Angusmatheson

I certainly understand why develops do not like the 30% fee and would want it changed. However, I don’t understand the idea that Apple should be legally forced to change. First, I love app stores because they can be a source of virus and malware free programs. I am in charge of a bunch of windows PCs at work, and you wouldn’t believe the crap they get on them. The macs we have are locked down and can only get things from the App Store.

If Apple cannot set prices for being on its App Store, can Nitendo on the switch or Microsoft on the Xbox. Apple has a monopoly on iOS (which I’m not sure is a real monopoly. Given lots of other computing platforms – but even given that) but by that logic Nitendo is monopoly on switch and Microsoft on Xbox. If they cannot set the price, who does? Do the devlopers?, courts? Tell Apple, Nitendo, Microsoft what they can charge to put and sell programs/games on their platforms.the developers will say basically nothing. And courts will be a big mess. I see this ruining all on line app stores. This is a problem because hardware makers like Apple, Nitendo, and Microsoft make back some of the price of development and manufacturing by the profits they make on the App Store. We might get cheaper software (or the same price and just richer developers) but we will certainly get more expensive hardware. And what about AppStore’s like Steam or Epic. Do they have a right to set the price for using their app stores? If not who should say what they can charge? They don’t have a hardware sales to support them like apple does if fees are very low.

I am also struggling with the complaints about apple’s App Store moderation. The whole advantage of an App Store is that it is moderated. It seems to me that Apple is a business, they can choose what they are going to publish on the App Store – the way I cannot make Newsweek publish my article why app stores are great or picture of me nude. Newsweek choose not to put naked pictures in its magazine. Apple choose not to have pornographic apps in the App Store. As a business apple and Newsweek have the right to decide what to publish or not publish. Do I have a right to put my software in Tesla’s cars? Like some argue that Twitter has a right to be on Apple’s iPhones?

I am so grateful for App stores. From iOS, to PlayStation, to switch, to steam they allow me and my family to download high quality programs without risk of viruses. And that is the final point which I really care about. These stores should and often do provide moderation which keeps the programs virus free. 1) that takes some money so the price cannot be zero and 2) they have to have a day in what is published and what is not or viruses not. Now I made an argument for moderation for contact above. But more important for me is that they check for viruses.

let’s not let them destroy all app stores. I agree that 30% foe Apple seems very high. And apple keeping some apps out of their store seems appropriate.

*sorry for all the typos. There are now so many comments I don’t feel right changing it. But reading it is cringeworthy. I’m sure all of my old English teachers are groaning and shaking their heads.*

I have a constant widget in my take bar that always gives my the temperature outside which is built into windows 10. But I have to install a separate program to see the temperature of my CPU. Doesn’t that seem backwards? I always know the temperature outside that day. I need a weather app to tell me the weather this weekend, in a few days, or the next time it is going to rain.

I admit I don’t always, or even often, need to see my CPU temp, but it is interesting. And at least sometimes I do need to see it. And at least the CPU temp does change based on what I am doing. And given it does seem like putting the temperature of that computer in the display of that computer seems relevant. Or at least make it easy to find with a built in program that I could use add as a widget.

So Apple has a little apple on the back of its laptops. HP has a fancy H and P on the back of their laptops. Surface has 4 squares. That are completely symmetrical. For the others, by looking at the logo, you can tell which way is up and how to open it. With the surface, the orientation of the image on the back doesn’t help you at all. Why? If they were into that image, great just don’t put it in the exact center of the back. Even a little higher or lower would have been great.

As someone who goes from Mac, to Linux, to Windows. I’ve never understood why the Trash is called Recycle Bin. Is it because the Bits on the drive are being re-used? Did they not want to copy apple’s Mac Trash? But Linux just puts trash like Mac. Is it supposed to inspire us to recycle in real life? In the 90s desktop skeumorphism was totally a thing - windows 98 had a briefcase that would sync files with your PDA. But it is 2022, does the thing on our computer’s desktop still have to look like an object in my office. And if it does, why wouldn’t it look like the trash can instead of a recycle can. And who calls trash cans “bins” in the US? Is it a Washington state thing? And why even use “bin?” It may be trash or recycle in that it throws things away - but it certainly isn’t a “bin” which is a physical object.

