Showing posts with label COMPUTERS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label COMPUTERS. Show all posts

Tuesday, 3 March 2020

ARCTIC TEMPERATURE HITS 38C - 100F - PANDEMIC & PANIC

MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND!

JUNE 2020  Capital Weather Gang

Hottest Arctic temperature record probably set with 100-degree reading in Siberia - Washington Post


Record-shattering reading continues Siberia’s hot streak, foreshadows more heat elsewhere



MARCH 2020





89 scientists from 50 prestigious organisations analysed 26 ice surveys. They conclude that "Ice caps melting six times faster than in 1990's."  IPCC March 2020.




This gripping novel tracks Polar Meltdown, which causes Sea-Level-Rise, and the resulting Glacier-Flu, which is a global pandemic of the same type as evolved from H1N1 as Covid-19 or Coronavirus. The novel is far more dramatic than today's nasty, yet limited reality.

But it spells out what is terrifyingly possible if we, The Human Race, neglect to tackle these events. We must limit Global-Warming, or the sea-level will rise and swamp our coastal-margins - home to 5 billion people; and we must rapidly develop anti-flu vaccines. 

Bill Gates is now (March 2020) putting $100 million into testing thousands of molecules, currently used in other medicines, that could discover a fast route to a cure for Coronavirus. 

The whole world must act as one, to neutralise this invisible virus - and must continue to act as one to limit sea-level-rise. Both these deadly threats have no political or geographic boundaries. Regardless of our colour, creed, credit-rating, age, or location, we are all vulnerable. THE WISDOM OF ALICE WHITAKER, Alice, who is the prescient heroine of this tale, tells of eighty-percent of us dying. Alice and her brother find ways to survive the natural disasters, but Alice is hunted down and killed by the reactionary forces, who want to rebuild the world as it was. They want to re-create the systems that brought disaster and almost brought the human-race to extinction. 

Will Alice succeed to rescue sanity out of madness? We sincerely hope so. 




Do listen - Wash your hands - And insist on Green Energy. 

Links to Amazon Books - coming 6 March 2020.


CORONAVIRUS KILLS: Really worth watching and distributing – Noel





******

No self-professed, credible blogger on economics, politics and science can avoid commenting on the Coronavirus, Covid-19; which is an evolved type of influenza. It is of the H1N1 family (Avian Flu - Swine Flu  - etc) that circulates among animals and humans. It kills by causing pneumonia; it drowns our lungs from the inside. 

From the virus's emergence in China in the last quarter of 2019, and its so far tiny impact on the human population, of which it infects just 0.005% (5 persons in every 100,000) and dispatches to Heaven a mere 0.0007% (7 of us in every million), Coronavirus has a long way to go and to grow if it wants to be a significant epidemic or pandemic. Common Winter-Flu kills tens of thousands every year. 


So what's the fuss? Coronavirus is a new-flu (pnuemonic /lung) variant and is unknown. Will it become a major threat to the human race? Will it rival the greatest pandemic of modern times, Spanish Flu? 

SPANISH FLU:  ‘The largest ever pandemic in recorded history, when it is thought that up to fifty million people may have died, was caused by Spanish Flu’ in 1918/19 just as World War One was ending; so called because at first only Spain – which was a neutral country – reported the virus. In May 1918, in Spain, in that one month, eight million people caught the virus.’



‘Medical researchers now believe that this most notorious of all viruses originated in birds – in fact in the pigeons kept in the trenches for both food and for message carrying, then moved to chickens, ducks, geese and pigs, kept close to the war front in cramped pens to feed the troops, and then into the stabled horses, at the time still used in warfare, and onto cattle and into the human population. The cold and wet winter of 1918 and 1919 was a major contributory factor, as was the worldwide movement of troops – Britons, French, Germans, Russians, Americans, Australians, Canadians, Ghurkhas, other Indian regiments, Africans; and people from many other Commonwealth countries.’

‘The virus returned, though not nearly so lethally, in the winter of 1957, when seventy-thousand died in the United States…’ 
‘…and in 1968 when thirty-four-thousand Americans lost their lives.’  
Few extrapolated the 1957 and 1968 statistics to mean that globally about seven-million died of the virus in 1957 and another three and a half million died in 1968.

*******


Spanish Flu killed the largest number, but other pandemics were many times more lethal. The many visitations of The Black Death killed about 2/3rds of the world; and changed the feudal system forever. European Measles and our Sexually Transmitted Diseases killed 80% of South Americans. Thank you for visiting us, Christopher Columbus; do come again. 

Pandemics are dangerous and deadly.  Coronavirus containment is not working - the virus is breaking out all over. The most authoritative health institutions and medical scientist around the globe have only one remedy to stop the spread, "Sneeze into Tissues & Wash Your Hands." I find that advice to the populous very welcome - and it will reduce many common diseases caused by dirty habits. The human race must learn to wipe its own bottom and clean up its mess. 

