Post by Richard HershbergerPost by Peter BouldingPost by B***@BillTurlock.comhttp://www.techrepublic.com/article/windows-10-only-slightly-more-popular-than-windows-xp-among-firms/
http://tinyurl.com/y9o3whse
I object strongly to the use of the word "popular" given that Microsoft have
been allowed to---and do---make it damnably difficult to acquire a PC loaded
with any version of Windows other than 10.
Note, BTW, that the MSM's near-universal assumption that the majority of
systems affected by Wannacry and similar ransomware were running XP was wide
of the mark: in fact the majority of affected systems were running Windows
7.
Since they lacked the relevant patch, these systems must have had
auto-updating switched off---probably because their owners had done so for
fear of being auto-"upgraded" to Windows 10.
I loath Windows 10. I bought a laptop a couple of years ago with it loaded,
and have regretted it ever since. At least at first I could turn Cortana
mostly off. A subsequent downgrade removed that option. Now there is a
penalty for inadvertently letting the cursor stray into that part of the
screen, where Cortana pops up and I have to wait for it to go away. This is
a pure "fuck you" from Microsoft.
I run W10 at home and at work, can't tell Cortana is there, and I'm
very happy with it. The one flaw that I grouse about, and not often,
is that it seems to have forgotten how to talk to my Pocket Instamatic,
er, older digital point-and-shoot camera.
Post by Richard HershbergerThe stuff I want to do on my laptop is all pretty basic. There is no good
reason I couldn't do it on XP.
Which would be fine, if you weren't on the internet. There comes a
time when applying fixes to XP's security problems is putting band-aids
on band-aids, and those who understand its insides are either long
since transferred, promoted, retired, or dead.
Post by Richard HershbergerWindows 10 is based on the principle that I
should be using my computer for the stuff that Microsoft wants me to, so
everything is designed to push that. I am coming around to the idea that my
next computer will run Linux. I am not a computer geek and don't really want
the hassle of a non-standard system, but I gather that there are versions
nowadays that are pretty hassle-free.
I think that you want the Mint variety, but I haven't actually tried
it. I've used Fedora, Centos, and Ubuntu without too much hassle,
though. The biggest challenge is setting up CUPS to use a printer, and
I'm batting 666 on that. But I plead guilty to also having used Xenix
286, System V, 4.2 BSD, and that wierd blend Sun ran on the 386
workstations; what I say may not reflect anything you consider reality.
One of my machines has a version of Gnome (an old version, true) that
does irritate me because ALT-TAB doesn't cycle through *windows*, it
cycles through *groups* of windows, and when I tab to "terminal", it
generally doesn't put on top the terminal window I was hoping for.
Post by Richard HershbergerMy desktop at home runs Windows 7. I steadfastly refused the offer of a free
downgrade to Windows 10, but one slipped through in a moment of inattention.
Fortunately there was the final step of clicking to accept Microsoft's terms
of service. Hell, no! That reverted the system back to 7.
Your stone knives should be back from washing at the river bank soon,
too, along with freshly beaten trews.
Dave "no sympathy"
/dps
--
Killing a mouse was hardly a Nobel Prize-worthy exercise, and Lawrence
went apopleptic when he learned a lousy rodent had peed away all his
precious heavy water.
_The Disappearing Spoon_, Sam Kean