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Author Topic: Pay MS when you replace your computer  (Read 7391 times)

pwhodges

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Pay MS when you replace your computer
« on: 25 Feb 2013, 04:32 »
Hey, look!  Microsoft would like you to pay them when you replace your computer (Office 2013 licences are not transferable, ever, even to your own new computer).
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snalin

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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #1 on: 25 Feb 2013, 04:38 »
http://www.openoffice.org/

I cannot see myself ever buying an office package for private use - it would cost me 1000NOK for the mid-range version (175USD), which is laughably expensive for any piece of consumer-grade software, and now I have to pay that for each of my computers? Not happening.
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cesium133

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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #2 on: 25 Feb 2013, 06:03 »
If only there were some free -- one might use the fancy French term libre -- office program out there that does 99.9% of what MS Office does.

I don't use office software that often, though I have run into a few incompatibilities between Open/Libre Office (it's the same software, but the development teams split when Oracle bought OpenOffice). The main one was the equation editor. I don't know if MS Office's equation editor has improved, but at the time I tried to use it, the OpenOffice one was way better. The problem was, if you edited an equation in OpenOffice and imported the file into MS Office, MS Office would mangle the equation. And another thing to keep in mind: when giving a presentation, always know what software is going to be on the computer you have to give the presentation from...
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BeoPuppy

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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #3 on: 25 Feb 2013, 08:57 »
God, I was worried for a minute that you were talking about MS Paint.

Which would cramp my style severly.
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ankhtahr

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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #4 on: 25 Feb 2013, 10:04 »
Quote from: cesium133 on 25 Feb 2013, 06:03
I don't use office software that often, though I have run into a few incompatibilities between Open/Libre Office (it's the same software, but the development teams split when Oracle bought OpenOffice). The main one was the equation editor. I don't know if MS Office's equation editor has improved, but at the time I tried to use it, the OpenOffice one was way better. The problem was, if you edited an equation in OpenOffice and imported the file into MS Office, MS Office would mangle the equation. And another thing to keep in mind: when giving a presentation, always know what software is going to be on the computer you have to give the presentation from...

Nowadays I rarely use an office suite anymore, but when I do it's Libre Office. For most of the stuff I have to do for school I use LaTex. It looks fantastic, and to me it's quite intuitive, once one understood the idea behind it. I also create my presentations with it, using the Beamer class. The resulting presentations look great, and are in the PDF format, which has never caused me problems.
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cesium133

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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #5 on: 25 Feb 2013, 10:22 »
Yeah, for writing papers I use LaTeX. It's pretty much standard for publishing in science. I've tried using Beamer for presentations, though, but my advisor wants us to use a standard theme for our presentations, and I wasn't skilled enough at Beamer to get it to replicate that theme.
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jwhouk

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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #6 on: 25 Feb 2013, 17:00 »
I guess I'm fortunate that the SOWI uses Office products, and I can therefore get a deal on HUP versions of Office for only (essentially) the cost of shipping.

For example, the version of Office 2010 that I have on this thing (a Win7 machine) was a HUP10 suite bought because of the state. I'm suitably impressed.
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Lupercal

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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #7 on: 04 Mar 2013, 12:13 »
This is pretty ridiculous news. With this and Windows 8...I don't know. I can see that Ubuntu might really start making a widespread name for itself in terms of its operating system, but also of Windows-friendly software like OpenOffice etc (I think Ubuntu has its own, very similar office suite). No point in punishing consumers when free options are widely available.
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ankhtahr

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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #8 on: 04 Mar 2013, 13:13 »
Quote from: Lupercal on 04 Mar 2013, 12:13
This is pretty ridiculous news. With this and Windows 8...I don't know. I can see that Ubuntu might really start making a widespread name for itself in terms of its operating system, but also of Windows-friendly software like OpenOffice etc (I think Ubuntu has its own, very similar office suite). No point in punishing consumers when free options are widely available.

