So he didn't tell the user the one thing that Microsoft tells you as you boot for the first time. "Move your mouse to any corner." That's the one thing the user needs to know to understand how Windows 8 works. Moving your mouse to any corner will show you how to control settings, switch applications, manage devices, share content, connect to wifi, adjust brightness, and yes even access the start menu.
Is this supposed to prove the OS is not intuitive? How is it any different from our current UI, which has multitudes of hidden interactive elements? How would one know to double click an icon? How would one know to click and drag to select or move items? How would one know to right click on different elements to access hidden context menus?
The benefit of these new menus is consistency. Once you understand they are there (which again, takes one 5 word sentence to explain), they are always there in the same place, accessed in the same way, every time, no matter what app you are in.
bla has it right. It was all fucked up. My plane from Japan was late, and by the time I got through customs and got my back, they wouldn't let me re-check it to make my connection, since they said my bag wouldn't make it to the plane in time. They told me I had to leave, go through security again, and then take my bag to the plane and they would put it on board there. By the time I got to security they told me no way I could do that, and I'd have to wait in line to get by bag rechecked and go through security again. Luckily I explained my situation and they got me and my fellow passengers to the front of the ticket line and in the security short line.
But is the TSA actively preventing a 9/11 style attack, or is a 9/11 style attack prevented by reinforced cockpit doors and general passenger awareness that following a hijacker's demands no longer leads to a safe landing? Seriously, what kind of terrorist post 9/11 is going to get on a plane with a box cutter and not be torn asunder by a mob of angry passengers?
I traveled abroad for the first time recently to Japan. When I left for home, I didn't have to take off my shoes or my belt, didn't have to go through a full body scan, didn't have to be groped or fondled and generally humiliated. After we landed in LAX and I went through security again, I was standing around with a bunch of guys from my flight as we put on our belts and our shoes, generally redressing in the middle of a crowded airport terminal, and the one said to me "Welcome back to America." Indeed.
I majored in physics in college, and spent a lot of time with physicists from world renowned Nobel prize winners to lowly undergraduates. I can testify that physicists, in addition to lacking any appreciation for visual aesthetics, also lack the ability to properly dress themselves, shave their faces, comb their hair, speak to an audience not of their peers, and most of all they have no understanding of proper hygiene. We used to have a lounge out of which at least half a dozen kids were living, toothbrushes and all. The stench still haunts me. I remember walking into the lavatory where 3-4 physics majors were taking a shower out of a sink.
Oh, and lest you think I'm a-hatin', most of the above applies to me as well.
I wonder if you might be able to estimate how many "average joe users" attempt to install other operating systems. Anyone who even know consider installing Linux is pretty much by definition not average.
Those are Windows 8 tablets (x86) not Windows RT (ARM). Microsoft is only allowing the aforementioned manufacturers to produce Windows RT tablets until January.
I don't know, there's something to be said for a standardized platform to ensure your software and hardware can all work together. Even within the industry there are very few vendors when you get down to it: AMD or Intel. AMD/ATi or Nvidia. Intel or Broadcom. The higher you go in terms of complexity, less variety is actually more cost effective; that is, reducing the number of hardware/software permutations leads to an ecosystem where a consumer can be assured that software package X will work with hardware combination X Y Z and operating system W. In a world of dozens of competing graphics chipsets, CPU architectures, and OS platforms, I think everyone would be so busy making sure everything worked together, there would be no appreciable gain in "real competition and innovation."
I think you have that wrong. If I buy from Dell, they give me a good quality machine for a reasonable price, a good out of box experience (no crapware), support that isn't based in Asia, quick turnaround for repairs, a fleshed out warranty (none of this limited warranty bull), and quality hardware/software integration then I'm going to buy from them again. That's brand loyalty, since I'll be reluctant to go to say HP, who might give me Indian tech support, 1000 crapware programs to uninstall for 5 hours after I get the machine, and terrible build quality that will break and I have to wait for 4 weeks to get the machine back again, only to find it's still broken.
Disclaimer: this post does not reflect any actual experience with Dell or HP, though if I had to pick, each closely resemble the latter experience rather than the former, and the same goes for pretty much any other OEM out there today.
When Windows Vista and 7 were both released we were assured by MS and their hangers on that it was finally touch friendly and anyone that argued that it was just the same old crap was shouted down in comment forums all over the internet. When sane people pointed out the fact that even if you could manage to put up with desktop Windows on a touch screen you still had to put up with the heat and bulk of the x86 chipsets available they also were shouted down.
