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If you know me\u2014at all\u2014you know that I use a lot of different forms of technology, from different providers. This gives me the foundation to be able to tell you authoritatively that it is not just Microsoft that keeps changing stuff.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s start by saying that, although a horse and buggy is an adequate way to get around and works for some situations, it is not the best way to get from Miami to Seattle, and it just won\u2019t take you from New York to London. Some folks like a horse and buggy just fine, and are not likely interested in going from Miami to Seattle or from New York to London. If you use a computer at all, you probably also use some form of motorized conveyance. That motorized conveyance, it is fair to guess, does not use the same wheels that the horse-drawn buggy uses. Wheels have been developed that make it possible to travel at higher rates of speed, turned by the power generated by the engine and transmitted to the axles. Buggy wheels simply would not withstand my 35-mile commute on the interstate at 70 miles per hour for most of the way.<\/p>\n
So with computer hardware and software, change is not only likely, it\u2019s inevitable. Research provides opportunities to produce better hardware. High-intensity users like gamers and engineers drive that research. \u00a0Programmers take advantage of the improved performance to get the software to ask more of the hardware, and because the hardware can handle tasks more efficiently, other features can be added because the hardware is capable of producing them.<\/p>\n
So this is all good; we like it when more stuff, cooler stuff, better stuff, can be added. \u00a0As long as\u2026<\/p>\n
As long as it all works with all the other stuff we aren\u2019t ready to replace, and as long as it\u2019s easy to incorporate into our existing routine, and as long as it doesn\u2019t have a steep learning curve\u2026<\/p>\n
I agree that some things were better left not done. There have been times when I have shaken my head and wondered \u201c\u2014Just WHY did they do that?\u201d \u00a0The Unity interface in Ubuntu\u2026Windows ME\u2026.the way reminders work in iOS 7\u2026and especially, to name one very recent one, the \u201cMetro\u201d interface that Windows 8 is using, in a misguided attempt to create a uniform experience across various devices. All of those examples notwithstanding, there comes a time when good things, even some great things, must come to an end.<\/p>\n
Graphical operating systems brought computing to \u201cnormal\u201d users. All of a sudden using a computer didn\u2019t require a knowledge of a programming language. And ever since then, Windows users have been complaining about the changes. I didn\u2019t like Windows 95, it was \u201cdifferent.\u201d That was, of course, before I knew what I was talking about. It WAS different. But the things that were different about it were good things. \u00a0It was the introduction of an operating system that didn\u2019t rely on another operating system. It wasn\u2019t just a pretty shell that resided over a DOS system. And that was what made it so good! And then along came 98, which added a bit of stability to 95. \u00a0NT\u2014remember NT? \u00a0Rock solid and built for business. And Millennium Edition (ME) looked so much like 98, but wasn\u2019t, in a lot of ways. It bombed. Horribly. Windows 2000, NOT to be confused with ME, built on everything good in NT. But it wasn\u2019t until XP that we saw another round of real innovation. And boy, did people hate XP. It was different! \u00a0Even with the ability to change to a \u201cclassic\u201d view, it was still different. What wasn\u2019t clear to the average user was how much better it was under the hood. XP was able to take advantage of a lot of hardware improvements, and XP was ready for the latest networking technologies. XP was able to win over the masses, but it took several years.<\/p>\n
And then along came Vista. \u00a0Look, I know most people hated Vista, but given time, Vista became a fine operating system. The biggest problem was NOT with Vista. It was NOT with Microsoft. It was with the developers of the software that was supposed to make Vista work with older hardware. Many of them underestimated what a fundamental change the Operating System Kernel had undergone. When \u201clegacy\u201d (read that \u201cold\u201d) printers and scanners and stuff wouldn\u2019t work, people blamed their nice new computer. \u00a0For a year or so, Vista wasn\u2019t fabulous. \u00a0But when Service Pack One came out for it, a lot of the little quirks were handled and Vista became remarkably stable. I have one machine that runs Vista, and it almost never gives me any trouble. And Windows 7 gave Microsoft a chance to make Vista what it really should have been all along, without the stigma of the Vista title.<\/p>\n
But look, XP came out in 2001\u2014going on 13 years ago. \u00a0That\u2019s a very long time for an operating system to be as popular as XP has been. And for the most part, XP has been stable and solid. However, it has also been plagued with security issues. The very things that have made it unpleasant for some people trying to adapt to Vista and Windows 7, and now Windows 8, have been the things that have plugged some security holes. Let\u2019s face it, the bad guys aren\u2019t stupid, and if they find a vulnerability, they will figure out a way to exploit it.<\/p>\n
How long should Microsoft be expected to support \u2014how many operating systems? Right now, they are supporting Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and for a few more months (till April of 2014), Windows XP, plus several server operating systems. XP is never going to catch up with the latest innovations in hardware, it simply can\u2019t. It was built for the hardware of its time. Microsoft had to decide if it was going to throw resources at supporting an older system or put the effort into keeping up with advances in hardware. I think it made the right decision.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s never just Microsoft that does this; one of the podcasters I listen to is stuck at Apple\u2019s Snow Leopard; he can\u2019t upgrade to Lion because his podcasting software won\u2019t work on it. He could probably buy the version of that software that will work on Lion, or he could probably use some other software. That\u2019s not what he wants to do, so he is going to stay with the older operating system. I was stuck at older versions of some of the apps my iPhone uses until I got a newer phone, because the newest phone operating system wouldn\u2019t run on my old hardware. I did not expect Apple to continue to develop the operating system to take advantage of the improved hardware and still run well on my older hardware. It is simply too difficult to reach indefinitely in both directions.<\/p>\n
If your horse and buggy serves you well, keep using it. You are aware that getting to Seattle from Miami will take a while, and you are aware that your horse and buggy simply will not take you from New York to London without a whole lotta help. If doing those things isn\u2019t something that has value to you, you\u2019re good to go. \u00a0But you might want to source a wheelwright, in case one of your wheels breaks. Those don\u2019t last forever, either.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you know me\u2014at all\u2014you know that I use a lot of different forms of technology, from different providers. This gives me the foundation to be able to tell you authoritatively that it is not just Microsoft that keeps changing stuff. Let\u2019s start by saying that, although a horse and buggy is an adequate…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,10,9],"tags":[269,271,272,273,274,70,356,50,418,502,503,520,558,574,585,599,158,632,644,697,703,187,723,741,750,780,835,845,215,934,943,238,1015,1021,1040,1044,1052,257,1067],"class_list":["post-137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recentrelevant","category-commentary-and-consideration","category-basics","tag-269","tag-271","tag-272","tag-273","tag-274","tag-apple","tag-buggy","tag-computer","tag-conveyance","tag-engine","tag-engineer","tag-exploit","tag-gamer","tag-graphical","tag-hardware","tag-horse","tag-innovation","tag-ios","tag-kernel","tag-me","tag-metro","tag-microsoft","tag-motorized","tag-nt","tag-operating-system","tag-performance","tag-program","tag-provider","tag-research","tag-software","tag-speed","tag-technology","tag-ubuntu","tag-unity","tag-vista","tag-vulnerability","tag-wheel","tag-windows","tag-xp"],"yoast_head":"\n