Wanted: Individual to wade through the most depraved and terrible consequences of human imaginations known to man.
Requirements: Must be completely emotionless and unsympathetic to the human condition. Robots are preferred but not required. A J.D., M.B.A. or experience in government is also a plus.
Compensation: Competitive
I think you seriously need to calm down. I don't know how you think you're portraying yourself, but with your tone and demeanor the picture I'm getting is an angsty teenager vehemently banging away at the keyboard, frothing at the mouth. The barrage of caps and cursing is not doing you any favors. You claim to be someone who owns a business and has customers, and I seriously hope this is not how you act in front of them.
Oh and for the guy that said "Its my job to customize metro" sincerely fuck off, it is NOT my job, its fucking MSFT'S damned job to make sensible defaults instead of shitting tiles all over the damned screen! WTF do you mean I have to tweak the God damned thing just to keep it from puking all over the screen?
Complaining about installers putting tiles on the start screen is like complaining about installers putting icons on the desktop. Is your desktop cluttered with random installer shortcuts you don't want there?
Win 8 is a CELLPHONE OS
You have a very narrow definition of "operating system." The metro user interface is the only aspect of Windows 8 that could be considered "cell phoneish." The rest of Windows 8, which is the majority of the code you're installing on the system, can do everything Windows 7 can. You can run the same software, connect the same peripherals, play the same games... there's really nothing appreciable you can't do with Windows 8 that you could with Windows 7.
And again, you're really only complaining about the most personal, subjective, and customizable aspect of the OS. The UI is actually something you can tweak and customize to your liking. This would not be as easy if the OS was unstable, incompatible with software, incompatible with devices, used too much resources, was insecure, etc. But fortunately the OS is stable, secure, compatible, and fast.
So the only thing you have left to complain about is the UI, which if you don't like *you can change.* Already there are numerous applications which reinstate the start menu you so dearly love, and complete shell replacements that replicate classic Explorer. After the release, I'm sure you'll have your pick from dozens of attempts at the same.
Saying that Windows 8 is a terrible OS because you don't like metro is like saying Linux is terrible because I don't like Unity.
How do you attach that keyboard and mouse, though? Tablets and smartphones don't come with USB ports
This is pretty much the entire point of Windows RT. These tablets will come with USB ports and natively support keyboards and mice. As for ethernet, there could be designs with this in the futures, it's up to OEMs, but many are going the route of adding docking station support with built in ethernet instead, as well as HDMI and plenty of USB. This also supports the idea of using your tablet as a tablet on the go, and docking it and for more serious work at the desk instead of switching to a discrete desktop.
For those that want an unbiased review of what to expect with Win 8 I've run DP, CP, and RP on nearly a half a dozen different machines here at the shop so I'd say that makes me at least qualified to give the review, along with watching my customers look lost and get frustrated on the win 8 CP I've had running on the shop floor, so here goes...
Do you ever actually tell your customers where to find the start menu? Because Microsoft does as much when you log in for the first time. Seriously, it takes one sentence to figure out the UI: "Move your mouse to any corner." Tell your customers that one sentence and you'll probably be met with a chorus of "oooooh, ok." With that one sentence you've now told the user how to access the start screen, how to share files and webpages, how to manage devices, how to switch apps, and how to manage settings.
Then you probably only run one app at a time and your screen is low res enough win 8 will look fine. Are you gonna buy this on a tablet or smartphone? then i'm sure it'll work fine there as well. Do you never ever install more than a half dozen programs? Then the new tile UI won't make you want to pull your hair out.
You've just described about 90% of computer users right here. My parents have a 23" 1080p display, and the first time they booted up the PC they forced it down to a lower resolution because it's more comfortable for them (I then opted for the higher resolution but higher DPI which they liked as well). They also have only about a dozen programs installed and ever use one or two at a time. Microsoft's own research shows as much, and the hundred million or so iPad users will probably agree as well.
Since the PC was introduced, most people have been completely afraid of it. People I know treat it as this fragile, delicate machine that if they press the wrong button, they'll completely destroy it, and as a result they don't get the full utility from their machine. Apple came around and introduced an easy to use, friendly, consistent, yet limited interface and normal people have been lauding it ever since. The limited aspect is all people on Slashdot are focusing on. Most users have always felt trapped by the classic windows UI, so this "limited" UI will probably be very liberating to them.
