Microsoft Is Updating the Windows Console Colors For the First Time In 20 Years (theverge.com)

It's blue?! by the_skywise · 2017-08-02 09:22 · Score: 5, Interesting

I've always changed mine to the proper white on black. Or green on black for that 1984 Hackers look...

Re:It's blue?! by dbwells · 2017-08-02 09:33 · Score: 2

The article isn't worded very well, but looking at the pictures, I think it simply means wherever the console *used* blue before, that blue color will now be brighter. AFAIK, the default *background* has always been black for good old cmd.exe.
Re:It's blue?! by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 09:44 · Score: 1

OMG It's 1990 and X Windows lets you select Cornflower Blue, or any of dozens of similarly odd color names, to any part of your 'command' window
I am left wondering why it took so damned long for MS to do the same, since they pretty much ripped of the whole X Windows idea in the first place
Re:It's blue?! by rudy_wayne · 2017-08-02 09:44 · Score: 4, Insightful

I don't see how this is a "new feature". You've been able to change the colors to anything you want for as long as I can remember.
Properties --> Colors
I guess they've given up on fixing the billion other things that are wrong with Windows 10.
Re:It's blue?! by EvilSS · 2017-08-02 09:45 · Score: 1

Maybe they mean the powershell console (which is the default console on a fresh install after the April update on 10).

--
I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
Re:It's blue?! by __aaclcg7560 · 2017-08-02 09:53 · Score: 1

Amber on black, you insensitive clod! Not all of us could afford a green monochrome monitor.
Re:It's blue?! by Rockoon · 2017-08-02 09:59 · Score: 1

It is exactly this.

In the beginning was the CGA/EGA 16-color text mode palette.

They've adjusted some of those colors a little bit.

--
"His name was James Damore."
Re:It's blue?! by rogoshen1 · 2017-08-02 10:00 · Score: 0

someone must have had his grande latte enema.
Re:It's blue?! by cayenne8 · 2017-08-02 10:02 · Score: 2

Yep..I always just go to black with green text on every CLI I set up to work on....

--
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Re:It's blue?! by Jeremi · 2017-08-02 10:06 · Score: 2

I guess they've given up on fixing the billion other things that are wrong with Windows 10.
When every bug you fix introduces two new problems, the only way to win the game is not to play. :(

--

I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
Re:It's blue?! by s.petry · 2017-08-02 10:09 · Score: 1

Isn't blue background the powershell default?
Like you, I prefer to work white/green on black. Some of the newer utility color schemes (vim) suck with a black background, so you need either turn off the colors or change background to white.

--
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
Re:It's blue?! by ChatHuant · 2017-08-02 11:44 · Score: 1

VT-52 green is a wonderful fashion statement
Re:It's blue?! by rogoshen1 · 2017-08-02 11:56 · Score: 1

downmodded troll? have you people not seen fight club? :(
Re:It's blue?! by TWX · 2017-08-02 12:50 · Score: 3, Funny

Don't talk about Fight Club.

--
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Re:It's blue?! by TWX · 2017-08-02 12:51 · Score: 1

Sounds like you're envious. Just not green with envy.

--
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Re:It's blue?! by RhettLivingston · 2017-08-02 14:53 · Score: 4, Informative

I think you've misunderstood a bit. I had the same first reaction as you, but then read the article.
They changed the colors used to represent the colors you can change to.
For example, I've always changed mine to a yellow or bright green on dark blue background. If you look at the examples in the article, you can see that was a very high contrast but somewhat restful combination before. It is now actually reduced in contrast and I can't see a color combination in the new example that I would find comfortable.
Re:It's blue?! by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 15:08 · Score: 0

If they are talking about the background, it only changed to blue with powershell, which is not "the first time in 20 years". But probably this article was written by a millennial, and anything outside their short attention span is before their lifetime as far as they are concerned.
Re:It's blue?! by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 18:04 · Score: 2, Insightful

I concur. There's no way to tell the difference between the two shades of purple on most backgrounds now, either. Good old Microsoft "fixing" things that weren't broken. :(
Re:It's blue?! by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 20:19 · Score: 0

But MS will likely now remove the color customization feature as they don't want people to change the only true Microsoft visual appearance.
Re:It's blue?! by yagu · 2017-08-03 01:00 · Score: 1

a billion other things wrong with Windows 10
I don't think anyone would ever need more than that.
Re:It's blue?! by mea2214 · 2017-08-03 02:45 · Score: 1

It's Malibu Stacy with a new hat.
Re:It's blue?! by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-03 04:18 · Score: 0

Windows 10 is a fucking joke and so is anyone who actually uses it.
Re:It's blue?! by hawk · 2017-08-03 04:19 · Score: 1

The times I've had to use windows, it always seemed to turn blue soon enough . . . :)
hawk
Re:It's blue?! by eam3 · 2017-08-03 05:14 · Score: 1

I do black with green for regular command prompt. Black with amber for Admin command prompt.

It's a black and blue issue... by thegreatbob · 2017-08-02 09:23 · Score: 2

I could've sworn the legacy console colors were black and not-quite-white. I've only seen the blue scheme in PowerShell.

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There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...

Linux has had this capability for decades by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 09:25 · Score: 0

I am being paid to post pro-Linux messages here and on forums for Windows users and developers. This feature has been present in Linux terminal applications for over two decades, allowing you to customize your colors, add a picture to the background, or even make the terminal transparent. Windows is really behind the times here, and with so many other features. If you want a modern operating system with modern features, you should drop Microsoft Windows and switch to a modern Linux distribution.

