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If my maintaining platform was this labor intensive I'd never get anything done. Please pardon the mispellings and occassional insane word substitution I'm on an iPhone > On Nov 29, 2015, at 1:21 PM, John Haley <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > There were good reasons why Windows XP was the big workhorse for Corporate > America for so long, and why Corporate America resisted changing for as > long as it could. Microsoft had to take extraordinary measures to force XP > to die, murdering its own product to force in the new ones. > > Best, > John > > >> On Sun, Nov 29, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >> >> Richard's situation is more complex but in some ways similar to mine. I >> run two XP machines, and will continue to for the foreseeable. One is the >> secondary DAW in the studio (formerly the primary DAW). I run XP on that >> because the last reliable/stable/repeatable version of Roxio disc-burning >> software runs on XP. The new version, now owned by a different company, is >> awful, unstable and doesn't do some of its claimed DVD-authoring features. >> I also have an older version of Sony Vegas and Sony's DVD-authoring >> software that runs well on XP and I did not want to fool with trying to >> make it run well on W7. That computer also runs Soundforge 9, the last >> version of Soundforge that seamlessly integrated with Sony's CDArchitect >> software (current versions of Soundforge include a stand-alone version of >> CDArchitect which cannot be accessed and a projected dumped into it >> directly from Soundforge). Finally, that machine has one of the older, >> super-reliable Plextor Pro optical drives in it. That computer continues to >> be very useful for authoring, duplicating, ripping and otherwise working >> with optical media. >> >> In my home office, the main computer still runs XP. I have a bunch of >> older programs on it, and prefer the older Office interfaces, the older >> Photoshop setup and the older Outlook Express e-mail client. I know I will >> be forced to "upgrade" out of this world one day, but the computer still >> does these tasks plenty fast, so that day is hopefully many months and >> years away. >> >> Everything else around here runs W7 except that one computer (now the >> primary DAW in the studio), which runs W10. However, as I said, after >> hearing Dave's tales of woe, I might swap back in the W7 drive. As I also >> said, W7-64 is a fast operating environment for the kinds of things I do. I >> don't prefer the W7 user interface to XP. I find things like navigating and >> moving files take more steps or mouse-clicks, and I prefer the "classic" >> folders view. As I said, I was an early adopter of Windows 95, I learned >> quickly how to do things efficiently. By the time of Office 2003, they had >> gotten all those apps running fast and almost always crash-free. So I see >> no need to re-learn any of this since I can do what I need to do very >> quickly and know a bunch of control-key shortcuts. In most ways, XP was an >> ideal system because it brought all the good ideas of the original Windows >> forward, kept things familiar enough, made some things easier and more >> refined, and finally made the old NT-style kernal rock-solid. I understand >> why they needed to do a bunch of things from scratch with Windows 7, but >> they didn't need to redesign the Office interface, definitely didn't need >> to do all the stupid interface chances with Windows 8 and should spend more >> time making sure W7, W8 and W10 are as rock-solid as XP ended up being. >> >> -- Tom Fine >> >> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard L. Hess" < >> [log in to unmask]> >> To: <[log in to unmask]> >> Sent: Sunday, November 29, 2015 11:37 AM >> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Wibdows 10? >> >> >> Hi, John, >>> >>> Your eagle eye was working...as I stated in the other message, Windows XP >>> is very peripheral to the vast majority of my work. I keep it around for my >>> thermal transfer CD/DVD printer. Although I intended to switch to inkjet >>> printable CDs, I haven't had the need to place an order for the blanks >>> yet...my usage of optical media has gone WAY down. I have been able to >>> convince almost all my software...or find substitutes for it...to run on >>> Windows 10. Remember, I've been running Windows 7 since early 2011, and I >>> found that a far more difficult transition. All but one of the W7 and later >>> machines I'm responsible for have been 64 bit. I was very conservative with >>> one friend who does writing and editing, so her first post-XP machine was >>> W7/32. Her second machine was W8.1/64. >>> We had 10 W7 and and 2 W8.1 machines in our family of four. The >>> Historical Society I do IT work for has 4 W7 and 1 W8.1 machine and then >>> there is the aforementioned friend with two machines. So, that brings me to >>> 18 post XP machines to care for and worry about. >>> >>> I have actually done 7 of the 12 machines here. My three towers and two >>> laptops and the two oldest (now surplus) machines when the boys each got an >>> 8.1 laptop as their original primary machine had issues. Issues fixed, >>> older backup machines made surplus. One of those updated has the W10 >>> install on a HD in a drawer and a new HD with Open SUSE Linux on it just >>> for my amusement...I am easily amused. >>> >>> To complete the picture, I have three "keeper" XP machines. The original >>> 2003 XP machine I bought is the one doing the printer support in the >>> studio. I have a later machine set up as an audio workstation that has been >>> used for massive optical disk burning projects in the past and also for DAT >>> ingest in the past with a second operator. A third machine is kept as a >>> backup for the one in the studio. I have a crummy machine in a nice case >>> and a nice 2004 laptop that was even too slow for Linux, so it stays XP. >>> Those two machines are heading out the door someday soon. The tower >>> probably to recycling and hopefully someone will take the laptop via >>> Kijiji. I also have an HP 100 LX and HP 200 LX palmtop DOS computers which >>> I rarely use now. >>> >>> So, since Microsoft is offering free upgrades until July 29, 2016, I >>> thought I should get started soonish. >>> http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/windows-10/upgrade-to-windows-10-faq >>> >>> I first upgraded my "good" laptop (4th gen i5, 8 GB, orig W7 Home >>> Premium) to W10 and was able to use it without a hitch. I researched the >>> drivers for most of my equipment and tried one particularly fussy piece >>> (Nikon Super Coolscan 5000ED/LS5000) on the laptop. All was good. >>> >>> So, I went ahead and over about a week upgraded the three towers and the >>> workshop laptop. Then I upgraded the two older machines as described above. >>> I was surprised that the little single-core "netbookish" PC ran >>> surprisingly well, but don't ask it to multitask! If you are familiar with >>> the Passmark CPU ratings, the netbookish has a rating about 500 (the same >>> as a Pentium IV 3.2 GHz machine) but the system seems faster (64 vs 32 >>> bits?). The HP that became a Linux machine scores about 1400. The boys' >>> newer laptops and mine score around 4000 as does my ingest desktop. The two >>> other desktops score around 6000 and the W8.1 machine at the Historical >>> Society scores over 10,000 and has a boot SSD--it screams. Our other >>> laptops are around 2500. >>> >>> So with the two spares and my five done, my further deployment will be >>> the boys' pairs over Christmas and my wife's and the five Historical >>> Society machines and my other friend's two in the late winter (Feb-Mar). >>> >>> It works because we will no longer have the mix of 7 and 8.1 for >>> different users/organizations. >>> >>> Windows 10 plusses: >>> --boots faster >>> --resolves some driver/hardware/software issues >>> (one remains unresolved on one of two machines) >>> --A superior UI to W8.1 and more like W7 in some respects >>> --Improved UI functionality on many fronts >>> --quite compatible (I Had to install a new driver to get >>> expected results from a 8-9 year old HP laser printer >>> HP had the driver available (HP P2015dn) >>> >>> Windows 10 minuses: >>> --you actually have to DO IT. Although the upgrade process is >>> automated you still need to go through all the functions and >>> see if anything is not working. >>> --A very few programs will not run. I can't recall anything that >>> needed a paid-for license to run. I do recall buying a few things, >>> but don't remember the reason...think it was "nice to have." >>> --W7 gadgets won't run, but the performance meters are available as >>> part of 8gadgetpak which runs fine on 10. I use a very cut-down >>> version of just the CPU on the netbook. >>> http://8gadgetpack.net/ >>> Seems safe http://bit.ly/1NjsMFp >>> I have used the "suite" from Addgadgets.com which are included: >>> All CPU Meter, Drives Meter, Network Meter plus the Microsoft >>> analog clock, also included. >>> >>> This is one thing I don't have to worry about until 2025 or so and I >>> won't have to spend money or needlessly dispose of machines in 2020 due to >>> the cost of upgrade then. I might want to, but most of our machines are >>> pretty competent. >>> >>> As to Microsoft Office, I have been using Libre Office for a while. It is >>> not perfect, but it's good and is being actively developed. We've been >>> under a bunch of pressure to save money at the Historical Society (for good >>> reasons) and I suggested one way to do that on the three new machines we >>> purchased last year was to use Libre Office instead of Microsoft Office. >>> People are adapting well, from what I hear. Unless the boys require an >>> updated version of MS Office, I don't see a reason to go beyond version >>> 2010. >>> >>> The replacement for Publisher and Visio is more difficult. The Libre >>> Office Draw is a simple drawing program, not Visio, but can be used for >>> many things. Scribus is a full-featured desktop publishing application and >>> having never been a fan of Publisher, I did a project last year in Scribus >>> that worked fine. I don't do enough DTP to warrant keeping InDesign >>> current. I have old versions (pre-CS) and the free CS2 version, but opted >>> for Scribus the last time I needed to do something to make certain that the >>> licensing was valid. (CS2's licensing is a bit iffy if you haven't bought >>> that version, which I hadn't). I like InDesign CS2 better than Scribus, >>> partially because I learned a bunch of things on InDesign. With that said, >>> Publisher 2003 seems to at least open and load a template on W10. >>> >>> There are Win 9x programs that were written for various digital >>> multimeters that sometimes ran under XP but balk at 64 bit OSs. I don't >>> have any post-XP 32-bit machines here. >>> >>> The W7 XP 32 bit virtual machine is gone from Windows 10, although my CD >>> printer software did not run under it. My old version of Visio did, but I >>> stopped using that long ago so I wouldn't create more documents. Libre >>> Office spent a lot of time on importing Visio docs to their draw program >>> and I thank them for that. Not perfect, but good. >>> >>> That's all I can think of...think I'll turn this into a blog post. >>> >>> Cheers, >>> >>> Richard >>> >>>> On 11/29/2015 9:51 AM, John Haley wrote: >>>> >>>> I noticed in the separate string about "laptop upgrade" (really about >>>> external small DAC's), that you, Richard Hess, said you have upgraded >>>> most >>>> of your computers to Windows 10. I have been hesitating to do that >>>> myself, >>>> simply because things are working now the way they are, using various >>>> other >>>> Windows versions (except XP, which has now unfortunately left the >>>> building >>>> for me, along with some great programs that I lost). I don't want to >>>> invite trouble, and as we all know, Microsoft is not really our friend. >>>> And I have read somewhere online that Windows 10 has had a bug involving >>>> hi-def audio files. >>>> >>>> But if you are using Windows 10 for audio work, Richard, and all is going >>>> well, maybe I will do the free upgrades to Windows 10 on all my >>>> computers. >>>> Microsoft sure wants me to, with all the constant nagging upgrade >>>> messages. That in itself is almost a reason not to. >>>> >>>> How has your experience been with Windows 10? Any problems? >>>> >>>> And others on the list? Liking it? Not liking it? >>>> >>>> Thanks, >>>> John Haley >>>> >>>> -- >>> Richard L. Hess email: [log in to unmask] >>> Aurora, Ontario, Canada 647 479 2800 >>> http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm >>> Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes. >>> >>> >>>