windows 8.1

[JPG]

P.S. There were a couple of earlier versions of 'Windows' prior to 95.

Yup, there was.

.......^^^^^^....... That(^^^^^^) supposed to be a link?

[robinson46176]

A lot of folks shy away from Linux out of fear because it used to be considered a geek thing and there are still a lot of distributions out there that are still pretty cryptic. Ubuntu is about the most user friendly Linux and its big market share within the Linux community reflects that. I personally find it more user friendly than Windows 8. Some shy away fearing the dreaded "command line" but I have used Linux for many years now and I can't even remember the last time I used the command line...
Did I mention that almost all Linux is free?
Apple OS and Linux have a common beginning (Unix) and they operate a little alike. I still have an old iMac in the woodshop that runs OS-X.
Your Android Smart-Phone / tablet is running on the base Linux kernel...
If you ever want to play with Linux without any changes to your hard drive you can try Knoppix, a distribution that can be ran 100% from a CD / DVD. http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html
Did I mention that Linux is almost all free? You can try 100 different distributions if you like, free...
Anybody that delves into the workings of a PC at all should have some version of Linux on hand just to make repairs to corrupted files. If some corruption has Windows stymied you can boot from the Linux disk and it will read and allow editing your Windows files.
I have not played with Knoppix for a long time but when I did it was not as user friendly or polished as Ubuntu but that probably has changed by now. I may play with it a bit while I am sitting in the hospital bored.
Did I mention that Linux is almost all free?
One of the many things I love about Linux (besides it being free ) is that for normal use you just forget about such nonsense as drivers. It has been a long time since I had to do anything more than just plug an item in. Just plug in and it runs. I still keep hearing Windows folks talking about drivers now and then.
Now I won't say that there are not downsides... That is why many need to keep a copy of some old version of Windows handy. You might have some Windows based software that you paid big money for or just can't live without. A straight Linux machine is not usually for gamers that are not geeks. I don't care, I'm not a gamer... There are a lot of Linux games out there and available Linux software has exploded in recent years.
Did I mention that Linux is almost all free? So is almost all software...
And then there is that cute penguin mascot.

Or you could just keep paying out the wazoo every so often for Windows which does nothing more for most folks than Linux will for free.
Or you can spend an arm and a leg for Apple which while nice still will not do anything more for most folks than Windows or Linux.
If you can't even wear a shirt that doesn't have some "special" logo on it then buy the Apple...
If you prefer to stay with the herd buy Windows...
If you like to march to your own drum try Linux...
We are all different.


.

[JPG]

Yes Francis, there are 'individuals' out thar.

I 'miss' the command line, but have yet to get cozy with 'unix' commands.

We like what we are accustomed to.

The one thing I miss in windows is a simple clist capability for repetitive tasks that does not include use of that damned rodent.

Clists are 'editable' for changes(and 'rarely' needed corrections:D).

I have Ubuntu loaded as a dual boot on this computer, but have not used it enough to be 'on top of it'.

Interesting comments re scrogged files! I shall research that soon.

[Ed in Tampa]

