Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions

[JorgeA]

Stardock: 3 million Start8 downloads; version 1.1 launched ( NeoWin 2013-01-16 )

Pokki revamps Windows 8 Start menu program; hits 1.5 million downloads ( NeoWin 2013-01-16 )

Bring back the Windows 8 Start menu, say 1.5 million Pokki downloaders ( The Verge 2013-01-16 )

Well I guess we can say that in at least one way Microsoft is doing what it used to do in the old days - making millionaires.

This news is pretty remarkable, showing considerable initiative by millions of Windows users who've suddenly been presented with a Desktop stripped of two of its main features (the Start Button and Start Menu) and no advertised way to get them back.

There's overlap in these figures of course, as one person can download multiple Start Menu alternatives; but if there were a way to determine this it would be interesting to know what percentage of Windows 8 users have downloaded a Start Menu replacement. (As well as the percent of users who would do that if they knew how.)

--JorgeA

Edited January 18, 2013 by JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Why Windows RT is hurtling toward disaster

Windows RT actually started CES with a bang: When Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer bounded onstage during Qualcomm's opening night keynote, he showed off two Windows RT tablets. One was the Samsung ATIV Tab, and Ballmer lauded Samsung as one of Microsoft's key hardware partners.

But just three days later, Samsung told CNET that it won't be bringing the ATIV Tab stateside, citing poor demand for Windows RT tablets in general.

--JorgeA

[jaclaz]

Out of this article (nice preview of the "real thing") found through one of the above links :

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2024690/microsoft-surface-pro-hands-on-impressions-from-ces.html

I would like to highlight part of this sentence:

Regardless, the pen itself performed relatively well when drawing in digital ink. There was the slightest—slightest—bit of lag in drawing response, but while it was noticeable, it wasn’t consequential. Microsoft couldn’t tell me how many levels of pressure sensitivity are offered by the pen, but simply having a full-fledged Windows tablet that can get close to a Wacom pad is a nice bonus feature.

We are talking of a "closed doors" preview offered at CES 2013 to a technical writer of one of the most influential PC magazines in the US, preview being patronized DIRECTLY by Microsoft, and the guys/gals there cannot answer to a "plain enough" technical question?

There is no reference to that question being asked as a "test" with no possibility for the MS representatives there to "phone home" and get the answer, apparently besides not knowing straight away the answer to a "normal" question (VERY normal when you are offering a preview on a pen-based tablet) they seemingly did not have the capabilities (or the will) to get it from some of the engineers (that SHOULD know it).

I would like to underline the fact that in this case it is not "third party" hardware ....

Redmond, we have a problem.

jaclaz

[Formfiller]

http://www.zdnet.com/microsofts-windows-8-upgrade-promotion-really-is-ending-on-january-31-7000010025/

Quote:

----

When Microsoft announced last year a "limited time offer" for Windows 8 upgrade pricing, some thought -- or at least hoped -- that the discounted price might be indefinite.

Microsoft officials announced on January 18 that this will not be the case.

After January 31, the $39.99 upgrade price will end. Starting February 1, the Windows 8 upgrade (from previous Windows home/consumer SKUs) will cost $119.99. The Windows 8 Pro upgrade will cost $199.99.

----

200 bucks for a mandatory bolted-on toy interface, yummie! It's like they WANT to bring W8 down. It isn't selling well at 40$... Who would pay 200$ for this?! I think they are deranged enough to still think that W8 pro is indeed something for "Pros".

[vinifera]

well said

w8 is overpriced garbage

[JorgeA]

200 bucks for a mandatory bolted-on toy interface, yummie! It's like they WANT to bring W8 down. It isn't selling well at 40$... Who would pay 200$ for this?! I think they are deranged enough to still think that W8 pro is indeed something for "Pros".

Great points! I guess we'll be getting our answer over the next few months.

I agree with @vinifera. Maybe if MS paid me $40 -- or $200 -- then I might think about it...

--JorgeA

[jaclaz]

Maybe if MS paid me $40 -- or $200 -- then I might think about it...

You evidently greatly underestimate the price for giving away your moral integrity.

jaclaz

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Microsoft's ARM blunder: 7 reasons why Windows RT was DOA ( UK Register 2013-01-18 )

The obvious conclusion? There aren't any such customers. Windows RT is an OS that nobody asked for, sent in search of a market that's already well served by other options. Even ignoring everything else that's wrong with it, that's reason enough for it to go down in history as one of Microsoft's biggest bombs.

