CharlotteTheHarlot

Loose ends from the previous week or two ... Miscellaneous ... Telefonica joins forces with Microsoft to eliminate iOS, Android duopoly ( TechSpot 2013-06-26 ) Telefónica to push Windows Phone 8 to fight 'duopoly of Android and iOS' ( NeoWin 2013-06-26 ) Looks like Microsoft has roped in an unwitting accomplice in a last ditch effort to save its WP. They probably have been approaching all kinds of major carriers that deal in Android and iOS handsets and could only get this one to play ball, else we would have heard something more, eh? One commenter at TechSpot speaks his mind ... Understanding the Duopoly Phenomenon ( John C. Dvorak PC Magazine 2013-06-26 ) Dvorak's philosophy on duopoly. I take it a little farther myself, and play down the Apple-Microsoft faux competition. It is a duopoly but not a competition. It is more like the crips and bloods dividing up the territory and scrupulously avoiding trespassing each others' turf, ever. They have never competed, until Surface. Ever. Steve Ballmer: 'Rapid Release' is the new norm ( NeoWin 2013-06-26 ) Microsoft Shooting for Weekly Refresh with Office ( Tom's Hardware 2013-07-01 ) Ah, just what the doctor ordered - an ever-changing codebase. Now there is a real plan for stability. Eh, whatever. The real reason for it is so that when you get automatically billed you can then say: "Well I guess it's worth it, I mean it must be because they're always updating this thing in the background." ( everyone has heard that kind of comment before ). Microsoft calls it an update, I call it a placebo. The Windows sheeple are merely patients in a giant double-blind medical trial. GUIs: The computing revolution that turned us into cranky idiots ( ZDNet 2013-06-28 ) The author writes a pretty good historical article, and is doing fine until he flat-out lies about Windows 95, so I guess his whole post must be brought into question. Where do they get this stuff? ~sigh~ Rather than tear him a new one I'll just quote two excellent replies found in the comments ... These two actually do know what they are talking about. I might have been a little hard on the author because he only has that little sentence, but it has become a meme among the MicroParrots and must be corrected.

Loose ends from the previous week or two ... The Competition and Miscellaneous ... Intel Subsidiary Havok Launches Free Mobile 3D Engine ( Tom's Hardware 2013-06-26 ) Along with many other I haven't been too happy with Intel lately. I keep hoping that they will wake up and realize that Microsoft will dump them like a bad habit if Windows ARM takes off or some other chip family comes along. Maybe, just maybe they are testing the waters of independence ( remember, Wintel has no real need for Microsoft to write an operating system because Intel is fully capable of producing software for the chips they design and manufacture ). Here is a little more perhaps shedding light on their angle ... Very interestink! ( - Arte Johnson ) Yahoo closing several products, including Yahoo Axis and AltaVista ( NeoWin 2013-06-29 ) Yahoo Takes AltaVista Search Engine Off Life Support ( Maximum PC 2013-07-02 ) Well, for a proper fond farewell I decided to launch one last search into AltaVista ( Yahoo powered by Bing ) using an appropriate subject search. So here is a final souvenir from AltaVista ( 234 KB ) ... Mozilla and partners launch first Firefox OS smartphone ( TechSpot 2013-07-01 ) ZTE Open to release tomorrow, as first Firefox OS device for the public ( NeoWin 2013-07-02 ) Firefox OS Tablets Coming Soon, Says Mozilla CTO ( Tom's Hardware 2013-07-02 ) Mozilla Announces First Firefox OS Smartphones ( Tom's Hardware 2013-07-02 ) It may not look like much yet, but they are not aiming at the top-end boutique hipster. I didn't really know what to make of this but I think it has to do with the good name recognition they have earned in the long fought battle in the browser arena. Both Mozilla and Firefox carry an independent connotation, and that just might help them grab a foothold in a market that is getting saturated. I figure if you are looking for a cheap phone and you have to choose from several brands that are not all familiar to you, the name alone might just lock up that purchase when faced with a quick decision. Regardless of their success, every one of these things that sells is one less WP that could have moved. And I think the exact same plan will work for their tablets as well. So how's that plan working out Ballmer? HP executive confirms a smartphone is in the pipeline ( TechSpot 2013-07-01 ) HP Hints Again at Return to Smartphone Market ( Tom's Hardware 2013-07-02 ) HP looking to get back into the smartphone race ( NeoWin 2013-07-02 ) And another one! I'm more optimistic than all the commenters at these threads who keep reminding us of Palm and WebOS. They have a different CEO now and she can't possible be as bad as the last guy. I suspect all they need to do is follow through and not kill the project and they will at least sell some phones and maybe tablets. And once again, every one that moves is one less MicroToy that sells. None of these stories are good news for Microsoft and Steve Ballmer, who only thrive in a monopolized, captive market. This, on the hand, is what we call competition, so may the best man win ( ... and may the fat man lose ). Google's Moto X ad says it is 'the first smartphone that you can design yourself' ( NeoWin 2013-07-02 ) Motorola Ad Teases Customizable, U.S.-made Moto X Phone ( Tom's Hardware 2013-07-03 ) This does look interesting ( and many of the commenters at NeoWin would seem to agree ). They're hitiing all the points for USA buyers, made in America ( mostly ), simple and effective ads, even the new updated Motorola logo looks sharp. But the thing about designing the phone ( spec'ing it ) yourself is quite a differentiator. That puts them miles above Microsoft IMHO, and truthfully it is unexpected from Google also. We may have something very different here indeed. EDIT: added article

Loose ends from the previous week or two ... Windows 8 and Blew ( continued ) ... Windows 8 hits 100,000 apps milestone ( NeoWin 2013-07-01 ) This article has made the rounds but guess what, it includes a yet another big lie!. When they say "just over seven months", I wonder what kind of calendar they are using! Let's go to the videotape, shall we: Windows Store in Windows 8 RTM now open for paid app submissions (2012-08-01 ) ... ruh roh! That is 11 months on the nose. And this is being repeated all over the place. It goes to show the group-think mentality that is prevalent among these Nimrods. Windows 8 market share passes Windows Vista ( NeoWin 2013-07-01 ) Windows 8 bests Vista as third-most used OS, gains 5.1% of market ( TechSpot 2013-07-01 ) Small Victory: Windows 8 Finally Leapfrogs Vista in Market Share ( Maximum PC 2013-07-01 ) Windows 8 vaults past Vista, IE10 continues to surge ( Ars Technica 2013-07-01 ) Windows 8 Finally Passes Windows Vista in Market Share ( Tom's Hardware 2013-07-01 ) Celebrate .... Wait, what? ... Windows 8 just increased by 0.83 %, but since it passed Vista ( hehe, Ars Technica says "Vaults!" ) it is big news among fanboys. Meanwhile Windows XP and 7 are at 37% and 44% repectively. I don't know if anyone has noticed but there is a positively ironic consequence coming thanks to Microsoft's insane version numbering policy, that marketing-propaganda trick of avoiding "Service Pack" nomenclature and opting for a point release. Now they are going to have no choice but to break out Windows 8.0 and 8.1 as separately as the Mac OS X versions are! If they don't it will be as transparent a scam as they have ever pulled, but I wouldn't put it past them. I suggest the folks at Net Applications to be expecting a phone call about this! Desktop Gadgets (unofficially) comes to Windows 8.1 ( NeoWin 2013-07-02 ) Winaero, an independent 3rd party, has added gadgets to Windows 8.1 Blew ( and had already done the same for 8.0 ). Naturally the MetroTards start to cry ... "oh no, don't put them back please!" ... and: "2007 called..." ( courtesy of Dot MetroTard ) ... and: "gross" ... and: "Why??" ... and my favorite: "What's next? Active Desktop?". Figures he has no clue that he is using Active Desktop, and an even uglier implementataion of it than it was originally. Hey MetroTards, 1998 called, they want their Tiles back! Windows 8.1 to be invaded by ads within Bing search results ( NeoWin 2013-07-02 ) Pretty contentious discussion with a handful of hardcore MicroZealots defending the indefensible, as usual. Here's a bit showing typical arrogance from a hapless Microsoft employee and a good response back at him ... Well stated. So we're "crotchety forum posters" eh? I guess that NuMicrosoft attitude really is company poilcy now. Well I goota ask this: do you fools really think you're hipsters? Do you seriously NOT cringe at those idi0tic dance commercials? Do you really think that a billion dollar marketing campaign can spin your image as anything except a lumbering dinosaur following in the footsteps of IBM? Another Great comment at the same thread ... Exactly. Windows 8 usage on Steam up to 13.02 percent in June ( NeoWin 2013-07-02 ) ~sigh~ Not this sh!t again. First of all just look at their dopey wording - Windows on Steam? Secondly, as mentioned every month in the past this is a survey of Steam users, a voluntary questionaire, not a system information query. It constitutes a self-selecting subset of Steam members, and not a representative sample. It is even less accurate than the CEIP telemetry that Sinofsky and Julie and Jensen used to kill the Start Menu! Finally, and most importantly, Steam users are not "power users" or hard core "gamers". There are some on Steam certainly, but the bulk of their clientele are moderate to light gamers that are looking for the easy way to get to gaming without messing around with all the roadblocks that Microsoft has thrown our way. So in summary, each time they look at the Steam survey for some much-needed good news, they are making further fools of themselves. But I guess that is what fools do. EDIT: added article(s)

