Nice People Thread No. 14, all Nice and Proper

kabayiri

vivatifosi wrote: »

...
It does seem that propensity to use Excel should be up there with being Jewish, having strong opinions on mushrooms and proximity to Herts on the NPT demographics list.

A friend does a lot of work on one of the open source alternatives to Microsoft Office. A lot of developers give their time freely still.

His view is that there is very little that can't be done with the free versions. They are just as competent.

The real cost comes in retraining. People become entrenched with what they know.

I try to be neutral when it comes to these sort of products. I'll use whatever is installed on one of the machines. Often, Google Docs is completely adequate and I can access anywhere.

I'm always bemused by these Microsoft vs <something else> wars which used to rage long and hard on the fora. Life is really too short !

vivatifosi

kabayiri wrote: »

A friend does a lot of work on one of the open source alternatives to Microsoft Office. A lot of developers give their time freely still.

His view is that there is very little that can't be done with the free versions. They are just as competent.

I have no aversion to the free versions, but I tried one and it didn't meet the v specific need that I had. I could probably have found one eventually, but it was just easier to pick up a new copy of Excel.

I am happy to use both freeware and Microsoft, no prefs either way.

kabayiri

PasturesNew wrote: »

...
However... time moves on and, if you've not got the disposable income to keep up with technology, you get behind. Also, with Excel, you do need to have a "need" to do something, as it solves problems and you can't just sit and invent problems that it could potentially solve...
...

There has *never* been a time in our short history of computing when so many things have been as freely available as now.

Just looking at my own list of stuff I recently installed :-
Oracle XE is free
SQL Server Developer is free
Java ; Python ; Perl ; Ant ; Maven ; Selenium ; Ruby ; Hudson -- all free.

I've just noticed that you can even try Amazon Web services for free.

I have a program which crunches neurological data. It used to run on Access, but I moved it on to Oracle and it's easier to support and quicker to run.

(And just to undermine my argument I recently bought Office 2016, so what do I know!)

GDB2222

PasturesNew wrote: »

I need a new PC really. Had this one 10 years, bought for £200 back then, so it was underpowered at the time. 40GB HD and 1-2GB memory (can't remember which). I have to run CCleaner twice a day just to free up the 300MB it uses up in just running .... not even enough HD space to do a defrag.

Ported stuff out to an ExtHD, but, after 10 years, everything's really a mess and I really just need a new PC with a big HD, so I can start again

But ... I know nothing about hardware. I used to get my hardware chosen for me and I'd just buy what I was told. So now too "lost" to know where to start.

Also, moving would mean I'd lose some stuff I've, er, 'acquired', that's on this PC ... like Office. So it'd be a 2-3 day job just to go through everything and see what I've got that might fit on a newer PC.

You could copy an image of your current hard drive onto a new, bigger drive, and you'd keep all your existing programmes and settings. The copying software will expand the image so you don't just get 40GB.

GDB2222

PasturesNew wrote: »

Wouldn't know where to start. I just thought I'd be best having a clean start and copying my data files over.

I have been quite good at keeping 98% of files on one of the drive partitions. There are just a few other directories on the C: part, which I had to move over due to not having space for them.

That works fine if you have all the installation files for the programmes. But I thought you said that was an issue?

Do you know if the existing drive is SATA or IDE? Or is that question gobbledygook?

michaels

GDB2222 wrote: »

That works fine if you have all the installation files for the programmes. But I thought you said that was an issue?

Do you know if the existing drive is SATA or IDE? Or is that question gobbledygook?

I find I have 250 and 500gb drives that are too small to be worth using for storage. If you are SATA (little thin connector wire) then spend 20 quid on a 60gb SSD or 25 quid on a 120GB and clone your existing hard drive onto it.

There will no doubt be a zillion walk you throughs on youtube.

chewmylegoff

Doozergirl wrote: »

Tired of being awake in the middle of the night. It's been three times in four nights.

Went to sleep shortly before midnight, woke up at 4:10.

I have to get up in 10 minutes, drive to a week long course. It doesn't finish until about 7pm most days.

If I get up now, I can wash my hair, but I'm loath to leave bed at a time that begins with "5". That is not in my realm of reality!

If it makes you feel better I got one hour of sleep on Saturday night and about 2 hours spread across four fitful tranches last night. The twins appear to be going through a "phase".

ivyleaf

chewmylegoff wrote: »

If it makes you feel better I got one hour of sleep on Saturday night and about 2 hours spread across four fitful tranches last night. The twins appear to be going through a "phase".

At last! Thank you chewie! Finally someone posted something I can understand :rotfl:

CKhalvashi

I'll catch up tomorrow, I promise.

I've had a friend round tonight as the boiler packed in yesterday.

He connected 2 pipes up, waiting 2 minutes, undid them, and the house is now toasty.

Feel a bit of an idiot for getting a plumber out for something that looks so simple, but don't want to mess around when it comes to family and gas.

Spirit_2

chewmylegoff wrote: »

If it makes you feel better I got one hour of sleep on Saturday night and about 2 hours spread across four fitful tranches last night. The twins appear to be going through a "phase".

Weirdly.
That sounds cute and grim at the same time