Very thorough article ( and great comments as usual ), concentrating only on Surface RT and its Windows ReTard operating system. The only thing I would add is that the author plays down the controversy with the use of "Windows" label, which we know from other stories that Ballmer intentionally decided to use the name in spite of warnings from others. It is intentional deception. Microsoft is just out from underneath the last government action, they just recently experienced pushback with Vista and its own "Windows Ready" labeling fiasco yet they have doubled down and exceeded that one by a mile. Ballmer is just asking for FTC or DoJ scrutiny, and he would clearly deserve it.

While reading this, something occurred to me. A thousand posts ago many commenters here were pointing out the obvious that Microsoft had to tie "Windows" brand to Metro rather than create a separate distinct mobile operating system that might not be able to stand on its feet and die in the marketplace. We already knew this was a cynical ploy to convert its monopolistic desktop position into an Apple-esque walled garden. The right thing to do would have been a separate OS, and it would have acted as a firewall from contaminating "Windows" as a brand. So what suddenly dawned on me is that this Surface RT device is exactly an instance of that separate OS ( except for the re-use of the "Windows" brand ), and just as we warned it is failing or at best is on life support. Once again, the commenters here and many other places long before the RTM and general release correctly predicted what Microsoft and its presumably well-paid staff of designers, marketers, forecasters and evangelists could not see. As far as I can tell, the only people out of touch with the obvious future are working in Redmond and/or populating the comment sections of The Verge and NeoWin.

[JorgeA]

Maybe if MS paid me $40 -- or $200 -- then I might think about it...

You evidently greatly underestimate the price for giving away your moral integrity.

jaclaz

LOL, what I had in mind with that sentence is to illustrate the fact that (from an economics perspective) for me Windows 8 has negative value. It's not just worthless (zero value), it's actually worse than nothing.

Eventually, Microsoft may start bragging about the hundreds of millions of Win8 "sales." But there's a conceptual problem with this: when a unit comes as part of a larger bundle (the PC), it's hard to tease out the actual value of the individual parts of the bundle.

Years ago I worked at a company that published a monthly guide for cable television. The guide came as part of the subscription. One time, as a test the publisher arranged with several cable companies to offer subscribers the choice of paying either X amount for their current channel lineup plus the magazine, or (X - Y) amount for the channels only. IIRC, the difference was around $1.50 a month.

When the results came back, something like 9 percent of the cable subscribers who'd been given the choice had opted to pay for the magazine. Not exactly a ringing endorsement!

The same logic applies to Windows 8. Because it comes (mainly) as part of a package, it's harder for the market to establish the OS's actual value.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Out of this article (nice preview of the "real thing") found through one of the above links :

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2024690/microsoft-surface-pro-hands-on-impressions-from-ces.html

I would like to highlight part of this sentence:

Regardless, the pen itself performed relatively well when drawing in digital ink. There was the slightest—slightest—bit of lag in drawing response, but while it was noticeable, it wasn’t consequential. Microsoft couldn’t tell me how many levels of pressure sensitivity are offered by the pen, but simply having a full-fledged Windows tablet that can get close to a Wacom pad is a nice bonus feature.

We are talking of a "closed doors" preview offered at CES 2013 to a technical writer of one of the most influential PC magazines in the US, preview being patronized DIRECTLY by Microsoft, and the guys/gals there cannot answer to a "plain enough" technical question?

There is no reference to that question being asked as a "test" with no possibility for the MS representatives there to "phone home" and get the answer, apparently besides not knowing straight away the answer to a "normal" question (VERY normal when you are offering a preview on a pen-based tablet) they seemingly did not have the capabilities (or the will) to get it from some of the engineers (that SHOULD know it).

I would like to underline the fact that in this case it is not "third party" hardware ....

Redmond, we have a problem.

jaclaz

This is just mind-boggling. How could they not know?? Or maybe they didn't want to say.

Nice catch, jaclaz!

--JorgeA

[jaclaz]

One time, as a test the publisher arranged with several cable companies to offer subscribers the choice of paying either X amount for their current channel lineup plus the magazine, or (X - Y) amount for the channels only. IIRC, the difference was around $1.50 a month.

When the results came back, something like 9 percent of the cable subscribers who'd been given the choice had opted to pay for the magazine. Not exactly a ringing endorsement!

Not only this is "obvious" but i is EXACTLY the reason WHY nowadays things come most often as "a bundle".

Take my mobile phone bill as an example.

I have (and rest assured it is the "best" - i.e. "cheaper" - possible "contract" available here given my needs) for a "flat monthly fee":

1. 180 min conversation
   
2. 500 sms
   
3. 100 mms
   
4. 2 Gb (or more, cannot remember right now) download
   
5. 2 phone numbers (wife+office) unlimited conversation
   

Typically I use 70% or 80% of the "third party conversations", 10% at the most SMS, 0% MMS and maybe 5% of the internet connection.

