Computerworld is reporting that IBM and Apple are teaming up to offer integration solutions for deploying Apple Macs as desktop solutions in large enterprises. IBM has been doing this internally and will now share its expertise.

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2956799/computer-hardware/in-a-huge-move...

I see this as a sign that the Microsoft Windows product is getting too hard and troublesome to deploy in enterprise settings.

Between MS's vague information on the future direction (and costs) of Windows, hassles of constant patching, security issues and now issues of spying and datamining in Win 10, I can see people getting tired of Microsoft.

I'm one of those people. I still run Windows for two software reasons: I use Apple itunes to back up my iphone locally (off the cloud). The other reason is a multitrack audio recording program that only runs on Windows and Mac. If it were not for those two programs, I would move wholesale to Linux. As it is, both of them run on Mac, so my next computer purchase might be a Mac, as it would handle all my needs.

I'm writing this post from a dual-boot Ubuntu linux laptop. It handles light duties, mostly web-surfing and a little photo stuff. Except for the iTunes and Reaper multitrack, it does everything I need to do. I haven't booted into Windows for about 3 weeks.

As far as Chromebooks, I am just not ready to drink the Google kool-aid and give Google access to all my information. I consider them to be the next evil empire after Microsoft.

Also with Google, their Google apps do not work well enough in offline mode for my use, in particular, the presentation app (think Power Point). To add video to a presentation, you must link to a Youtube video, meaning you have to upload your video to Youtube for it to be available in your presentation, When the presentation file is downloaded for offline use, any links to external content like an embedded video (YouTube only!!) are gone. You can't link to a local video file. No network, no video!

I've never been an Apple fan and from what I've seen with their recent iphone product, they are beginning to have problems getting trouble-free updates released. It didn't use to be like that.

It kind of makes you wonder what direction to go. I plan on sitting on my Windows 7 and Ubuntu for a while and seeing what shakes out.

Gee OF you sure seem to know your stuff. I think I'll wait until May of next year, although I've had a couple of pop ups telling me Win10 is alright. The pop ups only happened twice.

Disable windows defender?
Disable Wi-Fi sense?
Disable Prompts?

Um, some of those settings I do NOT agree with.... I hope like heck that program doesn't re-write the registry... It will lock up your system for sure.

Wow....

I'm not a fan-boy, but man, all these "computer savvy" guys telling you to shut off stuff that is vital for your "new" windows to operate correctly is crazy.
What if 85 year old gramps doesn't know how the internet stuff works and follows the "Disable web search".... and wonders why his computer can't find half the stuff he's looking for...
guess what he is going to do.... take it to some frikkin' geek who charges him $$$$ to "fix your stuff".
Which is the reason that half of the software guys who write programs to by-pass all the "optional" things you can do by simply putting a check or removing a check in the windows program write the stuff for, to make a buck fixing what they do to your system....
I've used windows defender since its inception and decline over the last 15 years.... it has never failed me, didn't always stop the newest web add stuff, but face it... NORTON and MACAFEE don't either.... and defender doesn't slow your system to a crawl like they do.

Ok, you know what, i'm not gonna defend windows against all the slamming going on... I'll just sit back and enjoy my trouble free version, that the average joe will get, on his average computer.
I won't hack into the program to try to change it because its "gathering all my information".....I'll simply go into the settings provided and shut off the stuff I find intrusive.
Besides, everyone who takes your money for anything now days is "gathering your information"....
Wonder why lowe's, sears or home depot, or several other companies want your phone number?
Ever use a credit card in a store?
Ever use a debit card in a store?
How about a gas station?
A restaurant?
Face it, the world wants to know what you are doing so it can SELL you something.... and send you an ad, on suzukisavage.com, oh... you mean you didn't know this web site gathers information?  

Well anyway... week two here...the laptop is running just fine.... no black suited guys have knocked on my door, and no pictures of my face have appeared anywhere that I can see, or any voice recordings of my wife and sister in-law talking about what shows they are going to watch tonight, or me talking on Ventrilo with my buds on world of Warcraft about killing some Orc or Warlock.....
Yup, if they are recording everything I do..... someone is having a laugh....ME.....

http://liliputing.com/2015/08/trouble-with-mandatory-updates-some-windows-10-...

http://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-cumulative-update-causes-reboot-loop-...

Auto-update can run amok on you (get stuck in a loop).





"Microsoft's first cumulative update for Windows 10 - KB3081424 - is causing havoc for some users. How do I know this? Because I spent a good part of my Sunday morning dealing with it, that's how.

The problem, in a nutshell, is that the update puts affected systems into an endless crash loop. The update tries to install, gets to a certain point, fails, and then displays the unhelpful "We couldn't complete the updates, undoing the changes."

If it stopped there things wouldn't be too bad, but because Microsoft now forces updates onto Windows 10 users, the OS kept trying - and failing - to install the update, which in turn placed the system into a periodic crash/reboot loop that put quite a dent in my productivity.

To make matters worse, the tool that Microsoft released to hide or block toxic Windows 10 updates (as reported by my ZDNet colleague Ed Bott) didn't allow me to prevent this update from attempting to install. So I was forced to either abandon the machine until a fix was made available or try to fix it myself.

I found a fix, but it involved some registry editing voodoo to remove legacy junk (which in my case was related to an Nvidia driver installed on the machine prior to upgrading to Windows 10), a task that some of you might not be comfortable with. Also, since this is not an officially sanctioned fix I'm not comfortable outlining the process here. That said, the fix that worked for me is described in a thread on the Microsoft Answers community if you want to give it a go.

However, I want to throw some caveats at you:

Understand that you take personal responsibility for your actions.

Only try this if you are familiar with System Restore and have a known good backup, because if you delete the wrong entry from the registry you could end up in a worse situation.

