JorgeA

Steve Ballmer was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal (October 30). Here's an excerpt relevant to our thread: --JorgeA

Here's a video review of Windows 8. Be sure to check out the discussion of the search function behavior starting at about 20:25, and of annoyances with scrolling at about 21:35. Also, apparently they found an ad inside the weather Metro app. --JorgeA

I'm glad that our list was useful for you. Once you install Windows 8, let us know how things go with whichever Start Menu replacement you choose. --JorgeA

Thanks tomasz86, that's a helpful page. I'll review the items and add the ones that we don't already have on the list. --JorgeA

Good for her! Tablets and their simplified operation definitely have a place. Not everyone needs a full-featured OS every time and everywhere they go. But, to borrow CharlotteTheHarlot's car concept, Microsoft apparently has decided that everybody should ultimately be driving a Smart Car (or a Geo Metro ), regardless of what they want the vehicle (the OS) for. --JorgeA

and even more if you use the Win8 RP Aero Theme: Wow, that's for Vista! I like the expanded and clear glass pane at the top, but from the screenshot this theme looks like it has the squared-off corners and the flattened buttons and flat HDD capacity bars. And no Start Button!! --JorgeA

Brilliant connection (and conclusion) that you've made!! That's right, the fanboys keep telling us that Metro is just another program launcher, but it's really not. Instead of getting out of the way, it's in your face, and it aggressively tries to channel the user into (for example) its own newfangled version of Internet Explorer. BTW, did you notice the comment in that thread that said, --JorgeA

IMHO Vista is better than 8, definitely nicer and cooler despite the fact it's a little slower on old hardware. Agreed -- for me, Vista is much more interesting to look at for 8-10 hours a day. --JorgeA

Windows 8 user share was at 0.41% in October. An alternative counter tracks similarly at 0.39%. --JorgeA

Do you mean it's worse than GDI 2D performance under Windows 7?? Then it's a serious issue! This certainly qualifies as a "Deeper Impression." --JorgeA

Thanks, they really were interesting. IMHO the guy who did the third one was the best -- easy to listen to. Did he take a single breath during the review? One thing he pointed out that I hadn't heard before, was that the Surface RT uses a proprietary charging connector. --JorgeA

New Windows 8 installation video. Be sure to watch to the very end, it's not long. --JorgeA

When Surface came out, speculation was that ARM (Windows RT) was the future and that the new Microsoft tablet might bump off the iPad in the "BYOD" movement, giving MS a foothold in that growing market segment. But now it appears that they have shot themselves in that foot: Businesses can't use Office on Windows RT tablets!? Add to that the apparent fact that these MS tablets can't join a network domain... ...and it's not hard to visualize the initial appeal of these devices plummeting as office workers discover that the less expensive Windows RT tablets can't run the business software they use, so what's the point of getting one? You can get an Intel-based Windows 8 tablet, but these are more expensive, which trades one kind of competitive disadvantage for a different kind. What's the compelling reason for getting any flavor of Windows 8-type tablet over an iPad or Android device, and what does that mean for their intended strategy of growth by making it in the tablet market? --JorgeA

All right, now there's yet another new name for "Metro": Microsoft Design Language: The newest official way to refer to 'Metro' Sooner or later, one of these labels might stick. --JorgeA

I'm no design professional, but give me 0.1% of that $20 billion and I can come up with something more attractive than that Start Screen, and then they can distribute the balance to the company shareholders. But then, I'm not a design professional... Oh, and after four years of daily use I'm still hunting and pecking my way through the Office Ribbon. LOL, even their Principal User Experience Advisor can't get the name right. So, MSFT would have us say, "Desktop IE was fine, but I couldn't download the file through Windows Store Apps Internet Explorer"? Have they even tried to verbalize all these syllables, or to see if they even make any sense -- Windows Store Apps IE, what?! --JorgeA

My observation is purely anecdotal, but I've been to five different computer stores in the last week, and there hasn't exactly been a rush of prospective buyers flocking to learn what Windows 8 is all about. --JorgeA

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33642_7-57454524-292/just-what-is-windows-rt-anyway-faq/ From that article: --JorgeA

Yeah, they must have been trying to be flattering to their guest, or at least polite. More than two seconds' thought is enough to realize that touch can't be important on a laptop PC -- in fact, it's a detriment, as anyone can determine for himself by placing a laptop on their thighs and actually trying to touch the raised screen repeatedly for an extended period of time. The angle and distance are just wrong. Then again, considering how awful the ergonomics are, maybe the orthopedic surgeons' society invested in MSFT to push "touch" on desktop and laptop computers, figuring that it would increase their patient base... On a tablet, maybe, but not on a laptop PC. --JorgeA

As you're probably aware, the name Metro has been ditched since a little while now because of some legal threats from a german retail giant of the same name it would seem. However I find that pic rather interesting as it's a good summary of the whole Windows 8 marketing campain, which seems to consists into piling up as many empty catchphrases and slogans as possible, which are in addition often completely meaningless, what the heck are in motion or authentic supposed to mean here. Pathetic really, as have been Balmer, Sinofsky and other MS reps performance on stage lately. You're right -- that's just a bunch of meaningless slogans! What does "Metro" have to do with being "modern" and "clean," anyway? On the subway lines that I've been on in three different countries, I can think of many other, much more appropriate words! And THOSE words would be equally applicable to Windows Metro... Glad that the image above still resides somewhere on the 'Net: it makes it hard for MSFT to deny that they ever officially endorsed the use of the name "Metro." Nice find, @Charlotte. (You may want to save that image before it's made to disappear.) --JorgeA

Thanks, that sure looks better than the crowded Metro Start Screen. Now if I could round off the square tiles, make the tiles smaller, and make the app tile backgrounds blend into the wallpaper (yeah, just like in the Desktop)... But I'll keep that procedure in mind if we ever do end up having to use Windows 8. --JorgeA

--JorgeA

Assuming that the reviewer's description is correct -- I use ALT+F2+K(Q,R,B,N) to create figurine pieces (using a specialized font) for my chess notebooks. So, I could not use the Surface this way for this purpose even if I wanted to. But you don't understand -- using ALT+F-key would require much too high a level of sophistication from the target audience, so it probably didn't even enter into their thinking. "Windows reimagined" is really "Windows lobotomized." (Or, less charitably, "Windows cretinized.") Who cares about these nerdy key sequences when you can watch Katy Perry videos on a full screen* and buy her complete song catalog at the touch of a button... (*) Not that you haven't been able to do that since IE4 (at least) by just pressing F11, but that's one of those nerdy keys the intended audience isn't expected to know anything about. The irony, of course, is that ALT+FN+F-key is an even more obscure combination. --JorgeA

Love it!!! --JorgeA

That's disturbing, if you can't even protect the files that you upload to the cloud. When cloud storage services started to appear, I was excited -- all that free offsite backup storage I could have! 2 GB here, 5 gigs there... But then, as I thought about it, I realized that there wasn't anything I would consciously entrust to a remote server somewhere. Confidential business documents? Tax information?? E-mails with details of my private life??? And so I decided to take a pass on cloud storage. Because of the way my ISP's e-mail service works, there may be stuff out there about me and my business, but I'm not going to deliberately and specifically add to what's available about me. --JorgeA

It was a fisher price sh*t My sentiments exactly! --JorgeA