The suite Ubuntu uses is the "LibreOffice" suite. The company which funded the OpenOffice Suite, Sun Microsystems, was bought by Oracle, who then tried to influence the OpenOffice developers. The developers didn't like it, so they forked the code and started their own project, called LibreOffice. Oracle found out, how big a mistake that was, so they now gave the OpenOffice project over to the Apache Foundation. Still, most of the old developers are in the LibreOffice project.

I switched over to Libre in the minute the fork was released, as I didn't want to support Oracle's company policy, as did all the major Linux distributions.

In general I really feel like Linux gets better and better as a daily use OS. I'm really happy about switching (3 years ago, Arch Linux currently), and now that even the biggest flaw many people have about Linux (no support for games) seems to be worked at (Steam was released for Linux recently), I really hope that more and more people switch over.
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celticgeek

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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #9 on: 04 Mar 2013, 14:52 »
Right on!

- the Celtic Linux Geek
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de_la_Nae

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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #10 on: 04 Mar 2013, 21:58 »
I paid for this Windows 7 OS, so I'm going to use it.

However, Linux has come a loooong way, and continued gaming support for it (my general computer use outside of basic office functions and browsing)...well.

Definitely time to try and give Microsoft another black eye, I hope. Of course I feel like every organization of humans needs one of those every once in a while to keep them honest.
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pwhodges

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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #11 on: 06 Mar 2013, 09:03 »
Microsoft has given in to consumer pressure and restored the right to transfer your copy of Office 2013.
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GarandMarine

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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #12 on: 14 Mar 2013, 02:29 »
That's good to hear! I'm going to look into Libre any way, I've been using OpenOffice for awhile, and typing papers and the like where I need footnotes/end notes at the school library so I can use Office 11, hopefully Libre can do some of the few things that MS can and Open can't.

Not looking forward to the day I have to switch to Windows 8 though, I do not like the looks of that OS at all...
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jwhouk

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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #13 on: 14 Mar 2013, 07:33 »
Quote from: GarandMarine on 14 Mar 2013, 02:29
Not looking forward to the day I have to switch to Windows 8 though, I do not like the looks of that OS at all...

Ditto.
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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #14 on: 14 Mar 2013, 13:56 »
Honestly, Win 8 is a pretty great OS for all intents and purposes. I despise what it's hinting at for what's to come, but the OS itself is a pretty great improvement over 7 from my months with it.
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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #15 on: 15 Mar 2013, 14:22 »
Quote from: jwhouk on 14 Mar 2013, 07:33
Quote from: GarandMarine on 14 Mar 2013, 02:29
Not looking forward to the day I have to switch to Windows 8 though, I do not like the looks of that OS at all...

Ditto.
After finding out about add-ons that restore the Start button and menu in classic view, I'm more open to getting a computer that runs it.  I do not care for the "tablet" look of the main screen at all.  It would look great on, you know, a tablet, but a desktop or laptop?  No.  Flat no.  I'm not going to reach up to touch my screen (if the monitor is touch-screen) when I can do the action faster with a mouse or keyboard, especially when my monitor sits three feet away from me.
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Lupercal

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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #16 on: 17 Mar 2013, 04:25 »
I suppose now the problem will be with middle-of-the-road consumers who need a new PC. Those lovely chaps at PC World are going to encourage them getting some horrid touch-screen Windows 8 Dell nightmare. But, I guess customers have to keep themselves informed too.

I could deal with Win8 with a 'classic view'. I could see myself getting frustrated that I had to make it look anything other than a normal Windows OS though.
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ankhtahr

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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #17 on: 17 Mar 2013, 05:01 »
Don't want to sound like PT410X, but I really hope Windows 8 encourages some more people to switch over to Linux. Currently Linux is mostly disregarded by big software companies due to the small userbase, and the users disregard Linux due to the small software range. It's a vicious circle. But maybe this can be broken some time. Now that Steam for Linux is a thing, maybe the "Gamer" demographics might at least consider switching.

And I really encourage everybody to at least try Linux. There are Live CDs/DVDs which you can use to try Linux without having to install anything, and without changing anything on your current setup. For beginners I would recommend Linux Mint.
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jwhouk

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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #18 on: 17 Mar 2013, 06:44 »
Why would I want Linux when I can have OSX?

