What's really amazing to me is, who is doing this in the developed world? You almost cannot buy a PC without Windows, it's often cheaper to purchase a Dell/HP/Lenovo/whatever than build an equivalent from parts ignoring the license cost. So why are so many users pirating? I'd say upgrades, but Vista was a flop, and Win 7 isn't necessarily likely to run great on an existing XP computer unless it's new enough that the user COULD HAVE JUST BOUGHT IT WITH WIN 7.
I suppose there's some shops that are cheating when selling white box PCs, but I have my doubts about how many people are really buying White Box vs Best Buy or calling Dell/HP/Lenovo etc...
The home builders can't be that many people...
I suppose it could be the Mac users who want Windows also and don't like the retail cost, but really, I doubt it.
If you're a business, you ought not be pirating, though I have to guess that's where most of the stuff MS wants to catch is - but in that case, I would have thought the BSA was more than enough.
I'll concede most of your points, but I don't think you've demonstrated that Word is better... The claim I made is that OpenOffice isn't nearly good enough to replace Word, despite the fact that it's free. Which is true, demonstrably true, since it hasn't displaced Word.
By that logic, nothing affects marketshare buy quality/goodness. I'd argue that in many cases, that's demonstrably false. Word may be better than Open Office, but there's many reasons someone might use Word other than it's better than Open Office.
1) Network effects 2) Habit 3) Brand awareness...
You've listed 2 rather obscure features in Word and claim they're why Open Office can't compete. I disagree.
The main problem I have is that what if I want to use my 2.1 computer speakers rather than my monitor speakers but like HDMI? I can't that I can see. With older stuff like VGA, it's just another cable that I route to the separate speakers instead.
Yes, I admit that I shouldn't judge Word, but I certainly can comment on all the wordprocessors I've used for quite some time. I'm not unable to comment on word processing, which is a separate thing that Word. Heck, I was wordprocessing on a stand alone smith corona, and on a Commodore 64... And for wordprocessing that I've done across many separate platforms, Open Office fufills my (and many of my users and friends) needs. I also know people who prefer Word, but the implication that you can't actually use Open Office, or anything but Word as a word processor is false in my opinion.
You're again missing my point that people used IE for more reasons that it was free. That was my basic point to the GGGGGGPP...
I'll even allow that many users found it better, while I found it worse until IE6, when I was basically forced to switch because, as you said, Netscape had given up and I couldn't hold out any longer. Of course, in 2001, as soon as I seriously tried Opera, I found it better in about every way, and haven't looked back since. But from whenever Firefox came out, what ~2004? Why did it take so long to hit 30%? I can't think of any way that IE6 was objectively better than Firefox, and I don't think it got close to parity till maybe IE8 this year, and that's pretty arguable. And it's been widely known that IE is a major vector for getting your PC infected since 2007 or so, though techies knew it back in 2000.
IE's ride down has been quite a bit slower than Netscapes was, and that's why I think there's more going on than it's "just that good". Pretty much anyone I know who uses IE does so because it's what is there by default. They didn't objectively choose it. They didn't know that there was something to *choose*. Their ISP or OEM didn't provide a browser unless it's AOL. A vendor can't choose to NOT install IE, it's now part of the OS. So this even could block out an OEM choosing to build a software package that's touted as more secure or some such as it's installed browser is Firefox, or Chrome, or Opera, or whatever.
Then again, OEMs aren't selling the whole experience anyway, except for Apple. So it's all probably a moot point.
Yea, I come at this from a different direction - I currently use Opera, so for me, I liked the mail client in Communicator. I have to say also that I've never had embedded media in my text documents, so I guess I never had any knowledge of normal view - again, though, I've managed to get this far in life with about 5hrs of Word use, so I don't match the discussed demographic.
Now I do most of my serious document work on Wikis so others can collaborate easily and it's very easy to make available to users. I wonder if that's starting to happen for a lot of users, the ones who don't use e-mail clients and prefer web based everything...
My digression over, my point is you're talking about features in Office that seem to fix something (embedded media) that have me asking, what the heck is this doing in my word processor? Why would you put video or music in a text document? So why then would you need a mode to remove that?