I think you're remembering wrong. Windows tablets have always been laughed at on this and many other tech forums. I should know since I argued for them back them, having used one daily through my college career, and I was the one constantly being shouted down. I still maintain for specialized use cases, pen and finger input was ideal and something you didn't have from any other manufacturer or OS vendor at the time. But that's where the problem was: MS and all OEMs saw Tablet PCs as niche systems meant for business, and they marketed and priced them that way. Since they lacked the audience, they lacked the apps. Apple saw tablets as consumption devices for the consumer, and they won that side of the bet, for pretty obvious reasons (size, price, usability).
So you'll forgive me if I don't seem to remember this history you're painting where forum nerds everywhere rushed to the defense of Tablet PCs. It was really quite the opposite.
You've pretty much just described the problem Microsoft has with the current OEM landscape and the reason they're releasing the Surface at all. Let me break it down for you:
I have no loyalty to any specific vendor, indeed, why would anyone show brand loyalty?
Brand loyalty arises when you interact with a company, and they give you a positive experience whether through sales, support, returns, customer service, etc. If I have a positive experience with a company, I will probably purchase from them again, 1) as a reward for their good support ant 2) because I want that good support again, and dealing with another company does not guarantee that.
However, OEMs are cutting their warranties, moving support overseas, trimming down their offerings, and across the industry the support side of the relationship is almost nonexistent, which of course leads you to conclude having no relationship with a company is the best course of action.
If it works and it's cost effective, I'll buy it.
This of course is what many consumers want. What you mean is "If it works *well* and the price reflects a good value, I'll buy it." That's a rational stance. But the OEMs hear something else entirely: "If it works *barely* and I have to pay as little as possible, I'll buy it" Indeed, in the OEM PC space it's a race to the bottom, where profits are razor thin, and OEMs are competing on little more than price. Thus you have computers which last a year and break just outside of warranty, computers that barely have enough muscle to run the programs that are important to you, all for a bargain bin price that allows no one in the industry to really take chances and innovate.
Microsoft sees this landscape and then looks at Apple, who are doing pretty much everything right and counter to the PC space, and they despair. So they released this surface as an attempt to show OEMs how it's done, and Acer of course, the bottom of the bottom of the barrel, can't see themselves competing with something like that. Indeed, they can't even compete in the Android space against Samsung et al., so I can imagine they feel a little threatened. What Acer means to say is "We think the surface is negative for the industry as a whole... because we'll be dead in a few years" Microsoft is trying to push back against this race to the bottom by releasing some quality products, and hoping other OEMs raise the bar as well. Hence allowing only a select few mfgs to produce Windows RT tablets at first. It's no coincidence these are the same companies who make quality Windows desktops and Android tablets today.
Of course they don't want to rely on microsoft, that was a stupid position to get themselves into in the first place.
Acer already makes a line of Android tablets. If those were selling brilliantly, we wouldn't see Acer voicing any concerns. But they're not selling, and Acer isn't keen they were left out of the initial group (Asus, Lenovo, Toshiba, Samsung) to build Windows RT tablets, selected by Microsoft. It's no wonder Acer was left off the list, given the crappy hardware they produce.
Seems like sour grapes to me. Microsoft picked Asus, Lenovo, Toshiba, and Samsung to launch Windows RT tablets (they also picked HP, but HP declined, and decided to focus on x86 tablets instead). Acer is not on that list, so these words are no surprise. You don't hear any of those companies selected speaking out against the Surface.
They are boycotting them now, and it's clear that CEO's remark is what started the brouhaha.
So? I believe it's justified. The link between Chick Fil A and anti gay rights isn't some tenuous maze or an exercise in 6 degrees of separation. Truett Cathy owns Chik Fil A and makes money selling chicken sandwiches. Truett Cathy started the WinShape Foundation, which donates money to anti gay rights organizations. It's very clear that for every dollar you give Truett Cathy, a portion of that goes into the pockets of an organization that actively campaigns against gay rights. Perhaps the public was not aware of this before a couple of weeks ago, but he made that abundantly clear now.
