Going all-Microsoft - UPDATE: Got a Lumia 930; tis brilliant

[yippeekiay]

I have found that most problems on whatever platform and OS are caused by the user doing something they shouldn't have or simply not being equipped to know what they are doing in the first place.

I am currently waiting for my mate to go home and switch on his laptop as he or his wife/son has yet again screwed it up. This happens on a very regular basis as his whole family are total technophobes and have no understanding about what they should and shouldn't be doing. They install or remove things that they shouldn't and then wonder why something doesn't work down the line. I suspect the majority of peoples problems are due to this.

 

[yippeekiay]

Thanks for the info on 8. I just hate having to start using a new system, probably more the reinstalling all my personal software and files tbh, when I'm so converse with XP thus my resistance to change in the past. My current PC had/has Vista on but as soon as I bought it I installed XP which it boots to and Vista is just taking up space on one of the hard drive partitions.

Maybe one day I'll throw the 8 on here and give it a shot. Can I have a triple boot system? :lol:

 

[evilrob]

Can I have a triple boot system? :lol:

You can, but you might as well overwrite your Vista partition as Vista was pants.

I can drop into any OS I like using virtualisation, but note the deliberate absence of Vista (even though I have a legit copy of it) because there is no situation where I would want to use Vista over either XP or Win7:

:lol:

 

[mix2000]

Any other gotchas you think I should know about?

I'm sure you know...xbox hardware failure, on my seventh (and I do look after them well even more so after the first 2 failures)

Can I have a triple boot system? :lol:

OSL2000 multiboot manager can give you as many OS's as you have partitions

 

[evilrob]

Any other gotchas you think I should know about?

I'm sure you know...xbox hardware failure, on my seventh (and I do look after them well even more so after the first 2 failures)

Consoles just do that though don't they - whether you go Xbox or PS3; I know plenty of people who have fallen foul to either the RROD for Xbox, YLOD for PS3, or both! I had one of the original sandwich toaster style PS3's when they first came out; I sold it to my mate when it was 8 months old in perfect working order. As it came up to 2 years old, it YLOD'd.

What's the mean time between failure for your Xboxes? Might take out a 3yr SquareTrade warranty.

 

[mix2000]

Bought my PS3 in 2006, still here and going well, between myself and 4 mates in the last 7 years;
6 PS3s
32 Xbox 360s :shock:

 

[alexwilliams840]

If its any help, I like my xbox :-D

 

[Cartman]

I had one xbox fail, it was a day one, and it went after one year, got a new one under waranty. The others have been perfect

Speeking of oses, did anyone uppgrade to ios7? I did on my Ipad, and i seriously regrett it rea y want to swap it for a surface now...

 

[evilrob]

Yeah, all my Apple devices have been updated to iOS 7. It's ugly as sin, but better in many ways than iOS 6. One of my devices was really slow at first - a hard reset sorted that out. Another of them was really slow until I turned off iCloud and turned it back on again because during the initial setup I skipped entering my credentials and it didn't seem to like that at all.

I am underwhelmed by iOS 7 - but then I've been using it since the developer betas came out starting in June.

Looking forward to seeing what Microsoft announce on Monday:
http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/tablets/microsoft-surface-2-and-surface-pro-2-event-slated-for-sept-23-1179411" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[evilrob]

If its any help, I like my xbox :-D

You're always helpful, sugar tits. x

 

[CherryVimto]

I've used all of the Windows operating systems from '95 all the way up to 7. I hated Vista with a vengance but out of all those, I prefer XP.
For me, it's a dodle to use, easy to navigate and find/fix things when they go wrong.

For a mobile phone, I used to have an Android. I liked it and it suited my needs of mainly texting and a bit of web browsing. I'm now using an HTC Windows phone. It's more pleasing to the eye than the Android, but I find the menus and icons are almost impossible to personalise. You can get a third party app to do it, but only changes a handful of icons. The Windows phone is a lot quicker than the Android and faster web browsing. Again, it suits my needs for texting a bit of web browsing when I'm sitting on the loo!

I've always been anti anything Apple. I've tried to put music on an iPod but typically you have to use everything Apple to do anything. I don't like the way they tie you down to use everything of theirs and not as free to just drag and drop your music over.
Now, saying that, I've been bought an iPad currently on iOS6. I was a bit sceptical at first as it's 'Apple'. The menus are nice, everything is easy to navigate and find. I've got a data SIM card in the side which I use when I'm not at home and I use WiFi at home which was a dodle to set up. Web browsing is quicker than I ever expected, it's faster than my PC. Can be a bit of a pain in the old peverbial using some sites, like trying to list an item on eBay. I'm not really bothered about trying to personalise anything as I like it the way it is.
There is a massive variety of free stuff out there to use from games to apps.
I will admit I really do like the iPad. It's compact and convenient. Apart from not being able to open/use any existing Microsoft office files (without paying for an app anyway), it does everything I want it to do. I've even set up wireless printing, so really, I don't even have to use my PC any more.