I can see we're going to disagree, so I'll agree to disagree, and return to my original point that Consumers definitely are basing purchasing on more than just being free. The obvious case in point would be bottled vs tap water. But you've also gone far beyond the original point that IE and Netscape were equivalent - you strongly believe that IE was a lot better.
That's a very different argument than people too IE because it was free, which was my original disagreement.
And the better browser certainly has had a minimal and slow effect on market share against IE vs the decline Netscape had - IE6 was by almost any measure far worse than any other browser - crashier, lacking features like tabs, horribly insecure and not updated for forever. So if we're going to argue that monopoly power didn't play a role, why did it take 6 years for Firefox to reach ~30% marketshare when IE did it in a year?
I'm sorry, but I think you're overstating the actual use of word processors by most people. And Netscape 4 had if I recall correctly 3 entire programs that IE didn't - mail/newsgroup clients, web page creation software, and some other thing I forget (push screensavers?). Now, you might point to outlook express, but back in the IE4 days, I don't recall it being obvious that was related to IE... It certainly wasn't integrated like the mail client was to Communicator.
And if you want to get into nich groups, then you're talking a whole different ball of wax anyway.
And for the education of people like me, what the heck is "normal view" or a split scrollbar, and why the heck would I want it? As in, how is this a feature I'm going to use for writing up a letter or report?
As a slightly less foam-mouthed observer, I'd note that IE was generally as good as Netscape, and it was free. That may be abuse of a monopoly - IANAL. However, even if it was not as good, the choice was either a free Chevy (IE) or an expensive Buick (Netscape). Consumers took free.
I'm not sure I buy this argument... I mean, Microsoft isn't currently really threatened by OpenOffice, even though it's free and generally equivalent to Office as far as I can tell. At least as similar as Netscape vs IE were...
I just don't understand the concept of Twitter (as a member of the net generation I guess)... Why not just use a blog and turn on RSS for people who want to be pinged when you do whatever length blog update you want to? Why be limited to someone elses privacy policy, access restrictions (are there any) or 140 characters?
but my memories of Opera 'tabs' were initially a clunky Windows MDI system
They still are (but maybe not for much longer). However, I don't think that's a bad thing, it's going to depend on how you use pages... I can think of one thing off the top - if you've got a bunch of printers you need to monitor that have nice web pages, you could in firefox a) have lots of windows mixed in with your other programs, that you set side by side b) create a custom webpage with iframes to load several printers next to each other
In Opera you could have a "printers" window, have the session set to the printers you want, and tile the pages using MDI.
Popups stay in the browser window as a tab rather than a new taskbar entry... etc.
So for some users, MDI is better than Tabs... Not to mention you can see a lot more of the tab name with a Windows menu if you've got 80 tabs open than you can on the tab bar.
I suppose it depends, but on my IBM Aptiva I got in 1995, it did come loaded with the full version of Lotus SmartSuite which included 1-2-3... It also (for some reason) came with MS Works. It was good in that I don't actually recall getting trialware except for the ISP links, but actually full version software. Then again, I suppose at $3500, they could throw in some software.
I'm pretty sure that's against the MSDN license... Hey, it's one of the pitfalls of software(and our legal environment), you've got to follow the license, however stupid it may be. You can only use retail disks with retail keys, VLK disks with VLK keys etc... Of course you *can* ignore the license, but at that point, I've got to wonder why not just go all the way illegal and pirate it to save the money?
Well, a Dell $700 laptop is decidedly *NOT* a "good" laptop. Try a Macbook or Thinkpad T series... Of course, disposable laptops can make sense for certain use patterns, and they seem to fit yours. Nothing consumer line, especially a Dell IME, is "good". Build it yourself for a desktop, buy business model laptop or desktops or go disposable (buy one a year)...
Replying to myself to explain my comment of PClike gaming - it's like they took the bad parts of PC gaming while not really getting any of the good parts: The patching, the taking forever to load, the HD space management... While not getting the Keyboard + Mouse better controls, the arbitrary save points, the cross company networks (why can't I play against gamers who have an XBox 360 version of a game, or if possible, who have the PC version?)...
The other thing that annoys me with this is (and I don't know that EA is to blame for this) I got a PS3 for christmas. I bought Madden 10. My cousin has an Xbox 360, and has Madden 10. He lives ~ 200 miles away now, but I was excited thinking that this new console system would now let us play the game together online. But no, we can't. Now, if this was a PC game, and he had a Dell while I have a Lenovo - we could still play the same game together.