Hand washing might reduce HORIZONTAL (person to person) infections, but if Prof. Fred Hoyle, Chandra Wickramasinghe and John Watkins are right, most of the infections are VERTICAL (from the upper-atmosphere); which explains why the virus manifests rapidly in diverse countries simultaneously. 

Viruses from Space:

Yesterday, I re-read Prof Fred Hoyle’s et al, 1978 book “Viruses from Space” i.e. from the upper atmosphere. Hoyle is world-famous for naming the Big-Bang theory. It argues and demonstrates that “acute-respiratory-tract-infections” e.g. flu’, coronavirus etc. and other epidemics are mostly caused by Vertical (falling from the sky) as opposed to Horizontal (person-to-person) transmission of viruses and thus pandemics.

In 1978, Hoyle’s team wrote “…especially regions lying downwind of the Himalayas, particularly China  and SE Asia.   …..making China the quickest and worst affected region of the Earth.” The book scientifically, statistically and credibly predicts that more viruses (some beneficial – most nasty) are swept by weather, topography, geography and the seasons to land in China, partly due to the Himalayas – and thus start pandemics.

The authors also show that earlier virus outbreaks occurred just south of the Alps, in northern Italy. Italy is now experiencing a coronavirus outbreak.

A chapter shows how viruses that fall onto deserts, where they are relatively inert, can be swept-up by sandstorms, to infect distant lands. This would apply to last week’s sandstorm from the Sahara to Tenerife.

Hoyle’s study questions the received and majority medical-science wisdom of 1978, and thus of now, “…once a false belief becomes established it is very difficult to get it out, essentially because the system invents supposed facts in order to support it.”

The puzzling global patterns of coronavirus outbreaks seem to be intelligently addressed and explained by Prof. Hoyle and his colleagues. It does not negate the urgent need to limit person-to-person transmission.  

TREATMENT - It seems that nations, even America, must provide good quality health-care to all citizens, regardless of class, colour, creed or credit rating. They might all follow Britain and create free National Health Services. The US has about 40 million impoverished souls without Health Insurance. That number of corpses left in the gutters outside hospitals will certainly cause more, and varied, pandemics - and a major pollution problem. 

ECONOMICS - What coronavirus will not do is crash the world economy. A mass pandemic will change economic drivers and necessities, but the task of surviving, curing and carrying on will immediately create new industries and activities. Pandemics won't destroy the electronic revolution and mass communications. Probably the reverse. In 1992, Gil Gordon (New Jersey) and I (London UK) wrote Teleworking Explained - how to utilise home-offices and work by wire. Teleworking /Telecommuting is now being recommended to help curb the pandemic. That, and the Wuhan-Kiss, i.e. greetings from 3 yards apart. The smart money will sell out of the affected industries (Travel? Crowd Activities?) and buy into the replacement industries (Amazon shopping? Genetic medicine? Telework?). For every business-model that goes down - 3 will spring up. There are 7 billion people to service. A new gold rush! Who will be first?  And we all still have to eat. 

My bets include Tesla, Vestas Wind, Orsted and all the emerging green energy products. I think Oil, Gas and Coal are in their end-game. Spot the winners. 

PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE: 

                                          COVID-19 ADVICE
A note from Dr. James Robb:

"Dear Colleagues, as some of you may recall, when I was a professor of pathology at the University of California San Diego, I was one of the first molecular virologists in the world to work on coronaviruses (the 1970s). I was the first to demonstrate the number of genes the virus contained. Since then, I have kept up with the coronavirus field and its multiple clinical transfers into the human population (e.g., SARS, MERS), from different animal sources.
The current projections for its expansion in the US are only probable, due to continued insufficient worldwide data, but it is most likely to be widespread in the US by mid to late March and April.
Here is what I have done and the precautions that I take and will take. These are the same precautions I currently use during our influenza seasons, except for the mask and gloves:
1) NO HANDSHAKING! Use a fist bump, slight bow, elbow bump, etc.
2) Use ONLY your knuckle to touch [public] light switches. elevator buttons, etc.. Lift the gasoline dispenser with a paper towel or use a disposable glove.
3) Open doors with your closed fist or hip - do not grasp the handle with your hand, unless there is no other way to open the door. Especially important on bathroom and post office/commercial doors.
4) Use disinfectant wipes at the stores when they are available, including wiping the handle and child seat in grocery carts.
5) Wash your hands with soap for 10-20 seconds and/or use a greater than 60% alcohol-based hand sanitizer whenever you return home from ANY activity that involves locations where other people have been.
6) Keep a bottle of sanitizer available at each of your home's entrances. AND in your car for use after getting gas or touching other contaminated objects when you can't immediately wash your hands.
7) If possible, cough or sneeze into a disposable tissue and discard. Use your elbow only if you have to. The clothing on your elbow will contain infectious virus that can be passed on for up to a week or more!

