Yes the analogy was a bit harsh, yours is definitely more..... picturesque. but no, I don't really have a lot of hope for Kodak now. The vultures are circling.
Polaroid is now just a name on third party junk. I do hope Kodak doesn't suffer the same fate...
In my experience I notice most people for most situations use the mouse way more than the keyboard. They rest their right hand on the mouse, and use their left for keyboard shortcuts. For me, I only put my right hand on the keyboard when I am typing (like now).
When I am working in Photoshop (or Scribus, or Inkscape, or any graphic program) I use a stylus on my Wacom tablet along with keyboard shortcuts. I still do not want a touch screen for the simple reason that I want to see the screen as I am working. I do not want to block the screen with my hand.
Even much of the time when surfing the net I use bookmarks and links way more than typing addresses...
Polaroid was always a bit of a niche company. They happened to be in a fairly big niche, but they were very unique in what they did. Their monopoly kept them going until the market changed.
Kodak was killed by shortsighted managers who could not understand the implications when they invented digital photography.
[car analogy] Both companies were buggy whip producers. Kodak invented the internal combustion engine, but never thought it would catch on.[/car analogy]
FYI be careful with Avast free as an update blue-screened a Win8 laptop I was working on a while ago. It is a known problem now, but I would assume that MSE would be a bit more stable, if only because they *should* know the OS better. However, if an AV can bring the OS to its knees something is wrong.
1) Surface? Win8 isn't even selling well on ipad imitators. 2) Really? A couple of years ago I was still selling computers with 2GB ram and 500GB drives. i5's adn i7's were just coming out. I understand the your sentiment though. existing computers were faster than most people needed for many common tasks.
Windows 8 is pretty much a refined version of 7 with a full screen Start menu. It's faster than 7, It's tools are more refined and work better with newer hardware than 7 (although I don't like File history as much as Previous Versions) and its much more efficient with hardware than 7 and utterly flies on systems that would chug on 7.
OK, I did not give the full story, I was called in for the final tweaking of the system. Unfortunately both Windows and the preinstalled antivirus (Avant Free) did an update and the "Professional" system started bluescreening. Yes, the update brought down the entire system. (and that damn smiley face is there just to piss people off....;) WTF) It did take me longer than I would expect to narrow down the problem, restore the system, uninstall the updates, uninstall the antivirus, redo the windows updates, and then get on to the job I was hired to do, add an extra monitor and plug in the printer.
And no, the start screen is a fucked up abomination. Don't get me started on the picture viewer, the convoluted way safe mode has been crippled, or the help screens that keep saying swipe here to continue....
PS. No I am not an IT expert. I prefer to use an easier system like Mint Debian Edition with a KDE desktop.
I have found grub to be pretty good, unless you hibernate windows and try to share drives. That would probably still be a problem with separate drives.
I had to install some medical software on a new laptop* for a client. After dealing with many problems, I still had an amateur OS with skype, weather, stock quotes and other totally irrelevant crap. Forget about the third party crapware, Win8 is built around crapware... Windows 8 is NOT designed for serious work.
*Yes they supplied the laptop, if I had my way, it would have been Win7.
Most of my toshiba laptops, several compaqs, Dells and generic machines have had no problems. In my case, I would ask what computers should I look out for that may cause problems...
For a professional machine I do not see any use at all for Metro and tiles, except that it takes an extra step (two actually, since you have to click on the first screen before you can get to the log in screen, but let's ignore that for now...) to get to the desktop from boot. From an aesthetic point of view, the desktop (once you get there) looks like something from the '90's, I like a bit of bling in my desktop. The only way I have found to work, is to make desktop icons for ALL the programs you may need to work. Oh, by the way, did anyone else notice that desktop icons are now harder to make? You can no longer drag a program onto the desktop, you have to right click, choose make shortcut, then drag that icon to the desktop.
PS. Yes I am ranting against Win8. I did not really care one way or the other until I actually had to fix a clients machine. What a clusterfuck!!
The problem is that Win8 is NOT enterprise friendly. Over the weekend I had to set up a medical program on a new Win8 laptop. A job that should have taken a couple of hours took two days. Granted part of that was Win8 kept bluescreening due to an AV update, but even so, the client was not impressed with all the crap like Skype, Stock ticker, even weather that was installed by default. On top of that, if the WUTBM (What Used To Be Metro)) screen is supposed to be the new start menu, it is f***ed up beyond belief. I mean the Windows menu has always been a bit of a dogs breakfast, but this new screen (accessible through +f) is just a mess. WUTBM needs to be nuked from orbit. As an example of "usability", I downloaded a jpg. I double clicked on the file to look at it. Now how do I close the picture viewer? It is not obvious. yes, eventually I figured out how to get back to the desktop, but is the image viewer still running? is it using resources? Can I go back to it? Can I open another instance of it to compare photos? WTF
Exactly this.... If you want to make a robust communication system for an emergency, why not keep a pile of oil soaked wood, so you can signal for help. No phone lines to come down in a hurricane, no chance of a defective glitch in the hardware.... You just need to keep an eye out for short people lighting them contrary to the wishes of government....
seriously, are we really talking about keeping alive a dated technology, in case our newer better technology goes out while the older tech survives? This really seems like a silly set of boundary conditions to plan for. Just make the cell network more robust. And yes I can recharge my phone from a car if the main grid goes down...
