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Remember Windows ME? Here's the explanation

xkcd.com — XKCD on the Ballmer peak

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  • chrisxkelley, on 10/12/2007, -4/+195"developers, developers, developers!"
    ... i believe this sentence may have been said just a little too far to the right of the peak.

    :)
    • Maurina, on 10/12/2007, -17/+9Apple uses schnapps IVs
      • PathDaemon, on 10/10/2007, -9/+2That statement, while funny, was not the best thing on the page. Furthermore, you employed such blatant threadjacking that even the most plastered segment of the internet bashed its collective head against the keyboard.
    • omenmedia, on 10/12/2007, -9/+9*Get on your feet*
      "Ladies and gentlemen, STEVE BALLMER"
      "WOOOOOOOOOOO! WOOOOOOOOOOOO! COME ON!! COME ON!!!! GET UP!!! GET UP!!!! COME ON!!!!!!! WOOOOOHOOOOOO!!! UGH!! COME ON!!!! GIVE IT UP FOR ME!!! WOOOOOOOOOOO!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! COME ON!!!"
      "WHO SAID SIT DOWN?"
      *exhausted fat sweaty man panting*
      "I HAVE FOUR WORDS FOR YA: I... AM... A... MONKEY! YESSSSSS!!!"
  • listrophy, on 10/12/2007, -12/+329"...you can't just give a team of coders a year's supply of whiskey and tell them to get cracking."

    Yes you can.
    • razishaban, on 10/10/2007, -7/+4Been there, done that..
    • picsectionpleez, on 10/10/2007, -3/+27wouldn't that be sweet?! But I insist on donuts also.
      • cephelo, on 10/10/2007, -3/+3YOU may insist on donuts, but I'll work for just the whiskey. I'm cheaper and less of a health risk: you'll only have to replace my liver, not staple my stomach, too. I'm a bargain.
    • se7en11, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10Works for me...
    • IllBeBack, on 10/10/2007, -1/+28As long as the pizzas and Mountain Dew keep coming under the door, I'm in.
    • potp, on 10/10/2007, -4/+18Thats how they make Gnome for linux :p
  • Senn, on 10/19/2007, -43/+478Not only has ME been explained, but Vista too.
    • vamper, on 10/10/2007, -10/+107incorrect... vista is the spawn of meth addiction ms is moving it up a notch
    • picsectionpleez, on 10/10/2007, -5/+55you know what's funny? Just think how many Linux programmers have added stuff drunk.... Don't flame me now- I love Linux- I just think it's funny because probably 99% of MS's work I'm sure is all sober.....
      • meez, on 10/10/2007, -4/+38But Linux developers kept to the Ballmer peak.
      • andywebb95, on 10/10/2007, -0/+33Good point.
        Working on code in your spare time in the comfort of your own home has environmental factors that (from what I have seen) are seldom discussed.
        But I think the good results speak for themselves.

        Comfortable, happy, and challenged developers = good code

        • sleepwalkers, on 10/10/2007, -5/+21I think it has more to do with many of the people working on Linux are doing it because it's a labor of love, not a job.
          • aaronm67, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8Though a pretty good majority of Linux programs, especially the very large/complex ones, is programmed by people who are being paid, and are probably in a corporate environment.
      • 2Bnor2B, on 10/10/2007, -12/+10This would be a good Digg subject "Linux (open source) vs MS programmers".

        My takes:
        1. Linux (open source) programmers code for the improvement of the product while MS programmers code for the corporate agenda.
        2. Linux (open source) programmers code for manipulation of the product while MS programmers code for the manipulation of the user.
      • humperdeath, on 10/10/2007, -8/+3OK, 99% of MS code was written by sober programmers, but it's that 1% done by the plastered geeks that really gumms up the works.
    • KiaserLies, on 10/10/2007, -6/+4wtf ME was brilliant
      • inobla, on 10/10/2007, -2/+6It was??

        Is that because Microsoft stripped off everything that was good about Win98 and replaced it with total crap to make WinME and then tricked millions into paying for it? I guess that is brilliant.
        • Tenoq, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5And the fact we're falling for it a second time around is pure genius. "Would you like Vista with that sir?"
      • brownspank, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1If by "brilliant" you mean "*****" then yes.
  • digitallysick, on 10/19/2007, -119/+744Vista is the new windows ME *waits on the fan boys to digg him down*
    • NewChar, on 10/15/2007, -65/+279Not a fanboy, but you're plain wrong. Vista is actually usable as a day-to-day OS. ME was not.
      • alperea, on 10/10/2007, -35/+21I agree. not a fanboy either, but ME was just a bloated win 98. Vista has a lot of under the hood improvements to XP. still needs work of course.
      • kingkilr, on 10/10/2007, -6/+41ME prevented high speed internet from working on my Mom's PC, no idea how, but it did, I installed 2000 and it magically worked :(
      • Krumm, on 10/10/2007, -1/+218ME was Day to Day, you just had to spend the nights re-installing...
        • sfcaptainrob, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5and re-installing...and re-installing...and re-installing...