What I have stocked in preparation for the pandemic spread to the US:
1)    Latex or nitrile latex disposable gloves for use when going shopping, using the gasoline pump, and all other outside activity when you come in contact with contaminated areas.
2)    Note: This virus is spread in large droplets by coughing and sneezing. This means that the air will not infect you! BUT all the surfaces where these droplets land are infectious for about a week on average - everything that is associated with infected people will be contaminated and potentially infectious. The virus is on surfaces and you will not be infected unless your unprotected face is directly coughed or sneezed upon. This virus only has cell receptors for lung cells (it only infects your lungs) The only way for the virus to infect you is through your nose or mouth via your hands or an infected cough or sneeze onto or into your nose or mouth.
2) Stock up now with disposable surgical masks and use them to prevent you from touching your nose and/or mouth (We touch our nose/mouth 90X/day without knowing it!). This is the only way this virus can infect you - it is lung-specific. The mask will not prevent the virus in a direct sneeze from getting into your nose or mouth - it is only to keep you from touching your nose or mouth.
3) Stock up now with hand sanitizers and latex/nitrile gloves (get the appropriate sizes for your family). The hand sanitizers must be alcohol-based and greater than 60% alcohol to be effective.
4) Stock up now with zinc lozenges. These lozenges have been proven to be effective in blocking coronavirus (and most other viruses) from multiplying in your throat and nasopharynx. Use as directed several times each day when you begin to feel ANY "cold-like" symptoms beginning. It is best to lie down and let the lozenge dissolve in the back of your throat and nasopharynx. Cold-Eeze lozenges is one brand available, but there are other brands available.

I, as many others do, hope that this pandemic will be reasonably contained, BUT I personally do not think it will be. Humans have never seen this snake-associated virus before and have no internal defense against it. Tremendous worldwide efforts are being made to understand the molecular and clinical virology of this virus. Unbelievable molecular knowledge about the genomics, structure, and virulence of this virus has already been achieved. BUT, there will be NO drugs or vaccines available this year to protect us or limit the infection within us. Only symptomatic support is available.
I hope these personal thoughts will be helpful during this potentially catastrophic pandemic. You are welcome to share this email. Good luck to all of us!"


Saturday, 7 September 2019

YOUR MSOFT OUTLOOK-BT MAIL BOX IS FULL!

I WON THE 2020 ELECTION. OR DIDN'T I?


Friday 13th November 2020: THIS STUPID, SECRET FAULT OUTLOOK-VIA-BT IS IN THE BT SERVERS. BT LIMIT ALL USERS TO 1,000MB (972MB). NEITHER BT NOR MSOFT POST ANY HINT OF THIS UNHOLY ALLIANCE, ANYWHERE ON THE INTERNET. BUT, AFTER HOURS OF FRUITLESS DELETING OF MAILS IN OUTLOOK -WHICH MAKES NO DIFFERENCE AT ALL - EVENTUALLY CALLING BILL GATES AND THE CEO OF BT, YOU  WILL LEARN THAT THE "FULL" MESSAGE FROM MSOFT REFERS TO YOUR/OUTLOOK'S USE OF BT EMAIL SERVERS. YOU THEN DELETE THOUSANDS OF IN-BOX MAILS AT BT. SWITCH OFF - REBOOT - SWITCH ON. STILL DOESN'T FIX IT - THE "Your mailbox is full" MESSAGE KEEPS COMING. WHY? BECAUSE YOUR BT "SENT ITEMS" BOX IS TOO FULL. 

TO FIX IT GO TO :  login.microsoftonline.com (PROBABLY NEEDS YOUR BT AND MSOFT PASSWORDS - WHICH YOU FORGOT 20 YEARS AGO. 

Why, Oh Lord, is this website so hard to find? I spent 2 hours solid on 12 Nov 2020 trying to get answers. Utterly exhausting! 

SEPT 2019

After 4 weeks of changing all my software. Updating, down-dating, re-installing, re-setting, 5 hours on help lines, it transpires that whatever I do on my email makes no difference to the "mailbox full" problem. Microsoft couldn't do anything - but they discovered that the villain is the unholy alliance between MSoft and BT, who host my email. What ever MSoft or I do has no effect on the folders in BT's servers. It is these that are "full" and blocking transmission. 
https://outlook.office365.com/mail/inbox
 Go to your underlying host to delete enough to free up space.


Your mailbox is full.  8 Sept 2019
972 MB
972 MB
Current size
Maximum size

Your mailbox can no longer send messages. Please reduce your mailbox size. Delete any items you don't need from your mailbox and empty your Deleted Items folder. 

