Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2015 August 15

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August 15

hey, you, get off of iCloud

iTunes (on MacOSX) keeps telling me “Your iCloud session has expired” (and prompting me for a password, which I haven't bothered to look up). I don't know what an iCloud session is, but am reasonably confident that iDon't want one. Is there a setting to shut it the heck up? —Tamfang (talk) 02:39, 15 August 2015 (UTC)

Of course there is! Turn the Mac off, and get a Linux machine. --Trovatore (talk) 03:11, 15 August 2015 (UTC)

Tried that once. —Tamfang (talk) 03:45, 15 August 2015 (UTC)

Re: Linux. Read William Edward Hickson & Robert_the_Bruce#Legends. Follow their advice and then you might find your living in the land of Ambrosia. Once, twice doesn't get you anywhere. It is the modus operandi of the Ne'er-do-wells who work hard, in order to afford to be remain poor slaves to the Microsoft's & Apple's of this world.--Aspro (talk) 13:28, 15 August 2015 (UTC)

More precisely, tried it for five years. —Tamfang (talk) 03:41, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

User:Tamfang, you have probably enabled iTunes in the Cloud, intended to synchronize your music across all of your computers and devices. If you did not intentionally enable that feature, it can be turned off in the settings panel in iTunes. Here are instructions to turn the feature on; reciprocally, uncheck those checkboxes to turn it off.

Nimur (talk) 13:52, 15 August 2015 (UTC)

• Thanks but I don't see anything about clouds in "Turn On Automatic Downloads". — As a longshot I unclicked "Share my library on my local network"; didn't help. — There is an iCloud panel in System Preferences, but it's only a login dialog! —Tamfang (talk) 03:39, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

Adoption of Lotus 1-2-3 software outside USA?

When Lotus 1-2-3 software was launched in 1983, was it used primarily in the USA? or was it used widely outside the USA also? How can one verify the proportion of international adoption of this American-made software? Advice on sources would be much appreciated. Thank you. M2545 (talk) 13:07, 15 August 2015 (UTC)

As far as I can recall Lotus 1-2-3 was ubiquitous even outside the US as DR DOS would also run it. However, the word-processor was probably (and arguable not as good) as WordPerfect. Here is a link. >https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ZFAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT91&dq=DRDOS+lotus+123&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCUQuwUwAWoVChMI7r2gyZurxwIVQYLbCh24kQFt#v=onepage&q=DRDOS%20lotus%20123&f=false< . Locomotive Software was more popular in Europe until Alan Sugar was offered a dubious bribe offer by Microsoft that he couldn't refuse. He still refuses to this day to disclose what that deal was which killed the superior DR DOS operating system. Maybe out of a deep sense of shame.--Aspro (talk) 14:02, 15 August 2015 (UTC)

Yes, I recall using Lotus 1-2-3 in the UK. I think it was widely used before Microsoft took over, but I don't have references or evidence. Dbfirs 21:59, 15 August 2015 (UTC)

[1] suggests it's an NDA not shame and in fact Alan Sugar remained in 2008 proud of the deal. Nil Einne (talk) 13:09, 17 August 2015 (UTC)

Yes, a NDA is Microsoft's Damocles Sword but they are not binding in perpetuity. They just exist as long as the commercial 'need' exists. So why the current day secrecy? Software once developed is very cheap to distribute. If AS had told Digital Research about this, DR could have easily met the price and used the European courts to block their little scam.--Aspro (talk) 20:34, 18 August 2015 (UTC)

• Aspro, about the wordprocessor, did you leave out some words? —Tamfang (talk) 19:28, 18 August 2015 (UTC)

It included a word-processing application? One word.--Aspro (talk) 20:34, 18 August 2015 (UTC)

• I don't quite see where the word application would improve "the word-processor was probably (and arguable not as good) as WordPerfect". —Tamfang (talk) 04:20, 20 August 2015 (UTC)

The IT purchasing policy of my UK-based employer's was "no-one gets fired for buying IBM" - this stretched to from Mainframes to Wintel Servers to Desktops (later Lenovo) to Printers (later Lexmark) and other kit at various times (network, telecoms, etc) - as part of this we used Lotus's office software incl 1-2-3 extensively until the end of the first decade of the 2000's. 188.29.165.185 (talk) 22:12, 18 August 2015 (UTC)