So I get this message when I boot up my Excel 2010 that sometime soon Microsoft is going to stop support for Office 2010 and wouldn't I just like to switch to the cloud now and keep out the rodents and predators forever.?ÿ I don't remember the fee; it is not terrible, but it is a fee.
Then I check my email and the 100 gb of storage that Google gave me for free when I bought my Pixel 2 was really an introductory thing and it's about to expire and wouldn't I just like to extend it for a year for $20. I get 15 gb for free anyway and I've barely scratched the surface of that but it's embarrassing to admit that I use so little cloud storage. On the other hand, $20 is $20, so what should I do?
Now the lady who helps us with housework on Fridays bought an HP Chromebook for her daughter for $100 at WalMart when Black Friday came on Thursday afternoon. Some lady in the checkout line told her that the computer will only last for two years and then the operating system will be no good. I'm typing this on a Chromebook that I got a year ago, so I was skeptical, but a little research turned up the fact that all Chromebooks have a pre-determined end of life (EOL) when Google stops automatic updates to their operating systems. My EOL is June, 2023, others are sooner or later, many have already come, but this is the first I've heard of it.
Currently there are two decent fixes to the EOL. The Chrome OS apparently has a Linux kernel, so installing Linux is an option for many. For others, there's CloudReady by Neverware. There is some screwdriver work involved, but not too complicated, I think. Of course, a third fix is to just keep using it; it's only the updates that stop,
My first thought upon hearing Microsoft's news was to just ditch them and use Sheets and Docs for everything. You might be surprised at how many schools and businesses do exactly that. Then Google hit me with paying for storage and EOL for my Chromebook, so now I'm truly befuddled.
Home IT can be difficult.
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The older I get the less I like "progress." I still use Office 1993 and Word 2000. ?ÿ In my ideal dream world they would fix the bugs in XP and keep everything compatible with it.?ÿ But that ship sailed long ago.
Working at a big company has it advantages. At the office we run Microsoft Office 365, Onedrive with Cloudstorage included. Each employer is entitled to 5 installations (1 on the office laptop and 4 free of choise) and the IOS and Android App versions.
Youngest son is student and his registration fee for a year (?ª900) is software student licenses all included (Office 365, Autocad, ...)
I never paid for Office software at home, and have worked with OpenOffice for a couple of years but that was in the times of Wordperfect. Many many (+25) years ago I paid for Quatro Pro (spreadsheet) and Paradox (Database)
Chr.?ÿ
Valuable benefits in this day and age. At the other extreme, a small call center operation somewhat near us wanted to switch to work-from-home. Employees were to buy their own equipment and work at the same wage as before.
Their employees were smarter than they were given credit for being and the deal was DOA.
I guess it would depend on how much equipment there was to buy. I would be tempted if there wasn't a big cost to it. Save gas, wear & tear on vehicle, my time traveling back and forth to work, not having to deal with other co-workers. And of course, working in my pajamas!
You know, it's a great big ol' world and there's a place for all of us in it. Big company, small company, solo practice, we all seem able to find our niche.
I was really bothered by my friend and helper's Chromebook experience. On the one hand, $100 is probably a bargain for the two-year EOL machine. On the other hand, second-rate equipment on a Black Friday sale was not what she was expecting, but that may be the norm now.
Again, it's just the updates, and there are fixes, but it's the principle of the thing.
I have a Dell I3 laptop for home use. $400. Windows 10. No fees attached to that.?ÿ My last computer, roughly the same, lasted about 6 years - and was still working when I decided to retire it.?ÿ I use Windows Defender for anti-virus, no fee.?ÿLibreOffice provides 95% of the functionality of Office (except for email) for no charge. For email I use Thunderbird, also free.?ÿ Backup? A 2Tb external HD at Costco is just a little over $50.?ÿ 16GB thumb drives are under $10 everywhere.?ÿ
So a little more upfront than a Chromebook, but cheaper in the long run. And no nagging charges.
Not that much more for your setup. My Chromebook is a Lenovo 500e with a Celeron processor and it was something over $300. It and the 300e are widely used in schools and I was experimenting as much as computing when I bought it.
I'm actually impressed with Sheets and Docs. Not as robust as Excel and Word, but I like the challenge of finding workarounds. Also, the 500e is physically durable. It's heavy and can withstand some drops and spills.
