Recent "Place" Updates

So my Dell Venue 8 upgraded to Windows 8.1 and I didn't really know for sure. After a long "don't stop your computer..." session, I did see some minor differences. For example, when I went to the top of the application to drag it closed, a bar appears which allows me to click the "X" in the right rather than dragging to the bottom, but that's about it for now.

The performance does seem to be a bit better than it was also. But, I'm not really sure about that. I still like the Dell and, in general, am OK with Windows.

On my netbook, Ubuntu upgraded to 14.04.Much like Windows, I haven't seen much change. Now, admittedly, I don't do a bunch of customization on the system, so I may not be getting the "full benefit" of the upgrade. Performance on the underpowered Acer is OK, however for what I do, so I'm happy with that upgrade also.

I think, here, I should mention something about my philosophy about computers. I don't use them for the operating system. The operating system is a home for the applications that I run. It needs to get me to the applications and stay out of the way. That's it. It's OK, if it looks good and works elegantly, but, I don't do ANYTHING there except start the applications I'm interested in. And, oh yeah, it needs to connect to the Internet and the devices I want to use. It needs to do this as consistently and with as little mucking around as possible. In this way, I think that Apple has it together. Don't bother me with configuring, running jobs or whatever, just do it. When I want to print, find the printer and print the page--that's all.

Both systems seem to have it together in that respect, so I'm OK with them.

Well, now that I know what operating systems I'm using, perhaps I'll have more to say about them later. Right now, they are out of my way and I'm doing my thing...

Don't Fence Me In

If you are going to build a tool, app, service, don't fence me into your environment. Yeah, I know you want all the advertising profit you can get. But, let me do what I need to do and your profits will be even larger because I will use your products more. Let me copy text and images. Let me "share" to other services, not just those you own. Nothing is more frustrating than being restricted by the tool or service I will do what I want even if takes more effort to do it, so you might as well make it easier for me to do it using your tools. It will only increase my use of your system -- are you listening Microsoft, Google, Apple?

I want to blog, comment, post like I want to blog, comment or post, not the way you want me to, and I will choose the tools, apps, and infrastructures that best let me do this.