Constants and variables 89, 7-10-7 edition
Now that I've switched from Windows 7 to Microsoft Malware 10, then back to Windows 7, I have a better idea of the absolute horror of Microsoft Malware 10.

A list of things I've noticed with relief and pleasure on the trip back to normal WORKABLE FUNCTIONAL COMPUTING.

This is a pretty good constants and variables comparison because the new and old computers are similar Dell Inspiron types, and all of my programs are the same in both cases. I'm using Firefox 56 on both. Only the Windows version is different. (Actually the CPU comparison should FAVOR 10, because the newer computer with 10 has about twice the CPU speed.)

Overall, EVERYTHING is faster and smoother in 7, by a factor ranging from 3 to infinity. (Infinity because some things can't be done at all in 10.)

Above and beyond all the details: The computer is MINE again. The disk is active ONLY when the computer is doing something that I ordered it to do. Starting a program, saving a file, scanning for viruses. All manual, all under MY command. In Malware 10 the disk is grinding ALL THE TIME and the CPU is 100% occupied ALL THE TIME. Half of its effort is spying on me and the other half is updating its capacity to spy on me. Occasionally it generously offers me one or two CPU flops, so I can do something worth spying on.

This is a global vs local distinction in the purest sense. Originally the desktop computer was a LOCALIST triumph over the GLOBALIST world of mainframes and terminals. As soon as the desktop got popular, the globalists started working on ways to re-globalize. Malware 10 is the FINAL SOLUTION in their pogrom.

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Online:

Logins: In 10, logins on websites can take two minutes for no obvious reason, and often fail entirely when something goes out of sync. In 7, the process takes a few seconds and only fails when I mistype a password.

Youtube: 10 has delayed sound on some but not all clips. It's not an echo, more like a 'canon' or fugue where the second layer starts 10 seconds later, then the third layer starts 10 seconds later, ad infinitum.

Non-Youtube videos: On 10 the video falls behind steadily, sounding like Autotune "music", then gives up after about one minute. Many videos refuse to play at all.

Non-video graphics: On 7 the radar display at Wunderground takes two seconds to fill in. On Malware 10 the same display takes two minutes. I can go to the kitchen and fetch a cup of coffee before it's done.

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Offline:

Screen-saver: In 7 you just wiggle the mouse to get the screen back. In 10 you need to sign in with a password like an hourly employee punching in with his key card.

PDFs: When I view a PDF from my usual dual-pane Norton Commander, 10 takes an extra minute as always, then makes me click through a mysterious 'security' notice, telling me that I'm opening a PDF from my usual dual-pane Norton Commander, which I already know because I'm opening a PDF from my usual dual-pane Norton Commander.

Recent files menu in file-open: BIG loss in 10, but sort of hard to describe unless you've been using it in previous versions. This list is a REAL helper for workflow. The recent list was well-planned in 7, focusing on the files and folders you need. The new version in 10 does show some recent stuff, but it's disorganized and unusable. (I suppose a UI/UX expert could explain the distinction better; I just know that it helps in 7 and doesn't help in 10.)

PYTHON: Important difference, and not listed in the usual critiques of Malware 10. I use a lot of homemade Py in building courseware. Setting up animations, processing images and sound and text, and converting the output of my nice logical authoring system to the bizarre hyper-hyper-redundant garbagetrashcrapshitpile of HTML/SVG/CSS/JS needed for "modern" web shit. Python is never as fast as compiled programs, but it's consistently 5 times slower in 10. Processing my usual audio files takes about one minute per file in 7, and at least 5 minutes in 10. I don't know how MS manages this degree of slowness; must be running the Py through a dozen layers of cumulative emulation. Emucumulation?

In 10 every screen action fills in from top to bottom in a measurable amount of time. Some of these top-to-bottoms can take 30 seconds when ANYTHING else is going on. All are instant in 7. Again it seems like 10 is running everything through several layers of virtual emulation. Or else each step is sent to MS for documentation of heresy, then sent back after personal inspection by MS inquisitors.

Start button in 10 leads to a big disorganized panel of ADVERTISEMENTS for mysterious things that are mostly absent. You have to search to find the mysterious symbols for the Control Panel or Shutdown. Start button in 7 leads to a simple menu.

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What's better in 10? Only one small thing.

The systray icon for a USB thumbdrive is clearer in 10. Looks like a thumbdrive. The 7 icon is meant to be a perspective picture of a thumbdrive, but at small scale it looks like a paintbrush or something.

Labels: Constants and Variables

  ¶ 1:38 AM