Yeah, Microsoft is slowing XP down

Subject: XP slow downs

This is the most important article you've ever printed

Aaron Kempf

Subject: AMD's socket 939

AMD should testdrive re-manufacturing socket 939 CPU's to try to gain back (or hold on to) the many people who are still using 939 technology who can use a speed upgrade without having to move to new platforms. AMD is crying the blues about about profit loss and having huge debt sales to pay for debts but they don't really see that they are chasing away loyal customers who will (if the have to upgrade) go for the more robust platform (not mentioning any names ;)). Face it, why stick with AMD just because of a price drop. If one has to upgrade CPU, MB, and Ram then why not go with the best and more advanced platform that will be around a lot longer for the foreseeable future.

Yes, i am a 939 X2 user who will wait a little longer before such an upgrade but I am beginning to slowly lean toward the other side (as I am sure many others are to).

AMD better do something pretty darn soon.

Just a few cents.

Terry D

Subject: XP Slowdown

Hey,

I constantly update an unattended installation of Windows XP Professional. It includes all publicly released critical hotfixes.

After fresh installations, the time in which my unattended installation takes to boot (on machines of the same configuration) has consistently increased. Substantially so since the beginning of this year.

Regards,

Leon Kehoe

Subject: Apple faces $20 million lawsuit, OS X sales ban

"PASTEL-HUED ENTERTAINMENT GADGET MAKER Apple" Well one can certainly see YOU have no bias against Apple.

What is it with you guys at The Inquirer and you slamming Apple, Nick Farrel comes to mind. I like OS X and got rid of my spyware OS, Windoze. I use a G4 Powerbook but am planning on getting a 24" iMac this fall, hopefully a newly updated black one with full 64-bit Leopard of course.

So you guys go ahead and keep making fun of Apple while I and other Apple users work with one of the nicest OS's I have ever seen.

Have a great day,
Glenn

Subject: AMD shoots itself

Reading about all the troubles at AMD. Think they have bought it upon themselves.

Despite the heady days of Socket 939 AMD abruptly shifted to AM2 despite the promises of 939 being the socket to parallel Socket A in longevity. Well, almost. So they had millions buying socket 939 cpus, like me. Had the amazing Asus A8R32-MVP Dx. Thinking it would be the platform for years to come.

And guess what most do when they wanna upgrade? They simply wanna buy a new CPU that fits in the same socket. Windows, cards, motherboard and memory all remaining same. Right? Only if there are CPUs available that one can buy. But there are no higher speeds dual cores that one can upgrade to. So most do the next thing, they are FORCED to upgrade their platform. Mainly motherboard, cpu and DDR2 memory.

Millions of "legacy hardware" people with great AGP cards on 939 platform like Via K8T800 pro could have been captive 939 purchasers. So no prizes for guessing that when changing platform people would buy the new and current king of the hill. And this time it was not an AMD cpu! Heil Core 2 Duo. Handed over few million extra sales courtesy of AMD. (Does Intel have a powerful mole on the AMD board who helped in phasing out 939?)

What did i do? I can live with that marginally less performance so went ahead and bought AM2 Windsor X2 4200 with and ECS KA3 MVP. Coz if it wasnt was AMD we would still be buying $1000+ Cpu's. Just wonder why AMD would do such a stupid thing. Companies survive in having products that customers want. But here we have a company wanting to push things onto its customers. A la Intel.

Wish they had longer foresight. Even now they can undo some of the damgage by bringing on select grades only of 939 X2's at equivalent prices of AM2 cpus. Like a 4600 and a 5000 etc. Enough for most :)

Yours,
Ricky

Subject: China

China may do 2 things to stop all those issues:

1. Mandate that all Media Players selling in China must have AI built into it such that it will recognize the sound track and it is in Mandarin Chinese, otherwsie stop playing them. That will stop the video and music problem.

2. Mandate that all PC must be sold with Linux installed and buildin a check in the BIOS that only the Linux loader is allowed to run at boot up time. On top of that mandate that all non open source document formats are illegal. Make the ISP scan for all attached documents and block them just like the web contents that are under scrutiny.

I guest with these 2 simple measures, all the trade conflicts involving IP will be not much of and issue.

Rgds
JWL

Subject: holo deck

so, you just annouced we are one step closer to the holo deck, and fully complaint with starwars communications spec IEE1337, and you have no pictures. Is this a hoax???

