Half of k12 schools are elementry schools. Kernel internal commands are not appropriate at that level. Even in the highschool level, student need to learn Office and spreadsheet tasks and photoshop work for graphic art classes.
I am not a troll here, but I do wonder if these things have the ram to run LibroOffice or OpenOffice? What about the Gimp? 256 megs is not a lot. A simple import of 250 megs of pics off a student SMMC card can KILL these things easily!
Now if they had a 2nd CPU and maybe 1 gig of ram they could run more software. Is there even an ARM port of LibraOffice or OO available? It runs Java, so I doubt it as no JRE of ARM are available for Linux that are not the crippled micro edition.
These things are useful for very simple websurfing and that is counter productive for students. The little ones use flash intranet and internet sites and that is another thing these machines can't do.
These are cheap and that is the only reason they are talked about. Maybe a $199 netbook program would be more ideal with Windows Starter edition or Ubuntu. A middle school in Alaska uses these with Ubuntu (Dell 9 mini) and they have 1 gig of ram, decent video, and the ones that boot Windows 7 Starter can run flash apps and Office. These would be more appropriate for those who swear by Linux.
This is external websites for the public and not complex intranet apps. They are already finished and just need CSS for mobile to work. The content is standard HTML and the processes are already finished and there. Only the CSS is optimized for desktop work that needs work.
This shouldn't require extra paperwork and website design from scratch.
This is how Google took over. The last updates to Yahoo Groups crippled them. They were behind controlling spammers from ruining them too. If they kept innovating rather than being complacent in the search engine market Google would not have beat them. They could have used similiar techniques to stay at least level with Google and could have owned 50% of the market now with Google.
I do not know if management lacked vision or the accountants and beancounters had too much power? Either way they ended up like SCO (not SCO group), RealPlayer, Borland, and many others. Had a nice product but let it go stale. Right now we see Microsoft, Java, and others going a similiar route which in 10 years will see the full results.
In the IT field you keep innovating or you die. Yahoo was great in 1999, but by 2004 it lost its way. Can it recover? Who knows as this seems desperate.
Apple is the only company I can think of that recovered from going to stale. IBM kind of left the computer market and become a consulting company instead but I guess they became ahead but by being innovative contractors instead.
I prefer the old UI for groups 10 years ago before they dumbed it down and it became a haven for spammers.
Of course if I saw it today I would think its dated. Yahoo got rid of its #1 asset, which was a fucking awesome yellowpages for the internet. Yang's links is how it started and you could find a community or a site for anything without doing a physical search.
It seems the accountants took over and decided to save money by dumbing it down and letting it go stale and have spammers take over. Yahoo never did put the resources in it to keep it fresh. Worse it never kept updating its search engine besides simple boolean keyword text searches. That became ripe for Google taking it over. In the IT world you innovate or die.
Like Microsoft, it became comfortable and then stagnated to save money. MS is in trouble now for this reason and losing the consumer market to tablets and phones. For Yahoo I give it credit for trying to be innovative again, but its too late. It is a tarnished brand name like Internet Explorer and RealPlayer is to us, even though they both have improved by leaps and bounds it doesn't matter. Only old people use Yahoo now because they are set in their ways. I have not used their search engine in years. Groups I gave it a shot 2 years ago and my GOD all porn spammers and no one cared.
Pity and a lesson in bad management for the rest of us.
They are under contract and open themselves to billions in liability and have to pay for each IPhone that Apple *could* have sold! Apple will inflate this number etc. I am sure it is in the contract and when a party breaks the contract liability kicks in.
In fact, suing was intended for this originally. Not to screw other people or make money, but rather enforce existing contracts and pennalize those who break them.
However, Apple is banning all non IPhone products in the marketplace so Samsung may want to risk this route to fuck them over back. But either way billions lost from potential Iphone sales would cripple the shareprice and fire the CEO.
If it was possible to prevent glass windows from being broken by properly maintaining them, having a window broken would indicate professional neglect (what translated into various crimes and civil actions for at least some professions).
There is no excuse for having an insecure system operating in an insecure manner while there are cheaper ways of having a secure system operating in a secure manner. Just because Microsoft taught people to accept glaring flaws and deficiencies as facts of life, doesn't mean that there should be no responsibility for having them.
I take it you never had to work for enterprise customers before? Try supporting 300 apps in 10 countries with different configurations for each tree in the forest on the AD? Now imagine a single piece of software in that configuration that requires all XP SP 2 desktops to have time frozen on March 2008 on a Tuesday or else megaCrap wont support the product?