I'm just glad I generally have little interest in online gaming on any platform, but it makes the online features of the PS3 almost a liability. I foolishly thought I could take my new PS3, drop in the new Madden game, and play. But no, I had to first wait to download a 185MB patch... This was one of the things I was trying to get away from in PC gaming and a reason I was going to consoles...
Overall, I'm much less "happy" with the PS3 than I was with the Genesis I got years ago... The games are good enough so far, but the experience is far too PC like, with new artificial restrictions.
I know. Hasn't anyone ever had a bad LAN connection that they fixed by replacing the cat5 cable? I mean, "it's digital" and all, but it also needs a working cable. That said, any new cable should work or is defective... I can't see you getting a noticeable difference in quality from gold plating...
I used to use Pricewatch a lot until I noticed that ~85% of the time, Newegg was within ~5% of the lowest price, and about %40 of the time WAS the lowest price. I already knew them, already had an account, and the stuff always showed up in 3 days or less. Often next day with ground shipping. I've had 3 bad things in about 8 years of ordering which is on the order of everywhere else. So I just stopped shopping around. I guess I'll have to check again... Amazon, even with charging TAX in NY was cheaper than Newegg for a PS3 game, though I am biased as I have Amazon Prime so get it a little faster.
I'm hearing a lot of good things about MSE, but I'll wait a while for it to establish itself. I currently recommend Comodo Internet Security to those who can understand a HIPS, and AntiVir to pretty much everyone else. If in 2 years or so, Microsoft hasn't decided to ruin, kill, or charge for MSE, then I'll likely recommend it.
I'd also look at the Warranty for Kirby's - I was surprised to see their website claim a paltry 3 years. Oreck gives you up to 10 years (I got the last year they did 21 year warranty, so I won't be getting another vacuum soon!), and I've gone to the local store/service center to have things fixed, and no problem. They've also thrown in new belts and such that I expected them to charge for as they are pretty clearly wear items. So, Oreck isn't a heavy built thing, but they will fix it for about as long as you would have it. Other door to door brands will warranty for even longer (lifetime etc) and they've been around for a long time, so I guess they're doing something right.
It's weird, and I sound like a salesman, but I'm not. I've just used both Kirby and Oreck, and they work better and last longer than the many Sears $150 vacuums I've seen my family buy over the years. I mean, we've *inherited* a Kirby. And it still works fine. I strongly believe you get what you pay for in vacuums, and if I'm not wrong, Oreck are made in the USA and have local stores/service centers all over the place, so if you care about supporting jobs in the USA, that's a good thing too.
That's because people comparison shop on the "big ticket" item of the Computers. I don't think I've ever seen an ad for cables from any retail store. So they have to compete on the computer price, and not just retail, but against Dell etc... But they have to make a profit somehow to pay the higher costs of onsite staff, heating etc vs Dell. So they actually make some money on the cables.
When I worked at Best Buy (a while ago now), they would get *at best* $10 more than they paid for the computer at the register. They LOST money selling them to people when you considered the sales pay and checkout pay and overhead.
And, like in all things, Your Mileage Will Vary. The Best Buy I worked at happened to be mostly ethical within the constraints forced down by corporate. I.e. we never (when I was present anyway) forced a warranty, and even let people opt out of free services that were packaged on black friday that we still would get a kickback on. Some stores would put in the SKU whether they did anything or not, or claim the service HAD to be done to get the bonus. We also were pretty honest about the Service Plan, not calling it a Warranty (cause it wasn't). I'd even tell people if it might be worth it or not (desktop - not worth it, if you're replacing your kid's iPod for the second time this year, might be worth an accidental damage coverage). And we'd generally tell people how long the service may take, and the way it only protected what you paid for it, not a guaranteed replacement. We also always went by the dollar amount, rather than some stores which would try and find a refurb "equivalent"
But as you can see, not every store is like that, nor is every employee honest or knows what they're doing. And the Tech under sales umbrella was pretty stupid IMO. Why should a sales drone be preferred for tech over a new hire with credentials? Why should the Geek Squad be worrying about sales goals? Different aspects IMO, but Best Buy didn't see it that way, so many Geek Squad people were actually second tier Sales Drones.
