> I tried to figure that out too. The article is talking about the future, Microsoft's intentions, so it would be fair for them to say they intended to change it in the future.
And who, not under the influence of recreational pharmaceuticals, would actually believe that?
Coding is outsourced to India these days. Would be better to say "you can't teach a coal miner to say 'would you like fries with that'". Except... you can.
I think the most useful talent I've developed is the ability to go to sleep fast and to wake up fast and alert. When the phone rings or pager goes off, the faster you can reach "full on", find and fix the problem, and get back to sleep, the more sleep you get in the long run. Cohorts who have trouble getting to sleep after a late night emergency tend to be seriously dragging by the end of their oncall time.
I recall seeing this effect in some series from the nineties and earlier in a movie. It's an obvious but not terribly useful technique that we've know of for a couple decades at least. Did I drift onto the "idle" page by accident?
This is only one data point, but it seems like every third forward on my Facebook account is another anti-Monsanto amateur ad. Going by that, I would say that quite a few people have heard the name. Whether they are really acquainted with the issues, of course, is a different matter.
> But now Windows 8 needs users to click and right click on various places often not obvious, in order to do things. It's so bad that it's almost as if they are purposely trolling/torturing users and laughing at them - like a bully trying to show his power by forcing the bullied to do stupid things.
I get that feeling also -- like it's Microsoft management showing the users who's boss. Obviously they're yearning for the days when we'd take whatever crap they hand to us because "everyone uses Windows".
I'd upgrade right back to WinXP if I could. Win8 is currently blocking access to all my apps, the WinStore won't load, and the store broker loads in the background and uses up half the system resources. Microsoft's "support" response? Go back to the days of Win95 and format/re-install because they can't be bothered to figure out what broke it (oh btw, 4th time this has happened)
What's the point of getting support from a company who doesn't actually want to support you?
I think what you're supposed to do is just bear with it until you can buy Windows 9. And then just bear with that until you can buy Windows 10. See, the problem with XP was that it actually worked. Microsoft has since solved that problem.
> But why? What's so great about an operating system that was invented before the age of Dropbox and Facebook, an OS that's almost as old as the original Google search engine?
Because it works. Because we're up on the flat end of the curve as far as operating systems go, and as users we're not desperate for the next version in the (vain) hope that it'll stay out of our way and let us get our work done. Microsoft's first big mistake with XP is that as a program loader and resource manager, it was good enough, meaning there really was no motivation to switch.
It seems like with Win8 Microsoft is trying to harken back to those days of yesteryear where users were desperate for the next release hoping against hope that the serious bugs in the previous version are finally fixed. (And the crushing disappointment when you realize they're not -- it's a fake start button, instead of layered windows you get two apps side by side, etc etc.) Their prime business model has two main factors -- (a) users MUST use Windows (for whatever reason), and (b) the current version sucks but maybe the next version will be a little better. They lost that paradigm with XP and are now trying to regain it. Hardware that only boots Windows, deliberately screwy design decisions, tiny incremental improvements. But will it work this time? Non-Microsoft choices have never been more attractive.
Microsoft's second big mistake is to base a business on the idea that people would crowd into stores for the next incremental set of OS improvements that the company deigns to crap out. OS upgrades are no longer a thing. Apps are. And that's the way it should be.
> 'XP was designed for a different era.'
If you wish. But if you stipulate that, so were PCs. They keyboard/video/mouse interface is still the input method of the majority of PCs (not phones or tablets but real PCs) in use today, and you screw with that at your peril.
> Tell me, what is burning man? Whatever you say will be wrong, because Burning Man is, and always was, what you make it.
That doesn't scan. It should read "Whatever you say will be correct, because Burning Man is, and always was, what you make it. If to you Burning Man is a negative experience, you should look inward for the reason." I'd add, "and stop trying to be an annoying hipster" but that would be snarky.
Slashdot Mirror
Your not fooling anyone, we can all hear snoring coming from your cubicle.
I didn't say *where* I was going to sleep...
Thank you. I'll take the Score:5, but it wasn't meant to be funny.
> I was saddened to see Ballmer go.
Agreed. If nothing else, he was entertaining.
Really? Or has the captain issued a press release intended to placate passengers while doubling down on the course into the rocks?
> I tried to figure that out too. The article is talking about the future, Microsoft's intentions, so it would be fair for them to say they intended to change it in the future.
And who, not under the influence of recreational pharmaceuticals, would actually believe that?
> No longer are there different kernels for Windows 8, Windows Phone or Windows RT it's now all just One Windows.
Maybe not right now, but soon. And that's a good thing how?
