A pox on Microsoft!

[spikey]

It looks like I have made an expensive mistake by having been persuaded to buy a Windows 11 laptop in order to eventually replace one of our Chromebooks. 

 

I have spent most of today wailing and gnashing my teeth with the thing, and right now all I want to do is curl up in a corner and whimper quietly.  Apart from anything else, it seems to me that in order to use Gmail on it, I need Outlook, and in order to get that I need to buy Office!  Am I missing something obvious here?

[Miss Prism]

gmail lives on a website - if you've got a browser, you've got gmail.

 

 

[Harlequin]

You could install Thunderbird if you really want something on your machine. It's not as slick as some email clients but it is free and it does talk to gmail and pretty any other mail service.

 

[mezzoman253]

You don't need MS Office, there are at least a couple of free programs such as Open Office & Libre Office, that will do most things for you.

[woodenhead]

Libre Office is perfectly good and used open standards which Microsoft Office is compatible with.

 

A mail client ships with Windows that you should be able to set up for gmail - but as mentioned, you could simply access it from Chrome.  I am also a Thunderbird user, it's a good solid mail solution and you can have multiple inboxes attached to it - I have three.

 

If you use One Drive and save to the cloud, Microsoft let you use an Office version online for free.

Edited January 6 by woodenhead

[Hroth]

You've just transferred from one software ecosystem to another, each has individualistic ways of doing things.  I'm typing this reply on an Android tablet, which also has its own software environment.

 

To get most things done on a Windows laptop, the basics are probably:

 

• Libre Office (productivity suite)
• Firefox (web browser)
• Thunderbird (email client)

 

and then add other software as needed.

 

A question. Why the move away from Chromebook?

 

[spikey]

Thank you gentlemen.  I fear that I was experiencing a brainfart.  I'm not sure how I managed it, but I now have Gmail on the Windoze machine - and a shortcut to it.  I am much heartened by this success 🙂

[Izzy]

10 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

 

A mail client ships with Windows that you should be able to set up for gmail - but as mentioned, you could simply access it from Chrome.  I am also a Thunderbird user, it's a good solid mail solution and you can have multiple inboxes attached to it 

In 2024 the Windows mail client is being replaced by Outlook. I keep getting notification about it but am not sure what it actually means, the implications. I already run Libre Office and Firefox and think that I will probably have to use Thunderbird again, which I didn’t bother to install when I found the W10/11 mail program existed. 

 

[woodenhead]

They've had a free Outlook client in the past, I didn't like it, nothing like the version that shipped with Office.

[adriank]

20 minutes ago, Izzy said:

In 2024 the Windows mail client is being replaced by Outlook

 

I get the feeling that this is the thin end of a Microsoft wedge to get users to shift to Office365 and cough up subscriptions for using their software. I purchased Office 2016 several years ago specifically to avoid this.

 

Adrian

[Izzy]

1 minute ago, adriank said:

I get the feeling that this is the thin end of a Microsoft wedge to get users to shift to Office365 and cough up subscriptions for using their software. I purchased Office 2016 several years ago specifically to avoid this.

 

Adrian

I have wondered if this was on the cards, part of the reason. I already have iPhone and iPad Pro. It won’t take much more ‘persuasion’ from Microsoft for me to go and get a MacBook and be done with it. 

[john new]

24 minutes ago, adriank said:

I get the feeling that this is the thin end of a Microsoft wedge to get users to shift to Office365 and cough up subscriptions for using their software. I purchased Office 2016 several years ago specifically to avoid this.

 

Adrian

Personally I quite like Office365 family as it allows use on both my wife's computer, two of mine, with a subscription my daughter can also use*. What I don't like are two points - windows 11 with which I have yet to see any visible improvement at the user interface level (I accept there may be under bonnet improvements to security etc.,)  and secondly the way any email link defaults to opening Outlook which isn't my regular email client so I have to annoyingly copy the email address and then shut down Outlook.  Fortunately I only use Windows via Parallels on my Mac to run programmes without a Mac version.

 

*You can mix and match on both Apple and Windows Op sys.

 

Edited January 6 by john new
Added the asterixed note.

[nick_bastable]

the only thing W11 offers on the surface is Phone Link as I loath sending texts

[Andy Hayter]

1 hour ago, adriank said:

I get the feeling that this is the thin end of a Microsoft wedge to get users to shift to Office365 and cough up subscriptions for using their software. I purchased Office 2016 several years ago specifically to avoid this.

 

Adrian

 

 

And you will be  fine until your machine crashes irretrievably.  Guess how I know.

[adriank]

6 minutes ago, Andy Hayter said:

 

 

And you will be  fine until your machine crashes irretrievably.  Guess how I know.

 

Was it Office 2016 that caused the crash?

 

Adrian

[Harlequin]

MS are not forcing anyone to do anything they don't want to - they're just suggesting that their tools are best, as would any commercial organisation. There are plenty of alternative toolsets to Office365. (I don't use it, although my employers would probably like me to.)

 

I have observed over the years that if you don't like an operating system it will be uncooperative right back at you and the relationship will always be dysfunctional. I don't like Linux and it doesn't like me...

 

Previous versions of Windows had their foibles and annoyances but  Windows 11 is a really well sorted out system, IMHO. If you don't try to fight it, and you don't call it names behind its back, you shouldn't have much trouble with it.

