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Windows 8 Is Ready
New submitter drinkydoh writes "In an announcement today, Microsoft has finally said that Windows 8 is now complete. Microsoft has begun delivering RTM versions to manufacturers and the general availability of the tablets and computers using Windows 8 will be on October 26th. 'Microsoft's final milestone concludes almost two years of development for its new Metro-inspired Windows 8 software and marks the beginning of the release phase. Microsoft says MSDN and TechNet customers will be able to download it from August 15th. Windows Store will go live on August 15th. Developers will be able to access the final tools and submission process for Metro style apps at the Windows Dev Center later this month.'"
Microsoft seems to repeat mistakes don't they? DOS 4.0, Bob, ME, Vista; the public reaction to all should have been predictable enough that somebody in a corporation their size should have been able to see it coming and delay or abort the release of those turds. But no, they dropped em all and took the abuse and ridicule while apparently learning nothing. Now comes Windows 8.
Maybe they will have time to get Windows 9 right, maybe not. That is what has changed, before they were an unstoppable monopoly and now? We shall see. They have offended their OEM partners with the Surface tablet, the Developers, Developers, Developers! with the knifing of Silverlight and apparently the beginning of the end for both Win32 and .NET and I'm not convinced customers are going to be all that happy with what is about to be rammed down their thoat. All at a time when their monopoly is threatened like never before. The desktop PC itself is being questioned for most users, Office is threatened by Cloud apps and even the long standing stranglehold of Blackberry + Exchange is not looking very healthy about now.
Netcraft hasn't confirmed it yet but Microsoft just might be dying. And after hating on them for decades I'm not entirely sure I'm going to applaud when they exit the stage. The PC is likely to go with them, by which I mean the open platform anyone can write programs for and create add on hardware, etc. The post Microsoft future looks like a grim world of sealed media consumption devices for most and a return to 'workstations' for the select who can afford machines costing as much as a car.
Few will question anymore that Apple is a dark force of DRM and lockin. And the release of the Nexus 7 shows Google to be fast getting in touch with their Evil side. The only major difference (other than a model years' worth of hardware refresh) between it and the equally sealed up Amazon Fire is which app/media ecosystem it is bundled to.
Democrat delenda est
Where'd I put my popcorn?
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Lotus wont run!
Nor much of anything else for that matter.
Everyone on slashdot is about to become a UI expert.
If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
Says the account with exactly three posts, all posted today and all praising Windows 8.
Democrat delenda est
Ready to the failure
I installed it this morning on a second drive.. The installer forced me to enter an email, my name, zipcode, birthdate, and sex to complete the installation. Are you kidding me?! Welcome to 1984.
The start menu is gone as are control panels and anything that resembles Windows 7. I spent 2 minutes searching for the "restart" command and eventually just clicked the power button. UGH... Terrible.... DO NOT INSTALL OVER YOUR WINDOWS 7 UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GETTING.
For the OS for 90-95% of the desktops on the planet, two years really isn't that much. What this means is that like usual, they are going to have fixes for their quickly slapped together software weekly for the next 5 years, instead of just spending the time it is due.
Whomsoever early adopteth shall be damned since time immemorial.
MS is ready to hit START BUTTON with Win8 production.
I guess it's time to upgrade from Me... is that even possible? I like Me. I feel like a failure.
I dont have a dog i that fight but it'll be fun.
Waiting til windows 9. Windows 8 is equivalent to the beta phase of their software. Windows 9 will be the polished release with all the improved functionality from user comments.
I am not familiar with this new definition of the word 'ready'
Praise the maker, Windows 8 is ready!!!
at first i was like.. shill? but then i was like... douche?
and posted at the exact same time as the artice, without the asterisk of "I saw this before you"
I don't know. It looks like Metro needs to be baked for about twice as long.
Judging by everything I've heard from Microsoft, article the only features are:
-Superficial UI changes, which are subjective "improvements" at best, and involve switching costs.
-ARM support, which only matters for tablets
-Some cloud bullshit which only matters for people with good, cheap internet connections.
So Microsoft expects people to pay ~$100 for what, exactly?
I'm not saying there haven't been improvements, but.. I don't know of any. Would it kill Microsoft to actually tell us?
So, they removed metro?
I mean really, just look at the posting history of whom I am replying to.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
Don't forget his friend "h111", praising Windows phone (and iPhone) and giving backhanded compliments to Android.
Ok...
I also like Windows 8 too. I am not sure why this is at -1. I guess moderators are Rabid Windows Haters today.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
It is an absolute disaster on the desktop, looks silly, and works great on embedded devices \ single purpose devices.
I'm not a huge fan of the new UI, but I think I'll adapt. I am looking forward to the performance improvements though.
I don't spend a lot of time in the start menu as it is, so I don't think it's a huge loss to me, just a change in how I normally operate. I'm okay with change. But seems a lot of people, especially people in technology (weird?), have a HUGE problem with change.
The nice thing is, if you don't like it, don't switch. I don't know why such a huge deal is made of this, but Microsoft will lose if people don't adopt, and I don't recall them ever having struggles with Windows or Office which coincidentally, also got a huge redesign that everybody hated (and now everybody is used to).
The price is always right if someone else is paying.
What is gained by not evolving win7, and instead recreating hundreds of potential vulnerabilities since closed?
Normally we'd have been asking for torrents by now, but... it's Win8, Metro... so nah, I'll stick with Win7.
Wow, have things gotten that bad at MS that they're making you guys post this stuff to keep your jobs?
We all should take pity on the Microsofties.
As a protest against the treatment of Microsoft employees and in the spirit of PETA's ads, I will use Linux exclusively while stark naked.
And I will NOT use Windows or any other Microsoft product until the they treat the Softies better!
Of course there are many, many factors leading to the downfall of Microsoft. We've been reading about them for years as the 800 Pound Gorilla from Redmond has been slowly breaking its bones under its own weight.
