Watch out for Windows 10

[Uncle Gizmo]

I am getting very disillusion with the lot of them lately. I used to like Microsoft and then Google came along and blew them out of the water. However they are all becoming the same in the way that they disrespect and treat the developers add customers alike. Continually moving the Goalposts without any thought to the extra work it will put developers to, and again making the end user have to re-learn how to do things, not generally a problem for the text savvy people but my 84 year old mother finds it very confusing and difficult to use her Android phone and the same for her windows laptop, nearly to the point of where she will jack it in. If you try and develop with Google - I've been looking at Google apps - JavaScript, much of the documentation is depreciated, in other words it refers to depreciated elements of the code, it's all still there and nothing's linked --- it doesn't say this is depreciated you need to use this! You just have to scratch about and fathom it out for yourself. It's the same with the authors who write books for the subject. Within months the books become obsolete and unless author is devoted to it and revisits and updates the book, it very soon become misleading and practically useless, definitely unreliable. I think it's terrible disgusting considering the money they have made, then they don't play any attention to correcting everything. It wouldn't cost an awful lot comparative to how much they make. Theres more - but rant mode off for the moment!

 

[Steve R.]

Whether they give it away or they make you pay for it, its still a trap right? I mean as soon as they stop supporting version's 7 or 8 the trap snaps shut.

With Linux there are many distributions with different philosophical approaches when it comes to upgrading. The effect is that the "trap" has many "leaks" and does not fully "shut". Of course, to my knowledge, each distribution does have an end-of-life event where that release eventually becomes "unsupported".

Can you run apps like Office 2016 or games like Call to Duty effectively?

I am not a gamer, so I can't really comment on it. Based on cursory knowledge, I can say is that Linux games are not as good as MS Windows games.

Linux has an office application (LibreOffice) that is just as good as MS Windows Office, except for MS Access. MS Access still comes out as the "winner". I have been able to side-step the lack of MS Access by using my browser.

If Linux (redhat) were to become mainstream like windows or apple os they would be snatched up and you would be facing the same issues we face now.

I would hope not. Linux is open-source, so there is no specific owner. Redhat would be an example of a private company that has apparently embraced using free open-source software and making its money through customer service. A much better bushiness model than propriety business models.

Proprietary business models, such as that used by Microsoft and Apple are a hindrance to technological innovation. (As an aside, Apple should be supported in its encryption dispute with the FBI. Unbreakable encryption is a necessary security measure for legitimate business/personal purposes.)

 

[AccessBlaster]

Microsoft is the heroin of our generation. Until I retire or my work stop using it (HA), I have to stay up to date regarding office and windows version...xxxx.

At work we use the enterprise versions, with most of the staff set to a lower admin user. We have little control how these images are configured.

At home I try not to give away all my personal info by going into the settings and turning off everything that is outbound. Camera, mic, locations etc. There are services you can disable, some of which are controversial would be key logger type services. Be vigilant.

When you upgrade don't be lazy and select the express settings. This is where most of your privacy goes out the Window(s) pardon the pun.

like Gizmo said nothing free, except the cheese in the TRAP.

 

[Steve R.]

At work we use the enterprise versions, with most of the staff set to a lower admin user. We have little control how these images are configured.

For me, (before I retired) that was the unbreakable monolith of waste and fraud in government. Very few of the office staff had any real need for the full capabilities found in "enterprise" suites. Essentially, Microsoft has been raking in a lot of excessive licensing fees for underutilized software.

Where I worked, very few of the office staff had any real need for the full capabilities found in "enterprise" versions. Most of the staff only needed the word processor with limited occasional need for a spreadsheet. Even the more "advanced" staff attempting to use additional features, such as MS Access where frustrated (by the IT department in my case) in attempting to use the capabilities that they theoretically were licensed to use.

Consequently, it would make a lot of $$ sense for government agencies and even private business to use selective free open source software such as "Writer" and "Calc" since that would satisfy the office productivity needs of many office workers. It is unfortunate that Microsoft has been successful in locking people into using their expensive products.

 

[AccessBlaster]

Consequently, it would make a lot of $$ sense for government agencies and even private business to use selective free open source software such as "Writer" and "Calc" since that would satisfy the office productivity needs of many office workers. It is unfortunate that Microsoft has been successful in locking people into using their expensive products.

In a school district setting, Microsoft is everywhere. To say we have 60-70 thousand licensing agreements would be putting it on the conservative side.

As far a cost goes, many of these costs are "grants" that are passed on to the public one way or the other. So having office suites that are underutilized is not a big concern. Oops did I say that out loud.

There is a move however towards Chromebooks for testing purposes. Chromebooks are basically smartphones. By that I mean you need Wi-Fi to run, they are somewhat a single purpose device not made for intense computing. More like surfing the web or answering questions. But for now that will not replace the many computer labs that run traditional computer towers and suites.

 

[adrianscotter]

Microsoft is the heroin of our generation. Until I retire or my work stop using it (HA), I have to stay up to date regarding office and windows version...xxxx.

