Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions

[JorgeA]

[...]

Mind you, I like Linux as an OS and usually like most of the GUI distro's, but I cannot but underline how IMHO the limited success it had is due - at least in part - to the lack of actual "customer respect" (for one reason or the other) that most builds reflect.

Point well taken. Documentation for Linux itself and for Linux software is generally quite poor. And there ARE the Linux snobs out there who expect people to build their own cars.

But what I'm saying is that, at least, most (all?) Linux distros have not been Metrofied such that the user is limited to looking only at the surface of things as if if were a magical box that does stuff. That's where Windows seems to be headed. Instead, Linux distros are (so far) keeping to the desktop + CLI model where you can look inside and get into the file system, explore, and learn how it's all put together.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

As we gleefully jump into the totalitarian cage:

MIT's 'Kinect of the future' looks through walls with X-ray like vision

Fadel Adib, a Ph.D student on the project, said that gaming could be one use for the technology, but that localization is also very important. He said that Wi-Fi localization, or determining someone’s position based on Wi-Fi, requires the user to hold a transmitter, like a smartphone for example.

“What we’re doing here is localization through a wall without requiring you to hold any transmitter or receiver [and] simply by using reflections off a human body,” he said. “What is impressive is that our accuracy is higher than even state of the art Wi-Fi localization.”

He said that he hopes further iterations of the project will offer a real-time silhouette rather than just a red dot.

[emphasis added]

I don't know which of these possibilities is scarier: that Mr. Adib is oblivious to the implications of the technology that he's helping to develop -- or that he's not oblivious.

Brought to you by the Forward-Looking Folks at MIT

--JorgeA

EDIT: typo!

Edited October 20, 2013 by JorgeA

[jaclaz]

But what I'm saying is that, at least, most (all?) Linux distros have not been Metrofied such that the user is limited to looking only at the surface of things as if if were a magical box that does stuff. That's where Windows seems to be headed. Instead, Linux distros are (so far) keeping to the desktop + CLI model where you can look inside and get into the file system, explore, and learn how it's all put together.

Yes and no.

Microsoft OS was once like that (something very loosely documented and with no alternatives to hard to learn command line), think of the original DOS releases.

The innovation was Windows (3.0 ).

Since then, and with all the needed differences and exceptions, the trend has always been that of making things simpler for the user (or at least less inconvenient).

The point at hand is that it is like a bell curve:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaussian_function

If you assume that in X there is "simplifying" and in Y there is "efficiency/usefulness", there is a peak, where the thing is as simple as possible and most efficient, if you further simplify it, efficiency/usefulness drops again, and the thing becomes (like Windows 8) "oversimplified" or "dumbified".

Well before Windows 8 we had the experience of the "ribbon interface", which in my personal estimation lowered productivity on Office apps by 20 to 30% (either as in "more time to do the same thing" or "delivering an inferior quality product in the same time").

And again, not all the good MS guys/gals are completely nuts, as a matter of fact Server Core 2012 is ONLY command line, so, not unlike the good Linux guys discussed earlier, there is a small "elite" of people actually doing something and all the rest "playing" with the OS within the limits allowed by the dumbified GUI and it's "automagical" provisions.

This is IMHO a sign that humanity is to be (or will be or is expected to be) divided in two classes (not completely unlike the H.G.Wells predictions, Morlocks vs. Eloi or viceversa), a class of IT guru's doing everything on the command line (or developing/implementing their own efficient GUI's) and a mass of simpletons that will only click - pardon me tap - on very large symbols.

Soon both won't have any idea on how anything works outside their environment and when the machines will stop working they won't of course be able to repair them.

Humanity is doomed .

jaclaz

[TELVM]

The inmensely satisfying experience with the much improved Tiles 81 :

[JorgeA]

I loved the "commands" that it didn't recognize...

The final insult comes at the very end where it talks about "legacy" shutdown!!

--JorgeA

P.S. Clicking on one of the choices after the video ended led me to this Windows 8.1 review:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2PK_rTmFk9E

Edited October 21, 2013 by JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Microsoft OS was once like that (something very loosely documented and with no alternatives to hard to learn command line), think of the original DOS releases.