It's not just the personal views of the CEO. From Wikipedia, Chick Fil A donates a significant amount of money to anti-gay rights organizations:
In January 2011, the media reported that the American fast food restaurant chain Chick-fil-A was co-sponsoring a marriage conference along with the Pennsylvania Family Institute (PFI), an organization that had filed an amicus brief against the trial ruling striking down Proposition 8 in California (see Perry v. Brown).[1][2][3][4][5] PFI had also lobbied against a state effort to ban discrimination in Pennsylvania on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.[6] Responding on its official company Facebook page, Chick-fil-A said that support of the PFI retreat had come from a local franchisee, stating "We have determined that one of our independent Restaurant Operators in Pennsylvania was asked to provide sandwiches to two Art of Marriage video seminars."[7]
Another organization connected to Chick-fil-A through financial support, the WinShape Foundation,[8] was also quoted as stating it would not allow same-sex couples to participate in its marriage retreats.[9] Chick-fil-A gave over $8 million to the WinShape Foundation in 2010.[10] Between 2003 and 2009, the WinShape Foundation gave more than $2 million to groups such as Focus on the Family and Eagle Forum that are politically active in opposing same-sex marriage and other gay rights issues.[11][12][13] Some of these groups are also listed and recognized as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center. [1]
No, the signing authority is *Verisign*. They're getting the money from Canonical and Redhat. They went to Microsoft because they want to use Microsoft's key, so no keys need to be added by the user to install on a Windows 8 system. They both had other options including signing with their own keys, but that would require the user to add them. This blog post from Red Hat details the different options and their shortcomings, and why signing with Microsoft's key is ultimately the best bet for the time being, namely: "it's cheaper than any realistic alternative would have been. It ensures compatibility with as wide a range of hardware as possible and it avoids Fedora having any special privileges over other Linux distributions."
What I would like to see is being able to disable UEFI Secure boot, via the UEFI prompt. If you have physical access to a machine, and the UEFI password (if there is one), then I can't see much of a security risk that would bother anyone.
Seriously? How can you conclude secure boot is anticompetitive and then go on to demonstrate you have no idea how Microsoft is implementing this? They're doing *exactly* what you would "like to see."
"Mandatory. Enable/Disable Secure Boot. On non-ARM systems, it is required to implement the ability to disable Secure Boot via firmware setup. A physically present user must be allowed to disable Secure Boot via firmware setup without possession of PKpriv. A Windows Server may also disable Secure Boot remotely using a strongly authenticated (preferably public-key based) out-of-band management connection, such as to a baseboard management controller or service processor. Programmatic disabling of Secure Boot either during Boot Services or after exiting EFI Boot Services MUST NOT be possible. Disabling Secure Boot must not be possible on ARM systems."
In summary: you are guaranteed to be able to disable secure boot on your next x86 laptop or desktop purchase.
How has Windows screwed up Windows 8 as a gaming platform? All current games run on Windows 8. Steam runs on Windows 8. Current drivers install and work fine on Windows 8. What's the problem?
Yes, Apple offers a 2880x1800 laptop, but you really gotta pay for that, starting at $2200. If you want anything cheaper, their other offerings have strangely lacking displays in terms of resolution, far below full 1080p even, which I see on some very cheap PC laptops. The 11" Airs have 1366x768 (starting at $999) and the 13" Airs have 1440×900 (starting at $1200). The Macbook Pro 13" has 1280×800 (starting at $1200) and the Macbook Pro 15" has 1440×900 (starting at $1800) and upgradable to 1680×1050 (again, not even full 1080p HD) for $100.
Compare this to the HP Envy 15 for instance, which has a 15" screen and a 1920x1080 IPS display. It pretty much matches the specs and ammenities of the Macbook Pro 15", but HP is selling it for only $1250. Dell Also sells 1080p laptops in the XPS line, or even cheaper with the 15R and 17R, which both can be customized with a 1080p display. This isn't even mentioning Sony, Lenovo, Asus, etc. who all offer laptops with 1080p displays. Also keep in mind the only laptop Apple offers with a display at or above 1080p is the Macbook Pro Retina. If you want the highest resolution portable, Apple is your only option, but 1080p on a 15" display is pretty damn good pixel density for most people, and you won't find one of those from Apple for under 2 grand.
Now these kids are locked out of the Linux experience because they don't have the resources to "just do" the stuff you find so trivial.
"Just" turning off secure boot involves a trip to UEFI settings and flipping a switch.
Or they could "just" install Ubuntu or Fedora, who have taken care of this whole situation already. Chances are someone installing Linux for the first time is going to go with Ubuntu.
