[phrelin]

I read your posts and all I can think of is how ignorant I am. My own fault for just using computers instead of learning how they work.

Rich

Waiting is wise.

Also, you don't need to have learned "how they work."

I did that in 1970 and continued that learning process ... and continued that learning process ... and continued that learning process.... It wasn't and isn't like learning to adjust to an automatic transmission in a car. It's like the auto mechanic who started working on cars in 1970 and by the 2000's had to adjust to the electronics to fix a car - uncomfortable and frequently mystifying.

Windows 10 is the final step in a decade-long process. The reality is that us old-timers (I'm over 70 and relate to the time of and characters on "Halt and Catch Fire") are not going to give up our "desktop computer feel" for day-to-day chores. We bought Surface Pro 2's running Windows 8.1 as soon as they became available and set them up to look and feel like desktop computers.

We knew we couldn't reject the "device-with-apps-reality" that my granddaughter's generation grew up with, are comfortable with, and depend upon. I'm embracing them just as the business community will have to. We had to find a way to slide from the traditional clunky desktop (bad word, it's under the desk) to the tablet model.

Enterprises will need to leave the 20th Century by 2020 and Microsoft has been struggling to get them to do it. The struggle is with IT folks who have allowed themselves to become too comfortable with what they know.

If you still have enterprise software that is Windows-based but won't run on Windows 10 and you're defending that, welcome to the exit door. You've rejected the entire Millennial Generation even though Microsoft gave you a decade to adjust.

For the rest of us non-enterprise individuals, the tablet model was created by Steve Jobs at Apple and embraced by all of us fools as the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Why do I say "fools" you may ask? Because it incorporates the American "throw away" habit. You don't fix it, you replace it. You don't swap hard drives because there are no spinning hard drives in a Surface, iPad nor any other tablet. You don't keep data on hard drives, you keep it in the cloud. You keep your gmail on Google's computers, not your computer.

Sure, we can continue to have a "tower" computer - I still have one near my desk. But that is not the 2015 computer model because there aren't computers or even software, but rather devices and apps.

I'm having a problem with the idea of keeping my data in a cloud, which really means someone else's computer with spinning hard drives which I can only access through the internet. My problem is the anxiety that arises when I remember that networks are mostly of the "ethernet" variety. I remember that...

The idea was first documented in a memo that Dr. Robert Metcalfe wrote on May 22, 1973, where he named it after the disproven luminiferous ether as an "omnipresent, completely-passive medium for the propagation of electromagnetic waves".

Using that idea of luminiferous ether disproven in the 19th Century as a whimsical naming choice was a good one. So is "The Cloud" a good choice. Neither has a true form, both can "blow away" in the slightest wind. But that's my habitual "old guy" thinking.

There is not enough nagging Luddite in me that I haven't started eliminating paper copies of records I have in PDF format. But storing any new creations only in "the cloud" just doesn't cut it for me. So there are nice spinning hard drives connected to our Surface Pro 2's.

I am contemplating using that free cloud space provided by Microsoft for backup of documents if I can get over the fear of having personal information being stored there. Why I worry about that I don't know since almost every new document is created on or downloaded from a computer connected to the internet and everything from the details of my finances to my medical records are on the internet. But I have these anxieties....

Windows 10 isn't the "must have" operating system. It is the "must be" operating system, the system that reflects what "must be" in 2015.

Windows 7 or, worse yet, Windows XT are so 20th Century. They operate on hardware that likely takes up more space than a large frying pan or even a toilet, can't really be carried around conveniently, are designed for hard drives not the cloud. Stick with it and you'll soon be getting a puzzled look from 30-year-old people wondering why you would want to drive as your primary car a 1968 Rambler American.

Oh, and I'm the guy who still has a couple of his original Tandy Model II's and Model 100's.

 

[Rich]

Waiting is wise.

Also, you don't need to have learned "how they work."

I did that in 1970 and continued that learning process ... and continued that learning process ... and continued that learning process.... It wasn't and isn't like learning to adjust to an automatic transmission in a car. It's like the auto mechanic who started working on cars in 1970 and by the 2000's had to adjust to the electronics to fix a car - uncomfortable and frequently mystifying.

Windows 10 is the final step in a decade-long process. The reality is that us old-timers (I'm over 70 and relate to the time of and characters on "Halt and Catch Fire") are not going to give up our "desktop computer feel" for day-to-day chores. We bought Surface Pro 2's running Windows 8.1 as soon as they became available and set them up to look and feel like desktop computers.

We knew we couldn't reject the "device-with-apps-reality" that my granddaughter's generation grew up with, are comfortable with, and depend upon. I'm embracing them just as the business community will have to. We had to find a way to slide from the traditional clunky desktop (bad word, it's under the desk) to the tablet model.

