Technology catch-all thread

[bigruss]

Unfortunately we're stuck in the Microsoft Office world. No way I can get the partners to try something new.

A lot of companies/people are like that. I think it's probably a worthwhile venture for you guys, getting out of handling the infrastructure for that stuff makes sense but have a very clear plan for DR in case 365 goes down (which it will). And I'm sure you guys will handle it well since it's a lawfirm but have very clear language in any contract with Microsoft for SLAs and what happens if they don't meet them.

 

One thing to remember though, that support may be 24/7 but if you have an emergency you may not be getting the response you are used to. Especially as a small office, MS may not truly care about getting you back up ASAP. Your contract will be insignificant to them, so if you are used to having an immediate answer/fix for IT problems just be wary of that change. Shoot, we've already seen issues with MS response/outages and we have a very little portion of our exchange environment in their cloud.

[RockRaines]

Unfortunately we're stuck in the Microsoft Office world. No way I can get the partners to try something new.

You can still use office on each device like we do, but also use google for everything else. You can share word docs on google as well. O365 just kind blows.

[RockRaines]

We're looking at Azure right now, going through a POC with them currently. It's straight garbage, if I was in charge of this project I would have run far away by now.

 

Hopefully we look at AWS before purchasing anything.

 

We are going fullsteam ahead with O365 though it seems. The department that wants that drinks the Microsoft koolaid hard.

Azure AD is ok, and Microsoft was smart enough to start rolling off ADFS in favor of our stuff for AuthN and Authorization so that customer actually can be supported. The issue with moving to Azure AD is the microsoft people themselves. They are clueless. I have large fortune 100 clients that are consistently left without service for long periods of time and they are literally no help whatsoever.

Edited October 25, 2016 by RockRaines

[StrangeSox]

You can still use office on each device like we do, but also use google for everything else. You can share word docs on google as well. O365 just kind blows.

 

This is what we do. There was some initial talk when we switched to gmail of "google for everything!" but then both engineering and accounting threatened massive revolt if they took away years worth of excel macros.

[RockRaines]

This is what we do. There was some initial talk when we switched to gmail of "google for everything!" but then both engineering and accounting threatened massive revolt if they took away years worth of excel macros.

Yep, we had the same thought as well as replacing webex with gchat and hangouts etc and there was a revolt.

[Middle Buffalo]

There are so many rare earth metals and other recyclables in there that recycling centers are now paying to get old PCs. You can either pull the hard drives or put a drill hole through them.

Thanks for the replies Y2Hh, StrangeSox, Rock & S2k5. You confirmed what I was thinking. I just looked, and I have 4 to get rid of.

[RockRaines]

Thanks for the replies Y2Hh, StrangeSox, Rock & S2k5. You confirmed what I was thinking. I just looked, and I have 4 to get rid of.

Check your village website to see if they are doing recycling. We do it about every month and I have dropped off all sorts of s***.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

Tesla unveiled their Powerwall 2.0 tonight, and their new Solar Roof. Instead of solar panels on a roof, it's solar shingles. They look surprisingly awesome, and are stronger than traditional roofs, will have heating coils like rear defrosts on a car to melt off snow, and apparently cost less than a traditional roof.

 

[Jenksismyhero]

Anyone have a Surface Pro? My wife has been hinting that she wants one and i've been looking at possibly getting one during Black Friday. I'm just not sold that it's worth it. I don't think she would use it for anything more than streaming shows/movies, checking email, surfing the web and looking at photos of our kids. She's not going to be drawing portraits like a sketch artist or whatever.

 

Is there a need for this over a tablet? Is it going to last longer? Any reviews?

[Iwritecode]

Anyone have a Surface Pro? My wife has been hinting that she wants one and i've been looking at possibly getting one during Black Friday. I'm just not sold that it's worth it. I don't think she would use it for anything more than streaming shows/movies, checking email, surfing the web and looking at photos of our kids. She's not going to be drawing portraits like a sketch artist or whatever.

 

Is there a need for this over a tablet? Is it going to last longer? Any reviews?

 

I tested one at work a few months ago. Wasn't really anything special in my mind. The pen/stylus that came with it was interesting but not all that useful for what I do.

 

IIRC our salespeople requested them mostly because they wanted a replacement for their laptops so they could use them on planes.

[kevo880]

Anyone have a Surface Pro? My wife has been hinting that she wants one and i've been looking at possibly getting one during Black Friday. I'm just not sold that it's worth it. I don't think she would use it for anything more than streaming shows/movies, checking email, surfing the web and looking at photos of our kids. She's not going to be drawing portraits like a sketch artist or whatever.

 

Is there a need for this over a tablet? Is it going to last longer? Any reviews?