Loose ends from the previous week or two ... Windows 8 and Blew ... Download Windows 8.1 Preview: Start button returns, boot to desktop, better search and more ( TechSpot 2013-06-26 ) Microsoft's Build 2013 keynote, Windows 8.1 showcased and more ( Maximum PC 2013-06-26 ) On the two-year anniversary of the first look at Windows 8, the battle is still going strong. Two years of criticism and we are still at it. Their arrogance and stubborness is legendary and epic. The comment war as usual is lively leading to this funny truth ... Hands-On with Windows 8.1: Boot to Desktop ( Thurrott 2013-06-26 ) Hands-On with Windows 8.1: Start Button (OK, it’s really just a subtly changed Start tip) ( Thurrott 2013-06-26 ) Two articles from Paul Thurrott out of probably a hundred he has devoted to the Windows 8.1 Blew Microsoft PropagandaFest. Paul is nothing if tenacious about defending his baby. He does slip back into medication territory though with this crazy sentence ... Say what? Is he living in an alternate universe? With Windows 8.1, can Microsoft get its mojo back? ( Ed Bott ZDNet 2013-06-27 ) Relatively sane musings from Ed MicroBott, for once! In it he has a pretty good line ... New Start8 beta compatible with Windows 8.1 preview released ( NeoWin 2013-06-27 ) And the MetroTards never fail to miss an opportunity to open their mouthes and cry like the little girls that they are. Confirmed: Windows 8.1 Doesn’t Allow Users to Disable the Start Button ( Softpedia 2013-06-28 ) Hey, even I think that should be an option. I don't think it's fair to confuse the MetroTards. ( Okay, I actually do but my belief in choice supercedes messing with the 'Tards ) Distributors, Analysts Agree Windows 8.1 Won't Perform Miracles in the PC Space ( Maximum PC 2013-06-28 ) The MPC gang teeing off on Microsoft in the comments. It's like exercise, you gotta get up and stretch your legs every so often.

Loose ends from the previous week or two ... Xbox and related ( continued ) ... Alienware Admits Consoles Are Now Resembling PCs ( Tom's Hardware 2013-06-28 ) Maybe so, but never forget that the true goal of Microsoft and everyone else is ... PC's that resemble consoles. And not in appearance. The goal is for the destruction of PC's, by definition. The goal is for no device to be capable of anything not expressly approved of by Microsoft, the Games Industry ( Big Entertainment ), Big Hollywood, Big Music, and of course Big Government. All these skirmishes are the pea-shell game. They will get there in baby steps if necessary, but they will get there. This is why we must fight. Time Warner Cable to offer 300 live channels on Xbox 360 ( TechSpot 2013-06-28 ) Time Warner Cable app coming to Xbox 360 this summer ( NeoWin 2013-06-28 ) Microsoft and Time Warner Cable Announce Xbox 360 Deal ( Tom's Hardware 2013-07-01 ) This one is very strange. In order to even use the app you will have to already have a Time-Warner subscription ( this is cable TV ). Then you will have access to about 300 channels. But wouldn't you already be using the cable for just that on the TV in the first place? More importantly, unless the Xbox has a coaxial cable input like a DVR ( the feed from Time-Warner is coax cable ) then this would have to be connected by ethernet. Now, either way it sure looks to me like Xbox will be loading up the data bandwidth on the cable, blowing your Internet capacity out the Window. Cable is typically sucky over here unless you pay for an extraordinary data plan. If you have the most common arrangement, Cable TV + Phone + Internet ( aka Triple Play ), the Internet portion is only like 15 to 20 Mb/s download. So I don't get how this is that great an idea yet. Maybe someone else knows. Xbox head Don Mattrick to depart Microsoft, headed to Zynga? ( NeoWin 2013-07-01 ) Xbox chief Don Mattrick heading for top position at Zynga, sources say (update) ( TechSpot 2013-07-01 ) Xbox One Boss Don Mattrick Leaves Microsoft for Zynga ( Tom's Hardware 2013-07-01 ) Microsoft's Don Mattrick officially Zynga's new CEO ( NeoWin 2013-07-01 ) Microsoft's Don Mattrick Headed to Zynga, Stock Surges ( Maximum PC 2013-07-02 ) Steve Ballmer Steps Into Don Mattrick's Shoes to Lead Xbox Division ( Maximum PC 2013-07-02 ) Steve Ballmer is Taking Command of Xbox One ( Tom's Hardware 2013-07-02 ) Conflicting reports emerge about why Don Mattrick is leaving Microsoft ( NeoWin 2013-07-03 ) The guy who first flipped off criticism by saying if you want backward compatibility to get a Xbox 360. Then after the Xbox 180 announcement his name is floated as a possible top honcho in Softieville. Now he jumps ship. Well my head is spinning. You know what's weird? I can't tell if either Microsoft or Zynga gained or lost on this deal! And now for somethng completely different ( and that's the point ) ... Pre-order Rise of the Triad Remake; Launches This Month ( Tom's Hardware 2013-07-01 ) ( I couldn't resist the juxtaposition of old style gaming and lack of restrictions versus the modern evolved locked-down walled garden model. ROTT to the rescue! ) Jeez, I remember this game so well, it was a good step up from Wolf3D which was the engine that is was based on. It managed to come out in that gap between Wolf3D and Doom and IIRC, they were first to unlock the Z-axis ( player could move vertically ), and also introduced elevator and jump pads which obviously became the norm ever since. But the best thing was that the designers went for a wild and wacky arsenal of weapons, setting the precedent for so many later games like Quake and Unreal. If I'm not mistaken, they introduced the bazooka, drunk missile, and that great flamethrower thing. It was definitely way ahead of its time, and it's coming back . There is a Wikipedia page for the original that describes a lot of details about the backstory that I never knew at the time. One thing that Rise Of The Triad had that I have never seen since was a random level generator that could create unique one-of-a-kind maps. I thought this was a brilliant idea and have often wondered why no-one else ever exploited the possibilities of it. Since it is not mentioned anywhere in the press release I guess it won't be included in the remake which is too bad. But heck, this is gonna be good. EDIT: added link

