Comments on: Computing in molasses

By: Jake

Jake — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:13:19 +0000

You can still use lightweight software today you know. I am in Links (graphical mode) right now because pages load instantly even though I am only getting about 300 kbps right now.

By: Boris

Boris — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:15:59 +0000

If you run too much stuff at once, yes your OS will become sluggish. This is true with Windows or Linux or any OS. I am quite happy with the performance of my Windows OS, because I have it configured properly, and enough ram to run the open applications I do have. I know exactly what you mean because I have worked with very sluggish systems many times. Usually these systems have far too many services enabled and too little ram. It is true that any system will behave sluggishly if you impose too much on it, not just Windows.

By: Bobo

Bobo — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:19:53 +0000

Sorry, I was just trolling for a reponse. Anyways, spyware or virus checkers (ironic, come to think of it…) can ofren slow down a Windows box considerably. Sloppy programs that leak handles are also to blame. I do think that MS can be a bit more “pro-active” in showing up the sloppy application however.

By: Otmorozkam

Otmorozkam — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 07:57:39 +0000

It’s impossible to know if I agree with you or not. Why don’t you just name the program that was giving you problems?

My own current pet peeve is programs that instead of a progress bar present a block sliding back and forth or flower petals rotating. This give me no idea how long it will be before the program comes back.

I, too, remember the “Good Old Days” of computing, when you went to save something on your DEC Rainbow’s floppy drive and prayed there ws no plane passing overhead at the time, because the slightest vibration would cause the write to fail.

You had 16K? We used to DREAM of having 16K on the TRS-80. You got 4K, if you were lucky. Then the lab manager would cut you in half with a bread knife and dance about on your grave singing “Hallelujah!”

By: Joseph Mcnillian

Joseph Mcnillian — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:39:55 +0000

I use Windows apps all day long and my File menu never, ever takes a detectable amount of time to appear.

On the other hand, I have to reboot way too often, and it takes far too long, at least 5 minutes from start to end, and I shouldn’t need to do it in the first place.

By: Paul W. Homer

Paul W. Homer — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:36:28 +0000

Yes, I feel the same. Even worse then the speed is the instability. We spent so much time making things work consistently, and now? My earlier development platforms were deterministic machines, entirely understandable, this PC thingy on my desk today is one giant chaotic mass of bad functionality all spiraling around waiting to irritate me. Progress?

If they considered it a software crisis in the fifties, it should be described as a full software meltdown now.

Paul.

By: Stefan Zeiger

Stefan Zeiger — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:53:59 +0000

In my experience with Windows XP, the less than optimal paging plays a big part in these responsiveness problems. If you have enough RAM (and with the low prices for RAM nowadays there’s no reason not to) just disable paging entirely and Windows becomes a lot more responsive.

By: Stephan Schmidt

Stephan Schmidt — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:39:27 +0000

Who was using a “multi pass compiler” on an Amiga? Multi pass assemblers perhaps … And SEKA and ASMOne were very very fast.

Peace
-stephan

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:36:06 +0000

If only there were an open source version of Flash, I’d switch in a second. But I have to spend all day with this hulking, focus-stealing, updating-without-asking, suddenly-disconnecting brute of an oaf PC.

By: jimbobjames

jimbobjames — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:36:04 +0000

I’ve noticed other people complaining about “lag”. All of them were using Intel CPU’s. I have read other people mention this phenomenon with current intel processors, obviously its very easy to blame the OS. I can’t remember a specific source but it is something others have noted, but not apparently when using AMD cpu’s.

Before I get flamed – I not talking about standard loading lag but the wierd way that programs behave on XP / Vista with a core 2 cpu. It’s like a wierd variable lag when you launch programs.