Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

What the Surface 2 Teaches Us About Microsoft ( John Dvorak PC Magazine 2013-09-25 )

Microsoft's refresh of its Surface tablet reminds us that the company can't let go of clear losers.

Microsoft is in the news again with its new Surface 2, a device that promises to extend whatever agony the first Surface engendered.

[...]

I got more insight into the problems at Microsoft when I met a couple of employees intending to set me straight about how exactly Microsoft's stack ranking works. In the process they both told me that when Steve Ballmer resigned almost everyone at the company, group by group, actually had champagne cork-popping parties. This has never been reported but I believe it. All the employees thought Ballmer was a hindrance to the future of Microsoft, which apparently is bottled up in the Microsoft labs.

New Dvorak column. His part about 'extending the agony' is just so true! Rename Vista to Mojave or 7, rename RT to well, nothing, and in almost every case they press ahead like a stubborn mule. And it has always been true, even the oldest Windows annoyances get extended over time so naturally they are going to continue again.

That second bit there about Ballmer is totally believable too.

Ballmer Exits, Windows 8.1 Is Finished ( Thurrott 2013-09-26 )

First of all, as it turns out that is the worst title in history because he is not really saying what you think, he meant to say "completed".

Still, this is a mostly rational piece but for one typical sloppy blunder ...

Microsoft had two courses it could take with Windows. It could simply continue to develop future iterations of the classic desktop OS while creating a purely mobile platform on the side, much as Apple did with Mac OS X and iOS, respectively. Or it could do what it's always done: Protect Windows at all costs and, in this case, simply build mobile platform features into Windows. Microsoft, after all, exults in the malleability of Windows.

Of course, it chose the latter path. Critics will point to this decision as a mistake and proof that Ballmer's long-time strategy was a mistake. But here's an inconvenient truth: Had Microsoft created a "Metro OS" or whatever, separately, for mobile devices, that system would have sunk in the market just as badly as has Windows 8, if not worse. As with Windows Phone before it, there just isn't much demand for yet another mobile platform, not when both Android and iOS have hundreds of thousands of apps and established ecosystems. Desktop Windows, meanwhile, would have continued its inevitable decline, racing to become the smallest of the three major mainstream computing markets.

But in melding the new Metro platform onto Windows, Microsoft has, in effect, forced all Windows customers to deal with this new mobile OS whether they want it or not. This has created an unprecedented backlash triggering the development of a refined version of the OS, called Windows 8.1, discussed below, that softens the transition between the desktop and Metro and makes it possible for users to stick to the environment they prefer. Often described as a combination service pack/feature pack, Windows 8.1 is better seen as an apology, a mulligan aimed at easing friction in the user base. And as with the backlash that accompanied its releaseit even sank the beautiful Surface hardwarethis kind of retreat is itself unprecedented.

While there is a lot of truth in there, there is a giant shadow darkening it because Paul Thurrott demonstrates the same cynical and devious ( and I would say criminal ) rationalization that his benefactor Microsoft utilizes - justifying that leveraging of the ubiquitous Windows presence thanks to a monopoly from backroom dealings to force Windows 8 into the public. THIS is the biggest crime of all, it is literally violating antitrust and should have no support from anyone including sycophants like Thurrott. Even the radical Playskool GUI pales in comparison to this obscenity.

He also drifts off for a second into crazy land with this ...

Windows 8.1 is a much more complete and mature product than its predecessor, and it is much more respectful to the billion-plus users out there who use Windows with traditional, non-touch hardware.

So we see the much-ballyhooed return of the Start button in this release, which should smooth some ruffled feathers, though I never saw its absence as an issue at all. No, Microsoft won't let you go back to the old Start menu, but it has made other concessions to typical PC users that should be appreciated. You can, for example, boot right to the desktop, skipping the full-screen Start screen. And you can configure the system to display a desktop-oriented version of the All Apps screen instead of the Start screen when you use any of the usual methods to invoke that interface. All Apps works a bit more like the old Start menu.

There are deeply hidden controls to remove many other Metro interfaces, including the silly Switcher app switching bar, and a partial remedy for the much-loathed Charms. The point here is that desktop users should be able to stick with the Windows desktop most of the time, a huge improvement over the initial version of Windows 8.