You have over 120 updates for Windows 7 according to my desktop which includes the early 2009 version of Windows 7 if I rebuild it to make it modern to 2012? If I were to do this in a client site above I would have to do regression testing for all 120 updates for all 300 apps! How do I know that security update wont break something? What if it does?
I am fired and sued into an oblivion! Cost accountants love to have the system work only if no one ever calls in sick or goes on vacation and the IT team just puts out fires rather than prevents them. It helps raise the client's share price so the CEO can get his bonus.
IT does not have time for these tests and its impossible without tens of millions of dollars of wasted shareholder money. This was the drive for intranet apps originally to leave this nightmare, but guess what. Slashdotters are now whinning how horrible IE 6 is. Now they do not want to go the intranet route again after having this nightmare now with IE 6 thanks to everyone whinning about it.
Home users have it easy. Maybe this will change when intranet apps are HTML 5 based in the future and will work on every browser/machine? Pfft yeah right. No vendor wants to certify anything outside IE on the desktop and have it in the contracts not to support any security updates with its products. For this reason alone I did a PC Refresh project for a hospital and all the new Desktops had the unpatched XP SP 2 with IE 6 on them for this reason. The vendors wont support us otherwise.
Windows and every other OS has an abi so an update wont hose anything. Windows updates are well tested too and is a strength of Windows. The days of dos based vxd drivers have been long gone for awhile.
I know you were being sarcastic, but what you said is true as of Windows 7. Its updates are well tested, its reliable, its secure, and if you dont fuck with it it will keep humming along.
I do not think you ran Windows in a long time. If I were to guess it would be windowsME or early XP with IE 6 which is a decade obsolete. If you have the latest adobe flash which auto updates, no adobe pdf readers and use foxit or Sumatra, and a decent anti virus product that computer is secure. You can even use IE again and still be secure.
So would Joe Six pack need Linux? How can he know an update wont hose his drivers.
I thought the OEM key sticker on my box was a VAR for that maker only. The key wont work unless you use the supplied disks by the company? The OEM is a different version with keys. Isn't it?
Agreed. While $99 seems like a rip off the signature edition of win 7 is sweet and beautiful and only available at the Microsoft Store. Most places charge $65 + $129 for an OEM edition of Windows. MS can just not charge for Windows and just service because they own it.
I would buy them from the Microsoft store. You can order one from www.microsoft.com too if you do not have one in your area. Or get a Mac. The only crapware installed is the bing tool bar but you can disable it easily and it comes with Security Essentials.
I blame the retailers who arm twist to lower prices or we wont carry your product etc. PC Decrapifier does a decent job with my machine but software like McAfee can not be completely uninstalled without a custom uninstaller by them. What a fucking pain!
Many mac users prefer them over PCs for reasons such as these. Just plug it in and after creating a username and password your good to go and are ready. Of course in 2012 I would say its essential to include an anti virus product for the mac as well. Plugs like flash and javascript exploits are a problem in Safari.
The ones MS installs are the signature edition versions only at the MS store. ' They include Security Essentials that wont nag. The only thing annoying with them is that they include the bing bar in IE and I assume the bing desktop now which just came out. The ones from the Ms store are clean and it has none of that OEM crapware.
Sounds like your teacher is a dufus. If you need Windows why buy a mac? Also it sounds like he used Norton or some other crap with pop ups.
Yeah I filter comments out. I think I will read for entertainment:-)
Lets hope Andriod gets better for these users if you want them to leave Windows. I disliked MS for years too but Linux is more of a server OS and I lost hope in it. MacOSX I think is a better replacement for them but pricey.
Windows has got a lot better I do admit and it is certainly usable now compared to the BSOD days.... at least until Windows 8 comes along.
THe pressure to lower costs come not from ignorant consumers per say but from retailers. If you ever do business with Walmart you can go in and show them your product and they will show you a generic e-machines and their own label which is $199 cheaper.
You simply match the price or they will refuse to do business with you. Worse, with BestBuy they force you to install the intrusive BestBuy software nag and installer that pops up every time at boot to get you to buy downloads from the virtual BestBuy store. It is always the first go to according to PcDecrapifier. Bestbuy makes you sell the most obsolete desktops/laptops for the lowest prices. Walmart may even force you to use only one USB port or they will find a competitor in China who will. You can't say no to Walmart.
This creates the crapware issue. If you hate this buy the computer from the MS store or maybe the OEMs website. The business class machines from HP do not have this garbage to make the retailers happy.
You are talking over $99 anyway. Losing battle as many places wont sell you the OEM and only the expensive $299 one which is half the cost of an OEM machine.