 

😉

Edited January 6 by Harlequin

[Andy Hayter]

28 minutes ago, adriank said:

 

Was it Office 2016 that caused the crash?

 

Adrian

 

No.  It was a forced update from a security program that failed to cope with an internet and power crash midway through the update.

[Cwmtwrch]

38 minutes ago, Harlequin said:

MS are not forcing anyone to do anything they don't want to - they're just suggesting that their tools are best, as would any commercial organisation.

I have used Windows from XP onwards, missing one or two versions on the way. I'm typing this on a machine running Win 10, and have another running Win 11 which is deliberately not internet connected, I am becoming more and more annoyed with Microsoft as they keep dumping stuff on my machine that I DO NOT want [and have absolutely no use for] but can't get rid of. They also managed, in a recent update, to completely block me from using a piece of non-commercial software I use. I did eventually find that there was a way to unblock it in the system, but it was very far from obvious. I feel that they are a) treating me like a captive user, b) acting as though they they think they know better than I do what I want, and c) doing a lot more than suggesting - they're pushing quite hard to get me to go in the direction they want, which is definitely not where I want to go.

[beast66606]

3 hours ago, woodenhead said:

A mail client ships with Windows that you should be able to set up for gmail - but as mentioned, you could simply access it from Chrome. 

 

most modern browsers

 

Fixed it.

[Harlequin]

23 minutes ago, Cwmtwrch said:

I have used Windows from XP onwards, missing one or two versions on the way. I'm typing this on a machine running Win 10, and have another running Win 11 which is deliberately not internet connected, I am becoming more and more annoyed with Microsoft as they keep dumping stuff on my machine that I DO NOT want [and have absolutely no use for] but can't get rid of. They also managed, in a recent update, to completely block me from using a piece of non-commercial software I use. I did eventually find that there was a way to unblock it in the system, but it was very far from obvious. I feel that they are a) treating me like a captive user, b) acting as though they they think they know better than I do what I want, and c) doing a lot more than suggesting - they're pushing quite hard to get me to go in the direction they want, which is definitely not where I want to go.

Specifically what are MS forcing on you that you don’t want? (You need to accept security updates for your own good.)

Edited January 6 by Harlequin

[Andy Hayter]

@Harlequin

For me W11 seems to try and enforce documents being saved to the cloud.   When you try and save locally it generates new folders so I have had problems getting all of my files where I want them.  I think I have mastered it but still find duplicate files and folders have been created without my action or consent.

 

A plus or perhaps a minus depending on how paranoid you are about your security is that when I got the new W11 computer up and running, the system knew all of my favourite internet links.*  Knew which documents I had recently created, even though none had been saved to the cloud and I think this was before I uploaded my back up files from an independent drive.

 

* actually a big positive in terms of the work that would have been necessary to recover even the majority but rather worrying in terms of personal privacy.

Edited January 6 by Andy Hayter

[RFS]

14 minutes ago, Andy Hayter said:

@Harlequin

For me W11 seems to try and enforce documents being saved to the cloud.   When you try and save locally it generates new folders so I have had problems getting all of my files where I want them.  I think I have mastered it but still find duplicate files and folders have been created without my action or consent.

 

A plus or perhaps a minus depending on how paranoid you are about your security is that when I got the new W11 computer up and running, the system knew all of my favourite internet links.*  Knew which documents I had recently created, even though none had been saved to the cloud and I think this was before I uploaded my back up files from an independent drive.

 

* actually a big positive in terms of the work that would have been necessary to recover even the majority but rather worrying in terms of personal privacy.

 

It will have got this information from your Microsoft account. I find this very useful indeed. I have a main PC, a Railway Room PC and a laptop and on all of them I use Edge as my browser. I logon to Edge automatically and all of the MS Edge details (favourites, passwords, Edge settings etc.) are synchronized across all 3 as they all use the same MS account. 

[Mike Buckner]

2 hours ago, nick_bastable said:

the only thing W11 offers on the surface is Phone Link as I loath sending texts

 

For those using Android phones, and Chrome on their Windows 10 PC, you can view and send texts via the browser - I do this all the time and like you, greatly prefer it to texting on the phone.

The Android and Chrome on the PC need to have the same Google account, and access to the same router. You don't get alerts on the PC to incoming texts, but if your Android is within earshot, that alerts you.

 

Point the browser to:

 

https://messages.google.com/web/conversations

 

[adriank]

46 minutes ago, Andy Hayter said:

@Harlequin

For me W11 seems to try and enforce documents being saved to the cloud. 

This is the default setting for Office on Windows 10.  MIcrosoft seems to want everything done via the cloud and your Microsoft account. Try changing the settings in Outlook to stop spam, for example, or creating a local user in Windows 10 without setting up a Microsoft account. I think Microsoft regards Windows as a marketing platform rather than an operating system - why else would they display advertising in their weather app? To add insult to injury, the ads were supposedly tailored to my needs. Although I am in my seventies, I certainly do not require incontinence pads!

 

Adrian

[Mike Buckner]

1 hour ago, adriank said:

Although I am in my seventies, I certainly do not require incontinence pads!

 

in the 1980's/1990's, i.e. before credit cards were managed over the internet, my bank used to mail me printed statements. Included with the statement were various advertisement sheets.

 

I returned the compliment. Along with my cheque, I stuffed the provided return envelope with various leaflets dropped through the letterbox advertising pizzas, taxi services, etc.