Thank you, Myra.

13 years is good for a laptop, that may be too old to upgrade to Windows 10, that's only a guess.

How do you find your Google Chromebook, Myra, I know they offer quite good value for money, but can you do everything you want to with it?

Thank you for commenting and have a great day.

Roy

So far so good, and I think I am able to get my money's worth and have been able to do everything with it by far. I just have a lot to learn still and only because I rely on my phone more but will try to create balance between my laptop and phone. :)

Myra ♥️

That's good to hear, Myra!

Although, I have never used a Google Chromebook, I have heard good things about them, but I do believe they do have limitations, but it depends on what you need to do.

I think we all have a lot to learn, Myra, it's something that we should never stop doing! I must admit, I find a phone far too small to do any work practically on, that's why am much prefer to be on my desktop or laptop, it's far easier. Having said that, I know that many people use the phone for almost everything!

Enjoy your day.

Roy

Well said, Roy. Have a beautiful day as well.

Myra ♥️

Roy, it appears Windows is slowly giving us the option. I will keep checking for it.

Mel

Good morning Mel,

My guess is that this is being rolled out gradually, Mel, so I would keep checking.

Have a great day.

Roy

Will do, Roy. :-)

Mel

It's a pleasure, Othnyel!

One of the reasons I created this video, was due to the fact that I had spoken to many people, and I mean people in the know, who said you need to replace your computer, which is a bit painful! Especially when your computer works fine. So, I definitely understand where you're coming from.

I have a new desktop model, which will take Windows 11, I haven't upgraded yet, but obviously I will have to. Maybe they will extend the offer for another year, if they realise that people are fed up with having to change their computers, etc.

All the best.

Roy

Hello Hein,

Thank you for commenting on my video, it's appreciated.

I'm just wondering if Windows has discovered that people will move away and use other devices, if they keep doing these updates. This is only a thought! I appreciate that people who are building the business need a laptop or desktop computer. But there are people who just surf the Internet that could easily manage with a tablet or something similar, I guess.

Do you think they could extend this period further, especially if they find people are moving away from windows?

Have a good evening.

Roy

The funny things is that I have wanted to make an article similar to yours about this but you jumped the gun. 😃

Well, after the 13th of October 2026, we will have to pay. The price is quite steep and will likely increase every year. After around two to three years a new laptop would be cheaper than buying the updates. It is ridiculous, really.

I think Windows 11 may likely be the last full version, after which we may only get yearly updates and that may also be charged after a while. Just a heads up.

I honestly don't know the answer to that, but they will have to stay competitive with their pricing. As far as I know, Mac only gets updates and not a brand new OS every few years. Maybe Windows sees a benefit in copying Mac. Only time will tell.

About using different devices, I know some people who run their entire business from a phone and/or tablet only. They don't use computers at all. I am old-school, so I prefer the convenience of a big screen and different apps. However, I also like to do certain things on a phone or tablet, especially while being mobile and travelling or just going to the shops.

Good morning Hein,

I think you could still put a post up, Hein, because you have already added things that I didn't know about. Do you know what the cost will be, Hein?

When I brought my desktop, which is a Dell Precision PC, it wasn't cheap, but I wanted and needed a powerful computer. I was told that they were going to be no more paid updates, Windows 10 was the final operating system! That was another reason why wanted a decent computer, so hopefully it would last. However, I can upgrade this computer to Windows 11.

I hope that Windows 11 will be the last full version, it doesn't really make sense. Although I know it's a moneymaking project, but it's hardly morally right when people have decent computers and then they have to upgrade. I feel a bit attached to my Dell latitude laptop, as it's been such a good laptop, despite being 10.5 years old, it still works perfectly. However, I would buy a higher spec one now, when I replace it.

I think many people will seriously think about moving away from Windows computers, if they keep having to scrap their old machines! But time will tell.