          not sure how many times i re-installed that OS. Should have stuck with Win 98.
      • petebert, on 10/10/2007, -19/+4ME worked fine for me, the beta's did too. I must not have run sophisticated enough programs for it to have errors
        • FreakTrap, on 10/10/2007, -1/+26You mean, such programs as EXPLORER.EXE and RUNDLL32.EXE?
        • Amablue, on 10/10/2007, -3/+6I'm with petebert. I had ME on my first laptop and never had any trouble with it. Explorer ran fine, the internet worked fine, I never had any issues with it. I was baffled when I heard that ME was so horrible because I've never run into the problems that other people seem to have.
        • petebert, on 10/10/2007, -6/+3I've always thought of ME as a funny OS, not because of any issues like I said before but because it was only out for a year, XP Beta?
      • zwaldowski, on 10/12/2007, -17/+12I'm sorry, but did you buy Windows Vista Magical Edition, or what?
      • lowerlogic, on 10/10/2007, -19/+14Vista is anything but usable.
        It might have a chance to be usable when:
        1) wordpad stops freezing on start up
        2) blocktrix stops freezing the entire OS when in power savings mode
        3) Vista UAC stops asking me for permission every time last.fm tries to scrobble every freaking song I play
        4) Vista UAC stops cutting off VNC clients when asking for permission
        5) the entire OS does not take up a gig of RAM and 10 gigs of hard drive space
        6) the shell gets decent enough to use
        7) the file manager runs at a decent speed
        8) there is a decent package manager that is at least half as good as debian's apt-get
        9) I can Ctrl+Alt+Fx to switch to console mode
        10) I can Ctrl+Alt+Backspace to restart only the graphical part of the operating system
        11) The network menus are at least as good as XP's
        12) Windows Media Player and the whole Media Center malware stops trying to take over the entire screen whenever it thinks you might want to watch a movie.
        Until all 12 of these issues are resolved Vista won't be anywhere as good as Ubuntu or even Windows XP.
        • yodaj007, on 10/10/2007, -3/+11"It might have a chance to be usable when:"
          ...
          "Until all 12 of these issues are resolved Vista won't be anywhere as good as Ubuntu or even Windows XP."

          Hold, here. You introduced your list with an indication that the items in the list would make the OS usable. But at the end you said those issues would simply make it better than Ubuntu or XP. There is a difference. A product can be usable while at the same time it is not as good as Ubuntu or XP. On this note, #9 and #10 should be taken out of your list and made into a second list. The OS would be perfectly usable without those two items. Those two might go in a separate list for "And these would make it better than Ubuntu"
        • omarciddo, on 10/10/2007, -5/+12Quit acting like Vista was meant to work with 5 year old PC's. Soon enough, most new computers with respectable specs will be able to handle Vista fine. If your computer sucks that bad, upgrade, stick with XP, or use Ubuntu or Xubuntu if it works better for you. Also, quit acting like Vista is supposed to act like Linux. Software in Windows does not come in packages, hence, there is no apt-get in Windows. Console isn't as important on Windows unless your computer gets *really* screwed up.

          One thing I really have to agree with is the Last.fm issue, though an older version (1.1 I think it was) didn't have the issue at all, but it's really not that hard to disable it. And before you say "well UAC is the whole point", XP didn't have it, so Vista shouldn't need UAC to be "as good as XP", right? As for Wordpad, I can't say much either way, it works fine for me though.

          As my obligatory disclaimer (before the rampant fanboys come after me), I use Vista and Ubuntu. On my newer laptop I dual boot, on my oldest PC I use Xubuntu. Vista's got its ups and downs, and so does Ubuntu. For example, setting up Ubuntu is an absolute nightmare on laptops.
          • Tenoq, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Actually, Vista is being released on brand-new machines that don't support it. 512MB laptops, anyone? :p What you meant to say was: "Quit acting like Vista was meant to work on anything but new, well-specified machines." Hell, I've got a C2D with 2GB here and I still don't like the performance of Vista. :p
          • logandurand, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1The idea is that an operating system shouldn't need as much RAM and processing power as Vista does. If an OS does not run smoothly on 128 MB of RAM, it is broken. All the OS is doing is allowing the user to run applications, it isn't supposed to be one itself.
        • gfnw, on 10/10/2007, -1/+14So basically you want it to be like Linux? Why not just go use Linux then and stop bitching?
        • aaronm67, on 10/10/2007, -4/+111) wordpad stops freezing on start up
          -This is a pretty rare incident with RTF files, which nobody really uses. Yes, its a bug. No, its not one most people are going to run into often.

          2) blocktrix stops freezing the entire OS when in power savings mode
          -Sounds like a problem with blocktrix, not Vista.

          3) Vista UAC stops asking me for permission every time last.fm tries to scrobble every freaking song I play
          -Disable UAC. It's not that hard.

          4) Vista UAC stops cutting off VNC clients when asking for permission
          -Disable UAC. It's not that hard.

          5) the entire OS does not take up a gig of RAM and 10 gigs of hard drive space
          -Vista running alone runs fine on far less then a gig. If you want to run a lot of extra programs, you'll have to spend the $40 it takes to get 1gb of RAM. Also, hard drives are cheap. Upgrade your harddrive if you can't afford 10gb for your OS.

          6) the shell gets decent enough to use
          -Not many people actually use the shell, though there are some pretty good third party shells for Windows. Just look them up.


          7) the file manager runs at a decent speed
          -This is probably related to #5. Spend a little bit of money and upgrade your computer if Vista runs slowly. RAM + HD space are cheap now.

          8) there is a decent package manager that is at least half as good as debian's apt-get
          -This wouldn't be allowed, because it would almost definitely be against anti-trust laws. There are millions of programs written for windows, google is your friend.

          9) I can Ctrl+Alt+Fx to switch to console mode
          -Why? There are plenty of third party consoles. This is a feature of many Linux distros, it doesn't need to be implemented for Windows, because Windows doesn't use a console in the same way Linux does.

