Windows 8.1 is Horrible

Full Disclosure; I am an Apple fan boy and have been since 1986 when I bought my first Mac Plus. I am also an IT professional and just as comfortable with the many varieties of Windows as I am on Mac OSX. I have provided tech support and network administration for companies with a couple dozen users to enterprise wide networks with complex domains and mixed platforms. 

Since my current job requires me to support Windows and Mac users, I was issued a MacBook Pro (MBP) with Bootcamp, allowing me to boot into either Mac OSX or Windows 7 as needed. It was configured with all of my critical applications on the Windows side. Until recently, I spent 85% of my time in the Windows world and 15% on the Mac side. Like most users, I tolerated my Windows environment with its cluttered interface, feature bloat and declining performance. The times I booted to MacOS, I was back with a friend and ally. Booting into Windows felt more like facing an adversary to my productivity.

Recently I was given the opportunity to replace my aging 6 year old MBP with the latest model; a new light unibody, Retina display, SSD storage, 7 hour battery, quad core cpu Mac. This time I configured it with all my critical tools (MS Office, Acrobat Pro, Adobe Creative Suite) on the Mac side, and run Windows side by side as a virtual machine rather than a dual boot situation.

I was issued Windows 8.1 to install and configure. After a week of concentrated use, I can say without hesitation, Windows 8.1 as shipped IS HORRIBLE.

The most recognizable feature of Windows 8 is the Start screen; a colorful display of tiles that link to commonly used apps, news, sports and advertisements for games and media content. You quickly tire of these tiles flashing and sliding around, turning your computer into an electronic billboard. Fortunately, with some time and effort you can rid yourself of the advertising and configure the Start screen to be less garish. In fact you can bypass the Start screen on bootup and make your computer more like Windows 7 (eventually you will be forced to hit the Start button and return to those tiles).

Start Screen or Desktop Billboard

Then there are the "Metro" apps. These are versions of Internet Explorer, document reader, and media viewers that are designed for touch screens and have the same look and feel as a tablet or smartphone. They are designed with giant round buttons and paired down features. They look like apps made for children in the K-3rd grade. These child-like apps are set as defaults. Click on Internet Explorer, you get Baby IE. Click on a PDF, you get Baby Reader, click on a photo, Baby Photo Viewer. Fortunately you can reset all these apps to ones of your preference in the more "mature" Desktop environment. That makes it more like Window 7.

The new Internet Explorer

In fact, in my research to find ways to make Windows 8 more palatable, I noticed that most articles written on customizing Windows 8 are really about sidestepping Windows 8 and making it more like Windows 7.  Being the nerdy type, I actually enjoyed the process of customizing my Windows 8 experience. In the end, I chose to keep booting to the Start screen although it looks nothing like the one that was installed out of the box.

I probably spent 30 hours installing Windows 8 and configuring it to work the way I want. But how many casual users will want to go through that exercise and why should they? What does it say about the Microsoft's latest UI, that so much is written about how to bypass its features?

I am happy to say that with my new MacBook Pro, I can spend 85% of my time with my friend and ally, Mac OS. I have my Windows 8.1 just a three finger swipe away to demonstrate to clients our company's Windows print drivers and utilities.  I'll do my heavy lifting on the Mac. Windows 8, to me is like a novelty, and a neat demo and testing environment that lives in a small corner of my MacBook Pro's solid state drive.

A Better Way to Brew

You just have to love an invention that excels in its simplicity of form and excellence in function. The invention I refer to is the Aeropress Coffee and Expresso Maker. The inventor is Alan Adler, maker of the Aerobie; the flying Frisbee-like ring that holds world records for distance and accuracy. It must have been his love of coffee that caused him switch gears and engineer an ingenuous new method for brewing a single cup of coffee or expresso. I had been looking for a good system for brewing single cups that wasn't one of those K-cup type machines that I really don't care for. I was gifted an Aeropress over Xmas and I am very pleased with this gadget.

So, if you happen to run into me, and I seem a little more hyped up than usual, its probably this caffeine buzz that I have perpetually been on since receiving this gift.

The Aeropress Coffee and Expresso Maker has a cult following among geeks and baristas. Variations on brewing methods for the Aeropress are all over the Internet in coffee forums, blogs and videos. The device uses pressure to force heated water through ground coffee beans infusing it full of satisfying flavor without the bitterness or particulate matter that often accompanies traditional expresso or French Press methods.

The product, which sells for a street price of under $30 has few parts; a tube like vessel (for water and grinds), a plunger and a filter cap. Also included are a scoop, a stirrer and a supply of small round filters. The process for brewing coffee takes only 30 seconds. I prefer the Inverted Aeropress Method as shown below, over the one prescribed in the product instruction sheet.



Inverted aeropress from Abi Porter on Vimeo.