> As goes the Windows kernel, so goes the entire company.
Um, yep. And again, that's a good thing how?
Coding is outsourced to India these days. Would be better to say "you can't teach a coal miner to say 'would you like fries with that'". Except... you can.
I think the most useful talent I've developed is the ability to go to sleep fast and to wake up fast and alert. When the phone rings or pager goes off, the faster you can reach "full on", find and fix the problem, and get back to sleep, the more sleep you get in the long run. Cohorts who have trouble getting to sleep after a late night emergency tend to be seriously dragging by the end of their oncall time.
I recall seeing this effect in some series from the nineties and earlier in a movie. It's an obvious but not terribly useful technique that we've know of for a couple decades at least. Did I drift onto the "idle" page by accident?
From a practical standpoint, it depends on who doesn't like him.
This is only one data point, but it seems like every third forward on my Facebook account is another anti-Monsanto amateur ad. Going by that, I would say that quite a few people have heard the name. Whether they are really acquainted with the issues, of course, is a different matter.
It could more accurately be called "the companies that geeks hate the most".
Hm. I wonder how that compares with live tiles.
There used to be this thing called Windows Gadgets. But I guess that wasn't cool and trendy enough.
Going from XP to 8 is like trading in your American Standard for a porta potty. Because, you know, porta potties are portable.
> But now Windows 8 needs users to click and right click on various places often not obvious, in order to do things. It's so bad that it's almost as if they are purposely trolling/torturing users and laughing at them - like a bully trying to show his power by forcing the bullied to do stupid things.
I get that feeling also -- like it's Microsoft management showing the users who's boss. Obviously they're yearning for the days when we'd take whatever crap they hand to us because "everyone uses Windows".
Turn off Aero. I have my Win7 box set to "Windows Classic" and other than a very few things renamed or in different places, it's still pretty much XP.
Bonus, "Windows Classic" uses fewer computer resources.
I'd upgrade right back to WinXP if I could. Win8 is currently blocking access to all my apps, the WinStore won't load, and the store broker loads in the background and uses up half the system resources. Microsoft's "support" response? Go back to the days of Win95 and format/re-install because they can't be bothered to figure out what broke it (oh btw, 4th time this has happened)
What's the point of getting support from a company who doesn't actually want to support you?
I think what you're supposed to do is just bear with it until you can buy Windows 9. And then just bear with that until you can buy Windows 10. See, the problem with XP was that it actually worked. Microsoft has since solved that problem.
> But why? What's so great about an operating system that was invented before the age of Dropbox and Facebook, an OS that's almost as old as the original Google search engine?
Because it works. Because we're up on the flat end of the curve as far as operating systems go, and as users we're not desperate for the next version in the (vain) hope that it'll stay out of our way and let us get our work done. Microsoft's first big mistake with XP is that as a program loader and resource manager, it was good enough, meaning there really was no motivation to switch.
It seems like with Win8 Microsoft is trying to harken back to those days of yesteryear where users were desperate for the next release hoping against hope that the serious bugs in the previous version are finally fixed. (And the crushing disappointment when you realize they're not -- it's a fake start button, instead of layered windows you get two apps side by side, etc etc.) Their prime business model has two main factors -- (a) users MUST use Windows (for whatever reason), and (b) the current version sucks but maybe the next version will be a little better. They lost that paradigm with XP and are now trying to regain it. Hardware that only boots Windows, deliberately screwy design decisions, tiny incremental improvements. But will it work this time? Non-Microsoft choices have never been more attractive.
Microsoft's second big mistake is to base a business on the idea that people would crowd into stores for the next incremental set of OS improvements that the company deigns to crap out. OS upgrades are no longer a thing. Apps are. And that's the way it should be.
> 'XP was designed for a different era.'
If you wish. But if you stipulate that, so were PCs. They keyboard/video/mouse interface is still the input method of the majority of PCs (not phones or tablets but real PCs) in use today, and you screw with that at your peril.
Oh, please explain how Unity is such a superior interface compared to Windows 8. At least Windows 8 is somewhat configurable.
Ok, let me enumerate the ways in which Unity is superior to Windows 8.
(1) Unity can be easily replaced with a competing desktop.
(2) ... never mind, (1) was sufficient.
It's the only way to be sure.
> Tell me, what is burning man? Whatever you say will be wrong, because Burning Man is, and always was, what you make it.
That doesn't scan. It should read "Whatever you say will be correct, because Burning Man is, and always was, what you make it. If to you Burning Man is a negative experience, you should look inward for the reason." I'd add, "and stop trying to be an annoying hipster" but that would be snarky.
Good point.