CharlotteTheHarlot

I totally forgot about that one, which was last weeks questionable tactic from the new MicroApple. At least in that case they aren't being exactly hypocritical ... yet. But give them time and paid listings will likely show up. But that is still some really strong chutzpah since they do have ads built-in to the shipped Windows 8 operating system! I'm still still speechless at this new one about malware, I almost choked when I read it! "Do you have an Android malware horror story? Reply with #DroidRage with your best/worst story and we may have a get-well present for you." The only rationale that can be used for this incredibly dumb idea is that Windows Phone has zero market share so they're technically free of virus and malware. I mean, what else could they be thinking? You know that if WP8 ever gets any traction and obtains even 10% penetration that it will become the traditional magnet for malware - business as usual. And considering all the ill-will blowing their way from these questionable tactics and not to mention from their senseless attacks on traditional desktop users everywhere ( "you're doing it wrong" and "it's dated and cheesy" ) it is gonna be worse than it ever was before. Karma, again.

I'm pretty much the same as you, uninterested. I suppose that since WP8 is used on non-x86 architecture ( because the dominant phones are using those Snapdragon ARM chips and similar, at least currently ), well, Windows RT would probably be the best analogue. Some people might call it chicken little, or "sky is falling" hysteria, but none of the available evidence contradicts the theory that Microsoft will soon jettison their entire successful x86 history and completely morph into Apple. That means that Windows RT ( the non-x86 ReTard Edition ) will be their future, and even Windows 8 is expendable. Recent news stories like Windows RT, not Windows 8, is Microsoft's tablet future are signalling this. What kills me the most is how clueless the fanboys are about this whole thing. They themselves are iSheep ( whom they supposedly despise ) clamoring for Microsoft to become Apple. It is absolutely stunning cognitive dissonance. "Please take away our choices! We want a locked down app store! Kill that darn desktop and Start Menu! Prevent multitasking and multiple Windows! We beg you!". And in the same breath they attack old-time Windows veterans as Apple or Google trolls. Projection and Cognitive Dissonance in the same empty skulls. How about this one? Microsoft publicly ( and foolishly ) attacking Android in Twitter: Microsoft slams Android on Twitter; response is mixed. Doesn't that remind you of the petty and childish attacks on Windows by Apple over the past few decades! How many ways can Microsoft directly copy Apple? I seriously think the Redmond upper echelon has gone insane. Stark raving mad. EDIT: I should mention that the Microsoft Twitter attack on Google and Android is about Virus and Malware ! I am not joking. Microsoft accusing others of malware problems!

Tiihy, someone taking a shot at Start Is Back here.

I would first take the HDD out of the computer and power it up on a bench with a standalone power supply. Now you can hear whether it really clicks and in what pattern. It is entirely possible that a case fan is unbalanced or covered with dust or has hair in the innards and makes a similar noise. If the standalone HDD really does click, the next step is to immediately mount it in another computer as a slave and duplicate it or copy the files you want to keep. This should be done BEFORE running any software that purports to fix the HDD ( and believe me, this is very controversial ). Treat it like its days are numbered, because most likely it is failing. The best thing you can hope for is that it is having difficulty recalibrating or it is relocating damaged sectors, neither of which is something to be too thankful for. Exactly as Jaclaz mentioned, forget SMART. If it says failing, take note. If it says healthy, it might be right, it might be wrong. A coin toss to be sure. FWIW, I find that adding a 120mm case fan directly in front of the HDDs extends the lifetime dramatically. It does this by aiding cooling and keeping the temp extremely low, and it reduces accumulating dust which can also increase temp and even plug the breather hole(s) on the HDD unit itself. Note that even with a blasting fan they still attract some dust so it pays to clean them from time to time.