Most people will point to the fact that Microsoft's failures have ensured that more people are using Linux worldwide than ever before... in the form of Android smartphones. MS *could* have had that market, but they continued to present shit products in the face of (at least perceived) quality goods from Apple and Google.
We've also heard in the last few days and weeks about how serious Valve is about getting their products to be 'Native' for Linux. We're going to see more of that, especially as more and more game designers want to develop for smart-phones.
Going forward, Microsoft's plans for smartphone development look pretty dismal. They're not even supporting their own technologies or frameworks, like Silverlight.
Ultimately, however, I think that shipping an WindowsME-bad desktop OS while this massive paradigm shift is happening is going to have long-reaching and long-lasting effects. Unlike when WinME shipped, there are some pretty darn good alternatives for development on both phones and PCs right now. When Win8 starts flopping around like a hooked carp, it's not going to be just the developers looking for an exit. It's going to be gamers and home-users as well. This time that exit is pretty darn visible.
And today is the day that flopping carp was hooked.
Captcha: resisted. How oddly apropos...
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
Killing the Start Button is like building a house without a front door. Sure, I use the garage door 99% of the time. According to Microsoft, this is reason to get rid of the front door.
It's Billy Gates on a tricycle.
You can actually just use a local account--but it's not the default, and is quite unobvious. It took me several minutes to find, after being very reluctant to send all that personal information to Microsoft. I think that this subterfuge to prevent you having a local account by default is quite naughty, and I wouldn't be surprised if they get into trouble for it.
Everyone complains about the new Metro interface. I've been running Win8 preview for a while now and while I've adapted to the new interface, it does still bugs me. But complaining about it is like arguing about KDE vs Gnome; you can castrate the Metro interface to look like Win7 with 3rd party software. What really matters is the kernel. It may break some applications and for those people Win8 is a bad choice. But from my experience, the new kernel is runs better than Win7 (which is saying a lot given how much better 7 was than Vista). Several games I tested got a nice frame-per-second boost (or at least performed equally) under Win8 vs Win7. So for me it's worth it to upgrade but I suppose your mileage may vary and as benchmarks come out we can see more about how the kernel performs on different systems.
They've released Windows 8 Service Pack 2 already?
Next time, I took a chance. Saved a quarter, shit my pants.
Ok...
I also like Windows 8 too. I am not sure why this is at -1. I guess moderators are Rabid Windows Haters today.
U#: 103300 Been here a while. Shouldn't you be a rabid Linux/FOSS/GNU/GPL and hate everything MS an sorta like Apple?
You went to the Darkside!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Steve Balmer: "jellomizer, I AM you father!"
Yea, good catch on that. I am a sub so I take the Mysterious Future for granted, which is how I got the second post and even had time to put a little effort into it. But how exactly did this guy get first? Is Slashdot offering select people the ability to post without the subscriber indicator? I only get the option to post anonymous, in the past there was an option to post without taking the karma bonus but apparently it vanished at some point and I didn't notice.
Democrat delenda est
It's not Windows hatred per se, although that certainly is a healthy attitude. It's just that everytime a Microsoft-related article pops up, a brand new user starts blindly praising whatever Microsoft's been doing this time around. It's getting old, Microsoft.
Mobile Edition.
If Microsoft keeps this up, I'll be looking forward to the day that computer science grads have to pledge an oath to the four software freedoms, not much unlike Doctors and their oath to the tenets of medicine.
Perhaps there will be a light at the end of the tunnel, but I do worry that the light will require a license key.
And then Freddie Mercury came on and I was like. . .scaramouche?
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
Do NOT buy Windows 8. It is horrid on many levels. I have NO desire to have my desktop act like a smartphone. Its fine for smartphones and tablets, but fails on the desktop.
Everyone knows this is M$'s fail OS.
Windows ME Fail
Windows XP Awesome
Windows VIsta Fail
Windows 7 Awesome
Windows 8 Fail
Windows XX Awesome
DON'T buy it and let them go back to an awesome OS..
It is downvoted because his post is almost certainly a plant by the /. management to wind us up and get us going. First post for a longish piece of writing, with good grammar and spelling, by someone with only three posts ever to his account? I don't believe it.
but Microsoft just might be dying
Much as I might have loved that headline 10 years ago, now the thought of Apple becoming a dominant force in the PC market scares the shit out of me. Goodbye MS monopoly, hello Apple walled garden. At least MS has the common courtesy to at least try to hide their evil.
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
Hmm ... I've never heard that angle before. Intriguing ... so that's what the editors do all day.
...under the hood. Oh, that's right, YOU CAN'T!!!
Announcing Windows 15!
Or you can wait two weeks and upgrade directly to Windows 19!
as in completely borked.
Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
Unity has been ready. Oh, pardon me; you're actually serious. Oh, you mean I have to pay for this one? So, it's like a more authoritarian Unity, but with a colossal license agreement, viruses and malware? What's this about DVDs? The Start Menu wasn't really removed you say? It was just ported to the subterranean Apple facility .....where?
I've had enough.
Forward! -- Emperor Norton, 2012
You use a subscriber account to read the articles early, but use a different account to post shill. Just keep mashing F5 on the main page with your text ready in notepad. That way you avoid the karma hit and recognition as a shill poster. Just make a new one when it outlives its usefulness.
I'm not sure how it can be fixed off the top of my head. Maybe prevent new accounts from getting top post until they've made X other posts?
That's an interesting observation. That makes more sense than paid MS astroturfers.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
"Ready". Of course it is. The question is: "Ready for what?" According to Valve's Gabe Newell and others, it's ready for a catastrophe.
Worked there, liked XP, hate 8, disgruntled about 7, don't even ask about Vista. So how long until M$ tells us it's the most sold and successful OS they've made again ? Took them two years last time to admit Vista was a total bust....sigh. I'm going to go now and play Doom on my Win95c PC....laters !
End of Line.
that word means what you think it means.