Your mailbox is almost full. 7 Sept 2019

968 MB
972 MB
Current size
Maximum size
Please reduce your mailbox size. Delete any items you don't need from your mailbox and empty your Deleted Items folder.


7th Sept 2019

Dear MSoft. 

In the last 3 months you have sent me 20+ messages that my Mail Box is full. I have spent 5 hours on your help lines. I have done everything advised on the web to reduce my mail box. I’ve deleted years of old mails.  None of it has any affect. 

After 32 years as a Microsoft customer; should I abandon OUTLOOK and use G.Mail?

Will any Microsoft expert sort this out? Is there anybody there? 

Noel HODSON - Author
Sci-Fi & Socio-Economics
16 Brookside, OXFORD OX3 7PJ, UK
Tel 01865 760994 Cell 07713 681216

Blogs:
Books:


Your mailbox is almost full.
968 MB
972 MB
Current size
Maximum size
Please reduce your mailbox size. Delete any items you don't need from your mailbox and empty your Deleted Items folder.

Tuesday, 20 March 2018

KILLER-ROBOT CARS & BOEING 737 MAX CRASHES.


10TH MARCH 2019 - TRUST ME WITH YOUR LIFE - I'M A CARING, SHARING ROBOT! A.I.  IS NOT READY TO DRIVE CARS.

A VEHICLE is driving slowly on the top floor of a multistorey car park. Footage from an on-board camera shows what the artificial intelligence system controlling it can see: ranks of cars to the left, and is that a person off to the right? Straight ahead there is something else. To any human observer, it is obviously a stop sign. But the AI can’t seem to make sense of it and keeps on driving.
YOUR CAR THINKS ONE OF THESE IS A POWER DRILL 
This was only a stunt. Researchers had deliberately stuck pieces of black tape on the sign to study how it confused the machine mind. Yet this and several similar demonstrations are revealing something disturbing: AI can be hacked, and you don’t even need to break passwords to launch an attack. As the technology begins to find more and more applications that affect our lives, this is a threat we need to take seriously.

*****

The Boeing 737 - Max crashes might be due to new control software "fighting" human pilots to correct the "angle of attack", the angle at which the wings cut into the air flow. This angle dictates whether the plane is flying or falling through the air. In the new Boeing, the programming is obscure and invisible. The human pilots cannot switch it off to take back control. 

Imagine such automatic robotics losing control of a billion travelling vehicles. 

However much Boeing have spent on the flight computers - developed over many decades - humans are better pilots and better drivers and better decision makers - than programmers in Silicon Valley trying to predict and preordain mechanical reactions to every and any future events that might occur. The humans have lives to lose; the robots do not care whether they live or die. 

...The crash last year also involved a plane that went down minutes after takeoff and after the crew requested permission to return to the airport.
In that case, investigations by the Indonesian and American aviation authorities determined that the Lion Air plane’s abrupt nose dive might have been caused by updated Boeing software that was meant to prevent a stall but that can send the plane into a fatal descent if the altitude and angle information being fed into the computer system is incorrect.
The change in the flight control system, which can override manual motions in the Max model, was not explained to pilots, according to some pilots’ unions.
After that crash, Boeing said that it was continuing “to evaluate the need for software or other changes as we learn more from the ongoing investigation.” It was unclear if the company had made any changes.

ROBOT VEHICLES


“By the end of 2019, we expect over 100,000 Level 3 cars with Mobileye installed.” (Mobileye is an Intel subsidiary.)



20TH MARCH 2018 - Self-Driving Uber Car Kills Arizona Pedestrian - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/technology/uber-driverless-fatality.html

16 hours ago - SAN FRANCISCO — A woman in Tempe, Ariz., died after being hit by a self-driving car operated by UBER, in what appears to be the first known death of a pedestrian struck by an autonomous vehicle on public roads. ... The UBER vehicle was in autonomous mode with a human safety driver. 

Millions of empty-vehicle journeys. 
100 times more dangerous than human-drivers.
5 times more expensive. Hackable by villains & kids.
BUT, an $80 trillion market. 

Read More: ROAD TRANSPORT SPACE


This might be the first robot-driver-caused death of a pedestrian - a woman pushing her bicycle - but it certainly will not be the last. Last year a TESLA owner was killed when his car, in self-drive mode, failed to recognize a huge truck across the road and tried and failed to drive under it; the cretinous driver was watching a video. The computer industry and gangs of government technophiles, some embedded in Transport Ministries, are utterly determined to convince us all, all humans, that we cannot drive safely unless we hand over control to the computer-industry. 

