Keeping it simple...

A long time ago - in the early 90's, one of the things that was the most important for me - was time. Time is money, and money is time. I had a business to run - a computer shop with a lab, a BBS (electronic bulletin board system - the precursor to today's "internet") - emails to deal with, software to download, a file archive to update, business clients and peers that I had to keep in touch with.

The laptop that I had - an ancient Toshiba 286, would boot up into LANtastic and MS-DOS, and I would be "good to go". Believe it or not, it was faster than some systems today. I turned on the machine, and after about 20 or 30 seconds, I was at the MS-DOS prompt and could start doing what I had to do - albeit from a primitive standpoint - I could still get something done immediately (relatively). I was very happy with that, and could multi-task in a primitive way (Desqview) - running multiple programs - and if absolutely necessary, I could boot into either OS/2 or Windows 3.11. But it was faster than some systems today.

I experiment with many different operating systems - GNU linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac OSX, BSD unix - and such being said, I'm in a situation where it's easy for me to find what works best, what works the fastest, what achieves the objectives required. Again, time is money, money is time.

In this past year - since I have to be familiar with all of the current software/operating system requirements of users - I've had to "experience" what Microsoft has touted as "the next generation" of Windows - because I've had to. I'm not impressed.

In the course of the past 26 years, the entire Windows "environment" has been the exact same thing, over and over again - a product that is broken by nature, a company that does not hold the "vision" of the end user as their priority, and it's always "too late in the game". This might be great for the shareholders - the ones enjoying the profits - but the rest of the user base is left, again, with a product lacking severely in too many respects.

Sorry, but that's just the plain truth.

I turn on a Windows 10 machine to have it updating - then it's updating while I'm trying to use it - and then updating once I'm done and want to turn off the machine. The apps from the Store are buggy - at best - and the promised functionality is more reminiscent of the "vapourware" that Microsoft pushed in the late 80's and into the early 90's. Sorry. I want to use my machine - not be enslaved to something that is constantly requiring my attention - and that I can't just turn on and then turn off. My machine - I want to use it. Not it use me. Again - sorry.

I turn on my 6 year old Macbook Pro (running the current version of OSX), wait 12 seconds, fire up my email and I'm "in the groove". I turn on my simple ASUS Vivo UN42 linux box, again, wait less than 10 seconds, and I'm doing email or surfing. I am NOT bothered with updates - updates and "other processes" are not happening whilst I'm trying to be productive - I just turn the machines on, and I work. I turn the machines off, and that's that. I am not faced - in either case - with an operating system that is telling me that it requires updating NOW - and - in either case - if there ARE updates, I am not faced with having to think about what the computer(s) is doing - at all.

I like efficiency and speed - and I also like to be in control of MY equipment - I do not like the idea of my equipment "being the boss" of me. That's not what technology is supposed to be about at all. I also like to NOT have to perform much maintenance on my systems - I do not have an antivirus program that HAS to run - there is no need of it for MacOS or linux (they're both based on unix). I don't have to worry about clutter and crap, I don't have to defrag hard disks. I use the machine, and that is that. End of story.

There has been much expression this year of utter dissatisfaction from the public - people that HAVE to have technology to operate their businesses - and they're looking for change - viable and stable change - a new option. At least there are options. It's my pleasure to show them to folks. YOUR time is money, and YOUR money is time.

There are many alternatives to the "Microsoft" hold...in doing some simple surfing, you'll quickly find out. There is an alternative answer to your needs and requirements. And a vast majority of them are free...pro gratis...

...and it all boils down to time and money.