If you build your own you spend hundreds more without a bulk discount that the OEM can get you. Many people struggling to pay the bills wont go this route if they need something to write documents and browse the web on. My Asus desktop also has custom software for lower fan speeds and a quiter experience with several EPU chips on the board. This wont work with a default disk and only the one from Asus has it... complete with the BestBuy installer nagware app.
Because these users can't find the blue E and think the internets are missing.
The same users who freak out if the start menu is not there. The same users who look at Unity and go WTF... same as Metro I may add etc.
My exwife was one of these users and made me go back to Windows. Why? Because Ubuntu kind of closed too worked on this laptop. There was always an issue. Always a config file to try something out with a cool Compiz graphical effect. Meanwhile her slooow Vista laptop just worked when she turned it on. She viewed Windows as having supperior quality because of that.
You can get angry at me all you want but it is her opinion. She also uses macs at work and dislikes them but tolerates them. She likes Windows. These same people who stick with XP because WIndows 7 is so radically start menu wise hate change.
THey will freak out when they put a blu-ray disk in and it can't play, clicking on MP3s wont work, their Ipod can't sync etc. Sure you can use medibuntu repositories to add them to you and I. Does the user even know what a codec is or care that the DMCA forbids mp3 and h.264 support out of the box? No. THey will get angry and blame Ubuntu and you for installing such a piece of crap etc.
Not to mention people do not give a damn about computers but us. Its like an appliance for them. It is illogical to buy a fridge or LCD TV and replace the LED for fun or the compressor in the fridge for tinkering. Just leave it alone and use it as a tool etc.
If you hate MS convincing them to use a Mac is a better bet. They just work, have great fonts, aesthetically pleasing, and reliable. That is what a user wants right? Even geeks prefer Windows for desktop use. Not everyone wants an ubuntu upgrade to hose their X settings, because the Linux kernel lacks an ABI... in 2012!!
However, MCAffee will never be completely uninstalled with PC Decrapifier and will still scan and slow down your computer even if you no longer see it in the task bar. It is deceptful to say the least.
You need to go to McAfee's website and download a custom installer. This is just one example.
The registry though, keeps the old crapware settings so in essence it is not a bullet and an end all. I have to use CCleaner as well to manually delete registry items even after using PC Decrapifier. It is shit like this is why people buy Macs.
If you need a Windows PC go to a Microsoft store. You wont have to shell for an OEM disc and the signature editions have nice themes on them and are ready to go.
Speaking of learning curve, myself who is an expert user (not a grandma), had to google 1. How to shut it off 2. How to use tabs in IE 10 Metro 3. How to change a setting not in the desktop control panel.
For 3, I had to pretend I was going to log off and then from there change the setting listed for something totally unrelated. I am a slashdotter and an advanced user. To me that is FAIL with a capital F.
My father is 65 and there is no way in hell he could use this! His Ipad has visible tabs and it did take him awhile to figure out how to shut it off but it was logical as a button similar to most appliances. He figured it fairly easily. Windows 8 is more of a phone UI than even a tablet, yet MS wants this on a desktop?
I figured it might have saving grace ifyou stick to the desktop but now MS wants to turn this into Vista Basic in order to make Metro look better and take away AERO preview and peak. Holy crap.
That was the final for me. I wont ever use it. I left Linux because of Unity and Gnome shell and now this. I am dumbfounded and now do not know what to do. I will stay with Windows 7 and become like those annoying XP loyalists but with Windows 7. Lets hope the future is brighter and it is a shitty thing to do for Windows users who wont know what hit them when they need a new computer in the next several years.
The only eye candy I see are the fonts that finally work right with higher DPI and resolutions. The reason laptops still have 1366 x 768 is because of XP and old apps not utilizing the DPI right and providing little to no benefit or funny formatting.
Other than that eye candy supposed to enchance productivity. Aero has peak which is sweet. In Windows 7 if you have a million tabs open on your browser you can use it to scroll down to the right right tab by getting a preview of every one. Same with many apps open. It works well doing work and is not just more aesthetically pleasing.
Windows 8 only works with one app at a time and IE 10 is useless with tabs for 90% of users who do not have the right secret finger stroke memorized! My Dads Ipad2 has tabs in safari right in and is perfect for him as he is 65 and older, yet can still multitask with it. Metro is so dumbed down it.
I agree and disagree with eye candy being useless. I disagree that it is useless. However the Windows 8 version is not useful at all.
