>> Thats because the providers never package things up cleanly. If they
>> sent a client on a disk, a la AOL, and they set things up to
>> autoconfigure, they'd never need to speak to the clients.
>
> You've obviously never attempted to get a Windows product working for
>someone whose previous experience with a computer is limited to "Solitaire".
>
> I've done work with this ISP, and I can tell you it's nearly the most
>frustrating experience I've had in my life -- Windows has bizzare
>conflicts with software eating other software, ports getting set up
>wrong, and just general nastiness. Even the slickest software needs
>helpline time - for whatever reason.
I hate jumping in when I may be completely off base but...
NT and (possibly Winodws97) may solve some of this, mainly through better
controll over devices and protected memory. I recently installed some NT
services, HTTP server, and Time Service (to get time off a trusted host).
The HTTP server was installed and working in 5 minutes. I'm a little more
advanced than the typical "Solitare junky", but I was amazed at the ease of
install and controll that some of this stuff gives you. I would probably
spend atleast 30+ minutes trying to get them properly installed on my UNIX host.
... __o
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