          10) I can Ctrl+Alt+Backspace to restart only the graphical part of the operating system
          -Why? This is a feature of X. It doesn't need to be implemented for Windows, and probably couldn't be implemented feasibly at all.

          11) The network menus are at least as good as XP's
          -It's been a while, I don't remember the network menus. They are probably different then XP, and just require a little getting used to.

          12) Windows Media Player and the whole Media Center malware stops trying to take over the entire screen whenever it thinks you might want to watch a movie.
          -A lot of people like the "Put in a DVD, play a movie". It's pretty easy to disable Autorun.

          I've used Fedora for quite some time (mostly because I like Amarok a lot, and I have gotten used to the applications in Linux.) But, Vista is a perfectly usable operating system. It does a lot of things differently then Ubuntu, that doesn't make it worse though.
          • shawnz, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1actually. it doesn't autorun. a window pops up if you'd like to play the movie, and it allows you to select which app to use. :)
        • SlimFastForYou, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Another one to add to the list: Last night, Vista made me want to pull out all my hair because of Windows Resource Protection. Or is it called Compatibility files? Anyway, was working on a WoW addon (lua programming) and I could tell that WoW was running an old version of the script, and my changes weren't being made. I'd then go into my text editor, and it'd look fine. Oh, and the SAME file would not actually be the same depending on whether the text editor was "Run as Administrator" or not. Took me like an hour of reboots, file copies, folder moves, game restarts, etc to finally figure out what exactly was causing this, and I finally noticed the "Compatability Files" button in the Explorer window. I had heard that Windows would automatically revert operating systems files, but these were just .lua script files in Program FilesWorld of WarcraftAddons... folder Seriously though, in all my time of using Vista, this "feature" has been one of many instances of counterproductive bloat.
      • w3bsmith, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2ME has been working for me day to day. Of course it's not connected to the internet and is only used for old school games but ...
        • shawnz, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3if you're going to use ME, why not just use 2000? it's lightyears better, and has about the same set of features (compressed folders and desktop themes can be added by taking some files from a ME installation)
          • Tenoq, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1> System requirements... oh, and you can't actually buy 2k these days. Perhaps he just loves Windows, and doesn't want a new machine. Guess he's got no choice but ME. Sad for him, but recommending him an OS he can't buy is kinda useless.

            Not that many diggers actually 'buy' their OS... ;)
      • mountaincable, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Are you kidding? At least one person using Windows ME calls tech support on a daily basis.
    • Brabus, on 10/12/2007, -46/+68Vista = Windows ME Reloaded
      • fkr3, on 10/10/2007, -35/+3Firefox = Windows ME 2007 Ultimate Edition
        • potp, on 10/10/2007, -12/+3Huh? Atlest you could have tried
          Ubuntu = Windows ME 2007 Ultimate Edition
          That would have made more sense. Seriously your internet privileges need to be revoked.
          • fkr3, on 10/10/2007, -18/+2Obviously you've never used Windows ME or Firefox, they have a lot more in common with each other than Ubuntu has with ME.
          • astrofrank128, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11I don't think either of you have any idea what you're talking about.
          • Paradoxymoron, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3i'm in astro's boat on this one guys
        • MarkOfTheDead, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5Not so much, I can actually run things in Firefox.
      • SoupsMan, on 10/12/2007, -8/+15Are you on herion? Vista has almost NONE of of the BIG problems ME had. Vista can run explorer more than 2 hours before it BSODs. Not that my friend is pushing it (personally, don't own it), but it runs as good as XP. Wether or not it is worth it to go from xp to vista is debateable. I personally think vista was made just so the money machines at M$ HQ could try to copy apple again. That and put out thier abortion called Direct 10X.
    • brugger1982, on 10/10/2007, -53/+19What Vista fanbois? There are Vista fanbois?
      • OnoTadaki, on 10/10/2007, -5/+61Why did you replace the letters 'y' with 'i'? It's not like it saves you valuable characters, or is even easier to type, and you effectively look like a moron.
        • VinceNoir, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Fanboy = stupid teen boy who supports some unworthy cause with his life and believes he is doing something worthwhile and honorable while the rest of the world could care less about his efforts.
          Fanboi = stupid GAY teen boy who supports some GAY unworthy cause with his HOMOSEXUAL life and believes he is doing something worthwhile and honorable while the rest of the world could care less about his GAY efforts.

          There is a huge difference to those who think that being gay is somehow negative. So being called a "fanboi" is far worse than being called a "fanboy" in certain circles. Two of those circles (dare I say "circle jerks"?) being the children of Digg and Slashdot.
      • razishaban, on 10/10/2007, -9/+2EDIT: Dammit someone beat me to it
      • objectcode, on 10/10/2007, -12/+2whats a fanboi?
        • sockpuppets, on 10/10/2007, -1/+15A chinese fan shaped noodle made with lead.
      • drizzlelicious, on 10/10/2007, -2/+34He just listened to a little too much Avril Lagvine
      • docneuman, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1HAHAHAHAHA, you're a tool Brugger1982.
    • StingerMS, on 10/10/2007, -10/+92Microsoft fanboys? On Digg? NEVER!
      • aadnk, on 10/10/2007, -1/+22Microsoft fanboys? In MY Digg?
      • Nerfdude, on 10/10/2007, -5/+5apparently not, since that baseless slight on Vista has triple digit diggs.
      • brainboy77, on 10/10/2007, -3/+5uhh, digg is home to ubuntu and all things ipod fanboys.
      • greenblob, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1Xbox fanboys=/=MS fanboys?
        • HMaster92, on 10/21/2007, -0/+4sorry greenblob your syntax was wrong you should have said Xbox fanboys!=MS fanboys
    • Fordi, on 10/12/2007, -11/+21*waits with you*

