OT: Microsoft patents "timed button presses"

[Transpower at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/4/2004 12:42:53 AM Eastern Daylight Time, fp at wjv.com 
writes:

> XP is far less trouble than the predecesors but far more trouble
> than an *n*x system I've used. 
> 

I am certified for both Microsoft products and for UNIX.  Frankly, Windows XP 
and Windows Server 2003 are more complex than any form of *n*x I've used.

Windows NT was more pliable; if a system file went bad, you could replace it 
easily.  If you needed to do a complete restore, you could use Backup Exec, 
four diskettes, and the Windows CD.  It worked.

With Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, everything is trapped.  If you try 
to replace a system file, the dll cache immediately restores the previous copy. 
 If you go into Recovery Console and try to restore a file, you get "access 
denied."  To restore a system, you need an ASR diskette, together with the 
matching tape, and the Windows CD.  (If you overwrote that tape you're up the 
creek.)  You will also need various driver diskettes.  Plus you will probably have 
to reactivate Windows!  To date, image backup programs like InstantRecovery 
and Snapback don't work with the AHA-39320 and LTO tape drives--so they're 
useless for new installations.

In other words, Microsoft thwarts you at every turn.  Now compare this with 
SCO OpenServer and Unitrends CTAR.  If I have to restore OpenServer, I just 
boot on the two CTAR diskettes (now 2.88 MB, because the UNIX kernel is so big), 
run CTAR restore, and voila, the system is back.  No muss, no fuss.  I've 
contacted Unitrends about a similar product for Windows--they no longer make PC 
Parachute and do not currently have disaster recovery software for Windows.  
What a shame.

Regards,
Ronald W. Satz, Ph.D., MCSE+I, SCO Authorized
Transpower Corporation
www.transpowercorp.com
transpower at aol.com
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