Re: Linux has had this capability for decades by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 09:35 · Score: 0

Shill. I notice your advertisement forgot to mention systemd and its built-in terminal color-picker functionality.
Re:Linux has had this capability for decades by Waffle+Iron · 2017-08-02 09:44 · Score: 1

Trolling aside, for a long time I've been using that capability to set my terminals to a palette based on the popular "Solarized light" scheme (but even a little more muted). Now I can look at the output of a "ls /dev" command, and not have my eyes bleed.
Re:Linux has had this capability for decades by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 09:46 · Score: 0

X11 had this before Linux ever existed, so sod off
Here's a nickel, go buy yourself a real computer system
Re:Linux has had this capability for decades by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 10:09 · Score: 0

ur funneh. windows users only type text if theres an office app open, else they point and click. most weren't even aware there was a terminal window, let alone if the background was black or blue. did i mention ur funneh, but not haha funneh.
Re:Linux has had this capability for decades by tsqr · 2017-08-02 10:14 · Score: 1

Here's a nickel, go buy yourself a real computer system
Now, that's a genuine oldie.
Re:Linux has had this capability for decades by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 10:25 · Score: 0

But....but.....the computer I want always costs $2500!!
Re:Linux has had this capability for decades by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 10:53 · Score: 0

You have been able to change the Microsoft "terminal/command.com/cmd.exe" colors since the MS-DOS days.
I know, I did it.
Fuck off Linux boy.

We've had ... by PPH · 2017-08-02 09:25 · Score: 1

... the black screen of death. And the blue screen of death. What else?

--
Have gnu, will travel.

Re:We've had ... by Zero__Kelvin · 2017-08-02 09:33 · Score: 1

You forgot the black and blue, and screams of living with Windows.

--
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
Re:We've had ... by thegreatbob · 2017-08-02 09:36 · Score: 1

Red screen of death (bootloader implosion), the bluish screen of death (windows 8/10 default), and a green screen of death in preview builds of 10. I'm not aware of any others in WindowsLand, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were.

--
There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
Re:We've had ... by thegreatbob · 2017-08-02 09:40 · Score: 1

The colors also used to be configurable (dunno about the graphical mode form of Win8+) via SYSTEM.INI. Potentially useful in a high security environment to make the screen unreadable, to make a specific machine more identifiable, or just for kicks.

--
There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
Re:We've had ... by PPH · 2017-08-02 09:55 · Score: 1

The colors also used to be configurable
To digress: I remember the time when the BSOD screen saver made it's way around our company. Numerous calls were made to IT support when people would leave their PC for a few minutes and return to what looked like a crashed system.

--
Have gnu, will travel.
Re:We've had ... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 10:20 · Score: 0

We've seen the orange screen of death several dozen times on Windows 10.
Re:We've had ... by thegreatbob · 2017-08-02 11:13 · Score: 1

Those and cracked LCD backgrounds are always a blast...

--
There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...

Nethack by aardvarkjoe · 2017-08-02 09:32 · Score: 1

Looks like the new color scheme would make it much easier to spot floating eyes.

That was my motivation for making a similar change to the blue on my xterm.

--

How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?

Re:Nethack by hord · 2017-08-02 10:14 · Score: 1

I play blindfolded. And die a lot.
Re:Nethack by CronoCloud · 2017-08-03 02:54 · Score: 1

Ha! That was the first thing I thought of as well. That's why I always change the default CGA-ish Dark blue in various terminals to "DodgerBlue"
I also change DIR 01;34 to DIR 37;44 in /etc/DIR_COLORS (it makes directory names show up as white text on a light blue background)

command.com and cmd.exe up until at least Vista... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 09:32 · Score: 0

*WERE* grey text with black background.

It seems like at least some versions allowed color changes via right clicking on the title bar or menu button, although I don't think those changes worked if you went into a full screen command prompt, so I never used them.

Having said that: Thanks to XP deprecation and the Windows 6+ releases, I've fully jumped to linux and had no need to look back. Too bad the Linux ecosystem is succumbing to NIH and rot as the Windows ecosystem once did. But hey, that is just making it more palatable for the plebian masses.

"Nothing new under the sun" ANSI.SYS by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 09:32 · Score: 4, Informative

See subject: This is an old trick you could do in DOS via ANSI.SYS loading in config.sys ala DEVICE = C:\DOS\ANSI.SYS & then in autoexec.bat using $e[xx;yy;zzm
where xx = attribute code, yy = foreground color code, and zz = background color code.

A table of the color codes follows:

Code Color
0 Turn Off Attributes
1 High Intensity
2 Normal Intensity
4 Underline (mono only)
5 Blink
7 Reverse Video
8 Invisible
30 Black
31 Red
32 Green
33 Yellow
34 Blue
35 Magenta
36 Cyan
37 White
40 Black
41 Red
42 Green
43 Yellow
44 Blue
45 Magenta
46 Cyan
47 White
For example, the following command will result in a bright red C:\> prompt and bright yellow text on a blue background.