I agree with what you are saying, although I still feel most Linux users are in the top percentile of computer competence. Linux tends to encourage learning and knowledge (except for the newer Ubuntu releases....:~), while OSX, and especially Windows tends to discourage the same...
Android is a different beast. I would say that most people do not use their phones as computers, but as the infamous "consumption devices". They are appliances.
As for Win8-RT? It seems to be a bit of an unknown. Some people are saying yes it can be opened up, some people say no. I have no desire for a tablet, let alone a Win8-RT tablet. I am really not sure what it brings to the market, except that it is made by Microsoft, and that is not really a selling feature for me.
It will be much more interesting to see what the reception to the x86 version of Win8 will be.....
How many casual Linux users install apps that haven't been packaged and "marketed" for their distribution?
First, "casual Linux" LOL second, Many linux users use apps outside their distro. have you ever heard of a program called make? Ubuntu specifically created ppa's to allow 3rd party programs. Fedora used to be famous for dependency hell, where required programs or libraries were not available in the repository....
1) start a "sexy" tech company and make a lot of money 2) wait until Microsoft decides it wants to copy you and "F**KING KILL" you 3) ??? 4) Profit... oh wait....
Slashdot Mirror
Yes the analogy was a bit harsh, yours is definitely more..... picturesque. but no, I don't really have a lot of hope for Kodak now. The vultures are circling.
Polaroid is now just a name on third party junk. I do hope Kodak doesn't suffer the same fate...
In my experience I notice most people for most situations use the mouse way more than the keyboard. They rest their right hand on the mouse, and use their left for keyboard shortcuts. For me, I only put my right hand on the keyboard when I am typing (like now).
When I am working in Photoshop (or Scribus, or Inkscape, or any graphic program) I use a stylus on my Wacom tablet along with keyboard shortcuts. I still do not want a touch screen for the simple reason that I want to see the screen as I am working. I do not want to block the screen with my hand.
Even much of the time when surfing the net I use bookmarks and links way more than typing addresses...
other than the *many* shills, most people seem to be saying Win8 is fine if:
1) you ignore "Metro/Modern/whatever UI and the associated apps and only use the desktop
2) you install a start menu replacement
In other words, if you change Win8 to work the same way as XP/Win7 it is ok. So why again do I want Win8 on my desktop?
(Of course this is ignoring touch, which is a whole other conversation)
Polaroid was always a bit of a niche company. They happened to be in a fairly big niche, but they were very unique in what they did. Their monopoly kept them going until the market changed.
Kodak was killed by shortsighted managers who could not understand the implications when they invented digital photography.
[car analogy] Both companies were buggy whip producers. Kodak invented the internal combustion engine, but never thought it would catch on.[/car analogy]
FYI be careful with Avast free as an update blue-screened a Win8 laptop I was working on a while ago. It is a known problem now, but I would assume that MSE would be a bit more stable, if only because they *should* know the OS better.
However, if an AV can bring the OS to its knees something is wrong.
1) Surface? Win8 isn't even selling well on ipad imitators.
2) Really? A couple of years ago I was still selling computers with 2GB ram and 500GB drives. i5's adn i7's were just coming out. I understand the your sentiment though. existing computers were faster than most people needed for many common tasks.
Windows 8 is pretty much a refined version of 7 with a full screen Start menu. It's faster than 7, It's tools are more refined and work better with newer hardware than 7 (although I don't like File history as much as Previous Versions) and its much more efficient with hardware than 7 and utterly flies on systems that would chug on 7.
Hahahahaha... gasp... hahahahahaha.....
Wow, thanks for that [wipes tears]
OK, I did not give the full story, I was called in for the final tweaking of the system. Unfortunately both Windows and the preinstalled antivirus (Avant Free) did an update and the "Professional" system started bluescreening. Yes, the update brought down the entire system. (and that damn smiley face is there just to piss people off.... ;) WTF) It did take me longer than I would expect to narrow down the problem, restore the system, uninstall the updates, uninstall the antivirus, redo the windows updates, and then get on to the job I was hired to do, add an extra monitor and plug in the printer.