I am hating XP right now and its annoying loyalists. I do not want to become one and just replace Win 7 with XP as the holy pinnacle of what it right and never change. My fear is we still wont have HTML 5 in 2018 and have to use Flash because these annoying users who are on IE 6 & 7 today will be on IE 8 because of how aweful Win 8 is.
Even if Win 9 is better it will take years for businesses to upgrade. Hell most still use XP to this day. G.statcounter.com shows in the US that XP usage skyrockets to 40% in the work week and slides down to 25% in the weekends. I am making money helping business migrate to Windows 7 so they are slowing changing, but Windows 7 came out in 2009! Its 2012 and they are just slowly migrating now.
Do the math. If Windows 9 came out in 2015 (3 years is the new MS lifecycle) it will take another 3 years when Windows 10 is out before businesses would even consider migrating. What an ugly mess and it sucks for web designers. No ugly hacks like old IE but even in 2012 IE 8 is dated, slow, and lacking.
In 2018 IE 8 will still be around and who knows what security threats will be out there for Windows 7? If flash is around my guess rootkits will be popular as Windows 8 has better protection from those with signed MBRs.
People have 1 trillion in student loans and almost another trillion in debt. Middle class wages are falling too.
Not everyone can afford a beautiful $1600 mac even if it is a nice machine. I almost bought one and got a high end PC instead because of price not to mention I would have to install Windows on it anyway because I work in I.T. and need to know how it works. Other users have their apps if they are professionals which have no mac equilivants or they are behind. Examples include Excel users who do statistics via add-ons, accountants, small business owners using quickbooks etc. Quickbooks for the mac sucked goatballs the last time I looked at it. Not to mention people have licensed software already for their PCs like Office that they would have to repurchase.
That $599 notebook is what most users who are in the bottom 70% is for. If there were more competitors besides Apple maybe things would be different but that is not changing as its the Lexus/BMW/Jaguar of computers. Nice, however sometimes a shiny new Hyundai is fine too and only $17,000. Even if you are rich or have enough to buy that nice car or Mac things like retirement, savings, are a higher priority. It sucks for the rest of us big time with Windows.
I hated this too when Vista came out. Then I learned all I had to do was hit the Window key and type what I wanted. If you browse with the mouse you are doing it wrong.
Now I get ansy when I go on an XP desktop as I want to go right into the command line but can't hit Windows and type CMD in a blink of an eye etc. I have the multitasking better with WIndows 7. All I have to do is hit Window Key + tab or even move the mouse over the icons and I can preview them on the screen. Windows 8 doesn't have this.
In Win 8 I just move the mouse in the upper left hand corner and go click click click click until I see the app. WTF. AERO doesn't use extra battery life. MaximumPC proved this false unless you count mere perfectanges.
I think MS is crippling the desktop to force the METRO way because Aero is far supperior over Metro.
I feel like I am about to be a POD clone of my former self and be turned into those anti technology luddites that still use IE 6 and XP that I can't stand if this keeps up!
I am starting to love Windows 7 and feel its the pinnacle of Windows and good UI design after seeing Windows 8 and its UI devolve more and more. It is like those who say the same thing in regards to XP being all that holy and awesome and resisting change at all costs.
I do I.T. stuff now so its not like I can switch to a Mac easily. Maybe if my marketing career takes off I can convert to being an Apple user, but I do not like the MacOSX UI. It looks georgous and I can use it for basic tasks. I do not like the fact that I keep going to the top of the screen for menus ALL THE TIME with it! No right mouse button click menu makes me anxious.
But this... wow. It is butt ugly! I remember looking around and seeing my classmates at the university stuck with LUNA basic because of the crappy intel chipsets and the false Vista certified label on them and feeling sorry for them. AERO has aero peak, the ability to move the mouse cursor over Chrome/IE on the task bar and it will graphically preview all your tabs! I can even hit Windows, TAB, and see all the apps to see what is on them. It is not just eye candy.... which is nice too
In other words Windows 7 does it right. It is perfect for any user with a million tabs, apps, and other things to multitask and work with many different apps open to get work done. Metro might be ok for a phone but they are purposely crippling the desktop too.
I do not like this. True humans do one task at a time but our data is in several apps. Windows 8 is very poorly done and Balmer should be fired if this flops! If Metro could do somthing 1985ish like, have one Windows on top of another I would be amazed. Good GOD
Slashdot Mirror
Half of k12 schools are elementry schools. Kernel internal commands are not appropriate at that level. Even in the highschool level, student need to learn Office and spreadsheet tasks and photoshop work for graphic art classes.