The investments being poured into this project are immense. The Public Relations budget to persuade us we cannot be trusted to drive vehicles - is equally huge. What's the prize for investors? There are 222 million drivers in America, all incompetent. There are 39 million UK drivers, all incompetent. There are 291 million drivers in Europe, all incompetent. That's already more than 550 million licensed drivers who, according to Silicon Valley, can't drive. Extrapolating to all the vehicles in use globally comes to more than 1 billion. If the technophiles have their way - ALL vehicles will have to be equipped with robot-drivers, which currently cost about $80,000 per vehicle. ...And they still crash into things and kill people. 

So, the global market is today worth $80 trillion - and with China and India and Africa using their new wealth to buy cars - the market is ever expanding. It is a cornucopia for the computer industry. All they have to do is convince us that we cannot drive. 

Or can we? For example, the 38 million UK vehicles annually drive 323.7 billion miles, an average of 7,800 miles each - without robot-drivers. There are 1,732 road deaths annually. Lets assume all road deaths are the fault of drivers (though half are of drunken pedestrians) - that's a kill rate of 0.004% and a safe-driving rate of 99.996%. Are computers that reliable?

100 TIMES MORE DANGEROUS THAN HUMANS
Globally 35 cities are testing no more than 10 "autonomous" cars each, say, 500 worldwide. There have been 2 deaths (0.4% - a hundred times more dangerous than humans), and more than 200 collisions (40%). And that is with hundreds of millions of dollars and teams of engineers trying to make them safe. My instinct to never, never, ever be driven by a laptop, is a case of justifiable paranoia. 

Trident Missiles - designed at the cost of billions of dollars by top scientist over the past 30 years - cannot yet be reliably steered. We recently fired one that wandered off over Miami. Oops ! My Microsoft office software still gets glitches, after 33 years of development. The Russians have recently hacked into all the control systems for the USA energy and infrastructure. Imagine what fun they will have with driverless vehicles. 

Electric cars - YES. Robot cars - NO. 


28th March 2018 - BUT GOOGLE/WAYMO THINK ROBO-CARS WILL BE IN USE BY 2020:  but, AGAIN...  "Earlier today, Governor Doug Ducey indefinitely barred Uber's robo-cars from testing in the state." 
THE SELF-DRIVING CAR industry is in the final miles of a grueling marathon to bring autonomous technology to market. Uber needs autonomous tech to offer ride-hailing services sans human drivers. GM bought Cruise and put autonomous Chevy Bolts on the roads of San Francisco in an effort to remain relevant when people stop buying private cars. If Tesla can cross the line first, it could disrupt the other guys and even offer its own ride-sharing service.
And ahead of them all is Waymo. After nearly a decade of R&D, the company that started life as Google's self-driving car project has shifted its focus from tech to operations—from development to deployment. The Alphabet subsidiary says it will launch its first commercial, driverless service later this year, in Arizona. It already has the permit. All of which makes it the irritatingly fresh-looking guy, in a dayglow tank-top, taking big bouncing strides at the front of the running pack.
Today, Waymo announced it’s partnering with Jaguar Land Rover to build autonomous versions of the $90,000 electric I-Pace SUV. “It’s going to be the world’s first premium, electric, fully self-driving car,” says John Krafcik, CEO of Waymo. That sounds like a claim Elon Musk would love to be able to make about Tesla.
Waymo plans to buy 20,000 of the vehicles over the next couple years, do extensive testing and validation, and then fully integration them into its passenger-carrying fleet by 2020. The company says the new cars will be able to offer a million trips per day. It’s a huge expansion for Waymo, which has around 600 vehicles on the roads now, and an existing partnership with Chrysler for “thousands” more minivans.
Waymo is launching its debut service in Arizona, thanks to relaxed legislation and good weather. But Uber's recent crash in Tempe—one of its cars killed a pedestrian pushing a bike across the street—raises questions about the ethics and wisdom of testing on public roads. Earlier today, Governor Doug Ducey indefinitely barred Uber's robo-cars from testing in the state.

Wednesday, 7 February 2018

BRILLIANT " FIND & REPLACE" TOOL FOR GOOGLE BLOGS

It is very complicated. Call an expert. 
7th FEB 2018.

A few days ago I made the horrible mistake of changing the name of this blog from Sci-Fi Future Fact and Fiction to my own name Noel Hodson. Then I spent days adding LABELS to my 472 Posts. A long job. But that worked and created categories for my thousands (or maybe dozens) of visitors to find items of interest. So far so good.

Then I discovered that Google Search for "Noel Hodson Blog" which for years has quickly found my blogspot, told searchers "The blog has been deleted and no longer exists." It seems that years of patient slow promotion is wasted. Ah well - I can promote the stuff again with its new address - and Google will catch-up.

