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And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#31 Post by TPFanatic » Thu Jul 20, 2017 2:27 pm

I used XP on T42p until mid-2015 without the "SP4" registry-induced patches, and stopped when I got my T500 with Windows 7. So I will use Windows 7, and this T500, well past 2020.

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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#32 Post by TheAuldMan76 » Fri Jul 21, 2017 4:13 am

@Thinkpad4by3 - True but it's always the bar staff watching and waiting for me to come back for more beer!!! ;-)
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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#33 Post by Muse » Thu Jul 27, 2017 4:50 am

Thinkpad4by3 wrote:
Mon Jul 17, 2017 4:49 pm
RealBlackStuff wrote:And here's another reason to avoid Micro$haft's crapware W10:
Microsoft cuts off Windows 10 support early for some PCs :twisted:
All aboard the Titanic 2, now known as the Windows 10 Boat. Microsoft is artifically creating icebergs and blaming it on the ship being a few years old.

All aboard the linux train!
I run some things that won't run on Linux, or at least aren't supported on Linux. For instance, Microsoft Visual FoxPro and Total Recorder. I use these daily, they are fundamental to what I do on a computer that isn't just browsing. My email client is Agent Newsreader, I don't know that it would run on Linux either. I may be scrambling soon. Migrating all my data to Linux compatible software could be a nightmare if not just simply a thin illusion.
"If a star were a grain of salt, you could fit all the stars visible to the naked eye on a teaspoon, but all the stars in the universe would fill a ball eight miles wide." - A Briefer History of Time, Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow

Dec. 2010: Now thought to be over 11 miles wide!

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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#34 Post by Thinkpad4by3 » Thu Jul 27, 2017 8:18 am

Muse wrote:
Thinkpad4by3 wrote:
Mon Jul 17, 2017 4:49 pm
All aboard the Titanic 2, now known as the Windows 10 Boat. Microsoft is artifically creating icebergs and blaming it on the ship being a few years old.

All aboard the linux train!
I run some things that won't run on Linux, or at least aren't supported on Linux. For instance, Microsoft Visual FoxPro and Total Recorder. I use these daily, they are fundamental to what I do on a computer that isn't just browsing. My email client is Agent Newsreader, I don't know that it would run on Linux either. I may be scrambling soon. Migrating all my data to Linux compatible software could be a nightmare if not just simply a thin illusion.
Just use a VTx supported CPU and run it in a virtual machine. Otherwise, just dual boot and reboot when you need to use a powerhungry windows program. With a nice fast SSD, not much time is wasted.
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The efficiency of two screens equally sized with equal numbers if pixels are equal. The time spent by a 4:3 user complaining about 16:9 is proportional to the inefficiency working with a 16:9 display, therefore the amount of useful work extracted is equal.

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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#35 Post by hellosailor » Mon Jul 31, 2017 9:31 pm

"The problem is that some hardware that may be running 1607 suddenly "cannot run" 1703."
And some of us are stuck on v.1511 and can't upgrade it.
I wouldn't mind so much, but MS did promise Win10 could run on this machine (a W530) and did make big bones about the fact that it would continue to be a "subscription service" which would continually evolve and upgrade, for features and security.
And here I really HAD promised my probation officer that I wouldn't take any more hostages for another five years...

Unfortunately if you use computers in the corporate world, not just for games at home, you need to be fluent, intimately fluent, in whatever the "commodity grade" OS out there is. And that ain't LINUX, not here, not now, not yet.
"The only good silicon life form, is a dead silicon life form." [Will Rogers]
-- Harboring a retired T61P with Vista/U/32 and housebreaking a younger W530 foolishly upgraded from Win7/64 to Win10.

