Let's see... the desktop experience in Win8 isn't really all that screwed up (though some changes take some getting used to, it's still perfectly usable on the desktop... it just is a lot better on touch devices, which includes support for touch mice, new gesture support for touch pads which will be in the GA release, as well as touch screens).
And the only thing they're pricing "high" is WinRT, which is the locked-down ARM version that will only be sold to OEMs (no upgrades), and WHICH INCLUDES A FULL VERSION OF MICROSOFT OFFICE.
The reason for the extra cost is the extra OEM licensing for Office.
So really, the cost isn't out of line at all. This is a tempest in a tea-cup, imho. Outrage due to Ignorance.
The Reason WinRT costs more to license is that it includes a license for the Office Suite. All WinRT devices come with Office built-in. They are, in fact, the ONLY desktop applications that will run on WinRT devices (you can't install your own). That's a whole separate issue.
But it explains the price difference pretty completely, doesn't it?
How much is a regular Win7 OEM license plus an Office OEM license? I bet it's about the same, no? Or even more?
Well, with Win8, you have better multi-monitor support and can continue to use the desktop as you like... even docing a Metro app "snapped" to the side on one monitor, and/or having a separate monitor dedicated to Metro apps and Start Screen (and you can move them around at any time). If you really don't like Metro on the desktop, you really don't need to use it there for the most part. You can continue working the way you want, install the software the way you want, and sit in desktop all day.
If you haven't tried the Win8 Release Preview and played with it on a desktop computer, it's a vast improvement over the Consumer Preview.
If you sat someone down in front of OS X or XP and asked them to do things, having never seen such an OS before, they'd be just as paralized and frustrated.
Both seem "intuitive" now because we're so used to them.
You cannot set someone down in front of a WIndows 8 machine that has only a keyboard and mouse (not touch) and expect them to just 'get it'. You need to give them some basic information (how to get the charms and what they do, how to get to the start screen, how to switch apps, how to get to the app menu). Once given this information, most people can figure it out, but they need the basics.
To assume those basics won't be there in a simple "learn how to use it" video or walk-through on new Win8 installs/upgrades when it's released is to be naive.
As an example: When Windows 95 first came out, people felt lost too... there was even an animated arrow that pointed to the "Start" button to draw people's attention to it, so they could get started. Today we think "How could you not get the Start Button, it's so obvious!" but it wasn't to people at the time.
Similarly, Win8/WInRT on new touch hardware will be a LOT easier to use than trying to just sit down and use it on legacy systems with only keyboard and mouse.
To be a target for virus writers, you have to have a critical mass of compatable devices with enough security holes to exploit.
This will not be true of WinRT any time soon. It's very locked down, and will have a market share that is a fraction of the iPad for a long time to come.
But it's not just that these people who, scary though it is, vote... and it's not just that they "disagree" with me. It's that they're FACTUALLY WRONG. Provably. Factually. Wrong.
Evolution is a fact. Creationism is made up bullshit that is the OPPOSITE of science and fact.
It's not about 'disagreing'... it's about deeply ignorant people who want to force their ignorant beliefs on others. It's about deeply ignorant people voting against their own best interests and the best interests of most Americans due to their deep level of ignorance and gullibility.
THAT is what is scary.
There are legitimate things on which intelligent people can legitimately disagree, argue, debate, etc. And there are something that if you "disagree" with them, you're just an ignorant idiot... objectively, factually. There are NOT two equally valid sides to every issue, and the "truth" is not the exact average between these two sides in every case. And I hate this mentality that treats every 'debate' or 'controversy' as if this were the case.
Yeah, but that level of cognative dissonance typically leads to compartmentalization... holding two contradictory beliefs in your head at the same time.
To go back on topic (with the grandparent or whoever, I'm not going to count how many far back in the stack it is, forgive me:-), I think it IS scary that these people vote, and I DO think that atheists and agnostics are better voters in that they're clearly (on average, not in every instance) more rational and knowledgable.
That nearly 50% of the American Public believes in creationism is really scary, a sign of a failure of our education system, and a scary foot-note to that same population's voting patterns (voting on myth and belief, not on fact).