There is no right to feel safe thru security vaudeville at the expense of everyone's freedom, privacy and tax money.
at first i was like.. shill? but then i was like... douche?
shilldouchebaggery
Severely limiting new/anonymous accounts in any way would benefit the majority of threads. I still don't understand how new/anonymous accounts can start threads.
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
From all that I have seen on Windows 8 previews and even trying it myself on a different computer it just makes me think of "Ahh... Fisher Price Windows". IMHO it's windows dumbed down for the masses. The kind of people who are like Joe sixpack or Jane bimbo where both of them barely have enough brains to even turn on the computer. Nevermind actually configuring and tweaking windows to run better and with more security or even having a dual boot system with a linux distro installed in case a windows installation went south for some reason. And speaking of which they are even limiting you from doing that unless you want to run Ubuntu or Redhat.
I strongly feel that once Windows XP support runs out come April 2014 people will be forced to finaly upgrade because god knows how often do you still see Windows XP nowadays in businesses, hospitals, offices, everywhere practically, and they will probably upgrade to Windows 7 and we will see Windows 7 have a *LONG* support lifecycle like Windows XP has had for the last eleven years. I do not think people will want the fisher price interface in business, local, provincial, or even federal here in Canada especially if you can not officially disable the metro interface and go back to a traditional desktop with a start button.
But, scary thought here, I could be wrong and government workers worldwide may just love the fisher price windows and moving blocks around it might make them feel smart. ;-)
You must master your joystick like a fisherman masters bait! - Gimpy
It's taking a long time for Win7 to overtake XP, which suggests that average users might not switch to Win7 until they really, really don't have a choice anymore. That was the case for me, since the interface is not friendly for a true multitasker. I had to give up software and hardware that was no longer supported.
Some functionality is no longer available, like searching inside files on shared network drives (unless every PC in the enterprise indexes the drives, which is not practical).
I also found out after the switch, it's as reliable as Windows ME. Despite having a pretty good amount of memory in my new PCs, things stop working after a while, when memory is getting closer to the max, even while, according to TaskManager, there is still memory left. Initially we thought it was just caused by my high demands, but it now turns out that more and more people are experiencing similar issues, and we had to switch back to an old XP machine to get some of the processing done, because adding memory didn't solve it.
It has been a very frustrating move. People that say it's just being afraid of change either don't use their computer to the max, or are blinded by the Apple-like bling we didn't want in the first place. While I'm generally an early adopter, this just doesn't work as well as XP, from the user perspective. And with Win8 it seems to get even worse, with even more hidden stuff.
No, Win7"ME" has not been a success. Looking at the super-slow adoption, it looks like we might not be the only ones. Microsoft should think very hard. They should give their users a choice and provide an updated version of XP, that is secure, but provides the stability, simplicity and straight forward approach XP had. It might require some internal rework, but XP SP2 was big too, and it worked.
I think that it will be some degree worse or better than Vista for Microsoft and users. As a CIO, and from what I have read so far concerning Metro, it will be a *very* long time (until forced to, such as when it is no longer possible to get OEM W7 installed) until we will be upgrading to Metro. To me it sort of resembles Mozilla thumbing it's nose at corporate users. The most curious part about upgrading to a new version of Windows for us is that pretty much the only problems that we face in the process are with older Microsoft products that fail on the new OS.
After that I was examining ancient hieroglyphics and I was like...cartouche?
Before Windows 7 came out, almost everyone I knew (that ran Windows) was *genuinely* excited about it and was planning to upgrade to it. And they did.
I don't know a single person that even considers Windows 8 (either as a desktop OS, or a phone OS). Many people don't even realize it's going to be a desktop OS, they assume it is a smartphone/tablet only OS.
I can only wish Microsoft good luck, because I don't think they understand what they're doing.
Says the account with exactly three posts, all posted today and all praising Windows 8.
Probably, under another identity, said Vista was ready, too.
I'll wait a few years, thanks.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
At the very least they could of named it something other than 'Metro'. This meme was popular several years ago but has faded considerably by now. I'm not a marketing guy but couldn't they have picked something a little better for an OS name?
love is just extroverted narcissism
As Windows couldn't get much worse, many will now be taking another look at Linux instead. I've been using Windows 8 for several months now, and it SUCKS! Even on a Tablet, it's not very intuitive. It feels like Windows 7 merged with a cheap Phone OS, and the blending makes it very confusing to navigate around.
-- By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.
Later on I went to buy some jewelery and I was like...Hannoush?
Most Enterprise use is moving to 7 now with XP still on some systems that have software that does not fully work with vista / 7.
Now add in the NEW UI in 8 makes it less likely to move to it. XP and 7 UI's are about the same just small moves and changes.
Windows 8 will lead to help desk hell.
Some of us just prefer anonymous posting. It offers everyone the ability to discuss, even those of us that think discussing things to get virtual points is pretty idiotic. I've been reading /. since the late 90s and never has having an account been appealing to me.
Obviously it's not all roses, but it's not like you can't hide most posts anyways. Although it can be fairly strange seeing replys modded 5 and not knowing what they are actually replying to. This thread for example.
It's still the "Playskool OS", and it's just another sign of the dumbing-down of the U.S. in general.
Timequake 1 or timequake 2
I messed with 8 some on the public release or whatever it was and I didnt like it at all really. I love windows 7 and what Im sticking with.
I dont understand why they didnt just make windows 8 just for their line of tablets coming out, because its obviously what it is geared for. MS seems to just be trying to show up late to the tablet game by bullying their way into it and forcing it on people vicariously through the desktop version of 8 as well. Just make your tablet OS its own thing and make the desktop OS its own thing. Just trying to shove a single product on both of your customers is going to piss atleast half of them off.
Obviously I want a OS for a tablet that is designed to maximize its useage and be made for it, just like I want the same thing in my desktop OS. They are completely different beasts for completely different users.
Thats why I hate how they killed the start button, I liked it, I was used to it and it works well for me. I mean Im not opposed to losing it for a interface option that is a superior choice but what is done is windows 8 is not superior in terms of desktops, its inferior. I dont mind overhauls when they benefit me and improve my experince, what they did with 8 isnt so I dont want it.