For everyone that doesn't fit that description? RUN
Why? Just install a classic shell or launcher and boot to desktop. You have the traditional UI with all the benefits Windows 8 offers. Windows 8, by most OS measures, is an excellent OS. It's fast. It's stable. It's secure. It's compatible. It's extensible. The only real point of contention for this community is one aspect of the user interface, which is completely optional and can be shoved aside if you so desire. Seriously, visit any Slashdot article even remotely pertaining to Windows 8 and every comment is about metro. No one is talking about how unstable it is. No one is talking about how it's a dog on old hardware. No one is talking about gaping security issues, or rampant driver instability, or application incompatibility as we were 6 years ago with Windows Vista. That's because Windows 8 is by all accounts a good OS in all of these respects. What we're left bitching about is probably the most personal and subjective element of the OS, the UI, and subsequently the most easily customized and replaced element as well.
Because the Tile UI quickly becomes a huge mess when you add programs so soon you end up with this multiple page PITA UI
The start screen is for you to customize, not an installer. You choose the color, choose the background, choose the tiles that are pinned, choose their size, choose how they are grouped, and choose whether they display live updates or not. That's a lot of options for customization. No longer is an installer supposed to install a launcher, an uninstaller, and docs + utilities to your start screen like they did with the start menu. That nons
I would disagree with the latter portion of your post. Vista had some real problems like unfinished graphics drivers, unsupported peripherals, general driver issues which lead to instability, and overzealous UAC settings. These problems can mostly be traced back to third party sources like hardware manufacturers writing shoddy drivers; or software that didn't properly conform to UAC expectations (i.e. using the program folders directory to store user files); or computers which shipped with barely enough processor power to run the OS. Nonetheless they contributed to the poor reception of Vista.
Your entire post seems predicated on the fact that Microsoft removed the familiar UI from Windows, when in reality it's right there waiting for you. You can spend your whole day on the desktop and forget the Metro UI ever existed. If the fact that it's there bothers you in the back of your mind, you're free to install any launchers or shells that remind you of the good ol' days.
This debacle with refusing to allowing the enterprise to boot directly to the desktop is a/really/ big deal and they have been repeatedly told this.
There is no such restriction. Microsoft may have removed some particular piece of code some particular script was using, but as of RTM programs like Start8 still boot the computer directly to the desktop.
but risking something with a better product is a far better 'risk' than forcing something from/for tiny screens on to the desktop, simply because 'you want to'.
You're still free to use the familiar desktop. You're still free to use mouse, keyboard, or trackpad and all the available gestures and shortcuts in a metro application. Anyone who develops a metro application is as free as they want to make the UI as mouse or tablet friendly as they care to. You're still even free to install any shell or launcher you want, even those that replicate the functionality of the start menu.
Also within each release are the service packs. XP pre-SP1 was much maligned, and was generally a security and stability mess until SP2. Windows Vista today is pretty much on par with Windows 7 in terms of stability and compatibility, but still a little on the heavy side of resource usage. Vista also suffered from lightweight hardware, inefficient drivers, and overzealous UAC which poorly written software was all too happy to trigger. These problems have all been fixed since 2006. I'd take Vista SP2 any day over XP SP2.
That's the real danger. This might be a great tablet OS. But it's a shitty desktop OS, and you won't get people buying Windows tablets if they hate the Windows desktop.
That's the risk, sure, but Microsoft is betting the opposite will happen. People aren't buying new desktops as often as they used to, and not many people upgrade Windows. They're banking on the fact that most people will be exposed to Windows 8 for the first time on a tablet, and they will enjoy the experience. At the rate Apple is selling tablets compared to how laptops and desktops are doing, this might not be a wild bet.
Then when they upgrade their laptop or desktop, metro will be something familiar. There is nothing inherently bad about metro for the majority of home users. It's simple to use, easy to install and find apps, easy to manage settings, secure through using the store and built in AV, compatible with peripherals, and connecting and manage many accounts (email, calendar, facebook, twitter) is baked into the OS, etc. It's really a consumer friendly OS, which is really the problem Slashdot has with it. Because it's not by default catering to the power user, it is automatically dismissed here (although this stance I still don't understand since it's capable of everything Windows 7 was).