Or the kid mowing lawns and raking leaves could "just" buy one of the billion used computers in the world with a BIOS and use that instead of a brand new system.
Or if the kid wants brand new, he could "just" buy a brand new motherboard with a BIOS. Those aren't going away.
I prefer One Note to Evernote. In Windows 7, Handwriting recognition goes far beyond OCR, since it actually looks at the trajectories of the ink as you write and how they connect to further classify your handwriting. You train it before hand by giving it samples. For my handwriting, accuracy was incredible. See this for more information.
So instead of post-processing the notes, I'm tagging them in real time, and One Note looks over them as I write. The benefit was that while studying, I could look up a keyword and get any references to that word across powerpoint slides, audio transcriptions, and my handwritten notes (which I never converted to text by the way).
But they still have all the same drawbacks that made them unpopular before the iPad. Of those, the Lenovo is the only one really worth your while. I suspect after Windows 8 launches, we're going to see a whole new set of convertible/hybrid tablet PCs that are built for consumers with better prices and longer battery life. We've already seen a slew at Computex, some which were bizarre, some which were very promising.
The stuff I did with paper and pencil back then would not be easy to replicate as quickly with a laptop.
But it is easy to replicate with a stylus. I have over 7 years of notes cataloged in One Note, completely searchable along with power points, hand outs, and audio transcriptions/files. Now... I don't know how these notes are going to hold up over 20 years, especially with Microsoft's track record with file formats, but when I was taking the course quickly searching for keywords and getting results spanning all my course materials was an incredible boost to productivity.
I know iOS at least has a version of One Note that is very trimmed down. It's more like a content aggregator than a full notebook solution. Audio transcription works pretty well as long as you're in the front of the class. I used my computer's built in mics, which worked okay sometimes but not others. I had better luck using a stand alone recorder and loading the files from that after lecture. An extra step but better results dues to the improved hardware.
Slashdot Mirror
"Now how do I go back"
"You figure it out"
So he didn't tell the user the one thing that Microsoft tells you as you boot for the first time. "Move your mouse to any corner." That's the one thing the user needs to know to understand how Windows 8 works. Moving your mouse to any corner will show you how to control settings, switch applications, manage devices, share content, connect to wifi, adjust brightness, and yes even access the start menu.
Is this supposed to prove the OS is not intuitive? How is it any different from our current UI, which has multitudes of hidden interactive elements? How would one know to double click an icon? How would one know to click and drag to select or move items? How would one know to right click on different elements to access hidden context menus?
The benefit of these new menus is consistency. Once you understand they are there (which again, takes one 5 word sentence to explain), they are always there in the same place, accessed in the same way, every time, no matter what app you are in.
I've used the RTM build with Start8, which boots directly to the desktop. It still works.
bla has it right. It was all fucked up. My plane from Japan was late, and by the time I got through customs and got my back, they wouldn't let me re-check it to make my connection, since they said my bag wouldn't make it to the plane in time. They told me I had to leave, go through security again, and then take my bag to the plane and they would put it on board there. By the time I got to security they told me no way I could do that, and I'd have to wait in line to get by bag rechecked and go through security again. Luckily I explained my situation and they got me and my fellow passengers to the front of the ticket line and in the security short line.
But is the TSA actively preventing a 9/11 style attack, or is a 9/11 style attack prevented by reinforced cockpit doors and general passenger awareness that following a hijacker's demands no longer leads to a safe landing? Seriously, what kind of terrorist post 9/11 is going to get on a plane with a box cutter and not be torn asunder by a mob of angry passengers?
I traveled abroad for the first time recently to Japan. When I left for home, I didn't have to take off my shoes or my belt, didn't have to go through a full body scan, didn't have to be groped or fondled and generally humiliated. After we landed in LAX and I went through security again, I was standing around with a bunch of guys from my flight as we put on our belts and our shoes, generally redressing in the middle of a crowded airport terminal, and the one said to me "Welcome back to America." Indeed.
I majored in physics in college, and spent a lot of time with physicists from world renowned Nobel prize winners to lowly undergraduates. I can testify that physicists, in addition to lacking any appreciation for visual aesthetics, also lack the ability to properly dress themselves, shave their faces, comb their hair, speak to an audience not of their peers, and most of all they have no understanding of proper hygiene. We used to have a lounge out of which at least half a dozen kids were living, toothbrushes and all. The stench still haunts me. I remember walking into the lavatory where 3-4 physics majors were taking a shower out of a sink.