If MS wants to continue to be important as it is then it needs to start thinking of the customer. MS can become a huge powerhouse again with just a few small steps.
1) Become a company that loves pc gamers and treats them as valuable. PC gamers are a bulk of windows users but MS just shunts everything gaming to the xbox 360 and leaves pc gamers with games for windows live. They show their pc gamers some love they will win a lot of fans.
2) When you make a new OS give the customers real choices instead of just "You can get this version cheap but it sucks, or you can spend a lot more for some more features everyone needs or pay a insane amount for some more features no one needs". Like doing one windows for your phones/tablets and another for your desktop users.
3) Take your products like office and make them easily affordable to anyone. You can carve out all that useless extra stuff no average user would ever need and sell a complete version to a business or whatnot but the reason no one really uses office anymore is because its too fucking expensive for a email client and word, which is all most people use anyway.
But one thing's for damned certain: their days of dominance are over. OVER! YES!!!!!!!!!
I have been running windows 8 for a while and even put it on one of my LAN center computers to see how the natives would like it. Microsoft have moved things around in a way that doesn't make since but after a while you figure it out and it becomes just second hat just like Windows 7. It is stable and seems much better optimized then Windows 7. Metro is a joke on the desktop but you just click past it to the desktop application. So it is very usable and in the end isn't that much different then 7. Some of the regulars even pick it now despite there shock when they first started using it
The issue/point of concern are Metro applications. Metro applications are 100% controlled by Microsoft. You have to get them from the Microsoft store just like iOS applications. Microsoft has to approve them and will take a cut off the top. Windows 8 is a stepping stone to full control which is why Valve is so upset. Microsoft would never allow Steam to run in a Metro environment. Microsoft will do what Steam does today for everyone and every application with no choice.
Windows 8 on the desktop is very workable despite the learning curve. Metro only is nothing but bad news for us all.
You can anon post all you like, in replies... but this spamming is getting to the point where thread starting by new accounts is just silly. I'm not against ACs or the ability to AC post. But limiting them from replying to the main story is not going to impact the ability for ACs to engage.
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
The days are slowly ticking down until I switch to Linux. Probably when Valve ports all their titles to Linux. That's the hold-up for me.
You know the Windows Hatred was finally going away. It seems it is now returning and this time rightfully so.
Maybe dumb Joe Six pack users who never use any of the thigns we whine are gone will notice and like it because it is all shiny like his old AOL connection he once had and Windows 8 will be a big seller? Who knows.
I have not seen this much hatred to any Windows release since it was new and DOS loyalits railed agaisnt it. Rightfully so back then as Windows 3.0 and 3.1 were truly truly awefull and butt ugly and 14 inch flickering monitors with the all white backgrounds.
http://saveie6.com/
Now I can begin ignoring the whole thing immediately!
"I'm just here for the achievements"
I've been reading /. since the late 90s and never has having an account been appealing to me.
Although it can be fairly strange seeing replys modded 5 and not knowing what they are actually replying to. This thread for example.
Yea, the standard UI here is about as bad as Windows 8 (look, it's on topic!), but if you create an account you can go back to classic and still post as AC.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
I heard they made Windows8 with Gamemaker & pre-installed MyCleanPC.
It's not Windows hatred per se, although that certainly is a healthy attitude. It's just that everytime a Microsoft-related article pops up, a brand new user starts blindly praising whatever Microsoft's been doing this time around. It's getting old, Microsoft.
Do they realize that shilling actually fosters more hatred of them?
I wonder where they outsource the shills from.
Posting to undo an accidental negative mod.
Required reading for internet skeptics
It is one of a few theories that have been suggested.
As it is, this is the first shill I have noticed in months, for awhile there it was real bad, it was rare that a story did not have a shill post as first post.
so that's what the editors do all day.
The number of snarky comments I could make regarding that.........
Here are a few.
No, I doubt they even do that much.
Yes, it takes them all day to come up with a single shill post.
It's not like they are doing anything else.
I wonder when they will video the process and then interview themselves about it so they can present it as another video based story no one wants to watch.
CowboyNeal
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
Heaven have mercy on us poor sinners. Yet another version of Windows. They should have quit while we were ahead, like maybe 10 years ago.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
And this poster, and other like them, all have the name hXXX where XXX is 3 digits!!!!!
interesting.....
After playing with Win8 a bit, the problem isn't so much about change as it is about being laborious.
On a tablet, lots of space is good. Fat fingers get in the way and you accidentally keep hitting the wrong button when things are too close together. On a PC you have buttons together in small groups, just pixels away from one another.
With items being further away you have to move your mouse around more. After a couple hours of holding down the mouse button and dragging page after page it becomes tedious.
Of course PC users will find ways to get around Metro, but doesn't mean they won't be annoyed when they do have to deal with it.
What amazes me is you are all still biting the trollbait. This is like getting mad when people post First! in discussions and getting +5 informative for pointing out they shouldn't have bothered posting. It's not even shilling. It's just trolling.
No it doesn't. If this is a conspiracy by the /. team, then why use an obvious account? Presumably, they would have accounts for just such a purpose.
If it's not an astroturf campaign ( given what I've seen on the various message boards out there, I suspect it is a paid for ad campaign from MS ), then it's just a troll.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
I am a MSDN subscriber and enjoy Windows 8. The weekend of 8/17 I plan on upgrading my home server to Server 2012 essentials and my 3 PCs to Windows 8 RTM (have been using DP since released).
I truly enjoy Windows 8. I like the Metro look to everything -- squared off, flat graphics. I just find the look of the Windows 8 Desktop more appealing than the Windows 7 desktop.
The start screen is cool and I see it a few times a day while using my PC. My most frequent programs are pinned to my Taskbar and I don't use a ton of apps.
