Apple

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Vrede too
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Apple

Unread post by Vrede too »

Apple is ditching the standard headphone jack to screw consumers and the planet

Petition Text:

"Keep the standard headphone jack in your iPhones!"
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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rstrong
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Re: Apple

Unread post by rstrong »

If the next iPhone had an industry-standard USB-C port - and they included *another* industry-standard USB-C port for use as a headphone jack - to allow what would be industry standard USB-C headphones - I could support it. Because another USB port can be used for other things and your headphones could be used for other devices royalty-free.

If it used a standard headphone jack connected with an *included* adapter to connect to a Lightning port, that would be simply bad. You couldn't charge (or power) the phone AND listen at the same time.

But using the proprietary "Lightning " port with non-standard headphones? That's the normal contempt that Apple has for its users.

My new PC has the same headphone, microphone, parallel and serial ports that came with my early 1980s Apple ][+. And were found on equipment long before that. But with the Mac, Apple didn't just switch to proprietary ports; it kept switching to *different* proprietary ports with each new design. I knew someone in the '90s with three recent Macs - requiring three *different* microphones. I was once given a old Mac... and even the local Apple stores couldn't supply a monitor, or an adapter for a monitor - that would work with it.

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Vrede too
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Re: Apple

Unread post by Vrede too »

What's the best, cheapest way to upgrade from my Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac?
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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rstrong
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Re: Apple

Unread post by rstrong »

One way is to finagle an OEM version. That's a version that's supposed to be sold only with a new system - for about half the price of buying it off the shelf. In the PC world it helps to be regularly buying new systems from your dealer.

There's also (at least in the PC world) the Home & Student version. Despite any impression they might want you to have, there's no law saying that you can't use it in a business.

On our new systems at work we're usually skipping office and going with the free open source LibreOffice. Unless someone is using complicated spreadsheet macros, it usually does the job. And for when it doesn't, we also install Microsoft's Office Viewers. (Free view-only versions of Word/Excel/PowerPoint. There's Word Viewer for Mac, but apparently not an Excel Viewer.)

Now there's the free Word Mobile and Excel Mobile versions which give you limited (but good enough for most uses) of the programs PC, iOS, Android and probably Mac.

Microsoft is also pretty good at making Office *forward*-compatible. There's an Office Filters download (at least for PC versions) that one installed lets older Office versions open files from the newer versions.

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Vrede too
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Re: Apple

Unread post by Vrede too »

Thanks. My biggest issue is with not very complicated Excel spreadsheet macros generated by others that I have to fiddle with - betting pool possible outcomes, reimbursement forms, etc. Got a suggested link for fixing that? I'm okay with paying, but not if I don't have to and not with a Microsoft subscription that I saw some discussing, if it can be avoided.
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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rstrong
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Re: Apple

Unread post by rstrong »

My policy - and company policy - is to avoid the Office subscriptions. They're $70/year Cdn here, vs $210 for a full OEM copy of Office. But that full version of Office is good for at last 10 years. (The life of a PC, with just a RAM upgrade after 5 or 6 years. My experience is that the useful life of a Mac is just half that.)

Check for a free "mobile" version of Excel. It's in the Microsoft Store app in Windows and the Apple store for iOS. Dunno what the Mac options are.

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bannination
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Re: Apple

Unread post by bannination »

rstrong wrote:My policy - and company policy - is to avoid the Office subscriptions. They're $70/year Cdn here, vs $210 for a full OEM copy of Office. But that full version of Office is good for at last 10 years. (The life of a PC, with just a RAM upgrade after 5 or 6 years. My experience is that the useful life of a Mac is just half that.)

Check for a free "mobile" version of Excel. It's in the Microsoft Store app in Windows and the Apple store for iOS. Dunno what the Mac options are.
I'd agree with everything you said normally -- however Microsoft is offering some really good deal for subscriptions on office/sharepoint/exchange email, etc, etc.... taking nearly all system administration costs away when there aren't any physical servers to manage anymore. It's super cheap when looked at it from an overhead perspective... and like I said no exchange admin or sharepoint admin.

Personal life though, LibreOffice all the way! Accountants would go on a shooting rampage if we told them they had to use it though.

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bannination
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Re: Apple

Unread post by bannination »

Vrede too wrote:What's the best, cheapest way to upgrade from my Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac?
You could always look for pirates on the bay.

I kid.

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Vrede too
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Re: Apple

Unread post by Vrede too »

Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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