( Finally getting a break from two weeks of torrential rain, outages, and other fun stuff. Quite a backlog of articles! Apologies in advance if they have been covered because I have no time to doublecheck all the posts. ) Loose ends from the previous week or two ... Xbox and related ... MSFT: Xbox One Headset is a Must Have (But Not Included with Console) ( Tom's Hardware 2013-06-27 ) MSFT Working on Xbox One Adapter for 360 Headsets ( Tom's Hardware 2013-06-27 ) In the first article you find out Microsoft trumpets the necessity of a headset for hands-free gaming, but does not include one in the box. They do however include a special version of Kinect which is big and pricey and will get much less use than a headset by gamers. Dumb. Then in the second article we find out that headsets from the previous Xbox 360 will not work, yet another example of Apple-envy, copying their legendary ability of creating new incompatible connectors. Apparently Microsoft has just now figured out that is a mistake and has set out to make and adapter. If they continue to follow Apple's lead, it should be very pricey. I gotta ask, when it's early morning in Redmond, does a funny looking car roll up to the Xbox building and spill out a dozen clowns onto the curb? Just askin'. Google Working on Android Console Too ( Tom's Hardware 2013-06-28 ) A lot of folks are scratching their heads about this. But you know what it might be? Remember what Microsoft stated about going after Apple ( as if ) on every playing field and at every form factor? It sure looks to me like Google's revenge for Scroogle is a silent but deadly attack on Microsoft on all form factors, and is perhaps underway as we speak. And they actually are eating their lunch almost everywhere. I suspect there is a ton of work going on at the desktop OS level, and if they can just pry themselves away from the locked-up slimmed-down model of Chrome, which is the opposite of Windows, and especially knock out something that seamlessly replaces FAT/exFAT/NTFS, they will finish them off except for the cloud thing. BTW: see recent Ars Technica article: Can Microsoft’s exFAT file system bridge the gap between OSes?, technically good article but as usual the comments are where the terminally clueless congregate to heap praise on their personal Saviour, and it's always Apple or Microsoft. Sorry Windows Modders, Xbox One's Kinect Sensor Won't Plug Into PCs ( Maximum PC 2013-06-28 ) And some more Apple-envy : incompatibility. Actually the reason why they have two different Kinects is pretty obvious now, the retail one for Windows PC's is announced as going for like $400. And we gotta wonder what will be really different inside? Rumor: Sony removed PS4's camera to undercut price of Xbox One ( NeoWin 2013-06-27 ) Sony Reportedly Cut PS4 Camera to Beat Xbox One Price ( Tom's Hardware 2013-06-28 ) Sony Changed DRM Gears After Negative Xbox One Feedback ( Tom's Hardware 2013-06-28 ) The nerve of those Sony guys snookering Microsoft! Especially after the fanboys were carrying on for months and months telling us "Stop picking on Xbox, PlayStation will have all the same restrictions!". Of course they miss the main point - the only way to get any kind of response from Microsoft is to give them some competition. For substantiation of this theory just have a look at the Windows non-competitive monopoly. Will Xbox One get a big memory performance boost for final hardware? ( NeoWin 2013-06-28 ) Xbox exec claims comparing console specs is "meaningless" ( NeoWin 2013-06-29 ) Xbox exec: I didn't mean to diminish PS4 performance claims ( NeoWin 2013-07-01 ) Another Softie opens mouth, inserts foot. He started out trying to blur the differences between Xbone and PS4, and there are known differences, especially in RAM as the first article points out ( GDDR5 for Sony, DDR3 for Xbox ), and still makes a mess out of things. You know what's interesting? All these different people with suits and titles and access to the public and they have made no visible effort to select an official spokesmouth instead opting for keystone cops amateur hour. This is the most undisciplined bunch of children I have ever seen. Who would trust their business to them?

Andre, this thread isn't just 8.0.

Great info and links! When did this vilification of older operating systems ( and software too ) start? That's easy, during 2006 and into 2007 when Vista became a lightning rod for Microsoft. I posted links throughout this thread, but if you follow the Windows Vista Team Blog you can see the evolution. The blog is now archived and shows newest entries first, so I set that link to the last page ( currently 17 ) and at the bottom of it is the first post on April 20, 2006. Things start off normal, Vista blog announced and each subsequent entry relives those moments in time. As it progressed and various things became known to the public, entries got defensive and comments grew hostile ( and keep in mind that they began deleting comments somewhere along the way, just like Sinofsky would do later in the Destroying Windows 8 blog ). Anyway the point is, Microsoft did not expect anything except love for their new baby. This was the first time I can remember where the Internet began to live up to its potential as a public utility to get uncensored feedback directly into the eyes and ears of the principles involved ( yeah there were opportunities before Vista for public pushback, the early WinXP problems, Office 2003 wasn't instantly loved either, WinME fiasco, discontinuation of Win9x, but none that I can recall caused a high profile backlash like Vista ). So Microsoft faced increasing disdain for the Vista direction. DRM was right on top of the list and the glacial performance on all except cutting edge computers at the time. Now how I would describe the events is that Microsoft became angry and went into siege mentality mode ( and never turned it off to this day ). They invented or accelerated "astro-turfing" around this time somehow enlisting minions to hit the websites and tell us all how wrong we were. They also got some infamous shills like Thurrott and Bott to act as surrogates with transparent cheerleading disguised as tech columns. Then they did the Mojave thing and released Vista without a single change from the betas that I can remember ( just likeWindows 8 ). Later, Windows 7 came and went with carefully scripted faux-contrition publicity, but in truth they changed very little, although it is hard to complain when compared to the Vista and Windows 8 middle-finger act . This whole thing spawned the vilification and all the those tired bogus arguments: "fearing change", "insecure legacy OS", yada yada yada. In fact they are good bellwethers identifying MicroZealots, and now MetroTards. Naturally they appear for other operating systems, companies and industries as well, but I think most times you hear those arguments it will be emanating from a MicroParrot. I'm no psychiatrist, and Microsoft is no single person to psychoanalyze, but they really seem to have been damaged by the criticism and outcry around Vista. And since Vista needed to replace Windows XP ( laughable now, but they really really wanted this ), they and their minions set out to destroy it. Another parallel to today: there was a small window of opportunity for Microsoft to have recovered bigtime in 2007 or so, but it would have meant an about-face and apparently to Ballmer that means losing face, all they had to do was re-release an updated Windows XP MCE retail and it would have dwarfed all sales up to that point. I remember a lot of people suggesting this, Thurrott I believe called it "XP Reloaded" but same as today, they proved arrogant and stubborn. BTW, imagine if all the Vista pushback wasn't successful. DRM would have been stepped up in big Windows 7 and we might even have a Windows 8box for the current cycle. That's how precedents work. Foot in the door. Camels nose under the tent. NOTE: Windows XP RTM would work just fine, and as you say without using MSIE ( except for Windows Update ) and most importantly behind a router. I'm really not sure if the inbound-only firewall ( SP2 ) plays a big role if you use a hardware firewall in a router. I have never even seen a notification for mine. The other big thing about Windows RTM, specifically if you were to "install it" rather than VM it, is that it is stuck in time in the 120 GB or less HDD era. It was SP1 that brought 48-bit LBA. This was one of those bad nightmares. There was an MSKB article that had people going insane ... Q303013 ( now edited I believe ). And it must have been one of the single most confusing articles ever released by them, especially since it was full of warnings of data loss. So, strictly from a security standpoint, WinXP RTM will install and operate fine within the confines of a 120 GB or less HDD, but to preserve your sanity just use SP3 where most files are dated April 2008, newer than both Vista RTM and Vista SP1 and just a year younger than Win 7 RTM. If anyone is wondering what the latest Windows XP FUD looks like, well here is the self-serving notice inserted into that above mentioned knowledge base article ... Important notice for users of Windows XP: To continue receiving security updates for Windows, make sure that you're running Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3). The support for Windows XP with Service Pack 3 ends April 8, 2014. If you’re running Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3) after support ends, to ensure that you will receive all important security updates for Windows, you need to upgrade to a later version, such as Windows 8. Well I'm scared. EDIT: typos

Bingo. You nailed it perfectly IMHO And their self-serving planned-obsolescence will ironically bite them in the butt here. WinXP has distinct advantages over the bloat and busy-ness of Win6. I also think it gets a bad rap on the security thing ( or more precisely Vista and 7 get an unwarranted good rap ). Yes it is/was mostly ran in Admin accounts but IMHO that is where the risk ends ( unless you count MSIE ). In WinXP the kernel is doing much less work ( less services, startup and background ops ), processing per task is lower ( compare in ProcMon ), the WFP is less hostile, and there is far less obfuscation using aliases and symbolic links ( and once you are on x64 in Vista or 7 all those aliases multiply in the WOW64 mad fantasyland ). Also, the registry is smaller and there are way less files than in Win6. So bucking the prevalent views I consider Win6 a malware paradise because there are so many more places and ways to hide. What a rootkit had to do in WinXP via stealth, is now practically unnecessary on x64 Vista and 7 because they can hide in plain sight. After fixing system after system the last couple years I really believe the security for Win7 is a big fat joke right now and they will never.patch up this Rube Goldberg machine enough. They'll be busy plugging away right until the "support" runs out, machines will still get infected, and then we'll hear another round of apocalyptic FUD to upgrade to Windows 9 or 10. It's a broken record. The MicroTreadmill. Almost all of the victims are running standard user, I'm almost always on XP as admin, not only do I feel safer, but I know I am. The real difference? I am always behind a router, no AV, no MSIE browsing, and always very careful naturally. The point about hardware that didn't even exist working on older operating systems that long preceded it via a virtual machine is a really great one. And it was probably an unexpected one, by Microsoft. This is what I was trying to get at complaining about the lack of advancement of performance gains in CPUs. If we could just double the throughput there would be no VM instance of running any OS or software that anyone could complain about. It quite likely would equal or exceed the performance of the native system in its own time period. It is very suspicious this four generations of sideways progress since the i3-i5-i7 replaced Core 2. We're getting freaking updates to USB and PCIe and new video Thunderbolt but the CPU is locked down. One minor note about Win9x, the Williamette > Northwood > Prescott were all pretty much do-able, the latter two on the same socket. Of course an early Northwood era board might not support all Prescott revisions. Plus there were outliers, especially the big brand OEMs like Dell and Compaq always using crappy mobos, and even though they built systems in the later Prescott era they still somehow missed out on current features like the bigger L2 cache and higher frequencies ( they were just too cheap to revise the boards ). Naturally they did not continually update their BIOS. But on a performance motherboard everything was usually fine. On the crapboards, which steered you to modified chipset drivers things got dicey. Sometimes the Intel default package worked in their place though. And sometimes it was just a matter of disabling SATA to get the thing to install.. It could get complicated for sure, but it was nothing compared to the early years. Jorge, what I wrote above is just a comment about where everyone else will likely go IMHO ( and are already going ). It's from a combination of factors: Microsoft arrogance, new crappy interface, DRM, spying scandal, endless malware attacks, weekly hacking of customer data from big corporations, and so on. Personally I don't really need to run a VM currently because my scenario is already secure. However, a favorite operating system running in a VM ( on a faster future system ) would add one extra thing I don't have - a very fast way to reset. Currently it would take probably a half hour to shut down an infected system, disconnect that HDD and connect the backup, and then load the infected as a slave, do a careful incremental update of the backup from the infected for vital files and then switch to the backup permanently. I don't ever have occasion do this mind you, but I have it carefully diagrammed in my head! Insert Boy Scout motto here. With a VM using periodic snapshots ( think of it as System Restore that works ) it would be just a minute or two to dump the infected one and restore an earlier snapshot. But since I masochistically enjoy swapping drives and similar manual things, VMs kinda take the fun out of it for me.