      Seems you''ve got +15 diggs. I don't think the Vista fanboys have enough Digg clout to digg you down.
    • arobar, on 10/12/2007, -11/+152Anyone who says that Vista is the same as ME *clearly* never used ME. That's like saying Bush is the same as Hitler... Sure, they're both bad. But one is clearly worse.
      • razishaban, on 10/10/2007, -27/+13All who vote Bush say Aye
        • mexicanman07, on 10/10/2007, -22/+10aye
        • Aldrenean, on 10/10/2007, -5/+14I'm voting Che and going Linux. :P
          • toxicshok, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11Linux was never killed in Bolivia
          • Dongvid, on 10/10/2007, -2/+15but I would feel like an idiot for wearing either on my shirt.
        • TheFinaleofSeem, on 10/10/2007, -6/+21Nay. Those who say aye are outright retards who have no grasp of history. Bush is no saint, but he is far from being Hitler. Put down the rhetoric and pick up a history book.
          • shawnz, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4what about all the good things hitler did?
          • omarciddo, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1I don't care what Bush has done, he has not attempted to exterminate an entire race of people. Bush is a bumbling idiot, not a systematic ethnic cleanser.
      • GeoBjorn, on 10/12/2007, -3/+21K umm im gonna go with Godwin's law on this one...
      • sirhomer, on 10/10/2007, -4/+9Who? Bush?
      • drakethegreat, on 10/10/2007, -6/+1Lots do say that FYI and besides you haven't seen the last of Bush so there is still plenty more drama to come. Brace for Iran and after that who knows.
        • Scaryclouds, on 10/10/2007, -4/+1Bush is still not nearly as bad as Hitler. Bush while wrong headed Bush probably really does believe he is helping the ME... while helping himself... Hitler was just out to murder anybody who wasn't German or part of the "master race"
      • omarciddo, on 10/10/2007, -2/+9Why the ***** did you feel the need to bring politics into a tech story?
        • ShogunWarPig, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8Becuase he wants to prove the point that digg is going downhill.
      • Paradoxymoron, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4this political commentary in a tech column is like a turd on a clean counter
        how's that for a comparison?
    • seraph582, on 10/10/2007, -3/+30i dugg you up for your effort, and yes, vista does suck, but you have obviously forgotten the kick in the teeth that was ME
    • Breepee, on 10/10/2007, -7/+22Personally I have never had any more problems with ME than with 98, but Vista has given me mucho problemo, so for me Vista is the unusable OS.
      • virtualball, on 10/10/2007, -4/+3*muchos problemos, you just said "... but Vista has given me a lot prolem..." :)
      • zeejay, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3The first version of Windows 98 (the one before "SE") was worse than ME, in my experience.
      • cquinnd, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2My experience is the opposite. I find Vista actually usable on my systems.

        I was working as a software tester when ME was released, and it was the only MS OS that I saw first hand bog down a virtual session on a dual CPU server, when everything else from 98 to Windows XP ran stably.
    • Dumbledorito, on 10/10/2007, -8/+33I've been using Vista for almost 4 months now. No problems at all, no backwards compatability issues (and I use some pretty old stuff), and it's stable.

      YMMV, but comparing it to Windows ME is like comparing any modern-day car to a Yugo.
      • KicktheDonkey, on 10/10/2007, -4/+1Except for Chevys. I think that comparison is still appropriate.
      • digitallysick, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2Reason i say that is because ME didn't bring anything new to the table, it was windows 98 but slower, and worse than 98 most people downgraded to 98 se. 2000/xp were really worth the upgrade due to the driver support and extra features. Vista has nothing to offer that xp doesn't have already, and runs games "slower" (search google for bench marks) so why run it?
        • Niten, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Honestly, nothing to offer that XP doesn't already have? Have you been living under a rock? I recommend you read Paul Thurrott's Vista review, at least, especially the section on Vista's security features:

          http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/winvista_05b.a ...

          Of particular impact to the common end user are IE7 protected mode, UAC, address space layout randomization, and kernel patch protection. Enterprise laptop users will really benefit from BitLocker on TPM enabled hardware.
          • Fordi, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1None of those seem of use. IE7 Protected mode is more inconvenient than helpful, User Access Control is a terrible thorn in the users' side, ASLR is only really useful if you've bought terrible RAM, kernel patch protection is not anything that the user ever has to worry about, and TPM, while maybe useful to enterprise users, the technology already exists in XP (encrypted NTFS).
      • yuuko, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Hey, I don't want to hear another word against Yugo. Yugo is still in production, Windows ME isn't.
        • Dumbledorito, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1"Still?" You mean they rebuilt? I thought the whole point of the Kosovo war was to make sure that Yugo production was halted forever.

          I actually saw one, still running, not long ago. I was tooling along the interstate to work, when I thought that perhaps my muffler had fallen off, since I was hearing this awfully loud engine noise from somewhere. To my right, I see this brave little Yugo, still chugging along, being driven by an old man who looked like he was trying VERY hard to ignore what his car was. The thing was three different paint colors, and it sounded like some prehistoric beast was being tortured to death under the hood, but it still ran.
      • bromanct, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3"wtf" does YMMV mean?
    • MisterSam, on 10/10/2007, -2/+19Im no windows fanboy, i've used macs at home since 1990 and love them. However, i'm obliged to use Vista at my job. And you know what? It's actually fast, stable and usable in my experience. I've had one crash today and that was Firefox borking up.