The innovation was Windows (3.0 ).

Ah, yes, the goold ol' days. I remember my first computer, a Sanyo MBC-550, came with a box full of MS-DOS ring binders, with the text printed in Courier like a typewriter. Hmm, come to think of it that means that my memory of it is that the documentation back then was quite extensive. I think they were for DOS 1.25, I could probably still find them. But maybe you have in mind an even earlier DOS release.

Since then, and with all the needed differences and exceptions, the trend has always been that of making things simpler for the user (or at least less inconvenient).

The point at hand is that it is like a bell curve:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaussian_function

If you assume that in X there is "simplifying" and in Y there is "efficiency/usefulness", there is a peak, where the thing is as simple as possible and most efficient, if you further simplify it, efficiency/usefulness drops again, and the thing becomes (like Windows 8) "oversimplified" or "dumbified".

That's a good (and apt) way to loook at it. With Metro, they've definitely shifted over into the "decreasing efficiency" side of the bell curve.

Well before Windows 8 we had the experience of the "ribbon interface", which in my personal estimation lowered productivity on Office apps by 20 to 30% (either as in "more time to do the same thing" or "delivering an inferior quality product in the same time").

You can say that again! Five years into using the Ribbon in Office, and I'm still hunting for where the desired commands are. The way they're organized just doesn't make any sense to me.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Interview: We chat with the creator of StartIsBack+ ( NeoWin 2013-10-16 )

There are quite a few of Start menu programs for Windows 8 to choose from but as Microsoft gets ready to launch Windows 8.1 later this week, many of those programs are now getting updates. One of them is StartIsBack, which recently released a new version, StartIsBack+, with a number of new features. Neowin got the main developer of the program, Tihiy, to talk about StartIsBack+, his reactions to Windows 8.1 and more

Decent interview but as expected NeoWin didn't demonstrate enough integrity to put a link to Tihiy's site or to here at MSFN. Jorge, you may want to add this to the Start Menu thread!

Good idea, I'll do that -- thanks!

BTW, doesn't Stardock own a piece of Neowin? Maybe that's the reason why they didn't put in a link to Tihiy's project.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

The Start Button Returns!

Maybe I should add THIS one to the Start Button thread!!

--JorgeA

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

@ Charlotte: I humbly float this as potential inspiration for your art .

Strangely enough that BMW / Intel controller doesn't look half bad. Appeals to power users I would think.

The 2nd one could have been produced by Microsoft but still may be too complicated and redundant for the sheeple.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Oh yeah, another reason (not) to do your work in the cloud:

Outage Disrupts East Coast Internet Traffic

Internet users from Brooklyn to Philadelphia suffered slow to nonexistent service Saturday after equipment at a New York-area network hub broke down, disrupting service for several hours.

A spokesman for the Internet service provider Level 3 Communications Inc. said technicians were working quickly to fix the outage, which cascaded down to customers using Cablevision Systems Corp.'s Optimum service and Time Warner Cable Inc., among others.

[...]

It wasn't immediately clear Saturday why traffic from cable subscribers in New York and New Jersey wasn't rerouted around Level 3. Customers reported that some sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, were unavailable, while other Web addresses reached subscribers smoothly.

So let's say I'm hip and have eagerly joined the ranks of the cloud, thinking I'm helping to bring in the future. I'm preparing a crucial analysis spreadsheet, or I'm putting together a complex price estimate for a customer, or I'm on a deadline to submit a magazine article. Not quite ready for submission yet to my boss/customer/editor, there's some work yet to do -- and then all of a sudden the Internet goes down "for several hours" and I can't get to my critical document. I must wait until the 'Net goes back up and only then get to finish up what I was doing and send it. As a result, my company misses an investment opportunity, or I lose the bid with my customer, or my editor cancels the article. What's the cloud service going to do for me in that case, huh? Maybe give me a prorata reimbursement out of the monthly subscription for the time the service was down? Big whoop.

Note that this hazard is in addition to the danger of the Internet going down just when you need to send that file. In cloud computing, because you are dependent on the Internet 100% of the time, the probability of an ill-timed harmful failure of this type increases exponentially.

