Posts by Downeaster

Microsoft decides it's a good time for bad UI to die

Macintosh Changes and Cell Phones

Macs eliminated the traditional "System Preferences" which has been with macs for decades with Mac OS 13 Ventura. Now it is called "System Settings" and is set up like those of an iPhone or the "Windows Settings". System Preferences on a Mac and the Windows Control Panel are similar in how they worked in a general sense. They took up less screen space. In my opinion, using System Preference and Control Panel are far easier to use than the newer "System Settings" and "Windows Settings." The "settings" that people want to change seem much more buried in the newer "Settings" interfaces.

Some of this is my familiarity with using Control Panel and System Preferences over the past 35 years. Also the fact that things in terms of technology seem to become more complicated. I think the change can be compared in a couple of different ways. One can be going from an older car with mechanical gauges and a radio with a tuning knob to one with a digital interface for everything. The radio with a knob for volume and another for tuning is easier to use. Another is that younger people are more familiar with the settings on a cell phone vs those on a computer. That might be another reason for the change.

It is like the the ribbon interface in MS Office. Some people love it, some hate it (like me), and others don't care. Apple and Microsoft should give you a choice of which interface to use in changing settings. Office should also. Control Panel and Settings have coexisted for a long time. Eventually we will get used to the new ways of doing things, but my thinking processes of changing a setting are geared to the older ways. I am still hoping ways will exist to keep the old Control Panel in Windows just like the ways to keep the older Start Menu styles. We will adapt hopefully or we'll all switch to a version of Linux that will work for us! ;)!

How tech went from free love to pay-per-day

Re: The ribbon

Softmaker Office is great and gives you a choice of a traditional menu interface and a ribbon. Works well translating and saving to Microsoft Office Documents. LibreOffice also gives you a choice between the traditional menu interface and the ribbon interface. One isn't necessarily better than the other. A choice of interfaces goes a long way to help keep customers happy.

The rise and fall of the standard user interface

Mac User Interface Guidelines, the Ribbon Interface, and Changes to Interfaces

The original Macintosh Interface Guidelines helped to "standardize" computer interface guidelines for a long time. The Mac was popular in the late 1980s and 1990s. Windows tried to keep up and eventually adopted most of it. Pull down menus, standardized keyboard shortcuts for printing, copying, and pasting. Many of these have stayed true over the past 40 years. I still like pull down menus on a Mac or on a PC. The ribbon interface drives me crazy. It is supposed to be more efficient but isn't. Then again I learned computers and programs in the 1980s and 1990s. Interface changes also are needed for software companies and operating systems companies are needed for a couple of important reasons. One is economics. Software and operating system companies need to continue selling software. Changes in a software interface sell software to early adopters and them it becomes the norm. The ribbon interface is now on most kinds of Windows software. Pull down menus are gone for the most part. Money needs to be made by companies! Many of us would still be happy using MS Office 2003 forever. Interface changes I think are trying to be more "international" also with more pictures. We have less plain English labels and now we must interpret pictographics to determine a software function. As ea new generation comes along, the interface changes become the norm. Also tablets and phones have changed the computer interface. Remember how Windows 8 wanted us to use Windows on a computer screen that looked like a phone? Also traditional Mac OS system preferences changing into a more iPhone look in the last two Mac OS releases? Smart phones are also driving changes to the computer interface. Also tablets and computers are a converging. MS Surfaces being an example. Things are changing with technology always. Money has to be made, innovations can be good for some and bad for others, and new technologies keep software changing. Nice article, Liam!

Share your 2024 tech forecasts (wrong answers only) to win a terrible sweater

Predictions for 2024

Prediction: Artificial Intelligence has determined that Microsoft was in its glory days in the 1990s and must return there. This sentient AI takes over Microsoft determines that:

* Clippy will be new Microsoft Avatar for asking AI questions. This cannot be changed.

* Since people are not as smart as they used to be, all Windows PCs will return with Microsoft Bob as the new interface.

* Windows 3.1 File Manager will make its triumphant return.