      • badogg, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1"I've had one crash today and that was Firefox borking up."

        Blasphemy!!
      • grumpyrain, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Let me guess. Loading up a comments page on digg?
    • jpetrides, on 10/16/2007, -3/+4honestly - what windows fanboy is on digg?
    • ElbowGeek, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1Judging by the number of responses in the thumbs up category, I'd say that it's official then...
    • MagicCake, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3I'm sure you were joking, but all the same: Anyone who compares ME to Vista makes it clear they've used neither.
  • scoobycarolan, on 10/15/2007, -16/+387that explains why the Mac is so different, pot & lsd
    • UNL1M1T3D, on 10/10/2007, -5/+68Also known as the "Jobs effect".
      • Ramble, on 10/10/2007, -56/+28Is that what they're calling homosexuality these days?
        • magic6435, on 10/10/2007, -10/+20ROFL nice
        • iChainsaw, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5way to associate sexuality and computer programming...
        • sakuraz, on 10/10/2007, -5/+2Why are you bashing gays?

          Didn't your dad announce that he's out of the closet yet?
    • zaren, on 10/10/2007, -2/+47Didn't read the rollover text, did ya?
    • Zippo, on 10/10/2007, -3/+4Hey, whatever works.
    • Elric1977, on 10/10/2007, -6/+1If it ain't broke.... keep smokin, I love your work :)
    • PathDaemon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6For the uninitiated:
      "I wish him [Bill Gates] the best, I really do. I just think he and Microsoft are a bit narrow. He'd be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger." - S Jobs
  • BadassCheese, on 10/10/2007, -42/+6http://duggmirror.com
    • thcobbs, on 10/10/2007, -18/+38Yes, that points to duggmirror.com....

      Do you want a ***** cookie or something?
    • Rekzai, on 10/10/2007, -2/+12XKCD doesn't go down.
  • DefaultGen, on 10/10/2007, -9/+86And to think, in 5 years XKCD will probably make a Vista homage to this comic.
    • zwaldowski, on 10/10/2007, -5/+2Without a doubt. Unless the next Windows is worse.
  • Dchandaman, on 10/10/2007, -6/+280way to ruin the punch line
  • ebertek, on 10/10/2007, -37/+26why, oh why do all xkcd strips have to make it to the front page?
    I mean.. it's a great webcomic, but who doesn't have it in one's RSS subscriptions anyways?!
    • aaryn, on 10/10/2007, -7/+37Everyone who dugg it
    • virtualball, on 10/10/2007, -4/+9There's 323 xkcd comics, only 3-5 have made it to the front page....
    • yodaj007, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Toast always lands butter side down, doesn't it? You see a few XKCD comics on the front page.... ZOMG THEY'RE ALL ON THE FRONT PAGE
  • goflyers, on 10/10/2007, -3/+58I also discovered this during college when I'd do shots for errors and drinks of beer for warnings. Definitely taught me to remember my semi-colons. Toward .25 you end up with a bunch of spaces from your forehead being on the keyboard.
    • jjesusfreak01, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7Its really an amazing phenomenon. Most people would probably not believe it, but I have talked to programmers while drunk, and when they talk about coding it sounds more like philosophy than programming. Ive been told that programming in assembly when drunk can be dangerous, because although the code is ridiculously fast, its near impossible to debug because its unreadable.
  • UNL1M1T3D, on 10/10/2007, -2/+41The Ballmer effect enables me to play video games better.
    • pcp777, on 10/10/2007, -6/+2We call it GWI (Gaming while Intoxicated)
    • postalblowfish7, on 10/10/2007, -2/+7The Ballmer effect allows me to get laid easier.
      • Wildog27, on 10/10/2007, -0/+17You mean when other people drink, you get laid easier?
        • MasteRR, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11No, when he drinks his standards drop. So what he said is accurate.

          Just be aware of the morning after.
    • tmarcv3, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2so true, I become the most amazing warhawk pilot at about this BAC
  • exomni, on 10/10/2007, -38/+7Who in the ***** doesn't already read XKCD daily? EVERYONE has seen this comic by now, you just managed to take ALL the funny out of it.
    • yodaj007, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2All of the people who dugg up this comic would disagree with you.
    • gavintlgold, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Actually, I had read it already, but just decided to add it to my feed reader because of this article :D
  • bbBear, on 10/10/2007, -27/+10Windows ME ruled, its just that no one knew how to use it or handle it properly. Today's OS's (such as Vista) could learn a lot from its glorious programming and all round creamy goodness...
    • brugger1982, on 10/10/2007, -0/+17dugg for sarcasm (that WAS sarcasm, right?)
    • BrandonMills, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5You ever use System Restore ( Destroyer, Restore...who can tell ) from Me? By the time it was done, I wanted to undo the "Restore".
    • computergod, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6The thing actually worked decently for the first 3 months or so, after that it it started gnashing gears and started shaking its' self apart.
    • 4degrees, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3i remember popping in the WindowsME cd into the drive on my win98 system. an error popped up. "Windows does not recognize the version of windows you are trying to install". I hit the "exit" button and waited for XP.
    • RxDaniel, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4My brother's computer had ME on it. The hard drive recently stopped working. We suspect it was suicide.
  • Nevuk, on 10/10/2007, -1/+31So as a programmer... I'd be able to drink on the job? Awesome.
  • TTimo, on 10/10/2007, -1/+32I have reasons to believe this is actually true :)
    • Moskie, on 10/10/2007, -0/+27I can personally attest this to be true. It's 3am, your Data Structures project is due in 4 hours, and you're nowhere near to getting the output right.