My biggest concern with Windows 8 is the Microsoft Account stuff. Since I am the guy who does IT in my household -- Microsoft still has not made it clear how it will handle subscriptions to Xbox Music, etc... while allowing each user in my house to use a unique Microsoft Account login. If you login into Windows 8 with a Microsoft Account and then launch Music -- it will auto log you into the Music app. You can then log out and log in with a different account, but this is annoying and would be cumbersome -- I hope I could subscribe to Xbox Music and then add sub accounts with Music persmission (maybe 5 accounts??).
Microsoft has improved many aspects of Windows 8 over Windows 7. Like all OS releases it is different and takes a bit to notice the change. After the RP was released I totally enjoyed using it more than Win7 (which I use mostly at work).
The whole "cloud" thing is going to be huge with Windows 8 and I am curious to see how non-Tech people respond. There are a lot of consquences depending on how you setup your account(s) for Windows 8 as far as usability and features go.
The biggest problem is people on the desktop are for the most part happy with Windows 7. Happy people don't want to learn something new. However, I think that once you use Windows 8 and learn some of the tricks (winkey+Q), etc... it is a better enviroment. I even use a few of the apps on my desktop (not a lot of them though).
But then I thought has this silliness gone on long enough and....whoosh?
Have you two thought of the possibility that you're just getting trolled by someone who isn't even affiliated with Microsoft?
Yes they do realize this. that's why these are probably google or apple shills, PRETENDING to be microsoft shills...... to engender rage....
it is slashdot after all
That's an interesting observation. That makes more sense than paid MS astroturfers.
Paid MS shills? Wouldn't that count as job creation in this economy?
I can see it now. If the 'paid shills' are Americans, $POLITICAL_PARTY says 'See? We created American jobs!!! See? See? SEE???
Course if the jobs were outsourced to $THE_THIRD_WORLD, $POLITICAL_PARTY would scream 'Hey, $THE_OTHER_PARTY is outsourcing jobs!! See? See? SEE???
So how much does a paid shill make?
Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
Too late.
Just today I booted (from DVD) Debian 6.0, aka as Squeeze.
Let the Games begin ! :-)
The obvious account is exactly why this works; it generates dozens of replies from paranoid ABMers screaming about "shills". There's plenty of established accounts which pimp Windows/Apple and nobody really cares that much.
The "inside job" theory is interesting -- there's a lot of slashdot stories that barely generate any comments. These "shills" really pump up the metrics.
I get some subscriber privileges, like being able to see things in the "future" from time to time, without actually being a subscriber. Question: do posts made when the article is subscriber-only show up as being made at the same time as the article when it goes public-live?
Please consider this account deleted, I just can't be bothered with the spam anymore.
...just like moving from ... old Office to new Ribbon style Office, you will get used to it and then you see the better sides of things.
How long is that process supposed to take? Five years later, I still detest the ribbon interface, and still can't just explain to users where to find the function they're asking about. There's always the chance that something's moved, and knowing the folks I work with, that always seems to happen.
"It's on the view tab of the ribbon. No, up top. The toolbar thing. Click 'View'. Good. Now... Oh, it's blank? There's one button on the side? I'll just come down and take a look..."
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
Ahh yes, the rare and elusive meta-shill...
Windows 3.1 Great product
Windows 95 BUGGY as HELL
Windows 98 Great (at least by the time SE came out)
Windows NT concept product who used it?
Windows 2000 Enterprise Giant!
Windows ME (ho hum)
Windows XP Longest lived version yet
Windows Vista Nuff said!
Windows 7 Greatest yet.
Windows 8 WTF?
AC's are not the problem.
For some reason the shills don't post as AC, I guess they think it gives the post some authenticity to use an account that is very obviously used just to post a few shill comments and then abandoned.
While you can be an anonymous expert if you post as AC.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
And his neighbor "h105" who yesterday was first-posting about the awesome new Outlook.
'I can get no satisfaction' for Windows 8. Makes sense.
Windows is never "ready"... At least not in the sense of "It's fully functional and no, we're not missing anything crucial".
Fifty watts per channel, baby cakes.
And what would they do if 99% of PC users selected the Win 7 interface or even worse, Windows Classic over their shiny new Metro Toy?
There would be a lot of damaged furniture at HQ...
Every function on the ribbon has a shortcut. Press alt and then the letters to get you to the function. You can tell any user to do the same. True, the user can add and remove things from the ribbon, but that's really no different from adding and removing toolbars.
I was speaking mainly of the new accounts. ACs were a secondary thought. Restricting new accounts a little more was my point. I was talking to an AC so I referred to them more directly. Sorry.
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
a zillion m.mouse@disney.com addresses being registered.
This move is just an attempt to harvest user data. There is no way that this can be 'in the interests of security'.
Thank you friend for your heart felt comment. ./? Why?????
Of all the techie forums on the web why did you decided to post it on
Is it true you work for Microsoft? Is it really getting worse there?
Please tell friend!!!
Just about any means I can think of restricting posting by new accounts can be by-passed.
Such as if you require them to wait a day after account creation to post as Fark does then the shills will just pre-make an account a day or two before the story is posted that they are going to shill.
Or if you require them to reply to a post and be replied to before their account can make a first post then they will do so with the multiple accounts that they use.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
ME, Vista, The Search for Spock, and the Undiscovered Country.
So that you could spend several dozen posts discussing whether it is or it's not a shill. Duh.
You can't actually post while an article is still in the Mysterious Future. But recently they put in the compose box so you can get a head start on writing a post, which beats having to cut/paste from an editor. But you will get an error if you try to preview until the appointed time.
Democrat delenda est
So how much does a paid shill make?
They get paid in shillings of course. Though the advent of the Euro has made it a far less profitable enterprise.
<Complete your profile by adding a signature!>
This one seems too closely tied to actual (vaporous) announcements.
But for variety feel free to put some blame on Facebook, or something new like propaganda from the Department of Commerce. (I wish they or someone would help restore some component/tooling/hardware manufacturing)
Then figure out who is behind other things (all better stories)-
Some stock was so volatile today that trading was suspended. I wonder who.
