>  Linux and Windows were developed on 486 machines.  When   
   > was the last time you suggested a person one of those OSes to buy an   
   > entire   
   > computer because they had problems with thier OS not booting?   
      
   This is stupid. Linux and Windows are _constantly_ UPDATED at the kernel   
   level and have new drivers released one way or another. BeOS is NOT updated   
   at the kernel level, and third party drivers are scarce. So, you can't say   
   that for Windows or Linux, but you can for BeOS. BeOS as a whole has NOT   
   being stress tested against new hardware, no matter if that new hardware   
   seems to work or not.   
      
   You see, BeOS had a whole QA team behind it when it was a product. They   
   would stress test the system against any hardware piece it was marked as   
   "supported" to make sure no unwanted stuff would happen. This does NOT   
   happen anymore, and therefore, no matter if a piece of hardware happens to   
   work or not, does NOT mean that the OS is fully validated or bug free   
   against it.   
      
   To me, it's not enough to say "hey, this new sound card works with BeOS", I   
   need a way to see that's really working without creating random kernel   
   panics, or leaking memory, or stealing interrupts just because that driver   
   seems to kinda work with that new model. All these things go beyond that   
   "hey, it seems to work..."   
      
   > And by the way do you also spend time in the Linux groups telling them to   
   > give up when ever new hardware comes out?   
      
   I don't use Linux on brand new hardware either (I leave at least a window of   
   6 months before I try Linux on it). I use Windows for that, which is certain   
   to work as the drivers for new hardware have drivers first for Windows and   
   then for anything else. This strategy has paid off very well for me, I am   
   not ending up with unsupported hardware for my OSes and I definately don't   
   end up with WEIRD problems people are reporting just because they use   
   drivers not tested against their exact hardware models.   
      
   This is what I  try to convey with my replies: use hardware that the   
   software was made for and tested for. That's your best bet and I 100% stand   
   by this. And it's not just me, but the Be engineering team too (I am a   
   personal friend to some of them and so I have discussed the issue at length   
   overtime).   
      
   Eugenia   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)