Well if you are worried then the answer is simple, support AMD who has switched to Coreboot instead of UEFI as the replacement for BIOS. Since I doubt VERY seriously MSFT would have the brass balls to try to ban AMD systems from running Win 8 (and most likely risking another antitrust investigation) they will have to allow AMD systems to use Coreboot which means if you don't like it? The source is right there, help yourself and flash away.
But whether FSF likes it or not MSFT seems bound and determined to get rid of Windows piracy not with the carrot but with the stick, since its common knowledge that Win 7 is completely cracked wide open thanks to bootloaders that even allow the machines to get all updates without so much as a WGA warning so like it or not MSFT is gonna push this. At least AMD is supporting an open tech that you can flash yourself, although you always have the option of just turning the damned thing off and not using Secureboot.
Personally while i think offering Win HP for $50 and the Family Pack for $100 (which there is one of the family packs being offered right now on deals.woot for $95 and free shipping, its on page 4 i believe) to end piracy ultimately its their OS and they can be as tarded as they want with it. I think everyone is getting their panties in a wad over nothing myself, the amount of backlash I've seen at the shop over Win 8 is 10 times worse than Vista so I have a feeling its gonna be the new MS Bob and the OEMs are gonna be killing secureboot and shipping Win 7 as fast as they can get them out the door. Don't forget Vista had crazy anti-piracy shit in it too and it BOMBED like Michael Richards at an NAACP fundraiser so I really think we don't have anything to worry about here.
To the Moz devs all that matters is they ape Google, just as they've done with FF aping Chrome. I mean what's next guys, Mozvision eyewear? This is as sad as Canonical putting out Ubuntu Netbook edition long after that ship had done sailed, anybody trying to get into mobile OSes now is frankly batshit insane.
Which is why I've said for years we need to slam down hard on any globalist who starts the "free trade" bullshit, because what we have now is NOT free trade, what we have is a handful of countries rigging the living hell out of the system and we take it like good little corporate drones. What we need is FAIR trade, where our goods and services are freely exchanged for their goods and services on an even playing field which is pretty fucking far from what we have right now with India and China. Oh and we need to tell anyone that says nationalistic like its a dirty word to STFU, as we've seen time and time again the countries that watch out for their own people first tend to do well while those that put every man for himself as the mantra tend to go to shit.
As for TFA $60 million? Hell that wouldn't even be considered pocket change to Apple. While the Chinese gov might consider that a decent bribe Apple will cut a check without a second thought and just write it off as the cost of business.
Actually since WinVista made running as user instead of admin the default the user really doesn't NEED to manage much of anything. My 71 year old dad got impatient because I hadn't had the time to come by and install Win 7 on his new desktop so he decided to DIY, man I had my gut in a knot figuring he screwed it up BIG time, what did I find? A perfectly running Win 7 machine. Not only did it take care of all the drivers but it told him on first run "Hey you don't have an antivirus. Would you like to be taken to a page with antivirus choices?" and he picked out MSE from the free options. The ONLY thing I had to do was show him where to get his Firefox from.
So while there are plenty of reasons to bitch about Windows management really isn't one of them, not if my 71 year old dad could install it himself and end up with a perfectly running and updated machine.
Ya know, when I hear Linux guys bitch about the reg i just have to LMAO, because frankly you have NOTHING that comes close to the ease of use of the reg. I have a customer with a problem? I can just email them a.reg file and tell them "clicky clicky and reboot" and voila! Problem solved. And I can do that with 1 machine or a thousand just as easily.
In the end all the bitching and whining about how much worse Windows is, yet your free OS couldn't even beat Vista, the most hated OS MSFT put out since WinME, what does that tell you? Hell more people pirate Windows than take your OS for free, doesn't that tell you that you are doing something wrong?
CLI is a server tech that deserves to stay in the server room and NOT on the desktop. the world has spoken, since Win 3.x CLI based OSes have gone exactly nowhere and after 20 years that is where Linux is, why? Because at the heart of the matter CLI has become a crutch, that's why. Have a problem? Bash. Can't make a GUI to save your life? Bash. Problem with sound, video, networking? Bash.
If you think your OS is so superior step right up and take the hairyfeet challenge. Simply remove CLI from your OS for 1 YEAR, that's all. Personally I doubt you'll even get it to boot, much less make even the 6 month mark, simply because CLI has become the all purpose crutch in Linux. Don't believe me, go ask for help with a common problem like say WiFi issues in ANY Linux forum and tell them you need a non CLI solution, I dare you. You'll will get cursed and insulted because in reality THEY CAN'T DO IT WITHOUT CLI.
So when you get to even 15% then you can jump on that high horse, but right now acting elitist about an OS that has barely beaten JavaME after being given away free for 20 years? that's just sad dude, and not something to be acting all elitist over.
Actually since its GPL V2 they can TiVo at any time if they choose, but a better solution would be as i said, have a boot screen that has something similar to the Windows Experience Index or something like AMD with their Fusion branding.
because in the end the users simply have NO way to tell what is good and what is shit, they can't tell which carriers and manufacturers are abandoning until they get burnt, the ONLY one right now with consistent support cycles is Apple. that's bad for business and if Google doesn't get a handle on it they are liable to end up with ONLY CCC being used for Android because nobody will risk spending real money only to get burnt.
Why? Because you think having a throwback UI older than Disco Stu's wardrobe makes you "leet"?
Lets get one thing clear right off the bat, okay? CLI is good for TWO THINGS and two things ONLY and that is 1.-Repetitive tasks, and 2.-Scripting. Now how many CONSUMERS are gonna be doing either of those things? Do you think Joe the backhoe operator is gonna get his web pages by scripting a daemon like RMS does? Do you think Suzy the checkout girl is gonna spend her weekends writing Bash scripts? NO!
The ONLY PEOPLE who need CLI are admins, if you are not an admin? Then you really don't need it. sadly too many in the FOSS community have this "CLI makes me smart and stuff!" when in reality CLI blows chunks unless your tasks fall into #1 or #2 above, if they don't? Pointless, absolutely fricking pointless.
If you want to pretend its 1978, call people "hackers" like RMS does, and pretend that copypasta is cool? hey knock yourself out, its a free country. But do NOT bitch and whine when your numbers stay where they are, which is lower than the fricking margin for error. For the love of God guys, its been 20 damned years already and you can't even beat Vista, which was the most hated MSFT release since WinME, doesn't that give you ANY clue? How about the fact the only headway you've gotten at all is Android, which guess what? Doesn't use a CLI for shit.
Look its your choice, either play to win or get off the field. but having this frankly insane delusion that you can get the masses to "embrace the power of CLI" like its the God damned force has gone on long enough. the market has made it clear its a big DO NOT WANT, oh and before anyone brings up Powershell? Yeah that's a SERVER TECH that nobody has on a desktop. in fact since its been out I have yet to see a single install of PS in the wild, nobody uses it.