Actually, IE9 is faster than Chrome in some respects (like canvas animations, to name one). Dramatically faster in some. In others it's slower (and in a few, dramatically slower). I use both it and Chrome every day. In general use, there's not a huge difference.
okay, I corrected you once, and you ignored it, so I'll correct you again.
Windows Media Player is included in all versions except WinRT (ARM). And while the default skin on Win8 is a flattened more metro-like UI (which I find to be pretty clean, and which will extend battery life on laptops and tablets), I'm sure you'll be able to use an "Areo" theme if you want, even if you have to get it from a third party.
So no, you're just misunderstanding or misinterpreting, possibly willfully.
It was just Metro and now the lack of media player outside ultimate, no gui with aero in desktop mode, and now this?! What the hell are they going to fuck uo next?
Not sure what you're talking about here to be honest... maybe care to rephrase? Because Desktop Windows Media Player is available in all Windows 8 versions except WinRT.
And I'm sure that if you want to revert to "Areo" for whatever reason (and why would you want to on a laptop?), you'll be able to. If it's not a built-in option in the OS configuration, then it'll be avaliable as a third party tweak (just like the start menu and button).
This is really stupid. I mean, I understand the (stupid) reasoning behind it, given the direction they want to go... but it's just shooting themselves in the foot.
At least VS2010 Express will still be available, but still... this is going to burn a LOT of good-will (such as it is) with Windows developers.
That's not how it works. If their servers go down for any reason, if the connection hiccups at any moment, you're kicked out of your single player game, losing progress.
Stop trying to defend this shit when it's clear you have no idea what you're talking about.
How about the fact that this particular implementation of DRM is possibly the worst imaginable... being so beyond "inconvenient" that it renders the game completely unplayable.
A slight network hiccup while playing SINGLE PLAYER, and you're unceremoniously dumped out of the game, losing progress. SERIOUSLY?
You're not the only one. I loved Diablo 2. Completely underwhelmed by Diablo 3 so far.
Add to that the shitty DRM, and the fact that the slightest hiccup kicks you out of the game mid-play, losing progress I assume... and that's just unacceptable.
I cannot recommend the game to anyone.
Re:I really wanted to not complain about the DRM
on
Diablo III Released
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· Score: 1
The implementation sucks.
The slightest hiccup and it kicks you out of the game with no warning. I wonder how much progress I lost.
I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone. Which sucks, given how much I was looking forward to it, and how much I loved Diablo III.
A rare swing-and-a-miss from Blizzard. I'm not even sure I'll pick it up again after my experiences today.
I hate commuting so I usually try to move close to my job (and I tend to keep jobs for a while). I remember my last car was 12 years old when I sold it... with 70,000 miles on it. And yes, I took road-trips. It's just that my daily commute was very small.
Even now, my commute is only about 9 miles round-trip (throw on more for driving to lunch, so call it "under 15"). Driving around town during the week probably puts on another 50 or so total. I don't drive a lot. My current car is seven years old now, and still feels "new".
I'm glad they've made this crucial step towards electric car adoption. I'm seriously looking at something like the Volt for my next car... at any rate, my next car WILL be a re-chargable electric/hybrid of some kind. I want to keep the flexibility of extended range and ability to use the gasoline infrastructure as things transition to nationwide electric fast-charging stations.
Too bad they're not also pushing (or even offering) the Lumia 900. It's also a 4G/LTE phone. And pushing more people on it would help create more competition in the market place. I think we could do with three major players instead of just two (one of which is more or less a 'copy of/me too' of the other).
Slashdot Mirror
Let's see... the desktop experience in Win8 isn't really all that screwed up (though some changes take some getting used to, it's still perfectly usable on the desktop... it just is a lot better on touch devices, which includes support for touch mice, new gesture support for touch pads which will be in the GA release, as well as touch screens).
And the only thing they're pricing "high" is WinRT, which is the locked-down ARM version that will only be sold to OEMs (no upgrades), and WHICH INCLUDES A FULL VERSION OF MICROSOFT OFFICE.
The reason for the extra cost is the extra OEM licensing for Office.
So really, the cost isn't out of line at all. This is a tempest in a tea-cup, imho. Outrage due to Ignorance.
The Reason WinRT costs more to license is that it includes a license for the Office Suite. All WinRT devices come with Office built-in. They are, in fact, the ONLY desktop applications that will run on WinRT devices (you can't install your own). That's a whole separate issue.