ReactOS, IIRC, has had a goal of being a cleanroom-style compatible clone of WinXP/2k3, carefully dodging the inevitable onslaught of legal attacks from MicroSharks. As the saying goes, this was never gonna be easy. As the target is end-users and not developers ( unless we count "legacy" x86 developer tools compiling native Windows apps on this team ) it will by definition be a niche group of fans. There is nothing to stop devs from compiling with winelib specifically but I would expect the bulk of ReactOS fans to be running "obsolete" native Windows programs. But with the coming "death" of WinXP and all that high-profile FUD that seen everywhere which makes Y2K pale in comparison, ( Y2K actually had some unknowns, but we certainly understand that the execution of WinXP just means Microsoft will stop patching up all the holes they made in the first place, and it will ironically serve to stabilize the WinXP codebase IMHO ), perhaps the WinXP end-of-life "apocalypse" will drum up some more interest. What it truly needs, ReactOS that is, is a deep-pocketed benefactor to get the thing rolling. I sure hope they are out there trying to secure funding to at least pay for the servers to store the project and some money for advertising. Maybe we can all help by mentioning it from time to time and adding links and images to taglines and such. However, one big thing has changed since the beginning of this and similar projects and that is that a lot of people have shifted from seeking out a discrete new source of an OS ( ReactOS ) to virtualizing previous existing Microsoft Windows versions instead. As long as the user is somewhat competent and careful, they should be able to run whatever OS they prefer in perpetuity. My guess is that a combination of a fast flash-drive or SSD containing the OS ( or selection of OS's ) they feel like using, which can be wiped and reloaded from disc in the event of an infection makes really good sense. This scenario is good because you can make that particular instance of the OS completely expendable. If it has a problem just restore it. No need to run Anti-virus garbage either and no need to ever even worry about Windows updates ( as if there ever really were more than a couple of legitimate reasons anyway ). The unforeseen problem with virtualization is that in almost conspiratorial fashion, it sure looks like Intel simply stopped pushing the performance bar higher in a Microsoft-authorized quest to work instead on power consumption for battery life ( even though PC's don't care about that, and many laptops spend their time plugged into the transformer ). It is really not in Microsoft's best interest for PC's to be powerful enough to virtualize or even emulate any software they desire ( and I suspect that government spy agencies will heartily agree ). So we are standing right at the point on consumer editions ( not the "e" Extreme releases ) where another jump in throughput, either higher frequency and/or more cores and/or better architecture and the virtualization experience would be equal to running native today. As it stands, virtualizing an older OS will lead to something being noticeably slower, probably game FPS and other things. With the right combination of SSD and CPU and RAM it can be very fast, but needs that final push. What I'm saying is that we are almost there, and they literally stopped all advancement in its tracks. Compounding the suspicious problem of an arbitrary frequency and core ceiling, Intel has also been playing games with leaving out VT-x on specific models of CPU in quasi-Microsoft fashion ( reserving next Direct-X for next OS, MSIE, etc ) to steer purchasers into certain CPUs, however from the latest articles I've seen, they appear to have included it across Haswell. On the other hand, I personally I still use native installs for just about everything. If you have a bunch of HDDs ( and you should ), and a bunch of Motherboards/CPUs/RAM ( and you should get them and rescue them before they are all scrapped by fickle consumer MetroTards ), it is simple and fun to construct PCs at will and install a variety of operating systems on different HDDs and then just hook up the one you want to boot from ( or look into multi-booting which has proponents all over this forum ). Either of these scenarios, virtualization or native completely mitigates dependence on Microsoft, Windows Update, Anti-virus and Malware propaganda, and other stuff. Unfortunately they both rely heavily on one thing - availability of drivers for later hardware on earlier operating systems. This is the ugly underbelly of the x86 universe, or more precisely the evil manifestation of planned obsolescence in the Microverse. The people can solve this by banding together with a movement to pressure OEM hardware manufacturers of everything from motherboards to printers to defy Microsoft and develop more generic device drivers that work in all versions of Windows. They should be asked politely at first ( because it is certainly in their best interest because it widens the potential customer pool ) but then pressured and even warned about not colluding with a known, convicted monopolist. This whole obsolete driver thing is the single point of failure that needs to be rectified IMHO. On the subject of alternatives to the Microverse, today I saw this website mentioned somewhere ... PRISM ⚡ Break ... a pretty good list ( well a good start anyway ) of proprietary versus free alternatives. Spread it around. Break the bonds of MicroSlavery. EDIT: typos

Thanks for that one, had no idea

Fixed. Thanks for the catch. I hunted around and thought that site had the image. So I just grabbed it straight from the source. ( The one in the quote above will disappear eventually ). ... This is like a sick, twisted April Fools Joke. Or some evil malware that is designed to drive the user insane. Left-Click the Start Button and you get a gigantic kick in the nuts ( Image Source: Official Video )