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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#36 Post by AdaSch » Mon Aug 14, 2017 6:14 am

Hello,

I don't see any reason why I should to switch from W7 to W10

W10 have very ugly UI like furnitures from Ikea
For regular office/home work I don't see any BENEFITS
W7 have many nice lenovo tools - W10 don't have
On ny W500 and W700 many times I use FN+F2,F3,F5,F7,F9

W7 is Very nice, speed and stable

and MOST IMPORTANT!!!!!!!
in W7 is possible completely remove F....n CLEAR TYPE
yes, its requires Universal Theme Patcher
and use modified aero.msstyles (with tahoma 8 font)
plus small reg modify
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts]

"Segoe UI (TrueType)"=""
"Segoe UI Bold (TrueType)"=""
"Segoe UI Bold Italic (TrueType)"=""
"Segoe UI Italic (TrueType)"=""
"Segoe UI Light (TrueType)"=""
"Segoe UI Semibold (TrueType)"=""
"Segoe UI Symbol (TrueType)"=""


[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes]

"Segoe UI"="Tahoma"
"Segoe UI Light"="Tahoma"
"Segoe UI Semibold"="Tahoma"
"Segoe UI Symbol"="Tahoma"
plus modify all fonts and size like STD widows theme (tahoma 8)

but after this W7 is very clear like Windows XP
sample wrom my W500 1920x1200
IE9 and higher always use clear type (impossible to disable)

use magnifer adl look on fonts in Excel, destop and IE webpage
for screen with Hires its horrible for eyes.
p.s.turn off scaling to see effect
deleted - impossible to paste :(
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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#37 Post by w0qj » Mon Aug 14, 2017 8:13 am

Windows 10 is about to implement built-in eye tracking functionality, obstinately for disabled accessibility (yeah, right).

It would not surprise me when in the not-too-distant-future that M$ would obstinately announce eye tracking for *ALL* Win10 users,
to better help serve the user (and pad up on further advertisement revenue--see? M$ said user's eyeball looked at that Ad for xx seconds!).

Yet another (future) reason not to use Win10... I'm horrified.
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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#38 Post by RealBlackStuff » Mon Aug 14, 2017 8:17 am

Big Brother Micro$hafter will literally be watching you!
Bye-bye privacy (again), if that webcam is ON 24/7.

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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#39 Post by Thinkpad4by3 » Mon Aug 14, 2017 8:25 am

RealBlackStuff wrote:Big Brother Micro$hafter will literally be watching you!
Bye-bye privacy (again), if that webcam is ON 24/7.
Not if I internally unplug my webcam! Just use an external one when necessary.
Thinkpad4by3's Law of the Universe.

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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#40 Post by w0qj » Mon Aug 14, 2017 9:29 am

Actually we just cut a square of cardboard paper, and use tape to temporarily cover the webcam on our Thinkpads. (We are using Win7 by the way).
On the rare occasion that we use Skype or anything like that, we just (temporarily) remove the cardboard paper, until after use.

Low tech ;)
Thinkpad4by3 wrote:
Mon Aug 14, 2017 8:25 am
RealBlackStuff wrote:...Bye-bye privacy (again), if that webcam is ON 24/7.
Not if I internally unplug my webcam! Just use an external one when necessary.
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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#41 Post by dr_st » Mon Aug 14, 2017 10:07 am

w0qj wrote:
Mon Aug 14, 2017 9:29 am
Actually we just cut a square of cardboard paper, and use tape to temporarily cover the webcam on our Thinkpads.
This looks like a nice alternative: https://www.amazon.com/Webcam-Cover-Lap ... B004Z0XSY6
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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#42 Post by hellosailor » Mon Aug 14, 2017 10:45 am

Ada, if you are not aware of it, normal support for Windows7 ended two years ago.
Extended support--a period when critical security and other matters will sometimes be addressed--ends in January of 2020.

So one reason to move on from Windows7, is that anything less than critical support will not happen, and even that will only happen for a little over two more years.

Windows7 is actually the NT6 core code. Just type VER from a command prompt and you'll see it identified as such, NT6. Windows 10 is based on new core code and identifies at NT10. (Even if it is only arguably NT9 or so.) The promise from Our Great White Father Who Sits in Washington (state) is that NT10's core code is inherently more secure, and that's something that you and I as end users simply cannot confirm or refute.

The promise of the Edge browser was similar, that the new core code was inherently more secure and stable. Well, that one was disproved pretty quickly, Edge has been attacked and penetrated as often as anything else from the competitors.

Still, more vulnerabilities in the OS will be found, and not addressed. Changes in the core code WILL allow for better performance, even if MS keeps screwing around with the furniture. Many NT7 users are totally unaware that the core code for the audio subsystems changed in NT7. The native code is 24-bit DVD quality audio, not 16-bit CD quality. And of course, volume can be set per application rather than for the whole system. Means nothing if you just use it to run Excel, but the new and actually better system IS in there.