C:\> prompt $e[1;31;44m$p$g$e[1;33;44m

APK

P.S.=> See subject - it's been done, long ago.. apk

Re:"Nothing new under the sun" ANSI.SYS by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 09:46 · Score: 0

Oh my god, you were useful for once.
I'm dizzy. I think I need to sit down.
Re:"Nothing new under the sun" ANSI.SYS by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 09:53 · Score: 0

Guess you can't actually read the article. That's OK. Host files are for illiterate losers.
Re:"Nothing new under the sun" ANSI.SYS by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 10:58 · Score: 0

Oh my god, you were useful for once.
I'm dizzy. I think I need to sit down.
Except he didn't read the article or even the summary (typical of him actually). It's not about being able to change the colors, it's about them changing the color pallet for the console colors that you can change it to.
Re:"Nothing new under the sun" ANSI.SYS by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 14:43 · Score: 0

The ANSI support is part of building in full VT100 compliance so that Windows can be administered remotely via SSH and curses applications will work.
Re:"Nothing new under the sun" ANSI.SYS by RhettLivingston · 2017-08-02 14:59 · Score: 1

Every moderator who moderated the parent up needs to go RTFA. Nothing in the parent post allows one to change the actual colors used to represent the ANSI color codes. That is what MS has done. Amongst others, blue is no longer the same blue.
Re:"Nothing new under the sun" ANSI.SYS by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 15:19 · Score: 0

Uhm.. Other way around. VT100 codes were different from VT5x codes to be ANSI-compliant. (Or ECMA-048 these days.)
Since the standard have support for private codes VT100 also have commands for enabling the VT5x commands.
Most of the graphical attributes listed/used weren't supported by VT100 anyway, especially not the color attributes.
Re:"Nothing new under the sun" ANSI.SYS by AmiMoJo · 2017-08-03 00:37 · Score: 3

They have actually redefined the RGB values of those colours, supposedly to better suit LCD monitors.
You couldn't do that originally under DOS because the various graphics adaptors of the day emulated ancient text modes that only supported digital colour and half-bright. That is, each of the red, green and blue channels could be binary on/off and a binary half brightness applied to all of them, so the available colours were (hex RGB values):
000 black
00F blue
0F0 green
0FF cyan
F00 red
F0F magenta
FF0 yellow
FFF white
007 dark blue
070 dark green
077 dark cyan
700 dark red
707 dark magenta
770 dark yellow
777 grey (default text colour in DOS)

--
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Re:"Nothing new under the sun" ANSI.SYS by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-03 01:55 · Score: 0

Forget the gee-whiz 8-color+bold prompts from the 1979 ANSI standard, any decent terminal these days can do a lot more with the following:
awk 'BEGIN{
s="/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\"; s=s s s s s s s s;
for (colnum=0; colnum 255) g = 510-g;
printf "\033[48;2;%d;%d;%d;m", r,g,b;
printf "\033[38;2;%d;%d;%d;m", 255-r, 255-g, 255-b;
printf "%s\033[0m", substr(s, colnum+1, 1);
}
printf "\n";
}'
Re:"Nothing new under the sun" ANSI.SYS by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-03 02:12 · Score: 1

I shouldn't have typed that out from a screenshot. There were two extra semi-colons. Apparently this also works on the latest Windows 10 bash shell, so I guess they added support there first and TFA is about a partial backport to Windows native shells.
awk 'BEGIN{
s="/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\"; s=s s s s s s s s;
for (colnum=0; colnum 255) g = 510-g;
printf "\033[48;2;%d;%d;%dm", r,g,b;
printf "\033[38;2;%d;%d;%dm", 255-r, 255-g, 255-b;
printf "%s\033[0m", substr(s, colnum+1, 1);
}
printf "\n";
}'

Command Prompt is black. Powershell is blue. by ITRambo · 2017-08-02 09:37 · Score: 4, Informative

I'm not sure where the information came from, but I presume that the change is to Powershell and not to the Command Prompt, which in Windows 10 defaults to a black screen with white text. Powershell defaults to a blue screen with white text.

Re:Command Prompt is black. Powershell is blue. by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 10:58 · Score: 0

Jesus ---- you are stupid.
Open CMD.exe
right click on the upper left hand corner of the Command Prompt screen
select properties.
Colors comes up - pick what you want including popup text and popup background.
You Linux guys are so full of shit - you make stuff up just to hear/see your name.
Look at the comments above you - even APK knows how to do this
GAWD what a loser.
Re:Command Prompt is black. Powershell is blue. by Ubi_NL · 2017-08-02 18:39 · Score: 1

Maybe you should try reading TFA beforing concluding the story is wrong. This is not about the background, it is about the coloring scheme defaults in cmd.exe. I agree it is a bit far-fetched to call this an overhaul though.

--

If an experiment works, something has gone wrong.

Wow, just wow by marcle · 2017-08-02 09:37 · Score: 4, Insightful

We should all be grateful that the insanely talented coders at Microsoft were able to perform such a thrilling technical feat. It must have been incredibly difficult, as evidenced by how long it took.
This is no doubt why Windows 10 is so buggy, since so many team members were slaving away adding colors to the terminal window instead of actually, you know, trying to fix the operating system.

Re:Wow, just wow by 140Mandak262Jamuna · 2017-08-02 09:59 · Score: 1

Every element in Xwindows can have its color specified in RGB, and window managers as primitive as MWM allowed a clear hierarchy to specify the colors. How old is that? 20 years? 30 years?
Multiple work spaces have existed from 1990s in all unix systems. Even now in Win10, finally some lame way MS has implemented it. Still does not allow windows to moved easily or pinned. Worst thing, there is no indication to tell which work space you are in. No way to customize it. One of the first things I did when I joined my company back in 1994 was to set six colors and backgrounds for the six workspaces in HPUX.
I think MS top managers have stopped eating their own dog food ages ago, with minions setting up and running their systems, severely afflicted with not-invented-here syndrome. Would not be surprised if there is a team they are funding to improve the wheel.

