In the grand scheme of things we are but wee bits of dust floating through time,
You know, I'm not exactly what you would call an early adopter of anything. Cars, clothes, trends, technology, you name it and I usually wait until they have it figured out before I change what I'm doing. On some things, I may never change because I'm convinced that a lot of the time the reasons you hear for changing are not really valid in the first place. I find that if you just wait a little bit the marketing hype is usually exposed and the real reasons are brought to light. I'm not so naive that I think I am always right about this kind of thing, however, I've been proven right time after time. By the time I am ready to get something or change what I'm using or doing, it's either going to be declared obsolete in a few days or replaced with the newer model, and mine will be no longer sold or supported by the place I bought it from though.
That's the downside of not jumping on the new product bandwagon, you sometimes get left behind. I still play an original Xbox and have two Xbox 360's in two different places in my house. I have no little kids so I see no need to get any kind of upgrade for a video game system and in the future, I'm not sure I will see a need then either. My daughter and son both bought this handheld system called a Switch made by Nintendo. Its a nifty little thing and has a great display and all but I don't see myself playing it. I hardly play what I have. It would just sit around and gather dust in the pile Of the stuff I can't find time to use. It seems to be pretty cool, but I don't see me playing it.
I still use a Windows XP computer every day for some odd chores. I also have a netbook running XP that is on 24 hours a day and displays the network view of my security system in my bedroom. I have two other computers in daily use that are running Windows 7 and my wife is using a Windows 7 laptop as well. I'm typing this blog post on a laptop running Windows 10 and my in-home file server actually is a Windows 2000 Compaq Web Server. They all do the job we need them to do and they do them just fine. They are secure and are protected in various ways so I really don't see the need to rush out and believe the hype that the world is gonna crash if we don't update everything to Windows 10 and throw all that useless "insecure obsolete junk" away. A long time ago I bought a Microsoft Zune media player because I was convinced It was the next big thing after mp3 players hit the market. At the time even though I had a healthy distrust of Microsoft over their policies of releasing unfinished crap and calling it software, I thought the 32 Gb version of the Zune had staying power and would power the music revolution. Shows you what I know huh? They dropped the damn thing about 3 months after I bought into the hype. The thing is though, it still works perfectly to this day.
So now that we have determined that I'm no Oracle of wisdom, I would like to point out some interesting things. I have a healthy distrust of hype in general so when they started saying we had to switch away from Windows XP because it was so "Insecure, full of holes, out of date" and so forth all I heard was "We need to sell you new stuff". It turns out I was as close to right as you can be in this situation because of what happened next. Right after Windows XP, we were led to believe that Vista was the savior and it would fix everything. Except that no one liked Vista and it had a curious problem. It crashed. A lot. So they rolled out a Service Pack to fix it. Except for one thing. It broke more than it fixed. It made networking home computers impossible and made consumers very very mad. So they rolled out another Service Pack, except they rebranded it and renamed Windows Vista too, wait for it, tada tada, Windows 7, which they then started selling as a stand-alone operating system.
Several months passed and in the lifecycle development of Operating systems also called sales year over last year began to lag and what happened next was no surprise. All of a sudden Windows 7 was "Insecure, and full of holes and couldn't be trusted" to keep your computer and data safe any longer because of the ever-evolving threats from the internet. You just had to get Windows 8 in order to be safe. Except for one very tiny problem. A really very small problem that almost went by unnoticed happened to consumers who believed the hype that Microsoft wouldn't "support" their systems any longer. They changed everything to a new kind of interface with controls and buttons in all-new places and EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE hated it. The backlash they faced over the switch they made with Windows 8 got people in Redmond Wa. fired because they told the bosses that everyone would love it and it was seamless change and the transition would be smooth. Ha! No one liked it at all and most people either spent money downloading software that made their machines look like the other versions they had or they downloaded the instructions to do it themselves. A small percentage hated it so much they deleted it and started over with the last version. Then came Windows 10 which is a combined version of both Windows 8 and 10 and tried to make everybody happy. Most home users still don't like it unless this is what they used in school and got used to this somewhere else. Anyone old enough to remember Vista hates Windows 10, I'm convinced of that.