At work we use the enterprise versions, with most of the staff set to a lower admin user. We have little control how these images are configured.

At home I try not to give away all my personal info by going into the settings and turning off everything that is outbound. Camera, mic, locations etc. There are services you can disable, some of which are controversial would be key logger type services. Be vigilant.

When you upgrade don't be lazy and select the express settings. This is where most of your privacy goes out the Window(s) pardon the pun.

like Gizmo said nothing free, except the cheese in the TRAP.

I don't know if this will help but...

I did find this by accident and use it on all of my machines that have Windows 10: https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10

So far it seems to work for me, none of the adverts that appear are for anything I've looked at before (good), Microsoft aren't forever trying to sell me things (good) but Google still seem to be able to target me with adverts! (Bad). One of the most pervasive things I found during the Windows 10 setup was the ability to 'Log onto my friends from my contact list without asking or the need for a password! Are they mad! Most of my friends spend their time on sites of dubious origins and I wouldn't thank you for an automatic connection to their network.

 

[AccessBlaster]

I don't know if this will help but...

I did find this by accident and use it on all of my machines that have Windows 10: https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10

So far it seems to work for me, none of the adverts that appear are for anything I've looked at before (good), Microsoft aren't forever trying to sell me things (good) but Google still seem to be able to target me with adverts! (Bad). One of the most pervasive things I found during the Windows 10 setup was the ability to 'Log onto my friends from my contact list without asking or the need for a password! Are they mad! Most of my friends spend their time on sites of dubious origins and I wouldn't thank you for an automatic connection to their network.

During the clean install setup, I choose the custom configuration and not the express setup. At this point, I turn all the toggle switches to no. Then after windows is finished, I go back to the setting and privacy pages and turn most of those toggles to no.

Just to be clear, you need to upgrade to windows 10 before you can perform a clean install.
http://www.access-programmers.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=1477704&postcount=36

 

[Steve R.]

Surprise, one of my computer decided to upgrade itself to Windows 10. Actually, that may not be quite accurate. Over a month ago I was doing my taxes, which requires a Windows computer, and I was nagged with a "Do you want to upgrade?" message. I clicked yes, but nothing happened over the course of a month. I forgot about it.

Today, I booted into Window to check alternative tax stuff scenarios, and the computer, by itself went into upgrade mode, which wiped-out my work. That was a bit jarring. Not to make the story any longer, the good news is that the upgrade went smoothly and did not affect my Linux install. Everything looked OK with the Windows 10 install based on a cursory examination.

 

[adrianscotter]

Hi SteveR, I've now upgraded well over 100 machines and not a single one has 'lost' any data, no data has been moved or 'hidden' where I didn't expect to find it. I've done it on machines with multi boot partitions, dual boot with Linux too and never any data loss. I just ensure I run the Windows 10 shutup from OO as previously mentioned.

 

[Steve R.]

Hi SteveR, I've now upgraded well over 100 machines and not a single one has 'lost' any data, no data has been moved or 'hidden' where I didn't expect to find it. ...

My primary concern with upgrading Windows was the potential havoc Microsoft might cause to a dual boot computer. Microsoft is not known for playing nice. This potential scenario did not happen.

For example, I did a Motherboard BIOS upgrade a few years ago, Windows would not boot, but Linux did. Went back to the prior BIOS version. One of these days I may revisit the BIOS upgrade.

The upgrade, went well (as far as I can tell). The data lose that I experienced was not (directly) the fault of Windows, it was just a simple disruption to ongoing work similar to having the power cord pulled. However, I don't recall seeing any warning message to save your work prior to the upgrade process being initiated. Oh well.

I do have a nit-pick with backing up Windows data files. Never, got it to work on a reliable basis when backing-up to external storage media. Since I am now using Linux, I have a Linux based back-up program to save my Windows and Linux data files to an external hard drive. So there would have been no issue had the upgrade process somehow screwed things up.

So to the extent that I can, I complement Microsoft for making a painless upgrade. One computer left to upgrade!

 

[adrianscotter]

I found an amazing piece of free backup software some years ago called Cobian Backup. I love it, you can change all of the parameters at will, tell it to shut down when it's done if it's a big backup and you want to go to bed. There are various different versions as it's been developed and I use it for all sorts, both personally and for clients. I backup to 2nd hard disk in the same machine, removable hard disk and USB flash drive, my Synology NAS and to FTP. Just Google 'Cobian Backup' - no quote marks. As for continuing ongoing backup, I use Google Drive. I love that too

 

[Steve R.]

I took a quick look at Cobian Backup. They wrote "Cobian Backup doesn't use any proprietary format and doesn't need a special recovery function. Just copy/unzip your files back. ... " The avoidance of a proprietary approach is a big plus. Proprietary based back-up programs are a horror. Good that you found that back-up program.

 

[adrianscotter]

Or as 'they' say, "It just does as it says on the tin". I like things like me, SIMPLE...