(This is a re-post that I wrote & posted elsewhere...posting in the XP area here as there is no general OS area & XP was my personal stopping point in this line before going over to the Linux world more devoutly.) ================================== There has been much discussion & debate for a very long time about the pros & cons of computer operating systems. For this user it has always boiled down to the simple question used in this post's title: Who is in charge. My answer is equally simple: I am in charge of MY stuff. By way of contrast it seems that many other folks are either unaware of this important facet of their tech exposures, or indifferent to it to some degree. So - here I suggest a different way to look at it=> Pretend for a minute here that you have a car which you are satisfied enough with; it ain't great and it ain't terrible - it's OK and gets the job done. Some message comes to you from the folks who wrote the car's instructions (NOT the maker of the actual car itself) and they are telling you that as of some date your car's instructions will no longer be supported by them - so you'd better hurry to get a NEW CAR with the supported instruction set and that you must junk the old one (which still works perfectly well). Folks all around you are now talking about how it is BAD to keep such an older car and that if we don't all do as we've been told, who knows what bad things could happen. Worse even still, since cars use roads the older cars and the new cars will be on the same roads and if something BAD happens it will likely be blamed on the folks with older cars. Not wanting to be the 'bad guy', you cave under to the peer pressure and do this. Your new car has all sorts of features that seem quite impressive to you; Until you begin to see how easily they screw up. No more keys, for example - the car decides if it will allow you inside it - and to go to any destination you must tell it to the car and answer whether you agree to this a bunch of times before it will allow you to move so much as an inch. You finally get used to this, and around a year later that same company which makes no cars, contacts you again saying they've found some errors in what they wrote, and they are offering a much improved set of instructions that works better AND it even makes your car look nicer. All you have to do is agree to their terms, pick whether to get the economy or fancier version, pay a pretty big chunk of change - and install this thing. Nobody knows why - but they've named this new version '7' and most folks who get it seem to like it lots better than the obnoxious thing that came before it, and wish to keep it for a good, long time. Of course that it not in the plans of the instruction writers... Next comes the strangest version of all (8 ??), which tries to make your car do things like a phone - which freaks loads of folks right out - and this is so scary bad that the (by now very rich & powerful instruction writers...) come out with a less scary version (8.1). Then comes what many folks get really alarmed by - some even call it the 'carpocalypse'. The writers got so caught up in their own seemingly endless power that they've chosen to FORCE the next 'upgrade' into all the cars which have a sort of 'back door' built right into them - and this supposed 'upgrade' starts taking over cars world-wide. This gets really creepy too because the latest instruction set seems to remove ALL control from the car's users. - The car has no user controls anymore; - Users have to get the car to agree to where they want to go; - These cars are able to tell their users that known places do not exist; - The cars now report any & everything back to the instruction writers; - All movements are tracked & recorded; - Changes of all sorts are now made by the writers remotely anytime they want; - While helplessly sitting in your car the car's screen shows you stuff chosen by the writers for their own control & profit. And 'more', as the saying goes. Sadly, most folks just need basic transportation - so they are now having to use cars over which they have no control and no idea how to regain control of. Worst of all, everything is sealed 'by user agreement' and if anyone tries to make any changes that are not explicitly allowed by the all-powerful instruction writers, at minimum they are locked out of their own cars completely, and at worst their cars are taken away and they are sued into poverty for 'infringing upon the writer's intellectual properties'. Imaginary scenario ?? Sadly - no, not really. 'X' has indeed arrived via forced means - not yet to cars, but wait a bit as newer cars & their black boxes & automations take stronger & stronger hold - all for people's 'safety & security', of course. And having said all the above - just imagine how such forced control will be able to affect all forms of mass transport ?!? OK, end of the imaginary portion and back to the actual world conditions imposed on tech gear buyers & users by some instruction writers who think they are 'all powerful'... Yes, having a very nice, new computer or other device is very much like this now. 'Upgrades' are now forced 'for the user's own good' and multitudes of choices have been removed for the very same 'reason'. After all - we are all just stupid users right ?!? We are quite incapable of making our own choices and of choosing what is best for ourselves - right ?!? All the above is why this veteran IT guy chose to quit the IT world; it became insulting to the intelligence to such a degree as to become quite unbearable. (Good thing that Linux exists and does not (yet ??) resemble the above.)
I've read this and i have many..many....many questions about it but i only ask one: what does this (specificly) has to do with XP? Are they forcing any updates on xp? Okay, that are 2 questions
As I said up top^...: XP was my personal turning point OS-wise; where I turned away from m$ because of the BS propaganda aimed at FORCING folks to 'upgrade', and: I posted it here just because I found no better area at this forum for doing so. Does that make it clearer, I hope ??
I'd like to ask another question: Who should be in charge? Should a computer user with no clue about what an OS even is or does be left to upgrade his OS or install updates on his own? Should he have to care about his OS inevitably becoming obsolete, perhaps ending up buying a new computer just because he doesn't know any better? Or should the manufacturer try to do that for him, with the effect of not ending up with millions of machines running an unsupported OS, while still giving power users the choice to do otherwise? We've just seen 17 million people proudly demonstrate their incapability of recognizing "what's best" by voting for their nation's (and their continent's) economy as well as future generations' opportunities and freedoms to go to s**t. People shouldn't have to decide something they don't have much understanding of. But as far as OSes are concerned, they should be able to choose for themselves if they want to. And nobody's stopping you from running Windows XP, or Windows 7.
I see that the original intent of what I wrote has now gotten so bent out of shape as to be unrecognizable here. The OP is NOT about political anything; additionally, though it used the word -control-, it is really centered upon highlighting folks' abilities to make their own choices - a concept which is rapidly vanishing in today's world. Back to choice-making now: If/when I ever enter a vehicle that talks to me and tells me it will not allow me to go get groceries at the destination of my choosing - my answer to that will be to get some flammable stuff and matches. My point in all this, whether an OS or a vehicle: This is MY life and as a living man it is I who make the choices. Period.
Most are from countries the UK had milked in their golden years and have rights to migrate to the uk, not because of EU rules but because of colonial rights
Any time you buy any product, you're setting yourself up to face obsolescence sooner or later. If that were not true, we'd all still be computing on stone tablets, driving horse drawn carts, facing surgery in infectious conditions with no anesthesia and so on and so forth. I have a multitude of Microsoft licenses going back to the days of Windows 3.1 and Office '97; I have Apple software that dates back to the Apple II. In all I have something over 50 total Microsoft licenses. I forget exactly how many because none of them are current. I have no regrets for buying a single one even though none are currently being used. It's just the nature of things that products not only become outdated but they also face differing levels of support as time passes. I inherited a wonderful old typewriter and sewing machine both of which are long past their useful lifetimes. They still both work, but their capabilities have long since been superseded. I've heard the expression, "Dragged kicking and screaming into the 20 century". Of course that's now the 21st century, but the concept holds. I see no future in complaining and fretting about the past, what has been "lost" or how my hard earned money was taken by companies that can't respect my individual needs for decades long stretches. I simply have better, or more pressing, things to do. The future ain't what it used to be but one thing is for certain, it's coming at us. If the theory of evolution teaches us anything, it's this: adapt or die. I choose to adapt and not worry about what once was or was lost or is just not the way it used to be. I always did the best I could at the time (read that as made thoughtful purchases) and I'm satisfied with that.