JorgeA

The point is also like if Ford said in the 1970's: "Ok, our Pinto model has some issues with catching fire in case of relative light collisions, we revised all safety reports, listened what the users said about it's terrible looks and even worse handling/power/speed and thus decided to insist on selling them, with exactly the same defects/issues." Hey wait, this is what they actually did . Quick reminder (this was almost exactly one year ago): http://www.zdnet.com/businesses-cant-use-office-on-windows-rt-tablets-7000005882/ jaclaz Very good, this analogy works too. --JorgeA

Sorry Microsoft, Surface sales are still not good enough An incisive analysis of the sales figures (such as there are) follows. But here's an interesting related point: [emphasis added] So, Microsoft's obsession with a unified UI may actually have contributed to the failure (so far) of Surface. Like PCs vs. tablets, "RT" and "Pro" are different products for different purposes. They need to look and act differently, lest you run the risk (borne to fruition here) of confusing the h3ll out of customers. EDIT: Another pertinent analysis from the same site: Apple inflicts major Surface damage on Microsoft -- probably doesn't even care --JorgeA

What a brilliant way to encourage people to buy your product. Imagine if Toyota or Ford were to adopt this idea: "Yes, our new base models sell for $23,000, but you may not use them for charities, in a small business, or in any occupation that earns money. That may or may not include commuting to work; after all, our car IS helping you to make money, right? (BTW, the built-in Cloud GPS will send us a constant stream of data as to where you're driving and where your car spends time parked, so forget about lying to us about what you're really using the car for.) If you want to use the car for charitable or business purposes, the price of the base model goes up to $34,000." --JorgeA

Hmm... can anybody imagine instructions like these being followed (at all, let alone correctly) by the type of audience that would be using this kind of device? --JorgeA

Pretty funny. It'd be amusing for the sound in that video to play as one scrolls down the comments over at Neowin... --JorgeA

That was the ranking by Interbrand first mentioned at NeoWin ... http://www.neowin.net/news/apple-google-microsoft-among-10-most-valuable-brands This is the current Interbrand list from 1-100 ... http://www.interbrand.com/en/best-global-brands/2013/Best-Global-Brands-2013-Brand-View.aspx# And their page about methodology is ... http://www.interbrand.com/en/best-global-brands/2013/best-global-brands-methodology.aspx Yeah, it's confusing because it is not a straight ranking of capitalization or ROI or earnings/profits or total assets. It is a complex weighted ranking from multiple analysis. I should have used better wording though. Top Ten "Most Valuable" according to Interbrand : Oh, I see. It's a different measure altogether in that first column. Thanks very much! --JorgeA

There seems to be a problem with the counter that reports the number of users currently viewing a given thread: It reported a grand total of zero users of any kind, but this cannot be correct since I (obviously) am reading the thread (and also signed in). The behavior is inconsistent -- when I entered this Bug Report thread to write this post, the counter said there that there was one user (me), so it doesn't happen all the time. But I do notice that, for example, the counter frequently fails to detect (or at least to report) my presence. Not sure if this issue carries over to the counter that gives the number of times a thread has been viewed during its existence. --JorgeA

Hopefully a new era of pro-user privacy software is coming but there have been a few stabs at this already. I'll wait for some solid reviews before trying this myself. Needs Firefox 19 or later ( not sure why though ). I saw the UK Independent piece but you beat me to commenting on it. Here's one thing that caught my eye in that article: [emphasis added] Now now, who was it that said that Apple (and Google, and Microsoft) would be "hands-off" when it comes to what gets into their walled gardens, and that they're only trying to protect the user from malware? --JorgeA

Rightfully so. A very large part of enterprise data, is very confidential. Who in their right mind would trust such information to anyone but themselves? And that's the nub of it. One would hope that IT folks -- professionals that they are -- would resist the cloud's siren call of fad and fashion for more substantial considerations. --JorgeA

It has a good reputation and was developed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. But while certainly better than nothing, as @Formfiller pointed out sadly it looks now like it's not enough to protect against the big government guns. For sensitive browsing, the only prayer (and it may be little more than that) is something like Tails, which combines a variety of protective measures into a single package. Not a very easy or convenient approach for routine, day-to-day Web surfing, but maybe enough for the occasional foray into areas where you don't want to be followed. If it actually works, it's something that a Samuel Adams might have used to avoid the Crown's scrutiny. --JorgeA EDIT: clarification