--
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Re:Wow, just wow by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 10:09 · Score: 0

We should all be grateful that the insanely talented coders at Microsoft were able to perform such a thrilling technical feat. It must have been incredibly difficult, as evidenced by how long it took.
This is no doubt why Windows 10 is so buggy, since so many team members were slaving away adding colors to the terminal window instead of actually, you know, trying to fix the operating system.
Microsoft still doesn't have colors worked out right for the normal OS and how long have they been at this?
Seriously, how had is it so say, you must specify font type, weight, size, etc, with font color and font background color. All must be specifiable as a set.
But they can't even get that right. Their default approach is just to try to get everyone to use premade themes that are generally all dark on light layouts.
Re:Wow, just wow by rogoshen1 · 2017-08-02 10:10 · Score: 3, Funny

Do you have *any* idea how much telemetry they need to go through? Every click, every window, every interaction -- everything!
Once Team Windows gets that telemetry data back from the NSA, they still need to sift through it, and then look for ways to improve the OS.
But once they start getting caught up, you'll see more game changing improvements out of Redmond.
Re:Wow, just wow by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 10:26 · Score: 0

My two friends that work there on Windows only make $12 per hour for a vendor, so this is a pretty good feat for for their level of talent.
Re:Wow, just wow by thegarbz · 2017-08-02 10:44 · Score: 1

since so many team members were slaving away adding colors to the terminal window
Slashdot fail. When making a hyperbolic claim you need to reference something in TFA, not TFS. There's always a risk someone may read TFS and then point out that this was done by a single summer intern.
Or maybe you're making a subtle joke that all of Windows 10 is managed by one summer intern in which case I tip my hat to you.
Re: Wow, just wow by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 11:32 · Score: 0

That is more than minimum wage on Redmond so they should be happy to get that. I make a little less and get no vacation time.
Re: Wow, just wow by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 11:57 · Score: 0

It's sad now that Microsoft pays so little.
Re: Wow, just wow by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 12:26 · Score: 0

That is normal these days at MSFT.
Re:Wow, just wow by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 15:03 · Score: 0

Every element in Xwindows can have its color specified in RGB, and window managers as primitive as MWM allowed a clear hierarchy to specify the colors. How old is that? 20 years? 30 years?
Multiple work spaces have existed from 1990s in all unix systems. Even now in Win10, finally some lame way MS has implemented it. Still does not allow windows to moved easily or pinned. Worst thing, there is no indication to tell which work space you are in. No way to customize it. One of the first things I did when I joined my company back in 1994 was to set six colors and backgrounds for the six workspaces in HPUX.
I think MS top managers have stopped eating their own dog food ages ago, with minions setting up and running their systems, severely afflicted with not-invented-here syndrome. Would not be surprised if there is a team they are funding to improve the wheel.
In any company where employees might conceivably use something that company produces as part of their own jobs, you can kinda tell when the decision makers are either a) using products from a different company instead of their own or b) too disconnected from reality and responsibility to even know what their own company sells, much less use it.
It feels like Microsoft hit that point a long time ago.
Re:Wow, just wow by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 16:10 · Score: 0

Every element in Xwindows can have its color specified in RGB, and window managers as primitive as MWM allowed a clear hierarchy to specify the colors. How old is that? 20 years? 30 years?.
Microsoft didn't add the ability to change the colors, dummy. It's been there for a very long time. They simply updated the default color scheme. You're so desperate to troll Microsoft that you don't even bother to understand what you're trolling about.
Re:Wow, just wow by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-03 04:03 · Score: 0

Microsoft writes software that a billion people use daily while your feature requests are only relevant for a few virgins still living in their moms basements. So, come back when you've actually sold something normal people use.
Re:Wow, just wow by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-03 10:06 · Score: 0

It's funny how datamining has been a hot trend for a while, yet companies never do anything useful or beneficial with it.

Coming Next.....Cut and Paste by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 09:37 · Score: 0

Whatever are we going to do when we don't have to click an icon and select a sub-menu item to paste?

Re:Coming Next.....Cut and Paste by t0y · 2017-08-02 09:39 · Score: 1

It's been there for a while...
Re:Coming Next.....Cut and Paste by EvilSS · 2017-08-02 09:49 · Score: 1

Whatever are we going to do when we don't have to click an icon and select a sub-menu item to paste?
You have been able to paste into the console by just right-clicking since Windows XP. All you had to do was turn on Quick Edit mode. It's on by default in later versions of Windows.

--
I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
Re:Coming Next.....Cut and Paste by sexconker · 2017-08-02 10:08 · Score: 1

It doesn't work in all contexts. It can't be triggered with Control+V or Shift+Insert.
I've taken to using Alt+Space, E, P as a "shortcut" when I have to paste into a cmd.exe terminal.
Re:Coming Next.....Cut and Paste by EvilSS · 2017-08-03 01:56 · Score: 1

Why not just turn on quick edit and right-click to paste (literally right-click, no context menu required). But if you are that into CTRL-V you can turn it on in Windows 10 in the console.

