I use it every day at work and it really is an annoying piece of [LIFTED]. I just don't know why MS feels the need to infuse its products with the "paperclip" mentality and have the OS constantly hassle you with messages about what it's doing, what it's going to do or what it has done. I'd really like it if Windows did what OS X does - just boot and get the feck out of my way.

I've been using Macs since 1999 and I've never used Windows. Not once.

I'll have to upgrade my PPC G5 eventually though so I might install Windows on an Intel Mac via Parallels or Boot Camp.

Every time you use a cash machine you are using windows.

The vast majority of them are driven by Windows NT (or some version of a similar small footprint Windows OS).

So I would take a stab and say that everyone, at some time in their life, has used Windows.

I would go as far to say that that isn't quite what people mean when they say they haven't used Windows...

After going through a load of old lab documentation it appears the same guy has never touched MS Office, and named plain text documents "XTZ.doc", which was playing havoc with a script which looked at extension rather than magic numbers to decide what to open the thing in (less or Star Office)...

I know

I was just being pedantic

After doing a bit of shopping at lunchtime today, I found a substantial queue of people waiting to pay for their parking. One ticket machine wasn't working, hence the very long queue. When I walked past the inert ticket machine it was proudly displaying a Windows logo. So I used another one and used a cash machine so perhaps I used Windows at least twice today.

Good point. The ticket machines at Brussels station run* on Windows and I’ve used them loads.

*Intermittently

Ferquently on a daily basis.

Do these instances of Windows embedded devices actually count as Windows use? Or, as everyone seems to be so keen on abstracting the OS from their software use these days, are you just using the bank/ticket vendor software?

Quite a few cash registers run a version of Windows.

However on real computers I have not used Windows for years. I am asked to help fix problems from time to time on Windows machines. I find them strangely alien to me and the interface fugly.

CC

The cash registers in the Edeka supermarket chain use Linux - there is even a nice cuddly Tux displayed on the screen, with an Intel Inside logo on his tummy!

I use windows at work every day. I can do most of my stuff on any platform but I find it convenient for certain things.

I also have a netbook that travels round with me in my backpack which runs windows XP. It's a useful tool to have if I'm asked to sort out various problems on friend's and relatives computers (as I inevitably am) plus it means I can do certain things like type long emails or watch videos more comfortably than on my iPhone - the iPhone I find a great tool also, but anyone who tells you it is a replacement for a 'proper' computer is quite simply mad.

Windows had faults; numerous faults in fact but if approached correctly it can be coaxed into being a usable servant.

'approached correctly' may occasionally involve a chair and a whip.

Jon

I have to use the fecking thing all the damn time - there isn't a linux machine for miles.


..and a smaaaaall aubergine.

The more I use this festering piece of [LIFTED] the more I realise why I loathe it. After using OS X exclusively for months I'd kind of forgotten how bad Windows can be and was feeling almost benign towards it. I guess it's part of that human condition where we're programmed to forget pain.

Take for example, the simple act of opening a document. I click on the desktop icon, double-click on the My Documents folder and then double-click on a Word document.

Nothing. So I try again.

Nada.

So I click once on the document icon and wait. Eventually the icon highlights and I try double-clicking again.

Zilch.

So I right click (ah, so that's why Windows fanboys love their multi-button mice, you can't use this piece of [LIFTED] without one) and select 'Open".

Bingo. I have an open Word document.

I mean, really, how hard is it to get a frakking GUI right. They've only had what - 20 years.

And no, this isn't some old piece of kit, it's a brand new HP workstation running XP Pro.

...well there is your problem! XP has sucked for nearly a decade now. Blinkin insecure fisher-price crap. Prone to unexplained pauses, registry corruption, a stupid start menu and looks that make you want to vomit! Vista was a lot better but a bit buggy, SP1 made it a great OS...Windows 7 has brought the pre-SP1 bugs back, along with the stupid taskbar...<<sigh>>