      Then you hit 0.129% BAC and *poof* that ***** gets DONE.
      • natenovs, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5you have class at 7am?
        • msgyrd, on 10/10/2007, -0/+15He said it was due. Turn-in times and class times don't always match up in college. I've had many projects due at midnight. The computer science teachers know how to read timestamps off of email or file properties.
      • MasteRR, on 10/10/2007, -3/+23pm feels like 7am after an all-night coding and drinking session, you know.
      • MasteRR, on 10/10/2007, -5/+13pm feels like 7am after an all-night coding and drinking session, you know.
    • Camann, on 10/10/2007, -1/+20If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 0.129% BAC, you're gonna see some serious *****.
      • SerifTheRobot, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5heavy
        • ArmandoM, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5In the future Is there a problem with the earth's gravitational pull?
      • Durinthal, on 10/10/2007, -4/+4Baby? Are you encouraging underage drinking?
  • NeoCortex, on 10/10/2007, -15/+106And in related news, XKCD performs another scheduled update of its comic strip. If only there was some way to predict when new comics would be posted. How are we supposed to know what day of the week it is without the help of Digg submissions such as this.

    Thank you, sir. If it wasn't for your timely submission, I would have completely forgotten it was a Monday.
    • aaryn, on 10/10/2007, -2/+21I dugg this story just for you
    • Moskie, on 10/10/2007, -1/+19But maybe this particular strip will spur discussion here on Digg, so why not submit it? If people like it and start posting some interesting (or just fun) comments on it, then great. Who cares if it's not a special event or something.

      (and yes, I do realize that there's a forum on XKCD. but who cares, I wanna talk about the strip here.)
    • smittyfree, on 10/10/2007, -3/+2I actually forgot to check it the last week, so I welcomed the reminder.
    • Jo9100, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3http://www.xkcd.com/rss.xml
    • Ademan, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1agreed, this is 100% not news, but xkcd is funny...
    • eatbeefjerky, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1You don't NEED to remember what day of the week it is, just use RSS! Yay for RSS comic feeds!
  • Kitsune818, on 10/10/2007, -2/+34The graph is much more complex. You need a vector for blood caffination and one for time of day (night). Also, programming ability seems to be inversely proportional to social life.
  • satanatnmtedu, on 10/10/2007, -31/+4I had minimal problems with WinME. You set things up and stop ***** with it.
    • caerwyn, on 10/10/2007, -0/+21You mean you set things up and then never touched the computer again for fear of it exploding due to attempting to run Notepad?
  • Wedge1212, on 10/10/2007, -10/+1and....lol
  • shroominbal, on 10/10/2007, -15/+2my work is online. I needed another computer at home. I had not extra money nor experience. local second hand shop detected my need and naive approach and they hooked me up with a computer that contain window me - I feel like shooting microsoft and bill for the lost of monthly income for the ***** ups of this software - an exhibition of greedy ***** and hurting victims.
  • ziki, on 10/10/2007, -3/+6Can the Ballmer peak be used for beer pong too?
    • TheG2, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10It's called the "green zone" and is where "Comeback Kings" comes from.
    • WhereAmI, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4From experience, Yes.
    • impossibility, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Hahaha.
      Trust me, no. Surely not.
      After a while.. all the cups are like little land-mines of joy.
  • Colindean, on 10/10/2007, -17/+121) I used Windows ME for three years of hard usage and blue screened it maybe five times. This was also during my experimental phase where I did a lot of things to try to figure out how my computer worked, including installing Mandrake and BeOS alongside Windows. I never had to restore once, and every system-killing error was quickly and easily solved without needing a second computer to research a fix on the Internet.

    2) If you went to the afterparty at Ohio Linuxfest this past weekend, you know that graph to be 100% accurate.
    • sexybobo, on 10/10/2007, -1/+19Ohio Linuxfest afterparty. Lol I bet that was swarming with ladies.
      • msgyrd, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10Probably not, but if you went there expecting to pick up chicks, you're also delusional.
    • ElbowGeek, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1There were actually loads of chicks there - some of the finest money can buy in fact ;-)
    • mcmlxxii, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1good thing you never needed system restore - it didn't work in ME.
  • chrazyc, on 10/10/2007, -9/+20Windows ME... Major Excrement.
    • bjerkeweb, on 10/10/2007, -5/+2wow.... didya think of that one all by youself?
    • dsmx, on 10/10/2007, -1/+20I thought it was called Mistake Edition
  • uberchaoslord, on 10/10/2007, -2/+16I don't work for MS, but I know guys (programmers) who do, and the reason for ME was the big OEMs (dell, compaq, hp, etc...) were concerned because in 200 people were buying computers with windows 98 on them, and users being as stupid as they are, thought that was bad. oh noes my OS is two years old!
    • krets, on 10/10/2007, -9/+8Windows 98 was available in 200? Was that AD or BC?
      • yodaj007, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Why are people digging you down? You got a good chuckle from me.
    • petebert, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5you know I still find people who think 2000 was the replacement for 98, during the time of the win 2000 release I worked at a HP call center and had tons of people calling asking if win 2000 would be on the new HP's
    • NJank, on 10/10/2007, -3/+2how could something from 1998 be Y2K complant!!?!?!
    • addakorn, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1I thought 98 CAME out in 2000!?!?
    • impossibility, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Oh Jeez.
      I remember having 98+ on my stupid IBM desktop. Having family members working at IBM, we got a bunch of IBM swag. And old computers and *****. Especially with major layoffs and outdated materials. I used that computer until 2004, I feel shameful.
  • Skrezium, on 10/10/2007, -5/+0Awesome.
  • databoy, on 10/10/2007, -5/+25Maybe that is why OS2 was killed off. Ultra stable and protected system and no revenue generated from tech support. I am cynical but I think the virus and hacking community are part of the establishment, set up to sell tech support packages to illiterate computer users. Think about it viruses and hacks are one step ahead of the solution. As soon as the viruses and hacks are fixed the next generation appear.

