Jack

I either own or have owned the MXR M80, the GK Plex, Sansamp BDDI, Studiospares 458190, Behringer BDI, TC Spectradrive, Two Notes Le Bass, probably a few others. You know what? Most of them have been great, it's just sound preference and feature sets my man. However, for about the past 5 years I've been really settled on either my HX Stomp (I used to use a faull fat rack Helix, bought the Stomp as a spare, then stopped using the rack) or a Sansamp Paradriver. Both are excellent. Top tier in their respective digital/analogue worlds IME.

What PA did you end up with?

Both good posts, thank you.

Well thankfully I was responding to Baloney talking about being a home user. Yes and again I do appreciate the benefits of all of that, I even understand most of it. However, again, I don't know that any of that is something that only Microsoft can give you and also, none of this was in the original discussion. I responded after several posts from home users and non-IT professionals (as far as we know!) talking about how much Windows sucks for them. Specifically, I responded to someone saying that Linux was an inconvenience. I didn't even mention the wider MS ecosystem until you did! Me saying "linux can be much more user friendly than windows" and you saying "but how we possibly start to introduce a data risk management strategy across our 10,000 strong user base whilst still ensuring high availability without Purview?" are kind of two different points. God, no. I take my security very seriously. I have just managed that without an annoying ping every 37 seconds that I need to perform a scan or that such and such a program wants to make changes to my pc.

I got the impression that you did which is why I was careful to state that, whilst I play an IT person on TV, I'm not actually an IT person. I'm a teacher. I will surely bow to your more significant expertise but, and I mean this sincerely, HOW are they the glue that's holding all of this together? I totally agree that device and OS are mattering less and less, which is a bloomin' great thing as now we can finally ditch Windows!

I think you think that's a pro, when it's actually a con. I'm a digital learning consultant by trade. Whilst I'm not technically an IT professional I am IT-adjacent and I fully appreciate the benefits of integration and management for an organisation. Active directory, single sign on and centralised MFA are all very useful tools to name just 3 and I do appreciate that my job would be extremely different without Teams. I might actually have to go into the office. Like, in town. My work provides a Thinkpad, it's a great piece of hardware and the Windows stuff doesn't bother me because I don't have to manage it. But I did have to wait 4 days last week for someone to reinstall Adobe Creative Cloud because a mandatory Windows update had broken CC, which meant that I couldn't actually use any of the Adobe apps that were already installed and working fine on my PC. But, the apps rely on CC... This is an Adobe problem for sure but if I hadn't been forced to upgrade and if all of the updaters actually talked to each other then we wouldn't have had this problem. Like, I dunno. sudo apt-get upgrade? However, firstly all of those management things are possible on Linux too. Hell, our Windows servers are all virtualised anyway, running on Linux machines for stability. And secondly, none of that matters for a home user. Home users want to turn a computer on, have it work, and do something. They don't need an AI assistant, adverts, integration with xbox, adverts, candy crush, adverts, a million free trials, adverts, forced updates, adverts, an army of widgets vying for attention, adverts, everything starting on startup, adverts, antivirus software, or adverts. And if they do, they can install them. The one thing that seems as though it would be really useful to low IT capital personal users is Office 365, particularly having files saved in the cloud. But nobody seems to understand how that works!

Speak as you find. They are an award-winning, successful business with what must be millions of satisfied customers. Whomever dealt with me 15 or so years ago has probably moved on from the job. Me and my brothers have a weekly gaming night on a Wednesday that started during the pandemic. Middle brother spent about £850 on a 4070ti super a few weeks ago. From Overclockers. Because, as a family, we know that Scan can be dishonest at times.

I have been Windows-free (aside from the occasional gaming pc) since 2007. I boot up my gaming rig once a week or so to play and it's just horrible. There was a time when Linux was an inconvenience compared to Windows, I was there, but those days are long gone. Modern distros like Mint and Ubuntu are user friendly in ways that leave Windows in the dust. What Windows has going for it is momentum: one knows how to do something on Windows almost by muscle memory, so Linux seems harder. It's not.

Scan Computers. Sold me a faulty power supply, no problem there things happen and there's no way a retailer is going to unbox and check everything they get in. However, when I tired to return it they claimed that I'd broken it and that I should have purchased their 'scansure' insurance that protects against installation damage. Wouldn't budge. In the end I got my money back from the credit card people rather than the shop. I am the 'computer guy' in my circle of friends and family, and I tell this story every time I can. I know I have funneled quite literally tens of thousands of pounds away from Scan and towards Overclockers, Palicomp Aria (rip) and the like. Not that it seems to have hurt them, but you shouldn't rip people off. 3. I got a brand new (and at the time top of the line) Nokia N96 in about 2008 when I was at uni. It hardly ever worked, went back and forwards in for repair and I didn't have it for 5 of my first 7 months. No courtesy phone either, despite paying what was a top-tier price at the time. The final straw was when I was a designated first aider on an open day and one of the parents on one of our tours had a heart attack on campus. The tour guide called me, lots, my phone didn't react. Later on that night I got about 17 missed calls. This was outdoors, in the middle of Newcastle, and my phone was reporting full signal. I told 3 I was done and I was cancelling my contract. They said I couldn't. I said (over the course of weeks and many emails) that they were charging me for something they weren't providing. When this got nowhere I just cancelled my direct debit, which started the letters, bailiff threats, credit score threats, the works. Eventually someone called saying they were taking me to court, I gleefully accepted and asked them to please send times and dates. 4 months of no contact except regular letters (from 3, not any government body) that my court case was coming up. Three days before the supposed court date the head of UK operations called me, refunded me all my money and said I could keep the handset. Technically this one ended ok and 3 did the right thing in the end, but it took me about a year and a half of stress so I'm never going there again.

They're not angry, they're just shouting because they're deaf.

There's a video somewhere with Metallica's sound man where he says they've been experimenting with an app that would let audience members choose their own mix. James's iems, front of house, the recording mix, etc. I'm a digital learning person in my day job, my immediate thought was it would be great to add in some audio description or commentary on a mix for visually impaired people.

Explains how a lot of people end up in those seats.

Ideally yes but then also the unintended cyberpunk aesthetic of the routing showing through as well.