I was with you up until that, admittedly subjective, statement. The fall 2001 line of desktops were all underpowered for the WinXP RTM. The choice chips from Intel and AMD were still a few years off. The early Athlon's had tiny L2 caches and the early P4's ( Willamette ) just plain sucked. Only the extreme power user spent the big bucks on PIII GHz level processors ( and we should just forget the PII's entirely ). Anyway, almost all the 2001 computers shipped with 128 or 256 MB RAM and most that I saw was the older, expensive and slow 100 MHz SDRAM on 164 pin DIMMs which were never cheap ( and there were outliers were at 133 MHz, a trivial difference anyway ). The only alternative was Rambus and their even more expensive but slightly faster RDRAM. The hardware picture really wasn't pretty in 2001, no way to put lipstick on this pig. Once Intel finally grew a brain and began to exploit the Socket 478 with Northwood and Prescott with big steps in frequency and L2 cache the enduser using WinXP got immediate and large benefits ( as did the Win9x stalwarts ). Likewise, when AMD released the killer Athlon XP's with 512 L2 it was great. Once all these ( Intel and AMD ) CPUs were finally mated to DDR ( at 3x or 4x SDRAM speed ) things began to hum. In my opinion, you needed at least 512 MB total RAM for Windows XP to eliminate the incessant disk thrashing. Again, highly subjective, but around 2004 all the pieces fell into place ( including USB2 and SATA ) to make the total package, CPU + RAM + mobo features + WinXP a solid and enjoyable experience. I think it's fair to say that Microsoft released Windows XP approximately 3 years ahead of the generally available and affordable end-user equipment. This probably reflects the disparity between the internal workstations the developers use and what the general public can afford to purchase. But back to Windows ME. The reason I think it was either a last-ditch effort to save the Win9x branch or a testbed for WinXP fluff is that they didn't really address any of the well-known core problems with the Win9x family. They dressed it up a bit and added further problems ( what I listed above IMHO ) but left the architectural time-bombs in place. The resource heaps needed to be enlarged and memory management needed tweaking and these problems can only be addressed at the design level, recompiled and corrected. I doubt they can be patched in later ( but if anyone can do it, the geniuses here like Rudy Loew would certainly be the ones ). Another example is the very common hour-long blue screen scandisk because of an improper shutdown, triggered by FAT freespace count out of sync from the dirty data flag which is only reset during a "proper" shutdown. This problem hit EVERY single user, and it only needs to happen a couple of times for the user to permanently sour on Microsoft and their Windows. Seriosuly, there is practically an entire generation of computer users now afraid to press the power button to initiate a shutdown because of this ingrained experience using Win9x. This needed to be handled at the kernel level with more frequent FAT updating, but in WinME they just kicked the problem to Windows Scandskw instead and let us go on our merry way. The cynical bone in me believes they had already decided to write-off FAT ( in favor of NTFS ) and just didn't tell anybody. To bring it back to the actual topic of this thread, this kind of thing does not bode well for Windows 8, because if history is a guide, there is a high probability that the decision has been made to disappear the desktop ( and I believe x86 entirely ) soon and evolve themselves into Apple, whether we like it or not. I hope they prove me wrong but I am not willing to bet a red cent on it.

There's nothing to stop them from just totaling up all the activations is there? All the home users must activate, on Microsoft servers no less. Corporate has their own servers but no-one is gonna tell me that Microsoft has no means to audit them directly. Still playing games with numbers in the computerized activation-era says something. The truth is that there is a bean counter at Redmond who has these numbers and hand delivers them to Ballmer. Why doesn't a sycophant like Thurrott or Bott simply ask him directly. The answer is that they are also in on it. Meanwhile we'll just have to look at a worse method, website page request statistics ( worse for Microsoft because not all legitimately activated Windows 8 installations will be connected to the internet ). That's Karma again.

When I first used Windows ME I immediately noticed three things, and to use the baseball analogy, three strikes you're out. System Restore ... wasting disk space ( which was still at a premium ) by saving oodles of files in that locked down folder structure which led to virus persistence even after a rollback. System File Protection ... much more aggressive than previous attempts, it did realtime replacement. IIRC there were only two files in Win98se that were not modifiable ( VER.DLL and another I forget ). It wouldn't be such a big deal if you could just boot F8 to DOS command line to bypass it, except for ... F8 DOS Amputation ... killed the best part of Win9x by removing the ability to just drop into the "pure" F8 DOS and do stuff outside of Windows. This was achieved by radically altering IO.SYS. The 4th biggie was the adjustment to the registry by moving HKLM\Software\Classes from SYSTEM.DAT into CLASSES.DAT which was a kludge to stave off the large registries from crashing at startup ( my guess ). This was fine if all you ever used was WinME, but it broke backward compatibility by using three registry files instead of two, so all specialized software that dealt with the registry ( or custom script or batch files etc ) needed to be re-written. They should have revised the kernel instead and solved the memory problems there. There was more bad stuff of course, and some good things as well like better memory management, fixing up certain utilities to handle large disks like the Windows DEFRAG and SCANDISK. However I believe all the same resource heap limitations exist so you could still crash the system by running certain 16-bit programs and suddenly the icons go crazy ( change or disappear ) and the system stops responding. I guess it depends upon your point of view and I certainly understand if someone thinks of these as improvements. Not me though. These items essentially changed Win9x from a power-user's dream to an OS for the sheeple. WinME seems to have been a testbed for the bells and whistles being refined for the eventual WinXP RTM. But it also might have been the Win9x proponents inside Microsoft trying to save the branch from its impending execution. I'm not sure we ever got the whole story on how this went down. EDIT: After thinking about it, it might simply be that WinME was the baby step to prepare the masses for the forthcoming WinXP. This precedent would place Windows 8 into the possible perspective of being the baby step to fully eliminating the desktop in the next version. They quite probably look at the desktop and all "legacy" 16/32bit compiled x86 software as the enemy of their wonderful walled garden of glorified HTML-CSS crApps.