A lot of folks shy away from Linux out of fear because it used to be considered a geek thing and there are still a lot of distributions out there that are still pretty cryptic. Ubuntu is about the most user friendly Linux and its big market share within the Linux community reflects that. I personally find it more user friendly than Windows 8. Some shy away fearing the dreaded "command line" but I have used Linux for many years now and I can't even remember the last time I used the command line...
Did I mention that almost all Linux is free?
Apple OS and Linux have a common beginning (Unix) and they operate a little alike. I still have an old iMac in the woodshop that runs OS-X.
Your Android Smart-Phone / tablet is running on the base Linux kernel...
If you ever want to play with Linux without any changes to your hard drive you can try Knoppix, a distribution that can be ran 100% from a CD / DVD. http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html
Did I mention that Linux is almost all free? You can try 100 different distributions if you like, free...
Anybody that delves into the workings of a PC at all should have some version of Linux on hand just to make repairs to corrupted files. If some corruption has Windows stymied you can boot from the Linux disk and it will read and allow editing your Windows files.
I have not played with Knoppix for a long time but when I did it was not as user friendly or polished as Ubuntu but that probably has changed by now. I may play with it a bit while I am sitting in the hospital bored.
Did I mention that Linux is almost all free?
One of the many things I love about Linux (besides it being free ) is that for normal use you just forget about such nonsense as drivers. It has been a long time since I had to do anything more than just plug an item in. Just plug in and it runs. I still keep hearing Windows folks talking about drivers now and then.
Now I won't say that there are not downsides... That is why many need to keep a copy of some old version of Windows handy. You might have some Windows based software that you paid big money for or just can't live without. A straight Linux machine is not usually for gamers that are not geeks. I don't care, I'm not a gamer... There are a lot of Linux games out there and available Linux software has exploded in recent years.
Did I mention that Linux is almost all free? So is almost all software...
And then there is that cute penguin mascot.

Or you could just keep paying out the wazoo every so often for Windows which does nothing more for most folks than Linux will for free.
Or you can spend an arm and a leg for Apple which while nice still will not do anything more for most folks than Windows or Linux.
If you can't even wear a shirt that doesn't have some "special" logo on it then buy the Apple...
If you prefer to stay with the herd buy Windows...
If you like to march to your own drum try Linux...
We are all different.


.

My problem with linux is doesn't have the programs written for it that I need. Yes I know i can get programs that come close but in my usage of them close is not enough.

I use my computer for two things one to produce meaningful work output and as a hobby.
I love to experiment but I have to make sure I don't destroy my ability to produce meaningful output when needed.

If I ever get fully retired where I don't have to produce meaningful output on my computer I would be probably be into Linux.

[Ed in Tampa]

Let me address a few of the comments I've read above.

First lets start with MS and Apple, I think the new answer with be neither.... Once we have the bandwidth the path will be to a cloud service. Your pc/lap top/phone/tablet will need minimal processing power as it will be more like a "terminal". Your data is stored in the cloud, the servers will be able to take your data and with the computer power they have will process/data crunch everything local to them. Your portion of the "computer" is just the I/O, you input what you want and see the data. I'll not dwell on this cause I don't like that path but maybe you will????

OK now lets go to windows8, it was mentioned that you can't have more then one app up at a time. This is not true. You can have two apps up if the app(s) were written to allow it. Not a operating system issue but an app issue.

In windows 8 you can turn on auto update for apps, that and the normal windows updates will happen so everything stays up to date if you want it to. I personally don't use explorer but the new version that comes with 8.1 is said to be a major improvement. I believe it will do split screen but have not tried it.

So far as office for windows, I have used it while at work and the licenses we had allowed be to have a copy at home. It was my go to application for those applications. When I retired I lost the use of office unless I wanted to spend the money on my own version. Too expensive for me so I went with a free version now called openoffice. For being free it does a great job and it does all that I need it to. If you are interested just download and give it a shot.

I've forgotten what else I wanted to comment on but this should be enough for now anyway.

Ed

I agree with you on the move to make PC little more than I/O. However the people in charge of this move have little or no real insight on what actual PC users must be productive do on their machines. This is changing but until I can produce a document with graphics of my choosing with word wrapping that I'm pleased with and do it easily this isn't going to happen just yet.

Also I still want to control what happens and what doesn't. Example Quicken will go out to your bank and down load all the cleared checks and basically give you a reconciled bank statement on command.

Sounds good and I'm sure most people love it.

However I don't want Quicken anywhere near my actual bank account. But I do want to use Quicken for my check registry. Thankfully the PC only copy gives me that ability to keep Quicken in the dark about anything to do with my actual bank.

The online copy demands bank account info I'm told.

The smart approach to this cloud base would be for program manufactures like Quicken to offer software to banks that allow the bank to keep individual accounts in house but allow users to cloud bank with them. Instead of Quicken having access to the Banks data.