The releases haven't always gone well, as in the case of Windows Vista, but Redmond has managed to ride out the rough patches.
It's worth noting that Windows Vista still to this day has an install base of 12% of computers, more than every version of Mac OS combined. It was still gaining market share until October 2009, a little after Windows 7 was released. Although it wasn't gaining traction as fast as MS would have liked, they sold hundreds of millions of copies thanks to the fact that it's the defacto install on all new machines, and the same will be true for Windows 8.
Even a botched release for Microsoft by all accounts is considered a good day.
Which is why this decision requires a court order before the personal information is handed over.
And once they have that information, they send you a letter that states "We have your IP that proves you did this crime and if you don't pay us $7000, we're going to take you to court where we will most certainly prove (as we have done before and are currently doing to others) that you stole this file and charge you $150,000."
The IP holders are hoping you settle, because the settlement cost they arrive at is less than it would cost to defend yourself. They also usually give you a ridiculous deadline to decide so you have no time to get the facts (In my case they gave me 3 days). The information should be handed over to a JUDGE, not the trolls, and the judge should proceed from there. There was recently a case where a porn troll was chastised for this behavior, and was forced to admit ISP subscribers are NOT defendents and are NOT party to the case until they are served, even though the settlement demanded states otherwise.
It can't be right that a source of infringement can go on just because you can't identify the one causing it.
Copyright trolls are not interested in protecting their copyrights and stopping infringement. They are interested in rent seeking, because it's much more lucrative than selling the works. The very fact that they are able to mine thousands of IP addresses relating to their infringed content is fact of this. Why do they allow the trackers to continue without DMCA takedowns? Why is their content available for download easily all over the web? They *want* you to download it and they want to catch you doing it, because $7000 from you once now is worth more than $30 a month for 230 months (almost 20 years) subscribing to their website. This gives them to leave torrent trackers and aggregators alone.
So please stop wasting the time of both the ISP, the customer and the courts. There's nothing to gain at all.
Porn trolls would disagree with you on that, as they've gained millions of dollars by threatening ISP subscribers with lawsuits. All they have to do is "We found your IP associated with our video "Anal cum swappers #2. If you don't pay us $3400, we're going to name you in a suit and everyone searching Google including friends, family, employers, schools will see your name next to our movie and your life will be ruined."
Guess how many whip out their checkbooks right quick, despite being innocent?
This has become a real problem in the USA. I don't know if many people realize this, but the porn industry is in full force copyright troll mode. To date, over 300,000 subpoenas have been issued to ISPs, and not a single case has been brought to trial. Wonder why? The trolls, once they have your info, basically say "Give us $3000 - $8000 and we won't put you name in lights as having infringed on "Anal cum swappers #2" (an actual title in one of the cases). Most subscribers pony up real fast to settle this matter, even if they have full knowledge they did not commit this act.
The porn troll scheme works as follows:
1) Log IP addresses using an untested, unverified, unlicensed "forensic investigator" based out of usually Germany or Bangkok... usually this company IPP Ltd.
2) Join tens, hundreds, or thousands of IPs (John Does) in a single suit and file for expedited discovery of their locations. The concept of joinder is meant for people like bank robbers who work in a team to commit the same crime. Copyright trolls have twisted it to apply to bit torrent because the language of the law contains this line: "All persons may join in an action if they assert any right to relief, whether jointly or as individuals, arising out of the same transaction, occurrence, or series of transactions or occurrences." They point to series of transactions and say: obviously this applies to bit torrent and many judges agree. However, this is notwithstanding that the IPs they log sometimes occur of the span of 3+ months, when the first IP in the swarm almost certainly was not in the swarm 3 months later, and shared absolutely nothing with the last IP. This step is very important, because it costs them only $350 to file a single suit, whereas it would cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars to file suits individually. Since this is as rent-seeking operation and not a legitimate push to curb copyright infringement, the joinder issue is key to making money.