So with that bit he completely brushes off all of the detailed user complaints for well over two years, and in the exact same manner as Sinofsky in his censoring "Destroying Windows" blog. He brushes it off by simply ignoring it. This is why Thurrott is such a shill. Contrary to his protestations when he summons the courage to engage in comments, he reflexively is a shill when push comes to shove. His entire article makes some good, if obvious points, and then he himself takes a mulligan on the big one - the murdered desktop. Keep playing dumb Paul.

EDIT: fixed spacing from error-ridden IPB editor

Edited September 30, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Rumor: Ford CEO Alan Mulally the current leading candidate for Microsoft's next CEO ( NeoWin 2013-09-27 )

Fords Alan Mulally said to be the frontrunner for top job at Microsoft ( TechSpot 2013-09-27 )

Ford's Alan Mulally Could Be Next Microsoft CEO ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-28 )

Meh. Break 'em up instead. ( I see just above Jorge also saw this story! )

NSA Head Grilled on Capitol Hill as Senators Hint at More Revelations ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-26 )

Dog and Pony show. Softballs thrown, softballs hit. Move along, nothing to see here until the next spy revelation.

Huge Identity-Theft Ring Exposed by Lone Security Researcher ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-26 )

That cloud thing is just looking incredibly safe and useful. NOT.

Microsoft got 37,196 law enforcement info requests in first half of 2013 ( NeoWin 2013-09-28 )

Jeez, check out NeoWin's article wording ...

Microsoft said that nearly 21 percent of the requests resulted in no information being given to law enforcement authorities. Microsoft did disclose what it called "non content information" for 77 percent of the law enforcement requests in the first half of this year. Actual content disclosures to law enforcement groups covered just 2.19 percent of the requests. The vast majority of those particular orders, 92 percent, were from the U.S.

Ummm, why didn't they just say that 79% of the time they gave up some manner of user information. And 2.19% of the time they gave up everything. The comments are pretty sad as the NeoKids have convinced themselves that Microsoft's cloud design is like a safe, as secure as being in your own home. And yes, they really really believe that.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

New commercial fails to differentiate between Surface 2, Surface Pro 2 ( NeoWin 2013-09-28 )

Despite the focus on capabilities, one thing the commercial doesn't do is differentiate between the ARM-powered Surface 2 and x86-powered Surface Pro 2. Both tablets are clearly featured in the commercial, with the Surface Pro 2 being used in the aforementioned Photoshop scene and the Surface 2 used for the Office scene.

Wow! NeoWin just noticed that now? This was one of the very first things I remember saying after the ARM announcement over a year ago. This blurring of products which capitalizes upon the "Windows" name, reputation and capabilities is a clear FTC violation ( think of a pharmaceutical drug being cleverly marketed to imply that it cures something it doesn't ). It is just asking for a class-action lawsuit, oh waitaminit, those lawsuits are banned by EULA. That's two violations then. A third crime is the lack of disclaimer on all the touchy commercials not making clear that a touch-screen is needed ( think of the recent Apple waterproofing 4chan hoax ). They deserve to fry for all of three of these cynical and evil strategies that they willfully allow to confuse the sheeple and are actually designed to get customers under false pretenses. Contact the FTC if you want to make a difference.

Microsoft doesn't want to support Windows 7 as long as Windows XP ( NeoWin 2013-09-28 )

Here's a NeoWin article via Paul Thurrott "Short Takes" ( also mentioned by TELVM just above ) about the recent Microsoft company meeting. No hard facts, just some vague promise to not let it happen again. So will there be a SP2 and SP3 for Windows 7? They ain't saying. Remember this day when you do a Windows 7 SP1 reinstall in 2018 and then you get sent to Windows Update for 1745 critical updates and 904 optional ones because that is pretty much what is going to happen provided Microsoft is still in the OS business or any business at that point.

Tons of FUD in the comments as usual, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention this comment which lit a little fire inside one fanboy ...