But I'm impressed with your solution, too. Fact is, you can do all the Chromebook stuff on your machine and still have the Windows stuff, too. That's where Chromebooks lose out, in my opinion.
I wanted to know what students have available with Chromebooks and I've found out, I think. I don't know if schools would be better off to buy somewhat low-end Windows machines and use Chrome or stick with Chromebooks and their sunset policy.
Of course, there is this. My nine-year-old grandson has an MSI gaming laptop and he actually laughed at my Chromebook. So owning a Chromebook is a lot like owning a cat; you have to have a lot of self-confidence.
"So owning a Chromebook is a lot like owning a cat; you have to have a lot of self-confidence."
I've been told that cats don't have owners... they have a staff!
Loyal
I just bought a Dell Precision T4650 i7 16gb ram 500gb hard drive Windows 10 Enterprise for less than $200, 3 500gb SSD drives to replace my 3 main computer hard drives for $210 and a WD 6tb external drive for $99 and so I can be on the internet and use TurboTax to file my income tax returns for this past year.
Hard drives and external memory are dirt cheap right now, I don't need no cloud.
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Yep, I'm with you on the cloud. My computing needs are an infinitesimal fraction of yours, but neither the Chromebook nor an iPad will meet them all. TurboTax is a good example, as is Google Earth, which runs as an app in the Chromebook and is not the same. I also use a computer algebra system called Geogebra which has an app version, but it's not the same either. Then there's subscription mapping software and other purchased and free stuff, much of it old and unavailable now, that has to be resident to run.
All in all, I like the Chromebook for a lot of reasons (it's great for streaming football games on ESPN+), but I think that serious students and others need more and I think that schools should explore Windows options before jumping on the Google wagon. Of course, one thing that school computers need is durability and that's not generally found in low-end windows machines. Whatever damage your guys can do to hardware in the field, a student can do more in a classroom, so durability is a big consideration.
i'm still miffed about the two-year life of the Black Friday machines, though. To me that's using the Black Friday term to unload otherwise unsalable products. That's misleading and it just plain stinks.
I no longer trust "the cloud". Using someone else's computer to store my valuable personal data make's no sense to me.
You might consider trying Syncthing... and either share space on your other old computers. Or, do like I do... share drive space with other known parties. (folders on my computers shared with a business partner, off site. Both of us using redundant backups. IMPORTANT files are encrypted)
PS: half of these devices are off-site
I no longer trust "the cloud". Using someone else's computer to store my valuable personal data make's no sense to me.
It makes a lot of sense to me, as long as it's encrypted and I also have a local copy.?ÿ Belt and suspenders.
absolutely! Syncthing is Not A Backup... that is a separate issue.?ÿ (the same for Mega, Dropbox, Amazon, etc.)
BTW: All files/folders (local and Remote) are Also backed-up on those other machines, automatically on offset schedules. Redundant Backups!
Everything that is "private" is encrypted as needed, just the same as it is on my local machine.
Can you blame them? I mean; if you built the end all, beat all, package of software; eventually, EVERYONE would own a copy and you'd be out of business.
I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying; that's the way it is...
Resistance is futile
Microsoft is going to stop support for Office 2010
I don't care what Microsoft does about support you can still use the product. I have it on 7 office computers as a stand alone on each computer. Works fine never needed support for anything. Microsoft support breaks something in order to fix something else. ?????ÿ
@flga-pls-2-2
Yes, it seems that they do. What's interesting to me is the comparison between the Microsoft discontinuance and the Google end of life. Microsoft says come to the cloud where everything is always up to date and just pay as you go. The implication, to me at least, is that I'm good to go forever.
Google with the Chromebook appeared to be saying something similar. With a Chromebook, you're always up to date. Well, not exactly, because we're going to quit updating your machine after a certain date. Mind you, we know that date, but you have to search for it after you've somehow learned about it.
I'm okay with it because accommodating new processors will likely crowd old ones out and for other reasons. And there are workarounds, so it's not a given that the old computer is scrap. But, won't Microsoft's cloud stop supporting some processors at some point, rendering their solution non-permanent?
Here are some thought questions on a larger dollar scale: What is Tesla's approach to updates for older vehicles? Will they or won't they run into similar problems? When the first Teslas become classics, will they be inoperable?
Our school has purchased many Chromebooks.?ÿ They have a four year life.?ÿ Period.?ÿ That's the deal.?ÿ Get to buy new ones every four years.?ÿ But, considering the way they are abused, that's probably a good number.