The MS fanboys at Neowin are amazing. Where else could you see a comment such as this one (from the article above) posted in all seriousness: So he/she/it thinks that the general tone over at Neowin is anti-Microsoft and anti-Win8?? Wow -- how much of a MicroTard do you need to be to develop that perspective??? BTW, and going back to the "Top Ten companies" chart, I'm not sure what the first column in the chart represents. At first I thought it was for total (gross) annual revenue, but then I see that Samsung's gross in the 3Q alone was $55.59 billion, so I'm not sure how the 3Q revenue could be bigger than that for the whole year (unlesss they had a ton of losses in 1Q and 2Q, which I doubt). Maybe I'm missing something. Maybe I need my coffee. One last thing, from the Samsung article: OK, so if Samsung is cleaning up in the mass-market segment and Apple dominates in the high-end segment, where exactly does that leave an opening for Microsoft to come in? Any highly paid MSFT execs who can give an answer for that one? --JorgeA

One more "feature" of SkyDrive on Windows 8.1, pointed out by a commenter on the PCWorld page I linked to before: This is probably intended as a nudge toward getting a Microsoft account, but OTOH it also serves as another reason to steer clear of SkyDrive. --JorgeA

This is what they're doing: (source) --JorgeA

Just what I was thinking as I read what came before that... BTW, in our home we do like Starbucks French Roast. Nothing fancified with foam or spices, though. --JorgeA

Warning: Windows 8.1 kills SkyDrive's remote 'Fetch' feature Sounds like another way to channel users into putting ever more of their personal stuff in the cloud -- and so to collect ever more fees for cloud services. If you already have one Windows 8.1 computer -- this is a good reason to hang on to your pre-Win8.1 PCs for as long as they work. The water in the pot (boiling frogs) just got a bit hotter. --JorgeA

Before the Forum change, it used to be possible, in a long thread, to go to a specific page in the thread by typing the page number in a box. That functionality seems to have disappeared? If it still exists, please point me toward it. If it no longer exists, please consider bringing it back -- if you're in a long thread and wish to look for something that appeared some 30 pages ago (and for the sake of argument, let's say that you're looking for an image or that you don't remember enough details to perform a useful Search), now it involves a lot more clicking to get there. --JorgeA UPDATE: Thanks to a certain Forum Member (thank you), I have learned that you can click on where it says "Page X of YY" and then select the exact page number desired. But unless you happen to run the mouse cursor over it, there is nothing on the screen to suggest that this text is anything but regular, unclickable black text. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would benefit from having some visual cue that that's actually a clickable link.

If MSFT wants to kill and bury the Surface as quickly as possible, I can think of no better way than to splash its hideous Metro Tiles interface all over town. Maybe we can take up a collection to help them put up more of these in every large city. Love the caption, BTW. --JorgeA

That says something. Not sure Microsoft would like to hear it, though. --JorgeA

Why am I not surprised? It still looks cheap and plastiky. To quote "The Firm" (Leonard McCoy's bit) "It's worse than that, it's dead Jim" That was a cute video, how'd you find it? BTW, I agree on the cheap look of Surface (any version). The kindergarten block tiles enhance that chintzy look. --JorgeA

Microsoft's business model trashed; Surface 2 launch flops Most of the piece echoes articles Charlotte has already cited, but this tidbit stands out here: --JorgeA

Ahh, that's something at least. I will pass the information along, thank you! --JorgeA

Right from the pages of How to Make Friends and Influence People (NOT): US National Security Agency 'spied on French diplomats' Mexico calls alleged US spying on former president 'unacceptable' Curious that these revelations keep appearing in European newspapers. Anybody U.S.-based seen them on the network news? No, over here the big news is that Kanye West proposed to Kris Kardashian. Little by little, the world is turning into one giant zoo, where the basic needs of the population are provided without its participation in their production while all their activities are monitored and analyzed for the sake of Science or Safety or Security. While not formally prohibited, independent initiative is increasingly circumscribed by an ever-growing web of rules and the motivation for it hollowed out by said provision of Bread and Circuses. --JorgeA

That's a bummer, but thanks a bunch for checking it out. I guess this means there is in fact no way for a user with a machine that has Win8 pre-installed on it, to move to 8.1 without creating a Microsoft account. --JorgeA

Whoa!! And is it true that they're NOT offering this on DVD?? Let me know what happens. --JorgeA

It's "normal" Windows 8 (not RT) on his machine. x64. It'll be great if you can test that, thank you! --JorgeA