Is Microsoft trying to push me away? (Part 1)

I consider myself fortunate in that I was born at the time when computers were just beginning to become an inextricable part of everyday life. Video games and systems were not sophisticated or immersive, just fun. There were no "Personal Computers", cell phones, "smart" items, or anything like we have today.

"It's time to slay the Dragon...duck? Well, what is it?" 

"Adventure", ©1979 Atari

In the years that have passed, I gained a certain interest in computers, though it was still from the perspective of gaming. My older brother had a Commodore VIC-20, and later the venerable C=64. I would soon join in that ownership courtesy of my parents. I have a lot of good memories of that machine and the games and stuff I did with it.

Ok, so it wasn't a user-friendly GUI. I'm old-school. 

©Commodore Business Machines

I strayed from computers for many years, until I met my now-spouse. He was using this PC clone with an Intel 386 CPU and a 5MB hard drive. Damn, we thought that was something to brag about at the time. It had MS-DOS 5 (I think) and Windows 3.1. This was my re-introduction to computers. Not that it was my first time with a GUI-based OS; Apple gets that honor, as we had first-generation Macs in high school.

Not really Orwellian, but we thought it was cool! 

Source name not listed. 

My future spouse took the time to teach me some basics of MS-DOS, and what he knew about Windows at the time. Forward a couple years, and I'm laid up due to an accident that severely damaged my left hand. Part of the physical and psychological therapy was to go on this computer and type. It didn't matter what, just as long as I keep using that hand and build up strength and endurance. In time, we had to get another PC, this time with a faster 386, a whopping 8MB RAM, and a 20 MB hard drive. WOW! It was really something for the time. Adding to this, it also had a modem, and we took our first steps into what was then called the "World Wide Web".

The struggle was real, kids...

"Dude, get off the computer! I have to call someone!"  

Even in those times, there was some competitive smack-talking between the Windows users and Mac users. I wanted to get a new computer, and I had my eye on this shiney HP Pavilion that was far more advanced than the little PC we had been using, and this one came with the new Windows 95! This was around the time I started to get curious about computers; what made them work, how to build one, what is Windows all about, and so on. I started to dig deeper, and got my first "...For Dummies" book. Say what you will, it helped me navigate this OS, and I learned a ton about it. This only fueled my fascination, and since coding was a complete mystery, I settled on learning how to work on the physical machine, the OS, programs, and networking. This would help in time, and when I returned to the workforce, it became an asset for me in the office environment. I became the unofficial IT guy at a time when most people didn't know what IT was!

No, not "IT", I-T! 

©1990 Lorimar TV

Time passes, and I built, bought, and maintained my PC's and laptops. I went thru the wonder of Windows 98SE, XP, and 7, and the utter suck of ME, Vista, and 8. Look, I'm not saying that 8 was a complete bag of dicks, but the GUI just threw everyone off, and the lack of the Start menu just added to it. Despite these issues, I do view 8 as a very solid OS.

Then, Microsoft curveballed us with the release of Windows 10. Wait, what?? 10? Oh, it didn't get any less weird. Yeah, we got the beloved Start menu again, and some nice features, but there was something about 10 that bothered me. No, it wasn't just 10...this was something that started back with earlier versions, like Windows 7. This may be the point where I started to get annoyed with Microsoft, and wondered if there was any alternative that wouldn't require me to pull my hair out learning about it.

...to continue in Part 2.

--Nerikull Murakami

(Photos used under CCL and credit given when known)