FutureTeck

From F-ups to solutions in 1000 words (roughly)

By the time I got to writing this post, I was already fatigued by Window’s inability to manage simple tasks. The reader should know that this unbearable truth about MS has not altered the views expressed here; I have used Windows the majority of my professional life, and I have always found it wanting. The contents of this post were already 'drafted' and not inspired by MS failings today, but their failings since I have been a user.

Wanting ‘business at the speed of thought’: since that is one of their important tags I realize the irony: it does exactly what it says, but does not follow the user’s thoughts. It follows Gates thinking. Business aggression and bully-sh behaviour, always looking for the next competitor. The new age of innovative ventures lie in looking for good collaborators and ‘partners’ in research that helps your customer.

I have said it before and I say it again: the age of obvious is over. We need subtlety. Windows does not allow for doing business at the speed of thought for me (and I am sure about 80% of its current regular users). It is major flawed. The integrated and smooth structure of Chrome OS and Ubuntu allow for ease of mind, efficiency and control. They teach things. They do not, to quote, treat us like idiots.

Wanting quality service: here’s how I look at the start page of Windows 8; a layer of paint to cover a dull, inefficient and disruptive experience. We’ve been living there since I started using the OS. This layer is designed to try and mimic the Android and iOS look and feel. Windows is becoming slowly less relevant.

I am writing these words some 50 minutes after having written the first word about a para ago: the beginning. Almost an hour of time lost in writing these words, of which 30 I was just reacting to bad news. Imagine that, a Windows crash as I am writing about Windows. What are the odds. I can promise you it has happened. I am using a live version of Ubuntu and all is well. Almost everything that matters is now done within a Chrome and Drive environment. I am connected and I am alive.

Thankfully I can now continue to write this document after just 50 minutes despite my hard-drive, I suspect, having ‘crashed’. Not beyond recovery one hopes, it is a Solid State drive, but there is no panic. I have at worst lost 28% of my data, and as long as my hard drive survives I have no real need to ensure I get Windows 8 back except that I paid for it, bundled hardship attached to joy.

Wanting great UI/UX: a few years ago this would have been the near wipe out of my entire work since Feb ‘04. Almost ruined by Windows (again) but saved by Google and Canonical. Of course thanks to all the work that preceded these two fine companies: but I thank these two for making it so painless, true to form ‘consumer focused’. Them and Sony, who made the machine I am using.

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You Cannot get more in tune than to live the consumer's/client's dream. A dream of being able to handle computing without this needless dependency on Microsoft and 'things working the way we want to'. Things break down. No matter what, no matter where, it is eternal truth. Learn to make peace with it. For now, I live my digital life in the Cloud, and the Cloud is not a 'thing'.

If I can continue to work peacefully, enjoy life without windows and ensure my drive is not beyond recovery I will hopefully not need to deal with that 'product' and its inability to recognize it is more than a mere product.

Imagine if what I meant to actually write about had been captured run time with my hardware. I would have been able to compose my thoughts without having to deal with an irritating middle-man. Imagine the lost enunciation that changes in seconds.   

What matters is that here and now, I am living without Windows. I stopped using MS Office almost 3 months ago, now I can (hopefully) live without its loathsome parent environment.

I need my tools (the Net, my OS, ease of access to information) and my mind. These tools are now virtual, and the knowledge to live free of proprietary restrictions is everywhere.

Start here: Google Docs and Ubuntu.