Month: August 2021

Apple and the M1?

Now that Apple corp has started the migration to M1 architecture, one of the few really interesting features of Macs may be gone, the ability to run Windows business apps on a Mac. When Macs were based on the same Intel chips that Microsoft wrote Windows for, it was a simple matter of installing Windows on your Mac (via Parallels, dual boot, VM’s, etc.). Now that Macs are using the M1 (ARM) family of processors it isn’t near so straightforward.

Yes, I have read the articles reviewing Parallels 17 and all the great features it has (apparently including the ability to mimic an Intel system), you still have to load (thus far) Windows for ARM after you load Parallels in order to run windows x86 software. Before you go looking to buy a copy of Windows 10 for ARM, let me warn you there is no retail version so far (even though Microsoft sells a few products running Windows for ARM).

So, why did Apple make the jump to ARM architecture when it meant their machines would lose access to an extremely large library of professional and business software? Well, among current product families, the ARM family produces the least expensive to build computers with far less power consumption for a given level of performance. With Unix and a few flavors of Linux already ported to ARM, it had to look like an obvious choice for Apple. And, they could wrest back development and advancement control from Intel who has not been performing up to Apple’s expectations for a few years (Apple may have a number of other reasons to want to use chips and architecture that they are involved in the development of).

In conclusion, I would like to say this: Once you decide which software you are going to use, select from among computers that run that software best, most affordably, most reliably, and most easily maintained. Ignore (in this initial step) the Apple vs Microsoft or M1 vs Intel vs AMD questions until you have selected the software and determined which machines best suit your needs running that software. Then you may or may not have brand choices. A quick bit for the future, as more and more software (apps) are run from the cloud, you may find that ChromeOS products may start attracting a lot of attention (My initial testing of Chrome products using a variety of chips and chip-sets has shown performance to be markedly better than that of systems running Unix, Linux, Windows, Mac-OS, etc.).

New Scam (to me)

Aha, a new scam, well new to me. Support specialists claiming that the version of windows on your computer is a promo version or demo version or for some other reason not a valid version and it will stop working soon or on some fictitious date ( a real date but not one when your version of windows will stop working). With Windows XP, Microsoft learned its lesson and so does not make promo versions of windows available to system builders and refurbishers.

To my knowledge there are 4 kinds of windows 10, OEM Windows (available to small volume Original Equipment Manufacturers), Volume license Windows (available to a variety of large volume system builders, retailers, etc.) and retail Windows (widely available to most everyone). That leaves the type of Windows available to registered refurbishers.

Code wise they are all supposed to be identical, though all 4 are moderately customizable and I have encountered some differences when working with versions provided by Dell and HP. I have also encountered a few counterfeit copies of Windows 10 in the last couple of years; but, they failed licensing and initial updating,a trait my sales training with Microsoft taught me to watch out for.

So, if you have an existing machine that has been licensed and getting updates, you can be fairly certain that any pop-up messages or phone calls “alerting” you that your version of Windows 10 is about to stop being supported are SCAMS. For that matter, any copy of Windows 10 that makes it through the OOBE (original owners beginning experience) which includes activation, is a valid, fully licensed, legal copy of Windows.Ignore the scammers who want to fix your unlicensed copy of Windows (because it is licensed) and do NOT give them your money in any fashion.

What should a retail copy of Windows 10 cost? Home: $135 and Pro: $199 and you will find older copies reduced on occasion to $100 and $170 but Microsoft insists that these are not priced any lower than that for retail copies, copies priced lower may not be legitimate.

When will we see Windows 11? I have not seen any fixed date yet; but, we can hope it will be later this year. Initial word from Microsoft is that Windows 10 users will automatically be updated to the new Windows 11 shortly after the official rollout.