Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions

[JorgeA]

Win8 .1 with Bing is this:

Windows 8.1 with Bing helps OEMs add Windows to low-cost devices while driving end user usage of Microsoft Services such as Bing and OneDrive.

This edition of Windows sets Bing as the default search engine within Internet Explorer. Users will be able to manually change default search settings and install additional browsers of their choice.

Windows 8.1 with Bing is based on the feature set available in Windows 8.1 Core and incudes all of the latest updates, including Windows 8.1 Update. Windows 8.1 with Bing is available for 32-bit and 64-bit platforms.

taken from the ADK of the Update.

Thanks, Andre.

The ADK's description leads me to a question: "regular" Win8/8.1 already comes with Bing as the default search engine (doesn't it?), and the user can change that. And of course Win8 pushes OneDrive. So, how is "Windows 8.1 with Bing" different from regular Windows 8.1?

Maybe I'm missing some detail.

--JorgeA

[TELVM]

LOL it's not everyday that for a change it's we lowly plebs who can spook on the royalty :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtbkDGdiIDA

[JorgeA]

Word is that Russian hackers (or maybe some KGB descendant) were at it again in that leaked cellphone conversation.

I'm not holding my breath waiting for these same gentlemen to publish phone chats by Vlad, the Impaler of Ukraine.

That said, if the technology that made it possible to intercept that conversation were to become widely available and easy to use on our rulers... "Turnabout is fair play."

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

The ADK's description leads me to a question: "regular" Win8/8.1 already comes with Bing as the default search engine (doesn't it?), and the user can change that. And of course Win8 pushes OneDrive. So, how is "Windows 8.1 with Bing" different from regular Windows 8.1?

We may have an answer to this:

OEMs will not be able to change the default search engine with the SearchScopes unattend setting, Registry key, or 3rd party installation tools. When a user starts Internet Explorer, Bing is automatically set to the default Search Engine and will override any OEM-configured search provider. No other Internet Explorer defaults are changed.

So the difference applies to the OEM and prevents them from shipping a "Windows 8.1 with Bing" computer set to anything other than Bing as the search engine.

The rationale seems to depend on user inertia leaving the default settings untouched:

Microsoft's line of reasoning, however, may be simply to say that over time, users will "pay" for their Windows license by using Bing. After all, Bing Rewards literally pays users to use the search engine. Will a few years of daily Bing use pay for a Windows license? It appears so.

--JorgeA

EDIT: for accuracy

Edited March 7, 2014 by JorgeA

[JorgeA]

We know most of this, but it's useful to have it all in one place:

The paranoid's survival guide, part 1: How to protect your personal data

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

And here's a pair of pieces on DRM, touching on cloud computing and cybersecurity:

EU could extend copyright levies to cloud services

The current E.U. Copyright Directive allows for taxes placed on products that allow copying of copyright content such as printers or smartphones, that are then passed on to copyright holders. However, the new proposals envisage an updated list of leviable devices and services, potentially including cloud services. In a worst-case scenario, consumers could end up paying twice for transferring legally purchased content between their own accounts, say digital rights activists.

What happens with digital rights management in the real world?

The entertainment industry calls DRM "security" software, because it makes them secure from their customers. Security is not a matter of abstract absolutes, it requires a context. You can't be "secure," generally -- you can only be secure from some risk. For example, having food makes you secure from hunger, but puts you at risk from obesity-related illness.

DRM is designed on the presumption that users don't want it, and if they could turn it off, they would. You only need DRM to stop users from doing things they're trying to do and want to do. If the thing the DRM restricts is something no one wants to do anyway, you don't need the DRM. You don't need a lock on a door that no one ever wants to open.

DRM assumes that the computer's owner is its adversary. For DRM to work, there has to be no obvious way to remove, interrupt or fool it. For DRM to work, it has to reside in a computer whose operating system is designed to obfuscate some of its files and processes: to deliberately hoodwink the computer's owner about what the computer is doing. If you ask your computer to list all the running programs, it has to hide the DRM program from you. If you ask it to show you the files, it has to hide the DRM files from you. Anything less and you, as the computer's owner, would kill the program and delete its associated files at the first sign of trouble.

An increase in the security of the companies you buy your media from means a decrease in your own security. When your computer is designed to treat you as an untrusted party, you are at serious risk: anyone who can put malicious software on your computer has only to take advantage of your computer's intentional capacity to disguise its operation from you in order to make it much harder for you to know when and how you've been compromised.

No doubt you'll find other highly quotable nuggets if you read this article. And not just negative arguments either, but also some constructive ideas.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Ahh, more and better reasons to move all functions to the Internet:

Cyber Snake plagues Ukraine networks

Ouroboros gives its operators unfettered access to networks for surveillance purposes. But it can also act as a highly advanced “digital beachhead” that could destroy computer networks with wide-ranging repercussions for the public.

