3 Aug
2006
3 Aug
'06
7:54 a.m.
On 8/3/2006 at 2:10 AM Jim Leonard wrote:
I can see where the guy is coming from, though. Modern
hardware is very
reliable, but the software is just terrible. Drivers in particular. I
have a 3D program that displays perfectly on one machine, and resets the
display every time you render on another. I have a Linux box that keeps
forgetting what it's IP address is, DHCP or not, and the catalyst for
that behavior was a new router (!?). It's crazy.
No, it's just the level of complexity that software's evolved. Display
cards have come a long way from simple bit-mapped graphics and the level of
driver support needed for relatively simple devices is more than you'd
think. In particular, a "legacy" floppy driver under XP must deal with
things such as ACPI and power management that were never an issue for
earlier OS software. Most software, Linux included, has been getting more
bloated. Not only does the complexity make for less reliability, but it
makes ever-greater demands on system resources.
I'm sometimes puzzled about this when I consider that most PC owners simply
want to interact with a web browser and send email--and perhaps do the
occasional word processing document and spreadsheet. With the current crop
of operating systems, a staggering amount of hardware is being thrown at
relatively few applications for the most part.
Cheers,
Chuck