FoxTrot Classics by Bill Amend for April 13, 2021

And I still have my iMac from nine years ago (from which I’m typing these GoComics comments).

Was dad smart enough to erase personal data from the computer before selling it? In a previous strip, he sold tried to sell it without informing Andy first.

The tablet/keyboard combo I’m banging this out on is four years old while the Chromebook I have in reserve is six years old. Both work fine. My concern for obsolescence isn’t with the devices but rather their operating systems. Microsoft, in particular, has a knack for forcing new systems on users (Hello, Win10) while yanking support for perfectly functional earlier systems (Adios, XP)…that’s a big reason I got the Chromebook in the first place.

Fortunately, I’m now living in Asia, where Windows 7 is still commonly used and supported, at least for a few more years. Thinking about finding a computer nerd here to uninstall Win10 on this tablet and replace it with Win7. I recall Win7 as being very functional and user-friendly, which is exactly what I want.

Last year I bought a new Win10 notebook computer. While it is the fastest machine I have ever owned with lots of memory and disk space, it has only 3 USB ports, no network jack & no optical drive. I am unable to load my old software on it or burn disks. And the software that loaded on it is leased. I just got a bill for $100 to renew my subscription to the anti-virus program and a bill for $140 for Office 365. They don’t want you to be able to use software that has always worked for you, they want you to buy/lease new software which may not even work for you. Office 365 won’t open my MS Works database files, so it is just about useless to me. So, I have to keep my old desktop computer online instead of retiring it.

Own the latest in tech that will be out of date by next week. At least thats how I feel when buying a new smart phone.

I bought this PC in September of 2018. So that’s like 62 in computer years.;-)

I have some very ancient machines.

I need to wipe their disks and bring them to a place that recycles electronics.

I also have to comb through 3 boxes of connectors. I don’t think I need my serial port and parallel port connectors any more and could probably ditch the track ball mice.

If you’re a gamer, which Jason certainly is, a three year old computer is getting outdated.

Must have been a PC… I’m still using my son’s iMac G3 (for some things)

Dump Office 365 and download OpenOffice — it’s FREE and opens everything that Word does and more!

If I can surf the web, send emails, and read my comics on a big screen, nothing more my computer need do…

My primary computer is a 2010 Macbook Pro. I also have a 2000 G3 Mac that runs my high end scanner. I got all my graphics and music software before they started renting it instead of selling it. It does all the things I need it to. No upgrades or replacements means no time wasting learning curve. The only thing that doesn’t work are my web browsers because website developers insist on making their pages so modern that they won’t work on older browsers.

reminds me of the skit…

How old is that Apple anyway?

I bought it last week.

No wonder, they have come out with two new ones since then!

Is Mom about to buy an iFruit over the objections of Jason?

Apparently 12 is the new 43…

Personally, I’m still on Windows 7, won’t have 10. I’m actually a little surprised that some virus emergency (Computer virus emergency…) hasn’t forced me to ditch 7, but it hasn’t.

And as to Windows ME, I know it gets put on a lot of “Worst Of” lists, but my experience, both at home and supporting the Windows OSs at work, is that it was considerably better than 98, which is my vote for worst.

My Dell is 13 this year. It’ll probably last me another 13 years – or more -the way I use a computer.

The computers in the comic are obsolete already. The “hot” computer has a built-in floppy drive.

I have a partial memory of an ad from the 1980s or maybe early 1990s. A man was shopping for a computer to use for work. He was complaining about the types of clerks / sales people who tried to sell him a computer. One was a sloppy looking man wearing sandals. Another was a kid who seemed to speak an language unknown to mankind.

My first computer back in the 80s was a Dell. That means the farmer in the Dell is almost 40 today…

I am in the process of retiring my 13+ year old iMac I replaced with a Win10 system with a larger monitor. (27") I was at the point where I was getting too many compatibility issues, and in a nutshell, most of the software on it was not being support any longer. The latest OS on it was El Capitan.

In regard to LibreOffice, for their writer ans spreadsheet it is fantastic going back and forth to MS Office (or whatever you want to call it). It is more compatible with Office than Office is – I have opened files from Office 95 and while they don’t have the watermarks, I still have the basic file. I do admit their mail merge for labels is more complex than MS and they handle envelops as page one of the document. LO’s version of PowerPoint isn’t bad, just hard to get use to the steps to go back and forth.

I loathe the fact Jason is right about how it works. Still, I’m happy with old computer which can be repaired and upgraded.

I did a lot of soul searching about renting Office 365.

Microsoft does push you in that direction. The out-of-the-box distributions are good for one machine and don’t have Outlook or Access. Eventually, as you noted, they go obsolete.

I happen to need “real office” because of the work I do and $99 a year for 5 machines doesn’t break the budget. So it makes sense to me.

If you are an “occasional user” of office, check out this article.

https://www.howtogeek.com/667717/how-to-get-microsoft-office-for-free/#:~:text=Use%20Office%20Online%20in%20a%20Browser%3B%20It’s%20Free&text=You%20can%20open%20and%20create,with%20a%20free%20Microsoft%20account.

Otherwise if all you need is word processing, basic powerpoint and a basic spreadsheet, OfficeLibre, and Open Office – both of which are free – will should work for you. Both products are compatible with Microsoft Office. In other words, each products can open the other’s documents.

Are you being served?

Andy is really feeling old.