During the course of my research I came across some painfully vague instructions [UPDATE: At least one of these pages have been updated since the time of writing] on how to "solve" this problem on a number of tech sites. These instructions are clearly third-party interpretations of the fix written by individuals who hadn't encountered the problem for themselves. Following these "fixes" could very easily cause you to do damage to your system and leave you hating your life even more. If you plan on trying to fix this yourself I encourage you to use the thread I've linked to above, to read it very carefully before doing anything, and if you're in any doubt then wait for an official fix rather than hacking at your registry.

I've no idea how widespread this issue is, although a quick Google/Bing search quickly led me to reports from others having the same problem, along with the fix, so I'm not the only one to come across this issue. However, since it only affects one of my systems (out of about twelve production and test systems) it's safe to say that this is not widespread and probably confined to systems that have built up a fair bit of legacy detritus.

Overall, my Windows 10 experience has been a positive one (currently I only have one other Windows 10 system on the healing bench, and that one is being nursed through a display driver issue) so this is far from being a show-stopping problem. It does, however, highlight a weakness with Microsoft's tool for blocking bad updates, something that I hope will be fixed in the near future."




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http://www.techspot.com/review/1042-windows-10-vs-windows-8-vs-windows-7/

You remember when we said Win10 was NO FASTER THAN WIN 7  ?????

Absolute proof of this now exists, in a whole bevy of every benchmark test that can be run on the 3 OSs, showing in essence that Win10 is the SAME STUFF or slightly slower than before.

Oh well, I had 41745 updates for Windows whatever just now. I think I will hang out until early/mid next year and then think about Win 10

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/13/two_weeks_of_windows_10_how_is_micros...

Two more weeks of Windows 10: Just how is Microsoft doing?\

30 million installs later, what are the outcomes as reported by the users .....



Read it, boys and girls, just read it.

Win10 downloads to your machine whether you install it or not -- and it takes up data bandwidth on your internet connection for the constant massive upgrades whether you install it or not.   Yes, it rolls those daily updates anyway ....

It is a controlling system by which Microsoft intends to "benevolently" control your machine for you, and once you allow it to get on your machine (even if you choose not to install it) you CANNOT get it off except by a full low level format.

MS will eventually send it to you whether you ask for it or not.   If like some you consider this a form of creeping invasion, then you can look out a bit for MS to start providing Win 10 for Vista and XP machines later on so they can complete their total takeover of the world ......  and once they figure out them older XP drivers and such.

                

It was never going to be easy, and is playing out as expected. Some users want the upgrade but cannot get it; others do not want it but get it anyway, like reader Bob Dole who reports:

“On every single one of our machines we said 'No' to the update. We uninstalled the KB that even asks for the update. Yet ... every single one of our machines has downloaded Windows 10 in the background and demanded to install itself.”

http://gadgets.ndtv.com/laptops/news/running-windows-10-microsoft-can-disable...

Did you know Microsoft can change their EULA at will and at any time?   Yep, first Win 10 EULA change just rang through in Europe.



Folks attending gaming parties in Europe have (as a group) discovered a New Win 10 "feature" as a small percentage of them abruptly got shut down by MS.

For software piracy no less .....   shut their free copy of Win10  slam down, no warning, no nuttin' .....

Once again, if the MS AI system says you are a software pirate, that's it --- there is no recourse even if MS is dead wrong about it.   Plus there are BIG QUESTIONS about just how the heck MS is judging that your game copy is illegal -- is MS dialing home to the game vendors now?   Or is it just looking for some hash mark that isn't there again?   If your LAN master is dirty, does he take the entire connected LAN party crew down with him?

I bet you wish you had gone through the on-line hassles to "properly register" your copy of that silly arsed game about now, now don't you, you silly silly boy you?  

Too late now -- you are hash marked as a pirate forever.


"It hasn't even been a month since the release of Windows 10 and Microsoft's newest desktop operating system has been stirring up one privacy related controversy after another. The latest addition is company's rather bold decision to change the license agreement, giving itself the power to disable counterfeit games and unauthorized hardware on computers running Windows 10.

The Redmond-based software mammoth has updated its European License Agreement ToC (first spotted by PC Authority) to note that it will not tolerate counterfeit games or hardware on any Windows 10-powered machine.

The company "may automatically check your version of the software and download software update or configuration changes, including those that prevent you from accessing the Services, playing counterfeit games, or using unauthorised hardware peripheral devices," the 7(b) clause of the revised EULA reads.

While the specifics are largely unclear, the statement suggests that Microsoft is taking a big stand against the usage of illegally obtained games, an ill practice that is significantly reducing the revenue of PC game developers alike. Whether this also extends to non-games applications, well the license explicitly says games (for now), so probably not. Why Microsoft is differentiating between illegally obtained games and other apps is anyone's guess.

When contacted for details, a Microsoft spokesperson offered nothing more than a boilerplate statement. "We take claims of intellectual property infringement seriously and review them in accordance with our standard procedures. We also continue to review the content of our Windows Store periodically as described in this blog post, as we work to deliver a great customer experience and provide fair and transparent developer policies and enforcement."

Now, what I find really interesting is that you gave up your old license of Win7/8.1 permanently to go to the free Win10 thing.   So now do you have to pay MS $110 for a new Win10 license just to get your machine running again?    

(after you delete all "pirated" softwares, of course)

Has MS discovered a new revenue stream as "net nanny" for the game guys?  

Does MS get paid a bounty for snaggin' and baggn'  an evil software pirate?     YES !!    $110 worth of bounty.


Your old Win7/8.1 DVD won't work any more, you do know that right?    Your Microsoft hash mark on that machine has screwed you forever on that pathway back to the good old days of PC independence.