In the end you could remove CLI via a patch tomorrow from Windows and OSX and you know what? Nobody would notice. Remove CLI from Linux? You'd be damned lucky if it would even boot, it sure wouldn't be functional for any length of time. Its your choice guys, but don't cry when everyone has told you why nobody wants it and you refuse to change.
I'm sure i'll get hate for saying this but WTF, truth is truth:
It is NOT the engines that are the problem, hell there are still plenty of guys playing games like Freelancer and Far Cry I out there and those are pretty damned far behind the curve, its the simple fact that the FOSS community simply won't put in the work to make decent games.
Now don't get me wrong, not saying making games is easy, just that the engine isn't the problem. i mean what did we get from the last source code releases? 50 bazillion rip offs of Q3 Arena that's what. it doesn't really matter WHAT engine you have if they are all putting out the same tired as hell DM and CTF fragfests over and over AND OVER without deviation. No single player, no story, no innovation, they just come up with some maps and character models and away you go.
So while I'm glad they give out these engines to the community frankly the guys modding non free games have been consistently better when it comes to quality and variety than anything I've yet seen built with one of these free engines. take Freelancer, there have been a dozen new campaigns made by modders, with hundreds of new star systems, a full Elite style economy based system, factions and reputations added, you can play some of those in SP for weeks and not see it all, whereas what will we get from this? CTF and DM and...well that's all, CTF and DM.
So while i'm sure i'll get tons of hate for pointing this out you all KNOW this guys, its the same thing we've seen with every other damned engine release. do I wish it were different? Hell yeah, I would love it if there were a free game built with this that had a rich story, interesting characters, something that would really spark some interest in FOSS gaming, but instead what we'll get is the FPS equivalent of Tux Racer, just the same old same old. And please, for the love of the FSM no more damned Q3 Arena copies, okay? I mean we already have a fricking bazillion MP only FPS games, we really don't need anymore.
I've always liked old Yahtzee, grumpy little Brit that he is, and he basically said the exact same thing I've been saying to Apple buyers for years...If you like it then just buy the damned thing!
Its just like he said about that niggling little doubt because honestly i can't think of anything else that would make then not be able to stand it if others don't instantly agree that they made the superior choice. i mean do you see Ferrari owners with bullet points on why its a "better value" than a Mustang? Or those that buy Prada comparing their purchase to payless? NO!
So just buy Apple if you like it, just don't pretend it is anything than what it is which is fashion. They have the same failure rates as the other big names, they are behind the curve pretty consistently, and before anybody brings up retina I'd point out you have been able to buy ultra high def laptops for years, they are simply a tiny niche that rarely gets reviewed because its usually targeted to niche users like pro photoshoppers and the medical industry, so it all comes down to design aesthetics and branding.
Again nothing wrong with that, I have several brands I prefer myself, from asus to Asrock, RC Cola to Ford ranger. I simply don't go around trying to claim my choice is "superior' to anybody else because i accept that is exactly what it is, a choice. its personal taste, a preference, no different than what kind of shoes i like or what designs I prefer on t-shirts. just be happy and accept it, is that REALLY so much to ask from Apple owners?
Have you SEEN Win 8? Or looked at the figures for WinPhone? Or looked at how much money they wasted on kin and Zune?
I think a damned good argument could be made that MSFT IS IBM, another once big cheese that now only have a legacy business that will continue to make money but who will never ever be top dog ever again. hell there is even some debate as to whether the X360 has made a dime in profit yet or not, because one has to figure in the billions they spent on it and Xbox 1 and the 2 billion plus in repairs over RRoD.
So acting like its still 1998 and Gates is running the company is just retarded. Ballmer is a shitty CEO, the vast majority of their products other than the legacy Windows and Office markets have flopped, and the future is obviously mobile which MSFT doesn't seem to have a snowball's chance in hell of getting in on. its over, its done, the fat lady is down the street having a sammich.
But are they REALLY dead, or do they just not talk to YOU with them? No offense meant but I don't give anyone but friends and family my yahoo accounts, my Gmail is strictly for public contacts like...well slashdot. this way i don't have to care about some spammer scraping it and piling onto an account I give a damn about and most of the folks I've talked to have both a "public" and a "private" account although many are now using the FB contact as public and their Yahoo or Hotmail (which I really only see older folks using) is private.
Notice how quick they were to mod me down LOL? Truth hurts, but I never was into coddling or lies. If they like the looks, design aesthetic, or OSX? I do NOT have a problem with that, anymore than I have a problem with someone liking Gucci or Prada, just be HONEST and admit that is why you like it! Because their repair rate is NO BETTER than anybody else's, their hardware is always behind the curve (and before anybody brings up retina, PCs have had high def screens for ages, they are a small niche sold to the pro user market) and they are making on average 50%+ profits per unit. Can you find ANY PC manufacturers working with those kind of margins? Nope but there is a place you CAN find those kinds of margins....fashion. Many of the high end fashion houses make 50%+ on the margins as well.
My late sister actually abandoned her Neon on the side of the road after the 8th or 9th breakdown, she said "I am NOT dealing with this POS Dodge anymore!" threw the keys into the front seat and walked away LOL! She went and got herself a Taurus that we still have to this day, damned good car. Everyone I know that has had a Dodge made after the late 70s has had nothing but problems, the damned things just fall apart. I was talking to a neighbor who found him a sweetheart deal on a 95 Ranger yesterday about this and he said "My Ram ran great...until it hit 70K and then it fell apart around me, I practically needed a net behind me to catch all the falling parts" LOL!
But that is why I've told everyone that tries to buy my Ranger, which is a LOT when they find out I have one of the Vulcan V6 XLTs, no thanks because its just too damned reliable. Sure there are a couple of little scratches I need to take care of and she ain't great on gas but she purrs like a kitten and looks great and is one of the most comfortable trucks to drive I've ever had. my oldest boy's S10 is too damned laid back for me, I swear those seats are like sitting in a low rider. We had to do about a $1000 worth of front end work to his when we first got it, no damage mind you just worn out from the rough roads around here, but considering we only paid $1400 for it and it was otherwise perfect it was a really good deal. I balked when I heard what was wrong with it but my dad said "I'll take care of it" and when I asked why he was so jazzed on that truck he said "Just look at it son, remember Jackson just turned 18 and is heading off to college, remember how YOU were at that age?" and I looked at the midnight blue with mags and bucket seats and just about died and sure enough, dad was right. I don't know how many times I've driven past the college and seen Jackson in his "cool pose" leaning up against the truck talking to friends LOL!