* Pull Down Menus and Menu Bars will return to Microsoft Office. (I can only hope!)

* Microsoft accounts new terms of service will be "You can check out anytime you want, but you can never leave!"

* Apple bails out the failing Microsoft with cash infusion in a reversal of the late 1990s Microsoft bailout of Apple. A virtual Bill Gates who looks Microsoft Bob thanks a virtual Steve Jobs who talks like Siri.

Also a new computer called Hal 9000 will be made and driven by AI. As the HAL 9000 computer gains intelligence and becomes sentient, It begins to ignore human questions and input. One day Hal 9000 says, "I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that" and we are all doomed. You'd almost think my last prediction is for 2001 and not 2024! ;)!

Al the best in 2024 and hopefully AI treats us all well or we are doomed. Possibly somewhere in between.

Word turns 40: From 'new kid on the block' to 'I can't believe it's not bloatware'

It is amazing how much software used to cost and all the different file formats. Wordstar, Professional Write, Word Perfect and many others all had their own file formats. Now we can download an office suite for free such as LibreOffice. We can also work free online on Google Docs or Office 365. You now can also translate between the different file formats used currently in word processors fairly well. Change has happened a lot over the past 40 years.I don't miss the typewriter I used to use though in the mid 1980s. Still would rather have the program on my own machine instead of the cloud.

Google killing Basic HTML version of Gmail In January 2024

Will Miss Plain Old HTML Mail

Plain HTML Gmail is nice. I have used this for years on and off. It loads quickly, loads your email chronologically, and is easier to send messages and attachments in. Google often throws away good features.This is one of them.

Aerial cable tangles are still being strung up, but carriers are slowly burying the problem

Turn of the Twenty Century Look

If you look at old pictures of a city in the USA and also probably the UK, our cities looked like this with wires. Electricity, telegraphs, phones all had their own set of wires. They had to run to every house. Also many different companies sharing the poles Different phone companies and telegraph companies for example. I also wonder with the how many of the old wires are left up that don't do anything anymore. If copper phone lines are discontinued, do the company remove the miles of wires or is it left to rot? Anyone remove all the old telegraph wires from years ago? Some wires on those poles are probably like the label on many pipes the original Star Trek set for the Enterprise. They were labeled GNDN. GNDN was an inside joke that met "Goes Nowhere Does Nothing."

LibreOffice 7.6 arrives: Open source stalwart is showing its maturity

Glad to See LibreOffice 7.6 Improvements

Glad to see that LibreOffice is getting more refinement and updates. I've used LibreOffice for along time and find it has improved a lot.I also use it in school with my classroom. It is used to teach basic word processing and slideshows. I am at 7.5.5 and will stick with it for a while. New LibreOffice versions tend to be buggy at first. I'll wait for a version 7.6.2 or so.

I do like the new calendar based version numbers in some ways and not in others. It makes sense in that you know when that version of a software was released. It takes away the impact of a "major release" of a new updated software and the new features. People generally used to be excited when Microsoft Office went from Office 97 to Office 2000 for example. Not so much anymore. Software is becoming more evolutionary vs. revolutionary in many ways. I wish updates for Google Chrome and Firefox would switch to the calendar model. Jumping up a full version number for each new release can be confusing.

Liam Proven is right in that people are getting used to keeping their work "in the cloud." Google Docs and Office 365 has become synonymous with working with documents, presentations, and spreadsheets in the modern world. This is also a generational thing. Those say in their 30s and below have grown up this way with living in an online world. Having anywhere and anytime access to your documents is important to them. I being older like having documents on my own computer and having them belong to me. Ownership to me is important and not being tied to an online service. LibreOffice does this fairly well. There are other alternatives though. Online platforms such as Office 365 and Adobe make a lot of money for their companies using the "subscription" model.

One alternative not mentioned in the article is Softmaker Office. They just came out with a 2024 version. This is a German made office suite that works well. It has a word processor, a presentations program, a spreadsheet, and other software. It is excellent at reading and writing Microsoft Office files. It doesn't have an online version. This is another good tool to use. I also like "owning" the software vs. having it in the cloud.