(I have more documents and files that would convert easier to OSX than they would to Linux.)
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ankhtahr

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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #19 on: 17 Mar 2013, 06:51 »


And not only in the free beer sense. You get free updates and have fewer really embarrassing bugs. Seriously, some of the bugs in OS X lately were ridiculous. And on Linux you're more free to choose your favourite WM.

Why would I bond myself to a company which doesn't allow any other hardware than their own?
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celticgeek

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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #20 on: 17 Mar 2013, 07:10 »
Well, of course I have to put in a good word for GNU/Linux. 

Mint 13 here, my son is using Mint 11, and my wife is using Ubuntu 10.4.

Also: 

Agus Lá an-Shona Naomh Pádraig do gach duine!

Sláinte!
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jwhouk

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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #21 on: 17 Mar 2013, 07:33 »
I don't recall Patrick being Welsh.
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celticgeek

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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #22 on: 17 Mar 2013, 07:45 »
He is not.  That was Irish.

Here it is in Welsh:

Ac iawn Hapus Sant Padrig i bawb!

Iechyd!
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ankhtahr

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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #23 on: 17 Mar 2013, 08:26 »
Quote from: celticgeek on 17 Mar 2013, 07:10
Well, of course I have to put in a good word for GNU/Linux. 

Mint 13 here, my son is using Mint 11, and my wife is using Ubuntu 10.4.

I'm using Arch Linux, but I couldn't recommend that to beginners with a clear conscience.

Maybe we should start a Linux thread!
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Masterpiece

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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #24 on: 17 Mar 2013, 08:45 »
We use Linux at our University, don't ask me which distro though.
I knew I didn't like it, but my distain reached new levels when I accidentally managed to terminate my taskbar, essentially making me unable to start any sort of program ever again.
Hate Linux with a burning passion.
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Carl-E

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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #25 on: 17 Mar 2013, 11:54 »
I recall the NeXT machines, which ran on a Unix based precursor to the Unix-based Mac OS's.  The company was started by Jobs when he left Apple. 

They were wonderful machines - and it was the last time I worked directly with Unix based stuff.  A friend of mine is a fervent advocate of Linux, and I'm constantly interested, but I'm so not a power user, and every place I work uses Windows...

But as I understand it, Linux is able to emulate both Windows and Macs (without the annoying bugs and crashes) in order to run anything that you could wish... and anything they do without having to emulate is done better, more efficiently, more sensibly, faster, ...


I want a linux machine now.  Maybe a dual boot to get me started? 
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ankhtahr

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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #26 on: 17 Mar 2013, 12:44 »
A friend of mine is a total fan of the Sun Unix Workstations. I worked on some Sun Ray Terminals at our local university, and, well, one could feel how old the Solaris was. KDE 3 or MWM were the Window Manager choices. My work partner was rather stunned when I switched to MWM, and used vi for coding.

Dual-Boot systems are always a great way to get used to Linux. I've started using a dual-boot system, and then I suddenly realised that I haven't booted Windows for a year. And now, on my current notebook, there is no Windows anymore. On my Desktop machine though I keep a running Win 7 for gaming purposes.

Most simple Windows software can be used on Linux using the Wine project (acronym for Wine Is Not an Emulator), which reimplements the Windows API. DirectX is tricky, but office applications usually work. And seriously, you'll be surprised how much of your software can be replaced by Open Source. Currently I use LibreOffice as Office Suite, Gimp as photo editing software, DigiKam as photo management system, and many more. I even looked into FreeCAD, and was surprised how well it can be used.

And Masterpiece:
It depends on the Desktop Manager you use. Some don't even have a taskbar from the beginning on. In most Desktop Managers though you can run software directly by pressing ALT+F2, and then entering the name.
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GarandMarine

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Re: Pay MS when you replace your computer
« Reply #27 on: 19 Mar 2013, 00:00 »
I'm moving to Ubuntu for my next Desktop build, but that's awhile off once I'm in a more stable environment home and career wise.
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