One of my coworkers said their surface pro 3 was having problems, so needed a new one. So I ordered her a surface pro 8. I was shocked that it was heavier, and feels a little thicker. The pen tuck in the keyboard is kinda nice, cannot lose the pen, but it no longer sticks well magnetically to the side, so when using it there is no good place I could find to put the pen, excuse the tuck in is hidden in keyboard mode. It is nice the smart connector is now hidden, so not touching the table when down without the keyboard cover. I guess the screen is a little bigger - device is a little wider than previous surface devices, and the side bezels are much smaller, too and bottom bezels seem about the same. I somehow as expecting some sleek thin modern next gen surface pro - and it is basically the same as before. I know apple wins with the stupid use of pro in their devices. 13” MacBook pro which is totally different from 14 and 16 pros. Pro iPhones?!? What does that even mean. But Surface pro is equally stupid. The surface pro seems much less pro than the surface laptop and much less than the clearly pro surface studio. I think it is a holdover from the days where there was a surface RT and a surface pro - because they pro was way more pro than the RT, but that was a long time ago. Should it really be called the surface pro now?  

I somehow foolishly installed Microsoft teams person in a computer I had to wipe because of a problem and now cannot uninstall it to reinstall teams work. (They are right next to each other and look very similar. Even though if you try to put a Teams work email into teams personal it rejects it) Even more foolishly I cannot remember how if fixed it last time it happened except that teams personal leaves behind a file that stops work teams that I have to delete…but which one… I thought the whole point of having add remove programs in windows was so that when it uninstalls a program it takes everything with it! Microsoft make the computer, the OS, and the program, and it is still a disaster!

Today it was donuts in my search bar. Yes Microsoft thought I needed to spend all day staring at donuts. It wouldn’t bother me so much if it wasn’t next ti the task bar which I look at all the time. And the fact that it changes every day makes it much more distracting. And it isn’t in the sleek new Windows 11, just the loser Windows 10. But now I know how to clean up my search bar. (An awesome thurrott forum member told me how to do it last week, but it wasn’t until today the donuts moved me from my apathy) I cannot manage to link the Gizmodo article: Here's How to Turn Off Those Annoying Images In Your Windows Search Bar  

I just noticed a little green. Turtle or a beach scene in the far left of windows search bar. What is that? I try to click it but it isn’t active. I don’t see a way to turn it off. Have I gone crazy?

I’m upgrading our computers at work, I made sure they are windows 11 upgradable but come with windows 10 which is what we use now. Is there any advantage to windows 11 now? I was planning to put it off to simplify the upgrade process. I am using windows 11 now in my laptop, and it works with our legacy office management billing software.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what windows 11 is, and I really think it was windows 10X in which all the really exciting features like sand boxing of programs torn out of it, and they just release what they had. For security windows 10X was only going to run on new hardware, while 11 can run on some computers up to 3 years old. Windows 11 clearly has 10X’s UI changes. I guess this is better than Longhorn’s failure and Vista. But it seems to me really sad. Microsoft couldn’t pull off windows 10X, so instead put out Windows 11 - which does look a little different and will be a little safer. But isn’t the Future OS that could have been.

I miss the games of my youth, and don’t really have time to get good at modern games. Nor have I had the time to make a retro pi. Looking at reviews foe the Atari VCS they talked about a streaming service foe retro games: antstream. Works in Windows, Mac, Linux, snd android. Streaming is great for ancient games like this. It assumes you have an Xbox controller. For a little PAC Man or galaga or mortal combat, it seems like a perfect solution. Right now it is $10/month which seems like a lot, but they say there will be a free ad supported tier.