I am not a troll here, but I do wonder if these things have the ram to run LibroOffice or OpenOffice? What about the Gimp? 256 megs is not a lot. A simple import of 250 megs of pics off a student SMMC card can KILL these things easily!
Now if they had a 2nd CPU and maybe 1 gig of ram they could run more software. Is there even an ARM port of LibraOffice or OO available? It runs Java, so I doubt it as no JRE of ARM are available for Linux that are not the crippled micro edition.
These things are useful for very simple websurfing and that is counter productive for students. The little ones use flash intranet and internet sites and that is another thing these machines can't do.
These are cheap and that is the only reason they are talked about. Maybe a $199 netbook program would be more ideal with Windows Starter edition or Ubuntu. A middle school in Alaska uses these with Ubuntu (Dell 9 mini) and they have 1 gig of ram, decent video, and the ones that boot Windows 7 Starter can run flash apps and Office. These would be more appropriate for those who swear by Linux.
It is already finished.
This is external websites for the public and not complex intranet apps. They are already finished and just need CSS for mobile to work. The content is standard HTML and the processes are already finished and there. Only the CSS is optimized for desktop work that needs work.
This shouldn't require extra paperwork and website design from scratch.
Why?
All they need to do is create CSS for mobile apps. Now their internal apps that require IE 6 ... that is a different story.
It can't run most educational software nor children's oriented flash websites. I do not see the value in these.
Until HTML 5 takes over they wont be that usefull and the article is looking at these as Mac and PC replacements for outdated equipment.
Everything is behind in Yahoo.
This is how Google took over. The last updates to Yahoo Groups crippled them. They were behind controlling spammers from ruining them too. If they kept innovating rather than being complacent in the search engine market Google would not have beat them. They could have used similiar techniques to stay at least level with Google and could have owned 50% of the market now with Google.
I do not know if management lacked vision or the accountants and beancounters had too much power? Either way they ended up like SCO (not SCO group), RealPlayer, Borland, and many others. Had a nice product but let it go stale. Right now we see Microsoft, Java, and others going a similiar route which in 10 years will see the full results.
In the IT field you keep innovating or you die. Yahoo was great in 1999, but by 2004 it lost its way. Can it recover? Who knows as this seems desperate.
Apple is the only company I can think of that recovered from going to stale. IBM kind of left the computer market and become a consulting company instead but I guess they became ahead but by being innovative contractors instead.
I prefer the old UI for groups 10 years ago before they dumbed it down and it became a haven for spammers.
Of course if I saw it today I would think its dated. Yahoo got rid of its #1 asset, which was a fucking awesome yellowpages for the internet. Yang's links is how it started and you could find a community or a site for anything without doing a physical search.
It seems the accountants took over and decided to save money by dumbing it down and letting it go stale and have spammers take over. Yahoo never did put the resources in it to keep it fresh. Worse it never kept updating its search engine besides simple boolean keyword text searches. That became ripe for Google taking it over. In the IT world you innovate or die.
Like Microsoft, it became comfortable and then stagnated to save money. MS is in trouble now for this reason and losing the consumer market to tablets and phones. For Yahoo I give it credit for trying to be innovative again, but its too late. It is a tarnished brand name like Internet Explorer and RealPlayer is to us, even though they both have improved by leaps and bounds it doesn't matter. Only old people use Yahoo now because they are set in their ways. I have not used their search engine in years. Groups I gave it a shot 2 years ago and my GOD all porn spammers and no one cared.
Pity and a lesson in bad management for the rest of us.
They are under contract and open themselves to billions in liability and have to pay for each IPhone that Apple *could* have sold! Apple will inflate this number etc. I am sure it is in the contract and when a party breaks the contract liability kicks in.
In fact, suing was intended for this originally. Not to screw other people or make money, but rather enforce existing contracts and pennalize those who break them.
However, Apple is banning all non IPhone products in the marketplace so Samsung may want to risk this route to fuck them over back. But either way billions lost from potential Iphone sales would cripple the shareprice and fire the CEO.
If it was possible to prevent glass windows from being broken by properly maintaining them, having a window broken would indicate professional neglect (what translated into various crimes and civil actions for at least some professions).
There is no excuse for having an insecure system operating in an insecure manner while there are cheaper ways of having a secure system operating in a secure manner. Just because Microsoft taught people to accept glaring flaws and deficiencies as facts of life, doesn't mean that there should be no responsibility for having them.
I take it you never had to work for enterprise customers before? Try supporting 300 apps in 10 countries with different configurations for each tree in the forest on the AD? Now imagine a single piece of software in that configuration that requires all XP SP 2 desktops to have time frozen on March 2008 on a Tuesday or else megaCrap wont support the product?