But if you need a good truck you can't go wrong with the Ranger or the F350s, I know plenty of folks with both and they are damned well built trucks. There is a reason why all the large shops like Orkin and Napa use the Ranger, it makes a hell of a company truck (which is why damned near every Ranger including mine is Company White) and if you need to haul large loads you just can't beat the F350. My dad tried Dodge one year about 5 years ago and after 4 times in the shop in less than a year on a brand new Ram that was all she wrote, now its F350s all the way. In fact i have to swing by his shop tomorrow to look at his new baby, he just got himself a brand new F350 fully loaded. You just can't beat a Ford or Chevy when it comes to long life, Dodge doesn't even come close.
My question would be "How long is Google gonna pour a billion a year into a platform they have ZERO control over?" which is really what it comes down to. I mean why EXACTLY is there so much fragmentation in the Android section? Because CCC (Cheapo Chinese Crap) use Android on devices that can just BARELY support the version that it is running, so even if they open it up good luck on trying to get the latest version to limp along. There is a reason why Apple cuts off support for their older versions of iPhone folks, its because they would run like crap with the latest version of iOS installed.
While those that lock down Android is still a problem I'd say the CCC that is flooding the market is a bigger one. Maybe Google should put out base specs? Like low/medium/high or maybe like AMD does with their Fusion chips? Because for the average folks its hard to tell what a good unit is and what a bad unit is because they have no idea how to read the specs. Can't go by price because as we all know there are plenty of places like Woot! that will sell overstocked units for crazy cheap prices, can't go by look because while its pretty easy to spot the difference between a $1000 laptop and a $400 one by build quality and finish all these tablets and phones are just plastic squares.
But I'd love to see the figures because i bet the biggest users of old Android are the CCC manufacturers. hell go to any China Mart style eStore and see how many Android 2 devices are still being sold. If there was an easy way for a developer to put down "requires Android Plus" or something that might help some but in the end a device that can barely run Android 2 is sure as hell not gonna run Android 4 in a usable way, it just don't have the power. For Google to fix this they are gonna have to have some sort of base specs and just cut off any access from the really old versions, although even then I have a feeling it'll be awhile before the CCCs quit using it, after all look how long the CCCs used Android 1.4-1.6.
Turn off Aero Glass as that is the source of the problem friend. I spent about a week hunting down the source of that lag, since with an HD4850 frankly I had more than overkill for Aero but looking deep into the logs it always came down to Aero causing desktop lag. Once i killed Aero for a Vista Black theme frankly it has been insanely fast, and that is with a system that is probably half the speed of yours, an AMD Hexa with 8Gb of RAM, a 5200 RPM OS drive and a 512Mb of RAM GPU and frankly Win 7 screams. hell it even is snappy on my E350 netbook but I again killed Aero.
Actually i would recommend the same thing i do with my customers which is get them a USB drive and install Paragon Backup Free which makes it beyond simple to make disc images and even comes with a Linux based CD Image that lets you fix a messed up Windows OS even if it is screwed beyond booting. This way you can try any of the Win 8 previews and if you don't like it? simply roll the OS back using Paragon with no nasty files left behind. of course i also recommend they have a second drive or partition to keep their data on that way you don't have a reason to give a damn about the OS, but that is up to you of course.
Frankly after playing around with both DP and CP in the shop I'm just not impressed by Win 8. Oh I'm sure it'll be nice...on a cell phone or a tablet, but since i'm not running it on a cell phone or a tablet i don't get what the point is. if I wanted all the tweeting twitting social crap frankly i can get that with Win 7 gadgets and I've found metro UI to be like a damned boat anchor without a touchscreen, it always seems like I'm fighting to get it to do what i want it to do while it screams "Hey want to do some tweets? How about FB? Windows Live? What kind of asshole are you that you don't want to know every time a relative passes gas?" and simply refuses to just get the hell out of my way.
so in the end I'm gonna have to agree with those that have played with the Win 8 test box at the shop and say "no thanks, I already have a cell phone" and skip it. hell even my oldest who practically has his smartphone glued to his fingers said "I already have a smartphone so what do i need this for?" and I have to agree, its just trying too hard to be this hipster social media tablet/cell OS and on a desktop that really just sucks.
She got what we call a "bundle bite" which is common as dirt friend and comes from "free" software, all that means is she just went "clicky clicky next next next" and refused to even take 4 seconds to look at what she was agreeing to. Since most of the bundle bites have a checkbox that you can uncheck to keep out the toolbars I'd be hard pressed to call that one anything but PEBKAC since unlike a bug they aren't trying to trick you, they just figure you're too damned lazy to even uncheck a checkbox.
BTW next time she needs some software, mind a suggestion? Ninite has all the third party stuff most folks want, media players and browsers and messengers and all kinds of software and TOOLBAR FREE so she doesn't even have to uncheck any checkboxes, its fully automated. Just have her check a box for each piece of software she wants and run it, simple as that. You can even use it to see if you have the latest versions as it'll skip any install that is up to date.
Click and wait is when you launch an app and then have to wait on it to load, sometimes depending on the model it can feel like ages. Even that $148 netbook I linked to has Superfetch and Readyboost which means you pop a cheapo SD card in it and after the first time you launch a program Windows will preload much of your programs into memory so you don't have click and wait. On my netbook I went ahead and spent the whole $34 to load it up with 8Gb of RAM and now frankly its nearly as snappy as an SSD when it comes to loading programs because they are already in RAM and waiting when i click the icon and of course nothing beats RAM for access time.
And please remember the two machines you named cost more than a quad core laptop, the machine the other poster was describing is $89-$99 every day. I honestly can't see myself paying $500 for any tablet, they are just not enough of a useful device to be worth anywhere near that kind of money. My netbook costs $350, weighs 3 pounds, gets 5-6 hours watching 720p depending on screen brightness and around 7 surfing as long as I'm not using BT, oh and since it comes with 500Gb worth of space i can load all my music and any movies i may care to see and HDMI means when i get to a friend's or family member's place i can use it as a portable HTPC.
So there really isn't enough utility in a $500 tablet for me to even consider it but if the $99 tablet isn't slow as Xmas it might be worth playing with.
To me the sad part is its just so damned predictable. I mean even in my reply to another user there it was again, another using dictionary attacks and logic hoops to try to argue "Nuh uh,...Windows gets waaay more so there!" again like they were fricking 6 years old. I'm sure those mac users that get their ID stolen or lose their data or get turned into a spammer will feel real proud that their "superior platform" gets less than Windows. Of course the fact that Windows has several free and pay for AVs like Avast and Comodo Internet Security that by default sandbox everything and thus make it a HELL of a lot harder than a Mac to infect? never gets mentioned.
I still think its some sort of guilt over paying that much for fashion but I say if you like fashion? Then just buy it and be happy. I mean I like Asrock and Gigabyte boards, and Asus and Acer portables, but do you see me saying they are "superior" to anybody else's? Nope, its a personal preference, no different than what pizza i like or what style t-shirts I prefer, that's all.