 

I use it as my work computer (Sales). The idea behind them getting these for us was to use them for sales presentations and to work in between sales meetings. I like it a lot for what it is. I don't use the pen that comes with it, instead just use it as I would any other computer. It is cool that it can be a tablet or more like a laptop if you have the attached keyboard and Bluetooth mouse. To me it seems very similar to an iPad.

[iamshack]

I use it as my work computer (Sales). The idea behind them getting these for us was to use them for sales presentations and to work in between sales meetings. I like it a lot for what it is. I don't use the pen that comes with it, instead just use it as I would any other computer. It is cool that it can be a tablet or more like a laptop if you have the attached keyboard and Bluetooth mouse. To me it seems very similar to an iPad.

I have one as well as an iPad for work.

 

They both suck for business applications as far as I am concerned. The iPad is sort of just never compatible for the right tools I need, while the Surface is just a massive piece of s*** that always gives me problems.

 

Basically, everything you ever thought you knew about Apple and Microsoft was reaffirmed for me in these two products.

 

 

[RockRaines]

I have one as well as an iPad for work.

 

They both suck for business applications as far as I am concerned. The iPad is sort of just never compatible for the right tools I need, while the Surface is just a massive piece of s*** that always gives me problems.

 

Basically, everything you ever thought you knew about Apple and Microsoft was reaffirmed for me in these two products.

Agreed on all counts. IMO you get more mileage for work related stuff with a macbook air. The ipad to me is a larger iphone for watching videos and f***ing around.

[Whitewashed in '05]

I've had a very good experience with my Surface. I use it at work a lot for note taking in meetings with OneNote. Then I go back to my desk and everything is there without having to manually sync anything or if I write my notes during a meeting on paper I don't have to type it up. I use the pen when I have to stay on my feet and walk around noting things down.

 

They are also powerful machines in terms of resources. I've seen people use Surfaces as their only computer with a docking station. I'm not a huge fan of the USB docking station, but it works. You also have the full Windows OS. If I want to connect it to a projector to demonstrate something, I can do that. If I want to print something, that's easy too. Not like an ipad where I have to buy additional hardware.

 

The touch screen is also nice and responsive. I'm a fan. It works well for what I need it for.

[iamshack]

Agreed on all counts. IMO you get more mileage for work related stuff with a macbook air. The ipad to me is a larger iphone for watching videos and f***ing around.

Agreed. I was fine using my MacBook Pro until they started cracking down on the use of personal devices for business. Now I'm stuck with these two bad options.

[iamshack]

I've had a very good experience with my Surface. I use it at work a lot for note taking in meetings with OneNote. Then I go back to my desk and everything is there without having to manually sync anything or if I write my notes during a meeting on paper I don't have to type it up. I use the pen when I have to stay on my feet and walk around noting things down.

 

They are also powerful machines in terms of resources. I've seen people use Surfaces as their only computer with a docking station. I'm not a huge fan of the USB docking station, but it works. You also have the full Windows OS. If I want to connect it to a projector to demonstrate something, I can do that. If I want to print something, that's easy too. Not like an ipad where I have to buy additional hardware.

 

The touch screen is also nice and responsive. I'm a fan. It works well for what I need it for.

Maybe I've got a lemon, but I've just had constant issues with software updates, restarts, etc. Always a pain to work with.

[BigHurt3515]

Who has amazon fire TV? I want to get something that I can stream Kodi and other apps on since we don't have cable.

[Brian]

Who has amazon fire TV? I want to get something that I can stream Kodi and other apps on since we don't have cable.

 

I have it but only use the basic apps like Netflix and Hulu. Don't know what Kodi is

[Chisoxfn]

I have Fire TV. Its nice.

[nitetrain8601]

I had a Surface Pro 3 and it was probably the best machine I ever owned. I used the main dock which had sliding ends to plug in. Apparently, now they sell a USB Hub style docking station that I'm not a fan of. Anyway, the machine was a beast. I'd write notes in OneNote, use Miracast to send it to any one of our Flatscreens in the conference room, configure switches and routers and at home. It was by far the best tablet I ever owned, and laptop I ever owned. But hey, some say cucumbers taste better pickled.

 

As far as the FireTV, I have a few of the sticks with Kodi on them. Easy to install. I want to try a FireTV though which gives better performance, or perhaps a nVidia Shield.

[BigHurt3515]

I had a Surface Pro 3 and it was probably the best machine I ever owned. I used the main dock which had sliding ends to plug in. Apparently, now they sell a USB Hub style docking station that I'm not a fan of. Anyway, the machine was a beast. I'd write notes in OneNote, use Miracast to send it to any one of our Flatscreens in the conference room, configure switches and routers and at home. It was by far the best tablet I ever owned, and laptop I ever owned. But hey, some say cucumbers taste better pickled.