I'm a defense contractor and work on U.S. Naval base. We just moved from XP to Windows 7 this year. This migration is STILL going on (That's what Aaron Alexis was doing at the Navy Yard when he flipped out and started killing people.) ...

I will resist the urge to capitalize on that one due to the loss of life, so I'll just say that let us hope the postal service is also not undergoing a Windows 7 "upgrade".

Windows 8.1 Ad Featuring Start Button ( Maximum PC 2013-09-28 )

New Windows 8.1 TV ad shows the Start button, small and big Live tiles and more ( NeoWin 2013-09-28 )

The commercial quickly shows that Windows 8.1 has a Start button, which is something that Microsoft seems to be promoting a lot to show that it is listening to customer feedback after using Windows 8. The ad shows that Windows 8.1 allows people to use both the desktop and the Modern UI, with the Start button making it quick and easy to flip through both interfaces.

Ummmm, hey NeoKid, are you implying that customers were asking for a "Start Button" that brings up Metro? For real? You think so little of the customers that you believe they wanted a "Start Button" that copies the Windows key? How far these fanboys have sunk.

So here's the advertisement, and I see that they did it again. They used transition after effects on the ad that will not appear in real life. Decorative transition effects that if they were actually part of the OS would have to be considered fluff, power-wasting, eye-candy, right? Right. Hypocrites. And false advertisers too.

Microsoft reportedly making a single app store for Windows, Windows Phone ( NeoWin 2013-09-26 )

Microsoft working on single app store for Windows, Windows Phone ( TechSpot 2013-09-27 )

How wonderful. I made them a logo that they can use ...

EDIT: oops, forgot to box up that quote!

Edited September 30, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

From the competition ...

Valve plans to take the joy(sticks) out of games with Steam Controller ( UK Register 2013-09-27 )

Valve unveils Steam Controller, promises PC-like accuracy ( TechSpot 2013-09-27 )

Steam Controller announced by Valve ( PC Gamer 2013-09-27 )

Valve's Third and Final Reveal is a Steam Controller ( Maximum PC 2013-09-27 )

Valve's New Steam Controller Will Work With All Games ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-27 )

Valve announces Steam Controller; unique gamepad with trackpads instead of joysticks ( NeoWin 2013-09-27 )

Some developers offer hands-on opinions on Steam Controller ( NeoWin 2013-09-28 )

Valve is closing off the week with the last of three major announcements: a controller designed to work with the company's living room focused Steam Machines. Aptly named Steam Controller, the device is shaped like a standard game console controller, but the actual setup is far from typical. Instead of thumbsticks there are two clickable trackpads, and rather than the usual right-thumb four button arrangement, Valve is using a symmetrical design that distributes button placement equally on both the left and right sides of the pad.

It looks weird. Like it could take some time getting used to, but well give them the benefit of the doubt. Valve says the trackpads allow far higher fidelity input than has previously been possible with traditional handheld controllers, claiming that they approach the level of accuracy mouse-based gaming provides.

In the middle of the controller is a high-resolution touch screen thats also clickable and enables both control and navigation. The company will provide game developers with an API to take advantage of this in any number of ways, from purposing it as a scrolling menu or radial dial, to showing secondary game info like maps. The screens contents can be overlaid on top of whatever youre playing so youre not distracted from the action.

In all there are 16 buttons, half of which can be accessed without lifting your thumbs. Both trackpads on the front, the shoulder buttons and a couple around the rear grips feature what Valve calls "a new generation of super-precise haptic feedback" capable of delivering a wide range of force, vibration and even function as speakers.

( original photo from PC Gamer )

Apparently a lot of people were expecting an announcement for Half-Life 3 and are disappointed that they got this instead. Looks very nice for a game controller IMHO, and different. If Valve puts their substantial muscle behind this I would say there is a very good chance for this completely new platform to take root, and that will mean a completely non-Microsoft option acting as true competition.

Steam Family Sharing program starts for first 1,000 beta testers ( PC Gamer 2013-09-26 )

Steam Family Sharing program beta begins, email invitations being sent out ( TechSpot 2013-09-27 )

Steam Family Sharing is a convenient new feature that will allow Steam users to share their game library with up to 10 friends and family members. Your network of selected Steam users can then access your games free of charge, including any associated DLC. Those users can even have their own cloud saves and achievements. To avoid any complications, only one user can access a single instance of a game at once, with the owner taking priority.