Star Trek: Into Disbelief

I saw the movie Star Trek: Into Darkness recently. I will give it the Thumbs Up, though I have reservations for doing so. I definitely consider myself a Treky, so the movie would have to really, really stink for me to pan it.

What makes this a good movie? The plot based on the original Khan episode Space Seed from the original Star Trek series. They portray a young Star Trek crew that maintains the strong personality traits of the original cast. Some of the special effects like beaming, warp drive, and various space ship scenes are very well done. The screenplay is filled with clever dialog, much of which makes light of the original Star Trek crew and their quirky personalities. As always, Spock's personal conflicts between his logical Vulcan side and his repressed emotional human half is a central element throughout the film.

Now here is where I take issue with the movie. And these criticisms apply to so many of the Action, Sci-Fi and Superhero genre  produced recently. It seems like it is a prerequisite to fill these movies with over the top battle scenes, destruction, mass killings, and ridiculous fighting scenes. While these scenes are meant to excite, for me, they have become a  big bore. Movie directors have tried to out-do each other by making these scenes longer, louder, more outrageous and showing more destruction on a bigger scale. The more over-the-top they take it, the more unbelievable these scenes become, and the more tedious and boring the film is to watch. What was at one time fantastic is now commonplace.

For example, how many times can one endure a fight where the hero is hanging off the side of a speeding vehicle by his finger tips while the protagonist is stomping on his hands and pummeling his head. Of course our hero somehow overcomes these situations to climb to safety and beat his enemy into submission. Then there is the battleship that is exploded in space and comes tumbling to earth in a cracked, fragmented state, taking out city blocks as it crashes into a major metropolitan area. Needless to say, the pilot survives the reentry through the atmosphere and an impact that destroys steel girdered buildings and walks away to fight another epic battle.

Really!!! I know it is science fiction and you have to suspend reality, but these movie directors keep escalating the outrageousness of these scenes to the point that they have destroyed any semblance of believability. Ultimately, these scenes distract from the characters and plot lines and detract from the enjoyment of the movie itself.

My Chromebook Experiment

I can get obsessive over certain things. jazz music, progressive politics and Apple computers come to mind. I have been one of those Apple fanboys since the early 1980’s. I have stuck with them through good times and bad for thirty years. I have bought dozens of Mac’s and nothing but Mac’s for myself, family, friends and coworkers through all these years. 

So it is not insignificant when I broke with tradition and bought a Google Chromebook. When my 6 year old MacBook Pro bit the dust I was unsure how or if I would replace it. I still had my desktop iMac, iPad, iPhone and another MacBook Pro (company issued). I have always wanted a MacBook Air but with all those Mac’s in my possession I just couldn’t shell out over $1,000 for a new Air.

I had seen this Chromebook designed to look like an 11” Air. It’s physical specs of 0.7 inches thick, 2.4 lbs and an 11.6” screen are nearly identical to the MacBook Air. While they look very similar, under the hood they are completely different animals. But for less than $250 I figured I couldn’t really go wrong.

The Chromebook runs Google’s Chrome OS. Unlike conventional operating systems, Chrome OS does not run programs from its hard drive or rely on storing documents or media on its internal disks. Chrome OS is almost completely “Cloud” based. Power up and the computer boots right into Google’s Chrome browser in about 6 seconds. All of it’s apps are web based and are served from the Internet (not your hard drive). Files are stored on the cloud based GoogleDrive. No internal spinning hard drive, no fan, no viruses, the charged battery is good for over 6 hours. All your files are backed up automatically and are accessible from any computer with an Internet connection.

You are pretty well locked into the Google ecosystem. That is not a big deal for me since I had already been making extensive use of Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Calendar, Contacts on my Macs and iPhones. You will find that Apple computers and iPhones sync very well to the Google universe even though they are arch rivals in the mobile space. 

I am finding tons of useful apps beyond Google’s office suite. My +10,000 songs in iTunes have been synced to Google’s music service. Evernote is indispensable for note taking and organizing information. Blogging, social networking, news, video and games are available from many sources.  I can even remotely operate my iMac from the Chromebook without getting up from my recliner. About the only task I can't do on this platform is rip and edit the audio files for my Jazz and Beyond Podcast.

The Chromebook has thus far been a great experience for 90% of my personal computing needs. Light word processing, social networking, email, Internet browsing and consuming media are great on the Chrome platform. These web based tasks are even a superior experience on the Chromebook than on an iPad or tablet. For the heavy lifting, like editing video or graphics, technical writing, serving databases or specialized applications that you may use in your professional career, get a real computer (May I recommend an iMac?). For leisurely, fun personal computing, this Chromebook is a great way to go.

Notes: This blog post was created on my Chromebook. For clarification, some software resides on an internal drive (media player, document viewer, image viewer/editor). Google Docs can be viewed and edited off-line. Chromebook comes with 16 GB of internal SSD storage for downloading files and 100 GB of Google Drive storage for 2 years for free.