Darn, if only that was the Windows 8 blue window pane thing instead of the Windows XP flag it would be perfect. I would never choose Apple over Windows XP or earlier.

But what form will they take? I can easily see this whole thing reverting back to the pre-clone era when there were PC's, XT's and AT's as your main choices. It took radical courage for the clones to stand up, knock off the BIOS copyright issue and penetrate and then overwhelm the relatively "closed" market. Differentiation is what is at risk here. Right now we are extremely lucky to be able to construct PC's of almost infinite variation, but if the big one, Intel, goes socketless ( like in the early days ), the other smaller fish like AMD are sure to follow and the motherboard revolution we are enjoying will definitely end. There is wicked competition currently between them to add all kinds of amazing onboard features, and I can't see this continuing if they must eat the cost of CPU replacement on failures and buggy chips. It will kill them dead. Each mobo company will fail one by one and the few remaining will just offer a few safe motherboard selections. Corporate big buyers will have no problem with this arrangement, they prefer simple ( Dell, etc ). The only losers are us. We must remember that Intel is great with CPU's but terrible with everything else. Their graphics still suck and their motherboards are a joke. Earlier this year Intel already took a baby step when they cheaped out on unlocked "K" Ivy Bridge processors using thermal paste instead of fitted spreaders. This rumor if it is true is a perfect parallel to the cynical Metro offering from Microsoft. Cut costs, jack up profit margins, aim for the sheeple. This is what they are teaching in business school now I guess. You got that right. I just saw a story somewhere that Foxcon is making the Surface. Welcome to MicroApple. They are so incredibly overwhelmed by Apple-envy. It is a mental illness. I have lost count of the amount of direct copies of Apple strategy. When we heard the rumors of Ballmer throwing fits ( and chairs ) and cursing out Google, and the memos about destroying Netscape ( a decade ago ), we were tipped off that there is unstable thinking going on in management. Even though they have a near-monopoly and highly profitable business they feel they must press further and squeeze more money out of the marketplace. They see us as cows ready to be milked, to the last drop. In a perfect world, there would be some way to pry the Windows XP source code out of their grubby hands and hand it off to the community to evolve, while they work on their silly Metro mobile dreams. Or they could be wise and give it away, an act of great benevolence like Ben Franklin with the Lightning Rod. Hey, I'm allowed to dream.

We're all in trouble if this rumor proves true ... Intel’s Haswell Could Be Last Interchangeable Desktop Microprocessors - Report. ( Xbit Labs 2012-11-22 ) Intel's Haswell May Be Last Interchangeable Desktop CPU? ( Tom's Hardware 2012-11-27 ) Intel to kill off desktop as we know it, reports claim ( CNet 2012-11-27 ) Intel's Broadwell Goes BGA Only: Implications for Future Desktops ( PC Perspective 2012-11-27 ) Could Intel kill off the removable CPU? ( NeoWin 2012-11-28 ) What this means is that we have maybe one more tick-tock cycle and then it is all over. Done. Both halves of the Wintel duopoly will have successfully destroyed the home PC in their quest chasing after the fickle consumerist sales model. As I mentioned a while back, this happens in industry when the suits care more about Wall Street than Main Street and decide to go for the quick buck and quantity over quality. Rapid adoption of cheap digital cameras, LCD displays, etc, completely destroyed existing technologies even if they were equal or superior. We may have dodged a bullet with SSDs not wiping out HDDs ( well not yet ). But this trend is all around us. Apple lives in this universe and exploits it, Microsoft envies it. IMHO this paradigm, catering to the lowest common denominator is at the root of much of the criticism of Windows 8, at least with me. We know when we see the move from quality to McDonalds mass consumerism. Nothing short of full and utterly thorough failure of Windows 8 and the complete sacking of their management and board of directors will slow this computer devolution. Unfortunately if Intel is getting onboard, even a normal Windows release will not matter. EDIT: more links EDIT2: update below at Post #129.

I seem to remember Mark Russinovich saying something about Win9x call-hooking being unreliable, and this was the reason that ProcMon only worked on NT, and that FileMon and RegMon didn't capture 100% of the events or allow boot logging. This is why long ago I decided to skip attempts at realtime capture ( Win9x really doesn't need another destabilizing variable ) and just do before and after logs. Save a complete Registry Export and also a complete FileList ( DIR C:\ /a /s >FILELIST.TXT ). The FileList should be done using a patched COMMAND.COM naturally. See here and here. Then you can WinDiff them at your leisure later rather than the substantial risk of a realtime monitor which by design must use a custom driver VXD. Risking a BSOD during a System Restore is a nomination for a Darwin Award! Just my IMHO.