My point is instead of 1) Point at menu + Click 2) Click on what I want
It is now 1) Point at menu expander 2) Point at menu I want 3) Click on what I want
And I have to do this *every* time I want to access a menu if I use the new interface. Then again, I guess I've overestimated how many people actually use menus in apps they use, so maybe it isn't a big deal. That said, what exactly are you gaining? 30 vertical pixels?
I know I'm different. I use the menus all the time for Bookmarks, IRC Chat, Window Menu (slowly going to the Window Panel for find as you type), Tools menu and View menu. I also use the MDI Window Minimize, and close buttons. I suppose I could now learn keyboard shortcuts, but that's harder than using the menus for now. I'll be honest too, Office 2007 looks bigger to me, but I don't use Office enough to care right now, but I am annoyed everyone else is doing this App Start Menu thingy.
I don't really want to re-shell Windows, again if I was going to mess with the guts of an OS, I'd just do Linux to save money.
I do understand a single GUI doesn't work for everyone, so WHY IS MS removing CHOICE in the UI? How does making millions painfully re-learn an interface they barely understand or have in muscle memory a more efficient method? Do you know how many users come to me because they can't figure out how to get to a program when they change computers and the desktop ICON doesn't follow them? I just had a trouble ticket because a user got a new XP box, and he had the XP rather than classic menu, and couldn't find how to get to the file browser.
Google sometime, these are not isolated incidents or a few users. I have to believe these are most users.
In 10.10, you can turn off the error console completely. I never have it pop up. Try going to Tools -> Preferences, Advanced tab, Content Leaf, Javascript options button, and uncheck show error console on error.
Well, I've used older versions of Opera, say 9.5, on New Slashdot. It's painful. Or try 9.x on some web app interfaces (Like Zenoss Core 2.2 or so) and see how painful it is. Firefox was faster there. I've also seen slowness on other apps, like the js implementation of a NES ROM emulator. So yes, there are things that could certainly be faster.
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What's really amazing to me is, who is doing this in the developed world? You almost cannot buy a PC without Windows, it's often cheaper to purchase a Dell/HP/Lenovo/whatever than build an equivalent from parts ignoring the license cost. So why are so many users pirating? I'd say upgrades, but Vista was a flop, and Win 7 isn't necessarily likely to run great on an existing XP computer unless it's new enough that the user COULD HAVE JUST BOUGHT IT WITH WIN 7.
I suppose there's some shops that are cheating when selling white box PCs, but I have my doubts about how many people are really buying White Box vs Best Buy or calling Dell/HP/Lenovo etc...
The home builders can't be that many people...
I suppose it could be the Mac users who want Windows also and don't like the retail cost, but really, I doubt it.
If you're a business, you ought not be pirating, though I have to guess that's where most of the stuff MS wants to catch is - but in that case, I would have thought the BSA was more than enough.
Maybe you could do this in Powershell which is in most new Windows installs? Not that I know how to do so, just that it might be more possible.
Maybe this is just a problem with the PS3 then.
I'll concede most of your points, but I don't think you've demonstrated that Word is better...
The claim I made is that OpenOffice isn't nearly good enough to replace Word, despite the fact that it's free. Which is true, demonstrably true, since it hasn't displaced Word.
By that logic, nothing affects marketshare buy quality/goodness. I'd argue that in many cases, that's demonstrably false. Word may be better than Open Office, but there's many reasons someone might use Word other than it's better than Open Office.
1) Network effects ...
2) Habit
3) Brand awareness
You've listed 2 rather obscure features in Word and claim they're why Open Office can't compete. I disagree.
The main problem I have is that what if I want to use my 2.1 computer speakers rather than my monitor speakers but like HDMI? I can't that I can see. With older stuff like VGA, it's just another cable that I route to the separate speakers instead.
Yes, I admit that I shouldn't judge Word, but I certainly can comment on all the wordprocessors I've used for quite some time. I'm not unable to comment on word processing, which is a separate thing that Word. Heck, I was wordprocessing on a stand alone smith corona, and on a Commodore 64... And for wordprocessing that I've done across many separate platforms, Open Office fufills my (and many of my users and friends) needs. I also know people who prefer Word, but the implication that you can't actually use Open Office, or anything but Word as a word processor is false in my opinion.