But it explains the price difference pretty completely, doesn't it?
How much is a regular Win7 OEM license plus an Office OEM license? I bet it's about the same, no? Or even more?
Well, with Win8, you have better multi-monitor support and can continue to use the desktop as you like... even docing a Metro app "snapped" to the side on one monitor, and/or having a separate monitor dedicated to Metro apps and Start Screen (and you can move them around at any time). If you really don't like Metro on the desktop, you really don't need to use it there for the most part. You can continue working the way you want, install the software the way you want, and sit in desktop all day.
If you haven't tried the Win8 Release Preview and played with it on a desktop computer, it's a vast improvement over the Consumer Preview.
If you sat someone down in front of OS X or XP and asked them to do things, having never seen such an OS before, they'd be just as paralized and frustrated.
Both seem "intuitive" now because we're so used to them.
You cannot set someone down in front of a WIndows 8 machine that has only a keyboard and mouse (not touch) and expect them to just 'get it'. You need to give them some basic information (how to get the charms and what they do, how to get to the start screen, how to switch apps, how to get to the app menu). Once given this information, most people can figure it out, but they need the basics.
To assume those basics won't be there in a simple "learn how to use it" video or walk-through on new Win8 installs/upgrades when it's released is to be naive.
As an example: When Windows 95 first came out, people felt lost too... there was even an animated arrow that pointed to the "Start" button to draw people's attention to it, so they could get started. Today we think "How could you not get the Start Button, it's so obvious!" but it wasn't to people at the time.
Similarly, Win8/WInRT on new touch hardware will be a LOT easier to use than trying to just sit down and use it on legacy systems with only keyboard and mouse.
Given WinRT tablets cannot join domains...
To be a target for virus writers, you have to have a critical mass of compatable devices with enough security holes to exploit.
This will not be true of WinRT any time soon. It's very locked down, and will have a market share that is a fraction of the iPad for a long time to come.
To save time, I'm just going to copy and paste this from another reply, because you need to hear this too.
You are wrong. You've expressed a stunning misunderstanding of what atheism is.
Atheism is a religion like health is an illness.
Atheism is a religion like bald is a hair color.
What atheism IS, is the absence of religion... a lack of "theism".
Atheism is not "a belief". It is the lack of a specific set of beliefs.
Atheism's symbol is not "nothingness" any more than the symbol fo those who don't believe Santa Claus is real is "nothingness".
Do you even understand how ridiculous and ignorant you sound when you say "atheism is a religion"?
Wrong. That's a stunning misunderstanding of what atheism is.
Atheism is a religion like health is an illness.
Atheism is a religion like bald is a hair color.
Atheism is the absence of religion... a lack of "theism".
Atheism is not "a belief". It is the lack of a specific set of beliefs.
Atheism's symbol is not "nothingness" any more than the symbol fo those who don't believe Santa Clause is real is "nothingness".
Do you even understand how ridiculous and ignorant you sound?
I'm sorry, but YOU are in fact the moron. Athiests took over in the 70's? Since when? What delusional world are you living in?
Atheism isn't a "belief". It's not a religion. It's a rejection of THEISM. It is the very definition of rational thinking.
You clearly have no clue what you're even talking about. Which is just sad.
A fair point.
But it's not just that these people who, scary though it is, vote... and it's not just that they "disagree" with me. It's that they're FACTUALLY WRONG. Provably. Factually. Wrong.
Evolution is a fact. Creationism is made up bullshit that is the OPPOSITE of science and fact.
It's not about 'disagreing' ... it's about deeply ignorant people who want to force their ignorant beliefs on others. It's about deeply ignorant people voting against their own best interests and the best interests of most Americans due to their deep level of ignorance and gullibility.
THAT is what is scary.
There are legitimate things on which intelligent people can legitimately disagree, argue, debate, etc. And there are something that if you "disagree" with them, you're just an ignorant idiot... objectively, factually. There are NOT two equally valid sides to every issue, and the "truth" is not the exact average between these two sides in every case. And I hate this mentality that treats every 'debate' or 'controversy' as if this were the case.
Yeah, but that level of cognative dissonance typically leads to compartmentalization... holding two contradictory beliefs in your head at the same time.