Enterprises will need to leave the 20th Century by 2020 and Microsoft has been struggling to get them to do it. The struggle is with IT folks who have allowed themselves to become too comfortable with what they know.

If you still have enterprise software that is Windows-based but won't run on Windows 10 and you're defending that, welcome to the exit door. You've rejected the entire Millennial Generation even though Microsoft gave you a decade to adjust.

For the rest of us non-enterprise individuals, the tablet model was created by Steve Jobs at Apple and embraced by all of us fools as the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Why do I say "fools" you may ask? Because it incorporates the American "throw away" habit. You don't fix it, you replace it. You don't swap hard drives because there are no spinning hard drives in a Surface, iPad nor any other tablet. You don't keep data on hard drives, you keep it in the cloud. You keep your gmail on Google's computers, not your computer.

Sure, we can continue to have a "tower" computer - I still have one near my desk. But that is not the 2015 computer model because there aren't computers or even software, but rather devices and apps.

I'm having a problem with the idea of keeping my data in a cloud, which really means someone else's computer with spinning hard drives which I can only access through the internet. My problem is the anxiety that arises when I remember that networks are mostly of the "ethernet" variety. I remember that...

Using that idea of luminiferous ether disproven in the 19th Century as a whimsical naming choice was a good one. So is "The Cloud" a good choice. Neither has a true form, both can "blow away" in the slightest wind. But that's my habitual "old guy" thinking.

There is not enough nagging Luddite in me that I haven't started eliminating paper copies of records I have in PDF format. But storing any new creations only in "the cloud" just doesn't cut it for me. So there are nice spinning hard drives connected to our Surface Pro 2's.

I am contemplating using that free cloud space provided by Microsoft for backup of documents if I can get over the fear of having personal information being stored there. Why I worry about that I don't know since almost every new document is created on or downloaded from a computer connected to the internet and everything from the details of my finances to my medical records are on the internet. But I have these anxieties....

Windows 10 isn't the "must have" operating system. It is the "must be" operating system, the system that reflects what "must be" in 2015.

Windows 7 or, worse yet, Windows XT are so 20th Century. They operate on hardware that likely takes up more space than a large frying pan or even a toilet, can't really be carried around conveniently, are designed for hard drives not the cloud. Stick with it and you'll soon be getting a puzzled look from 30-year-old people wondering why you would want to drive as your primary car a 1968 Rambler American.

Oh, and I'm the guy who still has a couple of his original Tandy Model II's and Model 100's.

Great post!

Rich

 

[yosoyellobo]

What is wrong with a 1968 Rambler American?

 

[AntAltMike]

What is wrong with a 1968 Rambler American?

The aluminum block.

 

[Cholly]

Over the past few days, I've noticed a Windows 10 start screen icon in the task bar of my Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 computers. Hover on it and you get the message "Get Windows 10" displayed. I'm leery of doing it for now, because I have a number of programs (Partiacularly Office 2010) on both of these computers, that will have to be reinstalled. Of course, I have to back up all my data files (douments and pictures) before doing the installation.

 

[dpeters11]

Over the past few days, I've noticed a Windows 10 start screen icon in the task bar of my Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 computers. Hover on it and you get the message "Get Windows 10" displayed. I'm leery of doing it for now, because I have a number of programs (Partiacularly Office 2010) on both of these computers, that will have to be reinstalled. Of course, I have to back up all my data files (douments and pictures) before doing the installation.

To do the free upgrade, you'll need to do an in place upgrade, not a clean install. With that, you shouldn't need to reinstall apps. Office 2010 is compatible.

 

[harsh]

Every time I power up the laptop I bought off Craigslist for $85 and acquired in a parking lot rendezvous, Microsoft asks me to pay them $119 to make the Windows 7 upgrade software legal.

That's what happens when someone installs the software without an activation code. It is not a sign of certain doom as Jimmy57 asserts.

It will get worse as time goes on and you will not be eligible for the free Windows 10 deal unless you buy a version of Windows that qualifies.

 

[jimmie57]

That's what happens when someone installs the software without an activation code. It is not a sign of certain doom as Jimmy57 asserts.

It will get worse as time goes on and you will not be eligible for the free Windows 10 deal unless you buy a version of Windows that qualifies.

How did you get doom out of my posts ?

Who in their right mind would buy an authentic version of Windows 7 for a laptop they paid $85 for just to get the free upgrade to windows 10 ?