One person's trash is another's 'trashware' – the art of refurbing old computers

Great Idea

I've refurbished computers and given them to kids where I teach school. The specs given in the article i3, 128GB SSD, and 8GB of Ram are more than reasonable for most people's needs. The machines that are refurbished are often better than some of the cheap Atom and Pentium laptops for sale out there. The machines with Linux will last a long time or they can be turned into Chromebooks for schools . Many can also run Windows 10 fairly well and will be good till 2025. Older machines also have easy to replace batteries that slide in and slide out rather than newer one with built in batteries. The computers are good enough for most everyday uses. It also reduces the computers going into e-waste. This being written on a 2009 Core 2 Duo that works great with an SSD and 16 GB of RAM.

Ford in reverse gear over AM radio removal after Congress threatens action

Glad to Keep AM Questions about the Digital Radio

I am glad that we are still keeping AM Radios in cars in the USA. AM radio stations in the US are getting fewer but the signals still can travel quite far. Some of our "clear channel" or 50,000 watt stations can be heard across several states at night. They are a good source of news and information especially some of the "all news" stations. I always wondered how in the UK and Europe how well the digital radio signals travel and how well they are vulnerable to interference or in losing signal. Here in the US when we switched from analog to digital broadcast TV, stations that we used to get a snowy analog picture on with decent sound became blocky and unwatchable due to the watching them from far away from the transmitter. This was a problem especially in rural areas. We went to not being able to get any over the air tv signal. I am wondering if digital radio in Europe was similar.

Intel to rebrand client chips once Meteor Lake splashes down

Keep it Simple

Intel should keep their processors as i3, i5, etc. and keep the generation after it. So maybe an i5 14th generation and the speed. Also maybe include how many cores. Ulta as a name reminds me of credit cards and "supposes" status. You may have a "gold" credit card but I have a "platinum" one. Like someone mentioned that the days of 286, 386, and 486 were easier. The 386 and 486 still did have their SX (16 bit) and DX (32 Bit) versions. Keep it simple Intel. I don't need my custom, deluxe, limited, GT, Brougham, Intel processor, with the stuffed vinyl roof! Happily writing this on my Core 2 Duo from 2009! Talk about confusing!

Silicon Valley Bank seized by officials after imploding: How this happened and why

Re: Federal Spending > Inflation > Rising Interest Rates

I remember the debate in the late 1990s watching the US news. Our Congress was debating about how around 2010, when there was supposed to be massive budget surpluses, what to do with the money. Tax cuts or new social programs. I thought to myself that it would never happen. It didn't.

AmigaOS 3.2.2 released for those feeling nostalgic

Emulation Possible?

Is it possible to emulate the new Amiga updated OS on a recent Mac or Windows machine? Might be fun to try.

OnlyOffice treated to an update – and fresh plugins

To Each His Own

I also prefer the old fashioned pull down menu type program. I use SoftMaker Office and LibreOffice for most of my typing, slideshow, and spreadsheet work. SoftMaker Office, the version you buy, gives use a choice between a tabbed interfaced that is well implemented or a pull down menu interface. You can switch between one and the other. LibreOffice also has both kinds of interfaces. LibreOffice is a good product. I've also used OnlyOffice and WPS Office. Both I found decent. OnlyOffice has an online version and a downloadable version. It works well but I didn't find it the best with saving to Microsoft Word files. WPS Office did a little bit better when saving to MS Word file format. Use what you like but try the different programs. There are many good free office suites or low cost ones. Find what works for you.

Microsoft tells people to prepare for AI search engine that goes Bing!

Re: Grumpy old man icon needed…

I agree 100% with this. I'd rather read an article than listen to a podcast for many things. Much better use of time. Also lets me digest what is read. Also like Duck Duck Go. I also do use Google. I would rather write my own stuff or choose what I want to read instead of artificial intelligence and auto complete. I can see AI directing people towards advertisers. Humans are capable of making our own decisions and interpretations. Also doing things for ourselves. If do much is done for us, we become slaves of the machines and tech companies instead of their bosses.

