homepage Forums Air Combat & Civil Aviation Battle of Britain + Battle of Britain II Here's what happened (Continued)

Folks,

MG, Dux:

Well, I dunno fellows. The F-15 is now indeed and has been a fantastic all-purpose fighter second to none in the world for a very long time. They have been deployed to our own Seymour Johnson AFB for most of that time having replaced another venerable fighter the F-4 Phantom. It does not surprise me that the F-15 would put up quite a fight in the hands of a competent pilot.

On the other hand it might be prudent to allow our competition in this dangerous world to 'think' that the newer F-35 is a real dud when perhaps it may not be. "Beware the military industrial complex" sayeth a cautionary Dwight D. Eisenhower. So I am also keenly aware that it is also entirely possible that the thing is in fact an expensive boondoggle and a complete dud as well. Our military has far too often (prodded by a budget cutting congress to save money) tried to force designers to produce planes that try to carry out too many diverse missions and somehow they miss the mark altogether.

I shouldn't complain I suppose if it turns out to be a huge and worthless drain on the American taxpayer's wallets; I don't have to pay taxes anymore but my son and daughter-in-law do. While I remain calm, the dog and cat are fairly pis**d off about it. Some blighter told them our families personal share in the cost of that plane could possibly come out of their food allowance.

Dux:

We've also had unsettled weather the past few days. Hopefully more of the same will not hamper fireworks celebrations tonight. Yesterday's humidity level was irritatingly close to 100%, about 96%. You could almost take a deep breath and drown. Bright sunshine is streaming in my bedroom window as I type. We'll see temps in the mid to high 80s today with the same high humidity we've come to tolerate if not love down here.

I finally gave up trying to migrate my MS office 2002 to my new rig. Even with PC Mover software there are incompatibilities. Checking the MS Office website I was appalled if not surprised to find that for a mere pittance for Mr. Gates but a major expense for moi I too can enjoy the pleasures of the newest version of MS Office on my new computer. Nope! I can get along without it. There are free alternatives out there as good maybe better. I'm trying the Kingsoft Office Suite free right now and so far I like it. It is a near clone of MS Office so I feel right at home.

After some less than pleasant initial experiences downloading the newest 2014 V. 10.X version I did some googling and downloaded the 2013.9.x version instead. I'll tell you why.

Never, never, never install anything on your precious computer without thoroughly reading the Ulla or legal software notice and agreement that pops up at the beginning of all installations. If you don't and just click on "I agree" it might come back and bite you where your brain must therefore be located.

Today not all but many (the free stuff seems to be the worst offenders) software vendors pack their installations with extra programs you may or may not want. Unless you read the fine print and are aware you might download more than you bargained for. Always opt for the custom install if you can IMHO.

Anyhow when I read the software agreement for Kingsoft Office Suite Free version 2014. 10 I was surprised to find that Kingsoft had sold the software to another company and the newest download version was listed as freeware but in fact is crippleware. After 30 days the thing puts a watermark on all printed documents and cripples some features. Goodbye....

Discouraged and slightly angry I googled a bit more. To my displeasure, the more I looked the more certain I became that the best choice for replacing MS Office seemed to be the Kingsoft Office Suite free as it is a very close clone of the MS product I have used since the 80's. Discouraged I looked a bit more and discovered all I had to do was seek out the earlier 2013 .9x version that came out just before the sale. Perfect. I have spreadsheet, word processing and presentation programs that perform as well as my old software and do not present me with another huge learning curve.