News from the competition ( and see Post #3088 for more examples ) ... How to Build a Linux Gaming PC ( Maximum PC 2013-06-24 ) Couldn't happen without Microsoft and others taking their gaming customers for granted. Foxconn Hiring 3K Extra Workers for Firefox OS Dev ( Tom's Hardware 2013-06-25 ) This thing just might have legs after all. Slate21: Android Lands on One Awesome All-in-One ( HP 2013-06-25 ) HP Builds Its First Android All-In-One PC. Trading Windows for Jelly Bean ( Maximum PC 2013-06-25 ) Long before a ship flounders, breaks apart and sinks to the bottom, she begins to take on water. This might be what that looks like. Or maybe not. It's still way too early to tell. Regardless, something is happening, as these articles are pretty regular fare these days, across many sites. We now have Android and Firefox operating systems appearing on the desktop ( and everywhere else for that matter ) . Singlehandedly Microsoft has accomplished what no amount of wishful thinking by the free and/or open software community could realistically dream - Windows alternatives popping up all around their monopolized PC space. We now have seen classic "pure" Linux distros, newer custom descendants like Firefox OS, Android and Chrome. There is a movement in China to design a national OS based on this as well and that will likely give other countries an urge to examine this themselves. And later there will be more, many more as time goes on. And all thanks to Apple and Microsoft's own actions of abusing their duopoly. Focusing on Microsoft here, ( because I don't really know Apple too well ) the formerly unthinkable now seems entirely possible - losing their iron fisted grip on most of the world's computers. It will take quite an assist from their own brain-trust though, something they in fact appear willing to provide at every possible opportunity. Strike One occurs when the usability of their cash-cow, proprietary, made-only-for-profit technologies ( Windows and Office ) become too painful too stand, like the butchering of their respective interfaces, self-serving anti-consumer EULAs and arrogant flip-of-the-bird to all criticism from their loyal users. That removes a primary reason to stick with them all these years and generates rampant hostility towards them from longtime veterans who were previously ardent defenders of the platform and even their monopoly ( me included, and there are MANY others speaking out everywhere ). Secondly, as the ramifications of the spying scandal percolate through the entire world I expect there to be some serious reflection of putting almost all of our eggs into this one basket. For example, if their closed and/or proprietary made-only-for-profit technologies like Windows and Office ( add MacOS and iOS too ) offer no real benefit in the area of customer privacy and security, then another clear reason to use them is yanked right off the table. Microsoft has been exposed as the first "partner" jumping in bed with No Such Agency, and they did it precisely because they were offered immunity from prosecution for violating user privacy. They must really be worried about citizen class-action lawsuits because they have gone to great lengths to add such language to all the EULAs ever since the "partnership" began. All things considered, I now have no doubt that all the classic conspiracy theories have also occurred, for example the source code for Windows ( and even MacOS and iOS ) being available to the feds, perhaps as a condition of allowing their unfettered actions as a functional monopoly ( or duopoly with Apple ) in our so-called free-market. Why again would this be unbelievable? It is perfectly believable IMHO. Taken in total this is quite a hit to their previously stellar reputation, which obviously was fictitious and undeserved all along. So really, Strike Two is in the process of occurring even as we speak. So what will a Strike Three look like? Your guess is as good as mine, but nothing will surprise me anymore. They could fall below the magic number of 90% desktop marketshare and further ( kind of dumb since all these mobile things are computers according to Microsoft, so counting them will drop them from 90% to a much lower number ). Maybe a huge publicity fail through a major slowdown or outage in their cloud with Office 364 or Xbox or Azure business customers without access for a few days. In today's time-compressed short-attention span society, a day today equals a week from 5 to 10 years ago, and probably a month from the 1980's to early 1990's. Ironically, as they push more people into the cloud the potential for catastrophe increases in several directions not all in their control. Besides the classic potential server problem on their end, they will also suffer blame for the users' local problems ( storms, hurricanes, power outages, rolling blackouts ... ), and in cases where customers are happily using their UPS or battery operated computer, laptop, tablet and phone only to find that the ISP ( Cable, Fiber, DSL ... ) is down and their local computing device is not so local after all. Microsoft as the remote storage ( and even processing ) provider will receive a sizable chunk of blame even when the problems are not theirs at all. That's the nature of the cloud beast. I've always wondered why Microsoft would even want to get into something like Xbox anyway, the revenue is questionable and the downside is great because of consumer fickleness and expectations. The Azure cloud situation has far more potential for downside IMHO, because a game going offline is not quite as bad as business data becoming unavailable. And God help us all if Big Medicine decides that the cloud is great idea. Perhaps it won't be as clean and simple as a Strike Three at all. I always try to remind people of how quickly IBM went from the 800 pound gorilla to a bit player that finally sold off their PC division to a Chinese company. That is a sentence that no-one, I mean no-one would have uttered prior to 1988 or so. After about six long years as the biggest ship in the seas and with their wake lifting many boats to wild success ( including Microsoft ), they struck an iceberg themselves when they lost the best PC bragging rights to Compaq. Actually, the details from around that time are very relevant to today because there was a chain of events that led to the mistakes that sunk them and they should look familiar. The first thing that happened was the death of Don Estridge in 1985 who was their miracle man that drove the PC at IBM. His sudden and tragic death caused them to stumble badly, playing it way too conservative and allowing Compaq to snake the first i386 computer, a massive improvement in architecture and speed, and with it the title of world's best computer and all the associated publicity. Practically overnight they were on all the magazines and businesses and home users wasted no time jumping ship. The managerial mistake of resting on their reputation and milking the i286 AT cash cow ( and the older XT as well ) rather than aggressively going for the i386 crown was a huge error. They kept selling the old models until late 1987 giving Compaq at least a year , and in that year everything changed. Leadership, the standards bearer, industry clout, everything. Another parallel with today occurred when they responded in knee-jerk fashion, compounding their earlier mistakes further with reactive decisions made in haste and panic. IBM unceremoniously spit on the industry with their transparent attempt to try to lock up the technology of the licensed, proprietary but otherwise excellent MCA ( Micro-Channel Architecture ) when they finally released their large PS/2 line of computers, which were quite competent but unfortunately all too conservative in design ( IBM was always the car that drives a few MPH under the speed limit ). I also know for a fact that there was pressure and criticism from customers and employees to step up their game, sell the best machines possible, and stop wasting time, but like Microsoft today, they largely ignored everyone. There were many other things happening as well, ( IBM trademark and patent court cases, the unrelated DoJ antitrust, etc ) but the main events really were those which united the clone community ( everyone except IBM ) to stick to the current "ISA" model ( and eventually EISA ) rather than pay an IBM tax. It happened that quickly! They p!ssed off everyone and it all came crumbling down. Microsoft knows these events full well as they were right there all along, in fact benefiting by supplying DOS to a rapidly growing market as clones sprung up everywhere. As I've mentioned before, the magazines of that era were thick as telephone books with ads literally falling out when you turned the pages ( Computer Shopper chopped down more trees than anyone in history ). By the 1988 to 1989 selling season as criticism mounted, they had adopted a siege mentality and had no chance of recovery. Of course we know how the story then ended when a year later Microsoft released Windows 3.0 and later would stick the knife in their back with the double-cross of OS/2 and NT. But those are completely beside the point. So, knowing just how fast one's success can vanish begs the question of why Microsoft does not seem to recognize they are repeating the very mistakes IBM pioneered: resting on their laurels, sleeping at the switch, spitting on the industry, ignoring customers and criticism, panic-driven managerial blunders, going proprietary and adopting a siege mentality. It is stunning cognitive dissonance, or some other mental disorder. EDIT: details, typos

Sony officially unveils the SmartWatch 2 ( TechSpot 2013-06-25 ) Sony Xperia Z Ultra ups the ante with a massive 6.4-inch display ( TechSpot 2013-06-25 ) Sony announces the gargantuan Xperia Z Ultra ( NeoWin 2013-06-25 ) Samsung Launches Three New Galaxy Tab 3 Tablets ( NeoWin 2013-06-25 ) Every single form factor of mobile device is in play now. The watches are 1-2 inches, the phones are 4-5 inches, these mega-phone phablets are 6+ inches, Nexus and iPads and Notes hit 7-10 inches. The tsunami has arrived and there is no end in sight. The clear winner in this very wide range of devices is Android with iOS holding down 2nd place. So where does Microsoft expect to fit in? They are still treading water with their Surface models in the 10 inch range, which are whooped like a beaten dog by all comers, and they are pondering a 7 inch model which will fare no better. At the phone form factor the picture is even bleaker with no-one truly clamoring for the Microsoft Tiles interface as expected, their primary partner Nokia on the ropes, and Microsoft showing signs of their patented abandonment strategy. If you are a WP user, you have reason to worry. The worst part is that all of this was entirely predictable, and was predicted here in this thread as well as over the entire blogosphere. So we can certainly assume at least one person up in Redmond also figured this out in advance, so it begs the question as to what were they thinking? They willfully destroyed their Windows heritage chasing unicorns in the mobile device market space, garnered incalculable amounts of bad will from longtime Windows users and even now, after two full years of criticism continue the trek. Definition of "Insanity": doing the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome. Just sayin' Microsoft bringing 'Age of Empires' to iPhone, Android devices [update] ( NeoWin 2013-06-24 ) Microsoft to port Xbox, PC games to Android and iOS ( TechSpot 2013-06-25 ) Microsoft to launch browser version of Xbox Music ( NeoWin 2013-06-25 ) OUYA Android Console Now in Stores, Sells Out Quick ( Tom's Hardware 2013-06-25 ) Ouya Android game console selling out in some retail outlets ( NeoWin 2013-06-25 ) I'm not sure how any of this will cheer up the MicroZealots as it is a tacit admission that their own device gateways to entertainment are stagnant or worse. So this very well could signal a shift from benefiting themselves with their own hardware to benefiting developers by extending the platform to everyone else's hardware. Maybe that story about the Android gameboy console has more significance than we know. It is possible Microsoft has internal numbers saying that the war is lost, Xbox and PS are for all practical purposes irrelevant, and the closed walled-garden ( at least for entertainment ) is a non-starter. And what about this xTunes thing? Are they so consumed with Apple-envy to think they can compete in this space after all this time? Certainly not.