You're again missing my point that people used IE for more reasons that it was free. That was my basic point to the GGGGGGPP...
I'll even allow that many users found it better, while I found it worse until IE6, when I was basically forced to switch because, as you said, Netscape had given up and I couldn't hold out any longer. Of course, in 2001, as soon as I seriously tried Opera, I found it better in about every way, and haven't looked back since. But from whenever Firefox came out, what ~2004? Why did it take so long to hit 30%? I can't think of any way that IE6 was objectively better than Firefox, and I don't think it got close to parity till maybe IE8 this year, and that's pretty arguable. And it's been widely known that IE is a major vector for getting your PC infected since 2007 or so, though techies knew it back in 2000.
IE's ride down has been quite a bit slower than Netscapes was, and that's why I think there's more going on than it's "just that good". Pretty much anyone I know who uses IE does so because it's what is there by default. They didn't objectively choose it. They didn't know that there was something to *choose*. Their ISP or OEM didn't provide a browser unless it's AOL. A vendor can't choose to NOT install IE, it's now part of the OS. So this even could block out an OEM choosing to build a software package that's touted as more secure or some such as it's installed browser is Firefox, or Chrome, or Opera, or whatever.
Then again, OEMs aren't selling the whole experience anyway, except for Apple. So it's all probably a moot point.
Yea, I come at this from a different direction - I currently use Opera, so for me, I liked the mail client in Communicator. I have to say also that I've never had embedded media in my text documents, so I guess I never had any knowledge of normal view - again, though, I've managed to get this far in life with about 5hrs of Word use, so I don't match the discussed demographic.
Now I do most of my serious document work on Wikis so others can collaborate easily and it's very easy to make available to users. I wonder if that's starting to happen for a lot of users, the ones who don't use e-mail clients and prefer web based everything...
My digression over, my point is you're talking about features in Office that seem to fix something (embedded media) that have me asking, what the heck is this doing in my word processor? Why would you put video or music in a text document? So why then would you need a mode to remove that?
I can see we're going to disagree, so I'll agree to disagree, and return to my original point that Consumers definitely are basing purchasing on more than just being free. The obvious case in point would be bottled vs tap water. But you've also gone far beyond the original point that IE and Netscape were
equivalent - you strongly believe that IE was a lot better.
That's a very different argument than people too IE because it was free, which was my original disagreement.
And the better browser certainly has had a minimal and slow effect on market share against IE vs the decline Netscape had - IE6 was by almost any measure far worse than any other browser - crashier, lacking features like tabs, horribly insecure and not updated for forever. So if we're going to argue that monopoly power didn't play a role, why did it take 6 years for Firefox to reach ~30% marketshare when IE did it in a year?
I'm sorry, but I think you're overstating the actual use of word processors by most people. And Netscape 4 had if I recall correctly 3 entire programs that IE didn't - mail/newsgroup clients, web page creation software, and some other thing I forget (push screensavers?). Now, you might point to outlook express, but back in the IE4 days, I don't recall it being obvious that was related to IE... It certainly wasn't integrated like the mail client was to Communicator.
And if you want to get into nich groups, then you're talking a whole different ball of wax anyway.
And for the education of people like me, what the heck is "normal view" or a split scrollbar, and why the heck would I want it? As in, how is this a feature I'm going to use for writing up a letter or report?
As a slightly less foam-mouthed observer, I'd note that IE was generally as good as Netscape, and it was free. That may be abuse of a monopoly - IANAL. However, even if it was not as good, the choice was either a free Chevy (IE) or an expensive Buick (Netscape). Consumers took free.
I'm not sure I buy this argument... I mean, Microsoft isn't currently really threatened by OpenOffice, even though it's free and generally equivalent to Office as far as I can tell. At least as similar as Netscape vs IE were...