Jorge, I'm not sure if this one is real or not since it has no real description or screenshots, just a bullet list of features and a "download now" button. It does mention "Aero Mode" whatever that means. It might just be a scam for all I know. Anyway, here is the site: http://windows8startbutton.com/ Start Button for Windows 8 Restore Windows Start button and Start menu on Windows 8! Make 'desktop mode' as your default Windows startup screen Choose appearance: classic windows, aero mode, Win 7 and more! Restore all your familiar windows menus and options All that and more, absolutely free!

These articles are describing a recent event where Jensen Harris, one of the principal destroyers on the Destroying Windows Team presents their twisted rationalization yet again ... Windows 8 UI vision mockups from 2010 ( istartedsomething 2012-11-20 ) Microsoft shows off early Windows 8 user interface mockups ( The Verge 2012-11-20 ) Mockups show what Windows 8 looked like in 2010 ( NeoWin 2012-11-20 ) Jensen Harris ... Video He begins by pointing fingers at other devices that underwent significant evolution like the PS2 controller to WII to Kinect. He moves on to Cellphones and other things, espousing the self-serving meme: ' Modern trumps Familiarity '.. Barf. He goes as far as using the natural and logical evolution of software such as WordPerfect to Word. Ummmm, WordStar first of course, but the text-mode keyboard-centric word-processing universe evolving to to graphic-mode WYSIWYG was a perfectly logical and beneficial change ( and we still have Notepad and other non-WYSIWYG down-level alternatives don't we? ). He even has the temerity to state: "as it turns out, people are willing to change if you provide them something better". Cognitive Dissonance, a mind is a terrible thing to waste. But here is the real doozy: it is on display at 11:49 in the video which itself is a video spoof of a Subaru commercial they called: "Mediocrity". It is absolutely illustrative of the contagious brain cancer that has plagued the Devs up there in my opinion. Jensen Harris tells us that this commercial makes the point of "re-imagining Windows" perfectly. This video, "Mediocrity", is of an imaginary car company where the engineers are featured telling all about the blandness but pinnacle-ness of this automobile, no further advancement is needed ( he's insulting us again ). This is the proof that these Microsoft devs in 2010 had already associated this bland "Mediocrity" with then-current Windows 7 and desired to leapfrog to some re-imagined futuristic upgrade. ( Lamborghini? Ferrari? I don't think so ). What is most offensive is that now, this "GUI developer" wants us to suspend common sense and logic and associate "Mediocrity" with Windows 7. Aero Glass? 3D chrome and effects? These are "Mediocrity". Period. Playskool pastel color tiles? These are advanced and futuristic. Period. The only thing to understand IMHO, is that these are overpaid under-achievers, have zero taste logic and common sense, and everything that emits from their mouthes is completely inverted to reality. Whatever it is that they say, we should just believe the opposite. The video that these devs should have been watching at the time was called "Idiocracy". A real movie that with very little stretch of the imagination perfectly illustrates the Redmond operation. Art imitates Life once again. Skipping on past much propaganda, including digs at other products like Win95 of course ( when are they gonna learn how offensive it is to attack like this? ), BSOD screens ( yes, I am not joking ), Apple, Skeumorphism again ( propaganda talking point ) we start to see mock-ups of Windows 8 finally. Jensen Harris tells us that "in early 2010" they got the team together and showed these mockups and started making early decisions. This is important because we now know that in "early 2010" they had nothing coded and the future was being re-imagined at that very moment. Or was it? What else was happening in "early 2010"? Well we can skip back to Post #518 in this very thread where I summarized what was found about some existing software in the wild. Software that I imagine someone up there also had seen. Once again ... Nemulator ... Nemulator version 2.0b1 ( release date: 2009-07-07 ) ( original image ) And that is not just a mockup. It was already a side-scrolling menu-system with animated tiles ( probably not "live tiles" in the sense that they pull data from a running program but that is the only real difference ). Here is the video ... Nemulator video, mirrored at , that shows the interesting menu side-scrolling of the 2009-July release. (ruh-roh!). Compared to the very questionable "look and feel" issue with Apple and Windows 2 ( bogus IMHO ), this one has much longer legs. If Microsoft hasn't already donated a huge sum to the author of Nemulator, James Slepicka, most likely they will eventually have to. EDIT: added original source for article and link to video., updated image URL, and again

