Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions

[jaclaz]

Microsoft reduces Surface Pro prices by another $100 ( NeoWin 2013-10-23 )

And another price cut!. Somebody should try to chart the history of all the changes ( not me though, it would take all day ). Notice the incredibly stubborn resistance to the obvious idea of adding a free keyboard cover.

According to my rough calculations, on 3rd June 2014 anyone will be able to get US $100,00 in cash if they collect a Surface RT from a Microsoft Store...

jaclaz

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Comment:

... People who wish to have secure boot disabled in the BIOS have to endure being bullied by Microsoft with a watermark they can't remove unless they completely turn off the UAC. It's not like the software is not legitimate to warrant a watermark being displayed at all times, just make it an Action Center message that the user can turn off, just like Anti-virus related messages. This is just Microsoft flexing it's monopolistic muscles to bully consumers into doing what they want instead of providing flexibility and freedom of choice.

OMG, I forgot to quote that same comment. He nailed it! Great image too. :

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Microsoft reduces Surface Pro prices by another $100 ( NeoWin 2013-10-23 )

And another price cut!. Somebody should try to chart the history of all the changes ( not me though, it would take all day ). Notice the incredibly stubborn resistance to the obvious idea of adding a free keyboard cover.

According to my rough calculations, on 3rd June 2014 anyone will be able to get US $100,00 in cash if they collect a Surface RT from a Microsoft Store...

jaclaz

Negative prices would rule! I always wanted to visit that opposite universe ...

( original photo from here )

[Tripredacus]

I'd be down for a Win8 mod that showed this.

[TELVM]

I feel creative today .

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

I feel creative today .

P.S. is that "Lego" Store?

[jaclaz]

On other news (not really news, actually ) Linus Torvalds politely explained why exactly adding secureboot related features to the Linux kernel is not such a great idea:

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/02/linus-torvalds-i-will-not-change-linux-to-deep-throat-microsoft/

and in some more recent ones , how random values should actually be random and NOT generated by a dedicated (proprietary) hardware:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/09/10/torvalds_on_rrrand_nsa_gchq/

jaclaz

[TELVM]

P.S. is that "Lego" Store?

Couldn't tell, never been there .

... Linus Torvalds politely explained ...

It's just the Finnish way .

[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:

...Microsoft's Surface 2 tablet launch on Tuesday saw "lukewarm" first-day sales, Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry said in a research note Wednesday. "The foot traffic at the Microsoft Store at Westfield Mall in San Francisco was extremely light," he said.

--JorgeA

[G8YMW]

JorgeA wrote

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:Quote

...Microsoft's Surface 2 tablet launch on Tuesday saw "lukewarm" first-day sales, Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry said in a research note Wednesday. "The foot traffic at the Microsoft Store at Westfield Mall in San Francisco was extremely light," he said.

--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"

[Tripredacus]

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:

...Microsoft's Surface 2 tablet launch on Tuesday saw "lukewarm" first-day sales, Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry said in a research note Wednesday. "The foot traffic at the Microsoft Store at Westfield Mall in San Francisco was extremely light," he said.

--JorgeA

I had no idea it even came out? Didn't some Apple stuff come out this week? My twitter was full of reaction to those, not a peep about a Surface.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Samsung fined by Taiwan government for faked Internet comments ( NeoWin 2013-10-24 )

Samsung fined $340,000 for online smear campaign and fraudulent reviews ( TechSpot 2013-10-24 )

I think this is a great ruling, well as long as it does something to thwart the lies of corporate astroturfing ( nothing apparently can stop the personal religious fanboy freelance astroturfing though ). As the MicroZealots at NeoWin cheer this hit to their 3rd most hated enemy perhaps they should consider that it sets a precedent and may next be applied to their beloved Microsoft, whose astroturfers paid and unpaid have polluted the tech forums ever since they descended like locusts over a year ago.

Ruling on GPS Tracking Could Protect Cellphone Privacy ( Tom's Hardware 2013-10-24 )

What's this, some scrap of positive news on the privacy front? Maybe. That's one of our higher courts, a federal appeals court that could be the final word saying that Cops can't do this one, narrowly defined action, placing a GPS on a car. However, I would note the loaded wording of the ruling comes with facts that may be designed to influence the public and maybe the Supreme Court if it gets the case ...

In order to track the Katzins, Pennsylvania police affixed a GPS tracker to Harry's truck and proceeded to monitor him via computer for the next few days. They eventually found the Katzins at the scene of a crime, complete with the stolen goods in their van.

Hear that sheeple? Criminals were captured thanks to a GPS, cops told to let them go. <-- HEADLINE This small win for privacy may yet turn out to be a Pyrrhic victory once the law and order propagandists have time to bend the ear of the sheeple and the Congress.