Cyber warfare experts have long warned that digital weapons could shut off civilian power or water supplies, cripple banks or even blow up industrial sites that depend on computer-controlled safety programmes.

Like the homeowner who can't be bothered to conserve water in a drought 'til the tap actually runs dry, it might take an attack destroying massive amounts of data and wrecking whole economies before the love affair with the Cloud finally sours.

The "Information Super-highway" leads the bad guys straight to our financial records and electric grids.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Ars Technica's Peter "not so" Bright is still defending the Metro UI in a bizarre critique of the Windows 8.1 Update 1:

Windows 8.1 Update 1: More interface concessions that still won’t make people happy

The changes are all focused around mouse and keyboard users, to make certain features more accessible to the mouse. On the Start screen itself, there's now a button for power options (shut down, reboot, sleep) and search.

The former button replicates the button found inside the settings charm, and it is a bit of an oddity. The problem with the charm is that it's hard to find for some people. What's a bit strange is that people are even looking for it in the first place.

While early PCs had dumb power switches that unceremoniously cut the power to the machine, the use of electronic power buttons—buttons that can tell the operating system to perform an orderly system shutdown before killing the power—have been a feature since the introduction of the ATX specification in late 1995. Any system on the market today can be shut down by pressing the same button that you used to turn it on. On the face of it, at least, this should make the on-screen button fairly unimportant.

[...]

And likewise, they're still shutting down from software, perhaps unaware that the power switch will do the job, and are conditioned to do so after years of operating systems complaining when they weren't shut down properly.

So are we to conclude that Peter shuts down his PC by pressing the dumb power switch instead of letting Windows perform that orderly system shutdown?

The search button, again replicating a charm, is also a little surprising. Hitting the button brings up the normal Windows 8.1 search pane, with a text box to type into. The same effect can be achieved simply by typing the search term you're interested in, making the button superfluous. This is a mechanism that has existed in Windows since Vista: bring up the Start menu/screen (whether by hitting a hardware Windows key on a keyboard or tablet bezel, a hot corner, or the taskbar button), and type.

Perhaps this is speculation too far, but this pair of changes almost suggests that many Windows users haven't changed the way they use the operating system—or their computers—since the mid 1990s. The Windows Vista-era mechanism of "Start and then type," now seven-years-old, apparently hasn't caught on and quite plausibly isn't even known by many Windows users.

Peter doesn't seem to understand (or to want to acknowledge) that the Start Menu has a search box that even tells you that's where you can perform your search. In Windows 8/8.1, there is nothing -- no visual cue -- to suggest to the user how they can perform a search -- or even that they can do it at all!

It's not "Start-and-type," Peter, it's "Start-see-box-and-then-type," which makes all the difference.

A couple of UI improvements are described without comment (presumably because they actually make the product more usable ):

A few other defaults are notable, too: on systems without touch, the option, introduced in 8.1, to boot directly to the desktop (rather than the Start screen) is enabled by default. Internet Explorer also defaults to showing the address bar and tabs by default. It seems that file opening defaults are also changed, so that photos and media will open in the Photo Viewer or Media Player, rather than the Metro apps.

BTW, he gets thrashed in the comments section. A few of my favorites:

In this article I learned that Peter apparently restarts his computer by pushing the power button, waiting for it to shut down, and then pushing it again.

.

Peter seems to think that if you don't operate your computer the same way that he does, you're an id!0t who probably shouldn't be trusted with scissors either.

.

...Different devices shine with different UIs. You would think Microsoft would have learned this lesson back in the days of their earlier "tablet edition" versions of Windows, which were a flop because they didn't play to the strengths of the form factor. But apparently not.

.

My main issues with start screen are threefold:

1. It isn't obvious to non-technical users that you can customise it or use search on it. This update appears to partially address that, but only a bit.

2. The background colours of the tiles. In too many cases they can make either the icon or the text almost impossible to discern. This shouldn't be rocket science.

3. The search appears to want to wake up my external hard drive before it even begins showing results. This makes searches slower than they should be on my oldish machine.

.

Yes, it is unfortunate that Ars delegates coverage of something as important as the Windows ecosystem to someone with such poor empathy and people skills as Peter.

--JorgeA

Edited March 9, 2014 by JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Here's a critique of W8.1U1 by a "brighter" Brit:

Windows 8.1 Update is the final nail in the coffin

The lack of Start menu is something that sits uncomfortably with many users. The release of Windows 8.1 addressed the issue to some degree by reintroducing the Start button, but this was not really enough. The new update makes another tweak. The Start button is still present, and clicking it still brings up the Start screen. The change is that the taskbar remains visible when the Start screen appears; it's almost like having a full-screen Start menu. But move the mouse to click on something and… wait… what’s that? The taskbar has disappeared? WTF?!

[...]