Small sampling of heartburn causing stories for MicroZombies ... Metro's mother to replace defenestrated Windows boss Sinofsky. Larson-Green also invented Office Ribbon. Just sayin' ( UK Register 2012-11-13 ) Steve Ballmer fired Sinofsky, clearing the way for faster progress in mobile ( ExtremeTech 2012-11-19 ) A Rosier Year Ahead for Windows 8? Yeah, Right ( John C. Dvorak PC Magazine 2012-11-19 ) Did Sinofsky kill off Windows 7 tablet design? ( NeoWin 2012-11-20 ) Oprah Winfrey too late to save Microsoft's Windows 8. Signs are that Redmond has produced a turkey this Xmas ( UK Register 2012-11-20 ) Also note that the Mini-Microsoft blog is now up to 261 comments with many from Softies past and present chewing the fat over these events. Lots of interesting information. Almost forgot about this next one. It is fascinating! It is about email correspondence between Sinofsky and a Brit techie just over a year ago when the Windows 8 leaks, //Build/ and DP were in the news and the ridiculous direction they were taking was becoming clear. The arrogance and touchy temper of Sinofsky is visible, and frankly it makes perfect sense as to the way he dismissed all the criticism seen in those self-serving blog posts. The Sinofsky Letters: Defenestrated Windows overlord corresponds. 'How can I offer you death by a thousand cuts?' ( UK Register 2012-11-18 ) EDIT: added another link.

That's a good point. I was think exactly the same thing: What took him so long!

Some assorted articles hinting at problems with Windows 8 and related launches... Surface sales numbers are really poor? ( social.technet.microsoft.com 2012-10-30 ) Rumor: Windows 8 sales "well below" Microsoft's expectations [update] ( NeoWin 2012-11-16 ) Survey: Win8 only HALF as popular as Win7 among IT bosses ( UK Register 2012-11-16 ) Windows 8 PC sales reportedly 'well below Microsoft's internal projections' ( The Verge 2012-11-16 ) Windows 8 Selling Far Below Expectations, But Don’t Count It Out Just Yet ( NeoWin 2012-11-18 ) NewEgg: Windows 8 sales are "slow going" so far ( NeoWin 2012-11-19 ) Articles sure to raise the blood pressure of MicroZombies ... Is Microsoft Planting Windows 8 Comments? ( John C. Dvorak PC Magazine 2012-11-13 ) Microsoft has failed. Their actions erase any lingering doubt. ( Charlie Demerjian 2012-11-14 ) With Sinofsky Gone, Start Menu Could Return to Windows 8 ( Tom's Hardware 2012-11-18 ) Usability expert Jakob Nielsen: Windows 8 UI is disappointing ( NeoWin 2012-11-19 ) Design guru: Windows 8 is 'a monster' and 'a tortured soul' ( UK Register 2012-11-19 ) Downgrading from Windows 8 to 7: What you need to know ( PC World 2012-11-20 ) EDIT: re-arranged, added link

Great thread Jorge. I recognize those commenters from many other threads over there and it is nice to see them all in one place clearly summarizing the Windows 8 and Metro debacle. This has been going on for well over a year now with practically no backtracking or mea culpa from Microsoft. Consequently, the opinions of several of those commenters are being proved correct. This is bad news for traditional Windows users and bad news for Microsoft. It's bad news all around. Suicide is an inexplicable act. Is that a bunch of hooey they told him? I thought that Win8 was supposed to be able to run on any PC that could run Vista or Win7. Without knowing the specifics of this case, we can say one thing absolutely for sure about any given computer: If an an Operating System works on a given computer, but the next Operating System does not, something changed in the Operating System. This is entirely consistent with Planned Obsolescence. When this happens, we can no longer call it an Operating System at all.

Live Long and Prosper SteveSi ( Hal's (Im)Perfect Vision 2012-11-13 ) Interesting blog. So interesting that Sinofsky drops by to add a comment. Sinofsky speaks, denies he tried to take over Windows Phone division at Microsoft ( The Verge 2012-11-15 ) Reaction to the drive-by from Sinofsky. Ballmer praises Sinofsky, still no reason for exit ( NeoWin 2012-11-15 ) But look at what they are calling praise ... Man that's cold! EDIT: added link

Views from the inside ... A Microsoft Without Sinofsky? ( Mini-Microsoft 2012-11-13 ) The thread has 163 comments so far, many ( if not most ) are Softies, all posting anonymously, displaying their amazement, astonishment and theories at the sudden exit of Sinofsky. It is quite an Earthquake. Lots of speculation, personal encounters and nuggets of information. If I had to tally the opinions I believe it is fair to say that Sinofsky is better liked than Julie, who is better liked than Ballmer. The engineers and programming grunts were clearly pulling for Sinofsky to replace Ballmer. There is much, much more. There is also a faction that parallels those of us in threads like this that are disgusted with the lurching towards Apple and the destruction of Windows. The overall tone is dismal. The theme song would be funeral march. No need to read Thurrott's skimpy self-serving tidbits any longer, listen to employees and ex-employees themselves Just a small sample ... BTW: This blog, which I don't recall ever reading, actually dates to 2004 and I'm looking forward to reading back into the different eras for internal insight when other dramatic events occurred like Vista and various Google and Apple releases for example. No time at the moment ( ) so I hope this thing survives for a while! Update: links to more of these: Mini-Like Sites EDIT: Added link. Here's another that many Softies in that thread will disagree with: Microsoft and Google in world's top five best places to work.

