Posts by HairyFool

Win 8 ready for slate ... but biz customers can wait

Win7 anyone

The recent independant (although flawed) stats showing a user base increase in Win7 since the release previews rather points to decisions being made already. Microsoft in their cloud cuckoo land attribute it to the end of XP being confirmed but that has be well known for much longer and still has some way to go.

As to is it because Win8 is actively disliked or just that it has nothing that IT managers want is a moot point. Whichever it is those that are going to 7 now are not buying 8 for a while yet.

BBC Watchdog crew sink teeth into dodgy PC repair shops

What else do you expect

My local newspaper has been touting 6 week computer repair technician training for the last 5 years at least. If it is accepted that that is all it takes then that is the standard of engineer you are going to get. For safety reasons you need Gas Safe or Part P to call yourself a gas engineer or electrician but as lives are not at risk would this ever happen in PC repair, I doubt it. Of course something like CompTIA should be a minimum to be able to hang out the sign but does it mean much. I have come across a few sparks that I would not trust to change a fuse.

And I thought at the time it was a damned stupid fault, don't think in 20+ years I have ever come across that one (unless I done it myself)

Microsoft reports low Q1 earnings on sluggish PC sales

Not much hope there then

"Looking forward, however, everything depends on a successful launch of Windows 8"

Oh dear!

Windows 7 passes XP, Mac OS X passes Vista

Methedology?

The article admits there are gaps in the statistics due to the metoedology of basing it in the OS of systems accessing the internet but what about those that do not use the web at all.

From those that sit on a desk in a small non internet based business used only for WP to those companies who restrict which employees have access to the internet as a timewaster there is going to be a considerable count worldwide. As these are probably going to be predominantly older OS's I think that XP has a long way to go before it loses its crown especially as the differential is so small.

Add to that all those systems using one of the flavours of Windows as Embedded controlling various dedicated machines and systems which are not in the market of regular upgrades because they are designed to be a particular job.

Win8 is a major change to the OS is used day to day even if you think that change is acceptable. I am still getting used to it but such annoying things keep coming up from how to get the Run box to shutting down. The music tile opening XBox Live, why? I have 18000 tracks so why is the 1st thing I am going to do is buy more? Most of the "apps" I use promptly drop back to the desktop so I might as well stay there