Oh, and lest you think I'm a-hatin', most of the above applies to me as well.
I wonder if you might be able to estimate how many "average joe users" attempt to install other operating systems. Anyone who even know consider installing Linux is pretty much by definition not average.
Those are Windows 8 tablets (x86) not Windows RT (ARM). Microsoft is only allowing the aforementioned manufacturers to produce Windows RT tablets until January.
Source: http://www.unwiredview.com/2012/07/24/asus-lenovo-toshiba-samsung-to-launch-windows-rt-tablets-this-year-others-await-microsofts-permission-in-january/
I don't know, there's something to be said for a standardized platform to ensure your software and hardware can all work together. Even within the industry there are very few vendors when you get down to it: AMD or Intel. AMD/ATi or Nvidia. Intel or Broadcom. The higher you go in terms of complexity, less variety is actually more cost effective; that is, reducing the number of hardware/software permutations leads to an ecosystem where a consumer can be assured that software package X will work with hardware combination X Y Z and operating system W. In a world of dozens of competing graphics chipsets, CPU architectures, and OS platforms, I think everyone would be so busy making sure everything worked together, there would be no appreciable gain in "real competition and innovation."
I think you have that wrong. If I buy from Dell, they give me a good quality machine for a reasonable price, a good out of box experience (no crapware), support that isn't based in Asia, quick turnaround for repairs, a fleshed out warranty (none of this limited warranty bull), and quality hardware/software integration then I'm going to buy from them again. That's brand loyalty, since I'll be reluctant to go to say HP, who might give me Indian tech support, 1000 crapware programs to uninstall for 5 hours after I get the machine, and terrible build quality that will break and I have to wait for 4 weeks to get the machine back again, only to find it's still broken.
Disclaimer: this post does not reflect any actual experience with Dell or HP, though if I had to pick, each closely resemble the latter experience rather than the former, and the same goes for pretty much any other OEM out there today.
When Windows Vista and 7 were both released we were assured by MS and their hangers on that it was finally touch friendly and anyone that argued that it was just the same old crap was shouted down in comment forums all over the internet. When sane people pointed out the fact that even if you could manage to put up with desktop Windows on a touch screen you still had to put up with the heat and bulk of the x86 chipsets available they also were shouted down.
I think you're remembering wrong. Windows tablets have always been laughed at on this and many other tech forums. I should know since I argued for them back them, having used one daily through my college career, and I was the one constantly being shouted down. I still maintain for specialized use cases, pen and finger input was ideal and something you didn't have from any other manufacturer or OS vendor at the time. But that's where the problem was: MS and all OEMs saw Tablet PCs as niche systems meant for business, and they marketed and priced them that way. Since they lacked the audience, they lacked the apps. Apple saw tablets as consumption devices for the consumer, and they won that side of the bet, for pretty obvious reasons (size, price, usability).
So you'll forgive me if I don't seem to remember this history you're painting where forum nerds everywhere rushed to the defense of Tablet PCs. It was really quite the opposite.
I have no loyalty to any specific vendor, indeed, why would anyone show brand loyalty?
Brand loyalty arises when you interact with a company, and they give you a positive experience whether through sales, support, returns, customer service, etc. If I have a positive experience with a company, I will probably purchase from them again, 1) as a reward for their good support ant 2) because I want that good support again, and dealing with another company does not guarantee that.
However, OEMs are cutting their warranties, moving support overseas, trimming down their offerings, and across the industry the support side of the relationship is almost nonexistent, which of course leads you to conclude having no relationship with a company is the best course of action.
If it works and it's cost effective, I'll buy it.
This of course is what many consumers want. What you mean is "If it works *well* and the price reflects a good value, I'll buy it." That's a rational stance. But the OEMs hear something else entirely: "If it works *barely* and I have to pay as little as possible, I'll buy it" Indeed, in the OEM PC space it's a race to the bottom, where profits are razor thin, and OEMs are competing on little more than price. Thus you have computers which last a year and break just outside of warranty, computers that barely have enough muscle to run the programs that are important to you, all for a bargain bin price that allows no one in the industry to really take chances and innovate.
