CharlotteTheHarlot

Windows 8 upgrade paths 'leaked', XP, Vista and 7 supported - TechSpot Windows 8 upgrade path leaked, XP fans rejoice - NeoWin (Fanboys ) Microsoft Details Windows 8 Upgrade Plans - Tom's Hardware The NeoWin article speculates about WinXP upgrading ... However the TechSpot article offers a slightly different take ... Regardless of what finally occurs, the fact remains that Microsoft once again is just phoning it in. It is must be too darn complicated for them to untangle the mess they made with the switch from \Documents and Settings to \Users, the strange Wow64 and System32 implementation choice, and all the registry and NTFS links they used as ductape to hold the thing together. LoL! To be honest, Win2k and WinXP are looking like pillars of stability and simplicity nowadays. (though IMHO I do feel they should have done \Users from the beginning. But that would have been too logical. These were the same kind of dumb decisions that gave us \Program Files with all the potential LFN problems instead of simply using \Programs which fit so nicely in 8 characters. ~sigh~) EDIT: added link to Tom's Hardware coverage... and a typo. Microsoft Windows 8 : it's like Windows 7, only better! (if by 'better' you mean suckier)

JFYI, it is MANY years that Porsche removed spare tires from the 911 and boxster, 2005 if I recall correctly, replacing it with a "repair kit" . I have never met a 911 or boxster owner actually upset about it. So, sorry to say so , but this time your "meanwhile" has a lesser effect than what was intended/expected. Well it depends. If Porsche used data collected from a Customer Experience Improvement Program then it would seem to reinforce my humorous analogy. Right? It would even be better if that Porsche repair kit was invisible and you had to move the pointer to the lower left hand corner of the windshield to make it appear. <--- (more humor!)

Microsoft killed the start button because it wasn't used - NeoWin Microsoft: You Are the Reason Why We Killed the Start Menu - Tom's Hardware Microsoft employee explains decision to scrap the Start button - TechSpot Meanwhile in other breaking news, Ford, Mercedes, Audi and Porsche have noted declining usage of the space-wasting included spare tire thanks to data collected from their Customer Experience Improvement Program. Spokesmen for the companies say that most users have never even touched the spare tire and many do not even know that it is there or could even find it if they wanted to. 'Our research indicates that we can vastly improve their fast and fluid experience by removing this useless legacy application'. No word if other auto manufacturers will follow suit. All kidding aside, Microsoft is flat out lying again as usual. This was an arrogant design decision with a feeble attempt later to disguise that fact with numbers and no-one should ever believe Microsoft when they cite numbers. For one simple proof that their usage statistics are bogus just consider that the only people being tracked are those that are too stup er inexperienced to opt-out, so the experts and power users are not even present in the sample in any numbers. For an even more obvious proof just make a list of Windows accessories that are rarely used by those same users in their alleged sample. Backup, CharMap, Remote Assistance, Synchronize, all manner of Administrative Tools, the list is endless. For every click that these accessories receive, the Start Menu probably receives a hundred or a thousand or more. Following their logic almost everything shipped with Windows should disappear. What's next, maybe Windows will use the data in the ADD/Remove or Programs and Features and automatically delete the 'Rarely Used' items. The real data would show a ranking from most used to least used with the bulk of Windows accessories near the bottom and the Start Menu of course above them. To remove the Start Menu but not all other less-used items proves the arrogance and willingness to lie from Team B&S. EDIT: added two more links to main article. Microsoft Windows 8 : Sesame Street Edition designed by children for children

Opinion: Is Windows 8 Worth $15 for New PC Owners? Pretty good article from Tom's Hardware on the known current information about Windows 8 pricing. It also details the pricing for the last four Windows releases, WinME, WinXP, Vista, and Win7. Near as I can tell this $14.99 cost is the lowest one ever offered since at least the Win3.x era ... As mentioned previously upthead, this $14.99 price tag is not the cheapest way to go. You can go even lower! See here ... All we need now is a late night commercial with Ballmer doing the Crazy Eddie sales pitch! Microsoft Windows 8 : Prices so low, we're practically giving it away!