¡Viva Windows 8 and the Brave New World of computing that it's helping to bring about!

I noticed that myself. I was wondering what screwed up so many forums yesterday ( but NOT here at MSFN for once ). I assigned a sound to play on "failure" events in Opera and was hearing countless klaxxons for half the sites I tried to load. It seemed to hammer Facebook and Google APIs severely so every page that used their stuff and that traveled through a certain part of the Internet was crippled. DNS errors also popped up. MSFN was fine though.

Interview: We chat with the creator of StartIsBack+ ( NeoWin 2013-10-16 )

There are quite a few of Start menu programs for Windows 8 to choose from but as Microsoft gets ready to launch Windows 8.1 later this week, many of those programs are now getting updates. One of them is StartIsBack, which recently released a new version, StartIsBack+, with a number of new features. Neowin got the main developer of the program, Tihiy, to talk about StartIsBack+, his reactions to Windows 8.1 and more

Decent interview but as expected NeoWin didn't demonstrate enough integrity to put a link to Tihiy's site or to here at MSFN. Jorge, you may want to add this to the Start Menu thread!

Good idea, I'll do that -- thanks!

BTW, doesn't Stardock own a piece of Neowin? Maybe that's the reason why they didn't put in a link to Tihiy's project.

No, I don't think that's the case. They do operate independent of Stardock. Rather, it is journalism fail 101, and they do it a lot.

Also note the next interview also mentioned above with Classic Shell. You might want to mention that one too.

The Start Button Returns!

Maybe I should add THIS one to the Start Button thread!!

Use it for whatever you want! And that goes for everyone else, and for all the images I make.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Yesterday was a bad day for CloudTards in general and MicroZealots in particular ...

Windows RT 8.1 pulled from the Windows Store ( NeoWin 2013-10-19 )

Windows RT 8.1 Update Removed from Microsoft Store ( Maximum PC 2013-10-19 )

Microsoft pulls Windows 8.1 update for Surface RT following BSOD reports ( TechSpot 2013-10-20 )

Microsoft has pulled the Windows RT 8.1 update from the Windows store investigating a situation affecting 'a limited number of users' updating their Windows RT devices, which is a big move for Microsoft. The exact issue has not been revealed but for Microsoft to pull the update means that the issue must be quite serious.

[...]

There was no timeline on when the update would be placed back into the store, but if you updated your Windows RT device and it went smoothly, you may have dodged a bullet.

Here's a bit from TechSpot ...

When asked by a forum user why the update had vanished, a Microsoft support representative said the company was investigating a situation affecting a limited number of users updating their Windows RT devices to Windows 8.1. As a result, the update has been temporarily removed from the Windows Store.

I wonder how they know it is "limited"? That implies they somehow know the amount of bad updates. It is superfluous wording that smells of crisis management. All they needed to say was "affecting some users". But then again, since this is Windows RT ( thus far ) I guess you can say "limited" number of users accurately

Some Windows 8.1 users don't have any reset or refresh options, but there's a solution ( NeoWin 2013-10-19 )

Now there's word that some people who updated from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 no longer have any refresh or reset options.

The issue was first reported on McAkins Online, and it affects people who bought and installed a retail copy of Windows 8 on their PC, either electronically from Windows.com or from a retail DVD disc or ISO image. In very simple terms, installing Windows 8 creates a ESD file that allows users to refresh or reset their PC. Installing the digital download version of Windows 8.1 does not provide a new ESD file, and as such, the ability to refresh or reset the OS after it is installed is eliminated.

Note that at this point some of the sheeple are starting to wake up and realize that this "live" updating strategy is a bad idea, and it always was which is why we have always used offline service packs. So now sheeple are looking for a way to get the ISO and avoid the possible bricking of their computer. That leads to the next story ...

Here is how to get the Windows 8.1 ISO and create a USB install stick ( NeoWin 2013-10-20 )

A workaround to avoid that latest Windows version update fiasco. It involves tricking Microsoft to give you the upgrade files to burn an ISO and avoid letting it ( try to ) auto-install.

