This migration is exacerbated because a new laptop comes with the latest OSX, which these days means Catalina. That’s 64-bit so none of the 32-bit programs will work anymore. Everything that isn’t compatible has to be upgraded to new 64-bit versions which is a bit of a PITA. Some vendors, like Amazon’s Kindle, still don’t even have 64-bit support for Mac yet. I’m stuck using the cloud Kindle reader until they come out with one.
What’s annoying is everybody wants you to switch off of plain old fashioned software, that you buy, for money, and install on your device. Instead they want to move you to some new cloud-based subscription model, which charges you a monthly fee for the same software tools that then keep all of your data in the cloud. Which I loathe. The economics vs the benefits are more than a little skewed in favour of the vendor as your subscription costs outstrip the standalone purchase after about 12 to 18 months (I’m not buying a new laptop every 12 to 18 months. The only reason I bought this one is because our CTO is worried that if the reason the casing is buckling is because battery is swelling, then it could explode).
Open source is a great option for software. However, the only issue with Libre Office is their refusal to polish the user interface. It gets the work done but is insipid.
I prefer “cloud solutions” (especially Dropbox) because it has now become reliable. They pioneered sync technology and have an exciting product layer on top of it. In contrast, iCloud or Google Drive doesn’t have the same chops.
I have to see if the current version has seen any drastic changes but I personally prefer a minimalistic UI.
RadOncNotes 