A look back at the trends we’ve seen in hardware sales here at Puget Systems over the last year.
Please, please, please – backup your data!
One of the most painful things to hear about from a customer is lost data. Whether it is hours or days of lost work for a business, irreplaceable family photos, or important financial records – data loss hurts. And it can be caused by many things: viruses / malware, file system corruption, physical drive failure, theft, fire, flood… the list goes on. Unfortunately some people don’t think about this till it is too late, so I am here with a public safety announcement: Please, please, please – backup your data!
My 4-Month Test Drive of Windows 10
We are now less than a week away from official arrival of Windows 10: the operating system that’s so extraordinary, Microsoft to give it a higher number.
I’ve been the unofficial guinea pig at Puget Systems running Windows 10 Insider Preview builds for over four months now. In the past, I’ve installed beta builds of Windows in a VM or setup a dual boot system giving me an eject button in case of disaster. But that’s not what I did with Windows 10. Instead, I went five blades. No VM, no dual-boot, no parachute.
My Impressions of Windows 10 Technical Preview
The Ford Mustang, Apple’s iPhone and pretty much any Harley Davidson bike are a few products whose design is debated and aggressively deliberated among fans. Even the slightest design or spec change can send fans running for social media to discuss and debate. It’s dangerous business messing with a classic.
When you tell people your favorite Mustang is the ’65 Fastback, you’re drawing a line in the sand between the classic and the new. You stand for something and can defend your position. In fact, you probably search for opportunities to defend your choice.
Windows 8: Surviving without the Start Menu
As a sales representative at Puget Systems, I’m often asked by customers considering a new PC if they should have us install Windows 7 or the new Windows 8 operating system. When I began running Windows 8 a few months ago, I kept a running list of features I enjoyed along with a few I found perplexing. Over time, my list has grown and contracted, but a few items on each side of the coin have remained.
One of my coworkers has already put together a helpful list of new features while another helps you decide if Windows 8 is right for you. I’m going to take a different approach by sharing my Windows 8 experience with those of you whom I don’t get to speak or email with each day.
Is Windows 8 Right For You?
Windows 8 launches this fall, on October 26th to be precise, and it is shaping up to be the most controversial Windows edition ever. Past versions like Vista and Millennium Edition were underwhelming, certainly, and others like Windows 95 and XP changed the face of Windows dramatically – but each new version has generally been an attempt to improve the user experience. Some focused on better performance, others on a newer and sleeker interface… and while there were both successes and failures Microsoft has managed to maintain dominance in the PC operating system market.
The latest version of Windows, however, has a lot more to it than just a shiny new taskbar or updated applications: it represents a shift in the whole interface from a traditionally mouse-centered approach to a touch-centric design. The last time that Microsoft tried to add an interface option to Windows was Media Center, which was introduced part-way through the life-cycle of Windows XP and brought a ‘ten foot’ interface designed for use in a living room. That was simply an added interface option on top of the normal Windows UI, though, while Windows 8 has completely removed large parts of the traditional interface that PC users have become accustomed to.
Windows 8 Upgrade Offer
The next generation of Windows operating systems is nearly upon us, and lots of folks are downloading the recent Windows 8 Release Preview. The months leading up to a new OS are always a bit tricky for Microsoft: they have to release info publicly to build excitment, satisfy investors, and garner media attention – but at the same time that can lead to customers putting computer purchases on hold until the new software is available. If a substantial portion of the consumer base does that it would lead to poor revenue not only for Microsoft but also the companies building and selling computers.
Windows 7 Release Candidate – Awesome OS, free for 10 months!
Earlier this week Microsoft made public the release candidate for their next OS – Windows 7. It is available as a free download from them, which will be good until March of 2010 (with limited usability for a few months after that)… so like many other tech enthusiasts I downloaded it and gave it a spin.
