T4C Fantasy

Your cat is watching intently. :D

lexluthermiesterYour cat is watching intently. :D

Haha xD

Just installed Office 2004 on a 233MHz iMac G3 running OSX 10.3.9, is as useful as Office 2016. Try with DirectX for your forced upgrades, Microsoft.

GoldenXJust installed Office 2004 on a 233MHz iMac G3 running OSX 10.3.9, is as useful as Office 2016. Try with DirectX for your forced upgrades, Microsoft.

Nice. Funny too!

T4C Fantasy

That looks like it could almost be the same model laptop I have.

newtekie1That looks like it could almost be the same model laptop I have.

awesome xD

ZeDestructorWell, you can get a Galaxy J7 prime for about $200, and the Galaxy A8 and OnePlus are around the 400-500 mark. Much cheaper than a decent laptop (which over the past 10 years of laptop shopping I've found hovers around the 1200-1500 mark). Sure, it's a consumption-only device, but that's what most people do with their computing devices outside of work! For the 3 times a year the average person needs to actually do something that requires a proper keyboard and decent screen, they'll just use their work-provided machine, or borrow a relative's computer or something of the sort.

This is especially relevant in 3rd-world countries (I'm from one, so I get to call us that!) where people have much lower incomes, and proportionally less money to spend on tech. When you have to choose between a $500 shitty PC + $100 featurephone vs dropping 400-800 on a decent smartphone, you often go towards the phone side. ESPECIALLY if your job gets you access to a real computer.

EDIT: I wouldn't buy a J-series samsung (I need real amounts of RAM on my phone), but it's perfectly adequate for most of my relatives.
EDIT2: I use Syncthing for my own syncing (I have more data synced than literally any free service allows me to store), GSuite business for my own bulk offsite storage, and oneDrive Business/SharePoint for work stuff.



Ignoring the points @evernessince mentioned, the obvious, and most important missing bit in the statcounter info is the complete lack of total numbers. % changes in tech often means just changes in growth rates, and a lot less people abandoning a platform for another.



OneNote is. Real OneNote, not the bastardized, useless POS that is the UWP app.

I guess Excel and PowerPoint are good too, and Work is a passable word processor... Outlook's passable too...



If you work with other business, people or states, you often end up using MSOffice just to keep collaboration sane. Especially if you use Excel beyond =A7+B7. A bunch of businesses have moved to 10 as well, like my dad's small consultancy. It's been great for me, since I don't need to worry about updates in particular.

Those arguments are pretty stretched. A $500 laptop isn't "shitty" and a J7 Prime doesn't set any standards in mobile computing. It's mediocre phone good for a few simple tasks. Maybe you or your relatives are OK with some Facebook, some YouTube, the occasional email, phone call, or text. But saying that "the regular person" only needs a computer 3 times per year is pretty exaggerated. You don't go running around the neighborhood looking to borrow a laptop every time you need one. You buy a $200-300 one and you hold on to it for years. Again, even a 10 year old laptop can hold its own today. A 10 year old phone is a door stop. Heck, I have a 10 year old Lenovo Atom netbook that's just as frustrating to use in most regular tasks as a low/mid-end phone but still more functional. :)

Also I'm almost sure you posted from a computer or wasted 1 hour formatting that comment on a phone screen. You'll have to do with 2 more uses of the computer for the rest of the year, right? :)

TheinsanegamerNOr, you could save $100 a year, use libre/openoffice, and use google drive to share documents without paying a penny.

No office program is worth $100 a year.


there are 2 classes that make up the majority of people who bother paying for officeL businesses and older folks who dont know about anything other then office, but still buy the newest as opposed to still using 2003.

Both groups still have a large number of 7 machines, and will not upgrade until they absolutely have to. Until businesses move to 10, sales will be low.

It looks like you concluded there are 2 types of users: your type, and the wrong type. Office isn't worth it, OO/LO and Google Drive can replace Office, old people use Windows 7, etc. No need to cite the source for this, I'm sure you wouldn't just claim that reality somehow perfectly aligns with your personal preferences. :)

closeThose arguments are pretty stretched. A $500 laptop isn't "shitty"

Add taxes/customs duties and ripoffs from local merchants and suddenly that $500 laptop is closer to $800. Pair with a much smaller amount of disposable income and that $800 isn't a month of disposable income, it's a 6+ months of disposable income. Conclusion that most people eventually make is to buy the nicer phone and just abuse office equipment instead, or better still, just save up.

closeand a J7 Prime doesn't set any standards in mobile computing. It's mediocre phone good for 2 or 3 repetitive tasks. Maybe you or your relatives are OK with some Facebook, some YouTube, the occasional email, phone call, or text.