Google is experimenting with massive banner ads for brand searches ( TechSpot 2013-10-24 )

Google reverses promise made in 2005 not to use banner ads in searches ( NeoWin 2013-10-24 )

Marissa Mayer penned a blog post more than seven years ago as Googles vice president of search products and user experience, promising the company would never implement banner advertisements on the Google homepage or as part of search results.

It would now seem that the search giant is going back on their word as the company is testing massive banner advertisements in search results for specific brands.

A big corporation may be about to break a promise? Say it ain't so! Cue up some other promises for consideration, like "We have no plans to use Kinect for advertising and spying ". Maybe we should be looking for quotes from Microsoft concerning the Desktop and other things they are guaranteed to go back on. They will all do it to us given enough time. Promises are made to be broken.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Microsoft brings in $18.53b in revenue, $5.24b in net income ( NeoWin 2013-10-24 )

Microsoft's Windows OEM revenues dropped 7 percent, but that's good news ( NeoWin 2013-10-25 )

On Thursday, Microsoft announced solid financial results for its first fiscal quarter of 2014 (Q3 2013 for the rest of us) with $18.53 billion in revenues and $5.24 billion in net income. However, the company did note that Windows OEM revenues went down by seven percent for the quarter.

That might sound like bad news, but the truth is three months ago, Microsoft predicted that the amount of money it would get from OEMs would go down in the mid-teens, percentage wise. In the company's conference call with analysts Thursday, Microsoft's chief financial officer Amy Hood said that it is seeing "signs of stabilization in the business segment" in terms of PC sales which likely helped out with revenues.

Good news? What? NeoWin spin machine. Now that sure is a lot of money, but I'm not sure $5 billion net per quarter is that big a number for a top ten company. In fact it is all kind of confusing because they give out different bits of info including this weird statement ...

Microsoft's own slide shows that Windows OEM Pro revenue went up by 6 percent in the last quarter, but non-Pro revenue went down by 22 percent, which Microsoft says was still better than expected.

Now they're seemingly breaking down Pro and non-Pro with Windows? Since when? As one commenter put it, they are most likely corporates getting Pro licenses for downgrade rights. And furthermore, they'll give this insight yet they won't offer anything about specific Surface models and accessories? It's maddening really. The way I see it a statement without clear details means there is something to hide.

I'll tell you what. They better hope they get an internal Softies as next CEO. A truly independent person who looks through their books is gonna be flabbergasted at the financial antics they use to make Microsoft look like a financial black box rather than separate divisions for Wall Street. IMHO naturally.

Microsoft: Surface sales more than doubled in last quarter ( NeoWin 2013-10-24 )

Microsoft had already announced that revenues from the Surface device family came in at $400 million for the quarter. That shows quite a large jump compared to the $853 million in revenue from the tablet's launch in late October 2012 to the end of June 2013.

Microsoft is still not stating just how many Surface tablets it sold during the third quarter; Hood did hint in the conference call that sales of the original Surface Pro in the last quarter were impacted due to customers waiting for Microsoft to launch the Surface Pro 2. On Wednesday, Microsoft cut the price of the original Surface Pro by another $100, bringing the price of the for the 64GB model down to $699.

First of all it is unclear if the billion dollar write down applied to that quarter or not and how it affects these Surfaces. If it didn't go on that quarter then I would guess they sold maybe one million tops ( the commenters keep dividing gross by the price of the Surfaces but they completely are forgetting the keyboard cover which is a separate sale in all circumstances ), if it did charge this quarter then that $400 million might just be red ink. There is no way that is over two million units as some commenters speculate and the fact that Microsoft keeps hiding the number is highly suspect. Recall that Q2 according to IDC was 300,000 Surface versus 14.6 million iPads. They are going to get murdered in the holiday quarter coming up and have zero chance of expecting much more than whatever it is they sold this quarter.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Microsoft Moving to Redefine Windows ( Thurrott 2013-10-24 )

This change will further impact the traditional Intel-based versions of Windows, in that they will remain a superset of "Windows"the RT/Phone versionbut one that can still run legacy Windows desktop applications, too, and work on increasingly rare traditional desktop PCs and workstations. This change is already happening: With Windows RT 8.1, Microsoft has removed the desktop tile from the Start screen. I expect the desktop to be further deemphasized, if not completely removed, from future (non-Pro) versions of Windows.