Holy crap, this thing is almost note-for-note identical to the cancelled rumored Xbox One sharing plan. Gabe and Valve are going straight after Microsoft's jugular now.

Nvidia VP: Theres no way a 200-watt Xbox is going to beat a 1,000-watt PC ( PC Gamer 2013-09-26 )

The consoles have power budgets of only 200 or 300 Watts, so they can put them in the living room, using small fans for cooling, yet run quietly and cool, Tamasi said. And thats always going to be less capable than a PC, where we spend 250W just on the GPU. Theres no way a 200W Xbox is going to be beat a 1000W PC.

Nvidia is partnering with Valve on the new SteamOS by opening up its drivers to Linuxsomething independence-minded gamers have been asking about for ages. In a blog post on its website, Nvidia writes that engineers from Valve and NVIDIA have spent a lot of time collaborating on a common goal for SteamOS: to deliver an open-platform gaming experience with superior performance and uncompromising visuals directly on the big screen.

I guess you can definitely chalk up nVidia into the pro-Linux column now. After taking a beating with Windows ReTard Edition on their ARM chips and then being passed over for Xbox it seems they have something to prove. A perfect storm of occurrences that only Microsoft could have helped accomplish.

More reaction pieces ...

Valve shows Linux love with SteamOS for gamers ( UK Register 2013-09-23 )

Paradox: SteamOS is a great thing for PC gaming, confirms CK2 and EU4 will run natively ( PC Gamer 2013-09-26 )

John Carmack shares thoughts on Steambox and AMDs Mantle ( PC Gamer 2013-09-27 )

Linux developer says focus on free OS will benefit both players and programmers ( PC Gamer 2013-09-27 )

Double Fine: Were rooting for Valve and SteamOS ( PC Gamer 2013-09-27 )

What is the SteamOS Game Operating System? ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-27 )

Microsoft Keeping Close Eye on SteamOS, Steam Machines ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-28 )

( Just to get a overall feel for how this whole thing is shaping up. )

EDIT: typo

Edited September 30, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[Formfiller]

PC game developers are p***ed at Microsoft and hate Windows 8:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGqu4CsUX9I

Among them the superstars Chris Taylor (Total Annihilation, Dungeon Siege Supreme Commander) and Chris Roberts (Wing Commander, Freelancer, Star Citizen)

Watch the first twenty minutes of the Video.

Especially at 18:00.

[Formfiller]

Ballmer's intense goodbye:

http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/27/4779036/exclusive-video-steve-ballmers-intense-tearful-goodbye-to-microsoft

His recent decisions were terrible, but I am gonna admit, I will miss the guy.

[JorgeA]

Short Takes: September 27, 2013 - Company Meeting: Windows 7 Will Not Be the Next Windows XP by Mr. Thurrott

"With Windows XP support finally winding down, the firm recently revealed that about 30 percent of all PCs in use worldwide are still running the aging OS. But at its company meeting, the real figure—27 percent—emerged, which means there are about 405 million XP PCs in use worldwide, an eye-opening figure. But Microsoft is determined not to let this happen again. So while many of us believe that Windows 7 will neatly slip into XP's role and become the next XP—partially because so few businesses are interested in Windows 8.x—Microsoft will instead push its newer OSs and let Windows 7 die a quicker death. It believes that by "listening" to customers with Windows 8.1, it can make this happen, and that the business-oriented changes in that version of the OS put it over the top. We'll see, but I've yet to hear anything like that from the enterprise."

Very funny, fitting video. Microsoft is the ship we see, and the buying public is at the other end of the radio...