3) The suit progresses when they send subpoenas to your ISP. Some ISPs will inform you when someone is looking for your ID. You can file a motion to quash this, but many courts won't let you because you can't file a motion to quash anonymously, despite the fact that filing it with your name gives the troll exactly what they want, defeating the purpose to quash the subpoena. However some ISPs won't even inform you of this, and you'll have no idea this suit is even taking place.
4) Once they have your address and phone number, they'll start calling you. They'll say something like "We haven't heard from your attorney in this matter" even though this may be the first time you're even hearing of the suit. The people who call are not lawyers, and what they're doing is fishing for information and confessions they can use against you. It's completely extralegal and they certainly do not make you clear of your rights, the full situation, and you aren't even party to a suit yet, John Doe is. But they will tell you "We have your IP sharing Porn and if you don't pay us thousands of dollars, we're going to sue you and everyone searching google will see your name and that you shared this movie"
5) This used to be where it would end, but courts started to see that none of these suits ever made it to trial. So what they will do now is take the cases where they have the highest probability of settling (after an admission on the phone during their extralegal "fact finding" expidition), and actually take them to court, naming the defendants. This way they still settle, yet they don't have to bring the trial to a jury on the merits, because they will settle before hand or drop the case before it gets that far.
Like I said, to date over 300,000 of these suits have been filed with 0 coming before a jury. Two counter suits so far have been filed against trolls that have had judgments against the trolls, and they face a class action lawsuit. By one troll's own admission, at least 30% of the subsc
The contention is that Microsoft removed the ability to boot to desktop. I've brought to your attention a piece of software that still allows you to boot to desktop. It stands to reason therefore that *any* piece of software could theoretically be written to boot to desktop. Want to employ this in a corporate environment? License it from Stardock when they inevitably release a for-purchase version. They already license their software for corporate deployment. If they don't, write your own and sell it to other corps who want it. Obviously it's feasible, and that's the whole point of this discussion.
The license says "This user license agreement (the AGREEMENT) is an agreement between you (individual or single entity) and Stardock Corporation... YOU MAY... Use the SOFTWARE via a network, only if you have purchased an adequate number of licenses. The number of users must not exceed the number of licenses you have purchased." Seems very boilerplate, especially considering Start8 is free... for now. I assume once Windows 8 is finalized we'll see a more polished commercial version of Start8.
But that's beside the point; the point is not that this particular software boots to the desktop, but that *any software at all* boots to the desktop when the claim is that Microsoft "removed" that functionality. This means that *other* software can do the same, so this discussion is pretty moot.
Corporate environments wouldn't be installing Windows 8 for a while even if the interface were exactly like Windows 7. They're still waiting to upgrade to Windows 7 anyway. What most corps are going to do is upgrade to Windows 7 in the next 3 years. Microsoft is probably hoping that by then, people will have used Windows 8 either through laptops, desktops, and tablets, and this new UI will be ubiquitous, so the reaction won't be "WTF is this?" and will instead be "Oh, I've seen this before at home or on my tablet"
Again, how many people have to be trained to click on the start menu these days, compared to 1995? How many people understand what right-clicking is, or click-drag? How many people trained themselves to use all of the hidden gestures and UI elements of the iPhone and iPad?
Sorry, I don't need my email app taking up my entire 24" display, thanks.
You can use metro apps in a 25%/75% split. I often put the mail app in the 25% snap while I keep the desktop in a 75% snap on my 27" monitor. I also tend to switch between calculators, messenger, and music docked in the 25% snap. Or of course you could use any of the thousands of email apps for the desktop. Really you're complaining about nothing.
You don't actually get to use said desktop in any way.
What are you talking about? You can put any files and folders you like on the desktop, and pin applications to the taskbar. You can install any third party launchers you so please, including start menu replacements. No one is forcing you to use metro apps. You can even boot to the desktop with applications like Start8, which still works in RTM, and the experience is largely equivalent to working with Windows 7.
Slashdot Mirror
Copyright infringement is a civil matter.
I'd like to see that job posting...
Wanted: Individual to wade through the most depraved and terrible consequences of human imaginations known to man.