Microsoft: Tablets to outsell PC desktops in 2013

It doesn't get much funnier than this ... Microsoft's new tablet, Surface, freezes during presentation. That's a link to the Wimp.com page with the FLV video. I'll try to embed it here ... Didn't work. You might want to save it in case it disappears (url) Okay then, it is now also up at YouTube. This should embed here ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-pMZd1fupw Why does this make me think of the Southpark movie "Bring Bill Gates in Here!". Microsoft Windows 8 : It's just a coincidence that it looks like AOL Kids (and Commodore Q-Link, and Nemulator)

Whoa, nice catch there Joseph! Can't say that I ever seen that before, nor has it showed up in any of the Windows 8 and Metro forums that I 've been in. Until someone claims otherwise it seems that you have reported an exclusive, and a new headache for Team B&S (Ballmer and Sinofsky) ;-). Here is the still frame from version 2.2.1 (release date: 2010-12-09) ( original image ) ... There is a documented Nemulator release history over there. Here is something that indicates earlier dates of note ... And here is the still frame from version 2.0b1 (release date: 2009-07-07) ( original image ) ... The do have a video up, mirrored at , that shows the interesting menu side-scrolling of the 2009-July release. (ruh-roh!). ... The author listed on the webpage is James Slepicka who can be contacted thru the website or at one of his many other outlets. It would be very interesting to see what he has to say. Note: there is no Nemulator page at Wkipedia yet. I think that previously shown graphic with Commodore Q-Link and AOL Kids will need to be updated. Very interesting stuff. Microsoft Windows 8 : Resistance is Futile! (well that's what our fanboys keep telling us anyway) EDIT: updated image URLs, and again

From concept to execution this is a disaster. Creating a touchscreen GUI and intentionally market it (or more accurately, FORCE it) to the hundreds of millions of existing Windows NON-touchscreen systems. What could possibly go wrong! Well, how about several hundred million computer users succumbing to the inevitable multi-million dollar commercial mega-blitz of wonderful pictures of ecstatic smiling people swiping their fancy screens while they test Windows 8. These hundreds of millions will probably begin (... wait for it ...) swiping on their screens over and over before they start to swear and curse (my Windows is broke! ) Yep, this is going to end well indeed (one must wonder if Microsoft is buying stock in Display manufacturers, touch *and* legacy). If there is any real justice, the computer manufacturers will re-direct all support calls related to Windows 8 and Metro directly to Microsoft this time around. "My start screen doesn't move at all when I press on it. Even with a pen! Please help me.". Although I despise frivolous lawsuits and was disgusted by the government MSIE browser action, I have to say that they may have a problem here, well, it certainly has more merit than Netscape crying about MSIE being included in Windows. One could easily make a case that Windows should NOT include Metro as default on a non-touchscreen hardware without explicit opt-in. When kids (and average users ) start poking and prodding with their fingers or stylus objects because they saw it on a TV commercial, their potential liability is obvious. I mean, this is one of the core arguments of the do-gooders jihad on smoking with ads or billboards or magazines or movies or television showing cigarettes. Monkey see, Monkey do. Let's see if their lawyers are smart enough to subtitle their upcoming commercials with a disclaimer: 'when used on touchscreen hardware' or something similar. And what about all that horrific ultra-bright white background with small dark text! Besides murdering your eyesight (one must wonder if Microsoft is buying stock in eyeglass manufacturers and optometrist and lasik suppliers), anyone who uses a CRT or any other normally dark display technology is actually wasting power unless they manually adjust the physical hardware or change themes and other Windows visual settings (good luck with that). Epic fail on practically every level. Microsoft Windows 8 : we know what's best for everyone (and if we wanted your opinion, we'd give it to you)

So Microsoft did go ahead and spent a boatload of money for a bunch of AOL patents: AOL sells patents to Microsoft for $1.056 billion Microsoft Just Bought 800+ Patents from AOL Hmmm, perhaps we know the reason after all. Remember that picture that CoffeeFiend showed a few pages upthread ... Now I wonder where all the Commodore Q-Link patents wound up. Microsoft Windows 8 : Please buy it! Your kids will love it (even if you don't)

Never liked that lightweight Search in WinXP either. It is too amateurish HTML Active Desktop -like in appearance and the search results (with or without dog) are incomplete. I always preferred the Visual Basic designed form dialogs with 98se being the last good one. At least it is a brute force "find everything" kind of search. Has anyone tried out Nir Sofer's nice little app? It works on everything in the NT Family ... SearchMyFiles It is an EXE, just put a shortcut anywhere (Start Menu, Context Menu, etc) and it's definitely old school ...

Try not to laugh too hard. Move your coffee, soda, beer away from your display ... bwahaha! Windows 8 pioneers VM! ummmm, that used to be called backward compatibility! That is what an OS platform was meant to accomplish. Go ahead and un-invent the concept. Go ahead and recommend using a VM to correct your Operating System defect that kills backward compatibility. Go ahead and use Cut The Rope as your benchmark. OMG, This is like an alternate universe. The only rational explanation is that Steve Jobs is wrecking havoc as a ghost in the machine of Microsoft. Microsoft Windows 8 : it lets you play games like Cut The Rope!