We have seen Windows 8.1! ( OneTouch Mobility 2013-06-22 ) Windows 8.1 Start button revealed in Windows Server 2012 R2 ( NeoWin 2013-06-24 ) Windows 8.1 start button appears as Microsoft's Blue wave breaks ( UK Register 2013-06-25 ) This is like a sick, twisted April Fools Joke. Or some evil malware that is designed to drive the user insane. Left-Click the Start Button and you get a gigantic kick in the nuts ( Image Source: Official Video ) Right-Click the Start Button ( reversing 18 years of muscle memory!) for a retarded version of the Classic Start Menu. ( Image Source: NeoWin ) Naturally, even these lame attempts at "fixing" the problems rub the zealots the wrong way ... I see. So in his mind the lack of love for Microsoft and Windows 8 defines a "troll". We've seen this before, from cult members that built a city called Jonestown and had a Kool-Aid party to celebrate their awesomeness. Hey MetroTards, what's the matter, you afraid of change? You luddites. One commenter gives it back to them ... Not that's gonna leave a mark! EDIT: spacing, clarity, added article, changed image

Windows 8.1 is ready for business, Gartner declares ( PC World 2013-06-23 ) Microsoft hopes for second chance with Windows 8.1] ( PC World 2013-06-24 ) More coverage of the Gartner and others' clearly obvious shilling for Microsoft. Let's just call it what it is, we are in right in the middle of another Mojave Experiment. You can expect with the Windows 8.1 Blew preview and RTM all kinds of carefully worded essays about "listening" and "learning", a perfect repeat of the post-Vista period. They have learned absolutely nothing since then, not a single thing. At those two PC World articles the commenters are having none of this nonsense. Confirmed: Windows Blue ditches "Computer" for "This PC" ( NeoWin 2013-06-25 ) Now there is a tiny improvement, just not one that anyone was really asking for. Okay, give them points for a relatively sensible idea here. But whether it is called "Local Computer" or "My Computer" or "Computer" or "This PC" is kind of a moot point if you can simply rename it to whatever you want ( which I believe you can, at least under Administrator on Windows XP ). I can't remember if under Win9x if this is possible from the GUI but I definitely used to edit the Shell Object names in their registry keys. So once again, a Microsoft swing and a miss.

Report: Samsung to shut down its desktop PC business ( NeoWin 2013-06-24 ) Umm ... what desktop PC business? NeoWin. ~sigh~ Feeding the MetroTards. UPDATE: Samsung denies pulling out of desktop PC business. Government Snooping Is Nothing New ( John C. Dvorak PC Magazine 2013-06-24 ) I'm starting to think John is taking the same medication that Thurrott is, ping-ponging back and forth from column to column. In his defense, this isn't exactly a cheer-leading article for all the snooping, mostly a general overview of how it happened. He did forget to mention "Carnivore" and other baby steps taken along the way. Unlike him I think this will lead to a backlash over time. The people here in the USA at least still have the power on paper to roll this back either through elections or Constitutional Amendments. Whether that occurs or not is the real question. As long as the corporations ( like Microsoft ) and government itself keep treating the people as sheeple, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, they morph into the citizens seen in Idiocracy - pressing tiles like monkeys, reproducing like rabbits and limited to a vocabulary of grunts and groans. Government will have no problem herding these sheeple into the pens they deem necessary. More Details Emerge in Coming Massive Reorg at Microsoft ( Thurrott 2013-06-24 ) In my opinion that describes a power-play possibly designed to put rivals in their place. When the Kremlin Redmond boss only seeks a rubber stamp from the Politburo Board, then Stalin Ballmer definitely gets his purge. I'm sure someone will think that's over the top, and it might be, but you gotta admit that their current top-heavy structure exactly mimics that infamous dictatorial model. Siberian prison camps and deadly famines obviously excepted. But then again, so do many companies, public and private. As they say in baseball, their bench is really light. Obviously this is partially aimed at "The Street" ( Wall Street that is ) to stave off an exodus and keep MSFT in the $30 range, but ironically it might just be interpreted as a shake-up ( in fact I would expect those exact words plastered on CNBC and the Wall Street Journal ) which more often than not means a company is in trouble. I'll bet they manage a tiny little bump in stock price and then two days later it is forgotten, the shares keep moving sideways until the next MicroCrisis rears its ugly head. Curious opinion from one Thurrott commenter ... There is a much better application of that old adage, and it applies directly to Windows and Office. "You have to wonder how many companies programs have been ruined by the violation of that rule" EDIT: added article

Microsoft reveals even more US school systems that use Windows 8 PCs ( NeoWin 2013-06-24 ) Oh that's just great. Let's start raising baby MetroTards. It should be illegal for school administrators to purchase any technology. These companies should donate the equipment if they really care about the kids. But I'm not convinced they really need any computers anyway because every single minute spent on them during the fixed length school day ( a constant over time obviously ) takes away a minute from somewhere else. So please explain what was sacrificed so that the kids can click on websites and videos and check facebook? NOTE: I just wanted to mention that in this comment ( and the previous one earlier ) I am talking about elementary schools NOT colleges ( "Uni" ). Here in the USA at least, college is optional and mostly paid by the student and their family ( but with exceptions ). The so-called K-12 schools, you know, the ones where you are supposed to learn to read and write, add and subtract, history and everything else, are what I am objecting to being used as recruiting for Big Technology victims. These institutions have no semblance of a free market or common sense. And we taxpayers are on the hook whether we have kids or not. The schools are wasting billions of dollars taken directly from the taxpayers. The prices rise annually without fail, the teachers are protected from firing except for the most horrendous misconduct. It is a huge mess of politics and lies about the poor kids deserving this or that. Big Technology is capitalizing on this un-free market and has been ever since Apple began this trend in the mid-1980's. There would be no problem if there were laws that said "NO Technology Purchases" and companies could choose to DONATE equipment as it was done in the past. But now it is all about buying the latest thing, endlessly every year, over and over again. Microsoft's reorg all but certain, several execs rumored for promotion ( NeoWin 2013-06-24 ) That was my theory too, that this is a move to hold the stock price afloat during the possible coming crash. I don't think it will work. I would bet that we will see mid-$20 shares again shortly. This stretch from Summer to October can be very brutal and after glancing at CNBC today ( where they mentioned this MSFT reorg and their share price ) the market looks like it is headed into the summer season already prepped for a correction. This will be one wild ride. Windows 8.1 Could Become What Windows 8 Should Have Been ( Gartner 2013-06-19 ) Gartner: Windows 8.1 'could quiet most of' Windows 8's detractors ( NeoWin 2013-06-24 ) Holy Alternate Universe, Batman. Talk about missing the point. All Gartner has proved now is that they are utterly incompetent and perfectly useless for their self-described role as industry analysts. Useless! They couldn't hit the side of a barn if it fell right on top of them. It seems apparent to me that they have writers who have never even seen Windows 8, or if they have then they never saw Windows 7 or earlier versions. It is nearly impossible to have missed the two years ( this month ) of controversy unless you were trying to miss it or perhaps were frozen in a state of suspended animation like the characters in Idiocracy. What I see with Windows 8.1 Blew is the added use of common wallpaper between the desktop and Metro, and the uber-cynical use of a "Start Button" to switch from the desktop to Metro. Can anyone locate a criticism of NuWindows that cited either of those things as critical for endusers? Thought not. This will go down as the biggest corporate kick in the nuts to the customer ever. Even New Coke vs. Classic Coke doesn't hold a candle to it. EDIT: typo

Security Related Loose Ends ... Edward Snowden: NSA whistleblower answers reader questions ( UK Guardian 2013-06-17 ) Online Q & A with the whistleblower. Interesting stuff I hadn't seen anywhere else. Using encryption? That means the US spooks have you on file ( UK Register 2013-06-21 ) I don't know how else to interpret that except that if since 2009 you used any encryption for email or transit anonymizers ( or maybe even encrypted ZIP and RAR files? ) then they have it. Period. New DRM 'text watermarks' link pirated ebooks to their original uploader ( TechSpot 2013-06-17 ) Wait, what? Alter the original data? This is one of the consequences of precedent after precedent being established without sufficient pushback. They really think they can do anything they want to you and your data. Obviously this particular idea won't get any traction, if only because the owners of the IP will not likely agree to their product being tampered with by design. The main point IMHO is that we have to really fight these things harder or it will only get worse. If you give them an inch, they will take a mile. Say What? Average PC Cannot Handle EA's Ignite Engine ( Tom's Hardware 2013-06-23 ) Subtitle: The Ignite engine is fine-tuned for closed console systems. Electronic Arts is at it again. What they are doing is taking a dump on PC gamers as usual and dressing it up in lies about requiring that custom AMD CPU+GPU processor. Of course it is ludicrous because they are writing the games specifically to use specific features of that platform on purpose. It is like Microsoft stating that IE9 cannot run on Windows XP because it doesn't have hardware acceleration, but not telling you that they only utilized those features precisely because Windows XP does not have it. Ha! They are selling to a subset of computing already ( consoles ) and this rarified air is probably a few tens of millions of units at most, several years from now. He is describing a scenario for "mainstream" desktop and laptop PC's ( "catch up" ) that cannot possibly happen, yet there will be plenty of non-mainstream ( high-end ) that will trounce that Xbox and PS4, and ironically they will probably outnumber the consoles. I fully understand not wanting to release a game to the PC market because of the problem of folks buying it for use on inadequate hardware ( like Vista ready ), but please don't lie and say the hardware does not exist! The commenters are not kind to this deception. Especially that last part "adjusted to handle the open nature of PC architecture versus the closed nature of consoles." which is a sneaky way of describing PC's have insufficient DRM! Adobe Officially Launches Subscription-Only Creative Cloud Desktop Apps ( Maximum PC 2013-06-19 ) Adobe Creative Cloud has already been cracked ( techSpot 2013-06-20 ) Come on, you gotta admit that is funny, right? EDIT: typo(s)