Shaun

Subject: XP slowdowns

Hello Inq,

I would also like you guys to investigate the 'built-in' obsolescense of older versions of software(and hardware to boot). I always love a good conspiracy but at the same time I have to question the 'progress' of software/hardware when I saw about the same performance moving from my old Dell Inspiron 9000(Win ME..yeah I know) with a 700 PIII, 256Mb RAM to a newer Dell 600m with Pentium M 1.7Ghz Centrino laptop, 512Mb RAM(Win XP Home). I don't know for sure but don't some Linux programs show how much can be done without the multi megabyte bloatware of today's MS compatible programs?

I would love to see The Inquirer take a look at the history of software/hardware and see how far we have progressed in terms of performance. I know that is a tall order so I would not expect to see it anytime soon.

A loyal reader,

Andrew White

P.S.

Maybe Intel/DAMMIT/Nvidia can start working on a DRMPU so we can retrieve our lost performance

Subject: Ben, the DAAMITard

Calm down fanboy. Clinging to the "success" of the $100 price bracket is pitiful. Where are your figures to back up anything you say? "Because everyone knows..." is not a source, that's something your gut told you.

No data to backup vendors selling Opterons instead of Xeons. Another gut-fact.

The "last time you saw a large scale survey" of users was, in fact too, long ago. I'm willing to bet it was before the Core Numeral was released. Provide a link, and make it current or don't even waste the finger motions.

Oh... the Wii? That will single-handedly save AMD from death? Then how come the millions of Wii's sold didn't do anything to compensate for the MASSIVE losses AMD has suffered?

Intel has Larrabee, AMD will be stuck with transitional Fusion. Do I smell another userbase abandonment? Sure! Upgrade to Fusion! The upgrade path goes from here to about 5 feet around the corner, where AMD took your money and started sprinting.

The world is still waiting for AMD's answer to Core Numeral and G80. Price cuts do not make a previous generation competitive. Every day without a competing flagship is revenue loss.

Yeah, you go ahead and feel sorry for people who haven't been shafted. I'm sure there were still people like you on the Titanic proclaiming the ship's invincibility even as the deck began to tilt. It doesn't matter if you're saying it because you honestly feel that way or if you're championing the good ship AMD because you're stuck on it: Either way, it's still sinking. Don't worry, there's plenty of Chipzilla lifeboats.

Axion

Subject: MS slowing XP

I thought I was the only one noticing it.Actually it has been going on since DRM Vista came out.On my spare time I fix computers and complaints about Windows are multiplying.Personally I have been experiencing that problem.My graphics,video,audio,dvd playing software disable even though I hardened the OS.

Finally I gave up.I switched to Linux.Videos,graphics (Photoshop)are still done in XP but I keep that computer off the Net. I guest their thinking is:"If they don't want Vista force them to buy it".But it's a double edged sword.This morning somebody at work complained about Windows and plan on switching to Mac OS X.

Fanfi

Subject: Whine whine whining about 939 going away

Ricky Bhatia, yes AMD can be blamed for not making enough 939 chips...but they HAD to release a new chipset for DDR2. AMD cannot control RAM prices the way that intel might be able to...DDR2 was getting cheaper than DDR...they ahd to switch

Yes it's a shame they made it so hard to get a 939 CPU, Until just recently I had been waiting a long time.

G

Subject: Apple Lawsuit

Andrew:

My wife, who is in the patent law business, assures me it is not uncommon for several years to pass between the first observation that a patent may have been infringed, and a possible lawsuit. The burden is on the patent holder to discover potential violations, it may take time before the patent holder decides to take action, there may be negotiations with the alleged violator, etc. I would not assume that the patent holder "just sat on it". I would think that the patent holder tried to hold negotiations with Apple and Apple's legal department dragged things out as long as possible. In fact, that is the main reason lawsuits get filed; it's to motivate the defendant to take the issue seriously and get it settled. Jury trials are too long and too expensive; expect them to settle.

Rich Wargo

Subject: Apple Tiger Article

How many times can you make a spelling mistake in one article - OS X 10.4 is Tiger - not Tigger and the new OS is Leopard and not Leppard.

Lloyd

Subject: AMD's Push To 939 Or Was It?

Well Well Well

my my how the tables have turned, i remember how you people (the inq, and the letters) would whine "Well AMD has a built in memery controlller, so its better". I also remember hearing you whine "Why havent AMD given us DDR2 support? we need it NOW!". Well guess what i have an AMD socket 939 and i also have ocz 500mhz ram that is close enough to DDR2 speeds, so why do i need DDR2, ohh yeah to replace a cpu, but why do i want to replace a great board like the msi neo4, the cpu thats right. One witch i though was "Future Proof" thanks to its "64 bit technology" that doest do anything for my 32 bit games and windows or 32 drivers. Thanks to you people the socket 939 is dead, you wanted DDR2 well you got it. I seriously hope intel never considers a memory controller on die. Thats why tomorrow i will have a core 2 duo now a cheap one, with a cheap motherboard, with cheap DDR2 ram and a real opportunity to upgrade. I dont have to worry about 939 cpu costing ridiculously more than AM2. Oh yeah and why dont people understand that betting on ebay should not start 3 days before the end.