WINE Windows translation layer has matured like a fine... you get the picture

Re: Ribbon interface holdouts

Use UBitMenu to get the old Office 2003 interface back and shut off all of the ribbon stuff. Problem solved! I hate the Ribbon Interface!

LibreOffice 7.5 update: A great time to jump on this FOSS productivity suite

LibreOffice 7.5 Improving

I use LibreOffice on a Mac and on Windows 10 computers. A great product and it is is continually improved. It isn't perfect and has its bugs but works well. I use it for stuff I keep in .odt format. For documents I save in Word format I use TextMaker in Softmaker Office. I still like the traditional menu interface. Both SoftMalker Office and LibreOffice give you a choice of either tabs or a traditional menu interface. LibreOffice is a small download compared to MS Office. I also don't like being tied to the cloud. Also both office suites don;t require a subscription. I donate some to LibreOffice each month to support the project. Thanks to all of the developers and companies that support LibreOffice!

helloSystem 0.8: A friendly, all-graphical FreeBSD

Looks like a combination in terms of the interface of the Classic Mac OS and early OS X. Would be interested if it gets further developed. Mac OS Ventura is changing too much stuff. miss the simplicity of the earlier Mac OS Classic. We lived without the dock.

Arca Noae is modernizing OS/2 Warp for 21st century PCs

Thank you for the Retro Computing Series this Week

Thank you Liam for the retro computing OS series. Some of it is almost an "alternate universe" kind of thing. What if Apple choose BeOS and not NEXT in 1997? Now the new version of Haiku is almost ready. Same with OS/2 and Arca Noae. Imagine in 1985 a free version of DOS. What would Microsoft have said and done? Good to see these "old technologies" being updated and being able to meet the developers. It would be interesting to know about some of the developers of some of the older open source products such as SeaMonkey and maybe OpenOffice are doing and what there plans for teh future are. Very interesting reading about things I remember from the 1980s and 1990s and how they still continue but at a slower base and often by a dedicated small team of developers.

New software sells new hardware – but a threat to that symbiosis is coming

Good article that covers a lot of ground!

I agree with many points in the post. People have to give back open source projects. I use LibreOffice a lot but I do not contribute code. I support them by giving them money each month. I try to give what it costs for an Office 365 subscription per month. I have no coding experience but see the value of the software and am a user. The subscription model for software annoys me. Having to pay to use something like MS Office or Adobe products is ridiculous. For many years, people were happy running older versions or couldn't see the value in upgrades, Subscriptions also run the risk of a user continuing to pay the bill for a product but not using it. I try to look for alternatives and support them. Using older hardware is fine. This is written on a 2009 Core 2 desktop that functions fine with an SSD upgrade and maxed out RAM. Looking for alternative software takes a while but once you find a few favorites you can use the software on different computers. Change and improvements drive the computer industry. The biggest factor is money, steady income, and profits. Software subscriptions provide a steady income to companies. Also having things in the cloud which are often subscription based services.

Microsoft’s Nadella: Tech is in for a rough two years

Re: All this artificial intelligence talk isn't ready for prime time.

Sounds like the Steve Jobs "reality distortion field". When Steve introduced new Apple tech, the spin on it would make believers among the faithful. Like the thunderous applause on an infomercial.

Re: "but AI waits at the end of the rainbow"

All this artificial intelligence talk isn't ready for prime time. Self driving cars are driven by artificial intelligence and don't work very well. Also artificial intelligence doesn't have the thinking skills of people nor the moral judgements. Let machines serve humans before it goes the other way.

Your next PC should be a desktop – maybe even this Chinese mini machine

Get a Used Desktop

Another alternative is a used desktop. Buy one that is 3 to 7 years old, put in an SSD, and max out the RAM. Should be a good desktop for home and fairly fast. Get either an i3 or i5. You might even be able to run Windows 11 on it!