You have over 120 updates for Windows 7 according to my desktop which includes the early 2009 version of Windows 7 if I rebuild it to make it modern to 2012? If I were to do this in a client site above I would have to do regression testing for all 120 updates for all 300 apps! How do I know that security update wont break something? What if it does?
I am fired and sued into an oblivion! Cost accountants love to have the system work only if no one ever calls in sick or goes on vacation and the IT team just puts out fires rather than prevents them. It helps raise the client's share price so the CEO can get his bonus.
IT does not have time for these tests and its impossible without tens of millions of dollars of wasted shareholder money. This was the drive for intranet apps originally to leave this nightmare, but guess what. Slashdotters are now whinning how horrible IE 6 is. Now they do not want to go the intranet route again after having this nightmare now with IE 6 thanks to everyone whinning about it.
Home users have it easy. Maybe this will change when intranet apps are HTML 5 based in the future and will work on every browser/machine? Pfft yeah right. No vendor wants to certify anything outside IE on the desktop and have it in the contracts not to support any security updates with its products. For this reason alone I did a PC Refresh project for a hospital and all the new Desktops had the unpatched XP SP 2 with IE 6 on them for this reason. The vendors wont support us otherwise.
Windows and every other OS has an abi so an update wont hose anything. Windows updates are well tested too and is a strength of Windows. The days of dos based vxd drivers have been long gone for awhile.
I know you were being sarcastic, but what you said is true as of Windows 7. Its updates are well tested, its reliable, its secure, and if you dont fuck with it it will keep humming along.
I do not think you ran Windows in a long time. If I were to guess it would be windowsME or early XP with IE 6 which is a decade obsolete. If you have the latest adobe flash which auto updates, no adobe pdf readers and use foxit or Sumatra, and a decent anti virus product that computer is secure. You can even use IE again and still be secure.
So would Joe Six pack need Linux? How can he know an update wont hose his drivers.
I thought the OEM key sticker on my box was a VAR for that maker only. The key wont work unless you use the supplied disks by the company? The OEM is a different version with keys. Isn't it?
Agreed. While $99 seems like a rip off the signature edition of win 7 is sweet and beautiful and only available at the Microsoft Store. Most places charge $65 + $129 for an OEM edition of Windows. MS can just not charge for Windows and just service because they own it.
I would buy them from the Microsoft store. You can order one from www.microsoft.com too if you do not have one in your area. Or get a Mac. The only crapware installed is the bing tool bar but you can disable it easily and it comes with Security Essentials.
I blame the retailers who arm twist to lower prices or we wont carry your product etc. PC Decrapifier does a decent job with my machine but software like McAfee can not be completely uninstalled without a custom uninstaller by them. What a fucking pain!
Many mac users prefer them over PCs for reasons such as these. Just plug it in and after creating a username and password your good to go and are ready. Of course in 2012 I would say its essential to include an anti virus product for the mac as well. Plugs like flash and javascript exploits are a problem in Safari.
The ones MS installs are the signature edition versions only at the MS store.
'
They include Security Essentials that wont nag. The only thing annoying with them is that they include the bing bar in IE and I assume the bing desktop now which just came out. The ones from the Ms store are clean and it has none of that OEM crapware.
Sounds like your teacher is a dufus. If you need Windows why buy a mac? Also it sounds like he used Norton or some other crap with pop ups.
Yeah I filter comments out. I think I will read for entertainment :-)
Lets hope Andriod gets better for these users if you want them to leave Windows. I disliked MS for years too but Linux is more of a server OS and I lost hope in it. MacOSX I think is a better replacement for them but pricey.
Windows has got a lot better I do admit and it is certainly usable now compared to the BSOD days. ... at least until Windows 8 comes along.
THe pressure to lower costs come not from ignorant consumers per say but from retailers. If you ever do business with Walmart you can go in and show them your product and they will show you a generic e-machines and their own label which is $199 cheaper.
You simply match the price or they will refuse to do business with you. Worse, with BestBuy they force you to install the intrusive BestBuy software nag and installer that pops up every time at boot to get you to buy downloads from the virtual BestBuy store. It is always the first go to according to PcDecrapifier. Bestbuy makes you sell the most obsolete desktops/laptops for the lowest prices. Walmart may even force you to use only one USB port or they will find a competitor in China who will. You can't say no to Walmart.
This creates the crapware issue. If you hate this buy the computer from the MS store or maybe the OEMs website. The business class machines from HP do not have this garbage to make the retailers happy.