BUT, I then discovered that all the interlinks between my 472 essays had been corrupted. Clicking them also found a 404 error page - "This Blog has been Deleted" - "So you can all sod off". There are approximately 4,000 such hyperlinks which are part of the continuity of my arguments. I found out how to EDIT the fine text in computer-speak language for the links. Very carefully (I know nothing of software) I deleted the old and substituted the new phrase within the links. And they worked. But, 5 such links took me half an hour to update - only 3,995 to go. Suicide and despair.

I went for a walk and Search & Find & Replace in WORD came to mind. Could I somehow copy the blog to WORD, replace the old phrases and insert the new? But I recalled the last time I tried that, for just one essay, WORD kept the illustrations but on return to Google - they all got deleted. I had the text and had to manually replace the pictures. Not feasible for 472 Posts.  I searched on the internet - and found Adam Lewis. His fix worked - free of charge. After it was fixed his site suggested a donation. I sent him US$50. Brilliant tool, explained simply enough for a 75 year old non-techie to use. No tricks. No BUNDLE to sign into - the sort that sabotages your customary habits and layouts. 

The US should award him a medal of honour - or honor, even. Thank you Mr Lewis. 

Blogger Find & Replace :: adam lewis

www.adamwlewis.com/articles/blogger-find-replace

20 Jul 2012 - Does a find and replace on an entire Blogger website.

How to Perform a Search & Replace in Blogger - Designer Blogs

https://www.designerblogs.com/perform-search-replace-blogger/

8 Jul 2017 - Then hit the “Transfer me to Google so I can authorize this tool” button. Once you hit the button you will be transferred to Google. If you are not already logged into your site, it will prompt you to log in. Then click the big blue “Allow” button to allow the search and replace tool to be activated on your blog.

Friday, 7 March 2014

MICROSOFT REDEEMED - SEPT 2015

STEVE BALMER - CEO MICROSOFT IN 2013
"Windows 8 is great - But I'm quitting"
16 Sept 2015 - Microsoft Windows 10 - is good!

Having moaned and groaned a year ago about Windows 8, giving away 2 new W-8 laptops, and hating all the accompanying Balmer forced changes to Office (see below), I can now say that Windows 10 has righted most of the wrongs that I, an Office user since 1987, have suffered at 72 years of age.

While I still cannot easily find vital keys on scrambled Office Menus for several basic routines in Word, Powerpoint and most aggravating, in Excel - routines I have used for 20+ years - I have been using Windows 10 for a few months - and can recommend it as an operating system. As one of our UK TV ads boasts - "It does what it says on the tin". 

I still wish that I could update my Office 2007 to a current version but overlaid with my familiar Office 2003 user interface; (vitally, OUTLOOK remains almost unchanged) but, Microsoft has redeemed itself and rebuilt its business customer relationships with the free issue of Windows 10. I am told Windows 10 will one day "sync" my desktop, laptop, tablet, phone etc - but  I haven't the faintest clue how how to do this synchronization. 

Come Home all is Forgiven: My I-Phone is very old and my I-Pad is a stone age version 5, stubbornly refusing any updates or new apps. With Windows 10 and with Office available on cell-phones - I might make the heroic intellectual leap to upgrade to a large screen Windows Phone. 

Or, I might just have another afternoon nap. 

Any Road Up ! - as we say in Lancashire, England dialect, you can install Windows 10 with an easy mind. It won't force you into 200 hours of re-learning everything you once knew. 

*************

8 Apr 2014. Microsoft Wars:  SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises), who are about 12% of the workforce, employ 60% of the world; government and big business employ 40% - but SMEs are hardly ever heard. In America, small businesses can hit back at bullying multinationals by ganging together in Class Actions; in UK law Class Actions are illegal, to deter collective strength and howling mobs - leaving tiny firms alone to sue major world players and risk all the costs and time - and probably bankruptcy. Thus it is that when, after 3 months of trying to adapt, I harangued my local computer-shop for selling us a Windows 8 and Office 2013 laptop, which we found unusable (after 27 years business experience of Microsoft & Office) - the geeks at the shop urged me to sue Microsoft for our time, costs and business disruption. The geeks dislike Windows 8 and Office 2013 as much as we do; but lack the nerve to complain to the Mighty Microsoft.

We are not alone in finding the Windows 8 user-interface (UI) unusable. The WEB is full of complaints. All my local computer shops are trying to sell pre-loaded Windows 8 PCs at half price - and seem to be failing. None of them have Windows 7. Trying to update via MSoft from XP to 7 leads to a rambling, self-defeating path of despair, which Msoft must find most amusing. "MIGRATE FROM XP - WINDOWS DOWNLOAD - SUPPORT STOPS 8th APRIL."