I think that is a very logical theory based on what we know. One thing is for sure, the talk about planned exit is bull. The alluding to health issues is also bull. In fact all the lame excuses are bull because nothing short of a stroke or heart attack would prevent him from completing the work week, or better yet waiting until next Wednesday prior to the 4-day weekend where any news, good or bad will dissolve and be diluted by the Thanksgiving holiday, Football overload, and the Christmas shopping season kickoff with the Black Friday super sales. That day is in fact one of the 2 or 3 most optimal days to release something potentially damaging in any calendar year. Of course that is what a competent management team would do. I wonder if it is really possible that they are so incredibly insulated in a thick translucent bubble that they in fact can not relate to the world outside any longer. That would explain their astonishing tone-deafness with all aspects of Windows 8. So we can be pretty sure that Ballmer and the Board along with billg himself let this thing get wildly out of control. For his part, you would expect that Sinofsky would still have the natural loyalty, no matter how angry he is, to voluntarily hang out for a while or take a vacation or at least keep a lid on his exit until the Weekend or Thanksgiving, right? So the interesting thing is what happened on Monday afternoon that caused Microsoft to issue that press release saying "effective immediately" instead of the more logical "effective at year-end" or "after a period of transition"? There is no way to read it except to imagine he packed his stuff and left. So unless Sinofsky did something completely off the wall and was fired for cause ( e.g., criminal, immoral, unethical or illegal ) which there is no reason to believe, we have to assume this 'coup' was not of his doing and was instigated from inside Microsoft. This in turn begs the question as to what he might say now in an interview or maybe a book. Certainly he has NDA restrictions concerning Microsoft IP, maybe even a non-compete clause ( though these are very dubious legally and I don't think they have been tested fully ). But Sinofsky is carrying around a lot of info in his head. He no doubt has enough to sink Ballmer and possibly the company if he were so inclined. Which again, makes it astonishing that Ballmer, the Board and billg could allow it to happen. At the very least the management is utterly incompetent. But it is also possible considering the many errors in recent years that the company is FUBAR. And I don't know how you get out of this either. Maybe they can rescue Mark Russinovich from whatever cloud hellhole they stuck him in and beg him to help. But if I were him I would decline. P.S. One of the stranger conspiracy theories has Microsoft planning on a major stock buyback and therefore all the bad news driving the price down is actually good news since they have enough cash to recover at least a third of all outstanding shares. Conspiracy aside, it is not that far-fetched because buybacks were one of the main methods that IBM employed after the crashes in the late 1980's to shore up their stock. Intentionally driving down the price would naturally make employees and other shareholders nervous of course, but also would invite federal scrutiny like they've never seen so it is admittedly crazy. But we really can not rule out anything these days, can we? The best theories for Sinofsky's exit ( NeoWin 2012-11-13 ) Report: Bill Gates agreed Sinofsky should leave Microsoft ( NeoWin 2012-11-13 ) EDIT: Added links.

Disagree. There is no downside for Microsoft to allow MSIE 10 on Windows 7, whereas Direct-X and Service Packs can increase the computer useful lifetime to the home user. Also, they probably want to avoid re-creating the situation with lingering MSIE 6 ( or 7 and 8 ) on countless Windows XP computers which does not help their future MSIE 10 usage statistics. Furthermore, MSIE is often of some actual value to corporate, whereas Direct-X and Service Packs in most scenarios are not. IMHO they are trying to salvage this broad customer group from considering jumping ship off Windows when their various agreements expire because they are unlikely to move to Windows 8 for a very long time. So offering them support for MSIE will convince some of the bean-counters planning no move to 8, that staying on 7 is a sounder and cheaper idea than the riskier move of leaving the Windows platform altogether. Look at it this way ... If MSIE 10 was completely banned from Windows 7 they just might force the hand of corporate decision makers enough to consider the nuclear option of Apple, Linux, even Android. If they lose corporate it is all over but the shouting. The home user will get no such TLC because their expenditure came and went when they got their copy at computer purchase. They will apparently have the option to use MSIE 10 when it is released, but their value to Microsoft is exactly what it always has been - a large scale beta test force dutifully sending in WER usually without even realizing it. When their computer dies, there will be a new one with Windows 8 waiting for them. Adoption by attrition is the plan as usual. And again, it helps usage statistics. So I see no act of benevolence here. And abandonment is in the eye of the beholder I guess.

