Aug 11th, 2024

Author: donich_admin

Victory a long time coming…

While I was in hospital, I made a decision about the future of my digital life. For many years now, I have been using the Microsoft Surface in many different incarnations. In fact, I was so keen on the brand, that the second one I bought I ordered specifically from the United states because it was not yet available in the UK.
However, my enthusiasm for Surfaces in general has been waning over the years, as I’ve come to realise, that my use case today is not the same as it used to be. I used to have to go out on site to perform penetration tests, and while I was on the road, I would have to write reports involving detailed document management in Microsoft Word. Since I became semi retired, I no longer have this requirement, and the Surface tends to represent a bad buy now, as it is expensive and seems rather prone to having hardware faults. In fact, because I had left what I will term my “production Surface” in Norfolk, I had to borrow an iPad from R to take into hospital with me. Somewhat to my surprise, I discovered that it did fulfil all my current needs, and was in fact lighter and somewhat simpler (particularly when you are lying in bed struggling to use a keyboard) to use then the Surface was.
I almost immediately became a somewhat reluctant recruit to the Apple side of the fence and bought an iPad. I managed to get the last one available, that still has a headphone jack and a fingerprint sensor reader that works as a sort of virtual “button”. The newer ones are less attractive to me because they have this stupid lightning port which causes problems with simultaneously charging the device and using headphones. In all probability, this will be sorted out in future versions which are likely to be using USB C rather than lightning.
While we were about it, we have also taken the opportunity to buy yet another Apple device (or devices) in that we bought 3 “home hubs”. These are going to solve yet another problem caused by my ongoing foot issues, in that they will allow me to communicate with R by an intercom, so that I can “virtually” shout at him from my office to his. This should stop him getting irritated (well some of the time at least).
I feel sorry about the Surface because I really like the idea of having a tablet that is also a PC where you can use proper applications and have a proper keyboard but as far as cost to utility benefit is concerned I just no longer can justify the extra expense and trouble of sticking to the Microsoft platform.
Sorry Microsoft! I am honestly still using both Windows and your Office 365 suite…

I’ve been sitting doing nothing as much as possible for the last three days, keeping my foot elevated as many hours a day as I can tolerate. I think tomorrow I am going to have to start taking some exercise again before I seize up altogether. I am allowed to be 50% weight bearing on crutches at the moment (and for the next three weeks), but up until now my foot has been too sore to put weight on for any length of time. It is feeling a lot less painful now, so tomorrow I am going to start limping up and down the hall again. Some time this week the bulky dressing is due to be removed, so it should be more comfortable to put my foot down flat on the floor once this has gone.