Great link. I have to agree with the point that the font has its uses. It never really bothered me like it does some people, maybe because Microsoft didn't FORCE me to use it and look at it (take a hint Steven S.). Here's an idea. Maybe we should begin a viral tradition right here and now by always using Comic Sans when referring to Windows 8. Here, I'll start ... Microsoft Windows 8 : because you were too distracted by the Eye Candy in Windows 7

A most excellent point. There are many reasons to call Windows 8 the next Vista, but as you point out in one important way, they are completely opposite. There is no way for Microsoft and sycophantic fanboys to spin that yarn again. Current hardware like i3, i5, i7 can tear up any software that Microsoft creates, and then some. Vista was at least 2 years ahead of the average hardware and should never have been used on anything less than dual-core but it often was. They really had always been doing that exact same thing forever really. Releasing Windows (and even DOS) designed and tested on bleeding edge hardware to a consumer market where the average system was lagging by at least a year. So we are really at an unprecedented time here. This will be the first time in my memory where the Microsoft OS release is easily handled by current average hardware. For example we can even easily run Win8 in a VM on Win7 or WinXP, or run WinXP or Win7 in a VM on Win8. The way this whole thing pans out may be in a different direction than we ever guessed. Perhaps the hardware will simply make Microsoft and their idiotic decisions completely irrelevant. Then Microsoft can limp away and succumb to their self-inflicted wounds.

You know what would be justice? I would LOVE to see some hacker write a Windows 8 only virus gag that does nothing except swap out all occurrences of Segoe UI (and all other system fonts) to ... Comic Sans Please, someone make it happen. Of course there is the danger that people may consider it an upgrade. Certainly the font fits very well into the sesame street theme. DISCLAIMER: in no way do I support the malicious use of virii nor should this comment be associated with the owners of the great website!

JorgeA, The two posts (well 3 really) are still at the website. Just click on [http://forums.theregister.co.uk/user/58426/] to see them. It is a forum shortcut to that specific user's commenting history. It was just my speculation that they would end up being deleted eventually, I was thinking of the strange case of the ex-Microsoftie working at Amazon who started talking on his blog which disappeared and then re-appeared with a password! Fixing Windows 8 Blog For background Google ''what happened to fixing windows 8" ... Dvorak ... PC-World ... many more. I'll bet there is a holy war going on up there in Redmond (Thurrott actually said as much). I just hope a few more of the good guys inside use the media outlets to feed the growing backlash. It really is unbelievable. EDIT: fixed link

Didn't see this posted yet. An article (a blog-like comment but without replies) ... http://forums.theregister.co.uk/post/1430387 From someone identified as mdc claiming to be the responsible developer of the Longhorn UI. Very interesting propaganda piece really. I'll excerpt a bit of his/her rationalization in favor of the Win8 debacle ... So you see, we the people really needed Microsoft to boost our productivity because we were distracted by eye candy.! As mentioned, this seems to be a locked post at TheRegister, no comments allowed. The fact that he doesn't sign the post makes it suspicious. But I do believe that patronizing arrogance as being true. They really couldn't be more tone deaf if they tried. EDIT: okay, I see that this comment was in a thread called Windows 8: We kick the tyres on Redmond's new tablet wheels at TheRegister. The user called mdc has two comments there presently. I see that some comments have gotten deleted and I bet that these will too if he is official Microsoft. I saved a full copy. If the moderators would like, I can post them in full. Up to you folks.