The Wall Street Journal as you might expect has already posted 9 different stories. This was only the first ... Windows Head Steven Sinofsky to Leave Microsoft ( WSJ 2012-11-12 ) 8:31 pm Microsoft Gives Windows 8 Chief the Boot ( Wired 2012-11-12 ) 9:51 pm Windows head Steven Sinofsky to leave Microsoft ( ComputerWorld 2012-11-13 ) 02:10 am Sinofsky's departure due to politics or products? ( Mary Jo Foley ZDNet 2012-11-13 ) 02:26 am Microsoft's Windows head, once a possible CEO, exits ( Reuters 2012-11-13 ) 08:32 am Steven Sinofsky, head of Microsoft's Windows division leaves the company ( TechSpot 2012-11-13 ) 09:00 am Windows President Steven Sinofsky Quits Microsoft ( Tom's Hardware 2012-11-13 ) 09:28 am These Were Sinofsky's Final Words to Microsoft Employees ( Tom's Hardware 2012-11-13 ) 10:20 am Steve Ballmer's Memo on Windows President's Departure ( Tom's Hardware 2012-11-13 ) 11:00 am Microsoft Windows Head Departure Viewed Negatively ( Investors Business Daily 2012-11-13 ) 11:12 am Windows President Steven Sinofsky Leaves Microsoft ( Slashdot 2012-11-13 ) n/a Comment Thread The real reason Steve Sinofsky left Microsoft ( InfoWorld 2012-11-13 ) n/a Windows chief Steven Sinofsky pushed out of Microsoft ( Guardian UK 2012-11-13 ) 12:58 pm Windows 8 head Steven Sinofsky leaves Microsoft ( PC Gamer 2012-11-13 ) 9:43 pm Sinofsky OFFSKI: Is Windows 9 now codenamed 'Defenestrate'? 'Inconceivable' - May not mean what you think it means ( UK Register 2012-11-13 ) 9:54 pm P.S. This is the last bunch of links from me, promise! ( unless something radical occurs ). It has been just over half a day and the articles are already too numerous to count. It was fun to read all the comments and notice the similarities that abound between all these different groups of people that inhabit all these different websites. It is safe to say that the natives are restless, everywhere. It is also a pretty safe bet that this is not over. I'm out! Final Note: the New York Stock Exchange just closed. NO crash, but markets all slightly down. MSFT closed at $27.09, down -0.90 which is off -3.22%. Final Final Note: ruh roh! I just heard that tomorrow ( Wednesday ) the largest lockup for Facebook shares is lifted. 800 million Facebook shares set to flood market. This makes Ballmer and Company quite possibly the most inept and irresponsible managers in history. Allowing this news the day prior to the Facebook shares event is suicidal. There is a very good chance that the market will tumble tomorrow dragging along perfectly good stocks in the process. But since Ballmer has literally greased the skids on the MSFT sled, they may be in for a wild ride. EDIT: added links

Steven Sinofsky, Windows president, leaving Microsoft effective immediately ( Ars Technica 2012-11-12 ) 8:46 pm Windows head Steven Sinofsky leaves Microsoft ( PC World 2012-11-12 ) 9:29 pm Windows Boss Steven Sinofsky Out at Microsoft ( PC Magazine 2012-11-12 ) 9:46 pm At that Ars Technica thread they highlight one of their reader comments from a self-identified Softie. This is a snippet ... This shows yet another aspect of the internal civil wars that must be ongoing. Win vs Dev. Win vs Win. Management vs Engineer. Pretty much every variation. Sprinkle in the contentious atmosphere alleged by the Vanity Fair article and you can safely say that Microsoft has evolved into the same position as big players of years past, like IBM. You might even say that they are overdue for a massive blowup since it only took 20+ years for IBM to create, develop, burn-out and self-destruct its PC division. No-one should doubt that Microsoft is equally capable of at-least partial suicide. Microsoft has been in the PC business nearly twice as long. At the risk of piling on, Ballmer must be considered most responsible because only he could have allowed that atmosphere of competitive cannibalism to take root and flourish, and no-one else has the real power to remove the cancer cells at all levels in the company. We are seeing the Peter Principle in all its glory I'm afraid. An unfortunate consequence of this is that removing him now could very well make the problem even worse because all the remaining potentials are probably sycophants to Ballmer. There is a lot of sympathy seen in the various comments for Sinofsky, many describing him as the best qualified or least offensive of the Three Stooges: Ballmer, Sinofsky and Green. I have no clue if that is true. Résumés don't tell the whole story. Having read most of Destroying Windows blog posts by Sinofsky I see no reason to believe he is not a shallow thinking yuppie true-believer willing to gamble Microsoft's largest product name for the sake of Apple-esque fortune and glory. Microsoft has owned a veritable cash money printing press with Windows. Naming all the people involved in corrupting that extremely important product would be useful information to know. Somehow I doubt that it will ever be revealed because it touches the very top including the Board of Directors and even billg himself who are at the very least enablers of Ballmer, if not complicit in the radical new direction. At the very least they are derelict in their duties to the corporation in keeping things under some semblance of control.

