Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions

[Formfiller]

More neotard xbox comments:

No such thing as a "used" game. The code degrade or something? Where is the logic in that? You are not paying for a physically object when you buy a game. You are paying for the right to view that content that is copyrighted. Second hand gamers never paid for the right to view it.

The problem is Gamestop. Say you buy Portal 2 at gamestop for $60. You play it then sell it back to them for $30, they then re-sell that game for $50.

Game publishers are ****ed that gamestop gets $20 extra for the same copy of the game. It's stupid but gamestop is making money while the publishers are losing it.

The publishers got the money with the first sale. Why do they need to get a cut again when the buyer re-sells the item he bought already? Where's the frigging logic in this? So, ok, let's say it's just a right to view content. Why can't you resell that right? It's not like the vendor has any costs associated if you sell that right (unlike movie theater tickets, where the owner needs to pay bills for electricity, employees etc. everytime they show a movie)

What I find just fabulous is that these idiots are advocating their own disadvantage. I am actually not a big friend of software piracy, but these masochists almost compel me to donate to pirate bay.

Edited February 9, 2013 by Formfiller

[jaclaz]

I rather wash cars than making an "app" for your LOCKED WALLED PRISON GARDEN.

Please consider how cars will soon be deemed as "legacy vehicles" by the journalists and - according to them - be in a short time replaced by (touch controlled ) flying saucers , you might want to start a career with a longer expected lifetime .

The only remaining issue (in what the visionary expect soon) is of course flying elephants, a misknown evolutional phenomenon that hasn't yet affected mobility, but that might in the near future (if Dumbo was born - clearly out of a nuclear experiment induced genetic mutation - in 1941, imagine, even with a rather flat trend, how many of them will be born in the meantime ) .

Till now, and in real world:

As I glanced up in the sky

A bird dropped something from ahigh.

As I wiped it from my eye.

I thanked the Lord elephants don't fly.

jaclaz

[JorgeA]

Hope you made it through the storm OK. Around here, everything outside is covered in white, but we're going to miss the worst of it, it looks like.

As I type this, it has been snowing for 13 hours and I just measured 12" of snow. According to the latest we are in for another 8 hours and should hit close to 20". The wind is now just kicking up and that is what usually causes falling trees and blackouts. I am hoping we get lucky but I am realistic and will assume power loss at any moment. But thanks for the concern!

How much snow did you get? I'm just above NYC and one snow band away from the worst of it ( to the East in Conn and Boston ).

Our forecasts (Philly suburbs) were ranging from 3" to 10" depending on who you listened to and when. We ended up getting just over 4" of a dry, powdery snow. But now the wind is blowing hard, so we're putting off shoveling 'til that dies down.

Without meaning to jinx it, it sounds like your power has held up so far.

--JorgeA

Edited February 9, 2013 by JorgeA

[JorgeA]

I believe there are multiple overlapping types of personality disorders we see in these debates whom make up what we call the MicroZealots and MetroTards. One of the most numerous and vocal are the childish Narcissists, forever locked in selfish thought processes that allow them to blurt out things about killing XP, the Start Menu, Aero and all manner of features that "they can do without". This type of person grows up to semi-adulthood and will be the kind that insists on sobriety for everyone else when they stop drinking. The narcissist loves to dictate to others, so naturally something like Windows 8 and Metro sets off their congenital arrogance resulting in chronic MetroTardia. Another personality disorder is that of the terminally Jealous. Many of them are so overcome with Apple-envy and Google-envy it pours out of them at the slightest provocation resulting in Tourette's Syndrome outbursts attacking commenters as being Apple or Google trolls ( ironic because the people that most want to save Windows are neither of those things, but I digress ). Yet another personality disorder is that of the Natural Born Slave. These mental patients have the malleability of silly putty and will often self-identify themselves through comments about us 'being unable to accept the future' or 'unable to adapt' ... ad nauseum. They're especially funny because they would have a nervous breakdown if their kid came home with an Ubuntu disc and changed their Windows machine to Linux thereby exposing their hypocrisy as being resistant to change ( I call this the Mojave'nix Experiment, using the theme of the coffee commercial: 'Shhhh, we've changed his coffee computer to Ubuntu ..." ) In a recent NeoWin article ( GameStop: Gamers won't buy next Xbox if it blocks used games ) they show up and rather than criticize Microsoft for the rumored lock-down of the next Xbox that might thwart the user from re-selling the games they purchase, the MicroSlaves dutifully march in lock-step chanting "Heil Microsoft". There are even more identifiable malcontents making up this unholy alliance of MetroTards and MicroZealots, some are just Softies or wannabe Softies with no common sense or moral compass for when Microsoft oversteps their bounds. And there are even more still. One thing they all have in common is that they didn't learn a thing from Vista, instead hunkering down into a bunker mentality considering everyone but themselves as wrong. There will be much entertainment value to be had from a major Microsoft fail with Windows 8 and Metro and other possible scenarios. Watch their heads explode if Microsoft restores the start menu and desktop to Windows 7 appearance and functionality! Or when Ballmer gets his pink slip. Or if Blackberry beats WP8. Lots of pain in the future for these folks.

