Replies

Everyone of these articles generates a lot of BS flack aimed at Microsoft. It’s always about an article written by an Industry Guru. Outside of Windows Millennium, I have never had any problems with any Microsoft product that wasn’t directly related to my own stupidity. I have been using Office 2013 for nearly a year now and it does things no other Office Suite can. Excel users will really notice the changes under the hood, but you have to take the time to learn them. And if you are spending $100 to $400 on a version of Office 2013, then one would assume you planned to make use of it. Open Office and Office Libre are fine products, but they are not Microsoft Office, which is the more popular choice in the business communities around the world. I have both, Office 2013 and Office 2007 installed. Once my beta testing license is up, I will go back to using Office 2007. If I could afford it, I would make the switch to the retail version just recently released. If someone says that some free Office Suite is as good or better than MSOffice, then they are not familiar with how MSOffice works.

I agree with many draw backs mentioned in the article about the lack of options and the in-your-eye-with-a-pizza-pie interface. But, at least use the program honestly for 6 months before dumping on it.

RE: Too many newbies trying this and destroying their PCs

While I will agree with the gist of the of the general warning that permiates all the thread remarks I’ve read so far about ‘Backup-Backup-Backup’ … I don’t agree that it’s limited to just newbies. While many computer users may be ‘tech savvy’, most are not ‘tech enthusiats’. For clarification, tech-savvy refers to a person who uses a computer everyday and knows how to do most of the maintenance and general things one must do to keep their computer running efficiently. A tech-enthusiast, on the other hand, subscribes to sources such as Windows Secrets, or in my case, following Fred Langa around since 1999. I am a tech-enthusiast, and I am also an IT Professional (retired). Most tech-savvy people aren’t interested in the latest version of Windows. They just want something that works, whereas … The tech-enthusiast craves to be in on the ground floor. And therein is where the trouble really manifests itself. Because while most tech-enthusiasts are tech aware, many aren’t. It is not a requirement of being an enthusiast of any field, topic, or thing, that the enthusiast be proficient at what they are enthused about. If it was a requirement, then most sporting venues would be empty.

Windows 8 is a peculiar beast. And from my point of view, it has no usefulness as a Desktop PC OS, save for some of the improvements which should really be a service pack for Windows 7. The best of Windows 8 works with touch screen appliances and serves more as a baby sitter than as an OS.

As for those who try the beta version of Windows 8 and mess up their computers in the process … I will conjecture that 90% or more, knew better and that they should backup-backup-backup … Yet, felt confident enough in their own computing skills to make the attempt without a net. Which, we all do at one point or another, and flop. Much like life lessons, some experience happens at a personal cost. We will still coach our friends to backup to redundant levels. Some will listen, others will say thet have and most will risk it anyways. A tech-enthusiast has to, it is an itch to be scratched, an urge to be met, and it does meet with an infection, or failure at times. It is how we best learn as a species. We try to prevent it, we preach from personal experience, and no matter what we do … S%#t happens.

I’ll leave you all with these final thoughts … Does there have to be an app for absolutely everything? I do not want my car radio, my alarm clock, or my home stereo to have an iConnector to any iPod, iPhone, or any iApp, thank you very much. A memory card, USB, and/or 3/8-stereo aux input jack are fine enough and more universally compatable.

All these portable devices have a niche, but that’s just it … They are niche products, mostly doing one thing, or extending the capabilities of something more permanent. Tablets have the best opportunity for making an inroads into the PC market, to which Microsoft, Apple, Linux have a stake … Microsoft isn’t the only ‘personal computer’ on the playground. When an iPad comes equipped with Apple’s OS X Panther or newer, I will consider it viable as a PC replacement … And the truth of the matter is that by the end of the decade, or certainly within the next 20 years, there will be a new technology breakthrough that will make all the technologies I have mentioned, obsolete and most likely, usesless as well.

Personal readers like nook and kindle should have been in the classroom for at least a decade now. Textbooks should already be downloadable to reader devices and/or computers, instead of costing $140 at your local college bookstore. How many millions of trees could have been saved in the last ten years?

There will always be a need for a Desktop PC, or an incarnate that is similar. Something that is separate from household technologies, that can communicate with the multitude of devices that take care of the ‘niche’ things we use to better our lives. Now, it may be something hidden in a closet and wirelessly connected to everything. Yet, like people, there will always be a home PC and it will evolve and become the homeplace’s Master Computer.

If Apple doesn’t give the iPad a meaningful operating system, it will remain a niche product, an extension of larger server. Which kind of brings us full circle, where there is one super or big computer connected to a lot of satellite devices.

There is a disconnect here. While I understand the premise that we all benefit from moving forward, 60% of the world is still using XP. There may be a reason for the reticence to march lockstep like lemmings off the Microsoft cliff of poor code. Contrary to the hype, Vista was a disaster and no amount of Redmond sycophancy will put lipstick on that pig. Most of us won’t forget that fact anytime soon and now are seriously skeptical of alleged “progress”. Vista with bug fixes = Windows 7. IE: essentially eye candy with redesigned basic functions claiming better security when in fact Windows remains a sieve for any bored script kiddie.