And funny enough I've never seen that with Dodge truck owners, usually they are too busy cursing because its in the shop for the fifth time in 6 months, which is usually followed by them getting a Chevy or a Ford;-) But you are right about old age, I hardly ever see even an 8 year old Dodge on the road yet I'm happy as a clam with my 99 Ranger XLT and my oldest just loves his 2000 Chevy S10 sport cab. Both run like the day they rolled off the lot, no hassles, no breakage, just purr like kittens.
Not to mention by not having the $50 HP upgrade or the $100 Family Packs MSFT has pretty much made sure that those that took advantage of those and adopted Win 7 early (and there were a LOT of those, if you'll remember they had to crank out extra runs as the original run of discs sold out quickly) simply won't give Win 8 a second thought. I know that even though I've been playing with Win 8 CP at the shop and can't stand it I'd have probably picked up a copy of HP at $50 simply because there is always the possibility they could fix it, like they did with Vista with SP2, but pay over $100 for a tweeting twitting FB shitting cell phone OS? Not a snowball's chance in hell.
So let me say thanks MSFT, thanks for making it even easier to avoid your new product. Thanks to those family packs I have my whole family on Win 7 now which is solid, stable, easier to manage than any OS I've ever dealt with (Remote assistance with easy connect is just too damned easy for remote fixes or walking them through software installs) and since its supported until 2020 as you pointed out there is simply no reason to bother with Win 8, the Supergigantic smartphone OS.
But is there anybody that really cares THAT MUCH to go through all that trouble? I mean seriously, is there anything that is gonna be THAT earth shaking posted here? if you just post honestly frankly the mods even themselves out and you'll have decent karma, the only thing I would change (other than as you said fix the whole zero click problem) is to make sure that a mod doesn't keep going after a single user, just to make sure they are actually moderating and not attacking a single user because of some sort of grudge. After all if its a truly shitty post somebody else will mod it down, no need for one mod to keep hitting the same user unless there is some sort of a vendetta thing going on. i would have it that if they modded the same user twice in X number of days they would get a heads up and if they continued to go after that user then they wouldn't get any mod points ever again. Oh and maybe have a limit on number of accounts by IP, as crazy sock puppety like Mikey 500 accounts is a little too damned obvious.
As for TFA, I thought Yahoo Mail was the biggest, did MSFT somehow get credit for the Yahoo users when they did the search deal? I can tell you here at the shop that Yahoo mail and Yahoo messenger seem to be the most popular with customers by a pretty large margin, just as the number 1 start page? That damned Yahoo portal. While i think its the most cluttered mess I've ever seen users seem to love that crap, they use it like they used to use the daily paper, checking headlines, weather, hell even their horoscopes if they are into that.
In the end as long as we have choice? i honestly don't care who is #1. so congrats Google, don't really like your mail UI (I only use it for a public email address since it does have killer spam filtering) but so long as we have choices I'm happy for you.
And the first bug was Elk Cloner for mac...and? Frankly since Vista finally got rid of the legitimate complaint of Windows defaulting users to admins frankly I haven't seen a drive by in ages, its ALL just like TFA, tricking the user to do the dirty work.
And the problem with pointing out where the Macs don't get viruses came from is look above you friend, what did I say? What were my words? that Mac "true believers" use the dictionary definition game to claim "It don't count!" and damned if the very first reply was a user doing EXACTLY THAT, claiming that "Its not a viruz!" therefor? don't count.
I swear they act like little kids demanding a do over, and you know what i think? I think there is a little voice inside their head telling them they paid too much money for what is basically a fashion statement so they have to justify it, both to themselves and the world, that their choice is "superior" instead of simply accepting the fact that ALL OSES GET BUGS. Notice how it is ONLY Mac users that do this? I mean have you EVER seen a Ferrari owner trying to argue that his ride is a "better value" than a Mustang? or someone that buys Prada trying to argue its a better deal than payless? of course not, But Mac owners simply can't accept they bought based on brand identity and looks so here come the logic hoops. Kinda sad really.
Crap like this is why I've been saying for awhile people need to quit worrying about MSFT, which under Ballmer the only real skills they seem to have anymore is blowing money and shooting themselves in the face, and start worrying about Apple.
Just remember folks that Jobs before he died said he would happily spend his fortune to "Nuke Android" and I wouldn't be surprised if Cook hasn't forgotten those words. I'm sure he knows with Ballmer at the helm MSFT isn't a threat, as Zune and Kin and WinPhone 7 made quite clear, but high end Android devices with faster refreshes and newer and more powerful hardware IS very much a threat. I have a feeling its gonna get a whole lot nastier and I agree, if I was Samsung I wouldn't sell them so much as a screw.
Question: How does it handle? because i already have a dual core netbook that weighs less than 3 pounds and is easy peasy to carry, so for me to get one it needs to at least be snappy. I tried a tablet last year and the whole "click and wait" thing drove me nuts.
And while its cool that you snagged one for $89 if its slow as Xmas its really not that great a deal, especially when there are places you can grab a returned netbook for $148. But if it is at least snappy I may end up doing like you and picking up one just to play with.
Oh please! You say trojan to the average user and the want to know why their PC needs a rubber, you say backdoor and they start looking for that rubber for their PC and you say rootkit you get a deer in the headlights look.
Frankly, and I'm sure i'll get hate for saying this but ask me if I care, truth is truth, is that most of those I've seen that really REALLY care about that is because they are "true believers" who want to use it to say "But it doesn't count!" like an 8 year old demanding a do over on the playground. I have sat here on this very forum literally gobsmacked by people that otherwise seem intelligent saying "Only if it installs without the user does it count!" like the world owes them a do over.
Honestly folks to the end user it doesn't matter if it gets in from the front, back, or from stage left if it fucks their shit up, puts their ID at risk, or turns them into a spammer? Then its a bug, simple as that. if you want to quibble over semantics that is YOUR business but to 99% of the population a bug is a bug is a bug.
Frankly its a damned smart move, the amount of backlash most of us on the ground are seeing towards Win 8 has been pretty nasty and HP doesn't want another touchpad on its hands.
That said if the article we saw on prices the other week is true i think MSFT is about to be bitchslapped back into reality when they find out that 1.-No matter how Ballmer may delude himself they are NOT APPLE and 2.- Without the OEMs putting out Windows products MSFT is up shit creek without a paddle.
I have a feeling that MSFT isn't gonna realize their hubris until they take a real billion dollar bath on win 8, they aren't a hardware company, they frankly have sucked ass the times they have tried selling hardware ( even the X360 cost them a couple of billion in repairs) and if the OEMs are getting the same kind of feedback I've been getting winRT 8 is a big DO NOT WANT. MSFT simply has nothing to offer that the customer can't already get better from Apple or Google. Pissing off your OEMs when X86 has been flatline and you have not one but TWO competitors kicking your ass, one of which is free to use for the OEMs? Not smart MSFT, not very smart at all.