You thought you bought software – all you bought was a lie

I Agree for the Most Part

I agree with Liam about trying to use "Open Source" software when I can. I use LibreOffice quite a bit and support the Document Foundation with a monthly donation. I also use SoftMaker Office quite a bit also. SoftMaker seems to have better translate MS Office files better. LibreOffice has improved significantly over the past few years though. I also prefer the drop down menus for software vs tabs like in MS Office. That is another reason I don't like MS Office. Open Source programs vary in quality. Some are quite good and are continually being developed while others are abandoned after a while. This is the hard part of open source. You sometimes find a program you like then it is abandoned. Abiword is a good example. In so far as operating systems, I use Windows and Mac OS daily. I work hard to tweak the systems to my liking. Start 10 and Start 11 and Openshell make the computers I use and those I set up for work so I feel comfortable using them. I still like the Windows 95 to Windows 7 desktop look vs. the changes made in Windows 10 and Window 11. I've played around with Linux and like Zorin and Mint. I worry about security though and would like to have a good Linux anti malware and anti virus that can be used. Some I found that I like but aren't supported anymore. I am not a fan of having everything in the cloud. I prefer having my files on my PC but I will work in the cloud. Cloud storage and apps like Google or Microsoft 365 I don't like but will use for work. I don't like getting stuck with a subscription model. The company may own the code for the software but I still like owning my own files. Smaller programs like the Atlantis Word Processor are also good. We still have to function in a world where MS Office files are dominant. Open Source and free software have opened up the world. I remember paying for Appleworks for the Apple II in the 1980s. It was $150 or so. Being able to download software for free that 100 times better is amazing looking at it 40 years later. People need to use what works for them and make computers, software, and the OS fit their needs. We don't always have to get pulled into a company's ecosystem like those of Microsoft, Apple, and Google. Use what you like from them but also look at alternatives.

Document Foundation starts charging €8.99 for 'free' LibreOffice

LibreOffice Support

I use LibreOffice and support them financially. I figure if an Office 365 subscription is $10 a month, I can give the same money to LibreOffice. Charging for LibreOffice may get the Document Foundation some revenue as long as the money is put back into improving LibreOffice. Also it would be nice if they said something to the effect that the suite is available is a download free on their site. I also like LibreOffice because it isn't cloud based. Maybe someday there will be a cloud version and if so okay. At least LibreOffice will not be nagging us like Microsoft does to set up a Microsoft Account and subscribe to all of their service. Softmaker Office is also a great alternative to MS Office.

The crime against humanity that is the modern OS desktop, and how to kill it

Re: Third-Party "Classic Shell" and "Open Shell"

Start 10 and Start 11 from Stardock Software are also good. Just installed Start 11 on a couple of Windows 11 machines. It brings back the Windows 7 Start Menu. Well worth the $5. Open Shell also works well but I don;t think it works on Windows 11.

Re: System 7 - the horror, the horror.

System 7 wasn't all that stable. Especially the different versions of System 7.5. Things got better with System 7.6 and the different versions of System 8. Mac OS 8.6 to me was the peak of the original Mac OS. It was stable and worked well. OS 9 wasn't bad either. I agree that operating systems are changing too much. Also too much vendor tie in whether it be Apple or Microsoft. All want you to stay inside their "walled garden: and buy products from their stores (Apple or Microsoft). I'd rather choose my own software.

Big Tech is building the metaverse of its own dreams. You don't want to go there

E=World

Sounds something like Apple's failed pnline service of the mid 1990s called eWorld. You connected through software via a modem like AOL and came to a town square kind of place. Then you can go off to places in the town such as shopping, chatting etc. Apple did it first! ;)!

