Microsoft Windows: Difference between revisions

 

==MS-DOS==

The precursor to Windows, MS-DOS was one of those "operating system" things that meant you didn't have to know every little thing about your computer to get it to do something useful. It came on any IBM-PC you bought. It even included BASIC, so you could make you computer say "Hello, world" without typing it every time. And do spreadsheets. And play ''[[Doom]]'' when the boss wasn't in.

 

 

==Bluescreen, viruses and other assorted crashes==

One of the many complaints about Windows is that it frequently crashes, resulting in what is often referred to as the Blue Screen of Death (often shortened to BSOD or Bluescreen). Many of these problems are often attributed to Microsoft, or even Bill Gates personally, a bit unfairly. Many of the crashes are caused by programs not being written properly (sometimes Microsoft applications, but still...) and also by Microsoft bending over backwards to keep as much backward compatibility as possible, even for those badly-written programs.<ref>In a proper operating system a badly written "user mode" program can never crash the entire system. Or that's what the nerds believe.</ref>, and due to the sheer and massive complexity of Microsoft's frameworks, it's really easy to write improper code. The frequency of bluescreens has been reduced greatly, ever since the transition away from the MS-DOS kernel (used in Windows 95, 98, and Me) and towards the NT kernel (used in 2000, XP, Vista, and 7), due to its superior multitasking and memory protection; however, a bluescreen can still be triggered by badly-written driver code or the like. Regardless, the problem is not as common as it once was, and has not been for some time now.