Facebook will likely slide more after it coming out that 80% of clicks billed were bots.
1.5 meters of rain expected in Thailand.
Swedish Teddy Bears infiltrate Belarus via air-drop
Solar storms possibly contributed to Greenland Melt and power failures?
NHK show Today's Close Up on July 4th reported that a U.S. power plant had (previously) lost the ability to monitor a reactor due to the Stux. It was a one sentence mention.
I wonder how long it would take Windows 8 to "arrive" at 300 baud?
3 months is a long time. In this era there should be a service pack by then.
Please leave us ACs alone, most of the shill posts I see come from new accounts.
Yours Kindly, /. user
AC but frequent and genuine
For those who don't have to write software Metro may seem nice. However, to those that do write software, if they haven't found out already they shortly will, Metro's sandboxing is just a total fuck up. Metro apps can't communicate with non-Metro apps. It's even difficult for them to communicate with other metro apps. Hell, it's even difficult for them to just access files on the hard disk. Want a nice Metro app to browser your downloads? No Sorry, you can't have that, your Downloads folder is off limits to Metro. I've seen some developers that actually had to build a web server into their desktop service so that a Metro UI could communicate with it over a REST api rather than using traditional inter process communication.
To the point one or two people have made about Windows 7 menu search and Metro. Yes you can bring up Metro and start typing to find the application you want. However, it's much less distracting and easier on the eye to have a small menu, with colours that match the rest of your system, pop up over a small area of the screen, rather than Metro where the whole screen flashes and changes colour before you eyes and start to type your search causes the entire interface to change, then selecting your application drops you back out of Metro, more sudden screen changes.
I don't think most companies will go the Windows 8 route. Windows 9, will be difficult for corporate America. They might have to do real honest to god training.
to set sail for fail!
... fanboidango?
To see anyone working themselves into a lather over an irrelevant OS. Everyone who develops for real does so on some *nix variant. The tools available on Windows are neither free nor meaningful.
I have been off MS for 15 years. I stopped having regular contact with its variants around Win2K.
No, no, I understand that many users still live in Windows-land. I understand that many Baby-Boomer CIO/CTOs still accept everything that MS says as gospel. But those people are not long for this world. And everyone from Gen-X to younger who is building for the future, does not use Windows in any way, shape, or form.
So I look on this whole Windows 8 discourse as I do on Kabuki, that is, as something that might be quite meaningful and relevant to the culture in question, but still quite alien and quite irrelevant.
Shine on, you crazy diamonds...
If not us, who? If not now, when?
I decided instead to go to a Middle Eastern restaurant and the waitress asked me what I want and I was like... Baba ghanoush?
It wouldn't do any good - shills would just create a few new accounts each day, sit on them until they pass the probation period, and then resume shilling.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
I hope they fixed the broken subtitles in any media player. Consumer preview was hosed.
I cannot wait! Why? So I can count each new patch which fixes yet another and another remote exploit which could lead to a complete takeover of the system.
Try this with XP upon release through today, how many hundreds of 'remote exploits' were fixed? How many existed for years?
IMO, Microsoft works hand and glove with the government through TLA.
I know I can count on the conspiracy of American antivirus companies to whitelist state designed rootkits like Flame. It all began with the SONY BMG ROOTKIT which none of them found.
Seriously, do I need to think about buying new computers before Win8 hits the streets if I don't want to be stuck with Win8?
I say this not because I have a particular problem with Win8, but because I prefer to let other people beta-test operating systems. I want one I KNOW will work right, not one I'm just hoping will work right.
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
Limit new people. Not anonymous people.
Do you know how you know not to trust what an anonymous person says even with several explicit third-party verifications?
Because instead of a nickname, they have "Anonymous Troll".
To deselect Karma or Subscriber bonus, click the "options" button. It's a sticky setting that stays until you change it now, rather than post-by-post. BenLeeImp addressed the rest of your question.
This can't be fixed I don't think. Any cure is worse than the disease.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Discouraging new users is not a survivable online strategy.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
As I said above, limiting new people is not a survivable online strategy.
Maybe restricting accounts logged in from the Azure cloud (by IP) might be. Azure hosted desktops are almost guaranteed to be shills.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
On launch day they will brag three hundred million sales, leaving out a description of "software assurance".
Help stamp out iliturcy.
I understand that restricting new users is bad... but limiting where they post I don't feel is necessarily terrible. (ie: not first, unless subscribed)
Alone those lines, if you start whitelisting (or blacklisting) certain IP ranges you'll bump right up against another wall that has far greater detriment. I can see the headlines now: "Slashdot Limits Incoming Connections from Microsoft Domains"
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
I really love the touch screen in Windows 8.
Now when I am watching porn I can navigate by rubbing my penis on the screen.
Ok, so, firstly, the guy up there that said "It's not Windows hatred per se, although that certainly is a healthy attitude." is my favorite person for this week.
But that said, am a little puzzled by your statement "Worked there, liked XP, hate 8, disgruntled about 7, don't even ask about Vista". I mean, "hate 8" I understand, "don't even ask about Vista" I wholeheartedly agree with, but what was disgruntling about 7? I had to upgrade to 7 from XP on one machine to add more memory, and was pleasantly surprised. (I'm still running XP on my other machines, of course, lacking any particular reason to spend the bucks to upgrade.) 7 didn't suck. There isn't a compelling reason to upgrade (except the memory thing) but it wasn't a horrible experience.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
> Do they realize that shilling actually fosters more hatred of them?
I don't believe they think that deeply about it. "Shill online where geeks live" is just a managerial line item. Did we shill Slashdot? Check. Ok, move on to Wired.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
I'll stick with Windows 7, XP, Linux! Yeah, Ubuntu and Gnome are smoking crack too. What's with all these atrocious GUI's lately? Why don't they let us turn on Start Orb other options if we want or easily revert to Gnome 2? Turds!