Now back to this incredible farce. Broadly speaking, at least since the 1970's we have always had three main categories of computers: Servers, Terminals and Workstations, the latter being a hybrid of the former two, rare in the early days but established and quickly advancing to prominence in the 1980's and beyond with IBM, Microsoft and the x86 universe of the "personal computer". Fast forward to today, the only real difference now is that "Terminals" have expanded to becoming "Portable" devices with some added "Workstation" ability ( cue Paul Thurrott trying to replace his workstation with a portable ). The other two categories remain very similar in concept except for being far more powerful.

Then --- Now

Servers ... Servers

Terminals ... Portables

Workstations ... Workstations

No-one really would have complained if Microsoft specifically targeted "Terminals / Portables" with some creative operating system, even Windows 8 and Metro would have been a fine idea sans the "Windows" label ( "Microsoft Tiles" as the operating system name for portables would have been perfect ). This new product in addition to "Windows Server" and also "Windows Workstation" would be a perfectly logical set of SKUs. However, trying to merge the three different obvious operating systems into one, while falsely describing it as a convenience for the user when it is really only a convenience for Microsoft, is beyond laughable, it is evil. This is the most cynical thing they could have done and it must fail for the good of everybody. Out of reckless desperation they are really pushing all the monopolistic buttons now, it is IMHO a far greater crime than done by the past robber barons as I have repeatedly opined in earlier comments. That's the moral and ethical criticism. But there is also the obvious knuckleheaded implementation of such a crazy idea. I repeat, whatever they wanted to sell as a standalone MetroTard operating system for mobile devices ( Terminals ) would have been just peachy for most of us. But look at some examples of what their ReTard operating system results in when shoehorned into the completely separate issues of Servers and Workstations ...

I found myself nodding with every word! Just a fantastic rundown. One of the few things I could add is the apparent trend to turn PCs (workstations) back into dumb terminals, hopelessly dependent for their life on The Center. At least, that would be the effect of the increasing focus on the Cloud and the emphasis on "devices" lacking in power, storage, and (in the case of Chromebooks and now Office 364 ) even local applications that can run on their own.

--JorgeA

[TELVM]

I think this point can't be stressed enough:

... trying to merge the three different obvious operating systems into one, while falsely describing it as a convenience for the user when it is really only a convenience for Microsoft, is beyond laughable, it is evil. This is the most cynical thing they could have done and it must fail for the good of everybody.

[JorgeA]

here will be much entertainment value to be had from a major Microsoft fail with Windows 8 and Metro and other possible scenarios. Watch their heads explode if Microsoft restores the start menu and desktop to Windows 7 appearance and functionality! Or when Ballmer gets his pink slip. Or if Blackberry beats WP8. Lots of pain in the future for these folks.

I would love to see these little rascals having a meltdown but I wouldn't count on this. They are the prototypical "Oceania was never at war with.." drones. Some of them will be confused at first, but I am sure that if MS really will paddle back, they will change tune within the minute:

"WHAT?! You're still using the metro screen? Stop living in the past, the iPad wannabe GUI is history. They have improved the start menu in Windows 9 and you id*** are still lumbing around with this Fail8 toy-touch interface? Get with the times!"

You beat me to one of the few comments I could have added to Charlotte's analysis. Some of these people, if Microsoft turned 180 degrees I wouldn't be surprised to see them turn right along with it and continue as if things had never been any different.

Your allusion to 1984 is very apt. And in other ways, too: living and working on these mobile Web terminals with their heads in the Cloud, everything they do and every file they save will be tracked, monitored, and analyzed "for your convenience and benefit."

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

I rather wash cars than making an "app" for your LOCKED WALLED PRISON GARDEN.

Please consider how cars will soon be deemed as "legacy vehicles" by the journalists and - according to them - be in a short time replaced by (touch controlled ) flying saucers , you might want to start a career with a longer expected lifetime .

The only remaining issue (in what the visionary expect soon) is of course flying elephants, a misknown evolutional phenomenon that hasn't yet affected mobility, but that might in the near future (if Dumbo was born - clearly out of a nuclear experiment induced genetic mutation - in 1941, imagine, even with a rather flat trend, how many of them will be born in the meantime ) .

Till now, and in real world:

As I glanced up in the sky

A bird dropped something from ahigh.