Microsoft sees this landscape and then looks at Apple, who are doing pretty much everything right and counter to the PC space, and they despair. So they released this surface as an attempt to show OEMs how it's done, and Acer of course, the bottom of the bottom of the barrel, can't see themselves competing with something like that. Indeed, they can't even compete in the Android space against Samsung et al., so I can imagine they feel a little threatened. What Acer means to say is "We think the surface is negative for the industry as a whole... because we'll be dead in a few years" Microsoft is trying to push back against this race to the bottom by releasing some quality products, and hoping other OEMs raise the bar as well. Hence allowing only a select few mfgs to produce Windows RT tablets at first. It's no coincidence these are the same companies who make quality Windows desktops and Android tablets today.
Of course they don't want to rely on microsoft, that was a stupid position to get themselves into in the first place.
Acer already makes a line of Android tablets. If those were selling brilliantly, we wouldn't see Acer voicing any concerns. But they're not selling, and Acer isn't keen they were left out of the initial group (Asus, Lenovo, Toshiba, Samsung) to build Windows RT tablets, selected by Microsoft. It's no wonder Acer was left off the list, given the crappy hardware they produce.
Seems like sour grapes to me. Microsoft picked Asus, Lenovo, Toshiba, and Samsung to launch Windows RT tablets (they also picked HP, but HP declined, and decided to focus on x86 tablets instead). Acer is not on that list, so these words are no surprise. You don't hear any of those companies selected speaking out against the Surface.
Source: http://www.unwiredview.com/2012/07/24/asus-lenovo-toshiba-samsung-to-launch-windows-rt-tablets-this-year-others-await-microsofts-permission-in-january/
Thanks for the straw man, but I'm not arguing about the policies of Bill Clinton or Barack Obama.
They are boycotting them now, and it's clear that CEO's remark is what started the brouhaha.
So? I believe it's justified. The link between Chick Fil A and anti gay rights isn't some tenuous maze or an exercise in 6 degrees of separation. Truett Cathy owns Chik Fil A and makes money selling chicken sandwiches. Truett Cathy started the WinShape Foundation, which donates money to anti gay rights organizations. It's very clear that for every dollar you give Truett Cathy, a portion of that goes into the pockets of an organization that actively campaigns against gay rights. Perhaps the public was not aware of this before a couple of weeks ago, but he made that abundantly clear now.
In January 2011, the media reported that the American fast food restaurant chain Chick-fil-A was co-sponsoring a marriage conference along with the Pennsylvania Family Institute (PFI), an organization that had filed an amicus brief against the trial ruling striking down Proposition 8 in California (see Perry v. Brown).[1][2][3][4][5] PFI had also lobbied against a state effort to ban discrimination in Pennsylvania on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.[6] Responding on its official company Facebook page, Chick-fil-A said that support of the PFI retreat had come from a local franchisee, stating "We have determined that one of our independent Restaurant Operators in Pennsylvania was asked to provide sandwiches to two Art of Marriage video seminars."[7]
Another organization connected to Chick-fil-A through financial support, the WinShape Foundation,[8] was also quoted as stating it would not allow same-sex couples to participate in its marriage retreats.[9] Chick-fil-A gave over $8 million to the WinShape Foundation in 2010.[10] Between 2003 and 2009, the WinShape Foundation gave more than $2 million to groups such as Focus on the Family and Eagle Forum that are politically active in opposing same-sex marriage and other gay rights issues.[11][12][13] Some of these groups are also listed and recognized as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center. [1]
No, the signing authority is *Verisign*. They're getting the money from Canonical and Redhat. They went to Microsoft because they want to use Microsoft's key, so no keys need to be added by the user to install on a Windows 8 system. They both had other options including signing with their own keys, but that would require the user to add them. This blog post from Red Hat details the different options and their shortcomings, and why signing with Microsoft's key is ultimately the best bet for the time being, namely: "it's cheaper than any realistic alternative would have been. It ensures compatibility with as wide a range of hardware as possible and it avoids Fedora having any special privileges over other Linux distributions."
What I would like to see is being able to disable UEFI Secure boot, via the UEFI prompt. If you have physical access to a machine, and the UEFI password (if there is one), then I can't see much of a security risk that would bother anyone.
Seriously? How can you conclude secure boot is anticompetitive and then go on to demonstrate you have no idea how Microsoft is implementing this? They're doing *exactly* what you would "like to see."