Missingxtension

Subject: AMD and Socket 939

I'm yet another person throwing myself behind the "Silly AMD for killing Socket 939" bandwagon. It's one of the worst blunders I can remember for quite some years.

This time last year, it was the number one platform around with a large userbase. Now, you can hardly buy a chip for it, despite the millions of people still with S939 systems. I am now incredibly thankful that I upgraded my single core S939 Athlon 64 to a nice Athlon X2 4600+ last summer. Core 2 Duo had forced AMD's prices down and the upgrade cost me the grand sum of £100 (after flogging my old chip on eBay).

As a result of that, I have a rig which is still plenty fast enough and can crunch though the likes of STALKER and Oblivion with ease. This is the kind of upgrade which many people would be happy with. Yet if I'd waited 6 months, I'd now be stuck with a system which was beginning to show its age and which has no easy upgrade path left. Result? I'd be thinking about buying a Core 2 Duo to replace it with instead of an Athlon X2 which would allow me to keep my existing board and RAM.

I know several other friends who have Athlon 64 3200/3500 CPUs who are a bit cheesed about the fact that AMD has hung them out to dry with regards to upgrades. The end result of all of this is AMD forcing a lot of punters to buy Intel chips when they'd prefer to buy another AMD chip instead.

Whichever bozo at AMD decided to kill off S939 so quickly really should be given a lecture in "delivering what the customer wants", followed by a lecture in "how not to ensure that we push out customers over to our competitor".

Dave

Subject: XP slow downs

Windows XP is indeed getting slower because MS had screwed up the Windows Update feature, which takes 100% of resourses, mascarades as svchost.exe and runs, depending on your computer speed, for 5-30 min when you boot the computer making it impossible to use the computer. The only solution I found to date is to disable Automatic Updates altogether and run them manually from time to time. Besides these updates only provide solutions to already found problems, better to be poactive and run a personal firewall, like ZoneAlarm.

Red Brick

Subject: XP slow downs - Answer

In regards to the Letter you received below. Microsoft Issued an patch to fix a Problem, However the Patch Causes the SVCHOST to have a Memory Leak. They Issued a HotFix for that Patch to fix the memory leak, however SVCHOST SPIKES to 100% CPU Utilization from time to time. The Hotfix is not avaiable via Windows Update, so LOTS of people are having the problem. I am still waiting for Microsoft to release a Patch for the Hotfix for the Patch..... I've been waiting for Months......

Mark

Subject: AMD vs Intel

This Guy knows His stuff I told Ya that comparison was faulty good that someone else noticed it also.The other Guy In letters is a AMD Fanboy.He can't stand it that Intel is kicking His AMD love into back seat.

I find it funny when these people won't admit defeat and there would be no 1,000 Dollar CPU's If it wasn't for AMD.I have bad news for the Guy it is going to get worse too bad He is too Biased to be able to see it.

Poor Fellow.

Freddy

Subject: XP slow downs

Yes, "MICROSOFT UPDATE" is the problem. Remove MS Updates and go back to windows updates, life will be faster.

K Gruber

Subject: XP slow downs

I respond to the letter "Subject: XP slowdowns" There is some reported problem that after one of the updates, it is not possible to connect to the Windows XP machine by more users simultaneously. I cannot describe the problem exactly, but it is in a company with around 20 offices, 50+ employees.

Emefbee

Subject: Robotics article

"Share and Enjoy"? LOL. The quote is proof enough for me that you have an unusually sharp and intelligent mind. *wink-wink-nudge-nudge, say-no-mor, say-no-mor!*

So the mighty Vole wants to help design a plastic pal that's fun to be with. Kudos to you sir, for recognizing that MS resembles the mighty Sirius Cybernetics Corp.

Speaking as one that has been waiting for robotics to really take off, I applaud their stated goal. If there is one think MS has done well in the past, it is in having the majority of end users utalize a common platform. However, it is my belief that for such a move to really take off, the proper industry has to take it and run with it. So far, the only robotics company that seems to really be chasing the "consumer" market has been Wowwee robotics. I can't knock the plan of marketing to kids. After all, look what it did for Nintendo back when they first started. But it is my belief that for robotics to really take off, there needs to be a compelling product for adults. The piddly ass roomba p.o.s. isn't exactly compelling...

Now if MS got with the folks makin' the 'Real Doll' (on the side of course) I think they could be the winner in a big way... Let the games begin!

Martin