JorgeA

More about that new MacBook Pro and other new offerings by Google and MSFT: How Google, Apple and Microsoft just saved the PC Some impressively arrogant, patronizing attitudes being displayed by the writer: Check that -- we welcome improvement, but reject novelty for its own sake. From a psychological standpoint, this is a nightmare in gestation. Yes, I do have a cluttered desk. But the pens, papers, thumb drives, and so forth that ring my monitor and keyboard sit outside my focus of attention, which is the screen. If you bring all that onto the screen, then there is no avoiding (ignoring) it. Why would I want to litter my screen with extraneous crap? That hardly sounds like a way to improve productivity. And then there's the ergonomic angle. Touch-enabled desktop and laptop computers have been around for years now, and PC sales keep declining. The reason is simple: when it comes to manipulating items on a screen, touch is awkward and unnatural. Tablets had a brief heyday because you could hold them on one hand to bring the device to a comfortable height and angle, while the other hand did the digital work. Imagine trying to type that way, be the keyboard real or virtual. Don't work. And now this guy envisions people reaching out their arms to hit something on a distant corner of a giant screen, or constantly leaning forward over the touch surface. There'll be a healthy market for chiropractic services if his prediction comes to pass. BTW, the commenters are not impressed: --JorgeA

Microsoft UX expert talks about Windows 10

Here are the most important things Microsoft announced at today’s Windows 10 Creators Update event So, dear Microsoft, can I design a 3D convex Taskbar to replace the flat boring one that you put in Windows 10? --JorgeA

When you say Win8, do you mean the original Windows 8? I recently obtained a Windows 8 laptop (yes, 8.0, it was a very good deal ) and it's happily running Aero Glass on it. Supposing that I needed to reinstall Aero Glass on it and that section were gone, could one follow the instructions for Windows 8.1 to reinstall Aero Glass on Windows 8? If not, then there is still value in keeping the specific instructions for Win8. All that's needed is to clearly set it off from the rest --JorgeA

A small UI improvement in the latest version (14393.651) -- the File Explorer back and forward arrows are much easier to see now: And the arrows get highlighted when there is something that can be done with them (see at left, below): A nice little improvement. The thin arrows surrounded by a sea of white were a distinct annoyance. I don't remember seeing these improved arrows before. Maybe somebody will enlighten me on that. --JorgeA

I second what MTDirector said. A few months back, Microsoft backtracked on the decision to stop supporting Windows 7 on Skylake next year. Now they will keep supporting Win7 on Skylake until the general Win7 EOS in 2020. I think it also means that Win8.1 will be supported on Skylake until 2023 as one would have expected. But neither Win7 nor 8.1 will be supported on more recent processors such as Kaby Lake. However, it's unclear at this point whether that means that 7 and 8.1 won't run at all; the linked article has some interesting point-counterpoint on that subject. Note, though, the following clarification at the very end of the article: This will be interesting to Linux and Apple fans, and could become another argument for switching to one of those platforms instead of Windows 10. --JorgeA

Good for them!! Personally, I recommend Softmaker Office, which is highly compatible with MS Office files -- much more so IMX than LibreOffice. It's not free (although they do offer a Softmaker Free Office version), but it's a lot less expensive than MS Office. Oh, and it doesn't have the stupid Ribbon interface. I've already switched to it on my business laptop and will make it my to-go office suite if 2007 becomes too incompatible to get work done. --JorgeA

"Multi-tier" is not what Formfiller was asking about. He was asking for recommendations for a notebook with mid-tier pricing. --JorgeA

When did you last visit? I could give you a quick rundown of developments since then on this thread. The last few months have focused mostly on building upon and deepening the known unwelcome aspects of Microsoft and Windows 10, plus some welcome news such as the flattening of the Win10 adoption curve despite MSFT's pushy and even ethically questionable efforts to get everybody on that OS. --JorgeA P.S. I don't know what you count as "mid-tier" pricing, but IMO any laptop whose name begins with "Mac" is automatically disqualified from "mid-tier" consideration. (Sorry, NoelC. )

Nothing would surprise me anymore. --JorgeA

Do you mean on Woody's site? He did seem to have some initial issues with questionable advertisements being served by his ad broker, but supposedly that's been taken care of now. We'll see. Malvertising is going to be the downfall of ad-supported computing, unless sites and especially ad distributors get on the ball. I remember one magazine site started blocking people who used ad blockers, then those who unblocked ads for that site promptly got malware-infested ads. It simply can't go on like that. Wonder how long before we get a scenario where Microsoft cripples Windows 10 for users who block ads in the Start Menu and notification center, then as a reward for allowing ads the users get malvertising. --JorgeA

