Posts by yowlingcat 5 publicly visible posts • joined 29 May 2016
It's all in the cloud these days, so the answer to the OS is ... Chrome OS surely. Or dual boot between Chrome OS and EPOC. And Linux to keep the enthusiasts happy.
The problem I seem to remember with my 5mx was that it could not Save As a document to rtf or MS Word format - didn't a company called neuron get around that with a piece of shareware? It garbled the formatting every time.
A beautiful bit of kit, I still have a netBook in the cellar somewhere, battery is shot though.
I use Google Mail in my business - it's actually really good, don't really miss Outlook that much and the convenience of using Android Gamil or a browser on the go is incalculable.
BUT - the big problem for me is Google Docs. I don't know much about AI, but I just want a word processor to do some basic things - like showing non-printing characters, having a way to format numbered paragraphs and sub-paragraphs easily. I don't want tables breaking over pages. When I actually tried to use Docs, it was a disaster - there isn't a great deal it needs to be basically workable, but there are just some things which stop me adopting it as a daily tool. It's a toy in comparison with Word, or even LibreOffice.
Such a shame - the idea of collaboration is really well executed, but you have to collaborate on something usable.
I have come to buy stock Android because I buy Nexus kit. I can't stand the bloatware that comes with Samsung, so I don't buy it.
I think there is a choice - you can buy stock Android, or Google could release a version of stock that people could update as they wished. The problem is that the great unwashed simply stump up cash to buy the latest and greatest from Samsung or whoever, and never think of the updates. Since everyone buys a new phone every year or two, it is not so great a problem.
Err - do you mean Chrome OS by any chance?
My two penny worth: if Google keeps its nerve, and brings off its implementation of Android onto Chrome OS, it will be the biggest upset in PC history in decades, more surprising than OS/2 making a comeback.
It may sound strange, but M$ has been making enemies of its consumers for decades. It is true that I still hold Windows Me against them - it cost me - I don't know - £125 all those years ago and what a dog. I eventually went back to W98 SE. Did they offer a refund? They are all billionaires off us, but not so much as an acknowledgement of the mistake.
I don't forgive them for Vista. I don't forgive them for dropping Windows Mobile/Pocket PC, not even giving us loyal users a discount to migrate across to their new Windows Phone platform. I will never, ever forgive them for Windows 8/8.1: what a complete mess. Do they honestly think that people would trust them with their phones after that? The phone is more important to people these days than their laptop, so if you can't get the laptop right, they are hardly going to trust you with a phone.
The problem is that there are too many people out there who simply do not have a warm, cosy feeling about M$, they just make a commodity we all have to use - except we don't any longer and people are voting with their feet as fast as they can.
M$ is in serious trouble - it is all about mobile now, not Windows, and they failed to make it in the new marketplace. They may come back, but they are going to be down for a few years yet. When people come to meetings now, they often don't have Windows laptops, it is commonly iOS plus BT keyboard, or an Apple laptop.
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