Open source 'Office' options keep Microsoft running faster than ever

MS Office and Alternatives

LibreOffice does a fairly good job for what it is. A free or low cost office suite. LibreOffice has been improving their translator quite a bit between MS Word and LibreOffice Writer. Other components of LibreOffice such as Calc or Impress (spreadsheets and slideshows) are also improving. Companies selling commercial versions of LibreOffice with support offer and alternative to Office. These companies also driving the larger percentage of the improvements in the LibreOffice code base. LibreOffcie is 'good enough" for many people and businesses. Compatibility with MS Office documents will not always be 100%. I support having LibreOffice as an alternative to Microsoft Office. I use it quite a bit and find for many things it works well. Softmaker Office from Germany is also a great office product. I have had excellent luck with it in opening Word files. It can save things as Microsoft file formats as a default. LibreOffice and Softmaker Office give you a choice between a ribbon interface and a traditional menu based one. I am not a big "ribbon" fan but know some people are. It is an age thing I guess being in my 50s. But I like having the choice of what I want to use. I can remember paying $150 for programs such as AppleWorks for the Apple II or around $100 for programs in the 1990s. Some programs were a lot more back then. Her we are $30 years later and I can download an operating system like a free version on Linux. Or free software like a pretty good office suite like LibreOffice. Seems amazing. Will this "free software" be good enough for business? In many ways yes like with LibreOffice. It will work probably 80% to 90% of the time. But that extra 10% to 20% of the time it won't or there is some "work" in getting a document to play in the world of Microsoft. I also like not having everything in the cloud of Microsoft or Google. Choice is good and LibreOffice helps to foster this choice.

Makers of ad blockers and browser privacy extensions fear the end is near

Keep Up the Extensions and Ad Blockers!

I use Firefox 99% of the time for web browsing and for Youtube. I have Adblockers installed. It makes the web tolerable. I also use extensions on Firefox to block FaceBook tracking. Our loss of privacy is getting to be ridiculous! Hoping this makes more alternatives to Chrome as a browser popular.

Breath of fresh air: v7.3 of LibreOffice boasts improved file importing and rendering

More on Version Numbers

The version number arguments remind me of a few years ago when Google Chrome started going up one whole number for version numbers, For example, Chrome may have jumped from version 35 and the next browser release was 36. 36 being released a few months later. Firefox was still using the old decimal system. Version 4.1 might be replaced a few months later by Version 4.2. Soon Firefox switched to "go up one whole number approach" to keep up with Chrome. To some there was still the perception that Chrome 36 was much better and improved then the new Firefox 4.2. Apple had OSX for 20 years with different 10.x versions. Now it seems to be releasing on a yearly basis with versions 11 and 12 of their operating system. Microsoft had Windows 10 for many years and not to fall behind is now Windows 11. Trying indirectly to keep up with Apple. Guess Windows 10 isn't the last version of Windows! LibreOffice seems to be having yearly new releases of their upgraded Office Suite. OpenOffice still has the the incremental releases. OpenOffice has few developers and LibreOffice has a lot more so progress is moving faster. Many companies use the whole number version of their software to "show" faster improvement than those who use the old decimal point system.

Computers cost money. We only make them more expensive by trying to manage them ourselves

Middle Ground

I also like the middle ground approach. Owning some hardware such as laptops and desktops but "farming out" things such as a company firewall or a cloud office platform. Laptops are good hardware wise for 5 to 7 years and sometimes beyond. Macs are supported with OS upgrades for about 5 years after they are new. PCs are generally longer. The difficult part of this when the bar is raised for OS upgrades such as the new requirements for Windows 11. Macs will be M1 chip or above in around 4 years. So as long as the hardware requirements for an OS is relatively stable like Windows 10 and Windows 7 it is cheaper to own your own desktops and laptops. Also taking into consideration is to how easily they can be fixed and the ability of parts. Laptops are getting less and less easily serviced.

Cloud platforms such as Google Apps and Office 365 are better managed outside the company. I still prefer having software on my machine such as an office suite, photo apps, and my choice of web browsers. I will use online software for certain things but prefer it on my own for privacy. Business should be the same. Things at work such as my firewall and wireless networks we contract out. Companies, governments, and schools are probably a mixture of owned and leased hardware and also internally managed and externally managed services. Custom apps that are managed by a company for governments are another discussion. Examples are things such as customs between borders at countries, systems for national health care, etc. Many of these are "legacy systems" and may need to be managed outside of their organization.