That's exactly what the vast majority of people do outside of work. It runs everything the average person does (facebook, whatsapp, instagram, blah blah blah) just fine. Sure, it sucks if you try to do more than 2 things at once, or play games on your phone, but it runs what the majority uses their phones for in the way they use their phones like well enough. So no, the J7 Prime (and other similarly priced devices) have no business setting any standards in mobile computing.

In this day and age of $500 mid-rangers, and $1000 flagships, a lot of people (especially at the lower end of the income brackets) decide to either stick with their old flagships or buy a new low-end to mid-range device. That's why globally Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei and BKK (Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus) rule the roost, not Apple: they just keep on churning out millions upon millions of cheap, low-end to mid-range devices that people buy.

closeBut saying that "the regular person" only needs a computer 3 times per year is pretty exaggerated. You don't go running around the neighborhood looking to borrow a laptop every time you need one. You buy a $200-300 one and you hold on to it for years. Again, even a 10 year old laptop can hold its own today. A 10 year old phone is a door stop. Heck, I have a 10 year old Lenovo Atom netbook that's just as frustrating to use in most regular tasks as a low/mid-end phone but still more functional. :)

Also I'm almost sure you posted from a computer or wasted 1 hour formatting that comment on a phone screen. You'll have to do with 2 more uses of the computer for the rest of the year, right? :)

I'm not the average public, and neither are you. The average public, as I said in my post that you so very kindly quoted, uses their work computer for their computer-y usage, not their own. For the few times when they need a computer, they'll usually just wait till they're back at work.

And obviously I was exaggerating with the 3 times a year comment, but the actual need for a computer (vs really want) is a much smaller amount of tasks than ever.

ZeDestructorAdd taxes/customs duties and ripoffs from local merchants and suddenly that $500 laptop is closer to $800. Pair with a much smaller amount of disposable income and that $800 isn't a month of disposable income, it's a 6+ months of disposable income. Conclusion that most people eventually make is to buy the nicer phone and just abuse office equipment instead, or better still, just save up.



That's exactly what the vast majority of people do outside of work. It runs everything the average person does (facebook, whatsapp, instagram, blah blah blah) just fine. Sure, it sucks if you try to do more than 2 things at once, or play games on your phone, but it runs what the majority uses their phones for in the way they use their phones like well enough. So no, the J7 Prime (and other similarly priced devices) have no business setting any standards in mobile computing.

In this day and age of $500 mid-rangers, and $1000 flagships, a lot of people (especially at the lower end of the income brackets) decide to either stick with their old flagships or buy a new low-end to mid-range device. That's why globally Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei and BKK (Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus) rule the roost, not Apple: they just keep on churning out millions upon millions of cheap, low-end to mid-range devices that people buy.



I'm not the average public, and neither are you. The average public, as I said in my post that you so very kindly quoted, uses their work computer for their computer-y usage, not their own. For the few times when they need a computer, they'll usually just wait till they're back at work.

And obviously I was exaggerating with the 3 times a year comment, but the actual need for a computer (vs really want) is a much smaller amount of tasks than ever.

Come on, taxes and ripoffs will add 60% only to the laptop price? You said an A8 or a OnePlus are at the 500 mark. Wouldn't they also be "closer to 800"?

The "downside" of the mobile industry is that it still evolves fast, unlike the PC segment. Which means you can't reasonably hang on to a mobile for more than 3 years. Those companies you listed sell millions upon millions of phones because they're disposable. They become obsolete very fast so in the long run you end up paying a lot more. The problem isn't always the amount of disposable income, it's mostly that people are bad at math, finances, or any kind of long term planning, and many put too high a price on image. People are willing to starve a little to get that new model, 1st world or 3rd.

I randomly browsed on Amazon India (as an example) and found decent 5* laptop choices for ~$300. But ANY ~$2-300 laptop from the past 10 years will do a good job at almost any regular task. A lot better than any phone for that matter, even a $1000 iPhone X. It doesn't have to be high end, it doesn't have to be new, and you can hang on to it for close to a decade because advances are pretty slow recently. Even if you buy one for $500 that's $50-80 per year. So that $500 phone? In 18 months it stops receiving any updates, it will feel significantly slower, and you'll probably have to invest another $50 to swap the battery or buy a new one. That's what, $200 per year at best? Going on the same assumption you made above this money could be a sixth of your yearly disposable income. Every year. Just for the phone.

P.S. About the "ruling the roost" remark, I guess it really depends on what you consider "ruling" to mean. When it comes to businesses there's one metric above all: profit. It's a special kind of ruling to sell a lot more than your competition but still not make the same profit.

Anyway, I'm getting off the bus here. Doesn't make sense to keep this going. You're making some very exaggerated and even conflicting arguments. We're also pretty much off topic... :)