Slashdot Mirror
Well if you are worried then the answer is simple, support AMD who has switched to Coreboot instead of UEFI as the replacement for BIOS. Since I doubt VERY seriously MSFT would have the brass balls to try to ban AMD systems from running Win 8 (and most likely risking another antitrust investigation) they will have to allow AMD systems to use Coreboot which means if you don't like it? The source is right there, help yourself and flash away.
But whether FSF likes it or not MSFT seems bound and determined to get rid of Windows piracy not with the carrot but with the stick, since its common knowledge that Win 7 is completely cracked wide open thanks to bootloaders that even allow the machines to get all updates without so much as a WGA warning so like it or not MSFT is gonna push this. At least AMD is supporting an open tech that you can flash yourself, although you always have the option of just turning the damned thing off and not using Secureboot.
Personally while i think offering Win HP for $50 and the Family Pack for $100 (which there is one of the family packs being offered right now on deals.woot for $95 and free shipping, its on page 4 i believe) to end piracy ultimately its their OS and they can be as tarded as they want with it. I think everyone is getting their panties in a wad over nothing myself, the amount of backlash I've seen at the shop over Win 8 is 10 times worse than Vista so I have a feeling its gonna be the new MS Bob and the OEMs are gonna be killing secureboot and shipping Win 7 as fast as they can get them out the door. Don't forget Vista had crazy anti-piracy shit in it too and it BOMBED like Michael Richards at an NAACP fundraiser so I really think we don't have anything to worry about here.
To the Moz devs all that matters is they ape Google, just as they've done with FF aping Chrome. I mean what's next guys, Mozvision eyewear? This is as sad as Canonical putting out Ubuntu Netbook edition long after that ship had done sailed, anybody trying to get into mobile OSes now is frankly batshit insane.
Which is why I've said for years we need to slam down hard on any globalist who starts the "free trade" bullshit, because what we have now is NOT free trade, what we have is a handful of countries rigging the living hell out of the system and we take it like good little corporate drones. What we need is FAIR trade, where our goods and services are freely exchanged for their goods and services on an even playing field which is pretty fucking far from what we have right now with India and China. Oh and we need to tell anyone that says nationalistic like its a dirty word to STFU, as we've seen time and time again the countries that watch out for their own people first tend to do well while those that put every man for himself as the mantra tend to go to shit.
As for TFA $60 million? Hell that wouldn't even be considered pocket change to Apple. While the Chinese gov might consider that a decent bribe Apple will cut a check without a second thought and just write it off as the cost of business.
Actually since WinVista made running as user instead of admin the default the user really doesn't NEED to manage much of anything. My 71 year old dad got impatient because I hadn't had the time to come by and install Win 7 on his new desktop so he decided to DIY, man I had my gut in a knot figuring he screwed it up BIG time, what did I find? A perfectly running Win 7 machine. Not only did it take care of all the drivers but it told him on first run "Hey you don't have an antivirus. Would you like to be taken to a page with antivirus choices?" and he picked out MSE from the free options. The ONLY thing I had to do was show him where to get his Firefox from.
So while there are plenty of reasons to bitch about Windows management really isn't one of them, not if my 71 year old dad could install it himself and end up with a perfectly running and updated machine.
Ya know, when I hear Linux guys bitch about the reg i just have to LMAO, because frankly you have NOTHING that comes close to the ease of use of the reg. I have a customer with a problem? I can just email them a .reg file and tell them "clicky clicky and reboot" and voila! Problem solved. And I can do that with 1 machine or a thousand just as easily.
In the end all the bitching and whining about how much worse Windows is, yet your free OS couldn't even beat Vista, the most hated OS MSFT put out since WinME, what does that tell you? Hell more people pirate Windows than take your OS for free, doesn't that tell you that you are doing something wrong?
CLI is a server tech that deserves to stay in the server room and NOT on the desktop. the world has spoken, since Win 3.x CLI based OSes have gone exactly nowhere and after 20 years that is where Linux is, why? Because at the heart of the matter CLI has become a crutch, that's why. Have a problem? Bash. Can't make a GUI to save your life? Bash. Problem with sound, video, networking? Bash.
If you think your OS is so superior step right up and take the hairyfeet challenge. Simply remove CLI from your OS for 1 YEAR, that's all. Personally I doubt you'll even get it to boot, much less make even the 6 month mark, simply because CLI has become the all purpose crutch in Linux. Don't believe me, go ask for help with a common problem like say WiFi issues in ANY Linux forum and tell them you need a non CLI solution, I dare you. You'll will get cursed and insulted because in reality THEY CAN'T DO IT WITHOUT CLI.
So when you get to even 15% then you can jump on that high horse, but right now acting elitist about an OS that has barely beaten JavaME after being given away free for 20 years? that's just sad dude, and not something to be acting all elitist over.
Actually since its GPL V2 they can TiVo at any time if they choose, but a better solution would be as i said, have a boot screen that has something similar to the Windows Experience Index or something like AMD with their Fusion branding.
because in the end the users simply have NO way to tell what is good and what is shit, they can't tell which carriers and manufacturers are abandoning until they get burnt, the ONLY one right now with consistent support cycles is Apple. that's bad for business and if Google doesn't get a handle on it they are liable to end up with ONLY CCC being used for Android because nobody will risk spending real money only to get burnt.
Why? Because you think having a throwback UI older than Disco Stu's wardrobe makes you "leet"?
Lets get one thing clear right off the bat, okay? CLI is good for TWO THINGS and two things ONLY and that is 1.-Repetitive tasks, and 2.-Scripting. Now how many CONSUMERS are gonna be doing either of those things? Do you think Joe the backhoe operator is gonna get his web pages by scripting a daemon like RMS does? Do you think Suzy the checkout girl is gonna spend her weekends writing Bash scripts? NO!
The ONLY PEOPLE who need CLI are admins, if you are not an admin? Then you really don't need it. sadly too many in the FOSS community have this "CLI makes me smart and stuff!" when in reality CLI blows chunks unless your tasks fall into #1 or #2 above, if they don't? Pointless, absolutely fricking pointless.
If you want to pretend its 1978, call people "hackers" like RMS does, and pretend that copypasta is cool? hey knock yourself out, its a free country. But do NOT bitch and whine when your numbers stay where they are, which is lower than the fricking margin for error. For the love of God guys, its been 20 damned years already and you can't even beat Vista, which was the most hated MSFT release since WinME, doesn't that give you ANY clue? How about the fact the only headway you've gotten at all is Android, which guess what? Doesn't use a CLI for shit.
Look its your choice, either play to win or get off the field. but having this frankly insane delusion that you can get the masses to "embrace the power of CLI" like its the God damned force has gone on long enough. the market has made it clear its a big DO NOT WANT, oh and before anyone brings up Powershell? Yeah that's a SERVER TECH that nobody has on a desktop. in fact since its been out I have yet to see a single install of PS in the wild, nobody uses it.
