So I got a new laptop recently. However, unlike the last time I got a new laptop, which was five years ago, I now have the luxury of getting one while my current old laptop is still functioning relatively properly. Aside from a very annoying hardware issue with my keyboard, the system is still working. So I am relegating my old laptop as my work computer, and using my new laptop only at home, for the current moment. Nevertheless, I am slowly working my way on familiarizing myself with the system, and installing new things on it, to bring it up to speed and match the performance of my old machine. And in this process, I am learning about the various new capabilities of my new machine, as well as how the software has been evolving.
First of all, it's been five years since I got a new computer. Back in 2010, I was still a student, which meant that there were things that I was able to get for free. Free anti-virus software, free Microsoft Office, these things came for free for me back then because I was a student and that was a privilege for being a student in my university. Well, I paid for those too as one of those things bundled in a fee perhaps, but now, I am not a student anymore, and therefore that means I have to pay for maintenance on my own. Hence, I need to pay for Microsoft Office now, as well as anti-virus. Yeah, I guess this happens when you get a lifestyle upgrade.
I also upgraded to a new operating system. I now have Windows 8.1 on this new laptop, which means that the way things are handled are a little bit different. My laptop feels like a giant phone now, and by that, I say so because my phone runs on Windows. Things are not programs per se, but they are more oriented as Apps. I have a touch screen, which means I can swipe and move things with my hand. That is awesome. I suppose I could have gotten a Windows 7 computer, to match my old laptop, but then I also saw that the support for Windows 7 is running out, and therefore I might as well catch up with the times. I tend to skip operating systems anyway. My first laptop which I bought in 2005 was running on Windows XP. The second one was running on Windows 7 (I skipped Windows Vista), and now I have one with Windows 8.1, skipping Windows 8. And I heard that they are already previewing the newest release, Windows 10.
I am slowly moving to the cloud model of computing now. I have multiple machines at this point, both at work and at home. This means that I backup stuff online pretty much on a daily basis, and my current goal is to have both of my machines have the same computing power, so that I can do whatever I need to do in both machines wherever I am.
So far I am slowly succeeding. We'll see how it goes. So far so good.
