Roy Smith wrote in
:

On 12/1/2011 8:21 AM, Wolf K wrote:
On 01/12/2011 3:45 AM, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message
,
Mortimer writes:
[]
In most respects, Windows 7 works perfectly for me.

(For the month or two I had a 7 machine to play with, I
found I disliked it a lot less than I was expecting to: I
think it's a "good" Windows, on the whole. I even
understood what they were trying to do with libraries
[basically, make links work properly, like they did in
Unix], though some of the implementation needs tweaking.)

The only downsides a

- no 64-bit driver is available for my Epson 1200
scanner so I need to keep an XP machine for this

Actually, that's Epson's fault, not Microsoft's.

True.

No, I would say it _is_ Microsoft's, for making an OS (or
OS variant) which can't use older drivers. Why should
hardware manufacturers have to keep producing new drivers
(especially for kit they no longer make - don't know if
that's the case in this case)? []

This argument was beaten to death on a Linux group (very
few mfrs provide drivers for Linux).

The real issue is lack of standards. We're well past the
time that printers should be plug'n'play, and I don't mean
that the OS installs a driver when you plug in the
printer. It's bizarre that one needs different drivers for
different printers made by the same manufacturer. Etc.

In the 80's there was an attempt at setting a standard for
computers both in hardware and software, it was called MSX.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSX

The concept was that any product that had the MSX logo on
it would be compatible with any other MSX branded product
regardless of who manufactured it. The system gained
popularity in Japan, Europe, and South America but failed
miserably in the US and Great Brittan.


This sentence was interesting......

"It is said that Microsoft led the project as an attempt to
create unified standards among hardware makers."