You can get Win7 to be that quick easily by:
---
1.) Trimming services you don't really require
2.) Performance based registry hacks
---
Plus, other 'tweaks' such as:
---
A.) Moving a pagefile.sys off the main "C" drive onto another fast HardDisk (I move mine to a TRUE "SSD" based on DDR-2 RAM in the Gigabyte 4gb RamDrive board I have (faster on writes than many SSD's and keeps its speed consistent for YEARS now, & I did the same with a 2gb CENATEK RocketDrive based on PC-133 SDRAM for a decade++ before it)_ - so, in my case & in REAL ESSENCE? I am "paging from RAM", albeit from a dedicated array of it for that & other file I/O oriented purposes.
Why? Offload the SLOWEST part of your system (traditionally that's harddisks), & you gain a thousandfold and you can TELL easily... make it do less work, it gets other work done on it faster, and has "helpers" in other disks doing that "dirty work" (in other words, your main disk should be doing mostly only program loading IF you can help it... &, I can, so can you!)
---
B.) Also things like moving your:
%TEMP%/%TMP% ops
Browser caches
Print spooling
Logging (both OS &/or App logs)
%COMSPEC%
AND, more to another disk (again - I do that on the Gigabyte IRAM 4gb DDR-2 board I have here, and it all FLIES, noticeably so).
---
* There's TONS more too, but those are some easily achieved "broad strokes" that actually work for NOTICEABLE GAINS in speed/performance...
Heck - as to that list above. I am not even scratching the total surface of what CAN be done in total summation to that end!
(I've been writing both performance & security guides for Windows since 1997 onwards online here & I can't get into the "full gamut" of that or it wouldn't fit into this single post! Lastly, I wouldn't do or use them otherwise if they didn't actually yield noticeable gains that are consistently so).
APK
P.S.=> Microsoft's FINALLY introduced what "tweakers/tuners" have been doing & onto, for decades to NT-based OS (I have since Windows NT 3.51 in fact):
Automatic Service Reduction!
(Via services that "turn off" when not in use...)
Why? Well - because IT JUST WORKS!
(As it is common-sense that the less you have to do in queue or in simultaneous threads even spread over multiple cores/cpus, just makes for less memory + process scheduling "thrash")
Yes... that's one thing they've done WELL "beneath the covers" of Windows 8 (too bad they topped it off with "METRO" because I do *NOT* think I will be using it by choice that is, ever)...
Honest opinion here, and I am a KNOWN "Microsoft/Windows fanboy" around here?
I feel they're going to learn another lesson here, just as they did with DOS 4.0, Windows ME, MS Bob, & Vista - it won't do that well, call it a prediction/hunch (one I am FAR from alone in of course)
I'd almost wager in Windows 9, they'll keep METRO (too many years into it's why) BUT, they'll probably offer the option to use the "Classic Win9x style" (what I have been calling it since Win95) shell in Windows 9 as an option, based on gaining "wisdom" the HARD way (lack of sales &/or user 'mindshare')...
apk
I'm wondering if some of the shills are just sucker-bait, guaranteeing that any rational discussion is derailed so that topics become devolved and useless.
When they're this obvious, they seem contrived to the point of provocation. Like bees into the honeypot. I think we're getting played.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
I've been using it since CP, it's been business as usual for me.
Can someone tell me the last time a piece of MS software was actually 'ready'? I mean, according to MS, Vista was 'ready'.
Really. you may rejoice in the dethroning of M$, however an evil overlord is still and evil overlord. My me look upon our days of freedom and rejoice that now we no longer control any of our electronic devices. because that's what APPLE and GOOGLE are for.
Installed Windows 8 yesterday. After a few minutes getting used to the Metro interface, I made it to the desktop. From there on, everything was very easy. Installed a bunch of old applications including Visual C++ 6, Spider Solitaire & Hyperterminal (both copied from Windows XP) and Eudora 7. They all worked fine. After figuring out the new "start' button, I don't think I'll miss the old one. The main trick with Windows 8 is that moving the cursor over the screen corners behaves as clicking on something. The lower left corner gets you to the Metro start page. The upper left corner shows you the applications/programs that are running. Both the top and lower right corners open the side bar thing where all the functionality of the old start button used to be.
Except CNR has Chuck's head hanging on his wall.
If someone is passing you on the right, you are an asshole for driving in the wrong lane.
Windows is like Star Trek films... every one one sucks and every other-other one is great. Win98... pretty good. Win ME(memory error) sucked, WinXP good, Vista not good, 7 good... 8 likely to suck. 73 ya'll.
I have been using Windows 8 for 6 months... if you take 2 minutes to learn a few new things, it is really no big deal. - The Windows key on the keyboard brings you to the start screen, so now you don't need a start button - When you need to get to a Windows setting of some sort, just go the start screen and start typing whatever you are thinking, and you will probably see what you need - When using a keyboard and mouse, just don't use Metro apps and you won't even notice it, it just feels like a faster Windows 7 If people can't accept a few new things, then yeah, it will bomb... but really, it is just a few new things
My macbook air runs Windows 7 perfectly well.
it would also silence large amounts of unpopular truth around here, which would NOT benefit the majority of threads.
Its because Microsoft's app store threatens Steam's "free money" from every game sale.
but can you do the fandango?
I'm not saying to prevent posting whatsoever. I'm saying limit the position of the posts. (ie: no firsts, no thread starter.)
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
Don't forget his friend "h111", praising Windows phone (and iPhone) and giving backhanded compliments to Android.
What, that is wrong now?
You seem to be suffering from selective memory...
Windows 1.0
Windows 2.0
Windows 2.1x
Windows 3.0
Windows 3.1
Windows 3.1x
Windows NT 3.1
Windows NT 3.5
Windows 95
Windows NT 4
Windows 98
Windows 98SE
Windows 2000
Windows ME
Windows XP
Windows 2003
Windows 2003 R2
Windows Vista
Windows 2008
Windows 7
Windows 2008 R2
Windows 8
The theory doesn't really work when you include all the information (and I've still left out a bunch of special edition versions like SBS etc).