No, I don't have a list of similar changes in Win10. Yet. But in theory, MS rewrote the core code again, to get rid of errors that made Windows8 and 8.x not worth fixing. If you've never lost a computer to malware, and you've never known someone who has lost one to malware, then "improved security" may not mean anything. I'm darn paranoid about security, about moving from six year old core code to new core code seems worth looking at, to me.

Even if the new dog still badly needs housekeeping.

I wouldn't put it past MS to have intentionally skipped testing on upgrades, knowing that upgrade problems would force new sales.
"The only good silicon life form, is a dead silicon life form." [Will Rogers]
-- Harboring a retired T61P with Vista/U/32 and housebreaking a younger W530 foolishly upgraded from Win7/64 to Win10.

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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#43 Post by ajkula66 » Mon Aug 14, 2017 12:39 pm

hellosailor wrote:
Mon Aug 14, 2017 10:45 am
I'm [censored] paranoid about security, about moving from six year old core code to new core code seems worth looking at, to me.
If you're paranoid about security, you should be running away from the entire Windows realm IMO. I'm not even going to go into trashing W10 this time around since I've done my fair share of that both here and on NBR (while I participated in it) so there's absolutely zero need for me to repeat myself again.
Last edited by ajkula66 on Mon Aug 14, 2017 3:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#44 Post by Dekks » Mon Aug 14, 2017 12:56 pm

Thinkpad4by3 wrote:
Mon Aug 14, 2017 8:25 am
Not if I internally unplug my webcam! Just use an external one when necessary.
Reaches for the 60 types of masking tape i have in my office cupboard. I'm sure a few cm will cover the cam.
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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#45 Post by hellosailor » Mon Aug 14, 2017 8:29 pm

"If you're paranoid about security, you should be running away from the entire Windows realm IMO."
Opinions are like elbows, everyone is entitled to have one.

OTOH, organizations like Carnegie-Mellon CERT, who have been in the full-time professional and academic security arena for decades, will tell you that Windows is neither any better or worse than iOS, *NIX of any flavor including LINUX, or pretty much anything else on the mass market.

And if you don't live in an ivory tower, and you need to work and play with the business and professional community, you need to use the same apps and same OS that they do. That's Windows, warts and all. You wanna play the game? That's the rules.

Security on ANY platform is still an issue. Windows is a big target. Apple buries their dead, they just release OS patches and keep mum about security flaws. And any *NIX administrator will tell you, *NIX shouldn't be run at all without a competent security admin.

I'm sure that if I'd kept my CP/M system, that would be more secure these days. But then again, vanilla text files are secure on most any platform.(G)
"The only good silicon life form, is a dead silicon life form." [Will Rogers]
-- Harboring a retired T61P with Vista/U/32 and housebreaking a younger W530 foolishly upgraded from Win7/64 to Win10.

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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#46 Post by ajkula66 » Mon Aug 14, 2017 9:45 pm

hellosailor wrote:
Mon Aug 14, 2017 8:29 pm

OTOH, organizations like Carnegie-Mellon CERT, who have been in the full-time professional and academic security arena for decades, will tell you that Windows is neither any better or worse than iOS, *NIX of any flavor including LINUX, or pretty much anything else on the mass market.
How long do you think they would last if they told the truth?
And if you don't live in an ivory tower, and you need to work and play with the business and professional community, you need to use the same apps and same OS that they do. That's Windows, warts and all. You wanna play the game? That's the rules.
That's the part that everyone sees. The one that is behind the scenes rarely relies on Windows. Red Hat is the name of the game. Has been for decades now. That's coming from someone who has played the game for quite a few years. And knows the rules.
Security on ANY platform is still an issue. Windows is a big target. Apple buries their dead, they just release OS patches and keep mum about security flaws. And any *NIX administrator will tell you, *NIX shouldn't be run at all without a competent security admin.
Nothing should be run without competence, even a coffee machine. But how one gets declared to be competent is a huge issue, especially in this society. I fully understand that this comment will likely be viewed as being off-topic. It's not.
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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#47 Post by dr_st » Tue Aug 15, 2017 2:42 am

