HED Project

Life/Tech/Ideas

Tag: microsoft

  • Stop paying for subscriptions

    Stop paying for subscriptions

    Do you remember the time when the internet was a free place? Information was there, and you just needed to use AltaVista or Yahoo to find it. There was Limewire, DC++ or Napster. There were free MP3s floating around the internet. There was MySpace!


    The programmes that we were using on the PC were “free” or almost free. At least there was no monthly subscription. Pay once, use it forever.


    But when MySpace disappeared and YouTube appeared, that’s when things started changing. Companies started charging for extra things and extra services. For example, Microsoft Excel was (and still is) a program that you can buy once. But fewer people buy it nowadays as a separate software. Most people use it as part of the Office suite that comes with Microsoft 365. AutoCAD, a very well-known CAD software, started the software-as-a-service charging model, without offering much of a service. What you would buy once and use forever, now became a quite expensive monthly subscription. And worth mentioning, “Photoshop” – the pioneering software for photo editing, the one and only go-to program that photographers use to edit their photos – went from a one-off program to a monthly subscription software. Music became the same way. Movies too.


    But things haven’t changed completely. There are still plenty and pretty good alternatives to the “I want you to pay us every month” model that the big players have adopted.


    LibreOffice: The open-source (and free) alternative to Microsoft Office. With this one, you can replace MS-Word, Excel, and many more. Find it here: https://www.libreoffice.org/

    Linux (Ubuntu): Microsoft Windows comes pre-installed on each laptop. But…their price is already included in the new laptop’s price tag. There are laptops out there without a pre-installed operating system that are significantly cheaper than the ones that have an OS installed. What you have to do is install a Linux distro such as Ubuntu, which is 100% free and easy to use. Especially if the computer is going to be used for online work, then why bother spending hundreds of pounds on an OS? Find it here: https://ubuntu.com/

    Affinity Photo/Designer: Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator are two well-known programs that photographers and designers use. About 10 years ago, they jumped to the subscription boat, and they are quite expensive, especially if you are not a professional designer/photographer. Thankfully, there are a dozen alternatives out there that aren’t following the monthly subscription model, and they are as good as Adobe’s programs (or even better). I am using Affinity’s Photo and Designer to do creative work, and I can say I am impressed. They work amazingly well on almost all platforms, even on iPad. Affinity sells them as a one-off payment/use forever product, and you can either buy them separately or as a package for all platforms (Windows, macOS, and iPadOS) at around £100. Get them here: https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/


    ProgeCAD: The best AutoCAD alternative in the whole market. That’s it. It is a 100% AutoCAD clone (but the design engine is completely different), and it can do whatever a drafter that uses AutoCAD needs. I cannot recommend it enough! I really love this program. And not only this, it can read AutoLISP scripts that you might have! Find it at: https://www.progesoft.com/


    Stremio: An alternative to Netflix. The media center allows you to watch movies, series, YouTube channels instantly. You can watch in HD, with subtitles, and easily cast any file to TV through DLNA, Chromecast, or AppleTV! CAUTION: As it allows the user to use add-ons that have access to torrents, I would use it with a VPN, as this is considered piracy, which of course I condemn.


    Cloud storage: You can also set up your own online storage server and say goodbye to the expensive cloud storage from iDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. Although you have to buy and set up your own small file server, there are so many easy-to-use solutions out there that are user-friendly and can be set up in less than half an hour. I would recommend Synology (https://www.synology.com/en-uk) or Western Digital (https://www.westerndigital.com/solutions/network-attached-storage) because of their brands.


    One software at the time! Regain your freedom from the subscription model and control of your digital life. The options are hundreds.

  • Things are changing. Constantly

    Things are changing. Constantly

    It has been 40 years since the first major breakthrough in construction software. It was 1982 and AutoCAD was first released. 1982 marks the beginning of construction innovation and automation.

    In the last 40 years lots of things changed.

    AutoCAD was only the beginning. Since then, we have seen the rise of the BIM software, structural calculation packages for complex construction calculations, estimating and project tracking packages and many more. And of course, the one and only Microsoft Excel that changed everything in the way we manage data. By the way, the first Excel version released in 1985.

    Even though it’s been 40 years of constant innovation, there are some sectors in the building industry that things haven’t changed much. Fieldwork has not experienced the same level of technological transformation as office-based tasks. The physical nature of the task, as well as the delayed acceptance of technology on construction sites, might explain part of the industry’s resistance to change.

    Take as an example scaffolding. In the office the workflow has changed. There are numerous software packages that can do structural calculation, can design scaffolds or manage a whole project, but on the field, the work pretty much remains the same (excluding some tools that are now working with batteries for example).

    The rise of AI

    The last decade we have seen huge steps done towards AI and automation. Especially, the last 3 years many AI products have made it to the market. Take a look at ChatGPT (the known AI chat machine) , Bard (Google’s AI chat), Stable Diffusion or Midjourney (two major tools for AI images). They didn’t even exist 5 years ago (or at least we didn’t know they existed) and now thousands of people rely their jobs on those tools.

    How this affects the construction

    Due to the complexity of the construction projects, AI is not as much of a threat to the construction (all levels) as it is to the humanity (as a whole). But, unless AI robots start designing and building other, more advanced robots (compared to them), construction is (almost) safe.

    But, there are some products that might replace some tradesmens’ work. Take a look at this robotic builder for example.

    4 days to build a 3-bedroom house. Not bad at all for the owner (that multiplies the profit margins) or the buyer that will buy a house cheaper. Bad news for the bricklayers though. Or the sculpturers (take a look at this  robotic sculpturer ).

    Even worse are the news for the setting out engineers. HP (Hewlett Packard) robots are already replacing their job.

    Things will just change.

    Even though automation is going to replace lots of humans there will be a huge shift in employment and new roles will be created. For example, the above “bricklaying” robot will need someone to feed it with material, check the setting out, feed it with designs etc. And, who you think will build those machines. The general idea that the west world has automated most of their production is of course false. The production has shifted to Asia, and it is coming to Europe/USA again.

    Conclusion?

    We are living in a very interesting era. The era that the new replaces the old, rapidly. Technologically, geopolitically, financially, and generally in every sector there are changes and transformations happening that will shape the future, which is unknown at the moment.

    From the perspective of the construction industry, innovation never stopped. Especially now automation at work is taking over every field and we should embrace this change. These technology innovations not only offer opportunities for cost-effectiveness and enhance efficiency, but also provide unreached levels of precision, safety, and sustainability in the construction industry.