Bugs in latest Windows/Office patch bundles create confusion Woody is about the only major tech journalist around who's not meekly accepting the foul Windows stew Microsoft is serving. Today my Win10 test laptop downloaded a new update. It took well over an hour to finish downloading, slowing down Internet access to a crawl for every other PC on my network. Of course Win10 doesn't tell you the size of the update: had I known how enormous it was, I would have waited to download the update 'til late in the evening. And then, when it (finally) was done, Win10 announced that a reboot was scheduled for "outside active hours." It took some digging to figure out just what time that reboot was scheduled for. Why can't it simply give that time on the same line as where it announces that a reboot is scheduled?!? What's the BFD? And yet, no tech journalist that I can think of is questioning this maltreatment of the Windows customer. Where is the outrage??? When did the tech press become so contemptibly submissive?? --JorgeA

BudwS, that's just too easy and sensible! --JorgeA

John C. Dvorak strikes again... The Massive Windows 10 Update Failure ...and swipes at the UI while he's at it: --JorgeA

--JorgeA

^^ Ditto (same for me). Weird. OTOH, I was going to come in to this thread anyway to report that e-mail notifications have spontaneously started to arrive once again. Maybe MSFN's new server successfully passed some trial period required by Verizon. --JorgeA

Protecting our pre-Win10 systems from Win10-style snooping is about to get a lot more difficult: Microsoft previews telemetry push with new Win7/8.1 patches KB 3192403, 3192404 [emphasis added] No doubt part of the plan is to make it such an onerous task to stay free of the snooping, that people will give up and go with the path of least resistance. @dencorso: more Win7/8.1 updates to place on the list. --JorgeA

Patriots coach Bill Belichick benches Microsoft's Surface, says it's undependable "Score" another win for Microsoft! [source: https://cms-images.idgesg.net/images/article/2016/01/czg7nqbuaaazgfi-100639913-orig.gif] --JorgeA

What is the future of Windows 10 and what will happen to UWP: Part I Generally a cheerleading writeup, but the following passage caught my eye: Good to know that someone on the other side believes, as I do, that Microsoft aims to kill off Win32. As for what would replace it, the writer offers this bad dream vision: [emphasis added] Cool -- just make sure that you don't keep any naughty pictures in that cloud thing, or documents expressing opinions that Microsoft or thugs with badges might dislike. If everything goes to the cloud, your digital freedom will go up in smoke. Prepare to live a fully generic life as approved by the proper authorities. --JorgeA

The PC market freefall continues, here is how to fix it Unfortunately, the prescription sits behind a paywall, but the diagnosis is interesting: [emphasis added] Huh, almost makes me want to shell out for the subscription price to find out what it is that Charlie says the PC industry is precluding. --JorgeA

Yeah, that would make the Insiders the initial cannon fodder for whatever bugs Microsoft introduces each month. Funny you mention the bit about the focus needing to be on applications rather than the OS. I remember not so long ago (~2013) when MSFT was offering a vision of the OS blending into the background so that people could focus on what they needed to do. It was part of the rationale for simplifying (dumbing down) the UI. Of course, under the WaaS (Windows as a Service) model, the focus is almost exclusively on the OS and whatever changes or mistakes each new sub-sub-version brings with it. --JorgeA

ROFL --JorgeA

And speaking of fixing (or not fixing) the problems: Problems continue with Windows 10 Anniversary Update 1607, KB 3194798 [emphasis added] --JorgeA

I woke up early this morning, so rattled that I couldn't get back to sleep. Dreamed that I was happily working away at my computer, when all of a sudden the familiar Word 2007 blue interface starts changing into various colors for no apparent reason. Huh? Next, I notice that the name of the program is changing from MS Word to something like "Vert-Word." WTH?? Panicking, I try opening other programs, and they are all undergoing the same transformation. Excel becomes "Vert-Excel" and so on. At this point, I discover that I can no longer get into my document files, as they are all getting encrypted. In the dream, I think to myself, "Great, for all the good my overlapping and redundant security software has done!!!" Finally, a message in thick black lettering over a red and purple background comes into view on the monitor: "Your files are being encrypted..." and the message trails off as I'm shocked out my slumber after barely 5 hours of sleep. Spent the whole day in a twilight state of as a result. Thanks, dream hackers... Maybe I need a vacation. --JorgeA

Excellent, detailed reply, Noel. Thank you. I'll give that software a try when work permits. --JorgeA