    IF BUILDERS BUILT HOUSES LIKE PROGRAMMERS WROTE PROGRAMS; THE FIRST WOODPECKER THAT CAME ALONG WOULD DESTROY CIVILISATION!
    • iChainsaw, on 10/10/2007, -3/+3woodpeckers peck on trees, not houses.
    • ilgaz, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1OS/2 is in fact a OS with mainframe attitude of IBM, it is lot more strange and unique compared to Windows ME.
      IBM's lack of developer support and horrible schemes killed it, MS conspiracy couldn't be better. Same thing happened to PowerPC/Apple. They have a great compiler which will do lot better Altivec optimisations and memory management. Why people didn't use it? Because IBM offered it (and continues to offer!) for $600 using mainframe dealers as sales channel. I am glad they gave up end user scene except large console manufacturers. See that Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and PS3? All running some cousins of PowerPC and there are more games than Apple could ever support. The PS3 shows 1080p 3d graphics without missing a single frame.
      After OS/2 and PowerPC G5 (which I still use), I took my decision as end user: If you don't intend to install to 10.000 clients, stay away from IBM.
  • totorototoro, on 10/19/2007, -1/+173Remember it? I'm running it righ
    • timusca, on 10/10/2007, -9/+7HAW HAW HAW
    • kineticarl, on 10/10/2007, -0/+29you win.
    • GRAVEWiSH, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4well done..lol
    • skyshock1, on 10/10/2007, -2/+11Oh I see what you did there.
    • mrmacky, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8You sir, just won 3,000 Internets.
      (And I see what you did there)
    • Tony611, on 10/10/2007, -7/+3explaination please?
      • kamerononfire, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8"I'm running it right now." but he didn't get to finish the sentence because he's running ME and it crashed.

        Man I hate explaining jokes..
        • IareKEVLAR, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4I commend you for putting up with his *****. I would have just pushed the digg down button. but you found the kindness in your heart to explain it to him. Good Guy. Dugg because of that.
  • SlyProfanity, on 10/10/2007, -25/+15been using vista since it was released no problems here ok digg me down for telling the truth not a fanboy by the way
    • bluejays47, on 10/10/2007, -2/+13I won't digg you down for your pro-Vista stance, but since you can't seem to use capitalization or punctuation properly...
    • yodaj007, on 10/10/2007, -5/+4Go back to English class before commenting again, please.
      "I have been using Vista since it was released. No problems here. Ok, digg me down for telling the truth. I'm not a fanboy by the way." See the differences. I hope you learned something. Now get back to class and stop flunking out.
      • impossibility, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Way to beat a dead horse, man.
    • mrmacky, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2You are slyly profane, that is, to the English language.
  • BradMW, on 10/10/2007, -0/+13The Ballmer Peak is what got me through CS340.
  • randysouth, on 10/10/2007, -13/+2(With deep apologies to Monty Python) NOBODY expects the Microsoft ME!
    • RockinRoel, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4I'm sorry, but that was just pushing it.
  • flytronix, on 10/10/2007, -10/+3Windows MÉ
    • yodaj007, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Thank you for this insightful and well-thought comment. You have truly inspired me to greater heights.
    • MagicCake, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I see what you did there...I'm just not sure why you did it.
  • notbob, on 10/10/2007, -1/+15I still can't hear someone mention ME with me calling it Mistake Edition, either out loud or under my breath.
  • skyfire1, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5Windows ME was a waste of money. They told me the world was going to end.
  • Kyderdog, on 10/10/2007, -11/+11Windows ME... Hell Vista is not all that much better.
  • growler1, on 10/10/2007, -0/+19Windows Me.

    The horror, the horror.

    The same pc that ran Me for me fitfully and crashing every other day in 99 now runs linux effortlessly. If it hadn't been for 2000 and XP, MS would've run themselves into the ground.
    • Waterrat, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4I had the same experience...The old Compaq P 3 that ran Win' 98 for years and was crash happy ran like a dream once Linux was put on it.
    • iChainsaw, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4my computer right now (i'm on my pc, not my mac) will not run vista aero...but on the other hand, it runs ubuntu's compiz fusion PERFECTLY.
      • mrmacky, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I know what you mean, same situation here, and to add to that, Compiz does much more than Aero will ever do, AND it can have transparency effects.
        • Peterix, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2And it needs less system resources to run.
  • christopherbetz, on 10/10/2007, -2/+9"Apple uses automated schnapps IVs."
    • kinghajj, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Schnapps can generate IVs? I wonder if that would have made WEP more secure.
    • stukkm, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Hey thanks, I forgot that each and every single xkcd comic that's ever been posted has alt text. You really saved my day.
  • Smopple, on 10/10/2007, -5/+8XKCD is one of the best webcomics out there. Can't we just digg the entire comic?
  • andywebb95, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4The same graph could probably be used to represent caffeine consumption.