Regarding Thurrott's quote -- well, if MSFT were in fact "listening" to customers, Windows 8.1 would have included a real Start Menu, offered Aero Glass, and made Metro completely optional on first use ("Is this PC [1] a toy or [2] a work machine?" ), the same way as some software packages let you decide which language you want when you first install them.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Microsoft had two courses it could take with Windows. It could simply continue to develop future iterations of the classic desktop OS while creating a purely mobile platform on the side, much as Apple did with Mac OS X and iOS, respectively. Or it could do what it's always done: Protect Windows at all costs and, in this case, simply build mobile platform features into Windows. Microsoft, after all, exults in the malleability of Windows.

Of course, it chose the latter path. Critics will point to this decision as a mistake and proof that Ballmer's long-time strategy was a mistake. But here's an inconvenient truth: Had Microsoft created a "Metro OS" or whatever, separately, for mobile devices, that system would have sunk in the market just as badly as has Windows 8, if not worse. As with Windows Phone before it, there just isn't much demand for yet another mobile platform, not when both Android and iOS have hundreds of thousands of apps and established ecosystems. Desktop Windows, meanwhile, would have continued its inevitable decline, racing to become the smallest of the three major mainstream computing markets.

This should show, to anybody with a working brain, that the entire strategy was misconceived from the beginning and should never have been implemented. If the market doesn't want a fifth-wheel mobile OS, it doesn't want a fifth-wheel mobile OS -- no matter what you bundle it with or how you present it. Duuuh. As it is, they tried to foist it on unwilling customers and then scratched their heads over the negative reaction, as if that should have come as any surprise.

I don't buy the line about Windows becoming less significant than -- than what, exactly? When Android or iOS get to a billion and a half active installations, then we might talk. And I will listen to your blather when most of those installations are used to run spreasheets and write reports, rather than to hurl hard-staring fowl or to see pictures of somebody's friend-of-a-friend eating brunch. It's precisely the attempt to mimic those folks that's endangering Windows's stature as the leading business OS, by prompting people to start looking into alternatives that respect them and their needs. Refusing to adopt Windows 7 as "the next XP" can only accelerate that process. It'll be interesting to see what happens in 2020 or whenever extended support for Win7 runs out.

--JorgeA

[TELVM]

Very funny, fitting video. Microsoft is the ship we see, and the buying public is at the other end of the radio...

... It's precisely the attempt to mimic those folks that's endangering Windows's stature as the leading business OS, by prompting people to start looking into alternatives that respect them and their needs. Refusing to adopt Windows 7 as "the next XP" can only accelerate that process ...

Exactly. All these callous murdering attempts on the succesfull XP and Se7en in a vain attempt to insuflate life into the capsized Tiles zombie remind me of this painting by Goya:

"Saturn devouring his (best) son/s"

It's such an obviously self-destructive path that one has to wonder if they aren't doing it on purpose, for whatever the reasons.

[JorgeA]

Wow, I had seen that painting before but never realized just how gruesome it is!

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Nokia's cheapest Windows Phone now world's best-selling Windows product ( NeoWin 2013-09-29 )

Now that's what I call ironic. The #1 selling Windows device has nothing to do with "Windows" at all, either the platform ( x86 software ) or the GUI concept!

Both WP and Windows ReTard Edition are truly Windows In Name Only. We can call them WINO

Microsoft working on Kinect-based project to control Windows with gestures ( NeoWin 2013-09-29 )

That's kind of ironic too. They apparently spent all their efforts making Kinect into that creepy spycam that they completely forgot to program it for normal non-spying activities, like being a controller ...

According to ZDNet, who got to see a demo of the project earlier this week, the research team have created ways for the Kinect sensor to help user perform a number of actions on both Windows 7 and 8 with hand movements. The story claims it took the researchers 18 months to develop the software for these features.

All in all a really great example of skewed prioritization. That spying ability was designed completely for the benefit of Big Hollywood and Big Media to let them cash in on even more pay/per scenarios even monitoring eyeballs and headcounts. Meanwhile the supposed real purpose of Kinect, as an input device was postponed. Way to go.

Poll: Consumers significantly more likely to purchase PlayStation 4 than Xbox One ( NeoWin 2013-09-29 )

Well there's another reality check for the fanboys that will likely go over like a ton of bricks.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

More Security news to give you heartburn ...