 

[jimmie57]

I cranked up my old Dell running Windows XP this morning. I do this every now and then just to see that it still works. It did after reseating the video card.
After the 3 updates that it had to load and install I did not get the Windows 10 free upgrade sign.
Of course this is what I expected.

 

[SeaBeagle]

What is wrong with a 1968 Rambler American?

Back when we had regular vehicles before those junky imports started showing up not very good of a reputation. But, now with those junky Toyotas, Mazdas, Nissans a Rambler would put all of those junky cars to shame. Been better if this country would is those imports would never been sold here.

Sent from my iPad 4 128GB using DBSTalk mobile app

 

[SeaBeagle]

I cranked up my old Dell running Windows XP this morning. I do this every now and then just to see that it still works. It did after reseating the video card.
After the 3 updates that it had to load and install I did not get the Windows 10 free upgrade sign.
Of course this is what I expected.

If I had this option in my Dell Desktop for a free update I would decline because I HATE the menu system in Windows 7, 8.1. I would defiantly stay with XP.

My Dell desktop has Windows XP.

Now on my Acer touchscreen which came with Windows 8.1 I reserved Windows 10.

Sent from my iPad 4 128GB using DBSTalk mobile app

 

[WestDC]

I upgraded all my. Xp machines to Win7 pro when support for xp ended.
14 year old Dell 11 year old dell laptop & 12 year old desk top. No could stuff for me usb 1.5 disk drive for storage.
That will last for my lifetime.
Smart phone for email text and such.

 

[yosoyellobo]

Has anybody with a Samsung laptop gotten the notification from Microsoft? Apparently Samsung blocks the automatic upgrade. I have gotten noticification from two other computers that I have with no problems.

 

[mexican-bum]

Has anybody with a Samsung laptop gotten the notification from Microsoft? Apparently Samsung blocks the automatic upgrade. I have gotten noticification from two other computers that I have with no problems.

Wife's work computer is a Samsung and it got the notification a few weeks ago. It's running windows 7.

 

[harsh]

That might be a virus / Trojan , etc. If I remember correctly Microsoft never asks you for money.

How did you get doom out of my posts ?

Sounds fraught with danger to me.

Who in their right mind would buy an authentic version of Windows 7 for a laptop they paid $85 for just to get the free upgrade to windows 10 ?

Someone who was planning on using said computer long term.

 

[harsh]

That will last for my lifetime.

Microsoft always figures out a way to make using old versions of Windows difficult. The assault on Vista started a couple of months ago with a change to the desktop preferences that, by default, prevents some applications from opening their windows. It can be worked around, but this was just the first recognizable volley.

 

[jimmie57]

Sounds fraught with danger to me.
Someone who was planning on using said computer long term.

Just some Virus / Trojan Killer time to get it fixed.
I had a friend that had a hijacked computer wanting $200 or they were going to come get him and put him in jail. I had to start up in safe mode and run the software to find and remove it. It had embedded itself in the Registry. Removed it and the computer was good as new again.

 

[James Long]

Microsoft always figures out a way to make using old versions of Windows difficult. The assault on Vista started a couple of months ago with a change to the desktop preferences that, by default, prevents some applications from opening their windows. It can be worked around, but this was just the first recognizable volley.

I still have one XP machine running (I'd like to replace it with Windows 7). I use it for a specific automated task not browsing etc. It has not gotten any worse since it became unsupported (the biggest problem is with the power supply).

I did not have any problems with my Vista machine until the hardware died a few months ago. Everything opened fine, upgrades installed, every piece of software I downloaded worked when installed. I did not see any "assault" by Microsoft on Vista.

 

[harsh]

I still have one XP machine running (I'd like to replace it with Windows 7). I use it for a specific automated task not browsing etc. It has not gotten any worse since it became unsupported (the biggest problem is with the power supply).

You're talking about servers and/or controllers and I'm talking about daily drivers. The theatre organ in my town is still running Windows 98se because there's no pressing need to keep up with what's going on outside the theatre. It is the machines that aren't dedicated to a particular task that stand the highest risk of not getting updates that are needed to remain functional. I had to give up Windows 2000 as my daily driver because Microsoft wouldn't install updated Internet certificates.

I did not have any problems with my Vista machine until the hardware died a few months ago.

The assault that I speak of came in June so you probably didn't encounter it. For me, the problem was running Putty (terminal program) as the configuration window would open but the actual terminal window would not. Changing the desktop scheme to something less fancy was a workaround. Microsoft has a plan for stinking Vista and it is just getting started.

 

[dpeters11]

Of course even devices not on the Internet can still get infected. Generally, I'm OK with systems like the organ. But I wish ones on the Internet had updates getting installed. Of course some systems that are currently supported don't always get them.