You are talking over $99 anyway. Losing battle as many places wont sell you the OEM and only the expensive $299 one which is half the cost of an OEM machine.
If you build your own you spend hundreds more without a bulk discount that the OEM can get you. Many people struggling to pay the bills wont go this route if they need something to write documents and browse the web on. My Asus desktop also has custom software for lower fan speeds and a quiter experience with several EPU chips on the board. This wont work with a default disk and only the one from Asus has it ... complete with the BestBuy installer nagware app.
Because these users can't find the blue E and think the internets are missing.
The same users who freak out if the start menu is not there. The same users who look at Unity and go WTF ... same as Metro I may add etc.
My exwife was one of these users and made me go back to Windows. Why? Because Ubuntu kind of closed too worked on this laptop. There was always an issue. Always a config file to try something out with a cool Compiz graphical effect. Meanwhile her slooow Vista laptop just worked when she turned it on. She viewed Windows as having supperior quality because of that.
You can get angry at me all you want but it is her opinion. She also uses macs at work and dislikes them but tolerates them. She likes Windows. These same people who stick with XP because WIndows 7 is so radically start menu wise hate change.
THey will freak out when they put a blu-ray disk in and it can't play, clicking on MP3s wont work, their Ipod can't sync etc. Sure you can use medibuntu repositories to add them to you and I. Does the user even know what a codec is or care that the DMCA forbids mp3 and h.264 support out of the box? No. THey will get angry and blame Ubuntu and you for installing such a piece of crap etc.
Not to mention people do not give a damn about computers but us. Its like an appliance for them. It is illogical to buy a fridge or LCD TV and replace the LED for fun or the compressor in the fridge for tinkering. Just leave it alone and use it as a tool etc.
If you hate MS convincing them to use a Mac is a better bet. They just work, have great fonts, aesthetically pleasing, and reliable. That is what a user wants right? Even geeks prefer Windows for desktop use. Not everyone wants an ubuntu upgrade to hose their X settings, because the Linux kernel lacks an ABI ... in 2012!!
I use it every time I rewipe my PC.
However, MCAffee will never be completely uninstalled with PC Decrapifier and will still scan and slow down your computer even if you no longer see it in the task bar. It is deceptful to say the least.
You need to go to McAfee's website and download a custom installer. This is just one example.
The registry though, keeps the old crapware settings so in essence it is not a bullet and an end all. I have to use CCleaner as well to manually delete registry items even after using PC Decrapifier. It is shit like this is why people buy Macs.
If you need a Windows PC go to a Microsoft store. You wont have to shell for an OEM disc and the signature editions have nice themes on them and are ready to go.
Speaking of learning curve, myself who is an expert user (not a grandma), had to google
1. How to shut it off
2. How to use tabs in IE 10 Metro
3. How to change a setting not in the desktop control panel.
For 3, I had to pretend I was going to log off and then from there change the setting listed for something totally unrelated. I am a slashdotter and an advanced user. To me that is FAIL with a capital F.
My father is 65 and there is no way in hell he could use this! His Ipad has visible tabs and it did take him awhile to figure out how to shut it off but it was logical as a button similar to most appliances. He figured it fairly easily. Windows 8 is more of a phone UI than even a tablet, yet MS wants this on a desktop?
I figured it might have saving grace ifyou stick to the desktop but now MS wants to turn this into Vista Basic in order to make Metro look better and take away AERO preview and peak. Holy crap.
That was the final for me. I wont ever use it. I left Linux because of Unity and Gnome shell and now this. I am dumbfounded and now do not know what to do. I will stay with Windows 7 and become like those annoying XP loyalists but with Windows 7. Lets hope the future is brighter and it is a shitty thing to do for Windows users who wont know what hit them when they need a new computer in the next several years.
OUtlook tends to be one of those apps on my computer if it goes to sleep with it open. I am sure my ATI 5750 can handle aero fine.
The only eye candy I see are the fonts that finally work right with higher DPI and resolutions. The reason laptops still have 1366 x 768 is because of XP and old apps not utilizing the DPI right and providing little to no benefit or funny formatting.
Other than that eye candy supposed to enchance productivity. Aero has peak which is sweet. In Windows 7 if you have a million tabs open on your browser you can use it to scroll down to the right right tab by getting a preview of every one. Same with many apps open. It works well doing work and is not just more aesthetically pleasing.
Windows 8 only works with one app at a time and IE 10 is useless with tabs for 90% of users who do not have the right secret finger stroke memorized! My Dads Ipad2 has tabs in safari right in and is perfect for him as he is 65 and older, yet can still multitask with it. Metro is so dumbed down it.