TAKE-THE-PLUNGE Business Expansion
Since 1970, my colleagues and I have advised about 5,000 SMEs and 40 or so major organisations, on Accounts - Business Forecasts - Tax and Finance - Telecommuting - all requiring EXCEL spreadsheets and WORD reports. My desktop PC has 42,000 files in My Documents, most of them confidential to private clients or projects.  I use OUTLOOK email to compose and send many complex professional letters. My dilemma is that Msoft are utterly determined to cut out Windows XP Professional (on my laptop)  and Office 2003 (on my laptop and desktop PCs). Some optimistic SMEs assume that MSoft will not explode the ultimate bomb on 8th April 2014 - but my research assures me that they will. I cannot use Windows 8 & Office 2013. Office 2003 is the last UI before the bewildering "Ribbons" were introduced for Office 2007 etc.

(The Ribbons show every conceivable option in WORD, EXCEL etc - all jumbled up; like an American breakfast menu, the Ribbons offer 100's of choices for each and every minor requirement - leaving the user to find a critical path through the maze; which the programmers should have taken the trouble to define. Its like driving fast to a complex road junction and having to read 500 options in 50 yards before choosing an exit. No responsibility for the programmers, maximum responsibility for the users. In Office 2013 my wife and I took half an hour to write a 50 word letter - after 27 years PC experience).

Windows 8 is aimed at kids who want to play games, watch films, listen to music and mess around on slippery sliding screens. MSoft now admit it was written for touch-screens not for keyboards; are all MSoft business customers retired? What about the 37 million SMEs in China, on XP? In the middle of serious routines, incomprehensible, wandering colored squares blank out the workspace, offering products, a huge clock and endless crappy "options". Users have to guess, on a blank screen, where icons they need are hidden. Microsoft are pressurizing users to back-up files only on The Microsoft Cloud - somewhere in Never-Never Land where the kiddies are playing; making it very difficult to simply save work files to a USB or DVD in  the machine. Convenient for the NSA - useless for business. Windows 8 is entirely unsuitable for business, in my experience.

My Office 2003 Updated programs have for the past year been showing glitches that Microsoft Support no longer fixes. The most obvious are in WORD which I use as my email editor. It has become very slow and will no longer shut down - causing OUTLOOK to hang 20 times a day. MSoft are subtly shaking users loose.

In analyzing my dilemma, I also became aware that Microsoft have opened a backdoor to the NSA and GCHQ spy agencies (bang goes clients' confidentiality) and note that Apple and Google also send all data to the government spies - who make it available to 100,000+ Edward Snowdens.

MY SOLUTIONS:

WINDOWS 8 - OR? After many months of consideration, using my very amateur Information Technology knowledge, I find there are only 3 operating systems for office computers:
WINDOWS - all versions since 1987.
APPLE - all version since about 1987 (twice the price of MSoft)
LINUX - freeware, in about 2 dozen versions of the central kernel, launched by Finnish, Linus Torvald, who was inspired by Polish, Nobel winner, chemist and physicist, Linus Pauling.

MY DELL DESKTOP - WINDOWS 7.
MY OLD TOSHIBA LAPTOP - LINUX - ZORIN OS 8 

(I had great difficulty - ten times - in booting my laptop with LINUX from a DVD. My mistake was failing to see a faint colored underline on the Toshiba start-screen (press F2 or F8 or F12 while switching on with the DVD in the drive) highlighting the hard-drive icon, which should have been under and selecting the DVD icon - then press ENTER.)

OFFICE 2003 ETC - OR? All my 42,000 files originated in Office 1997 or 2003, or earlier (few will now remember PCs running floppy-disks in 1987). I have to be able to read the files and attach them to email. There are 3 main alternatives.
MICROSOFT OFFICE
APPLE MAC SUITE - With Microsoft Office for AppleMac converters.
OPEN OFFICE - free software that looks like a clone of Office 2003.

MY DELL DESKTOP - free OPEN OFFICE (APACHE VERSION)
MY OLD TOSHIBA LAPTOP - free OPEN OFFICE AND THE free bundled ZORIN OFFICE SUITE

OUTLOOK EMAIL - OR? I have used OUTLOOK since 1987 (and recommended MSoft to dozens of major employers re-telework /telecommuting). Changing from OUTLOOK is my greatest fear, but I have recently tried Google Mail - and it seems to function well,  but lacks many, many of the OUTLOOK features. However, it works (in The wispy damned Cloud) and my tests have sent/received accurately.
If you download free Google G-Mail, it offers to import all addresses from your previous email system (on the same computer) - and does so with minimum fuss.