--
I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
Re:Coming Next.....Cut and Paste by sexconker · 2017-08-03 04:10 · Score: 1

Because I'd have to move my hand to the mouse.
And Windows 10? NO THX.

So now they care about legacy settings? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 09:39 · Score: 0

Have a non-Edge browser and it gets replaced, but have a non-standard terminal color and you get to keep it????

somehow this is news? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 09:41 · Score: 0

Seriously? This is news? Why the fuck is this news? This has been basic fucking functionality in unix operating systems for decades. Decades! Hell even as APK said in another post, you used to be able to do this in DOS.

I mean...WTF

Re:somehow this is news? by EvilSS · 2017-08-02 09:51 · Score: 1

Seriously? This is news? Why the fuck is this news? This has been basic fucking functionality in unix operating systems for decades. Decades! Hell even as APK said in another post, you used to be able to do this in DOS.
I mean...WTF
Not sure how it's news at all. All they did was tweak the color pallet a bit. You have been able to change the colors for as long as I can remember. In windows it's in the console properties menu.

--
I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.

I guess it is time to start using windows again by Major_Disorder · 2017-08-02 09:44 · Score: 1

I mean after all if they are fixing unimportant things like this it must mean that they have fixed every other bug in existence. It will be wonderful to finally get to use 100% bug free software.

--
First law of people: People are generally stupid.

Re:I guess it is time to start using windows again by the_skywise · 2017-08-02 09:55 · Score: 1

It's like the 1960s color TV fad all over again... Definitely makes Windows worth a 2nd look, dontcha think?!

Windows console - now in COLOR!
Re:I guess it is time to start using windows again by tomxor · 2017-08-02 10:55 · Score: 1

I mean after all if they are fixing unimportant things like this it must mean that they have fixed every other bug in existence. It will be wonderful to finally get to use 100% bug free software.
No need for sarcasm... Microsoft has had bug free software since 1981, it's called DOS, although they didn't write it - maybe that's why.

Also coming easter egg along with that by 140Mandak262Jamuna · 2017-08-02 09:52 · Score: 1

The BSOD Blue Screen of Death is also getting an overhaul, and it would inherit the color scheme from the upgraded console. No longer limited to the standard blue, you can have a choice of translucent, iridescent, fluorescent, speckled and coruscant versions of blue.

--
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact

Re:Also coming easter egg along with that by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 10:33 · Score: 0

The BSOD Blue Screen of Death is also getting an overhaul, and it would inherit the color scheme from the upgraded console. No longer limited to the standard blue, you can have a choice of translucent, iridescent, fluorescent, speckled and coruscant versions of blue.
You mean the GOLD screen of death? https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn425036.aspx
Re:Also coming easter egg along with that by tomxor · 2017-08-02 10:58 · Score: 1

The BSOD Blue Screen of Death is also getting an overhaul, and it would inherit the color scheme from the upgraded console. No longer limited to the standard blue, you can have a choice of translucent, iridescent, fluorescent, speckled and coruscant versions of blue.
No it's more advanced than that... the BSOD themes are going to be in-death purchases, the transactions will be handled by a intel ME firmware module to allow the system to continue crashing unhindered.
Re:Also coming easter egg along with that by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 12:29 · Score: 0

M$ is doing away with the BSOD and going with a new VSOD. It sends a Voltage Spike Of Death to the CPU, GPU, Memory, Motherboard, and anything connected to USB.
Re:Also coming easter egg along with that by thegreatbob · 2017-08-03 01:40 · Score: 1

A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.
STOP 0x69696969 PERMANENT_SHUTDOWN_COMPULSATOR_NOT_FOUND

--
There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...

He was being nice. by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 09:54 · Score: 0

"... billion other things that are wrong with Windows 10."

Don't you just hate it when people underestimate Microsoft's defects? Only a billion?

Pure innovation by paulpach · 2017-08-02 09:56 · Score: 1

This is ground breaking and truly innovative.

Who cares about having multiple tabs or unicode? The reason why millions switched to mac os x was that the blue in the console was too dark.

now i know people are out of touch. by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 09:58 · Score: 0

from writer to publisher,, /. what a tool...
moving past that, unless i misunderstood, YOU CAN ALLREADY CHANGE THE CONSOLE/TERMINAL/DOS WINDOW.
this is lame,,,
perhaps the article should have been "MS in their time of boredom, have added some new color schemes," pls feel free to look for them when the next rollout of bloated, unnecessary crud comes out.. Hope u dont miss it, we put alot of time and effort hiring those whom are color blind, so we can CODE and OverCOME....

ahahahahahaha

Your Lords, Mike Row Sopht

Next up.... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 10:02 · Score: 0

Advertisements in the Command Prompt!

Re:Next up.... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 20:26 · Score: 0

Wrong. They are not advertisements, they are engaging experiences and interesting suggestions from selected Microsoft partners.

Stupid kids by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 10:18 · Score: 0

The Commodore 64 proved light blue on dark blue wasn't good. Also, we need higher contrast colors for readability, and Microsoft's white on black already provided that.