RE: Booting times Roughly speaking, the older a given installation is, the longer the cold and warm boots will take. This is because in general the user profile(s) grows over time, particularly the registry, and now larger files need to be read and written to disk. It is possible for an installation not to grow much over time if they do not ever install software and perform lots of manual maintenance. Another thing that changes the boot times is the addition of devices and software that are started at each boot and must be terminated at each reset and shutdown. The variables that affect booting are many. Consequently it is a horrible method of comparison between any computers, installations, and especially Operating Systems. The only fair measure would be a retail CD/DVD media clean install on comparable systems with the boot times recorded immediately after installation. This is more apples to apples. You should be able to figure out that the main problem here is that currently we have people comparing their several year old Win7 or Vista boot times with a freshly installed Win8. Compare that same several year old Win7 or Vista installation with a freshly installed Win7 or Vista or XP or 98 (... or anything) and the argument becomes a moot point really. Something else to consider is that as Windows has progressed, Microsoft has pushed more Auto started software services and drivers into 'Delay Load'. This has the effect of blurring the boot time (think of a smoothing or anti-alias filter in graphics) so that when the computer has truly completed its boot sequence is more subjective than objective. Anyway, a large part of the time at booting (when the first Windows logo appears) is spent enumerating and configuring devices and then doing a cursory validation to make sure that Windows 'hasn't moved' to another computer. I doubt Microsoft has any interest in shaving this time ;-) Making sure you're not a crook (in their eyes) is far more important than any mere inconvenience to the customer. Even if they improve boot times 100% (oh my!) we're really talking about the difference between 30 seconds and one minute. Instead of assigning the manpower to this non-problem, they could have concentrated on any of a hundred persistent bugs and nuisances that have carried forth in Windows for many years. In other words, there was no pressing problem here to fix. If the cold boot takes one minute, then that is a perfect opportunity for me to practice Multitasking. Here's how: I pressed the power button one minute before I need to use the computer! I spend that one minute on another task, getting coffee.

Sometimes I can't believe two different people are looking at the same thing. *** nVidia shows off Windows RT on Asus Tablet *** Of course the children immediately write comments like "Looks very fluid" and "Take my money". He must mean daddy's money. This is what Microsoft snookered half the world into beta testing for. To sell $1000 netbooks that function as a web browser and consumer shopping device to blow even more money on music and videos played on a tiny screen with speakers that sound like crap. You can't make this stuff up. The dumbing down of the human race has been completed. This is further confirmed when the guy explains how you can have two things open at a time! All kinds of combinations! Twitter and MSIE, Facebook and Twitter! Oh my. I just noticed something too. I have a netbook here with Win7 that looks exactly the same physical size but when you compare it against the Win8 Sesame Street blocks on the video, the optical illusion makes the Asus thing look really REALLY small, like a toy. If you place four of the same size tablets side by side, with Win7, Android, iOS, Win8 interfaces in direct comparison (maybe we can locate four photos and place them in a comment), I have no doubt that Win8 will be the least pleasing to the eye unless you are 5 years old. I mean that. Never underestimate the power of first impression. I'd be embarrassed to buy one of those things. Microsoft must be looking over at Blackberry and HP and praying that some of these things sell unlike the others or they will be in deep trouble I think.

The comments are a hoot. (snicker). And yet these same children still ramble about WinXP Fisher-Price as an argument somehow in their favor! Nevermind the fact that with a few clicks the bliss wallpaper and default VisualStyle could be changed voluntarily, *unlike* this forthcoming steaming pile of crap. Ah well, most of us knew a decade ago that with the fiasco of UxTheme.dll (unpatched) locking out most 3rd party themes that Microsoft was already on a trajectory of arrogance. What I find most astounding is that since Vista bit them on their butt, somehow Microsoft has raised and nurtured an entire bumper crop of smug fanboy cheerleaders, enablers really, that are arguing *against* freedom of choice, demanding that Microsoft select their theme for them and insisting they do it to everyone else too. As bad as the Apple fanboys were 20-25 years ago they were still geniuses compared to these spoiled generation X-Box babies. So what has somehow happened in my lifetime is that Microsoft has created a small but vocal rabid base of Mac-like fanboy children, while Microsoft the company has ironically turned itself into, (wait for it ...), IBM! Old-timers will appreciate just how big an insult that is (billg, I know that hurts).They are now the opposite of what they originally strove for, having become a lumbering behemoth that is tone-deaf to the customer, throwing its weight around and doomed to fail repeatedly in the future. They are really gambling now too. The ink is barely dry on the lifting of the last government judgment and they are already sticking their neck out for it to be chopped off completely. My guess is the catalyst for action will be the draconian, completely laughable Sopranos-like contract for App developers. The recent EULA fiasco sure looks like a lame attempt to thwart this (and will not work): Updated Microsoft EULA prohibits class action lawsuits. Because of one arrogant mis-step after another, they are creating a united enemy triad of corporate customers (never keen on purchasing toys for the work environment, that goes double in a tight budget dead economy ), professional software developers (watching their tools and their target base environment being destroyed before their eyes, while their years of expensive education and experience was apparently for nothing) and the home consumer (dragged into a bland, retarded, locked down GUI that treats them like the child that Microsoft thinks they are). It sure looks like slow-motion company suicide to me.

