From: thomas.e.elam@gmail.com   
      
   On 2/17/26 2:55 PM, Alan wrote:   
   > On 2026-02-17 10:55, Tom Elam wrote:   
   >> On 2/15/26 6:08 PM, pothead wrote:   
   >>> On 2026-02-15, Tom Elam  wrote:   
   >>>> The two longest lasting phones I have owned were a Blackberry at   
   >>>> about 5   
   >>>> years and an iPhone 14 Pro at 3+ years. In between a series of Android   
   >>>> phones. The 14 Pro will do for at least another 1-2 years. The wife has   
   >>>> an iPhone 14, same story.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Android tablets were tried for something like 10 years. All were   
   >>>> disappointing. Slow, limited updates, and clunky OS. My iPad experience   
   >>>> has been the exact opposite. Frequent updates, plenty fast, and   
   >>>> consistent OS. The current oldest is Gen 7, 6 years old, and running   
   >>>> great with a fully patched OS. None of my Samsung tablets came even   
   >>>> close.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> IMHO Apple deserves the price premium. Good hardware, incredible   
   >>>> support, durable. No regrets.   
   >>>   
   >>> I agree completely with your assessment of your Apple devices. I too had   
   >>> a Blackberry and at the time I enjoyed using it and it did last a   
   >>> long time   
   >>> despite the abuse from me.   
   >>> I also have had several Android devices from Motorola, Samsung and   
   >>> LG. Mostly   
   >>> top tier devices for the most part.   
   >>> They have never been as smooth as my iPhones which I have been using   
   >>> since one of   
   >>> the early models. I currently have an iPhone 14 as well.   
   >>> One of my biggest complaints with Android has been the massive amount   
   >>> of bloatware   
   >>> that they come with. Apps from the manufacturer as well as the   
   >>> carrier. And some   
   >>> can be a PITA to remove.   
   >>> I've never used an Apple or Android tablet so I can't comment on that.   
   >>> My only complaint with the iPhone and Apple was iTunes as I don't use   
   >>> a desktop   
   >>> Mac so it was quite clunky to me. Android was better in that regard   
   >>> because it   
   >>> was seen from the PC as just another file system. To me that is logical.   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>   
   >> Yesterday I took the next step and bought a MacBook Air. Probably just   
   >> before the next update, but what the heck. Got almost everything up   
   >> and running except 2 standalone utilites that are Windows-only. A few   
   >> years back the poor state of Quicken and an M1 MacBook Pro that failed   
   >> to boot 13 days after purchase derailed the process. Quicken has been   
   >> updated and now works OK. I have two Windows 11 machines around that   
   >> can run those utilities. This is being sent on the Air/Thunderbird.   
   >>   
   >> Still a few kinks to work out, thanks to Google and YouTube I'm   
   >> confident I'll not be needing Parallels.   
   > Do yourself a favour. Set up the Windows machine for remote access using   
   > the "Windows" application you can get from the App Store.   
      
   Help me out here, what does that do for you?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)