Everything before Windows 3.1 was stoneage crap. Windows wasn't even on the radar before then. I lumped all versions of NT together as they quickly went from 3.1 to 4 before the OS was used by anybody other than developers. IIRC Windows 98SE followed quickly on the heels of 98 to fix some bad bugs. Windows 2003 and 2008 were mostly server OS's and enterprise customers held on to their win2000 systems the same way that XP users held on. From a desktop users view my list was about right.
Magnifico-0-0-0!
MS is clearly betting on consumers using this with touch screens going forward.
I've grown to like it so far. They've added some geeky eye candy (like the copy/extraction dialog details) and they've improved over all how the menus/buttons/on screen fonts all work. It's designed very well to used on large high resolution displays. They've also removed a bunch of the crappy stuff like the "glass" effects on task bar, etc.
If you like tablet/smartphone interfaces, this will become natural very quickly--even when using a mouse. There's maybe a ~week long learning curve, then you can appreciate some of the changes... unless you're stuck on what you already know and use, then you probably will be annoyed at everything added.
just as Kathleen explained I can't believe that any one able to get paid $7852 in four weeks on the internet. did you look at this site http://goo.gl/UUZFR
Not, it is not.
see you in 5 minutes, time before the next crash ...
Windows ME was "ready" too.
Showing total # posts on the user's comment title line? And their overall karma.
Normal forums show that sort of thing.. longevity, rep and # posts. Why not here?
re The launch menu button hasn't been labeled "Start" since Windows XP
well I'm looking at what you;ve written and my machine is running windows 7 and in the bottom left corner is a button labelled 'start' so what in h e l l are you talking about?
to me, what matters is, what problems that I have with windows 7 does windows 8 solve?
The trouble for microsoft is I don't have any problems with windows 7, and I haven't had it long enough to want to try something else.
there is no hardware I want to install in my system that windows 7 can't handle, I don't need to put in more memory than windows 7 can address, and generally, it ain't broke so why does microsoft want me to fix it?
I don't have a winphone and I don't plan on getting one. After the problems with vista I want to see how win 8 plays out before I spend my money on it - same thinking took me to windows 7 late - but windows 7 is good, more stable, faster at what I notice, like starting up, and shutting down, and more secure it seems.
either by upgrading or on a new pc ???? i don't buy new pc's, i buy components one at a time, first one that needs upgrading first etc ... does this mean if i buy a licence key and i switch mainboard / cpu or my gfx card i'll have to buy a new one ??? i havent been able to find anything about a retail dvd for dyi hobbyists so far ... is this the end of my windows era ?
Free speech was meant to be free for all... how can anyone grow up in a nanny state ?
Many games allow adjustment of screen refresh (IDSoftware does) via their configuration files & tweaking them!
THUS, So taking advantage of that is wrong how? Tweaking/tuning actually works...
* In fact, as evidence? Ask the guys over @ www.techpowerup.com/forums about that (the owner created the GPU-z program, good guy too) & how I showed them how to get over 20% improvements in the "ScienceMark system dragrace shootout" benchmark test - I did that because they taught me how to overclock an AMD system when I purchased one (I knew how to do INTEL systems already).
That was a thread I started there back in oh, 2005-2006 iirc that's STILL GOING (unbelievable)! Was a LOT of fun in fact...
It was when I had an AMD X2 64 based CPU & was outracing systems FAR better than it around 2006 iirc (then came the Intel better stuff which dusted all of us, since it was around the time better than Pentium 4's - the ones JUST before "Core I5/I7" cpu based ones)!
Just simply by doing reductions in services running (that you don't REALLY NEED running mind you, mostly as a "standalone" single system user)...
APK
P.S.=> So, as I stated in my last posts' termination here? 1 good thing MS is FINALLY DOING that "tweakers" like myself have been onto since 1992 on Windows NT-based OS (& before that on 9x + before that on DOS (autoexec.bat & config.sys tunings), and even farther back for me in *NIX machines @ work or in collegiate academia via daemon reduction) - automatically shutdown services when not in use, a GOOD thing that helps stall memory mgt. & process scheduling "thrash"...
( & yes, it actually works on a VERY common-sense principle (whether you have single core + single thread processes OR multi-core systems & threads): The less work you're doing, especially stuff you don't really NEED to be doing all the time (think combing your hair all day long, lol), the faster what you REALLY NEED to get done, does... )
...apk
Windows 8 has gotten more idiot proof than usual, and that's what draws in people that don't already somehow have a PC.
Thing is, make something idiot proof, the universe evolves a better class of idiots.
Idiots are so ingenious that they've written themselves an OS.
...codenamed IdiOS.
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
I think MS are idiots for trying to force feed Metro to non-tablet users, rather than letting interest and adoption be driven by the tablet users. And they're double dumb for making everyday workflow more difficult for most of their users. But in the absence of an alternative OS that will reliably run the Windows software that users and corporate IT have invested their time and money to learn, most Windows users will just deal with the annoyances. If people really hate it, then MS will have the next Windows 9 out in 18-24 months. If I want or need to stay with Win 7 for another 2-3 years, that's just fine.
Windows 8 is amazing!
Other OSes are putting real graphic design work into their icons, but not Windows 8. Slap a random white shape on a colored square and you have your program icon. This is brilliant, because it greatly simplifies tech support. When people call up asking how to launch something you can tell them "click on the white icon."
Just another great feature in Windows 8!
Big apple, new Yorik, undig it, something's unrotting in Edenmark.
Windows 8 has gotten more idiot proof than usual, and that's what draws in people that don't already somehow have a PC.
Thing is, make something idiot proof, the universe evolves a better class of idiots.
Might I interest you in purchasing my toothbrush chainsaw?*
* Read the extensive documentation for a safe brushing experience.
Big apple, new Yorik, undig it, something's unrotting in Edenmark.
Yes, the answer is obvious. That will never happen and even if it did people would just jailbreak their computer in addition to their phones.
Big apple, new Yorik, undig it, something's unrotting in Edenmark.