Interesting, Doubt it Will go Anywhere Though

[WildWestDesigns]

Article

Ironically, I still remember when Win 10 was supposed to be the last version that y'all will ever need(of course, it's always had this EOL, so couldn't be the last version and have an EOL unless they were going to kill it off totally and no more Windows, but I digress).

Some things I agree with, some things I don't. I think 10 yrs has been the lifespan of Windows since it's been on the NT kernel for the plebs. I think it was 5 yrs during the 9x days (sometimes I really miss those days, may not have had a lot of computational power compared to now, but certainly had more power with what we could have done with it and very easily). Hardware requirements does add a crinkle in it. They could have used some requirements during the Vista days (and I actually liked Vista, but I never tried to upgrade to it, that rarely worked out with Windows in my experience but I stopped being on Windows after that).

Ironically, I noticed in there if one didn't want to pay $30 for the extra year support (and I think it doubles for the next year, if I recall correctly), could get it for free by linking some things to OneDrive.

 

[DL Signs]

Ironically, I noticed in there if one didn't want to pay $30 for the extra year support (and I think it doubles for the next year, if I recall correctly), could get it for free by linking some things to OneDrive.

They want people to have that Microsoft account.
Must be a massive number of people like me who just use a local account to keep them out of our business if they're offering that now.

 

[kcollinsdesign]

Computers are essential tools for me. For the trivial cost (most of us would get by just fine spending around $1500 for a well spec'd desktop), you might as well have the latest technology and run current software. That's less than $50/month (figuring a three year life); about two lunches or a tank of gas. If you are a professional, and depend upon computers to get your work done, I don't see how this could be a stress point.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Computers are essential tools for me. For the trivial cost (most of us would get by just fine spending around $1500 for a well spec'd desktop), you might as well have the latest technology and run current software. That's less than $50/month (figuring a three year life); about two lunches or a tank of gas. If you are a professional, and depend upon computers to get your work done, I don't see how this could be a stress point.

Personally, I would like to have a longer life span compared to just 3 yrs. Especially since I tend to use server/workstation grade hardware. I don't know what baseline you are using for your tank of fuel, but I haven't seen $50 fill up an empty tank for a very, very long time, but I'm used to diesel, so there is that.

However, for me, this is actually more about control compared to price. The end game here would be a thin client with enough firmware to launch an Azure instance, so one's OS isn't even on the computer itself. And bye bye to the PC (back in my day, that just meant "personal computer").

I also don't subscribe to the latest and greatest theory. Being newer doesn't actually mean being better and with all this always connected and constant updates is just more instability and not only that, can easily mean deprecation/removal of functionality that one may actually depend on for their business. I'm sure people on here can think of a few examples of that since the subscription craze has been going in full force. Anything that is a 3rd party license would be at the highest level of risk for the software/OS that uses that licensed blob.

They want people to have that Microsoft account.
Must be a massive number of people like me who just use a local account to keep them out of our business if they're offering that now.

This is only going to work for so long. They are burying the ability to do just local deeper and deeper within the system. Most plebs won't go that far to deal with it. Even if they have the ability to keep it up now, doesn't mean that the next patch Tuesday it's not removed. Again, thin client bootstrap to an Azure instance. Eventually it'll get there. Those that can get by with less computer power will deal with that sooner, but it'll get there even for the more demanding programs.

 

[kcollinsdesign]

Personally, I would like to have a longer life span compared to just 3 yrs. Especially since I tend to use server/workstation grade hardware. I don't know what baseline you are using for your tank of fuel, but I haven't seen $50 fill up an empty tank for a very, very long time, but I'm used to diesel, so there is that.

However, for me, this is actually more about control compared to price. The end game here would be a thin client with enough firmware to launch an Azure instance, so one's OS isn't even on the computer itself. And bye bye to the PC (back in my day, that just meant "personal computer").

I also don't subscribe to the latest and greatest theory. Being newer doesn't actually mean being better and with all this always connected and constant updates is just more instability and not only that, can easily mean deprecation/removal of functionality that one may actually depend on for their business. I'm sure people on here can think of a few examples of that since the subscription craze has been going in full force. Anything that is a 3rd party license would be at the highest level of risk for the software/OS that uses that licensed blob.





This is only going to work for so long. They are burying the ability to do just local deeper and deeper within the system. Most plebs won't go that far to deal with it. Even if they have the ability to keep it up now, doesn't mean that the next patch Tuesday it's not removed. Again, thin client bootstrap to an Azure instance. Eventually it'll get there. Those that can get by with less computer power will deal with that sooner, but it'll get there even for the more demanding programs.

The point I was trying to make is that for most of us on this forum the cost of keeping a computer running doesn't even budge the needle on the concerns meter. I worry about the cost of labor, materials, service equipment and vehicles, and overhead to keep the shop running. Computers are probably less than 1/10th of 1% of my budget.

Note: I usually get about 6 years from a computer before feeling compelled to upgrade. And you are right about gas; my tank holds 21 gallons and I'm not in the habit of running it dry. I'm usually buying 15-16 gallons at a time.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

The point I was trying to make is that for most of us on this forum the cost of keeping a computer running doesn't even budge the needle on the concerns meter. I worry about the cost of labor, materials, service equipment and vehicles, and overhead to keep the shop running.

While the article was more about the monetary cost, my concern is about the control over one's tools.

Although I'm surprised at the lack of concern given this:

Computers are essential tools for me....

Computers drive a lot of the different cogs in most of our businesses. From software, to other machines (that have their own life expectancy issues and concerns and not to mention costs), that cost of keeping that computer running isn't just solely about the computer itself. I think just thinking that it's only about the cost of the hardware/OS of that single thing is over simplifying. Unless one doesn't have concerns of other software tools or other machines that the computer drives. If one outsources those needs that would have that concern, that may not be a thing, but I would imagine for quite a few on here that is. Although I do know of a few that do outsource as well.