Requirements: Must be completely emotionless and unsympathetic to the human condition. Robots are preferred but not required. A J.D., M.B.A. or experience in government is also a plus.
Compensation: Competitive
TFA is a secondary source. Here is a link to the primary source, with text from the actual licenses:
http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-radically-overhauls-license-agreements-for-windows-8-7000002866/
Oh and for the guy that said "Its my job to customize metro" sincerely fuck off, it is NOT my job, its fucking MSFT'S damned job to make sensible defaults instead of shitting tiles all over the damned screen! WTF do you mean I have to tweak the God damned thing just to keep it from puking all over the screen?
Complaining about installers putting tiles on the start screen is like complaining about installers putting icons on the desktop. Is your desktop cluttered with random installer shortcuts you don't want there?
Win 8 is a CELLPHONE OS
You have a very narrow definition of "operating system." The metro user interface is the only aspect of Windows 8 that could be considered "cell phoneish." The rest of Windows 8, which is the majority of the code you're installing on the system, can do everything Windows 7 can. You can run the same software, connect the same peripherals, play the same games... there's really nothing appreciable you can't do with Windows 8 that you could with Windows 7.
And again, you're really only complaining about the most personal, subjective, and customizable aspect of the OS. The UI is actually something you can tweak and customize to your liking. This would not be as easy if the OS was unstable, incompatible with software, incompatible with devices, used too much resources, was insecure, etc. But fortunately the OS is stable, secure, compatible, and fast.
So the only thing you have left to complain about is the UI, which if you don't like *you can change.* Already there are numerous applications which reinstate the start menu you so dearly love, and complete shell replacements that replicate classic Explorer. After the release, I'm sure you'll have your pick from dozens of attempts at the same.
Saying that Windows 8 is a terrible OS because you don't like metro is like saying Linux is terrible because I don't like Unity.
How do you attach that keyboard and mouse, though? Tablets and smartphones don't come with USB ports
This is pretty much the entire point of Windows RT. These tablets will come with USB ports and natively support keyboards and mice. As for ethernet, there could be designs with this in the futures, it's up to OEMs, but many are going the route of adding docking station support with built in ethernet instead, as well as HDMI and plenty of USB. This also supports the idea of using your tablet as a tablet on the go, and docking it and for more serious work at the desk instead of switching to a discrete desktop.
For those that want an unbiased review of what to expect with Win 8 I've run DP, CP, and RP on nearly a half a dozen different machines here at the shop so I'd say that makes me at least qualified to give the review, along with watching my customers look lost and get frustrated on the win 8 CP I've had running on the shop floor, so here goes...
Do you ever actually tell your customers where to find the start menu? Because Microsoft does as much when you log in for the first time. Seriously, it takes one sentence to figure out the UI: "Move your mouse to any corner." Tell your customers that one sentence and you'll probably be met with a chorus of "oooooh, ok." With that one sentence you've now told the user how to access the start screen, how to share files and webpages, how to manage devices, how to switch apps, and how to manage settings.
Then you probably only run one app at a time and your screen is low res enough win 8 will look fine. Are you gonna buy this on a tablet or smartphone? then i'm sure it'll work fine there as well. Do you never ever install more than a half dozen programs? Then the new tile UI won't make you want to pull your hair out.
You've just described about 90% of computer users right here. My parents have a 23" 1080p display, and the first time they booted up the PC they forced it down to a lower resolution because it's more comfortable for them (I then opted for the higher resolution but higher DPI which they liked as well). They also have only about a dozen programs installed and ever use one or two at a time. Microsoft's own research shows as much, and the hundred million or so iPad users will probably agree as well.
Since the PC was introduced, most people have been completely afraid of it. People I know treat it as this fragile, delicate machine that if they press the wrong button, they'll completely destroy it, and as a result they don't get the full utility from their machine. Apple came around and introduced an easy to use, friendly, consistent, yet limited interface and normal people have been lauding it ever since. The limited aspect is all people on Slashdot are focusing on. Most users have always felt trapped by the classic windows UI, so this "limited" UI will probably be very liberating to them.
