Re: Waste
Simply... In the general scheme of things the complete cost of the transmission was negligible.
Also, we're humans, we actually do fun and inspiring things from time to time. It's how we cope with the darker/nastier/boring sides to life.
64 publicly visible posts • joined 12 May 2017
Wow, with six months to go us stick-in-the-mud Win 10 users are already being treated as second class users and forgotten.
I think it's time to investigate Linux Mint more seriously now; I was planning to do so in the summer but events have overtaken me, and the last of my faith/trust is ebbing away.
To put it simply so the backstabbers at MS can understand: No, I am not forking out for new hardware when my I7/16GB RAM machine with two SSDs and stuff is still perfectly good for my needs. Unlike you lot I am not made of money. My time with Windows - going back to Windows 3, and DOS before that - was (mostly) fun, but it's now over and I have a new challenge to face, that of Linux. Oh well, life goes on...
Yes, my choice will be simple - switch to Mint and run the Windows apps I've paid for under Wine. I have a perfectly fine I7 PC, but because it's not to Microsoft's liking it will be obsolete and insecure in October 2025.
I like to smirke though, with the impending release of Win12... Will it offer an upgrade path for us Win10 refuseniks? Probably not. What will it do to Win11 users? I dread to think, but I do like to smirke...
I want a machine in the workplace to be just that, a machine; a thing. My toaster (thank you Red Dwarf for that perceptive warning!) just makes toast, my microwave just goes beep. Neither give me inspirational messages; they'd probably be told where to go if they did.
What's next? A TV that suggests what you should watch? A book that suggests what you should read? Oh, hang on...
Do I want Windows 11? No thank you.
Do I want Windows with adverts? Really NO and NO!
Windows 10 may not be perfect, but it's become (almost by default) a mature and stable OS*.
I'd really like a decent Linux (such as Mint) to become more of a competitor, but (for me) this won't happen until the basic user unfriendliness of the printing system / options is sorted out - but that's probably just me!
*Yes, ok, I know stability is a relative, even a subjective, term, but my Win 10 is behaving itself...
I won't have anything Alexa related in the house - I just don't trust them.
And that goes double for a robot that will, once the novelty has worn off, end up (a) back in its box, or (b) in the cupboard under the stairs, or (c) dumped on some unsuspecting pensioner ("This'll help you through the day Gran"), or (d) set up in the back yard to be shot at.
Maybe in ten years the technology will be useful, so long as the reporting back/cloud computing/spying has been sorted out, but now it's simply not for me.
Have they found any secret messages tucked away in the depts of Pi, maybe from the Creator to us Subjects?
"This is a Beta version. Please report any problems..."
"Hello to mum and dad. Told you I'd get to 32 trillion..."
"Congrations! You have just discovered the secret message."
"I think I made an error back a few digits. Better check..."
So Microsoft prefers "bugcheck" to 'death'-type words/descriptions. That's playing loose with the English language - something MS are very good at - but I prefer 'crashed' or 'knackered' as a description. They're not offensive words and are more descriptive of the problem compared to "bugcheck" which is another MS non-word.
I'm sure others can come up with other synonyms...
The next step is macro programming your car to go to the shops for you (emailing your shopping list to the shop) or, even better, order your shopping online and have someone else deliver it to you.
More time for you at Beer o'clock, while the technology does what it's always promised to do/deliver - which is great until the adverts (that will inevitably appear in the system, just like Smart TVs) mean your car will detour to get some Free Samples You May Like and then runs out of fuel a mile or two from home because of its abysmal range.
Yes, these retro computers aren't up to much compared to a good PC and a good graphics card etc, but they're fun; simple, nostalgic fun.
Also it's nice to have a computer that doesn't need an anti-virus or some complex OS to boot it. Yes, I know the Pi is almost that, but my The C64 and the Next (oh so tempting) behave in a different, and simpler, way. If you're interested in just playing a few games, get an emulator, but for the whole physical experience a solid machine you can touch (and even "ooh" over - oh, hang on, that sounds rude and even... um, ewh!) and appreciate (like an LP compared to a download music track) knocks emulation into a cocked hat.
Plus, for the average IT worker, £300 isn't much - it's a round of drinks, a filling up of the Porsche's tank, a weekend away for drinking and sex, or even... Well, hopefully you get my humorous point :-)
More bloody security issues - don't people have procedures in place to catch this sort of thing?
Plus, considering the piecemeal Android updates (often, none at all) these vulnerabilities will last the life of the product. It's like footballers in an Aberdeen bar all over again...!
We need software like LibreOffice, partly to try and help keep M$ honest (note I used 'try' and 'help' - I don't have a lot of faith). If I didn't need MS Publisher to handle my homemade booklets (I just don't get on with PagePlus) then I wouldn't pay good money for my Office subscription, plus I need to know the basics of Word, Outlook etc to have a chance of teaching/helping others - it's what I sometimes do...
I still advise them to get free (and Free) software, when it's of good quality and suitable, so stuff like Firefox, Thunderbird and LibreOffice (plus Avast) are always high on my Recommended list.