I agree and disagree with eye candy being useless. I disagree that it is useless. However the Windows 8 version is not useful at all.
I am hating XP right now and its annoying loyalists. I do not want to become one and just replace Win 7 with XP as the holy pinnacle of what it right and never change. My fear is we still wont have HTML 5 in 2018 and have to use Flash because these annoying users who are on IE 6 & 7 today will be on IE 8 because of how aweful Win 8 is.
Even if Win 9 is better it will take years for businesses to upgrade. Hell most still use XP to this day. G.statcounter.com shows in the US that XP usage skyrockets to 40% in the work week and slides down to 25% in the weekends. I am making money helping business migrate to Windows 7 so they are slowing changing, but Windows 7 came out in 2009! Its 2012 and they are just slowly migrating now.
Do the math. If Windows 9 came out in 2015 (3 years is the new MS lifecycle) it will take another 3 years when Windows 10 is out before businesses would even consider migrating. What an ugly mess and it sucks for web designers. No ugly hacks like old IE but even in 2012 IE 8 is dated, slow, and lacking.
In 2018 IE 8 will still be around and who knows what security threats will be out there for Windows 7? If flash is around my guess rootkits will be popular as Windows 8 has better protection from those with signed MBRs.
People have 1 trillion in student loans and almost another trillion in debt. Middle class wages are falling too.
Not everyone can afford a beautiful $1600 mac even if it is a nice machine. I almost bought one and got a high end PC instead because of price not to mention I would have to install Windows on it anyway because I work in I.T. and need to know how it works. Other users have their apps if they are professionals which have no mac equilivants or they are behind. Examples include Excel users who do statistics via add-ons, accountants, small business owners using quickbooks etc. Quickbooks for the mac sucked goatballs the last time I looked at it. Not to mention people have licensed software already for their PCs like Office that they would have to repurchase.
That $599 notebook is what most users who are in the bottom 70% is for. If there were more competitors besides Apple maybe things would be different but that is not changing as its the Lexus/BMW/Jaguar of computers. Nice, however sometimes a shiny new Hyundai is fine too and only $17,000. Even if you are rich or have enough to buy that nice car or Mac things like retirement, savings, are a higher priority. It sucks for the rest of us big time with Windows.
I hated this too when Vista came out. Then I learned all I had to do was hit the Window key and type what I wanted. If you browse with the mouse you are doing it wrong.
Now I get ansy when I go on an XP desktop as I want to go right into the command line but can't hit Windows and type CMD in a blink of an eye etc. I have the multitasking better with WIndows 7. All I have to do is hit Window Key + tab or even move the mouse over the icons and I can preview them on the screen. Windows 8 doesn't have this.
In Win 8 I just move the mouse in the upper left hand corner and go click click click click until I see the app. WTF. AERO doesn't use extra battery life. MaximumPC proved this false unless you count mere perfectanges.
I think MS is crippling the desktop to force the METRO way because Aero is far supperior over Metro.
I feel like I am about to be a POD clone of my former self and be turned into those anti technology luddites that still use IE 6 and XP that I can't stand if this keeps up!
I am starting to love Windows 7 and feel its the pinnacle of Windows and good UI design after seeing Windows 8 and its UI devolve more and more. It is like those who say the same thing in regards to XP being all that holy and awesome and resisting change at all costs.
I do I.T. stuff now so its not like I can switch to a Mac easily. Maybe if my marketing career takes off I can convert to being an Apple user, but I do not like the MacOSX UI. It looks georgous and I can use it for basic tasks. I do not like the fact that I keep going to the top of the screen for menus ALL THE TIME with it! No right mouse button click menu makes me anxious.
But this ... wow. It is butt ugly! I remember looking around and seeing my classmates at the university stuck with LUNA basic because of the crappy intel chipsets and the false Vista certified label on them and feeling sorry for them. AERO has aero peak, the ability to move the mouse cursor over Chrome/IE on the task bar and it will graphically preview all your tabs! I can even hit Windows, TAB, and see all the apps to see what is on them. It is not just eye candy. ... which is nice too
In other words Windows 7 does it right. It is perfect for any user with a million tabs, apps, and other things to multitask and work with many different apps open to get work done. Metro might be ok for a phone but they are purposely crippling the desktop too.
I do not like this. True humans do one task at a time but our data is in several apps. Windows 8 is very poorly done and Balmer should be fired if this flops! If Metro could do somthing 1985ish like, have one Windows on top of another I would be amazed. Good GOD