Editorial: Windows without Sinofsky ( NeoWin 2012-11-12 ) ~3 hours ago I said that exact same thing earlier. See previous post. But he still doesn't understand it very well. Monday night may be after that day's "news cycle" but it precedes four more trading days, including the most infamous day of all: Tuesday. Market shaking news is never released on Monday unless it can not be controlled. No! Stop enabling them. You are wishing for total destruction of their biggest product. Children. Aw hell no! I dare you to post that at real computer gaming sites. EDIT: typo

In addition to CoffeeFiend's links, some more coverage about the exit of Sinofsky. Note that the times of the articles are taken at face value from the webpages and we all know how accurate that can be ... Microsoft Announces Leadership Changes to Drive Next Wave of Products ( Microsoft Press Release 2012-11-12 ) n/a That should help the stock market Windows Head Steven Sinofsky to Leave Microsoft ( AllThingsD 2012-11-12 ) 8:31 pm Mussolini !?! Wow!The Leader of Windows Exits Microsoft ( NY Times 2012-11-12 ) 8:36 pm Steven Sinofsky leaves Microsoft, Julie Larson-Green and Tami Reller take the Windows reins (update: Sinofsky email) ( EnGadget 2012-11-12 ) 8:42 pm Here's How Steve Ballmer Explained That Steve Sinofsky Is Leaving ( Business Insider 2012-11-12 ) 8:56 pm SOURCE: Sinofsky's Out At Microsoft Because He Wanted Steve Ballmer's Job ( Business Insider 2012-11-12 ) 9:30 pm Windows President Steven Sinofsky Leaves Microsoft ( Maximum PC 2012-11-12 ) 9:45 pm Windows boss Steve Sinofsky exits Microsoft ( UK Register 2012-11-12 ) 9:52 pm Windows Leadership Changes (Part-1) ( Thurrott 2012-11-12 ) 9:56 pm Windows Leadership Changes (Part 2) ( Thurrott 2012-11-12 ) 9:59 pm Sources inside Microsoft say a clash of personalities led to Sinofsky's departure ( The Verge 2012-11-12 ) 10:01:pm Microsoft Announces Leadership Change: Sinofsky Out! ( Thurrott 2012-11-12 ) 10:30 pm Steven Sinofsky leaves Microsoft, effective immediately ( NeoWin 2012-11-12 ) ~12 hours ago Who are the people taking over Windows at Microsoft? ( NeoWin 2012-11-12 ) ~12 hours ago Here is one thing for sure: These things are never done on a Monday night. They are always done on Friday after the stock market closes, and when the media goes to sleep. So there is no way this is a planned move and really leans more towards "firing" than "resignation". No sane, publicly traded corporation allows this news at the beginning of the week because they have concerns and duties for their shareholders and employees. But this is Ballmer's Microsoft, one that is prone to errors, though even this one is hard to believe. Ballmer must be a grade-A incompetent to not be able to hold this off until the weekend or better yet, over the longer Thanksgiving holiday. The timing is stunning and reeks of incompetence. So much speculation at the moment, and it's all over the place. All the so-called "sources" including Thurrott's are really doing is echoing the common knowledge available to anyone. Note that there is a self-identified Softie at the NeoWin thread ( perhaps he's just a wannabe though because he emits that pod-people characteristic I have personally seen in several ) but he really says nothing of value in multiple posts. The comments at all these stories is even more all over the map. I recommend the thread at The Verge and a bowl of popcorn. The current agreement seems to be that Julie Larson-Green is just as bad ( or worse ) so this has nothing to do with Windows 8. So "don't worry! Metro and Office Ribbons are here to stay. Rejoice!" Well maybe, maybe not. Personally I see nothing to change my mind that Julie Larson-Green, Steven Sinofsky and Steve Ballmer are anything but the Three Stooges Seattle hipster edition sucking down Starbucks Lattes. As many commenters have already said, Microsoft is really copying Apple now. EDIT: Added links. Typos. See the New York Times link because it appears to have the most information so far. They imply Sinofsky was canned at least partially for the EU Browser Ballot mistake. This mistake was actually used by Microsoft's Board of Directors to punish Ballmer ( see upthread ). That is plausible to me. I still think Ballmer is a hugely incompetent CEO because he could not even manage to release this "resignation" news on a weekend. EDIT: Hit the QUOTE limit? Who knew!