And no, the start screen is a fucked up abomination. Don't get me started on the picture viewer, the convoluted way safe mode has been crippled, or the help screens that keep saying swipe here to continue....
PS. No I am not an IT expert. I prefer to use an easier system like Mint Debian Edition with a KDE desktop.
I have found grub to be pretty good, unless you hibernate windows and try to share drives. That would probably still be a problem with separate drives.
I had to install some medical software on a new laptop* for a client. After dealing with many problems, I still had an amateur OS with skype, weather, stock quotes and other totally irrelevant crap. Forget about the third party crapware, Win8 is built around crapware...
Windows 8 is NOT designed for serious work.
*Yes they supplied the laptop, if I had my way, it would have been Win7.
http://www.scada.org/
Most of my toshiba laptops, several compaqs, Dells and generic machines have had no problems. In my case, I would ask what computers should I look out for that may cause problems...
Exactly, good names like Excel, Outlook, Access, Safari, Firefox, Thunderbird, Vim, and of course who can forget Gimp
I've not yet had a chance to play with a Win 8 machine myself.
Don't bother, it will live up to all your expectations....
For a professional machine I do not see any use at all for Metro and tiles, except that it takes an extra step (two actually, since you have to click on the first screen before you can get to the log in screen, but let's ignore that for now...) to get to the desktop from boot.
From an aesthetic point of view, the desktop (once you get there) looks like something from the '90's, I like a bit of bling in my desktop.
The only way I have found to work, is to make desktop icons for ALL the programs you may need to work. Oh, by the way, did anyone else notice that desktop icons are now harder to make? You can no longer drag a program onto the desktop, you have to right click, choose make shortcut, then drag that icon to the desktop.
PS. Yes I am ranting against Win8. I did not really care one way or the other until I actually had to fix a clients machine. What a clusterfuck!!
^best and most obvious fix that should be in sp1^
The problem is that Win8 is NOT enterprise friendly. Over the weekend I had to set up a medical program on a new Win8 laptop. A job that should have taken a couple of hours took two days. Granted part of that was Win8 kept bluescreening due to an AV update, but even so, the client was not impressed with all the crap like Skype, Stock ticker, even weather that was installed by default.
On top of that, if the WUTBM (What Used To Be Metro)) screen is supposed to be the new start menu, it is f***ed up beyond belief. I mean the Windows menu has always been a bit of a dogs breakfast, but this new screen (accessible through +f) is just a mess.
WUTBM needs to be nuked from orbit. As an example of "usability", I downloaded a jpg. I double clicked on the file to look at it. Now how do I close the picture viewer? It is not obvious. yes, eventually I figured out how to get back to the desktop, but is the image viewer still running? is it using resources? Can I go back to it? Can I open another instance of it to compare photos?
WTF
This is what Captain Obvious would do....
I went from 3.11 -> 95 -> Me -> XP -> Vista -> Ubuntu -> Mint
Exactly this.... If you want to make a robust communication system for an emergency, why not keep a pile of oil soaked wood, so you can signal for help. No phone lines to come down in a hurricane, no chance of a defective glitch in the hardware.... You just need to keep an eye out for short people lighting them contrary to the wishes of government....
seriously, are we really talking about keeping alive a dated technology, in case our newer better technology goes out while the older tech survives? This really seems like a silly set of boundary conditions to plan for. Just make the cell network more robust. And yes I can recharge my phone from a car if the main grid goes down...
I agree with what you are saying, although I still feel most Linux users are in the top percentile of computer competence. Linux tends to encourage learning and knowledge (except for the newer Ubuntu releases....:~), while OSX, and especially Windows tends to discourage the same...
Android is a different beast. I would say that most people do not use their phones as computers, but as the infamous "consumption devices". They are appliances.
As for Win8-RT? It seems to be a bit of an unknown. Some people are saying yes it can be opened up, some people say no. I have no desire for a tablet, let alone a Win8-RT tablet. I am really not sure what it brings to the market, except that it is made by Microsoft, and that is not really a selling feature for me.
It will be much more interesting to see what the reception to the x86 version of Win8 will be.....
How many casual Linux users install apps that haven't been packaged and "marketed" for their distribution?
First, "casual Linux" LOL
second, Many linux users use apps outside their distro. have you ever heard of a program called make?
Ubuntu specifically created ppa's to allow 3rd party programs.
Fedora used to be famous for dependency hell, where required programs or libraries were not available in the repository....
yeah, let's be honest here....
1) start a "sexy" tech company and make a lot of money ... oh wait....
2) wait until Microsoft decides it wants to copy you and "F**KING KILL" you
3) ???
4) Profit
AVG used to be good, but lately there have been a few issues. It may be a better AV than MSE, but is the hassle worth it?
As a fellow Canadian I wish I had mod points...