The "chain" is broken.
People forget that MS Operating System releases are hit and miss. 95' sucked and 98' was better. 2000 crashed all the time and XP was better. Vista sucked and WIN7 was better. Win8 is another story.
The problem with MS is that they think they can do no wrong. Having a monopoly in desktop OS's they figured that whatever they did - people had to follow.
The "chains" that tied me to MS-Office got broken when they subjected the world to Office 2007 and the "ribbon". "Open Office" works just as well for my use and is FREE. No more M$Office licenses for me thank you.
Outside of the tower system that I run games on most of my computing (at home and at the office) is done on laptop/notebook computers with smart phones and tablets filling in the gaps. When I had extra ca$h burning a hole in my pocket this holiday season and I looked to getting a ultralight laptop or notebook computer I bought a Apple instead of a WIN8.x powered device.
I figured "why not Apple"? At the high end of the ultralight space they are competitive in price, performance and there were native versions of the software I use most often (and already had licenses for) that I could use with it.
Come to think of it, there really is no reason for me to ever purchase a MS product ever again.
This afternoon I have an "IT date" with some friends which have aging XP boxes that have self destructed. (both the desktop and laptop are sporting less than 1GB of ram and ~40GB of HD storage space) Unemployed and cashless they won't be purchasing a new computer device anytime soon. They have no idea where their install disks are (of if they even have any). My "cure" for them is a Ubuntu CD I downloaded and burned for them last night.
The free Ubuntu install comes with Firefox, a (claimed) MS Office compatible office suite and antivirus+firewall built in. The Ubuntu site claims multiple year support for the free OS. I'll bring a roll of packaging tape so I can attach the install CD to the side of their case so its not lost in case they ever have to reload it.
The silly thing is that once buying the same brand/model so you don't have to relearn everything no longer works or is broken people realize that there are other sometimes more attractive options available to for them to learn instead.
Given a choice MS products are rarely if ever peoples 1st choice (or a choice at all).
People forget that MS Operating System releases are hit and miss. 95' sucked and 98' was better. 2000 crashed all the time and XP was better. Vista sucked and WIN7 was better. Win8 is another story.
The problem with MS is that they think they can do no wrong. Having a monopoly in desktop OS's they figured that whatever they did - people had to follow.
The "chains" that tied me to MS-Office got broken when they subjected the world to Office 2007 and the "ribbon". "Open Office" works just as well for my use and is FREE. No more M$Office licenses for me thank you.
Outside of the tower system that I run games on most of my computing (at home and at the office) is done on laptop/notebook computers with smart phones and tablets filling in the gaps. When I had extra ca$h burning a hole in my pocket this holiday season and I looked to getting a ultralight laptop or notebook computer I bought a Apple instead of a WIN8.x powered device.
I figured "why not Apple"? At the high end of the ultralight space they are competitive in price, performance and there were native versions of the software I use most often (and already had licenses for) that I could use with it.
Come to think of it, there really is no reason for me to ever purchase a MS product ever again.
This afternoon I have an "IT date" with some friends which have aging XP boxes that have self destructed. (both the desktop and laptop are sporting less than 1GB of ram and ~40GB of HD storage space) Unemployed and cashless they won't be purchasing a new computer device anytime soon. They have no idea where their install disks are (of if they even have any). My "cure" for them is a Ubuntu CD I downloaded and burned for them last night.
The free Ubuntu install comes with Firefox, a (claimed) MS Office compatible office suite and antivirus+firewall built in. The Ubuntu site claims multiple year support for the free OS. I'll bring a roll of packaging tape so I can attach the install CD to the side of their case so its not lost in case they ever have to reload it.
The silly thing is that once buying the same brand/model so you don't have to relearn everything no longer works or is broken people realize that there are other sometimes more attractive options available to for them to learn instead.
Given a choice MS products are rarely if ever peoples 1st choice (or a choice at all).