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/library/windows/hardware/jj128256
"Mandatory. Enable/Disable Secure Boot. On non-ARM systems, it is required to implement the ability to disable Secure Boot via firmware setup. A physically present user must be allowed to disable Secure Boot via firmware setup without possession of PKpriv. A Windows Server may also disable Secure Boot remotely using a strongly authenticated (preferably public-key based) out-of-band management connection, such as to a baseboard management controller or service processor. Programmatic disabling of Secure Boot either during Boot Services or after exiting EFI Boot Services MUST NOT be possible. Disabling Secure Boot must not be possible on ARM systems."
In summary: you are guaranteed to be able to disable secure boot on your next x86 laptop or desktop purchase.
How has Windows screwed up Windows 8 as a gaming platform? All current games run on Windows 8. Steam runs on Windows 8. Current drivers install and work fine on Windows 8. What's the problem?
Yes, Apple offers a 2880x1800 laptop, but you really gotta pay for that, starting at $2200. If you want anything cheaper, their other offerings have strangely lacking displays in terms of resolution, far below full 1080p even, which I see on some very cheap PC laptops. The 11" Airs have 1366x768 (starting at $999) and the 13" Airs have 1440×900 (starting at $1200). The Macbook Pro 13" has 1280×800 (starting at $1200) and the Macbook Pro 15" has 1440×900 (starting at $1800) and upgradable to 1680×1050 (again, not even full 1080p HD) for $100.
Compare this to the HP Envy 15 for instance, which has a 15" screen and a 1920x1080 IPS display. It pretty much matches the specs and ammenities of the Macbook Pro 15", but HP is selling it for only $1250. Dell Also sells 1080p laptops in the XPS line, or even cheaper with the 15R and 17R, which both can be customized with a 1080p display. This isn't even mentioning Sony, Lenovo, Asus, etc. who all offer laptops with 1080p displays. Also keep in mind the only laptop Apple offers with a display at or above 1080p is the Macbook Pro Retina. If you want the highest resolution portable, Apple is your only option, but 1080p on a 15" display is pretty damn good pixel density for most people, and you won't find one of those from Apple for under 2 grand.
Now these kids are locked out of the Linux experience because they don't have the resources to "just do" the stuff you find so trivial.
"Just" turning off secure boot involves a trip to UEFI settings and flipping a switch.
Or they could "just" install Ubuntu or Fedora, who have taken care of this whole situation already. Chances are someone installing Linux for the first time is going to go with Ubuntu.
Or the kid mowing lawns and raking leaves could "just" buy one of the billion used computers in the world with a BIOS and use that instead of a brand new system.
Or if the kid wants brand new, he could "just" buy a brand new motherboard with a BIOS. Those aren't going away.
I prefer One Note to Evernote. In Windows 7, Handwriting recognition goes far beyond OCR, since it actually looks at the trajectories of the ink as you write and how they connect to further classify your handwriting. You train it before hand by giving it samples. For my handwriting, accuracy was incredible. See this for more information.
So instead of post-processing the notes, I'm tagging them in real time, and One Note looks over them as I write. The benefit was that while studying, I could look up a keyword and get any references to that word across powerpoint slides, audio transcriptions, and my handwritten notes (which I never converted to text by the way).
Sure they do!
http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/laptop/thinkpad/xtablet-series/x230t/
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF25a/5169094-5169094-5102710-5256972-5256964-5071191.html?dnr=1
http://www.dell.com/us/k-12/p/latitude-xt3/pd
But they still have all the same drawbacks that made them unpopular before the iPad. Of those, the Lenovo is the only one really worth your while. I suspect after Windows 8 launches, we're going to see a whole new set of convertible/hybrid tablet PCs that are built for consumers with better prices and longer battery life. We've already seen a slew at Computex, some which were bizarre, some which were very promising.
The stuff I did with paper and pencil back then would not be easy to replicate as quickly with a laptop.
But it is easy to replicate with a stylus. I have over 7 years of notes cataloged in One Note, completely searchable along with power points, hand outs, and audio transcriptions/files. Now... I don't know how these notes are going to hold up over 20 years, especially with Microsoft's track record with file formats, but when I was taking the course quickly searching for keywords and getting results spanning all my course materials was an incredible boost to productivity.
I know iOS at least has a version of One Note that is very trimmed down. It's more like a content aggregator than a full notebook solution. Audio transcription works pretty well as long as you're in the front of the class. I used my computer's built in mics, which worked okay sometimes but not others. I had better luck using a stand alone recorder and loading the files from that after lecture. An extra step but better results dues to the improved hardware.