Weekend Roundup of some loose ends ... ConnectED initiative promises schools +100Mbps Internet in 5 years ( TechSpot 2013-06-07 ) Microsoft offering Surface RT to students for $199 [update] ( NeoWin 2013-06-17 ) And we taxpayers are screwed ... again. I defy anyone to explain what a school needs any internet for? I mean any at all? What, to train kids to visit websites? And Microsoft figures they will get them hooked on Windows, just great. The schools and are kids are becoming targets of the Big Technology cabal. You know what, if the stereotypical case of a drug dealer showing up to hand out free samples to get them hooked merits those special "drug-free zone" laws we have, then I say it's time for a similar law to ban recreational computer use at schools. Most of the commenters at the TechSpot thread get this, but there is always one ... First of all, assume it is a student. In that case he just demanded we taxpayers ante up so he can watch freakin' videos. I got a better idea, give the kid a pencil and have him complete the square and write out the quadratic formula. After that move on to spelling and grammar, neither of which will be learned through Internet access ( quite the contrary ). But if you think he really is a student, you are probably wrong. We have a wicked education lobby here running up our school taxes each and every year by doing this same thing each budget season, and our local papers ( no really, the ones made of paper ) are loaded with similar stories of whining brats going on about school lunches and other things ( while wearing $100 sneakers and blabbing on cellphones ). And the voters often fall for it. This is the captive "market" that Apple and Microsoft and countless OEM computer makers plunder. Excuse me while I go vomit. Jony Ive Redesigns Things ( JonyIveRedesignsThings.tumblr.com 2013-06-10 ) This is hysterical. A website that went up around the time of the iOS 7 announcement, which features among other things, gradients ... lots of them! They are posting page after page full of images of things that Jony Ive could have "redesigned" with gradients. It really is funny! ( Credit: I think I saw this first mentioned somewhere over at TechBroil ). I think they're having as much fun hammering Jony Ive as we have had with Sinofsky. 6 Features iOS 7 Took from Android and Other Operating Systems ( Maximum PC 2013-06-19 ) Comparisons of some new iOS features against the places that they were "borrowed" from. Mostly Android and WebOS naturally.

More about the TechNet forum adjustments. I've been reading through some of the threads at social.technet.microsoft.com. And it is like Formfiller said, mostly negative. This had to be expected though, because who could really find the changes and the new look anything except butt ugly! Well I found one. ~sigh~ The threadstarter for an official topic called: Love the new Forums UX !!! ... About the appearance ... First of all, that is a 1:1 capture. That avatar image really is 44 x 33 pixels. When you insist on using the same code to output on everything from a tiny phone to gigantic display something has got to give. Our eyesight. ~sigh~ The capture gives a taste of some of the things I mentioned a few posts back: all the gray, the light HR between posts, the darker HR between comment and tagline WITHIN a post, the same font used for both, the miles of white, the miniature fonts for the date/time and identification. Now hear this! I hereby charge Microsoft with an Eighth Amendment violation of the U.S. Constitution. About the content ... ( Note, I didn't blot out the name as usual because it is obviously right at the link ) As you can see, he is a Softie and is also the lead tester for the re-design. He has a vested interest in this! Talk about no shame. You know, I've seen this before at a place I subcontracted for, an even larger mega-Corporation with all kinds of politics and infighting. People did this kind of thing for posturing ( internally, there was no Internet yet ) . This is how you can pad your Résumé. The technical term way back then was called "brown-nosing", these days it is called "Using Social to raise your Visibility". Later on, the middle-management suits will comb through this stuff to see who is with the program. It makes sense since Résumés or CVs will be less differentiating between current employees, the hiring process ensures that fact. Sure enough, our tester here hits all the propaganda points, right to the letter ... - Fast - I can search relevant results and still in the same experience - I love how fluid the UI looks like - It's easy to use ... how transparent can you be? Will Microsoft managers really take that seriously? Are they so far morphed into a bureaucratic monster that this is how the Office operates? I imagine so. It is what has been described at Mini-Microsoft blog over and over again. Not to mention the famous Vanity Fair article: Microsoft’s Lost Decade. Ah well, I don't work there, but good luck to those that do. One more thing, the poster did NOT use any smiley or some other hint that this thread was even semi-humorous ( if that was the case I would have skipped this "content" critique ). Now the fact that it is titled: Love the new Forums UX !!! is hysterical IMHO, and I did a double-take thinking it was a humor thread ( I'll bet I wasn't the only one ). No, it was an entirely serious post and is implicitly asking for comments to it. So be it. Nothing personal against this person is meant. But when huge GUI aesthetic screw-ups are made ( that forum style sheet ) all we can do is pound it into the ground. It is our civic duty. And when it is this bad, a retro jump back to 1991 ( or worse really, because of the tiny fonts ) they need to be shamed into submission. There is a great reply to the thread ( still there currently, but who knows ... ) ... Is that an opinion, or a command? Because it sucks. You can't tell who started a thread. Who last replied. When it started. Where or in which forum it started. What's with each posts' two-sentence-content snippet now cluttering up the Thread List? Did anybody ask to see anything besides the Subject Title there? Is there no way to close that list of chicken scratches there on the left? That's the visual beautification you would dedicate 25% of the screen to? With no way to turn that off? 1980 era b&w checkmark glyphs? This editor still is bug infested. I didn't even get to complete this one post without losing text while typing. Click this.and this. and especially this. (thanks for banning my one-minute-old account for posting this scorcher, great sportsmanship). We sure can see what the priorities were. Truly in the spirit of W8. Just watch the usage plummet. This does truly suck. I love that first one: "Is that an opinion, or a command?" EDIT: typo(s)

Update: As Microsoft Restructuring Nears, Top Execs Fret Over Their Fate ( All Things D 2013-06-23 ) 'Major' Microsoft reorg expected by July 1st as Ballmer contemplates single 'Windows' division ( The Verge 2013-06-23 ) Microsoft reportedly nearing restructuring ( NeoWin 2013-06-23 ) Yeah but don't anyone get their hopes up though. I would call this yet another Mojave Experiment, this time aimed at Wall Street in hopes of creating a firebreak under any potential fall of their stock price in the coming months as Summer through October is always a risky period. The entire market has been in quasi-crash mode for the last two trading days and there is really potential for a huge correction to the recent irrational exuberance. Alternatively, this simply could be yet another endgame strategic move by Ballmer to shuffle around and eliminate some of his "competition" for the big chair. Anyway, there is some ironic phrasing in the source article ... Certain ship metaphors might prove very accurate if they keep following the current path. ( Image Source )