As I wiped it from my eye.

I thanked the Lord elephants don't fly.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

I think this point can't be stressed enough:

... trying to merge the three different obvious operating systems into one, while falsely describing it as a convenience for the user when it is really only a convenience for Microsoft, is beyond laughable, it is evil. This is the most cynical thing they could have done and it must fail for the good of everybody.

+1 to that! (+100, if I could "vote early and often" )

--JorgeA

[jaclaz]

To be fair , the good MS guys do provide Server Core option.

The way they word it in this article:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd184075.aspx

however clearly shows how the authors of the article have not fully digested the meaning of the acronym GUI (which means Graphical User Interface), but are also very young, or dumb, or both :

The Server Core GUI

When you finish installing Server Core on a system and log on for the first time, you're in for a bit of a surprise. Figure 1-2 shows the Server Core user interface after first logon.

Figure 1-2 Server Core user interface

There's no desktop! That is, there is no Windows Explorer shell, with its Start menu, Taskbar, and the other features you may be used to seeing. All you have is a command prompt, which means that you have to do most of the work of configuring a Server Core installation either by typing commands one at a time, which is slow, or by using scripts and batch files, which can help you speed up and simplify your configuration tasks by automating them.

Please note the evident surprise that they presume to convey to the reader!

There is no desktop!

I mean, WOW.

You will need to type commands one at the time, which is slow.

Or use scripts and batch files (which can help you speed up and simplify your configuration tasks by automating them).

WOW.

You have to consider that a Server version of the OS has not as intended target housewives (with no offence whatever intended to housewives) from Peoria (say), the intended target is IT managers/Administrators (which evidently in MS view were hit by the same dumbifying genetic mutation that affected "end users").

If you scroll a little down, you will learn how Server Core has NOT .NET (which is a good thing BTW), but this means that you also don't have Powershell (as it is senselessly dependent on .Net) so that you have something that should be mainly managed by scripts which misses latest iteration of MS script engine/processor.

And, you are further warned that:

Only native code—code written using Windows application programming interfaces (APIs)—can run on Server Core. In summary, any GUI applications that depend on either the .NET Framework or on the Explorer.exe shell won't run on Server Core.

Again, WOW.

For NO apparent reason:

Thank you, Capatain.

jaclaz

Edited February 9, 2013 by jaclaz

[JorgeA]

Another danger of living and working in the Cloud (where the Microsoft Surface would nudge users):

Innocent Megaupload user asks court to order his data returned

So, if the government suspects that the cloud server where you've put your stuff also contains illegal or copyrighted material put there by somebody else, they can seize the server and deny you access to your own stuff.

You can't possibly know what other people are going to upload to the same service you're using. This really should make anybody think twice before making the move to the Cloud.

Government: "Innocent" Megaupload user uploaded pirated music

In a Tuesday legal brief first covered by TorrentFreak, the government argued that Goodwin should prove that he owns the files before the court considers whether he should get them back. The feds also suggest that Goodwin might not own all the files he uploaded to the site—some of them were pirated copies of mainstream music.

Dumb question: if I no longer have access to my files, how can I prove that I own them?

But EFF's Julie Samuels argues that the government's tactics should frighten anyone who uses cloud computing services. Not only did the raid deprive Goodwin of his data, she said, but the government is now apparently rummaging through Goodwin's files looking for information to discredit him.

"The government's approach should terrify any user or provider of cloud computer services," Samuels told Ars by e-mail. "The government apparently searched through the data it seized for one purpose, in order to use it against someone who was hurt by its actions but who is plainly not the target of any criminal investigation, much less the one against Megaupload."

Samuels told us that the government's response to Goodwin's petition demonstrates "that if users try to get their property back, the government won't hesitate to comb through it to try to find an argument to use against them."

The government's position, she said, would impose a "virtually insurmountable burden" on innocent users seeking to get their files back by "asking the court to do a slow-walking, multi-step process that takes place in a faraway court. Most third parties are not in a position to attend even one court appearance, much less the multiple ones the government envisions."

There is no safer alternative than to keep your own stuff on your own storage media, located in a place controlled by you. Which is why 64GB Surface tablets just don't cut it.

--JorgeA

[jaclaz]

Dumb question: if I no longer have access to my files, how can I prove that I own them?

You produce the CoP (Certificate of Property ) that was given to you when you actually paid for your files or - in case of self-produced files - the SoS (Statement of Selfproducing) which is a simple affidavit with the name of the file, the license number of the software you used to produce that (if Commercial) the CoA number of your OS (if Microsoft) and the MD5 of the file.