For everyone that doesn't fit that description? RUN
Why? Just install a classic shell or launcher and boot to desktop. You have the traditional UI with all the benefits Windows 8 offers. Windows 8, by most OS measures, is an excellent OS. It's fast. It's stable. It's secure. It's compatible. It's extensible. The only real point of contention for this community is one aspect of the user interface, which is completely optional and can be shoved aside if you so desire. Seriously, visit any Slashdot article even remotely pertaining to Windows 8 and every comment is about metro. No one is talking about how unstable it is. No one is talking about how it's a dog on old hardware. No one is talking about gaping security issues, or rampant driver instability, or application incompatibility as we were 6 years ago with Windows Vista. That's because Windows 8 is by all accounts a good OS in all of these respects. What we're left bitching about is probably the most personal and subjective element of the OS, the UI, and subsequently the most easily customized and replaced element as well.
Because the Tile UI quickly becomes a huge mess when you add programs so soon you end up with this multiple page PITA UI
The start screen is for you to customize, not an installer. You choose the color, choose the background, choose the tiles that are pinned, choose their size, choose how they are grouped, and choose whether they display live updates or not. That's a lot of options for customization. No longer is an installer supposed to install a launcher, an uninstaller, and docs + utilities to your start screen like they did with the start menu. That nons
I would disagree with the latter portion of your post. Vista had some real problems like unfinished graphics drivers, unsupported peripherals, general driver issues which lead to instability, and overzealous UAC settings. These problems can mostly be traced back to third party sources like hardware manufacturers writing shoddy drivers; or software that didn't properly conform to UAC expectations (i.e. using the program folders directory to store user files); or computers which shipped with barely enough processor power to run the OS. Nonetheless they contributed to the poor reception of Vista.
Your entire post seems predicated on the fact that Microsoft removed the familiar UI from Windows, when in reality it's right there waiting for you. You can spend your whole day on the desktop and forget the Metro UI ever existed. If the fact that it's there bothers you in the back of your mind, you're free to install any launchers or shells that remind you of the good ol' days.
This debacle with refusing to allowing the enterprise to boot directly to the desktop is a /really/ big deal and they have been repeatedly told this.
There is no such restriction. Microsoft may have removed some particular piece of code some particular script was using, but as of RTM programs like Start8 still boot the computer directly to the desktop.
but risking something with a better product is a far better 'risk' than forcing something from/for tiny screens on to the desktop, simply because 'you want to'.
You're still free to use the familiar desktop. You're still free to use mouse, keyboard, or trackpad and all the available gestures and shortcuts in a metro application. Anyone who develops a metro application is as free as they want to make the UI as mouse or tablet friendly as they care to. You're still even free to install any shell or launcher you want, even those that replicate the functionality of the start menu.
Also within each release are the service packs. XP pre-SP1 was much maligned, and was generally a security and stability mess until SP2. Windows Vista today is pretty much on par with Windows 7 in terms of stability and compatibility, but still a little on the heavy side of resource usage. Vista also suffered from lightweight hardware, inefficient drivers, and overzealous UAC which poorly written software was all too happy to trigger. These problems have all been fixed since 2006. I'd take Vista SP2 any day over XP SP2.
That's the real danger. This might be a great tablet OS. But it's a shitty desktop OS, and you won't get people buying Windows tablets if they hate the Windows desktop.
That's the risk, sure, but Microsoft is betting the opposite will happen. People aren't buying new desktops as often as they used to, and not many people upgrade Windows. They're banking on the fact that most people will be exposed to Windows 8 for the first time on a tablet, and they will enjoy the experience. At the rate Apple is selling tablets compared to how laptops and desktops are doing, this might not be a wild bet.
Then when they upgrade their laptop or desktop, metro will be something familiar. There is nothing inherently bad about metro for the majority of home users. It's simple to use, easy to install and find apps, easy to manage settings, secure through using the store and built in AV, compatible with peripherals, and connecting and manage many accounts (email, calendar, facebook, twitter) is baked into the OS, etc. It's really a consumer friendly OS, which is really the problem Slashdot has with it. Because it's not by default catering to the power user, it is automatically dismissed here (although this stance I still don't understand since it's capable of everything Windows 7 was).
Pescatore asked Ballmer what he considered to be Microsoft's "riskiest product bet."