Within a few years, mainstream versions of Windows will be known for their flat, Metro-style and touch-first UIs, and the legacy Windows desktop will be available only via increasingly archaic and uncommon desktop PCs. This new Windows will run on a common core, as it does now, and scale across multiple device types, including phones, tablets, PCs, living room set-top boxes, kiosks, automobile systems, and more. It will be more secure, smaller, and less complex. And it will just be Windows.

Yep, he's back again. Paul "The Desktop Must Die!" Thurrott. Today he is a wannabe iTard hipster who is drooling over the possibilities of standing in line at Microsoft Stores for annual refreshes wearing ear buds while watching Blue Man Group on a hideous Playskool tablet. He doesn't know this, but he has been an iTard his whole life trapped in a PC user's body. But that taste of Microsoft Tiles opened the floodgates for all the emotions to come pouring out, and now uninhibited, he writes freely about the Brave New World we should all embrace.

In reality his judgment is skewed because of one basic misunderstanding, exhibited here ...

All of this is still in flux, of course. But make no mistake: The trends that are sweeping the industry are impacting Microsoft in multiple ways, and they are impacting Windows as well.

This commenter tries to help Paul out ...

Paul, surely you don't *believe* this bizarre and silly "the desktop is dead, the PC is dead" propaganda, do you? I ask because while some of your articles nail the issues correctly, some of your articles keep up this bizarre refrain about Enterprise deciding it no longer needs desktops any longer, Microsoft deciding it no longer needs any money from Enterprise, and everyone else at some point hurling their desktops into the nearest pond or sewer and running out and buying portable devices far less powerful and often incompatible with most people's existing software libraries.

I can't see it. One thing is sure, Microsoft needs a CEO who won't see the last 30 years of continuous improvement and overwhelming market share accumulation as some kind of "legacy" the company needs to throw off and discard...! That's el Nutso, in the extreme. It's just not gonna' happen.

Look, for years in the multi-billion-dollar-a-year computer gaming industry, "PC gaming is dead" was a common and oft repeated myth. Today, as of the xBone and PS4, consoles *have become* desktop PCs in terms of their internal hardware architectures. Trust me, neither the desktop nor the desktop PC is anywhere near extinction. Enterprise using it today will be the same Enterprise using it tomorrow, and whether Microsoft will go along for the ride remains to be seen. Businesses and consumers alike are not going to follow Microsoft's every whim and throw out their preferences like Lemmings off a cliff simply because some goofball @ Microsoft decides that touch ui's should "be the rule" for everyone, whether they own or even want touch devices. Some other company will step forward at some point and Microsoft will have its rear-end handed to it on a platter. At one time I would have said, "Microsoft isn't that stupid," but at the moment I am not exactly sure about that.

Tablets and Phones are all that MetroTards can see, ever. Of course the real world is different, and the history up to now is simple too understand. There were many people that never needed stationary hard-core PC's in the first place. People that only would be using email and light tasks. Playing easy games and listening to music. iPods and similar devices carved out the latter folks. Laptops came along and relieved some more of that pent-up frustration and now smaller devices are picking off the rest ... the rest THAT NEVER NEEDED A PC in the first place.

This is too hard for Paul to process in that Tile soaked brain of his. Him and some others see this spreading out of the computing public from it's previous 100% concentration on stationary desktops ( completely due to no other choice ) to some other divided percentage ( perhaps 30% desktop and 70% on smaller ) as some kind of trend. It is not a trend you idjit. It is natural selection. Water will find its own level. It doesn't mean the desktop PC is dying unless you think those people should stay there even though there is a better fit for MetroTards and sheeple on smaller devices. And many will use multiple form factors, even Paul, although he is actively trying to shoehorn his entire life into tiny tablets and likely failing each time.

There will always be trucks ( 18-wheelers ) doing the hard work with plenty of people to ready drive them, while sheeple and MetroTards poke along in their boxie little fuel-efficient clown cars. Just like there will always be folks who drink real coffee from Dunkin Donuts while MetroTards and sheeple sip their Starbucks decalf soy skinny vanilla latte with a spritz of whipped cream and cinnamon sprinkles. The only way the PC will die is if it is murdered. Stop trying to murder it Paul and stop trying to convince readers to call for its murder.

Microsoft UK Shows Off 383-inch Surface Tablet in London ( Tom's Hardware 2013-10-24 )

Giant Surface 2 tablet in London took 13 days to make ( NeoWin 2013-10-24 )

Too easy.

( Original Photo Here )

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Another pleasure in the Tiles 81 experience:

. . .

Apparently people is getting this watermark whenever "secure" boot is not enabled in BIOS. This is a brave new joy, didn't happen in Tiles 80.

Hey check it out ... a new watermark

( I mean that "no hotlinking" placeholder ironically hotlinked backed to eightforums anyway! )

Even more joy.