to wait until full release... again.