... Ballmer's answer? "The next version of Windows."
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/ballmer-riskiest-product-bet-by-microsoft-is-the-next-release-of-windows/7786
The releases haven't always gone well, as in the case of Windows Vista, but Redmond has managed to ride out the rough patches.
It's worth noting that Windows Vista still to this day has an install base of 12% of computers, more than every version of Mac OS combined. It was still gaining market share until October 2009, a little after Windows 7 was released. Although it wasn't gaining traction as fast as MS would have liked, they sold hundreds of millions of copies thanks to the fact that it's the defacto install on all new machines, and the same will be true for Windows 8.
Even a botched release for Microsoft by all accounts is considered a good day.
Which is why this decision requires a court order before the personal information is handed over.
And once they have that information, they send you a letter that states "We have your IP that proves you did this crime and if you don't pay us $7000, we're going to take you to court where we will most certainly prove (as we have done before and are currently doing to others) that you stole this file and charge you $150,000."
The IP holders are hoping you settle, because the settlement cost they arrive at is less than it would cost to defend yourself. They also usually give you a ridiculous deadline to decide so you have no time to get the facts (In my case they gave me 3 days). The information should be handed over to a JUDGE, not the trolls, and the judge should proceed from there. There was recently a case where a porn troll was chastised for this behavior, and was forced to admit ISP subscribers are NOT defendents and are NOT party to the case until they are served, even though the settlement demanded states otherwise.
It can't be right that a source of infringement can go on just because you can't identify the one causing it.
Copyright trolls are not interested in protecting their copyrights and stopping infringement. They are interested in rent seeking, because it's much more lucrative than selling the works. The very fact that they are able to mine thousands of IP addresses relating to their infringed content is fact of this. Why do they allow the trackers to continue without DMCA takedowns? Why is their content available for download easily all over the web? They *want* you to download it and they want to catch you doing it, because $7000 from you once now is worth more than $30 a month for 230 months (almost 20 years) subscribing to their website. This gives them to leave torrent trackers and aggregators alone.
So please stop wasting the time of both the ISP, the customer and the courts. There's nothing to gain at all.
Porn trolls would disagree with you on that, as they've gained millions of dollars by threatening ISP subscribers with lawsuits. All they have to do is "We found your IP associated with our video "Anal cum swappers #2. If you don't pay us $3400, we're going to name you in a suit and everyone searching Google including friends, family, employers, schools will see your name next to our movie and your life will be ruined."
Guess how many whip out their checkbooks right quick, despite being innocent?
This has become a real problem in the USA. I don't know if many people realize this, but the porn industry is in full force copyright troll mode. To date, over 300,000 subpoenas have been issued to ISPs, and not a single case has been brought to trial. Wonder why? The trolls, once they have your info, basically say "Give us $3000 - $8000 and we won't put you name in lights as having infringed on "Anal cum swappers #2" (an actual title in one of the cases). Most subscribers pony up real fast to settle this matter, even if they have full knowledge they did not commit this act.
The porn troll scheme works as follows:
1) Log IP addresses using an untested, unverified, unlicensed "forensic investigator" based out of usually Germany or Bangkok... usually this company IPP Ltd.
2) Join tens, hundreds, or thousands of IPs (John Does) in a single suit and file for expedited discovery of their locations. The concept of joinder is meant for people like bank robbers who work in a team to commit the same crime. Copyright trolls have twisted it to apply to bit torrent because the language of the law contains this line: "All persons may join in an action if they assert any right to relief, whether jointly or as individuals, arising out of the same transaction, occurrence, or series of transactions or occurrences." They point to series of transactions and say: obviously this applies to bit torrent and many judges agree. However, this is notwithstanding that the IPs they log sometimes occur of the span of 3+ months, when the first IP in the swarm almost certainly was not in the swarm 3 months later, and shared absolutely nothing with the last IP. This step is very important, because it costs them only $350 to file a single suit, whereas it would cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars to file suits individually. Since this is as rent-seeking operation and not a legitimate push to curb copyright infringement, the joinder issue is key to making money.