MY DELL DESKTOP - OUTLOOK UNTIL IT FAILS (shared with the NSA)
MY OLD TOSHIBA LAPTOP - GOOGLE G-MAIL (also shared with the NSA)

VIRUS CHECKERS /FIREWALLS? The only reliable firewall I have used in 27 years - and I have tried them all - is Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE); but MSE cannot now be downloaded to XP or XP Prof. MSoft have already slammed that door. My experience is that Microsoft is safe if MSE is working, but dies within a month if not, from the Blue Screen of Death. Safe options are:
WINDOWS - with MSE
APPLE-MAC
LINUX (all the many, exotically named, derivatives of the Linux Kernel)

MY DELL DESKTOP - STILL PROTECTED IN WINDOWS 7 BY free MICROSOFT SECURITY ESSENTIALS
MY OLD TOSHIBA LAPTOP - LIKE APPLES, LINUX DOES NOT NEED A FIREWALL

WE MADE TELEWORKING POSSIBLE
SEND $10 IF YOU ENJOY YOUR DAYS AT HOME
My wife's PC did lose protection from Microsoft Security Essentials, in September 2013. Within a week it was wrecked by the Blue Screen of Death - so we bought an ASUS PC with Windows 8 and Office 2013. After 3 months of aggravating struggle with  the new software - we gave the new machine away. She bought a S/H AppleMac from Amazon for £300. We added Microsoft Office For Apple, about £70 from Amazon, paid an expert about £150 to transfer emails and files and hand-hold; went through a steep learning curve - and still don't know how to list all the work files - but she loves it. The neat machine does everything required including having a very tidy, intuitive email system - (G-Mail take note).

Come back in a few months and see if my home-made system  has collapsed, plunging me into suicidal despair - and driving me to the Apple Store. In the meantime, prior to the Microsoft Armageddon - it all seems to be functioning - with very steep and exhausting learning curves. Anyone for a Class Action?

MICROSOFT - END OF DAYS  


**********************
CONVERSATION BETWEEN TWO MSOFT USER SMEs

6th March 2014 
Hi John

Thanks for your advice on XP etc. My reading of it is that MSoft are definitely pulling the plug on XP (on my old laptop) AND on Office 2003 (the base of all my Office apps on my Windows 7 (7 cannot do a "search") desktop). I took my laptop back to factory settings with XP-Professional and Office 2003. Despite dozens of attempts, it cannot download Microsoft Security Essentials or Windows Defender - they are blocked by MSoft. Last year MSoft pulled support for Pauline's old laptop and within the week it was destroyed by THE BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH (Google it). It is almost impossible to upgrade from XP to Windows 7 - via MSoft Updates and Downloads - and no shops sell Windows 7 - but is available S/H on the web.

On my main PC, WORD (2003) has been playing up for 6 months and MSoft support can't /won't correct it. Every attempt I have made to update officially via MSoft leads to Windows 8 and Office 2013. When Pauline's machine died we bought a new one with 8 and 13 - and used it for 3 or 4 months. Just like many IT managers in large offices report, our productivity dropped 50%+. The user interface is unusable. We tried patches and V2, V3 etc then gave the laptop away - and bought Pauline an Apple (which she now loves). There are 37 million business users in the Far East on XP and Office 2003. 

I cannot operate W8 and Office 13 which are designed by crazy kids for kids - not for business. My dilemma is that XP is definitely going on 8th April and Pauline's experience is that MSoft stop Windows Security Essentials and the machine is rapidly infected and killed. ALL the other famous virus checkers slow down PCs and after 2 years or so - bring them to a halt. I have tried them all in the past 27 years. My Apps in Office 2003 are having new glitches - and support for those stops on 8th April. I suspect Office 2003 will be killed within the year. All later versions have the "Ribbon" user interface which is unusable (for me).

Office 2003  Solution - I have downloaded free Open Office which has the 4 basic apps - WORD, CALC, PPT, etc but not OUTLOOK. Open Office has the 2003 user interface and so far I find it works very well. 

Windows 8 Solution - I have tried about 10 times to download LINUX operating system. Most experts say, on the web, that it is easy - but I have failed to use it to boot up my laptop and drop XP. I'll keep trying. 

I guess that the worry and complexity of making my own hotch potch office programmes for my 12,000 or so  business files and my email is so overwhelming - and is not what I do as a day job - that despite the steep learning curve and costs I'll follow Pauline down the Apple route and wave a sad farewell to Bill and friends at MSoft. I guess the 37 million far-east XP users will do the same. Somebody totally mad or immensely clever has pitched MSoft against its best customers. 

I'll let you know if I can get LINUX (free) working. It has excellent reviews.

Noel

*****************

4th March 2014 - 

Noel

The windows xp saga.

I have taken advice from the shop that built my present desktop machine on using windows xp past the date when MS stop supporting it and the answer is that as long as there is good quality security software there is no problem in continuing to use xp.

Some websites work better or only work on high versions of internet explorer whereas with xp it is not possible to run higher the IE8 but there are many other web browsers, like Firefox or Google Chrome.

Best

John