Re: Stupid kids by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 10:23 · Score: 0

Several C64 programs used pink on red color schemes so that isn't a good example.
Re: Stupid kids by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 10:50 · Score: 0

And you expect Microsoft to learn from that when most of their current employees were born after that since they fired most of their best people
Re: Stupid kids by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 11:04 · Score: 0

This. The past five years they've fired most of their hardest working workers.
Re: Stupid kids by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-03 06:59 · Score: 0

This. Microsoft fired its QA team because they hate us. They want us to suffer. While we suffer they laugh and toss around money and swim in it. Microsoft hates us so much.

the what now? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 10:36 · Score: 0

I don't even have a command prompt anymore on Windows 10 Creator Update. It's been replaced by Powershell when right clicking the start menu, which seems to pretty much do the exact same thing as the command prompt.
Of course I can still access cmd by using the run command, but who does that.

Re:the what now? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 11:02 · Score: 0

Bull Shit.
I have the creator update on all of my Win10 machines - the use of Powershell instead of the "leagacy" cmd prompt is configurable.
Idiot.
Re: the what now? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-03 07:01 · Score: 0

Nothing he said was bullshit.

color xy by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 10:38 · Score: 0

Doesn't the command "COLOR" followed by 2 hex digits give you enough choices? Damn kids.

Re:command.com and cmd.exe up until at least Vista by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 10:50 · Score: 1

I always changed the cmd colors. Yellow on black for my non-Admin account and Cyan on Black for my Admin account. All I had to do is look to see what account the cmd window was using. Started doing this with Windows NT 3.0 (yup a Windows NT Beta tester here) I never looked back.
Although I now use Bright Green on a Dark green background for my "local" account on most of my machines now. But this article is bogus in that you have been able to change colors to what you want in the CMD window for ---- decades. Why is this article here?

Even back in the MS-DOS days you could change the color scheme. I had a co-worker who was color blind so he chose some fuchsia color for the text and a weird greenish color for the background. Most of us would look at the screen (Compaq 386) and want to puke, but he could work on that butt ugly bad boy for hours.

Which black, which blue? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 10:51 · Score: 1

Which black, which blue? :-)

Read the actual Microsoft information, it's actually conhost.exe (which is the actual 'console renderer' -- think 'xterm' in linux terms); used by powershell AND cmd (and any other console-mode program).

And it's about redefining the ANSI colours to RGB value mapping (e.g., DARK_BLUE goes from 0,0,128 to 0,55,128. lightening it somewhat to be appealing on today's higher contrast displays.) It's still blue, it's just a different blue.

And it's the default mapping being changed (so you won't see any difference unless you clean-install until they release a management tool. (See, you've been able to customise this mapping since the beginning on Windows NT 3.1; right back at the beginning.)

Re:Which black, which blue? by Zero__Kelvin · 2017-08-03 00:57 · Score: 1

There is LITERALLY only 1 black.

--
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
Re:Which black, which blue? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-03 01:29 · Score: 0

There is LITERALLY only 1 black.
I bet you think there is only one white too. Easy to see you have never been engaged and shopping for wedding dresses.
Re:Which black, which blue? by Zero__Kelvin · 2017-08-03 01:47 · Score: 1

Unless you realize that brides don't shop for wedding dresses with their grooms and are trying to tell me it is easy to see I'm not gay you should probably stick to following the advice of your high school writing teacher and only write about subjects with which you have experience.

--
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun

Wow! What a breakthrough! by OneHundredAndTen · 2017-08-02 10:58 · Score: 1

I will forever remember where I was when I learned about such momentous news. There is no gainsaying that the world will be an utterly different place after this epoch-making development.

Too much hype by meglon · 2017-08-02 11:50 · Score: 1

All they're doing is adding mauve to the palette.

--
Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's

Re:Too much hype by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 18:39 · Score: 0

You mean, because of the RAM?

Solarized? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 11:52 · Score: 0

the only color scheme needed is Solarized, available at http://ethanschoonover.com/solarized

They need... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 11:58 · Score: 0

...to just start the whole darn thing over from scratch, stop writing bloatwear, and make a useful OS.

What about the color command? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 12:32 · Score: 1

C:\>COLOR AB
Where : A is background color and B: Is forreground color.
Colors could be like:
0: Black
1: Blue
2: Green
3: Cyan
4: Red
5: Purple
6: Yellow
7: White
8: Gray
9: Light Blue
A: Light Green
B: Light Cyan
C: Light Red
D: Light Purple
E:Light Yellow
F: Bright White

Titanic by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 12:49 · Score: 0

Looks like the are rearranging the deck chairs.

Hope it works out for them. Not.

keep polishing... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 13:09 · Score: 0

keep polishing, that turd's got a great shine now!

See? After 20 years in beta, by Provocateur · 2017-08-02 13:26 · Score: 1

Windows Version one-point-oh finally hits primetime!

Kinda odd how everyone refers to this version as "ten"

--
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.

Re:See? After 20 years in beta, by toonces33 · 2017-08-02 13:33 · Score: 1

But this Windows version goes up to 11!

Reeks of advertorialism by sombragris · 2017-08-02 13:30 · Score: 3, Insightful

From TFA:

It’s a minor change, but if you’re familiar with the Windows Console then it’s a welcome addition that developers have been asking for. It’s also a particularly relevant change now that Microsoft is supporting its own console alongside Bash, and another example of Microsoft paying attention to the small things that matter in Windows 10.

Yeah right. If MS is paying attention to small things that matter and things developers (and other people) were asking for, why then they did not restore Classic style? Or disable telemetry...? Or refrain from forcing updates down our throats...?

The original article is nothing but blatant ad copy thinly disguised as editorial content. In other words, an advertorial.

--
-- Look to the Rose that blows about us--"Lo, Laughing," she says, "into the World I blow..."