It always absolutely amazes me how some people just use the phone or tablet, and run a business from them. I don't have a tablet and I avoid doing anything on my phone, apart from making phone calls. I appreciate that it is convenient if you are out, but for me, it's such a fiddle. It may be my big, clumsy hands are the problem!

Thank you for commenting and have a great day.

Roy

Hey Roy,

You with your mini-novels... Yes, indeed, we are both old-school but sometimes it is nice and even necessary to use a mobile device... Or at the very least use a small laptop that is more easily portable.

I love Windows, but these two are no longer the only OSs available. There is Chrome OS, Linux (not the most user-friendly) and so forth.

Hello Hein,

I'm thinking of going from mini novels, to Encyclopaedia type answers!!

I do use my mobile phone, if I'm out and about, but I just try and avoid, as I just find it a bit painful. I can type a WhatsApp message, far quicker on my PC, than I can my phone. Actually, I'm not typing Dragon NaturallySpeaking is!

I don't really know anything about the other operating systems, Hein, I'm told that Google Chromebooks are good, but they do have their limitations. I always imagine Linux to be for technical people, but once again, I don't really know. Due to having software like Camtasia, Snagit and Dragon NaturallySpeaking, I have never considered changing from Windows, due to the cost of changing software, etc, rightly or wrongly!

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Roy

Haha, you could make good money with this.

I type fast on a computer, but my Swyping with one finger on a phone is much faster. It is like a magic wand... 😃

You are cheating, and here I am typing traditionally. But I am not slow at all, if you look at my latest live chat convo, you will see I'm quite quick on the draw. I prefer Windows as well.

Have a great day, awaiting your next vlog anxiously.

That would be good!

I can type quicker than I used to, but Dragon is still much quicker for me, but it can make mistakes. If you can type quickly, I guess there's not much difference between Dragon and typing, possibly. I see people on their phones, using the swipe method, Hein, I haven't a clue how they do it, if I tried it, there would just be a load of rubbish on the screen!!

I had a friend who came around my house once and he didn't look like a typist, but he could type so fast, it was unbelievable! I asked him how he could type so quickly and he said he learned from Mavis Beacon, which I found remarkable, as he hadn't had desk jobs where he had lots of practice! It's a great asset if you can type quickly and accurately, of course.

I've never tried any of the other types of computer, but I have always been happy how Windows works, once they managed to get rid of Windows XP, which was regularly crashing! Windows XP was my first computer in 2001, so goodness knows what the previous models were like! Do you remember that error report that Windows used to ask you to fill in, apparently, they never looked at the error reports, or so I was told! I'm glad those days are over.

I haven't got anything in the pipeline really, Hein, regarding blogs, etc, I probably should have, I better start thinking.

Enjoy your evening.

Roy

Strange, I also learned through the Mavis Beacon application on Windows. In fact, I still have her app and must practice again as I'm getting a bit slack lately.

Before Windows XP, it wasn't that good at all. I loved the fishtank screensaver of '98 but that was about it. I remember some of the error codes.

I hope your week has been great so far, and business is going well.

How amazing, Hein! The fact is, I have never forgotten how fast this friend could type, so she must share something good! I have often wondered about doing her course myself, as it is useful to be able to type fast. Although, I am much quicker than I used to be, I'm guessing that all my techniques are probably wrong.

I would like to know how many words I write a minute with Dragon, maybe I will do a test in the near future. Dragon almost works better when you can speak without stopping to think, it seems to be able to predict the words better.

That's interesting about Windows 98, so I'm guessing for many people, Windows XP was probably quite good, compared with the previous versions? I remember when I first had my computer in 2001, that a friend kindly set up for me, it appeared that I had missing keys on the keyboard, as I didn't know where the keys were, that's how much I knew about computers, etc! How times change, but I'm still learning!

I'm afraid there has been a little bit of procrastination this week, I think this is partly due to being in the process of selling my house and having things on my mind! I don't mean total procrastination, I just believe a few things that can hold us back, which is not clever. I like to be able to look back on the day, and say that I have been productive next!