In the end you could remove CLI via a patch tomorrow from Windows and OSX and you know what? Nobody would notice. Remove CLI from Linux? You'd be damned lucky if it would even boot, it sure wouldn't be functional for any length of time. Its your choice guys, but don't cry when everyone has told you why nobody wants it and you refuse to change.
I'm sure i'll get hate for saying this but WTF, truth is truth:
It is NOT the engines that are the problem, hell there are still plenty of guys playing games like Freelancer and Far Cry I out there and those are pretty damned far behind the curve, its the simple fact that the FOSS community simply won't put in the work to make decent games.
Now don't get me wrong, not saying making games is easy, just that the engine isn't the problem. i mean what did we get from the last source code releases? 50 bazillion rip offs of Q3 Arena that's what. it doesn't really matter WHAT engine you have if they are all putting out the same tired as hell DM and CTF fragfests over and over AND OVER without deviation. No single player, no story, no innovation, they just come up with some maps and character models and away you go.
So while I'm glad they give out these engines to the community frankly the guys modding non free games have been consistently better when it comes to quality and variety than anything I've yet seen built with one of these free engines. take Freelancer, there have been a dozen new campaigns made by modders, with hundreds of new star systems, a full Elite style economy based system, factions and reputations added, you can play some of those in SP for weeks and not see it all, whereas what will we get from this? CTF and DM and...well that's all, CTF and DM.
So while i'm sure i'll get tons of hate for pointing this out you all KNOW this guys, its the same thing we've seen with every other damned engine release. do I wish it were different? Hell yeah, I would love it if there were a free game built with this that had a rich story, interesting characters, something that would really spark some interest in FOSS gaming, but instead what we'll get is the FPS equivalent of Tux Racer, just the same old same old. And please, for the love of the FSM no more damned Q3 Arena copies, okay? I mean we already have a fricking bazillion MP only FPS games, we really don't need anymore.
I've always liked old Yahtzee, grumpy little Brit that he is, and he basically said the exact same thing I've been saying to Apple buyers for years...If you like it then just buy the damned thing!
Its just like he said about that niggling little doubt because honestly i can't think of anything else that would make then not be able to stand it if others don't instantly agree that they made the superior choice. i mean do you see Ferrari owners with bullet points on why its a "better value" than a Mustang? Or those that buy Prada comparing their purchase to payless? NO!
So just buy Apple if you like it, just don't pretend it is anything than what it is which is fashion. They have the same failure rates as the other big names, they are behind the curve pretty consistently, and before anybody brings up retina I'd point out you have been able to buy ultra high def laptops for years, they are simply a tiny niche that rarely gets reviewed because its usually targeted to niche users like pro photoshoppers and the medical industry, so it all comes down to design aesthetics and branding.
Again nothing wrong with that, I have several brands I prefer myself, from asus to Asrock, RC Cola to Ford ranger. I simply don't go around trying to claim my choice is "superior' to anybody else because i accept that is exactly what it is, a choice. its personal taste, a preference, no different than what kind of shoes i like or what designs I prefer on t-shirts. just be happy and accept it, is that REALLY so much to ask from Apple owners?
Have you SEEN Win 8? Or looked at the figures for WinPhone? Or looked at how much money they wasted on kin and Zune?
I think a damned good argument could be made that MSFT IS IBM, another once big cheese that now only have a legacy business that will continue to make money but who will never ever be top dog ever again. hell there is even some debate as to whether the X360 has made a dime in profit yet or not, because one has to figure in the billions they spent on it and Xbox 1 and the 2 billion plus in repairs over RRoD.
So acting like its still 1998 and Gates is running the company is just retarded. Ballmer is a shitty CEO, the vast majority of their products other than the legacy Windows and Office markets have flopped, and the future is obviously mobile which MSFT doesn't seem to have a snowball's chance in hell of getting in on. its over, its done, the fat lady is down the street having a sammich.
But are they REALLY dead, or do they just not talk to YOU with them? No offense meant but I don't give anyone but friends and family my yahoo accounts, my Gmail is strictly for public contacts like...well slashdot. this way i don't have to care about some spammer scraping it and piling onto an account I give a damn about and most of the folks I've talked to have both a "public" and a "private" account although many are now using the FB contact as public and their Yahoo or Hotmail (which I really only see older folks using) is private.
Notice how quick they were to mod me down LOL? Truth hurts, but I never was into coddling or lies. If they like the looks, design aesthetic, or OSX? I do NOT have a problem with that, anymore than I have a problem with someone liking Gucci or Prada, just be HONEST and admit that is why you like it! Because their repair rate is NO BETTER than anybody else's, their hardware is always behind the curve (and before anybody brings up retina, PCs have had high def screens for ages, they are a small niche sold to the pro user market) and they are making on average 50%+ profits per unit. Can you find ANY PC manufacturers working with those kind of margins? Nope but there is a place you CAN find those kinds of margins....fashion. Many of the high end fashion houses make 50%+ on the margins as well.
My late sister actually abandoned her Neon on the side of the road after the 8th or 9th breakdown, she said "I am NOT dealing with this POS Dodge anymore!" threw the keys into the front seat and walked away LOL! She went and got herself a Taurus that we still have to this day, damned good car. Everyone I know that has had a Dodge made after the late 70s has had nothing but problems, the damned things just fall apart. I was talking to a neighbor who found him a sweetheart deal on a 95 Ranger yesterday about this and he said "My Ram ran great...until it hit 70K and then it fell apart around me, I practically needed a net behind me to catch all the falling parts" LOL!
But that is why I've told everyone that tries to buy my Ranger, which is a LOT when they find out I have one of the Vulcan V6 XLTs, no thanks because its just too damned reliable. Sure there are a couple of little scratches I need to take care of and she ain't great on gas but she purrs like a kitten and looks great and is one of the most comfortable trucks to drive I've ever had. my oldest boy's S10 is too damned laid back for me, I swear those seats are like sitting in a low rider. We had to do about a $1000 worth of front end work to his when we first got it, no damage mind you just worn out from the rough roads around here, but considering we only paid $1400 for it and it was otherwise perfect it was a really good deal. I balked when I heard what was wrong with it but my dad said "I'll take care of it" and when I asked why he was so jazzed on that truck he said "Just look at it son, remember Jackson just turned 18 and is heading off to college, remember how YOU were at that age?" and I looked at the midnight blue with mags and bucket seats and just about died and sure enough, dad was right. I don't know how many times I've driven past the college and seen Jackson in his "cool pose" leaning up against the truck talking to friends LOL!