There have been complaints, whinges and grumbles about the fact that the Start screen has not featured a shutdown option. Well, fear not! This is addressed in the Update! Oh wait… no it's not. My mistake. Yes, there is now a shutdown option, but it is very awkward and the 'workflow' of getting to it is just absurd. Click the Start button at the bottom left of the screen. If the Start screen is configured to go to App view you will then need to switch to the other screen. Then the power icon is visible, nestled in the upper right hand corner of the screen -- the opposite bloody corner to the Start button! Do you not believe in efficiency, Microsoft?! -- which can finally be tapped or clicked to restart or shutdown. I need a lie down after that.

Windows 8.1 Update is a Band-Aid holding together an already patched up operating system. There had better be some seriously impressive plans in store for Windows 9 -- or maybe even another update to the 8.x range -- because Microsoft is putting its famous franchise in danger of becoming even more of a laughing stock than it currently is....

--JorgeA

[jaclaz]

For NO apparent reason :

http://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/15z1zz/

jaclaz

[JorgeA]

What we've seen thus far about the NSA, says Snowden, is just the tip o' the iceberg:

Snowden Says 'Many Other' Spy Programs Remain Secret, For Now

Exiled whistle-blower Edward Snowden told the European Parliament in testimony published Friday there are many more surprises in the classified cache of documents he downloaded and distributed last year.

[...]

Snowden is wanted on felony charges of espionage and theft in the U.S. He told the committee “I love my country” and said his revelations reveal the U.S. government likely missed terror plots because it was busy collecting large volumes of useless information.

--JorgeA

[bpalone]

Just a thought I had while replying to another thread.

I think that a very large part of all of our distaste for the direction Microsoft is heading with Windows 8 and beyond, is a loss of control. So, ponder the following thoughts:

1.) The computer is OUR hardware.

2.) Any OS or Software is a GUEST on our hardware.

3.) We really don't like guests telling us what to do and will almost always show that guest the door.

Am I correct in my summary?

bpalone

[Tripredacus]

There's also this trend where OS makers (at least MS and Apple) think people want to see the same things on all their devices. Both of these companies have mentioned this in commercials, where your "apps" or layout or whatever will be the same on your PC as your tablet or phone. I don't really need this uniformity, as I use different hardware devices for different functions. I do not need, nor want, them to be the same. Where did that idea come from?

[bpalone]

There's also this trend where OS makers (at least MS and Apple) think people want to see the same things on all their devices. Both of these companies have mentioned this in commercials, where your "apps" or layout or whatever will be the same on your PC as your tablet or phone. I don't really need this uniformity, as I use different hardware devices for different functions. I do not need, nor want, them to be the same. Where did that idea come from?

It's not just MS and Apple, Ubuntu's Unity is the same thing. I agree, it is a flawed idea.

Then again, those of us hanging around here are far more prone to view OSes and Programs as tools that are used to accomplish a task.

bpalone

[bphlpt]

There's also this trend where OS makers (at least MS and Apple) think people want to see the same things on all their devices. Both of these companies have mentioned this in commercials, where your "apps" or layout or whatever will be the same on your PC as your tablet or phone. I don't really need this uniformity, as I use different hardware devices for different functions. I do not need, nor want, them to be the same. Where did that idea come from?

It's not just MS and Apple, Ubuntu's Unity is the same thing. I agree, it is a flawed idea.

Then again, those of us hanging around here are far more prone to view OSes and Programs as tools that are used to accomplish a task.

bpalone

And the idea is apparently not limited to computers. Think about things like Dish, (satellite TV), where you can pause a recorded program on one TV and pick it up where you left off on another TV in another room. It all seems to be part of the concept of the "cloud" where all your information, content, settings, preferences, etc is saved at all times and your computer, phone, TV and whatever is merely a "portal" or "window" to that info. It doesn't matter what you use to get there, everything is right where you last put it and is accessed with the exact same controls.

In an ideal world I can kind of see the appeal, IF all the hardware you are using to do the access is relatively the same size, AND all have essentially the same hardware controls, AND you are wanting to use the various hardware for the same purposes, AND you are not at all concerned about the security aspects of your content being able to be accessed anywhere by any hardware if you just have the right access codes. BUT if you have security concerns, OR you want to separate your work environment from your "play" environment, (games, TV, music, etc), OR you use vastly different software apps from media players to word processors to CAD/CAM or other detailed graphics software, OR you use vastly different hardware from a smartphone with a 4" screen to a tablet with a 10" screen to a laptop with a 16-18" screen to a desktop PC with a 19-30" screen to a TV with an 32-80" screen, then that absolute uniformity makes less and less sense, and is essentially impossible to achieve in an effective manner for all the tasks for which you could use the various hardware and software. You wouldn't want to write War and Peace or use CAD/CAM software or have the gang over to watch the football game on a smartphone, and you wouldn't want to carry around an 80" TV to make telephone calls. Just because the processors that run the various hardware could all be made to be able to accomplish the same various tasks doesn't mean they should. The hardware should match the task required and the interface should fit that "hardware + task". It just has to make sense.

Cheers and Regards

Edited March 13, 2014 by bphlpt