To go back on topic (with the grandparent or whoever, I'm not going to count how many far back in the stack it is, forgive me :-), I think it IS scary that these people vote, and I DO think that atheists and agnostics are better voters in that they're clearly (on average, not in every instance) more rational and knowledgable.
That nearly 50% of the American Public believes in creationism is really scary, a sign of a failure of our education system, and a scary foot-note to that same population's voting patterns (voting on myth and belief, not on fact).
Actually, IE9 is faster than Chrome in some respects (like canvas animations, to name one). Dramatically faster in some. In others it's slower (and in a few, dramatically slower). I use both it and Chrome every day. In general use, there's not a huge difference.
okay, I corrected you once, and you ignored it, so I'll correct you again.
Windows Media Player is included in all versions except WinRT (ARM). And while the default skin on Win8 is a flattened more metro-like UI (which I find to be pretty clean, and which will extend battery life on laptops and tablets), I'm sure you'll be able to use an "Areo" theme if you want, even if you have to get it from a third party.
So no, you're just misunderstanding or misinterpreting, possibly willfully.
It was just Metro and now the lack of media player outside ultimate, no gui with aero in desktop mode, and now this?! What the hell are they going to fuck uo next?
Not sure what you're talking about here to be honest... maybe care to rephrase? Because Desktop Windows Media Player is available in all Windows 8 versions except WinRT.
And I'm sure that if you want to revert to "Areo" for whatever reason (and why would you want to on a laptop?), you'll be able to. If it's not a built-in option in the OS configuration, then it'll be avaliable as a third party tweak (just like the start menu and button).
I have no idea why the parent is rated a troll. It's so not a troll. Mods out of control, me thinks.
This is really stupid. I mean, I understand the (stupid) reasoning behind it, given the direction they want to go... but it's just shooting themselves in the foot.
At least VS2010 Express will still be available, but still... this is going to burn a LOT of good-will (such as it is) with Windows developers.
Here's a great response to the forbes article, from the author of the article that the Forbes article is critiquing:
http://theoatmeal.com/blog/tesla_response
That's not how it works. If their servers go down for any reason, if the connection hiccups at any moment, you're kicked out of your single player game, losing progress.
Stop trying to defend this shit when it's clear you have no idea what you're talking about.
How about the fact that this particular implementation of DRM is possibly the worst imaginable... being so beyond "inconvenient" that it renders the game completely unplayable.
A slight network hiccup while playing SINGLE PLAYER, and you're unceremoniously dumped out of the game, losing progress. SERIOUSLY?
Absolutely unacceptable.
You're not the only one. I loved Diablo 2. Completely underwhelmed by Diablo 3 so far.
Add to that the shitty DRM, and the fact that the slightest hiccup kicks you out of the game mid-play, losing progress I assume... and that's just unacceptable.
I cannot recommend the game to anyone.
The implementation sucks.
The slightest hiccup and it kicks you out of the game with no warning. I wonder how much progress I lost.
I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone. Which sucks, given how much I was looking forward to it, and how much I loved Diablo III.
A rare swing-and-a-miss from Blizzard. I'm not even sure I'll pick it up again after my experiences today.
Seriously, how was my post a "troll"?
Stupid moderators.
I hate commuting so I usually try to move close to my job (and I tend to keep jobs for a while). I remember my last car was 12 years old when I sold it... with 70,000 miles on it. And yes, I took road-trips. It's just that my daily commute was very small.
Even now, my commute is only about 9 miles round-trip (throw on more for driving to lunch, so call it "under 15"). Driving around town during the week probably puts on another 50 or so total. I don't drive a lot. My current car is seven years old now, and still feels "new".
I'm glad they've made this crucial step towards electric car adoption. I'm seriously looking at something like the Volt for my next car... at any rate, my next car WILL be a re-chargable electric/hybrid of some kind. I want to keep the flexibility of extended range and ability to use the gasoline infrastructure as things transition to nationwide electric fast-charging stations.
Too bad they're not also pushing (or even offering) the Lumia 900. It's also a 4G/LTE phone. And pushing more people on it would help create more competition in the market place. I think we could do with three major players instead of just two (one of which is more or less a 'copy of/me too' of the other).
So what exactly is the escape velocity of Pluto? Anyone know?