But if you need a good truck you can't go wrong with the Ranger or the F350s, I know plenty of folks with both and they are damned well built trucks. There is a reason why all the large shops like Orkin and Napa use the Ranger, it makes a hell of a company truck (which is why damned near every Ranger including mine is Company White) and if you need to haul large loads you just can't beat the F350. My dad tried Dodge one year about 5 years ago and after 4 times in the shop in less than a year on a brand new Ram that was all she wrote, now its F350s all the way. In fact i have to swing by his shop tomorrow to look at his new baby, he just got himself a brand new F350 fully loaded. You just can't beat a Ford or Chevy when it comes to long life, Dodge doesn't even come close.
My question would be "How long is Google gonna pour a billion a year into a platform they have ZERO control over?" which is really what it comes down to. I mean why EXACTLY is there so much fragmentation in the Android section? Because CCC (Cheapo Chinese Crap) use Android on devices that can just BARELY support the version that it is running, so even if they open it up good luck on trying to get the latest version to limp along. There is a reason why Apple cuts off support for their older versions of iPhone folks, its because they would run like crap with the latest version of iOS installed.
While those that lock down Android is still a problem I'd say the CCC that is flooding the market is a bigger one. Maybe Google should put out base specs? Like low/medium/high or maybe like AMD does with their Fusion chips? Because for the average folks its hard to tell what a good unit is and what a bad unit is because they have no idea how to read the specs. Can't go by price because as we all know there are plenty of places like Woot! that will sell overstocked units for crazy cheap prices, can't go by look because while its pretty easy to spot the difference between a $1000 laptop and a $400 one by build quality and finish all these tablets and phones are just plastic squares.
But I'd love to see the figures because i bet the biggest users of old Android are the CCC manufacturers. hell go to any China Mart style eStore and see how many Android 2 devices are still being sold. If there was an easy way for a developer to put down "requires Android Plus" or something that might help some but in the end a device that can barely run Android 2 is sure as hell not gonna run Android 4 in a usable way, it just don't have the power. For Google to fix this they are gonna have to have some sort of base specs and just cut off any access from the really old versions, although even then I have a feeling it'll be awhile before the CCCs quit using it, after all look how long the CCCs used Android 1.4-1.6.
Turn off Aero Glass as that is the source of the problem friend. I spent about a week hunting down the source of that lag, since with an HD4850 frankly I had more than overkill for Aero but looking deep into the logs it always came down to Aero causing desktop lag. Once i killed Aero for a Vista Black theme frankly it has been insanely fast, and that is with a system that is probably half the speed of yours, an AMD Hexa with 8Gb of RAM, a 5200 RPM OS drive and a 512Mb of RAM GPU and frankly Win 7 screams. hell it even is snappy on my E350 netbook but I again killed Aero.
Actually i would recommend the same thing i do with my customers which is get them a USB drive and install Paragon Backup Free which makes it beyond simple to make disc images and even comes with a Linux based CD Image that lets you fix a messed up Windows OS even if it is screwed beyond booting. This way you can try any of the Win 8 previews and if you don't like it? simply roll the OS back using Paragon with no nasty files left behind. of course i also recommend they have a second drive or partition to keep their data on that way you don't have a reason to give a damn about the OS, but that is up to you of course.
Frankly after playing around with both DP and CP in the shop I'm just not impressed by Win 8. Oh I'm sure it'll be nice...on a cell phone or a tablet, but since i'm not running it on a cell phone or a tablet i don't get what the point is. if I wanted all the tweeting twitting social crap frankly i can get that with Win 7 gadgets and I've found metro UI to be like a damned boat anchor without a touchscreen, it always seems like I'm fighting to get it to do what i want it to do while it screams "Hey want to do some tweets? How about FB? Windows Live? What kind of asshole are you that you don't want to know every time a relative passes gas?" and simply refuses to just get the hell out of my way.
so in the end I'm gonna have to agree with those that have played with the Win 8 test box at the shop and say "no thanks, I already have a cell phone" and skip it. hell even my oldest who practically has his smartphone glued to his fingers said "I already have a smartphone so what do i need this for?" and I have to agree, its just trying too hard to be this hipster social media tablet/cell OS and on a desktop that really just sucks.
She got what we call a "bundle bite" which is common as dirt friend and comes from "free" software, all that means is she just went "clicky clicky next next next" and refused to even take 4 seconds to look at what she was agreeing to. Since most of the bundle bites have a checkbox that you can uncheck to keep out the toolbars I'd be hard pressed to call that one anything but PEBKAC since unlike a bug they aren't trying to trick you, they just figure you're too damned lazy to even uncheck a checkbox.
BTW next time she needs some software, mind a suggestion? Ninite has all the third party stuff most folks want, media players and browsers and messengers and all kinds of software and TOOLBAR FREE so she doesn't even have to uncheck any checkboxes, its fully automated. Just have her check a box for each piece of software she wants and run it, simple as that. You can even use it to see if you have the latest versions as it'll skip any install that is up to date.
Click and wait is when you launch an app and then have to wait on it to load, sometimes depending on the model it can feel like ages. Even that $148 netbook I linked to has Superfetch and Readyboost which means you pop a cheapo SD card in it and after the first time you launch a program Windows will preload much of your programs into memory so you don't have click and wait. On my netbook I went ahead and spent the whole $34 to load it up with 8Gb of RAM and now frankly its nearly as snappy as an SSD when it comes to loading programs because they are already in RAM and waiting when i click the icon and of course nothing beats RAM for access time.
And please remember the two machines you named cost more than a quad core laptop, the machine the other poster was describing is $89-$99 every day. I honestly can't see myself paying $500 for any tablet, they are just not enough of a useful device to be worth anywhere near that kind of money. My netbook costs $350, weighs 3 pounds, gets 5-6 hours watching 720p depending on screen brightness and around 7 surfing as long as I'm not using BT, oh and since it comes with 500Gb worth of space i can load all my music and any movies i may care to see and HDMI means when i get to a friend's or family member's place i can use it as a portable HTPC.
So there really isn't enough utility in a $500 tablet for me to even consider it but if the $99 tablet isn't slow as Xmas it might be worth playing with.
To me the sad part is its just so damned predictable. I mean even in my reply to another user there it was again, another using dictionary attacks and logic hoops to try to argue "Nuh uh,...Windows gets waaay more so there!" again like they were fricking 6 years old. I'm sure those mac users that get their ID stolen or lose their data or get turned into a spammer will feel real proud that their "superior platform" gets less than Windows. Of course the fact that Windows has several free and pay for AVs like Avast and Comodo Internet Security that by default sandbox everything and thus make it a HELL of a lot harder than a Mac to infect? never gets mentioned.
I still think its some sort of guilt over paying that much for fashion but I say if you like fashion? Then just buy it and be happy. I mean I like Asrock and Gigabyte boards, and Asus and Acer portables, but do you see me saying they are "superior" to anybody else's? Nope, its a personal preference, no different than what pizza i like or what style t-shirts I prefer, that's all.