While at ZDNet reading the article Jorge referenced I decided to check out what the others there are up to. No surprises really. First Windows, now Xbox: Why Microsoft is listening to the masses ( Mary Jo Foley ZDNet 2013-06-19 ) Mary Jo Foley ... still writing fluff pieces slightly more neutral than her buddy Paul Thurrott. She is running cover for Microsoft by continually repeating this: "At the same time, Microsoft needs to continue to curry favor with its sizeable installed base. Microsoft wants to keep Windows users in the fold. That's why there's going to be a Start Button in Windows 8.1.". Yes, a Start Button that points to Metro! What God-awful drugs did these people stick into their bodies that caused neurons to vanish from their brains? How does a Start Button that points to Metro "keep Windows users in the fold"? They keep parroting this vengeful Microsoft kick in the nuts as if anyone ever asked for it! How did mainstream media get the NSA PRISM story so hopelessly wrong? ( Ed Bott ZDNet 2013-06-14 ) U.S. government loosens gag order on security-related data requests ( Ed Bott ZDNet 2013-06-15 ) Don’t let NSA paranoia destroy your productivity ( Ed Bott ZDNet 2013-06-19 ) Ed MicroBott ... ( mentioned earlier ) ... has been busy pooh-poohing the huge spying story of the past two weeks. Those were his last three columns prior to a new one a couple of days ago called As the Do Not Track standard unravels, privacy alternatives emerge in which he ends with this: "The bottom line is widespread consumer confusion. At this point, maybe the best thing that could happen for the privacy movement is to let the Do Not Track standard die a painful and public death and turn the task over to the companies that actually connect people to the web.". I think it's pretty clear that Ed isn't close to being a friend of privacy. When you add in his endless shilling and defense of everything Microsoft, I think it is safe to say he is also no friend of the Consumer in general. Why is Microsoft obsessed with live tiles, and why doesn't Apple care? ( Matt Baxter-Reynolds ZDNet 2013-06-14 ) MBR ... Column contrasts the approaches taken for the end-user GUI from both companies. He also points out something about the default Metro screen seen on almost all demo and advertising Windows 8 computers: "That's right. The screenshots are the same. In fact, the screenshots from all of the OEMs are always the same. It's always Friday 8, you've always just got an email from Wendy Teo, and it's always 77 degrees Fahrenheit. And it doesn't matter whether it's a desktop, a tablet, a hybrid, an all-in-one, or anything. It's always the same image.". I guess I just never cared enough to magnify the images. But about the "Live Tiles", this should have been easy. We have always had the OPTION to add and enable gadgets since Win6. The same goes for many SysTray icons for a much longer period. Heck, we can add performance or resource meters and other optional realtime task manager components at will. The key word here is OPTION. So the question should be, what idi0t removed that word from all the dictionaries up in Redmond? Two Microsofts: Mulling an alternate reality ( Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols ZDNet 2013-06-18 ) SJVN ... ( OMG the MicroZealots just hate this guy ) ... His column is fun speculation of what would have happened if the recently deceased Judge Jackson had succeedded in breaking Microsoft into separate companies. I think he is pretty close in some of his scenarios, but not quite getting it right. That Judge had it exactly correct, split the Windows OS division off. This would firewall off the portion that writes the "Operating System", software that serves many masters, NOT JUST Microsoft. This is the core problem that should be front and center today with the "Windows Store" included in the OS that steers people right to Microsoft's walled-garden where they are the gatekeepers to what software is ALLOWED on the computer ( once the desktop is gone, this will be certain ). They have designed the future to be the Metro walled-garden, they have said so. How much clearer can this be? Anyway, I am more optimistic than SJVN. If the Windows people were a completely separate company NOT answering to Microsoft they would be responsive to developers anywhere and everywhere. They would not be designing a walled garden and would be going through great effort to crush bugs that break software from working correctly and would no doubt be preserving absolute backward compatibility. Needless to say, this separate Windows company would also have to control the file system IP, as well as other platform components like Direct-X and anything else with APIs and similar standards. That is the perfect scenario. He also speculates that Ballmer and Gates would have jumped to this branch, but that is where I would have drawn the line. Neither of these creeps should be allowed near such an important division, especially one that is supposed to be neutral and must play nice with others. They do not fit that description at all.

Microsoft is proving one thing over and over again ... they no longer have any design skills, aesthetic or otherwise. The Internet used to be largely gray, black and white ( and blue and magenta for links active and visited ) but that was the low bandwidth era with rudimentary HTML and prior to style sheets. Not to mention the fact that end-user equipment was pretty light in the loafers. In this day and age, when absolutely NONE of those things are true any longer, it is pure insanity. It is crazy time! Who would voluntarily select gray as the dominant color for an important forum on arguably the most important company website? Putting the comment date/time ( in even lighter gray! ) and the commenter name AFTER the post in tiny fonts? This is pure retard. Users that include a tagline have that posted also in the same font and color as the normal text ( after a HR line ) so an entirely unrelated tag line looks like it is part of the comment. They use an impossibly light gray for the HR divider between posts, one that is actually fainter than the divider for the tagline ( but longer ) so there is ambiguity at a quick glance confusing separate posts from tagline blurbs. Quotations also appear in a gray box, same font, no italics, no quote marks, same width, no indent, same font, same color. Not a professional appearance by any stretch of the imagination. And ... can the "avatar" pictures be any smaller? This is as ludicrous as the tiny account images allowed on WinXP and later, only smaller! The Margins and padding seem to be set okay given the circumstances, in reality it is the only thing they didn't screw up at first glance. If these webslingers worked for me they would be so fired, I'd cancel the check and then sue them for incompetence and stupidity. If it was at all possible they should be stripped of their citizenship and deported to whatever country has the least amount of computers, or Mars, if they would take them. There are children in elementary school laughing at them. EDIT: one of the good commenters at the redesigned ruined TechNet forums reminds us of an old website, one I hadn't seen in years and preserved but mirrored and frozen in time circa 2000 where it left off primarily critiquing Windows 95 era Microsoft and 3rd party application interface blunders. ... The Interface Hall Of Shame Direct links to some key pages ... Tabbed Dialogs Misplaced Metaphors ( i.e., proto-Skeuomorphism ) Common File Dialogs Error Messages The Use of Color Windows95 Explorer Windows95 Find Applet Controls A nice reminiscing of the journey Microsoft led us on. This site was a great example of what the Internet could have been used for, crowd sourced critiques to shame and humiliate idi0tic design. What is amazing is that almost nothing was ever fixed. That's right, they moved seamlessly from one thing to the other, sometimes abandoning the previous controls but never really fixing anything. And now with Windows 8 and Metro and horrific HTML regressive design we have entered an entirely new era of GUI sabotage, a simultaneous dumbing down of everything in sight while selecting color schemes that only a blind man can appreciate. This is what is badly needed today, a website devoted to these crazy designs. There are lots of threads here that accomplish this in fits and starts, including this one, but a one-stop shop would be optimal. And practically everything that Microsoft has done recently would need to be described. For example, see the page about Common File Dialogs and fast-forward to the uber-fails of missing "Up" icons and the "Libraries" and "Breadcrumb" navigation seen in Windows 6+. They actually made things worse which is quite a feat indeed. ( the sensible option was to allow the user to select which ones to use - maybe none, maybe all - under the View menu they could have had Libraries, Breadcrumb navigation, Address Bar, TreeView, Expand Current, etc. Instead they foisted whatever was the flavor du jour, knocking out all the old ones. But I digress. Sorry ). Anyway this whole thing with the MSDN redesign has now answered one question posed above - after the Xbox fiasco, who could Microsoft possibly anger next?

Did Nokia's board hold an unscheduled meeting this week? ( NeoWin 2013-06-21 ) This ought to make the MicroZealots blood run cold. You almost gotta feel sorry for them, because they are constantly living and waiting for the other shoe to drop. Windows RT Facing Same Fate as webOS? ( Tom's Hardware 2013-06-22 ) Like I said. Blood. Run. Cold. It really hasn't been a great time to be a fanboy. FWIW, I have nothing against WP8 or RT, and I do hope that Nokia survives but I can't help but to have mixed feelings about it. No-one couldn't foresee this rocky road by jumping into bed with Microsoft and bringing Elop onboard. The Phone market needs real innovation and competition and Nokia is a really solid name. But listening to fanboys and effectively letting Ballmer decide your product line is not a smart plan. Nothing good will come of it and we told you so long ago. As for RT, it was the perfect vehicle for a mobile OS, except for the name using "Windows". Had they called it Microsoft Tiles instead, and kept it solely on Microsoft hardware it would have been fairly smooth sailing albeit with a small marketshare ( which you simply cannot force ). Instead the tact they chose was to inject it into the lives of billions of innocent victims of the Microsoft monopoly ( everyone except the MicroZealot and MetroTard minority that is ) and invited a holy war visited upon them. It was an evil decision and they deserve everything that happens now because once you decide to "leverage" something that is not really yours you are in fact evil. Facebook exploit reveals six million identities ( NeoWin 2013-06-22 ) Wow. Another day another thunderstorm in the cloud. Check out this logic ... Not one of those theoretical exploits that Microsoft is constantly patching, but a real leak. That cavalier comment about user data highlights the problem, they only state it that way because the vast majority of their "customers" are ignorant and self-absorbed and consequently not capable of holding Facebook accountable for truly epic sized problems. I suppose next to the vast and wide spying scandal this story is relatively tiny by comparison. But it is still very sad because the Internet is now being reduced down to the lowest common denominator, and I think nothing will slow the death spiral. So the cloud cometh, and the people cheer even as their data gets taken, over and over again. We're gonna need a new Internet.