New phone, new laptop - Part II

This stinks. Migrating to a new laptop with a whole lot of unfamiliar software is such a huge waste of time, serving only to raise my blood pressure and anger. At every turn, this doltish operating system does nothing but frustrate me with some fresh idiocy. Like serving up the temperature, by default, in degrees Fahrenheit. The scale in which water freezes at some random number and boils at another random number. Or insisting on US date format. July 25th, 2021. Or the need to change 'language' to UK English in about 150 different settings folders, manually. Or an entirely different, and simplified to the point of uselessness Network & Internet settings interface.

Hence my new Microsoft password is a stream of obscene invective aimed at the corporation. I was expecting a message from it such as "The password you have offered is offensive to Microsoft and can be construed as constituting abusive behavior. Please devise a new password or face possible legal action." But no - to my surprise, my new password was meekly accepted, having the requisite uPPer- and loweR-case letters & symbo1s and numbers. So much for artificial intelligence.

Maybe this time the process of migrating to a new laptop will be different. Maybe I'll get used to it sooner rather than later. Maybe I'm just suffering from a decades-long prejudice against Microsoft. 

My first contact with the firm was in the form of MS-DOS with its typed prompt commands. Enough to stop the IT revolution in its tracks. This was during an early attempt to digitalise production of the magazine I was managing in London in the late 1980s. Fortunately, nothing came of it. Within a few months, however, I entered the shiny, happy world of the Apple Mac, all icons, point-and-click graphic user interface. It worked. It worked perfectly. I became a convert. Unfortunately, after moving to Poland in 1997 I discovered that an Apple Mac cost the same as a working furniture factory in Mińsk Mazowiecki. And then a miracle happened. Microsoft released its second iteration of Windows, and this could be used to do desktop publishing with almost Apple-like efficiency. Windows-compatible machines were put together in Polish basements from components flown in from Thailand, and worked well and were reasonably priced. Windows got better and better with XP, reaching a peak with Windows 7. (Nobody mention Windows Fista, utter crap.) Windows 8 was a retrograde step with cute little pictures taking over from the mouse and keyboard commands which by now had become habitualised. Windows 9 was skipped, then came Windows 10 which will soon be replaced by Windows 11. 

Windows 10, with its constant upgrades and smartphone-like graphic interface, was not something I ever wanted, being entirely happy with Windows 7. When I bought my previous laptop (a used ex-leasing Dell), it came with Windows 10, and so I had to learn how to work with the new operating system. It was not an easy process; over three years on, I still struggle from time to time to carry certain actions.

This time round, however, I shall intend to try something new - to run this new laptop using as much Microsoft as possible. So hello Edge, hello Outlook, hello MS Office, hello Teams, hello Bing, hello MS Maps, etc. And farewell (here at on this laptop at least) to Chrome, Mozilla Thunderbird, Libre Office, Zoom, Google Search, Google Earth etc. 

I have spent 22 years ducking the moment that I have to use MS Outlook. I remember when it was installed across my previous employer's devices. It was universally hated, and nicknamed MS LOOK OUT! (warning ahead of a crash). It is still unpopular. Why does Outlook not work well with MS Teams running? I haven't met anyone who raves about Outlook being the answer to workplace productivity.

Can I get used to it and to the other MS products? If so, how long will it take me to adjust? I'm writing this blog post using Blogger (a Google product - no alternative here), yet things look different in Edge.

Having two laptops - like having two phones - means the process of adjusting to the New Reality will take much longer. How much longer - I'll write about it at some point in the future. By which time I will have to start learning to get used to Windows 11.

This time last year:
Two images from my early childhood

This time two years ago:
How PKP PLK's planners should treat pedestrian station users.

This time three years ago:
Foreign exchange: don't get diddled!
[for the saps who pay £250 for €200 at the airport]

This time five years ago:
Defining my Sublime Aesthetic

This time seven years ago:
Porth Ceiriad on the Llyn Peninsula

This time nine years ago:
Jeziorki sunset, late July

This time ten years ago:
Jeziorki sunset, after the storm

This time 13 years ago:
Rural suburbias - the ideal place to live?