    To little in your system = crappy code
    Just the right amount in your system = good code
    Too much in the system = good code but your fingers are shaking so much that its hard to enter it

    I have found that for me a cup of coffee every 30 minutes in the morning (for about 2 hours) and then every couple of hours after that seems to do the trick. But like the comic says it's difficult to adjust.
    • yodaj007, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1You build up a tolerance to caffeine, so the graph would be steadily requiring more and more caffeine over time to achieve the same coding results.
  • insomniac8400, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Its the perfect reason why it's a bad idea to make a new version just for sales purposes and not for any practical purposes. XP is great because it was the prime OS for a long time and was greatly improved over that time. Imagine if they just released a new OS instead of going with sp2? It would have been a travesty. Now Microsoft has a great business OS in XP SP2 that will last a long time.
  • GreatWhiteShaky, on 10/10/2007, -7/+19Lol. What OS does an emo have? ME, because everyone hates it.
  • pianonotes1010, on 10/19/2007, -1/+20***** ME!
  • treeromeo, on 10/10/2007, -7/+8I had Windows ME for the longest time, till 2005, then XP for a bit. Then switched to Vista. I was actually happier with ME. Those 5 years I had it, never as many problems as 10 months with Vista.
    • ArmandoM, on 10/10/2007, -1/+9On the same computer right?
    • addakorn, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Hrm, computer built to run ME now running Vista? I could not imagine why you think Vista sucks. (not saying it does not, I wouldn't know)
  • Smiley09, on 10/10/2007, -2/+59Come on, ME was great.
    A virus was going around at a 700 person lan party, and I never got the virus, either because 1 - my OS was so outdated or 2 - the virus took pity on me for still using ME.
    • zwaldowski, on 10/10/2007, -1/+17Computer or STD?
      • sakuraz, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1If it was STD, being on Digg explains it.

        But then again, it was a lan party:S
    • yodaj007, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Virus's either target an OS or a program. Many viruses can attack multiple versions of Windows because their internals are mostly the same and they have common interfaces (such as DCOM). The virus running around wasn't targeted toward ME or a component it ran. The fact that you did not get the virus does not imply how impervious to viruses it was. Only that it wasn't targeted by a modern virus.
      • Smiley09, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Yeah it was sasser, yay for using an outdated OS.
    • kalleanka, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I think your computer generated the virus and every else got infected.
    • grumpyrain, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Professional Courtesy maybe?
    • ilgaz, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1There are couple of worms/viruses known to crash under Windows ME, lazy to check the names now but it is a fact.
      Yes, it can't even run a worm right.
  • Daveydje, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Always amused me that Microsoft named and OS after illness also know as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome... some how seemed fitting though...
  • MemoryDump, on 10/10/2007, -3/+14Windows XP-SP2 is by far the best Windows they ever released. Even Windows 2000 beats Vista as far as performance is concerned.
    • niteskunk, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2You say that like Windows 2000 is a bad thing - Windows XP is based off of Windows 2000. Do you mean Windows ME? They're entirely different OSes (Win2k is NT based, WinME is 9x based).
      • ilgaz, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1WinME is mix of Win98 and early Windows 2000. That makes it so horribly unique. One of the strangest OS'es ever.
    • d3matt, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2Windows XP-SP2 is great unless you want to do raw socket programming (i.e. wireshark or similar). Sure, the only people who use those applications are crooks.
      • yodaj007, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Not so. We use wireshark here at work sometimes to help debug our web services and the cisco load balancer.
    • Peterix, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2XPSP2 with bloat removed is the best Microsoft operating system... it's lightning fast and well supported.
      • Cerebral, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1So fast you posted twice with just one click!
    • Peterix, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1XPSP2 with bloat removed is the best Microsoft operating system... it's lightning fast and well supported.
  • sirstox, on 10/10/2007, -8/+4ME = Mulligan Editon (In golf, a mulligan is a shot retaken, due to an errant shot. Like gimmes, mulligans are strictly prohibited in the official rules of the game).
    • one1plus1one, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Well...
      to be blunt: ME = Mistake Edition is way funnier than ME = "Mulligan Edition".
      "Mulligan Edition" requires too much explaining and historical context of golf rules on a website that likely does not hold a large golf-playing fan base. But good try though.
    • one1plus1one, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Well...
      to be blunt: ME = Mistake Edition is way funnier than ME = "Mulligan Edition".
      "Mulligan Edition" requires too much explaining and historical context of golf rules on a website that likely does not hold a large golf-playing fan base. But good try though.
  • BumCheese, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13I had to use Windows ME for about six years.

    Feel my pain.
    • omenmedia, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Dude you could have used DOS and it would have been a better experience for you.
      • one1plus1one, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1You could have programmed your own applications in DOS using MS-Basic and Logo, and it would have been a better experience for you.
    • insertnamehere, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2i feel your pain, BumCheese
    • grumpyrain, on 10/10/2007, -0/+16 years?
      You sir, should be locked up. Why would anyone hate their own life so much?
  • spyd3rweb, on 10/10/2007, -4/+3Win2000 for life!!
    • spyd3rweb, on 10/10/2007, -3/+3Wait why did I say that, I use gentoo now.
  • brumoeller, on 10/10/2007, -4/+8Way to give away the punchline in the title!

    Ass.
    • stukkm, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1That's probably the only good comment on this whole page.
  • mcbeev, on 10/10/2007, -6/+3Yeah but there is also a side effect of the Ballmer effect. The next day you come in and realize "wtf was I thinking", and have to re-write all the code anyway.
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