Did you notice that there was no Windows 9? Well, there actually was but no one knew it. They sent out one of their famous Service Packs as they updated Windows 8 which was an almost complete re-write of the operating system but it took so long and they almost had the next versions ready to ship so they just decided to skip the Windows 9 nameplate because it would have confused everyone and made them look dumber than they already did. Bill gates had already left the company by this point with his Billions so he didn't give two craps anyway.
Before you get on me about my so-called love of Windows XP however let me let you in on a little secret. First, it has a bigger share of the overall market than the original Windows 8, the Chrome OS, and Vista. It's also much bigger individually than any version of Linux or the MAC OSX system.
You can see for yourself at OP system Market Share, Keep in mind that this does not include any of the embedded versions of XP that are running every machine in almost every factory around the world and in every restaurant system that uses multiple display systems. It's also still used in almost every major banking system ATM machines. That's right boys and Girls, the insecure and useless version of Windows that Microsoft hyped as so bad for us is what you trust to safeguard your money. There are also millions of versions of this system embedded on chips in everything from gas pumps to freight trains to ticketing systems to air traffic control systems around the world. the last time I saw a cost analysis they said it would take expenditures in the hundreds of billions of dollars to upgrade this to newer systems and there would probably be ZERO payback for doing so. Do you feel lied to yet?
So anyway, to make a long story long, I'm not an early adopter of anything however I finally replaced my iPhone 5s with an iPhone 11 the other day. It's nice and everything but I resent the fact that I had to get new charging cables for it. Although this wireless charging thing is pretty cool so I'll give it that. I'm sure since I just got it that any day now they will announce it is obsolete and needs to be replaced.
Now boarding on track 9, Chattanooga, Kansas City, and Cucamonga! All aboard!!
- This cop situation in Minneapolis is disheartening, to say the least. Another man dies for no good reason. If the video of the man basically dying under the knee of the cop doesn't bother you then really, you need professional help. I love cops and count a couple as friends. I would not want to live in a society without them. There is no spin and no way to support what this man did, however. He should be arrested and tried for whatever level of murder is appropriate. A thousand miles away, Chattanooga Police Chief David Roddy is making his voice heard, telling fellow law enforcement officers they should turn in their badges if they don't have an issue with the officers' actions.
I'm not a prosecutor and am not an attorney so I will leave it to them to argue the circumstances, however it is my opinion that this man, the policeman, belongs in jail for what he did. I don't know any other person, policeman, or not who would have done what he did. It is so sad and so unnecessary, That doesn't excuse the looting and the fires being set and the rioting, however. They are just using this provocation as an excuse to be wild and crazy and to rob and burn. It will change nothing to throw bottles of lit gasoline into Auto Parts stores. - The weather has delayed the Space-X launch of the astronauts into space until this Saturday. I hope they get it right.
- Animals that are used to dealing regularly with humans such as your own pets and the ones in petting zoos and animal water parks are displaying some pretty strange behaviors. There are stories of Dolphins bring gifts to people walking along the shore. Other stories and videos on Youtube purport to show wild animals taking strolls into city spaces they normally wouldn't come anywhere near. Experts say that it would take multiple years of lockdowns to really change a species behavior around us, but the evidence to the contrary is everywhere especially online.
- An active-duty soldier assigned to Fort Leavenworth intervened in and stopped an active-shooter situation yesterday near his base. Apparently, the nut job (they haven't released any names yet) was shooting indiscriminately at people with a long rifle and a handgun and the soldier ran him over with his car. Good for him. People are calling him a hero, Police say he undoubtedly saved countless lives. Good for him. They better not charge him with anything.
- Shoppers' buying habits are changing rapidly and appear to be going to stay that way according to industry analysts. They say as more of the workforce becomes online shoppers for consumer goods and as the older population starts to embrace new technologies, this trend will probably grow and never reverse. Early evidence suggests a shift in buying habits is accelerating, that consumers are buying more products for health and hygiene, and are increasingly more cost-conscious as well. A lot is unknown but it is clear that lifestyle shifts and trends in spending patterns are going to outlast social distancing measures. Some large online retailers have seen gains of as much as 30% in online shopping, with Proctor and Gamble reporting an upward push of 35%. Something to think about kids.
I already have stopped buying Icees at Kroger.
I can get them cheaper and all year long from Amazon !!
BigMike
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