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#631 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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Karma: 128354696
Join Date: May 2009
Location: 26 kly from Sgr A*
Device: T100TA,PW2,PRS-T1,KT,FireHD 8.9,K2, PB360,BeBook One,Axim51v,TC1000
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And Microsoft's intent is to migrate as many users to the new "Windows as a service" model. They'll be making their money off the Windows store, Office 365, Onedrive, and other services. No need to fret for their survival. ![]() |
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#632 |
Illiterate
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Karma: 37848716
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: The Sandwich Isles
Device: Samsung Galaxy S10+, Microsoft Surface Pro
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I think MS understands the problems inherent in a fractured user base much like Android has become since somewhere around version 2.X, and is making the effort to bring in as many as possible under the Win10 banner.
To do this they need to do two things 1) make it BETTER than 7 and 8.X, and 2) make it so cheap (free) that everyone will want to jump on board. Once they have a substantial fraction of the user base, they can more easily abandon older versions. They are hoping that they can do it in a year; we'll see. It's interesting that they didn't include XP and Vista in the free upgrade, does that imply that they will abandon those in any case as they have been threatening to for years? |
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#633 | |||
Ex-Helpdesk Junkie
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Karma: 85400180
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity
Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)
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And recent viruses are no less a threat than old ones. Perhaps more so, in fact. ![]() Quote:
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#634 | |||
Ex-Helpdesk Junkie
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Karma: 85400180
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity
Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)
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The most likely point of failure is once again, the nonexistence of the needed driver. But luckily the printer support package includes a wide variety of drivers, which get updated as needed. Again, though, you might find that certain printers simply aren't supported (yet). My experience with being begged for help installing printers has thus far been limited to helping Windows users, believe it or not. I am exceedingly helpful regardless of OS used, if they need the help, and I don't give up after it becomes obvious that clueless users are still clueless users. Whether they be Windows or linux members of the Guild of Clueless is inconsequential. ![]() I will definitely agree that Windows offers a lot more manufacturer support -- virtually everything comes with a prepackaged driver for Windows, but often nothing for linux. |
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#635 | |
Ex-Helpdesk Junkie
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Karma: 85400180
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity
Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)
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If Windows could do all the other things I need my computer to do, I wouldn't be so averse to paying for it. ![]() Also, I wouldn't promptly consign the free copy of Windows that came with the PC to the bitbucket (or a miniscule and mostly-unused partition). |
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#636 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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Karma: 34000001
Join Date: Mar 2008
Device: KPW1, KA1
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Believe it or not, but there are a lot of people who *WANT* to use the manufacturer's software (or even need to, because they don't have anything else), and when running Linux, they'll hit a brick wall. *After the Ubuntu setup wizard...* "OK, nice. The test page works. Now where is my calendar creation program mentioned on the box? Hm. Maybe it's on the CD." *Pops in CD* *Double-clicks setup.exe* *** ERROR *** * Hear a cry of despair and a dying wail as the user flings himself and the computer out of a fifth story apartment window * Last edited by Katsunami; 05-20-2015 at 04:44 AM. |
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#637 | |
Wizard
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Karma: 54671821
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: New England
Device: PW 1, 2, 3, Voyage, Oasis 2 & 3, Fires, Aura HD, iPad
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Shari |
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#638 | |
eReader Wrangler
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Karma: 52566355
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Boise, ID
Device: PB HD3, GL3, Voyage, Clara HD
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#639 | |
eReader Wrangler
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Karma: 52566355
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Boise, ID
Device: PB HD3, GL3, Voyage, Clara HD
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#640 | |
eReader Wrangler
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Karma: 52566355
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Boise, ID
Device: PB HD3, GL3, Voyage, Clara HD
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#641 | |
eReader Wrangler
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Karma: 52566355
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Boise, ID
Device: PB HD3, GL3, Voyage, Clara HD
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Let's look at my Brother HL-2280DW printer. Nice, inexpensive printer/scanner/copier. It comes with PaperPort OCR for Windows (maybe for the Mac -- I'm not sure). Of course PaperPort doesn't work on my Linux Mint. So, do I "throw my Linux computer out the window?" as described in your obviously FUDish example? No ... I simply look for a substitute for PaperPort and -- voila' -- install it. In my case I chose Tesseract, originally developed by Xerox, put in the public domain, where Google (among others) has continued development. Since Tesseract is a terminal program, I add a graphic front-end for it, yagf. It works like a charm. That sure was hard. This is how most Linux users go about their business. First, since I use Linux, I check to see if the printer has good support for Linux. Brother supplies Linux printer and scanner drivers for its printers. Excellent. I buy the Brother printer. I follow the driver installation instructions -- everything works with the built-in programs in Linux and I find the open source OCR replacement for PaperPort. Minor problem solved. And absolutely no hysterics or hyperventilating necessary. I guess I could sit and whine about not having a Linux version of PaperPort, but I would just as soon use my computer, thank you. |
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#642 |
eReader Wrangler
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Karma: 52566355
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Boise, ID
Device: PB HD3, GL3, Voyage, Clara HD
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As if you have the hands-on knowledge to make a judgment on the subject. Although, I admit, this may be the case with Linux newbies who don't want to invest the time necessary to learn a little about Linux -- and who go running back to Windows the minute they find they have to engage their brain -- but it's not true with the vast majority of Linux users who, after investing a little time to learn a new OS, find that solving problems in Linux is often much more straightforward and simple than doing so in Windows. And Linux is much more solid, so there are many fewer problems to solve.
I was once one of those newbies -- I tried Linux several times (dual booting and in virtual machines) and each time went back to Windows, before it finally occurred to me that I had spent years learning DOS and Windows, why should I expect to know Linux immediately without any effort? Once I worked through Linux's differences (file structure, etc.) I found it made more sense than Windows ever did. I'm glad I stuck with it. |
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#643 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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Karma: 34000001
Join Date: Mar 2008
Device: KPW1, KA1
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In many cases, the answer is "no", and that is where the matter ends for most people. Even if the OS runs the software (such as the game Pillars of Eternity from 2015, or Neverwinter Nights from 2002), it's not always straightforward, especially in the case of games. Many times you will need THIS Linux distribution, you will need THAT driver, with THOSE settings, or stuff isn't supported officially. It can be very hard to run two games on the same installation if requirements conflict, especially if they are several years apart. On Windows, you mostly just need Windows XP or up, with sufficient hardware power and the latest drivers. The only snag you might hit is that a new game requires a 64-bit Windows. Then you go "click setup.exe, next, next, finish, install the latest patch if any, play." That's as far as customers want to go if they can help it. I know, Ubuntu and Mint can do this, using their software centre for programs that are in their distribution, but for third party programs, it can get rather complicated quickly, especially if you try to run it on a distribution that is not officially supported. Last edited by Katsunami; 05-20-2015 at 08:06 AM. |
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#644 | |
Wizard
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Karma: 54671821
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: New England
Device: PW 1, 2, 3, Voyage, Oasis 2 & 3, Fires, Aura HD, iPad
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Thanks for playing, though ![]() Shari |
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#645 | |
Wizard
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Karma: 54671821
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: New England
Device: PW 1, 2, 3, Voyage, Oasis 2 & 3, Fires, Aura HD, iPad
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Shari |
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