3) The suit progresses when they send subpoenas to your ISP. Some ISPs will inform you when someone is looking for your ID. You can file a motion to quash this, but many courts won't let you because you can't file a motion to quash anonymously, despite the fact that filing it with your name gives the troll exactly what they want, defeating the purpose to quash the subpoena. However some ISPs won't even inform you of this, and you'll have no idea this suit is even taking place.
4) Once they have your address and phone number, they'll start calling you. They'll say something like "We haven't heard from your attorney in this matter" even though this may be the first time you're even hearing of the suit. The people who call are not lawyers, and what they're doing is fishing for information and confessions they can use against you. It's completely extralegal and they certainly do not make you clear of your rights, the full situation, and you aren't even party to a suit yet, John Doe is. But they will tell you "We have your IP sharing Porn and if you don't pay us thousands of dollars, we're going to sue you and everyone searching google will see your name and that you shared this movie"
5) This used to be where it would end, but courts started to see that none of these suits ever made it to trial. So what they will do now is take the cases where they have the highest probability of settling (after an admission on the phone during their extralegal "fact finding" expidition), and actually take them to court, naming the defendants. This way they still settle, yet they don't have to bring the trial to a jury on the merits, because they will settle before hand or drop the case before it gets that far.
Like I said, to date over 300,000 of these suits have been filed with 0 coming before a jury. Two counter suits so far have been filed against trolls that have had judgments against the trolls, and they face a class action lawsuit. By one troll's own admission, at least 30% of the subsc
The contention is that Microsoft removed the ability to boot to desktop. I've brought to your attention a piece of software that still allows you to boot to desktop. It stands to reason therefore that *any* piece of software could theoretically be written to boot to desktop. Want to employ this in a corporate environment? License it from Stardock when they inevitably release a for-purchase version. They already license their software for corporate deployment. If they don't, write your own and sell it to other corps who want it. Obviously it's feasible, and that's the whole point of this discussion.
The license says "This user license agreement (the AGREEMENT) is an agreement between you (individual or single entity) and Stardock Corporation... YOU MAY... Use the SOFTWARE via a network, only if you have purchased an adequate number of licenses. The number of users must not exceed the number of licenses you have purchased." Seems very boilerplate, especially considering Start8 is free... for now. I assume once Windows 8 is finalized we'll see a more polished commercial version of Start8.
But that's beside the point; the point is not that this particular software boots to the desktop, but that *any software at all* boots to the desktop when the claim is that Microsoft "removed" that functionality. This means that *other* software can do the same, so this discussion is pretty moot.
We'll be seeing that on the Daily Show come Monday.
Do some versions have this while others don't? I've been using Windows 8 Enterprise RTM and can still boot to desktop using utilities like Start8.
Corporate environments wouldn't be installing Windows 8 for a while even if the interface were exactly like Windows 7. They're still waiting to upgrade to Windows 7 anyway. What most corps are going to do is upgrade to Windows 7 in the next 3 years. Microsoft is probably hoping that by then, people will have used Windows 8 either through laptops, desktops, and tablets, and this new UI will be ubiquitous, so the reaction won't be "WTF is this?" and will instead be "Oh, I've seen this before at home or on my tablet"
Again, how many people have to be trained to click on the start menu these days, compared to 1995? How many people understand what right-clicking is, or click-drag? How many people trained themselves to use all of the hidden gestures and UI elements of the iPhone and iPad?
Sorry, I don't need my email app taking up my entire 24" display, thanks.
You can use metro apps in a 25%/75% split. I often put the mail app in the 25% snap while I keep the desktop in a 75% snap on my 27" monitor. I also tend to switch between calculators, messenger, and music docked in the 25% snap. Or of course you could use any of the thousands of email apps for the desktop. Really you're complaining about nothing.
I don't like apps deciding what they are going to broadcast everytime someone sees me open another app.
Then you're in luck because you can choose on a per-app basis if they display live updates or not.
You don't actually get to use said desktop in any way.
What are you talking about? You can put any files and folders you like on the desktop, and pin applications to the taskbar. You can install any third party launchers you so please, including start menu replacements. No one is forcing you to use metro apps. You can even boot to the desktop with applications like Start8, which still works in RTM, and the experience is largely equivalent to working with Windows 7.