Man, I am so glad to see these threads bashing this 'Windows Tiles' disaster. So many mindless fanboys out there willing to accept anything that MS does to them. Personally I have said since last fall that the only way I will end up with an installed RTM of this steaming pile is if someone pays me. Lo and behold! So in theory there is a way to get 'Windows Tiles' for less than free. (yeah I know, even at - $4.99 it still costs too much).

Well here is what I see in GetRight ... Maybe there is some kind of filtering of alias links that GetRight does ? EDIT: Just for comparison I fired up CuteFTP (v4.something) and it pretty much looks the same even after I tried all the various options concerning display of symbolic links. Now where did I put that darn WS_FTP. EDIT2: updated image URL

Despite appearances Opera's not really independent, why do you think Opera's default search engine is Microsoft's Bing when you install it? That's because Microsoft pays them for it and I would think it's a significant part of Opera's overall income... Similarly Firefox isn't independent either as they are almost fully funded by Google... If Bing as default search is the extent of external influence, well, I can live with that. It is easily mitigated by adding a manual search field from all those choices you see in Tools > Appearance > Buttons > Search. Just for an experiment I typed some gibberish into the address field and noticed partial results from Google instead of Bing, so I must have successfully changed the default at some time in the distant past. There is no mention of it in the About:Config section either. Long ago I customized the layout on Opera and these changes have persisted for many years through countless upgrades (Opera keeps such changes in INI and other local files rather than the registry). So whether Microsoft or Yahoo or Altavista gets the 'default' slot likely won't affect me personally, though I am unsure why. It is probably more likely that my ISP will throw up its web search when something goes wrong. Whatever. Let's just hope that the whole buyout thing goes down in flames and Opera remains (almost) completely independent. We can certainly handle the little nuisance problems individually.

Fully agree. No good can come of this. Opera has always been a fine example of what completely independent 3rd party software can be. The fact that its 'market share' has always been very low (like Ferrari or Lamborghini ) has been its true strength. If the powers-that-be at Opera just want to cash out and get paid, please just sell them the mobile version. Release the desktop source code to the community, perhaps Sourceforge!

It sounds like you want to access the specific MIME settings for MSIE (not to be confused with system wide MIME settings which are visible with Nirsoft MimeView). Maybe my memory is failing but I seem to remember early versions of MSIE (or maybe it was Netscape or Mosaic) which had options for viewing/setting web browser MIME associations directly. If you ever use Opera which does offer access to its settings, then check out Tools > Preferences, click Advanced, click the category Downloads, uncheck Hide file types opened with Opera, and you can access the entire list of filetypes currently known to Opera, edit them or even add new ones. I suspect that this is what you are trying to do with MSIE, correct? Personally I stopped using MSIE for all but the most stubborn webpages (and Windows Update naturally) so to me your question is a good one as I haven't kept up with it. Since MSIE is so well integrated into the system direct editing may be more complicated than it should be. I suspect any moment Jaclaz will be along with several links to 3rd party apps that successfully do what you wish.

I recommend this minor tweaking of the Opera standard configuration. In Tools > Appearance > - click on the Toolsbars tab, make sure Status Bar is checked (and Progress Bar is 'Pop-up at bottom') - click on the Buttons tab and then click the Preferences category, with the mouse click/hold/drag the Identify as Opera control to the Status Bar on the bottom of the screen (I highly recommend the far right side above the SysTray between the existing controls) and when the little insertion arrows appear, release the mouseclick.. - I also click on the Browser View category and do the same click/hold/drag with the Author Mode and the Page Zoom 100% controls, placing them all nest to each other on the far right side of the Status Bar. - Click OK to dismiss the Appearance dialog. Now you can clean up the default mess of junk on the Status Bar by right clicking on all the other controls and selecting Remove From Toolbar. This especially includes all the icons on the far LEFT side of the Status Bar, the ones that obscure the visibility of displayed URL's that are under the mouse pointer. Personally I just leave those three controls and nothing else. NOTE: what happens with the Identify as Opera dropdown box is that after you change it to Opera/Firefox/MSIE, it functions by sending the identity string for any pages you click after you change it. So, any already open pages in tabs are displayed as they were from the previously requested identity string that was selected at that time. For example, you can set it to Opera and open a page in a tab, set it to Firefox and open another page in a tab, set it to MSIE and open another page in a tab. You can then switch between these open tabs and compare what page you received using all three different identities. Finally, there is potentially bad news regarding Opera! ... http://www.neowin.net/news/facebook-rumored-to-be-buying-opera http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Facebook-Opera-Browser-Software-Acquisition,news-15364.html http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/45795/facebook-browser-opera-software-buyout