Similarly, Internet Explorer has been in decline for years. Microsoft has repeatably attempted to impose their “standards” on the browser world. Both Firefox and now Chrome have surpassed Explorer yet Microsoft insists users must install and run their buggy code. As is seen by multiple posts, Explorer 9 fails in many rudimentary tasks. Rather than calling Microsoft out on these flaws, you encourage users to drink the Kool Aid. Really, how many decades does it require for people to learn Microsoft rarely gets it right the first time and sometimes never succeeds; instead simply abandoning the failed project and users who were dumb enough to swallow the Redmond line?

Explorer 9 exhibits all the worst traits of Vista and anyone who refuses to admit or report it is doing a disservice to computers users world wide.

There was no disconnect … Of that 60% you cite as being Windows XP users, 90% of that group is either in the Business industry, or in a foreign market, The reticence may be in the fact that it is costly to do a comapny-wide upgrade, or that the legacy software a company uses is not yet developed to work with Vista and Windows 7. Vista is only a disaster in terms of IT propaganda scaring people needlessly. Granted, Vista is a resource hog, yet it works quite well and the only disaster that can be attributed to it is in the financial losses it created for Microsoft. The fact is that Vista works well, Windows 7 works better. IE9 did not work well in its initial public offering, but the current versions are so much better. So why would Microsoft release an almost ready version? Because they needed a marker point. As brilliant as some software may be thought to be … Until it is tested in the real world, the reliability of the software can’t be tested.

This may be my second posting in this particular forum, yet I have followed Fred Langa for 14 years. When he threw in with Windows Secrets, I thought it was a big mistake. But I respect him and figured he knew something I didn’t. I apologize to Susan Bradley and my fellow Windows Secrets readers, because this is not a debate forum. But I have watched people attack Microsoft for almost 20 years and it generally is from people loyal to Apple, who have nothing better to do than to haunt Windows forum sites and bash away.

My solution of switching off the graphics acceleration in IE9 helped three of my subscribers. Three out of about 500 total readership is a success. Even if the solution had only helped one of my subscribers, it would have been a success. Why? Because like this forum, constuctive solutions beefit everyone. It might not directly, but somewhere down the road, someone will recall a solution they read here, or somewhere else and relay that to someone else and that, may help that user.

Once people begin to bash the article, or the manufacturer of a piece of software, the forum loses purpose and value as a constructive place to conduct a dialogue. I use IE9 exclusively, because I need to find it’s weaknesses and work-arounds for my readers. Of all the issues mentioned in this forum, there are no consistent remarks except for those relating to legacy software used in business applications.

Again, my apologies to this forum. I doubt if I will be back. I like using Windows and IE9. Because I really haven’t found a problem that I couldn’t resolve. If that makes me a lemming, then over the cliff I shall go. But just because I refuse to whine at Microsoft’s success, doesn’t mean I am causing a disservice to anyone.

The online Banking issue is not just with IE9, it also is a problem with Firefox 4 and Safari 5. In some cases it is in concert with Adobe Flash Player 10.3. It is such an issue for so many of my e-zine subscribers that I created a how-to video on how to shut off graphic acceleration in IE9. Unfortuantely, because it is generally unnecessary to number crunching. Most financial institutions are still running Windows XP or, older version of Windows.

For those having this issue or similar, let your bank’s branch manager know that even if their customers using Windows Vista or, Windows 7 continued to use IE8, there will not be a choice to opt out of updating to IE9 in fairly short order. And rightly so … IE8 has more vulnerabilities than Microsoft wants to patch. IE9 is faster, easier, and just better than IE 8. For Windows Vista and Windows 7 users, updating to IE9 is the best choice for security reasons.

It’s easy to blame Microsoft when such issues as these arise. But these issues are mandated industry changes caused by cell phone users and computer users who want to marry the two machines and operate their daily lives in “THE CLOUD“. Keep in mind, all these instruments of progress are going to require the fundamental basics to change with the times. Some of those changes will be good, but many will be rubbish (at least until they are sorted out and fixed). And not only the technologies will be required to change, but how people use an interact with those technologies will have to change as well. It’s going to be the same sort of impact, not unlike the first effects of commercial aviation in the 1930’s. You wouldn’t think a simple browser issue would have that effect, now would you?

I’ve used online banking since it was invented. But IE9 will not allow me to log on to my bank. IE8 was no problem. I have spent hours with bank internet techs, uninstalled, reinstalled, etc etc and gave up. I use Firefox for banking with no problems. My son cannot watch Netflix in IE9 because SilverLight refuses to install to IE9. He had no problem with IE8. Like me, he uses Firefox to watch netflix movies with no problems.

Ergo: IE9 has flaws.