I would gladly change this to a non-flat, IF there was something cheaper with no sms or mms nor fixed-amount of included Internet connection where I could have still the two unlimited phone numbers for a "base fee" and a decent fee for each sms and "third party conversation".

Too bad that such tariffs/contracts do not exist (and this is by design).

It's just like gambling (the casino will win), the telephone company pays (dearly) experts that look at the "effective" use of the phone by their customers and "design" bundles in such a way that the phone company will get more money in exchange of "nothing" (services NOT provided as they are not actually used/required by the customer).

In a time where any non-moron user would like to pay whatever goods or service per item, every company is going for "bundles".

I would like to take my car to the workshop and pay for the work that is actually needed (and done) on my car, but I am offered a "bundle" for three years of maintenance included in the price of the car.

I would like to have just 5 or 6 (these are the ones I actually watch) Satellite TV channels, but I have to subscribe to a "bundle" with 20 of them, 10 of which I NEVER watch (and I would gladly pay per view in the rare cases where I want to watch something on the remaining 4 or 5).

I want to book a hotel to stay in on a trip, but what I am offered is a "bundle" with a flight and with "all inclusive" arrangement (while I want to have just breakfast and be free to lunch and dine where I choose to). And NO, I don't want the "typical local dinner and music dance show" which is also included in the packet.

This is another way to subtract knowledge to the public, by proposing "bundles" the value of the single items composing them is hidden (and eventually lost).

In italian there is (rectius was) a science called "merceologia" that translates to English as "study of commodities" that has been effectively killed over the years by industry (basically removing the knowledge on how to make - or repair * yourself something that the industries produce)

With Windows you have (though flawed) still some means of establishing how much is the value (cost) of the software and how much it is that of the hardware, but what about the good Apple guys?

How much of the awful amount of money they ask (and BTW obtain) for a device such as the iPad is for the hardware and how much is for the iOS bundled with it?

jaclaz

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Fact Check: Windows 8 Pricing Identical to That for Windows 7 ( Thurrott 2013-01-19 )

His actual subtitle ... There's been a lot of whining this week. It's all unnecessary

Thurrott writes another article intent on convincing everyone that he is almost as blind and deaf as Baller, Julie and Jensen. Hey Paul, it's okay, I'm convinced.

In the wake of this week’s announcement about pending changes to Windows 8 upgrade pricing, there’s been a lot of outrage about Microsoft “jacking up” the price of the new OS. But here’s a shocker: Windows 8 will soon cost exactly the same as Windows 7 did before it. So instead of looking at this as some kind of disaster, why not just appreciate the months of low-cost upgrades we’ve received?

Ya know, I don't remember ever thinking that all those crazy SKUs and high prices were a good thing. I actually believed they were outrageous as they target the most loyal and experienced of Microsoft Windows customers - that small percentage of people that get their hands dirty building their own computers and who are intentionally buying Windows, as opposed to the n00bs and that only get windows because it came with a computer. It is still ironic to me that Microsoft would punish with extreme prices their best and possibly their only voluntary customers. Yet Paul is unhappy because he must have read some of the tech blog community who are universally stunned about a price increase on a controversial operating system ...

The reaction? Again: Outrage. How dare Microsoft make Windows 8 Pro available so cheaply for a pre-set period of time and then simply begin pricing it normally exactly when they previously announced they would do so. How dare they!

Folks, please.

Fact is, with the one exception of Windows 7, which artificially benefitted from a poor reception to its predecessor, virtually no one upgrades their own PCs from one version of Windows to the next. It’s fair to say that almost everyone who wanted to take advantage of the promo pricing on the Windows 8 Pro Upgrade already did so.

So what’s with the outrage?

That emphasized sentence is another humdinger of a pull quote sure to make the rounds as a classic. It is right up there with "The Desktop Must Die!".

Anyway, Paul, you're right. These insanely high prices are a good thing. We should be thanking them. Thank you Microsoft.

Why MS is raising the price on Windows 8 ( TechBroil 2013-01-20 )

This great blog and many of the commenters around the net are pointing out facts about with they would follow through with this price increase. It should drum up a spike in sales for Q1 of this year.

But there may even be another reason. You gotta wonder how many people are going to buy the $39 upgrade just to turn around and sell it later at 2x or 3x the cost. I mean, think about it. When was the last time you saw a sure thing? In stock market transactions, everyone thought the Facebook IPO might be one. It wasn't. Certainly buying shares of MSFT or most others has been anything other than a sure-thing. But here we actually have such a beast, an absolute, positively, no-doubt-whatsoever sure-thing. It is pretty safe to say that sales are going to spike now and then drop off the cliff as eBay picks up the slack later. I sure hope Microsoft is not involved in this thing, like when "Classic Coke" was rumored to be a huge sales ploy. That might just lead to big legal trouble.