Meet the machines that steal your phones data ( Ars Technica 2013-09-25 )

Details of the actual devices being sold to your government, whoops, I mean to us since we pay the bills for the spooks to spy on us. Real exhorbitant pricing naturally.

N.S.A. Gathers Data on Social Connections of U.S. Citizens ( New York Times 2013-09-28 )

WASHINGTON Since 2010, the National Security Agency has been exploiting its huge collections of data to create sophisticated graphs of some Americans social connections that can identify their associates, their locations at certain times, their traveling companions and other personal information, according to newly disclosed documents and interviews with officials.

[...]

Phone and e-mail logs, for example, allow analysts to identify peoples friends and associates, detect where they were at a certain time, acquire clues to religious or political affiliations, and pick up sensitive information like regular calls to a psychiatrists office, late-night messages to an extramarital partner or exchanges with a fellow plotter.

That's a very small sample of yet another long and detailed article from the Snowden spy leaks.

Faces of Facebook is an interactive mashup of all 1.26 billion profiles ( TechSpot 2013-09-29 )

This is, well, umm, to be expected, I guess. If you open the page called The Faces Of Facebook it will construct a mad screenful of pixels that each are one of the 1,262,090,313 Facebook profile photos. Clicking on a pixel brings up that photo and a nearby ones, well, you get the idea. There's gonna be a lot of strangely upset people when they see that they are on this ( yes, also a lot of happy ones too ~sigh~ ). It's a brave new world.

More thoughts on the Steam announcements ( links from TechSpot ) ...

That's not a Steam console; it's a Steam PC ( Tech Report 2013-09-26 )

Making sense of Valves Steam Box: Windows vs. Linux, OpenGL vs. DirectX, and the impact of support from AMD & Nvidia ( ExtremeTech 2013-09-27 )

Analyzing Valves SteamOS, Steam Machines, and Steam Controller Announcements ( AnandTech 2013-09-28 )

Valve's Controller Has Been Tested. Here Are Some Impressions. ( Kotaku 2013-09-28 )

[TELVM]

Found this at The Register :

The NSA's hiring - and they want a CIVIL LIBERTIES officer
"In other news, the Spanish Inquisition want an equal opportunities officer"

[jaclaz]

Found this at The Register :

The NSA's hiring - and they want a CIVIL LIBERTIES officer

"In other news, the Spanish Inquisition want an equal opportunities officer"

I wouldn't be so sure.

The whole point of the Spanish Inquisition coherence was that they NEVER proclaimed to be "defenders of freedom", nor that the *whatever* they did was in the interest of the general public, they simply had the power and exercised is they way they see fit.

They claimed to be defenders of faith and of the Roman Church, which is something different from freedom.

They may have been bad guys, but at least they didn't try to be loved.

As I see it, the real issue with *whatever* the secret agencies do is that it is not secret enough (they fail at keeping it a secret) and that they try to justify it.

On the other hand, given the nature and size of the known leaks, it is preoccupying that they could have happened at all (it means that they also fail at running their surveillance programs), so seemingly not only a zillion dollars are spent into what can be seen as a breach of rights of the citizens (and of constitutional rights) but also they seem to be quite ineffective (the Spanish Inquisition had a surprisingly high success rate, something like 99.99999% of suspects being found guilty ).

If you prefer, the Spanish Inquisition guys appear to have been more professional in their activities, and protected their correspondence/reports/meeting drafts/whatever with higher efficiency.

jaclaz

[JorgeA]

So, even the back-to-school season failed to revive sales of PCs -- even though (or because ) most of them feature the fun Metrokidz toy UI:

Back-to-School Produces No PC Sales Bounce, Deflating Intel’s Hopes

Every September, the PC industry’s eyes turn toward indications that demand has surged during the back-to-school season, which is often an early indicator of the holiday season’s demand. Analyst Vijay Rakesh of Sterne Agee has checked in on the latest word from the companies that manufacturer machines for Hewlett-Packard, Dell and others, and finds that there’s little hope left for a bounce off the bottom in 2013.

Build rates at ODM companies are running flat versus this time last year, he said. Writing in a note to clients this morning, Rakesh said, “We believe back to school PC demand has been virtually absent.”

--JorgeA