I will start that I am a fan of app stores. I think app stores are our best hope of preventing viruses in normal users. I have loved steam, PlayStation, switch app stores. Windows and mac AppStore’s I admit it tend to skip. I haven’t followed the Apple vs epic lawsuit closely. But as my son has gotten into fortnite we have been spending more money to buy virtual goods on Epic’s fortnite. I have to pay what epic wants. And they don’t even let 3rd parties sell anything. I don’t understand why they can tell say to Apple if I sell on your platform, it isn’t fair to say you can do it but I get 30%. If the person who is selling gets to set the amount - won’t that kill all platforms like apple, PlayStation, x-box because all developers in the end would want to pay nothing and keep all the profits. I don’t get how Apple is monopolistic. Yes, Apple controls all iPhones but with something like 50% of US market, and 15% of world market of all cell phones that doesn’t sound like a monopoly to me. Sure a monopoly in iPhones. But then Sony is a monopoly in PS4 and Microsoft a monopoly in Xbox. And epic is a monopoly in fortnite. Destroying App Stores in iOS and within games like fortnite will in the end hurt developers and costumers. Companies have the right to do with their hardware and software what they want - as long as they aren’t true monopolies - which clearly neither Apple nor Epic are. I don’t know if 30% is fair - it does seem quite high to me - but let the market decide that not the courts.

Over the last week my sons PC gave him a blue screen, another random computer at home has done the same. And a few computers at work werenij endless RAM testing bios Windows - which no keyboard command would stop but turning them off and on stoppers. This is a lot more Windows 10 instability than I usually see in a week. I haven’t heard of a bad update. Is there something that just came out that is a problem?

Fry’s was a store made by nerds for nerds. Born in Silicon Valley. I always loved going in and seeing every imaginable kind of electronics. I am sad to say I am not surprised by its demise. The last time I went to Fry’s was two years ago in Arizona. Before the pandemic, it was one of the saddest stores I have ever visited with random broken computers scattered around and no one to help. But in its heyday, Fry’s was the best place with amazing staff.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/02/24/frys-electronics-worker-store-closing-retail-tech-economy-job-layoff/

6 years ago we bought 11” MacBook airs for our nurses to carry with them as they work. They have worked great...but are beginning to show their age. Apple is making amazing 13” M1 MacBook airs, but I just bought a surface laptop pro to see if it will work. It can run our 30 year old office management software which the Macs never could. Some of our doctor use surface laptops and pros so we have surface chargers in each room. The nurses want something small. It all makes sense to get the surface laptop Go. But it breaks my heart to not be getting the computer that I know will running the ARM processor that I know will be the future.

I think it is a mistake to have two devices that look identical just are different sizes - from the same company - that run different operating systems. I think it will be confusing for customers - who are used to buying laptops, phones, tablets, TVs and being able to choice the size and everything else is the same - that one runs android apps and can act like a phone. But the other runs windows apps. And the names. I can never keep straight which is neo and which is duo. Shouldn’t they both but duo as they both have two screens. Duo and Duo max/plus? The value of two screens with a bezel between them aside. (Couldn’t I basically do that now if I wanted to by carrying two smart phones in my pocket. Same thickness in my pocket. Unlike folding phones - you can’t use the whole screen for a bigger experience gaming or video.) they should have decided windows or android and done both with that.

We have surface pro 7 and the old and new iPad pros at work. I love using the pen. I use a program where there is a little or clicking and having the pen really helps. But compared to the apple pencils the surface pen seems super cheap. It doesn’t feel solid. The tip is different from the pen itself. And the tip is black, but within a few minutes the black tip wears off so the very tip is grey (as I look at pictures on line, maybe the tip is supposed to be grey). But as you touch the tip it kind of rattles. I don’t have a surface slim pen, it might feel better.

We are a medical office and now have a USB plug in in every room. The device is large and a pain to carry. We already have some surfaces so tried the Microsoft surface dock. And it worked great. Changed, plugged in the USB device that could just sit in the desk in each room, and TEAMs attaches and reattached seamlessly. Brilliant. My only worry in 2019 is going all in on surface connect crazy? Does anyone have any inside knowledge or guesses if Microsoft is going to get rid of the surface connect and replace it width USB-C (which the surfaces we own don’t have so I didn’t try an USB C dock).. Microsoft swears they are going to keep it, but when even apple is going USB C it seems crazy to buy 9 surface connect ports and design our work flow around it. Is it crazy?

“Apple recommends using the Microsoft Edge browser on a PC running Windows 10.“ from ZDnet. That is the most support for Edge outside of Microsoft itself.