hellosailor wrote:
Mon Aug 14, 2017 10:45 am
Ada, if you are not aware of it, normal support for Windows7 ended two years ago.
Extended support--a period when critical security and other matters will sometimes be addressed--ends in January of 2020.
Microsoft has usually been very good in fixing actually critical things during the extended support period, so I'd say it's more than "sometimes".
hellosailor wrote:
Mon Aug 14, 2017 10:45 am
So one reason to move on from Windows7, is that anything less than critical support will not happen, and even that will only happen for a little over two more years.
Luckily, Windows 7 absorbed many of Microsoft's core technologies. To date, I know of no desktop applications that do not run on Windows 7, whereas Vista and older is already losing support.
hellosailor wrote:
Mon Aug 14, 2017 10:45 am
Windows7 is actually the NT6 core code. Just type VER from a command prompt and you'll see it identified as such, NT6. Windows 10 is based on new core code and identifies at NT10.
That's just them throwing sand in your eyes. In terms of kernel code, it's still the same evolution, not revolution. Early builds of Win10 identified as NT6.4; at some point they changed it to 10.0. They did not rewrite the entire code overnight - rather they decided to straighten out the discrepancy between the colloquial name of the OS and what the API reports.

In terms of kernel capabilities, the difference from 10 to 8 is not much more than the difference between 8 and 7, or 7 and Vista. But together, it accumulates. I'd say that actually 7 to 8 was the biggest change, with all the "modern UI support". Of course in 10 they toned it down and improved it in many ways. In 8 it was still rather raw and unpolished.
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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#48 Post by ajkula66 » Tue Aug 15, 2017 10:05 am

dr_st wrote:
Tue Aug 15, 2017 2:42 am
Luckily, Windows 7 absorbed many of Microsoft's core technologies. To date, I know of no desktop applications that do not run on Windows 7, whereas Vista and older is already losing support.
This.

There's also a *ton* of proprietary software out there that simply won't run on anything newer than W7, which is one of the reasons why many business entities small and large are hanging on to this OS for dear life.

My instinct is that W7 will likely follow the XP route where critical updates get created for those willing to pay for such support, and eventually get leaked to the rest of the population.

Am I counting on that course of development? Absolutely not. But I'm not discounting the aforementioned scenario either.
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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#49 Post by exTPfan » Tue Aug 15, 2017 10:43 am

If Teddy Roosevelt were President, he would force MS to divest itself of Windows 7 and allow someone else to maintain it in order to break up the monopoly. And that's not half of what he would do the cable monopolies etc.

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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#50 Post by Thinkpad4by3 » Tue Aug 15, 2017 11:11 am

exTPfan wrote:If Teddy Roosevelt were President, he would force MS to divest itself of Windows 7 and allow someone else to maintain it in order to break up the monopoly. And that's not half of what he would do the cable monopolies etc.
Instead of TR, we get a bozo in charge.
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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#51 Post by hellosailor » Tue Aug 15, 2017 12:11 pm

"identified as NT6.4; at some point they changed it to 10.0." Very interesting. Personally, I didn't find a lot of change from Vista to 7.

If Teddy Roosevelt were in charge...Yes, he knew ways to get things done. Staying a-political and just discussing leadership skills for businessmen (G) sometimes one has to wonder, how so many chief executives can appear to be so greatly lacking in them.

Kinda like asking how IBM was *so* inept at marketing and selling their PC's and laptops, just as DEC was before them. Unless, of course, the whole Lenono sales success has just been an illusion and a form of money laundering. (Don't think so.)
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-- Harboring a retired T61P with Vista/U/32 and housebreaking a younger W530 foolishly upgraded from Win7/64 to Win10.

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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#52 Post by ajkula66 » Tue Aug 15, 2017 12:24 pm

hellosailor wrote:
Tue Aug 15, 2017 12:11 pm

Kinda like asking how IBM was *so* inept at marketing and selling their PC's and laptops, just as DEC was before them.
They simply didn't want to become the next AT&T...and the exit strategy was already in place by the time laptops became "the thing to own" in Y2K...resulting in massive reduction in head count and so much more...

With everything that they had going on at the time, PC Division - along with some other segments - was expendable indeed.
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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#53 Post by hellosailor » Tue Aug 15, 2017 12:37 pm

Even in desktops, I can't say they dropped the ball because I'm not sure they ever had it.