You simply sign it (with two witnesses) and then send it to yourself via officially authorized Post/Mail Service. (to have certainty of the date, attaching a photo of yourself holding the affidavit and a newspaper is entirely optional, but recommended)

If your warez pusher legitimate software provider did not give you the CoP at the time of the purchase or you subsequently lost it (or it was stolen from your home by little green men or other malicious beings) , you can produce a RoLoSCoP (Replacement of Lost or Stolen Certificate of Property) very similar to the SoS, and following the same procedure.

The difference is only that the Government has the right to shout "Doubt it!" when you produce a RoLoSCoP, in which case you need to bring in three witnesses (and your mom doesn't count).

We call this "progress" and "simplification of bureaucracy".

You ask silly questions....

jaclaz

Edited February 9, 2013 by jaclaz

[JorgeA]

We call this "progress" and "simplification of bureaucracy".

You ask silly questions....

ROFL

There's another name for the convoluted procedure that you describe: "user convenience." Ah yes, everybody sign up for the convenience of the cloud!!

--JorgeA

Edited February 10, 2013 by JorgeA

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Hope you made it through the storm OK. Around here, everything outside is covered in white, but we're going to miss the worst of it, it looks like.

As I type this, it has been snowing for 13 hours and I just measured 12" of snow. According to the latest we are in for another 8 hours and should hit close to 20". The wind is now just kicking up and that is what usually causes falling trees and blackouts. I am hoping we get lucky but I am realistic and will assume power loss at any moment. But thanks for the concern!

How much snow did you get? I'm just above NYC and one snow band away from the worst of it ( to the East in Conn and Boston ).

Our forecasts (Philly suburbs) were ranging from 3" to 10" depending on who you listened to and when. We ended up getting just over 4" of a dry, powdery snow. But now the wind is blowing hard, so we're putting off shoveling 'til that dies down.

Without meaning to jinx it, it sounds like your power has held up so far.

Well we got lucky too, but not as lucky as you! It stopped snowing a couple hours after I wrote that, total between 14" ( here ) and 16" ( airport ). The wind blew the stuff around a lot so some people think it was much more than it was. Never thought I would be thankful for only ~15" of snow! Still caused us about 6 hours of shoveling but no power loss

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Another danger of living and working in the Cloud (where the Microsoft Surface would nudge users):

Innocent Megaupload user asks court to order his data returned

So, if the government suspects that the cloud server where you've put your stuff also contains illegal or copyrighted material put there by somebody else, they can seize the server and deny you access to your own stuff.

You can't possibly know what other people are going to upload to the same service you're using. This really should make anybody think twice before making the move to the Cloud.

Government: "Innocent" Megaupload user uploaded pirated music

In a Tuesday legal brief first covered by TorrentFreak, the government argued that Goodwin should prove that he owns the files before the court considers whether he should get them back. The feds also suggest that Goodwin might not own all the files he uploaded to the site—some of them were pirated copies of mainstream music.

Dumb question: if I no longer have access to my files, how can I prove that I own them?

But EFF's Julie Samuels argues that the government's tactics should frighten anyone who uses cloud computing services. Not only did the raid deprive Goodwin of his data, she said, but the government is now apparently rummaging through Goodwin's files looking for information to discredit him.

"The government's approach should terrify any user or provider of cloud computer services," Samuels told Ars by e-mail. "The government apparently searched through the data it seized for one purpose, in order to use it against someone who was hurt by its actions but who is plainly not the target of any criminal investigation, much less the one against Megaupload."

Samuels told us that the government's response to Goodwin's petition demonstrates "that if users try to get their property back, the government won't hesitate to comb through it to try to find an argument to use against them."

The government's position, she said, would impose a "virtually insurmountable burden" on innocent users seeking to get their files back by "asking the court to do a slow-walking, multi-step process that takes place in a faraway court. Most third parties are not in a position to attend even one court appearance, much less the multiple ones the government envisions."

There is no safer alternative than to keep your own stuff on your own storage media, located in a place controlled by you. Which is why 64GB Surface tablets just don't cut it.

Fabulous post

People better take note of this stuff, I don't know how you can make it any clearer really. Mis-identified pictures disappearing from Skydrive, suspended accounts, the whole Mega fiasco with countless unrelated sites suddenly locking down access just to be sure. There soon will be no private property, and peer-to-peer communication if allowed will be monitored like a visit to a convict in prison.

The cloud is a proxy for traditional server overlords. Your position in that age-old client-server relationship has always been obedience and submission, with a side-order of begging the admin or sysop for favorable treatment. I for one do not welcome our new ( or old ) overlords.

[vinifera]

p2p will survive in form of magnet or simmiliar

some torrent hosts have switched to it as apparently magnet doesn't show IP's unlike torrent or gnutella type

as for cloud storage privacy, forget it, it was doomed the minute it was made up