I just don't understand the concept of Twitter (as a member of the net generation I guess)... Why not just use a blog and turn on RSS for people who want to be pinged when you do whatever length blog update you want to? Why be limited to someone elses privacy policy, access restrictions (are there any) or 140 characters?
but my memories of Opera 'tabs' were initially a clunky Windows MDI system
They still are (but maybe not for much longer). However, I don't think that's a bad thing, it's going to depend on how you use pages... I can think of one thing off the top - if you've got a bunch of printers you need to monitor that have nice web pages, you could in firefox
a) have lots of windows mixed in with your other programs, that you set side by side
b) create a custom webpage with iframes to load several printers next to each other
In Opera you could have a "printers" window, have the session set to the printers you want, and tile the pages using MDI.
Popups stay in the browser window as a tab rather than a new taskbar entry... etc.
So for some users, MDI is better than Tabs... Not to mention you can see a lot more of the tab name with a Windows menu if you've got 80 tabs open than you can on the tab bar.
I suppose it depends, but on my IBM Aptiva I got in 1995, it did come loaded with the full version of Lotus SmartSuite which included 1-2-3... It also (for some reason) came with MS Works. It was good in that I don't actually recall getting trialware except for the ISP links, but actually full version software. Then again, I suppose at $3500, they could throw in some software.
I'm pretty sure that's against the MSDN license... Hey, it's one of the pitfalls of software(and our legal environment), you've got to follow the license, however stupid it may be. You can only use retail disks with retail keys, VLK disks with VLK keys etc... Of course you *can* ignore the license, but at that point, I've got to wonder why not just go all the way illegal and pirate it to save the money?
Well, a Dell $700 laptop is decidedly *NOT* a "good" laptop. Try a Macbook or Thinkpad T series... Of course, disposable laptops can make sense for certain use patterns, and they seem to fit yours. Nothing consumer line, especially a Dell IME, is "good". Build it yourself for a desktop, buy business model laptop or desktops or go disposable (buy one a year)...
Replying to myself to explain my comment of PClike gaming - it's like they took the bad parts of PC gaming while not really getting any of the good parts: The patching, the taking forever to load, the HD space management... While not getting the Keyboard + Mouse better controls, the arbitrary save points, the cross company networks (why can't I play against gamers who have an XBox 360 version of a game, or if possible, who have the PC version?)...
The other thing that annoys me with this is (and I don't know that EA is to blame for this) I got a PS3 for christmas. I bought Madden 10. My cousin has an Xbox 360, and has Madden 10. He lives ~ 200 miles away now, but I was excited thinking that this new console system would now let us play the game together online. But no, we can't. Now, if this was a PC game, and he had a Dell while I have a Lenovo - we could still play the same game together.
I'm just glad I generally have little interest in online gaming on any platform, but it makes the online features of the PS3 almost a liability. I foolishly thought I could take my new PS3, drop in the new Madden game, and play. But no, I had to first wait to download a 185MB patch... This was one of the things I was trying to get away from in PC gaming and a reason I was going to consoles...
Overall, I'm much less "happy" with the PS3 than I was with the Genesis I got years ago... The games are good enough so far, but the experience is far too PC like, with new artificial restrictions.
I know. Hasn't anyone ever had a bad LAN connection that they fixed by replacing the cat5 cable? I mean, "it's digital" and all, but it also needs a working cable. That said, any new cable should work or is defective... I can't see you getting a noticeable difference in quality from gold plating...
I used to use Pricewatch a lot until I noticed that ~85% of the time, Newegg was within ~5% of the lowest price, and about %40 of the time WAS the lowest price. I already knew them, already had an account, and the stuff always showed up in 3 days or less. Often next day with ground shipping. I've had 3 bad things in about 8 years of ordering which is on the order of everywhere else. So I just stopped shopping around. I guess I'll have to check again... Amazon, even with charging TAX in NY was cheaper than Newegg for a PS3 game, though I am biased as I have Amazon Prime so get it a little faster.
I'm hearing a lot of good things about MSE, but I'll wait a while for it to establish itself. I currently recommend Comodo Internet Security to those who can understand a HIPS, and AntiVir to pretty much everyone else. If in 2 years or so, Microsoft hasn't decided to ruin, kill, or charge for MSE, then I'll likely recommend it.
I'd also look at the Warranty for Kirby's - I was surprised to see their website claim a paltry 3 years. Oreck gives you up to 10 years (I got the last year they did 21 year warranty, so I won't be getting another vacuum soon!), and I've gone to the local store/service center to have things fixed, and no problem. They've also thrown in new belts and such that I expected them to charge for as they are pretty clearly wear items. So, Oreck isn't a heavy built thing, but they will fix it for about as long as you would have it. Other door to door brands will warranty for even longer (lifetime etc) and they've been around for a long time, so I guess they're doing something right.