In the late 90's someone asked me to spec a small network with cheap systems for most of the desks, but "something better" for a couple of the officers. I found some IBM workstations on clearance that blew them away, outstanding performance and features for the price. And when a bargain server fell through, I went back to IBM and their small business systems not only beat the hardware, but their phone support and tech coverage again blew away the competition. On paper? No one was interested in the little IBM had to say about the machines. But when they got the details...the IBM pricing was easy to justify.

Kind of the same thing years later, spec'ing an "off to college" laptop for a friend's child. Dell dell dell...except, once you added in all the add-ons, Lenovo trumped that one, hands down.

Marketing. (Do they still burn people at the stake for marketing? And if not, why not? (VBG)
"The only good silicon life form, is a dead silicon life form." [Will Rogers]
-- Harboring a retired T61P with Vista/U/32 and housebreaking a younger W530 foolishly upgraded from Win7/64 to Win10.

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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#54 Post by dr_st » Tue Aug 15, 2017 2:29 pm

ajkula66 wrote:
Tue Aug 15, 2017 10:05 am
There's also a *ton* of proprietary software out there that simply won't run on anything newer than W7
Somehow I find this *very* difficult to believe, since I have probably not encountered *a single piece of software* like this myself.

I can believe there may be a few poorly-written utilities for a very specific niche, whose maintainer was hit by a truck before he could fix whatever idiotic bug in his software prevented it from running on Win8/10, and the source code was destroyed in a suburban fire, but a *ton*? I have a feeling you are exaggerating, my friend. ;)
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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#55 Post by ajkula66 » Tue Aug 15, 2017 2:54 pm

dr_st wrote:
Tue Aug 15, 2017 2:29 pm
I have a feeling you are exaggerating, my friend. ;)
No sir.

Leaving my own industry aside, I've gotten the same complaint from folks running IT in several hospital chains as well as some in the travel industry, not to mention at least one of the TBTF banks. So there's more to the picture than initially meets the eye.

What *exactly* is at fault? No idea. Unlike many on this forum, I can't write a piece of code to save a life.

Now, my best guess is that the vast majority of aforementioned software predates XP, let alone W8. But for those who would have to re-train staff on company time - along with several other issues that arise from the upgrade scenarios in general - it doesn't matter. They will stick with what works *for them* come hell or high water or until they retire and get replaced by a millennial eager to make a name for themselves who, in turn, will likely cause an unmitigated disaster...
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#56 Post by dr_st » Tue Aug 15, 2017 3:20 pm

Oh, I can easily believe that software that predates XP will not run (or not run well) on anything newer than XP. But to have it work on Win7 and then break on Win8 would be very... surprising. There are very few changes in the OS that could break SW between those two versions.
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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#57 Post by ajkula66 » Tue Aug 15, 2017 3:42 pm

dr_st wrote:
Tue Aug 15, 2017 3:20 pm
But to have it work on Win7 and then break on Win8 would be very... surprising. There are very few changes in the OS that could break SW between those two versions.
You are certainly much better versed in this aspect so I'll just share a story without going into specifics.

There was a particular piece of software that we've been using since T-Rex were the ruling species on this planet, the last version was released in 2002, the company which made it went belly up in 2003.

We were not the only ones using it, but it's definitely an industry-specific piece with a very small target market. Works like a charm, though, I've never encountered a false reading in a decade of daily use. The number of users was also pretty limited on purpose, because it could do significant - mostly financial - damage in the wrong hands.

They got it to work under W7. Never under W8. Since the latter was never accepted by my employer, I can't say how hard they tried.

Now, why it had taken the suits in charge more than 10 years to start replacing it I'll never understand. And the reasoning behind the idea of finally replacing it was that a "lighter" piece which would run from mobile devices was needed that would also incorporate some other applications as well, not because the original was outdated or W8 incompatible. Personally, I'm not thrilled with the replacement that came along but then again I'm a dinosaur myself. AFAIK, select few folks sitting behind desktops nationwide are still using the old version...

Corporate IT structures, IME, are as resistant to change as the new generation of TB is to antibiotics...
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#58 Post by hellosailor » Tue Aug 15, 2017 4:00 pm

There is a lot of bad software out there, in all sorts of expensive vertically integrated packages (like hospital and medical) that was probably written by Chinese high school students on summer break in computer camp. And if you have bugs, yes yes no problem wait June next year we all fix.

