Funny, I've tried MS Office a few times over the years. I usually go back to OpenOffice. If for nothing else, I install OpenOffice when I set up a new computer, since it's too much trouble to find an unused MS license outside of normal business hours. :)

Microsoft is probably counting every OEM that ships with the trial version of Office, and all the bundled licenses, even if they aren't used.

Most companies buy too many licenses, so they can be sure they have enough. So if we buy 50, and use 30, but only 10 use it on any sort of regular basis, MS will still count it as 50.

For most users that I've known who were willing to try OpenOffice, Calc worked fine for them.

The problem is Outlook and Exchange. The users see the mail client, calendering, and the like, as essential. The word processor and spreadsheet are secondary to that. Once some exec starts talking to sales about getting just Outlook, they are sold on the wonders of getting the whole MSOffice suite.

There are enough users who refuse to even try OpenOffice for the word processor. "I can't because...". I've tricked some users into switching, by just giving them shortcuts on their desktop with the MS names instead of the OO names, and changing the default save types to the MS counterpart. When they ask about why it looks different, I just tell them "oh, this is the newer version.", and they're fine.

... and since you said teleportation, your future prediction would be completely ruined by the sudden realization that you can safely establish stable wormholes with stuff that's already in most homes.

I don't trust any forward looking statement. Business people throw those around all the time, which always equates to "I hope we stay in business". They never make the forward looking statement of "In the next 6 to 9 months, I hope we go bankrupt, and the shareholders murder us."

Nah, the Saturnians just did yet another launch.. You'd think they would have learned by now that they're really not good at it. Look at all that debris they left in orbit. That's what it's going to look like around the Earth in a few thousand years, if we don't start cleaning up after ourselves.

You sir, may have excellent potential in the exciting career of government alphabet soup.

https://www.usajobs.gov/JobSearch/Search/GetResults?Keyword=Alphabet Soup

The shock and awe of the situation was overwhelming. Almost on the scale of a WMD.

FTFY. :)

You're apocalypse sounds better, and possibly more likely, than some others on here. It's much more likely than the evaporating magnets and technology. :)

I think the first AC below is right. Without a good support structure, including people to defend you, you most likely won't survive the first few weeks. I'm fairly sure you're not the only person around (or even on here) that can identify and replace a bad cap. :)

It's ok though, if you make it to our compound, you'd be welcome and protected. You'd better know more than just swapping electronic components though. Everyone is a soldier first, and their specialty second. You won't do us much good dead.

A lot of us build from our parents work. Some of it we don't, because technology caught up sufficiently to the mainstream. Like, before my father tired, he was working on bleeding edge work with lasers and thermal imaging.

I don't need a ruby rod and flashtube to fire a laser, at some huge gov't expense, and $10,000 (if I remember right) for an infrared thermometer. Now I can get a $20 that does both.

He quite literally had a truck filled with gear that was cooled by liquid nitrogen, to do thermal imaging. I believe the truck was the cheapest component. Instead, I can spend $2,500 for a handheld camera that does much better quality imaging.

There are some things that really don't change much. I do my own work around the house. I work on my own cars. I've built electronics. Some techniques I learned from him. Some I've improved on. If he was still alive, I believe he would be impressed.

Is that before or after disassembling stuff? :)

And for some things, you don't even need the magnets. There are plenty of cars out there with self-exciting alternators. All you need is something to spin the pulley.

I think in his universe, all the magnets, tools, vehicles, and stores simply disappeared.

Correct, but if you're skilled with electrical gear, you can make electricity.

A car alternator, belt, pulley, a bit of wood, and a running river, can give you constant power.

That power can run our soldering iron, refrigerator/freezer, or other useful things.

The guy who knows all the in's and out's on a car, can give you reliable transportation. In the case of the recent walking dead episodes, he can give you a way to drive down the tracks quickly, rather than walking for days. (Hint: a Chevy S10 has the correct distance between wheels to sit on the rails)

A big enough mini power plant can run arc welders. Building foot thick steel reinforced concrete walls is better than hiding in almost any house.

And for the record, I'm a long-term IT guy. I also have experience in electronics, refrigeration and HVAC, automotive work, firearms handling, and farming. I'm also spoken for. My friends and family already know where to meet up if there happens to be an apocalypse. They have the written plans and maps. If an apocalypse happened, we'd be set back up and having LAN parties within a few weeks. :)

Ok.. That's one fictional character who followed the scripted instructions to pretend to be interested.

For the right money, I could fake it too.

Ya, but you need a balloon the size of the universe, made out of fire, with infinite elasticity, and be able to place the observer at a position where they can't observe the boundary between the balloon and nothingness.

There's some really good math that goes with it, which is why I didn't want to just give the balloon analogy.

I worked in porn for too many years. A well dressed woman gets my attention better than "ooohhh.. nekkid". I know I'm the minority though. The rest of you, get a look when you can, and enjoy. :)