Re:Reeks of advertorialism by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-04 01:34 · Score: 0

Developers and users have been asking for non-stupid copy/paste in the console since it was first introduced. That has way higher priority than changing any colors.
Also, console has never been blue, unless they mean the BSOD (which has already been changed to green) or PowerShell, which is not nearly 20 years old.
Sounds like another article written by someone who knows nothing about the subject.

color by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 13:48 · Score: 0

I am glad MS fixed all the other bugs so they could free up developers to fix the colors on the command console.

"Even APK knows how to do this"? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 13:59 · Score: 0

LIsten you UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous little shit - I've forgotten MORE than you'll ever learn in the art & science of computing (not that you're capable of learning OR offering decent info. - only what you spit back after reading it from others ON THIS PAGE, who did offer decent info., & then only playing it off like YOU are "all-knowing" when the truth of you is you know jack shit & DO zero...).

* Shitbags like you TRY 'cut down' others who do offer information or tools of value - but you NEVER do offer either of them yourself... why? You're lazy & weak. Period (& you KNOW it about yourself, hence your nigh constant 'negativity' you project onto others).

APK

P.S.=> Do you honestly believe others here don't see that from you & "your kind" (low losers)? I actually think you do hence WHY you "hide" behind unidentifiable anonymous troll posts - & I honestly don't believe I have to tell others this - they already KNOW "your kind"... apk

Re:"Even APK knows how to do this"? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 15:16 · Score: 0

And yet you (apk) respond as one of the clan of cowards.... Pot,, meet kettle.
My response was to itrambo giving you (apk) credit as to knowing that the article was shit. That said, the method you gave is fine for pre-NT based MS OS's. The technique I outlined is both current and applicable to Windows 3.0 and beyond.
I guess you (apk) "forgot" - which is par for your limited/forgetful meaningless existence.
Now go back to your basement, and just fuck the shit off.
Re:"Even APK knows how to do this"? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 15:56 · Score: 0

Why don't you explain why you can't stop your shitty program from being displayed as 'Not Responding' while it chugs away for damn near an hour sorting your stupid fucking host file? The Art & Science of Computing? I suppose basic sorts and lists are in the "forgotten" category? Why don't you explain why you can't deduplicate in a worker thread and synchronize a progress bar?

Re:You're never useful or on topic... apk by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 15:50 · Score: 0

Ay-Pee-Gay's Ghost Pile Engine downloads and stores all of it's hosts data in plain text right in the program directory. It would be trivial for a rogue program to modify these files in userspace before admin privileges are given to install the hosts file. The simplest I can think of would be to detect if the program is running and add common websites to the list which apk's program will happily accept and redirect to 0.0.0.0 making them unreachable for the user. I'm sure brighter minds than I can think of many more nefarious things they can do with a poorly written Delphi program that stores all of it's data in plaintext.

This is why you don't trust your machine's security to a piece of software written by a forum spammer who thinks his roll your own solution is better than a battle tested database such as SQLite (you can trust apk! The public domain SQLite could just up and disappear! Then what?!?), a programmer who doesn't understand the meaning of threadsafe, someone who cannot sort and deduplicate a simple text file of a MB or two in less than a half hour on a modern machine.

fix the damn scroll buffer by Mandrake · 2017-08-02 16:31 · Score: 1

your text paints like I'm on a 300 baud modem and the scroll buffer is unusable. Fix fundamental issues with the app, you can already get far better console apps like cmder for windows, you should worry about coming to usability parity before freaking colors.

--
Geoff "Mandrake" Harrison
Some Random UI Hacker

Comprehension Fail. by thegarbz · 2017-08-02 16:43 · Score: 1

The article has nothing to do with changing your console prompt to a set of predefined colours. The change here is that the pre-defined colours have been changed so that you can actually read 34 on 40 for example.

LMAO - who are you trying to fool? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 16:49 · Score: 0

See subject: Unlike "your kind" I identify myself - a worm like you doesn't Big diff between myself & a skulking shitweasel like you!

APK

P.S.=> Then again, I know YOU know this about yourself, again, hence your UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous weasel posts... apk

Big talk - but it's MERE talk from "your kind" by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 16:58 · Score: 0

See subject: Let's see YOU do that, "big talker" (it'll never happen - you're an unskilled UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous zero).

* You make me laugh... Especially about your 'battle-tested' SQLite (which JUST showed it had a DECADES LONG SECURITY VULNERABILITY IN IT stupid).

I do all my work myself. I don't count on others libs (especially ones written in C, which SQLite iirc, is - too much buffer overflow possibles in it due to null-terminated strings (Pascal, which I used, has no such issue))

APK

P.S.=> Plenty of folks like & use my work worldwide - they DO trust it + myself (lol, & "your kind" CAN'T STAND THAT - I love it)... apk

ConEmu by dhalsim2 · 2017-08-02 17:02 · Score: 1

20 years and that's all we get?! The console with DOS 25 years ago was more powerful than what we have today! After decades of waiting for something _at_least_ as good as we had back then, I got sick of waiting and found ConEmu. It's a wonderful console. I can't imagine ever going back to the built-in Windows console.

WTF are you running it on? An 8088?? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 17:09 · Score: 0

See subject: I sort 100's of 1,000's of records in seconds here via quicksort (most optimal 4 large vs. small data) - question: Have YOU even taken datastructures? I doubt it OR you'd have KNOWN the above.