It's weird, and I sound like a salesman, but I'm not. I've just used both Kirby and Oreck, and they work better and last longer than the many Sears $150 vacuums I've seen my family buy over the years. I mean, we've *inherited* a Kirby. And it still works fine. I strongly believe you get what you pay for in vacuums, and if I'm not wrong, Oreck are made in the USA and have local stores/service centers all over the place, so if you care about supporting jobs in the USA, that's a good thing too.
That's because people comparison shop on the "big ticket" item of the Computers. I don't think I've ever seen an ad for cables from any retail store. So they have to compete on the computer price, and not just retail, but against Dell etc... But they have to make a profit somehow to pay the higher costs of onsite staff, heating etc vs Dell. So they actually make some money on the cables.
When I worked at Best Buy (a while ago now), they would get *at best* $10 more than they paid for the computer at the register. They LOST money selling them to people when you considered the sales pay and checkout pay and overhead.
And, like in all things, Your Mileage Will Vary. The Best Buy I worked at happened to be mostly ethical within the constraints forced down by corporate. I.e. we never (when I was present anyway) forced a warranty, and even let people opt out of free services that were packaged on black friday that we still would get a kickback on. Some stores would put in the SKU whether they did anything or not, or claim the service HAD to be done to get the bonus. We also were pretty honest about the Service Plan, not calling it a Warranty (cause it wasn't). I'd even tell people if it might be worth it or not (desktop - not worth it, if you're replacing your kid's iPod for the second time this year, might be worth an accidental damage coverage). And we'd generally tell people how long the service may take, and the way it only protected what you paid for it, not a guaranteed replacement. We also always went by the dollar amount, rather than some stores which would try and find a refurb "equivalent"
But as you can see, not every store is like that, nor is every employee honest or knows what they're doing. And the Tech under sales umbrella was pretty stupid IMO. Why should a sales drone be preferred for tech over a new hire with credentials? Why should the Geek Squad be worrying about sales goals? Different aspects IMO, but Best Buy didn't see it that way, so many Geek Squad people were actually second tier Sales Drones.
My point is instead of
1) Point at menu + Click
2) Click on what I want
It is now
1) Point at menu expander
2) Point at menu I want
3) Click on what I want
And I have to do this *every* time I want to access a menu if I use the new interface. Then again, I guess I've overestimated how many people actually use menus in apps they use, so maybe it isn't a big deal. That said, what exactly are you gaining? 30 vertical pixels?
I know I'm different. I use the menus all the time for Bookmarks, IRC Chat, Window Menu (slowly going to the Window Panel for find as you type), Tools menu and View menu. I also use the MDI Window Minimize, and close buttons. I suppose I could now learn keyboard shortcuts, but that's harder than using the menus for now. I'll be honest too, Office 2007 looks bigger to me, but I don't use Office enough to care right now, but I am annoyed everyone else is doing this App Start Menu thingy.
I don't really want to re-shell Windows, again if I was going to mess with the guts of an OS, I'd just do Linux to save money.
I do understand a single GUI doesn't work for everyone, so WHY IS MS removing CHOICE in the UI? How does making millions painfully re-learn an interface they barely understand or have in muscle memory a more efficient method? Do you know how many users come to me because they can't figure out how to get to a program when they change computers and the desktop ICON doesn't follow them? I just had a trouble ticket because a user got a new XP box, and he had the XP rather than classic menu, and couldn't find how to get to the file browser.
Google sometime, these are not isolated incidents or a few users. I have to believe these are most users.
In 10.10, you can turn off the error console completely. I never have it pop up. Try going to Tools -> Preferences, Advanced tab, Content Leaf, Javascript options button, and uncheck show error console on error.
Well, I've used older versions of Opera, say 9.5, on New Slashdot. It's painful. Or try 9.x on some web app interfaces (Like Zenoss Core 2.2 or so) and see how painful it is. Firefox was faster there. I've also seen slowness on other apps, like the js implementation of a NES ROM emulator. So yes, there are things that could certainly be faster.