EDIT: added link

Edited January 20, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

WinInfo Short Takes, January 18, 2013 ( Thurrott at WindowsITPro 2013-01-18 )

Another Thurrott article, with two interesting paragraphs ...

On the Good News Front…

So, it’s going to be an interesting year. But I actually see a future in which Intel does the same thing to Qualcomm and the broader ARM industry that it did previously to AMD. You might recall that AMD got a boost a decade ago when it created what’s now called the x64 instruction set, adding 64-bit capabilities to the aging x86 chipset and ushering it into the modern age. That boost came courtesy of Microsoft, which immediately seized on x64 as the superior alternative to Intel’s ridiculous Itanium product, and supported it natively in Windows. So Intel was forced to sign on, and as x64 really took off, Intel left AMD in the dust with superior chips. Intel could do the same thing to ARM, though it’s going to have to move a lot more quickly than it has so far. Its Atom “Clover Trail” is already superior to today’s ARM chipsets in virtually every way imaginable, but Intel needs to get the battery life and cool temperatures of this design into faster, more powerful Core chipsets. And that won’t happen until late 2013. Will that be fast enough? Like I said—interesting year.

A little sloppy there with the words. AMD didn't so much create the x64 instruction set, it certainly implemented it first. Using larger register sizes that are completely backwards compatible are an extension, not an invention, it is implemented, not created. Yes, Itanium is a "walled garden" attempt and a deviation, however, "That boost came courtesy of Microsoft, which immediately seized on x64" is more fanboyism. They also seized on Itanium. Most importantly, since AMD64 aka x64 aka x86-64 aka IA-32e aka EM64T ( or simply: x86 +64-bit ) is an almost perfectly implemented backward compatible extension ( Wiki ), Microsoft is the one to BLAME for the incompatibilities seen by the enduser such as 16-bit and other planned obsolescence. They chose with their compilers and system file design to add bugs that a more perfect and conscientious company would have not allowed. Paul, you really had no reason to inject Microsoft into that paragraph about CPU architecture, you just can't help yourself from knee-jerk fanboyism.

ADDED: I wonder if Intel has thought about simply making a compound architecture CPU. Perhaps with four x86 cores and two ARM cores. The operating system could be developed in two editions, Desktop x86 or Mobile ARM. The desktop edition would be x86 bound and direct windowed ARM apps to the ARM cores, vice versa for mobile. Simple. Consider that copyrighted.

Surface Controls 82 Percent of a Completely Pointless Market

The good news: Microsoft Surface with Windows RT represents about 82 percent of the market for Windows RT devices, according to the market researchers at AdDuplex. But then there’s the bad: The same firm says that Windows RT represents just 9 percent of all Windows 8 usage worldwide, and a separate firm, UBS AG, says that it believes Microsoft has sold just 1 million Surface with Windows RT tablets so far. So … doing a little math, we find that total Windows RT sales are approximately 1.2 million units. And if that’s 9 percent of all Windows 8 usage, then there are possibly 13.5 million people using Windows 8 overall right now. I think. That number is a far cry from the 60 million Windows 8 licenses sold and is flawed for about a hundred reasons—those numbers I’m using are essentially made up and are completely unrelated, for starters. But that’s the point. Anyone can throw out numbers. The real proof in the pudding, so to speak, will happen when and if Microsoft reveals actual Surface sales next week. I bet they don’t do it.

Impressive numbers! Now divide that by three or four to account for the reduced price and we have 3 to 4 million similar "sales" comparable to Windows 7 or XP. I'm wondering about something Paul, do you still think it was a great idea to tamper with and permanently damage the "Windows" brand with the stench that is Windows 8 and Metro? Was that transparent and cynical ploy to exploit their monopolistic position a smart or ethical move?

EDIT: added an idea for Intel.

Edited January 21, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Microsoft hires designer who presented bold revamp of the company's brand ( The Verge 2013-01-19 )

Microsoft hires man who made his own Microsoft product logos ( NeoWin 2013-01-20 )

Microsoft has hired the guy from Minimally Minimal called Andrew Kim in order to further dumb down their already dumbed down image. See his Next Microsoft page that apparently caught their attention ( and in his defense does have some accurate criticism of Microsoft trends ). But overall, his great contribution to the world of modern art is the use of a parallelogram, or several in combination. He really should fit right in with the other professional under-achievers like Ballmer, Julie and Jensen.

( original )

EDIT: typos, updated image URL, and again

Edited May 7, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[jaclaz]

Occam's razor.

A simpler exlanation is that his dog ate all the other pieces of his tangram and he was left with just the "slate" (or "romboid").

BTW his dog also seemingly ate in the past 16,777,215 of his colours, leaving him with ONLY a light blue/turquoise. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turquoise_(color)

jaclaz