And funny enough I've never seen that with Dodge truck owners, usually they are too busy cursing because its in the shop for the fifth time in 6 months, which is usually followed by them getting a Chevy or a Ford ;-) But you are right about old age, I hardly ever see even an 8 year old Dodge on the road yet I'm happy as a clam with my 99 Ranger XLT and my oldest just loves his 2000 Chevy S10 sport cab. Both run like the day they rolled off the lot, no hassles, no breakage, just purr like kittens.
Not to mention by not having the $50 HP upgrade or the $100 Family Packs MSFT has pretty much made sure that those that took advantage of those and adopted Win 7 early (and there were a LOT of those, if you'll remember they had to crank out extra runs as the original run of discs sold out quickly) simply won't give Win 8 a second thought. I know that even though I've been playing with Win 8 CP at the shop and can't stand it I'd have probably picked up a copy of HP at $50 simply because there is always the possibility they could fix it, like they did with Vista with SP2, but pay over $100 for a tweeting twitting FB shitting cell phone OS? Not a snowball's chance in hell.
So let me say thanks MSFT, thanks for making it even easier to avoid your new product. Thanks to those family packs I have my whole family on Win 7 now which is solid, stable, easier to manage than any OS I've ever dealt with (Remote assistance with easy connect is just too damned easy for remote fixes or walking them through software installs) and since its supported until 2020 as you pointed out there is simply no reason to bother with Win 8, the Supergigantic smartphone OS.
But is there anybody that really cares THAT MUCH to go through all that trouble? I mean seriously, is there anything that is gonna be THAT earth shaking posted here? if you just post honestly frankly the mods even themselves out and you'll have decent karma, the only thing I would change (other than as you said fix the whole zero click problem) is to make sure that a mod doesn't keep going after a single user, just to make sure they are actually moderating and not attacking a single user because of some sort of grudge. After all if its a truly shitty post somebody else will mod it down, no need for one mod to keep hitting the same user unless there is some sort of a vendetta thing going on. i would have it that if they modded the same user twice in X number of days they would get a heads up and if they continued to go after that user then they wouldn't get any mod points ever again. Oh and maybe have a limit on number of accounts by IP, as crazy sock puppety like Mikey 500 accounts is a little too damned obvious.
As for TFA, I thought Yahoo Mail was the biggest, did MSFT somehow get credit for the Yahoo users when they did the search deal? I can tell you here at the shop that Yahoo mail and Yahoo messenger seem to be the most popular with customers by a pretty large margin, just as the number 1 start page? That damned Yahoo portal. While i think its the most cluttered mess I've ever seen users seem to love that crap, they use it like they used to use the daily paper, checking headlines, weather, hell even their horoscopes if they are into that.
In the end as long as we have choice? i honestly don't care who is #1. so congrats Google, don't really like your mail UI (I only use it for a public email address since it does have killer spam filtering) but so long as we have choices I'm happy for you.
And the first bug was Elk Cloner for mac...and? Frankly since Vista finally got rid of the legitimate complaint of Windows defaulting users to admins frankly I haven't seen a drive by in ages, its ALL just like TFA, tricking the user to do the dirty work.
And the problem with pointing out where the Macs don't get viruses came from is look above you friend, what did I say? What were my words? that Mac "true believers" use the dictionary definition game to claim "It don't count!" and damned if the very first reply was a user doing EXACTLY THAT, claiming that "Its not a viruz!" therefor? don't count.
I swear they act like little kids demanding a do over, and you know what i think? I think there is a little voice inside their head telling them they paid too much money for what is basically a fashion statement so they have to justify it, both to themselves and the world, that their choice is "superior" instead of simply accepting the fact that ALL OSES GET BUGS. Notice how it is ONLY Mac users that do this? I mean have you EVER seen a Ferrari owner trying to argue that his ride is a "better value" than a Mustang? or someone that buys Prada trying to argue its a better deal than payless? of course not, But Mac owners simply can't accept they bought based on brand identity and looks so here come the logic hoops. Kinda sad really.
Crap like this is why I've been saying for awhile people need to quit worrying about MSFT, which under Ballmer the only real skills they seem to have anymore is blowing money and shooting themselves in the face, and start worrying about Apple.
Just remember folks that Jobs before he died said he would happily spend his fortune to "Nuke Android" and I wouldn't be surprised if Cook hasn't forgotten those words. I'm sure he knows with Ballmer at the helm MSFT isn't a threat, as Zune and Kin and WinPhone 7 made quite clear, but high end Android devices with faster refreshes and newer and more powerful hardware IS very much a threat. I have a feeling its gonna get a whole lot nastier and I agree, if I was Samsung I wouldn't sell them so much as a screw.
Question: How does it handle? because i already have a dual core netbook that weighs less than 3 pounds and is easy peasy to carry, so for me to get one it needs to at least be snappy. I tried a tablet last year and the whole "click and wait" thing drove me nuts.
And while its cool that you snagged one for $89 if its slow as Xmas its really not that great a deal, especially when there are places you can grab a returned netbook for $148. But if it is at least snappy I may end up doing like you and picking up one just to play with.
Oh please! You say trojan to the average user and the want to know why their PC needs a rubber, you say backdoor and they start looking for that rubber for their PC and you say rootkit you get a deer in the headlights look.
Frankly, and I'm sure i'll get hate for saying this but ask me if I care, truth is truth, is that most of those I've seen that really REALLY care about that is because they are "true believers" who want to use it to say "But it doesn't count!" like an 8 year old demanding a do over on the playground. I have sat here on this very forum literally gobsmacked by people that otherwise seem intelligent saying "Only if it installs without the user does it count!" like the world owes them a do over.
Honestly folks to the end user it doesn't matter if it gets in from the front, back, or from stage left if it fucks their shit up, puts their ID at risk, or turns them into a spammer? Then its a bug, simple as that. if you want to quibble over semantics that is YOUR business but to 99% of the population a bug is a bug is a bug.
Frankly its a damned smart move, the amount of backlash most of us on the ground are seeing towards Win 8 has been pretty nasty and HP doesn't want another touchpad on its hands.
That said if the article we saw on prices the other week is true i think MSFT is about to be bitchslapped back into reality when they find out that 1.-No matter how Ballmer may delude himself they are NOT APPLE and 2.- Without the OEMs putting out Windows products MSFT is up shit creek without a paddle.
I have a feeling that MSFT isn't gonna realize their hubris until they take a real billion dollar bath on win 8, they aren't a hardware company, they frankly have sucked ass the times they have tried selling hardware ( even the X360 cost them a couple of billion in repairs) and if the OEMs are getting the same kind of feedback I've been getting winRT 8 is a big DO NOT WANT. MSFT simply has nothing to offer that the customer can't already get better from Apple or Google. Pissing off your OEMs when X86 has been flatline and you have not one but TWO competitors kicking your ass, one of which is free to use for the OEMs? Not smart MSFT, not very smart at all.