The IT guys rarely know, and shouldn't need to know, how the software has been coded. They *should* be insisting that it is logo certified for at least the current version of Windows that they are using, but they rarely ask for that because in vertical markets, everyone thinks that's a waste of money. They'd rather sell service contracts and maintenance subscriptions to keep patching things.

And most users--IT guys included--have no idea of the documented issues, like 64 bit systems not having the Thunker module any more, so they can't run 8 or 16 bit code, which shuts out a lot of things. In theory. And they don't know compatibility modes or virtual machines or the many other kludges that are available.

Once upon a time, I had to use EDLIN on an old DOS machine to force bar code fonts into a laser printer on a mainframe system. The gurus in white jackets (real white lab coats) all backed away from me and held up crosses when that laser printed out the codes. Their mainframe "couldn't" do it.

Real knowledge? Come on, if the hospital IT industry was really sharp, they wouldn't have HIPAA problems and mass data leaks and all the other issues that keep, ooops, making the Nooze. Those are political jobs more than technical ones. As if the administrators doing the hiring really know enough about IT to know if the folks they are interviewing are first class?
"The only good silicon life form, is a dead silicon life form." [Will Rogers]
-- Harboring a retired T61P with Vista/U/32 and housebreaking a younger W530 foolishly upgraded from Win7/64 to Win10.

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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#59 Post by ajkula66 » Tue Aug 15, 2017 6:21 pm

hellosailor wrote:Those are political jobs more than technical ones. As if the administrators doing the hiring really know enough about IT to know if the folks they are interviewing are first class?
You won't find me disagreeing with that statement...see my previous "coffee machine" one...
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

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Re: And another reason to avoid Micro$haft's W10

#60 Post by dr_st » Wed Aug 16, 2017 3:12 am

ajkula66 wrote:
Tue Aug 15, 2017 3:42 pm
There was a particular piece of software that we've been using since T-Rex were the ruling species on this planet, the last version was released in 2002, the company which made it went belly up in 2003.

We were not the only ones using it, but it's definitely an industry-specific piece with a very small target market. Works like a charm, though, I've never encountered a false reading in a decade of daily use. The number of users was also pretty limited on purpose, because it could do significant - mostly financial - damage in the wrong hands.

They got it to work under W7. Never under W8. Since the latter was never accepted by my employer, I can't say how hard they tried.
It was probably something "trivial" like the software requiring certain administrative privileges and the default settings for elevation changing between Win7 and Win8. "Trivial" because it may not be easy to figure out, but once you do, the solution is usually not complex.

Or maybe they were running it in an XP virtual machine (a.k.a. "XP Mode" on Win7)? If so, they could have just continued doing the same. Whatever it was, probably, as you suspect, they never cared enough to try (nor can I blame them; I don't like change for the sake of change myself).

The one thing I can think of that would truly break, is that if the software needed something low-level and relied on a particular obscure, rarely used driver, that was available in Win7 and removed in Win8. This can happen. With every new release Microsoft scrubs some drivers / APIs that are so old and obsolete that hardly ever uses them any more. And maybe you can get installed manually, but maybe you cannot.

Something can definitely fall between the cracks (especially if the developer went belly-up a decade prior to that as in your story). However, that's almost by the definition of the process is bound to affect only a very small number of obscure pieces of software. Hardly anything that can be called "a ton". There really is not *a ton* of software that *just stops working* between consecutive Windows releases (on the same kernel, mind you, not talking about 9x vs NT). There *never* has been. XP-to-Vista was probably the biggest breakage point with lots of driver models changing and the old ones being removed, and even that has not been so bad, in practice, on average.
ajkula66 wrote:
Tue Aug 15, 2017 3:42 pm
Corporate IT structures, IME, are as resistant to change as the new generation of TB is to antibiotics...
In many cases that's true. I suffer from the opposite. Our IT department tries to shove OS upgrades (or even system upgrades) down my throat despite everything working perfectly for me the way it is. :D
Thinkpad 25 (20K7), T490 (20N3), Yoga 14 (20FY), T430s (IPS FHD + Classic Keyboard), X220 4291-4BG
X61 7673-V2V, T60 2007-QPG, T42 2373-F7G, X32 (IPS Screen), A31p w/ Ultrabay Numpad

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