 

As far as the FireTV, I have a few of the sticks with Kodi on them. Easy to install. I want to try a FireTV though which gives better performance, or perhaps a nVidia Shield.

 

 

I just picked up the FireTv tonight to try it out. I will get Kodi on there and try it out and let you know how it works

[bigruss]

I'm not a reddit user but it's insane how the CEO of reddit admitted to editing posts specifically in /r/the_donald so that he could troll the Trump trolls. People are pissed, not just Trump fans but many reddit users since they have no trust in the site anymore.

 

Could be a big shift in social media.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

Ugh, my LG G4 is starting to freak out. I have always loved the LG line of phones for their camera, "knock on" features, and IR blaster remote, but these things NEVER make it the full 2 years until I can get a new phone. My LG G2 broke within the first year, and they sent me a new one. Within a year of that replacement phone, that one broke as well and I had to buy my sister-in-laws Samsung S4 Active. I had that phone until June of 2015 when I jumped up to the LG G4. Again, love the phone, but again, s*** never lasts. That first G4 broke in early December. I used my back up phone until about January when I finally decided to use my warranty on it (I thought it was a 1 time use only thing). Got the replacement phone and then THAT one broke in June of 2016, days before the 1 year warranty were to run out. So they sent me ANOTHER one and said I would now get 90 days of warranty of the third phone. It's now about 170 days later and now THIS one is freaking out too. Turning off randomly, gets stuck in a bootloop, have to constantly remove the battery and cycle it until it comes on. Then I had it on for a few minutes until it suddenly froze up and wouldn't stop vibrating. Pulled the battery out, and now it's stuck in the boot loop again.

 

I had 3 LG G4s, and NONE of them made it 6 months. I've also never dropped any of them, or any other phone. Never broken a phone via physical damage, it's always been like how this one is dying.

 

All I needed was the phone to last until December 4th, and I would have reached the 18 month mark and been able to trade this phone in for a new type of phone. 12 days short of that, and now I can't trade the phone in because this one appears to no longer be in working condition. f*** ME.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

Ugh, my LG G4 is starting to freak out. I have always loved the LG line of phones for their camera, "knock on" features, and IR blaster remote, but these things NEVER make it the full 2 years until I can get a new phone. My LG G2 broke within the first year, and they sent me a new one. Within a year of that replacement phone, that one broke as well and I had to buy my sister-in-laws Samsung S4 Active. I had that phone until June of 2015 when I jumped up to the LG G4. Again, love the phone, but again, s*** never lasts. That first G4 broke in early December. I used my back up phone until about January when I finally decided to use my warranty on it (I thought it was a 1 time use only thing). Got the replacement phone and then THAT one broke in June of 2016, days before the 1 year warranty were to run out. So they sent me ANOTHER one and said I would now get 90 days of warranty of the third phone. It's now about 170 days later and now THIS one is freaking out too. Turning off randomly, gets stuck in a bootloop, have to constantly remove the battery and cycle it until it comes on. Then I had it on for a few minutes until it suddenly froze up and wouldn't stop vibrating. Pulled the battery out, and now it's stuck in the boot loop again.

 

I had 3 LG G4s, and NONE of them made it 6 months. I've also never dropped any of them, or any other phone. Never broken a phone via physical damage, it's always been like how this one is dying.

 

All I needed was the phone to last until December 4th, and I would have reached the 18 month mark and been able to trade this phone in for a new type of phone. 12 days short of that, and now I can't trade the phone in because this one appears to no longer be in working condition. f*** ME.

 

UPDATE: So I continued to try to get it to come on this morning, and it still failed a bunch. I could get the "Factory Reset" screen to come up, but it wouldn't initiate. Well then I decided to try one last time and then just go take a shower while it sat there looping. Well I came back from the shower and poof, it was "rebuilding android"! It finishing the process, and the "Welcome" screen came up, as if it's been completely wiped factory clean! So I immediately just turned the phone off and will not even attempt to use it anymore, take it to the store on December 5th, and do my 18 month ATT Next upgrade exchange. As long as it works for the 5 minutes or so that the store has it, I'll be able to dump it and get a brand new working phone before it fails again.

 

I am probably done with LG now. Will switch to either the Google Pixel or Samsung S7. Not happy about no longer having removable battery + microSD capabilities. That aspect of it really sucks, but I really don't feel like rolling the dice with LG anymore, despite how much I like their camera and features.

[TaylorStSox]

I've had Fire TV with Kodi for several months. Would never go back. I've become a huge cricket fan. Not really, but I could if I wanted.