* Then again, all YOU are? Is mere 'talk' (hot blowhard bullshitter air is more like it)... me?? I do things folks like & use (whereas "your kind", do-nothing UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous "ne'er-do-wells", don't (as I suspect you can't, you know you don't have the skills OR more importantly, a work ethic - you're a lazy stooge, nothing more...)).

OF course, YOU ARE WELCOME TO DO BETTER (but then it'd just be IMITATION (of my work) = SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY if you do so)

APK

P.S.=> However: I thought about heapsort but decided not to use it (it's a LOT of extra code I don't really need for VERY LITTLE GAIN, IF ANY, was why) ... apk

Re:WTF are you running it on? An 8088?? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 18:11 · Score: 0

The 1970's called, they want their lame ass hosts. file back.
You need to start taking tour meds again. Listen to your inner Mommy.
ans STFU

Summer intern by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 20:50 · Score: 0

Now that Microsoft summer intern Craig Loewen has finished the job he shall be promoted to autumn intern and start disabling telemetry.

How about implementing Copy and Paste properly? by hackertourist · 2017-08-02 20:53 · Score: 1

I'm using an alternative shell because the standard Windows one still doesn't support selection with the mouse, or the standard Ctrl-X/C/V shortcuts.

Re:How about implementing Copy and Paste properly? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-02 21:42 · Score: 0

Doesn't QuickEdit mode do the trick for you? (see Properties->Options->Edit Options->QuickEdit Mode)

Console has more problems than this by DrXym · 2017-08-02 22:23 · Score: 1

Microsoft have the inexplicable practice of radically altering the look and experience of Windows while leaving some of the most fundamental tools broken or seriously deficient. Things like msconfig, notepad, paint, calc, etc.

Compare Conemu or other console replacements to the default and it's quite obvious it has more problems than a simple colour scheme. Just being able to horizontally resize the console would be nice, or allowing it to handle standard escape codes, or selection / copy behaviour or using a nice default font, or having multiple tabs open.

No. by The123king · 2017-08-02 23:09 · Score: 1

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/...

--
If you gave me a choice between a printer and a giraffe with explosive diarrhoea, i'll get my ladder and my raincoat

Transparent background? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-03 00:57 · Score: 0

One of my favorite parts of Linux console....... when will windows do it?

You're never useful or on topic... apk by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-03 01:24 · Score: 0

I'm going to continue using the Host File Engine. Your software is well written, functional. The Host File Engine performs exactly as promised by mmell

his hosts program is actually pretty good by xenotransplant

his hosts tool is actually useful for those cases in which one does indeed want to locally block stuff outright while consuming minimum system resources by alexgieg

(APK's) work, I've flat out said it's good by BronsCon

I've tried his hosts file generating software. It works by bmo

APK your posts on this & the hosts file posts, and more, have never been in error &/or bad advice by BlueStrat

Your premise that hostfiles are a good way to deal with advertising & malvertising is quite valid by JazzLad

I like your host file system by Karmashock

* It's recommended/hosted by Malwarebytes' hpHosts!

APK

P.S.=> See subject & those quoted registered /.ers - would you like me to post 100's of upmods I've gotten here too? Ask so you EAT YOUR WORDS all the more... apk

It is now gray on a slightly lighter gray. by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-03 07:56 · Score: 0

All the help people with poor vision. When will people with knowledge about ergonomics be allowed in to the design of UI's again?

EAT YOUR WORDS chump by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-05 01:40 · Score: 0

I'm going to continue using the Host File Engine. Your software is well written, functional. The Host File Engine performs exactly as promised by mmell

his hosts program is actually pretty good by xenotransplant

his hosts tool is actually useful for those cases in which one does indeed want to locally block stuff outright while consuming minimum system resources by alexgieg

(APK's) work, I've flat out said it's good by BronsCon

I've tried his hosts file generating software. It works by bmo

APK your posts on this & the hosts file posts, and more, have never been in error &/or bad advice by BlueStrat

Your premise that hostfiles are a good way to deal with advertising & malvertising is quite valid by JazzLad

I like your host file system by Karmashock

* It's recommended/hosted by Malwarebytes' hpHosts!

APK

P.S.=> China imitated me http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/04/26/boffins_supercharge_the_hosts_file_to_save_users_plagued_by_dns_outages/ - SEE SUBJECT... apk

/.ers quoted shut you up fool by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-05 01:43 · Score: 0

I'm going to continue using the Host File Engine. Your software is well written, functional. The Host File Engine performs exactly as promised by mmell

his hosts program is actually pretty good by xenotransplant

his hosts tool is actually useful for those cases in which one does indeed want to locally block stuff outright while consuming minimum system resources by alexgieg

(APK's) work, I've flat out said it's good by BronsCon

I've tried his hosts file generating software. It works by bmo

APK your posts on this & the hosts file posts, and more, have never been in error &/or bad advice by BlueStrat

Your premise that hostfiles are a good way to deal with advertising & malvertising is quite valid by JazzLad

I like your host file system by Karmashock

* It's recommended/hosted by Malwarebytes' hpHosts!

APK

P.S.=> China imitated me http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/04/26/boffins_supercharge_the_hosts_file_to_save_users_plagued_by_dns_outages/ - SEE SUBJECT... apk

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Microsoft Is Updating the Windows Console Colors For the First Time In 20 Years (theverge.com)

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