I appreciate you asking, Hein, I hope everything is okay at your end. My apologies for the essay -type reply!

Have a great day.

Roy

Hey Roy,

What is the price of this Dragon software? Could you send me the link and the price via PM when you get a chance? It is almost Friday!!! Have a great rest of the week.

Good morning Hein,

It's hard to believe that it's almost Friday, I really can't believe where the time goes, Hein, it just seems to disappear!

It's very strange, when I looked on Dragon's website, about a month ago, it says, "Nuance store purchases are temporarily on hold while we switch to a new payment platform!" I don't understand why the company would do this, however, it does belong to Microsoft now, so maybe that's why.

It does say to contact them, for alternative ways to purchase the software, very strange!

I hope all is well with you all, Hein.

Have a great day.

Roy

Hey Roy,

Ok, thank you. I will try to find alternative software in the meantime. Apparently Dragon is very expensive, like over $1000 or something.

Yes, we need to cherish each moment we have. I'm turning 50 on the 11th of October, so not getting any younger. 😃

Hello Hein,

I would say it certainly a lot more expensive than it used to be, Hein, but having said that, everything is. In the past, I have looked at reviews, to see what the best speech to text software is, and Dragon has come out top. However, with AI advancing quickly, there may be more competition.

There is a little bit of a learning curve with Dragon, but I have used it for so long, I don't think anything of it. If you can type quickly, it may not be so advantageous for you, but for me, I really would be lost without it.

Something I did notice the other day, I was using the speech to text on ChatGPT. Normally, I just use Dragon and speak the words into the box, but I was on my laptop and I didn't want to load Dragon, so I just tried it out. It really did seem quite accurate, which I was surprised about. It even added commas, which I was surprised about. With Dragon, I speak the punctuation out, which just comes automatically to me.

I understand where you're coming from, Hein, time goes so quickly, it is just unbelievable! I am 10 years above you, that's another reason for wanting to go to Greece, but one step at a time.

Have a great day.

Roy

Hey Roy,

I really need STT software, as I make a lot of B-roll screen recordings for How-To videos, and then I feed my transcript into my AI avatar videos. It will make everything so quick and easy and sound natural as it would be my own vocal transcript that the AI will then read.

I know that Google docs also have an STT feature, so maybe I could use that and then it auto-types into the document... where I can just copy and paste it into my AI video editor. The problem is, once you change tabs, it stops working.

Hello Hein,

I understand where you are coming from, Hein. Whether Dragon would have any special offers for Black Friday, I don't know, but it may be worth thinking about.

I have tried the voice to text feature on Google Docs, not because I needed to, but just out of curiosity, although it was a few years ago. I found it terrible, but that may be partly because I'm used to using Dragon. I think it also makes a difference on how clearly you can speak, I'm probably not the clearest person, when it comes to speaking. I would be interested in hearing how you get on testing out various speech to text software.

Roy

Thank you, Roy. I will keep looking for alternatives in the meantime.

It's a pleasure, Hein!

It would be interesting to know what else is available, especially the way technology is now. Having said that, I have got really used to how Dragon works, so it would be difficult to change, but still interesting.

Roy

Hello Mel,

I don't know how long this has been known, as it seems like everyone that I have spoken to, over the past 12 months or so, has said that there is no workaround. It was only that I was outside jolly with a friend of mine and we were talking about computers, etc, that it came to light!

My friend was saying that he doesn't use his Windows computer very much now, he has an android tablet, with a separate keypad and his phone. I appreciate that people like ourselves, definitely need a computer, but if you're just surfing online, a decent tablet is probably more than adequate.

Anyway, I'm wondering if windows of shot themselves in the foot, as Windows 10 was supposedly the last operating system, but uncle Bill loves taking the public's money!! That can be for computers and vaccines!!

Thank you for commenting, Mel, it's appreciated.

Roy

You are most welcome Roy.

Mel

Thank you, Mel.

Roy