I have an Xbox. Second one Ive had as the first one kindly developed the 'Red ring of death'. Other than than, I've never had any issue with anything to do with it.

So really, I think it's all down to personal taste and what you want out of the device. I used to hate Apple, but the iPad does what I want, so I like it. I also like Windows, both the phone and the operating system.

 

[evilrob]

Cheers, Tone!

I find the menus and icons are almost impossible to personalise.

I quite like the way Windows Phone 8 looks out of the box, so personalisation isn't an issue for me - similar to how you're finding your iPad. Live Tiles are the way forward I reckon! I like the way you can rearrange the Live Tiles how you like it, and make the stuff that's more important to you bigger.

Apart from not being able to open/use any existing Microsoft office files [...] Can be a bit of a pain in the old peverbial using some sites, like trying to list an item on eBay.

This is one of the main reasons I'm curious about the Surface RT - cos it comes with a full desktop-spec web browser plus Office Home and Student 2013 (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, One Note), and with the 8.1 update next month it will have proper Outlook as well.

I have an Xbox. Second one Ive had as the first one kindly developed the 'Red ring of death'. Other than than, I've never had any issue with anything to do with it.

I didn't realise Xbox death was so prevalent! Almost everyone on here who's had one has had at least one die on them! They're so cheap now, though, as long as I get a year out of it I'll be happy.

 

[mix2000]

I didn't realise Xbox death was so prevalent! Almost everyone on here who's had one has had at least one die on them! They're so cheap now, though, as long as I get a year out of it I'll be happy.

As i said I had 7 xbox 360s
#1 Day one (Core) lasted a month (Ms replaced) RROD red ring of death
#2 (Core) lasted 6 months(Ms replaced after much aggro with a premium)RROD
#3 (Premium) lasted 1 year.(Ms wouldn't do anything after that)RROD
#4 (Arcade) from cash generator, lasted 6 months..RROD
#5 (Arcade) again from cash generator, lasted 2 years.RROD
#6 (Elite) new, Still running. But gave it to my son, after the missus gave me number 7 for chrimbo last year.
#7 (4GB 360s) new, RDOD red dot of death after 5 months(wasn't even playing it that long, having started new job in march)
From most reports the old "Elite" version seems to be the most reliable 360....

My day one Playstation, PS2 and PS3 are all still going. :shock:

 

[evilrob]

So... just went to update my Apple TV to the latest 6.0 firmware... now it's bricked, can't even restore it via USB. :evil:

Great time to piss me off, though, Apple - well done.

 

[mix2000]

So... just went to update my Apple TV to the latest 6.0 firmware... now it's bricked, can't even restore it via USB. :evil:

Great time to piss me off, though, Apple - well done.

If you are restoring through itunes, you might need to switch off your anti virus, as any scanning delay will interfere with the restore.

 

[evilrob]

I've had this borked Apple TV update issue before with a previous update, so I'm familiar with the iTunes restore procedure; my issue is not that the restore fails, but that iTunes doesn't see the Apple TV at all this time.

[troll]Also, I'm on a Mac so I don't need antivirus*[/troll]

* this is a wind-up

 

[evilrob]

Just a quick update in case anyone else has this issue - I used a different micro-USB cable and managed to restore the Apple TV successfully but after disconnecting it from the computer then turning it off, attaching the HDMI cable and turning it back on again as per the instructions, it still won't boot up and I get the rapidly-flashing light.

I tried it again with a third micro-USB cable. Still no joy.

I initially used the charging cable from a Zaggmate bluetooth keyboard; when using this cable the Apple TV was not recognised (perhaps only certain pins are connected on this particular cable).

The other two micro-USB cables I tried were from a BlackBerry Playbook and a Kindle. Using these cables results in the Apple TV being recognised and being able to restore the software, but doesn't actually fix the issue in my case. I can only assume something went *really* wrong during the initial update which bricked it in the first place, or there's some issue with the latest software update and certain Apple TVs (for reference, mine's a 3rd gen).

 

[yippeekiay]

My day one Playstation, PS2 and PS3 are all still going. :shock:

Same here, no idea what parts go into the PS or X-Box but can't help thinking Japanese vs American regarding quality/reliability, and we know which comes out on top there everytime in my experience.

 

[CherryVimto]

The problem with the xbox was due to the graphics board. I read there were overheating issues which resulted in circuit boards being warped due to the heat, resulting in broken solder joints.

 

[mix2000]

USB et al

Doesn't look good

The problem with the xbox was due to the graphics board. I read there were overheating issues which resulted in circuit boards being warped due to the heat, resulting in broken solder joints.

Thats all very well for #1-#4, though units #5-#7 were alleged to be redesigned and fixed.
And the 7th was an Xbox 360s, complete redesign and still failed.