Well all of that said, I would still get me a little ol' machine that will run some
light version of Linux be done with it.
Oh by the way, Linux may not be DESKTOP mainstream but almost every
flat screen TV, home router, GPS and other "smart" devices run on it. Add the
Android (Linux kernel) and I am sorry but I think that dealing with the pain
and agony of MS windows is just not worth it when my Linux boxen just keep
going, and going and going and going...
You could always get a RPi and run it on that, I have one I use exactly for
that so I can have something small to run Chirp on for those times when I
want to use a tablet or phone to program a radio...
So yes there are plenty of alternatives, but you have to be willing to look at
those alternatives, the authors chose and chose well, I have some DMR
radios and all of them fall into M$ hell in one form or another, I generally
try to use them on Wine, but they are all cantankerous. Chirp just works,
(Not for DMR but that is a whole other can of worms)
BIG THANK YOU TO THE GUYS WHO WRITE THE CODE!! KEEP IT UP
IT IS VERY FINE CODE.
I had to deal with Windows in various industries, it was a real education in
how something so messed up can become so pervasive just because the
organization behind it is more of a marketing org.
My mom has a Win 10 machine, the applications will not talk to the printer,
but the printer application will do so, all of the applications can SEE the
printer, they just cannot talk to it. I tried to fix it, the logs were obnoxious,
she brought in someone paid to fix it, he came way and said "there is
something wrong with the OS". I am getting ready to move her to Linux
and stop that sort of thing.
As amateur radio ops we need to be more open, when you are stuck on
one OS, it is like being in a mono-culture country, when that particular
mono-culture ag product gets a plague the whole country is up a creek.
I can run Chip on LInux (prefered) probably most any other Unix based
OS without too much work, Mac and if needed Windows... I have tried
not to be mono-culture, but have my preferred solution.