Nothing wrong with XP, though Windows 7 Pro has an XP VM practically built in (well, easily downloaded and installed anyway).

OpenOffice works on my Macs, no problemo.

Office 2013 is great.

I detect people using ancient junky computers.


DVD? Whats that? Oh yeah.....DefunctVideoDisc


Saying "lots of memory and huge hard drive" these days means your PC is reeealy old. Office 2013 will run just fine on any PC from the past 4-5 years with at least Win7 on it.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Wrong-o: Office 2013 is specifically not compatible with Vista. Secondly, forcing (or encouraging) people to download the c**tf**king thing piecemeal rather than offering either media OR an EASILY ACCESSIBLE full download is an absolutely horrible idea. Especially for mobile devices where Internet access isn't always great.

Click-to-run is a giant step back -- basically the equivalent of "insert disk 4 to install this feature" in Office 95, except that the disk is on the Internet. I'd rather have a full install that takes 15 minutes to do, but is a known entity, as opposed to a quick install that may need Internet access the next day, after it's supposedly fully installed.

Fortunately, I use OpenOffice or similar on all of my computers. Thunderbird or Mail.app for e-mail. Generally Firefox or Chromium for browsing. The only MS products I regularly use at home are Windows itself, MS Remote Desktop for Mac, Visual Studio (unfortunately), and Access 2007, which I need to support certain databases.

Haven't used an optical drive in years... non issue for me. That said, it is pretty dumb of MS to expect that out of the average user.

__________________
1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

That is a fact of economics, more than 50% of users have laptop and/or desk top CPU's over 10 years old.
If MS and others want to reduce their market, that is fine with me.
Websites are the same, they get 3 seconds to load a page, if it is too bloated with trash = I am gone...

OK, I forgot to mention.
This month I have been testing a maxed out "Alienware M17x", with several OS boot options.

My opinion remains, MS Office 2013 is limp bloated dreck.

I would junk all of my desk top CPU's, if I could keep the Laptop.

.

Clearly you don't work with large datasets.

No but I help people who do.

Office 2013 is indeed bloated, but when run on a modern PC is should not be an issue.


Economics is a poor argument for having an antiquated pc, you can buy so much computing power for hardly anything these days that is not even relevant anymore. A modern smartphone has more computing power than the average 7-8 year old PC.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

This still doesn't change the arguments against the horribly misdesigned click-to-run install which ass-u-me's that everyone has 10 mb/s Internet access.

Furthermore -- "You can lease a new Kia for $99/mo that will outperform your W123. Why are you still driving that obsolete, inferior W123 and spending $75/mo on repairs?" If it ain't broke...

I agree. This is a poor argument. Trying to support that much legacy stuff can be crippling.

I tried OpenOffice once. It was a clunky piece of crap.

__________________
Cruise Control not working? Send me PM or email (jamesdean59@gmail.com). I might be able to help out.
Check here for compatibility, diagnostics, and availability!

(4/11/2020: Hi Everyone! I am still taking orders and replying to emails/PMs/etc, I appreciate your patience in these crazy times. Stay safe and healthy!)


82 300SD 145k
89 420SEL 210k
89 560SEL 118k
90 300SE 262k RIP 5/25/2010
90 560SEL 154k
91 300D 2.5 Turbo. 241k
93 190E 3.0 235k
93 300E 195k

The current versions aren't any slower nor worse to use than MS Office.

My view of smart phones:

* The cost is insane.
* They are stupid delicate.
* I wear glasses now = screen too small.
* They are outdated before reaching market.
* Dead zones = IMO worse than basic dumb cell.
* The planned obsolescence cycle is two years or less.
* All insurance I have found, refuse to cover more than two replacements per year. (five dumb cells in 2012).


.

I'm pleased with my windows phone platform devices. Outdated/obsolescence is irrelevant as I have observed. My HTC Trophy is 2 years old and still running well and as smoothly as the first day I turned it on. I have had no problems with damage or breaking. I am careful with the device. I've never made an insurance claim with a phone so I cannot speak to that effect. Only in parts of rural PA have I had signal problems.

Now my friend has an Android HTC Thunderbolt. That is LOL.

That being said. i still prefer using the PC/Keyboard over the phone.

__________________
Cruise Control not working? Send me PM or email (jamesdean59@gmail.com). I might be able to help out.
Check here for compatibility, diagnostics, and availability!

(4/11/2020: Hi Everyone! I am still taking orders and replying to emails/PMs/etc, I appreciate your patience in these crazy times. Stay safe and healthy!)


82 300SD 145k
89 420SEL 210k
89 560SEL 118k
90 300SE 262k RIP 5/25/2010
90 560SEL 154k
91 300D 2.5 Turbo. 241k
93 190E 3.0 235k
93 300E 195k

My view of smart phones:

* The cost is relative to the tasks it performs. With mail, messaging, web access and tethering, I can get work done in most major cities and between.
* They have survived my attempts to kill them. I've owned two Palm OS and two iPhones, a 3GS and a 4S, all survived daily use.
* No problems with reading the screen and my 3GS still runs apps.
* Growing list of 4G coverage

I'm just saying that with image processing, ain't no LAN or Internet wide and fast enough to handle the data processing demand without significant data transfer time delays. I have 4 TB if RAID and geez, something like 40-odd GB of RAM on an 8 processor PC. I used to make the lights dim when I turned it on (not really). So I use sneakerware to send and receive most files -- don't want to wait on the LAN. Just got the LAN upgraded to some fiber optic something or other but it's still too slow to operate on a 500 GB image file.

The funny thing is that I know shyte-all about computers. I'm a user that knows how to call IT and those folks will wave wands and invoke satanic forces to keep me running.