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Microsoft is a will be for the forseable future the only choice for company wide solutions. There is no escaping it, at least for now.
As I mainly develop company solutions and not personal applications (did it once or twice for fun only), I just really don't care much for the NSA stuff as I don't live on the US and my personal stance on the subject is, if you think it's personal, it' shouldn't be online in the first place.
I use windows 8, and have a windows 8 phone, have an hotmail account ( you kind of have to really to use those ), i have a facebook account also, use skyDrive and google drive. The thing is, I do it responsibly.
My facebook account has very limited visibility, 1 picture and very limited personal info on it. SkyDrive and Google Drive are used to store work stuff and some personal items, but for availability only. Private stuff is kept private, off web. That's why it's called private.
I get why people got upset with all that NSA stuff, but as a non american it doesn't concern my in the slightest. Privacy can only work if you think private.
Edit: To really answer you, I'm not surprised people are getting wary about some US companies due to this NSA stuff, but these are the same people whowill happily share on facebook a gazilion photos of their newborn child, sometimes even only partly clothed, where they are going and doing every hour, and then act surprised when predators and sex offenders use that same info in a bad way.
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That's all fair enough and I also follow many of your guidelines and keep private things offline. The trouble is, with the NSA (and GCHQ for that matter, they are just as bad) spying on European ministers the EU is starting to seek alternatives to MS. Considering also the US Government's history of 'aggressive economics' if I was running a big foreign company I would distinctly distrust US IT services since the door is open for company secrets to be siphoned off and delivered to US corporations.
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True, but you really can't escape some services. Because just for the OS, you have no choice but to go Microsoft, if you want to use the business standard applications.
What you can, and some companies do, is take control of some of those services for themselves (using their own email servers and such), or use another similar service from another company.
And even if the UK and US assorted agencies really want to spy on communications, like phone lines or even cellphone communications, you really don't have a choice or workaround, no matter how much you don't trust them.
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Yes, I can understand that to use and produce applications for big business often necessitates the use of MS technologies. I think, first of all, that it is better to give the NSA as little information as possible and to make it as hard for them as possible, and second that as the movement away from US IT gathers momentum, which I am sure it will, more suitable non-MS apps will become available. However, many companies are tied to MS Server and .NET and although I hear of people coding .NET on other platforms I am not convinced that it is all that easy to do so. Cross-platform compatibility was originally a big sale's pitch for .NET (I was one of the first cohorts to study for the MCP 70-316 C# exam, though I never bothered to take the exam in the end) but I don't know how well it has met that objective. I am fortunate in being able to pick and choose, as I work largely for myself, though I scarcely have the time to begin coding in .NET on Linux. I hear it has been done, but such a transition seems like a significant obstacle to me. I did trial some VS alternatives as well, but I simply have not had the time to follow this up, though one was promising. I have used exclusively JS/HTML 5 and PHP for the past few months, which are good but not entirely satisfactory and I am still looking for my ideal development language and framework. I have yet to find it and similarly I have yet to find a satisfactory OS (now that Windows XP, my fav, is phasing out). I feel dissatisfied with the software industry.
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I, personally, have started wearing a tin-foil hat.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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I heard that a lead hat works better.
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The tin-foil hat myth was started by the NSA... helps amplify the signal so they can pay more attention to exactly the types of people who don't want the NSA listening to them.
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NSA actually started the myth that wearing tin foil hats amplifies the signal in order to get people to take their tin foil hats off.
Sneaky buggers, they are.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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Not impressed.
Main problem being the fuzzy text rendering on most apps not running in 'Metro mode'. Heard it's because they ditched ClearType as tablets can't use it when rotating view. How's that for user support? 
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Has MS promised that the version of 8.1 they're letting us download from MSDN actually will be able to get normal updates once it's available to the masses? I've seen enough people get burned by "pre-release means you have to reinstall the OS" in the past that I'm generally unwilling to touch it prior to the mass release.
That said, just using 8.0 from desktop only with a few bits of stupid bolted on the side (charms and to a lesser extend the start screen) isn't bad; and the ability to use different DPI scalings on different monitors is something I will need in a year or two when I can get a decent 4k monitor for <$2k so my intent is to put 8.1 on my new desktop to avoid doing a major OS upgrade in a year.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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For me: I don't see difference to Windows 8.
If I need tablet, iPAD or Android have a way more better apps and quality of them.
As Desktop OS? For me it failed to be good desktop OS.
I mainly use Windows for Games, and really looking forward for Valve Linux migration project. Once they have good catalog for Linux OS, I switch to Linux until then Windows 7 works fine, so I don't care about Windows anymore.
modified 10-Oct-13 10:39am.
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I agree. There are only three reasons I know keep a PC - PowerPoint (Libre Office is not satisfactorily compatible), Visual Studio (though I hear it or an equivalent can run on linux?) and games. Even VS I use less these days. I look forward to the Valve Linux project too. I do have server space which runs MS server and ASP.NET, but I am finding little use for it so far, since JS, HTML 5 and PHP seem better suited to my needs. I can certainly see the attraction of MS technologies, but they are not really catering for people like myself. I am almost ready to ditch MS altogether (and I shall not be turning to Apple either). I will probably keep a Windows & desktop / boot option for a while though.
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I test it on a virtual machine, but so far it's just an improvement over Windows 8, so my opinion of it, it's that's good.
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Not me.
Nothing about anything.
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Sounds like Who got promoted from first. But, What is still on second base.
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Here[^].
On a side note, why was there a machete under the counter in the first place?
Keep Clam And Proofread
--
√(-1) 23 ∑ π...
And it was delicious.
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Because, Machete kills[^], that's just what he does.
--------------
TTFN - Kent
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Guns scare people, but machete's make an impression.
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THats so funny! The guy is so cool about it 'hey, you got as gun on me, i'll just lounge a bit on thsis counter, reach under and pull out this MASSIVE KMACHETTE! Arrrrggghhh!"
Obviously he keep it for scaring off armed robbers. 
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The robber certainly freaked!
Keep Clam And Proofread
--
√(-1) 23 ∑ π...
And it was delicious.
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Brisingr Aerowing wrote: why was there a machete under the counter in the first place
It was for cutting up the ham. Honest, guv!
MVVM # - I did it My Way
___________________________________________
Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011
.\\axxx
(That's an 'M')
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Call me cynical, but that looked fake. Also, a very bad idea against a gun. I'm all for fighting back, but not in that instance.
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It is difficult to imagine anyone being stupid enough to bring a machete to a gunfight, but it seems to happen... But you never know; every once in a while, the bull wins.
Will Rogers never met me.
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Mythbusters[^] tried it, and I can see where it might work - you have to be pretty accurate to stop someone with a small handgun immediately, and the guy with the knife doesn't - he just has to swipe wildy and he'll do a fair amount of damage. Particularly with a machete...
At that kind of distance, when you assume that "I've got a gun, everyone will do what I say" then suddenly a huge knife is waving in your face - and you know that thing is loaded - I can see the gunman freezing (or not having bullets anyway).
The only instant messaging I do involves my middle finger.
English doesn't borrow from other languages.
English follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over and goes through their pockets for loose grammar.
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Exactly, you wave a big knife at someone with a gun who is cool and calm and confident in using it then they will coolly and calmly and confidently shoot you - see Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark for historical proof.
You wave a knife at some scrote who doesn't know what he is doing, is nervous as hell (possibly on something), and is expecting you to do exactly what he says because he has a gun then he'll either sh*t it and do a runner, or fire randomly without any aim (assuming it is a real or loaded gun in the first place).
“I believe that there is an equality to all humanity. We all suck.” Bill Hicks
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