These workaround solutions are absolutely necessary for the NuMicrosoft distribution model of live updating and turning physical media into a legacy concept. In fact, killing physical media is now a sacrament for MicroZealots as demonstrated by Dot MetroTard himself in the earlier link above.

now its time for them to release an iso version for windows 8 owners.

If you don't have a TechNet account, they're not going to.

That's just a guess though, right? Or are you posting in your official capacity as a Microsoft spokesperson?

It's been stated over and over on official outlets that ISOs aren't going to be made widely available.

I agree. But in an effort to curb piracy, Microsoft isn't going to release them.

Which shows just how easy it is to shear a sheep. Microsoft throws out some nebulous excuse like "to curb privacy" and sheeple like Dot MetroTard parrot that excuse to others. Enablers are like that, no independent thinking required, no logical reasoning skills available for problem solving. But most importantly, it's for your own good! Too bad if you brick your device. Take one for the team fanboy.

In the thread ( just above ) about tricking Microsoft to get the Windows 8.1 Blew media, Dot MetroTard has this to say ...

Doesn't work here, it says Windows 8.1 is not available for purchase in your country..

SAME HERE! Someone please download the iso and upload it somewhere. I dont trust the torrents!

NO. It's against Neowin's rules to post links, and it's against Microsoft ToS.

As I said, no critical thinking required. At the core of this phony "piracy" problem is the false premise that downloading distribution media means piracy. But how can that be true? For going on 13 years now such piracy has been impossible since it was solved by selling keys and requiring activation. No-one is asking for keys here. The child must be too young to remember the battles over activation and now we get to see him make believe they never even occurred and that we don't fully understand all the issues involved here. We are to accept the "to curb piracy" crap once again and move along, this time not only accepting keys + activation, but now throwing out physical media altogether. That's a devolvement of the original activation fiasco which was bad enough all by itself. Microsoft and fanboy zealots like Dot MetroTard will not be happy until all computing is billed-by-the-bit and we are charged-by-the-click. Songs will be paid-by-the-second. Electricity will be priced-by-the-electron. Light priced-by-the-photon. It's a brave new world.

Meanwhile, all these poor slobs are struggling to get a usable physical copy of the Windows setup files in order to upgrade their paid for Windows 8.0. Imagine the scene at their homes right now as they maneuver through Microsoft Tiles with its extra unnecessary abstraction obfuscating the file system further than ever before, to line up the quasi-ISO files and get it burned to disc. Now that's what I call Karma. I will bet that most MetroTards cannot accomplish this task, obtaining the files, locating them on disk, burning them or setting up a flashdrive without error and then installing the update without issue. This is precisely what ISO files were developed to avoid!

EDIT: clarity

Edited October 22, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Adding to the Cloud and Connection issues ...

IE11 forces Google.com into compatibility mode; Microsoft provides comment, fix ( NeoWin 2013-10-19 )

~sigh~ Another incident with MSIE messing up again. Couldn't really care less myself, but I figure others might want to know.

And this one is truly barf-worthy ...

Member Reviews: Windows 8.1 - Desktop lovers rejoice ( NeoWin 2013-10-20 )

I have successfully installed Windows 8.1 via the Windows store on my laptop. I had Windows 8 installed and it didn't appease me fully especially on my laptop. Windows 8.1 will ease any qualms people had with Windows8. Windows 8.1 feels like Windows 8 done right for both desktop users and tablet users.

[...]

Desktop Side

Windows 8.1 will make those who are unhappy with Windows 8, very happy. Microsoft has added the beloved start button which is very nice to have on both tablets and desktops. [... ceaseless bleating snipped ...]

What a load of crap. It sounds like an audition for a Microsoft position. And it's insulting. "Beloved Start Button"! WTF does that even mean? Do they seriously believe it is a missing button that has everyone up in arms? And sticking a button back in the same place that kicks you into Metro? What a disaster.

Look, I understand that it is most likely a child here, perhaps 12 or 14 years old, and that makes reacting to these comments somewhat icky, but someone's gotta do it since it seems their parents have failed at the simple task of giving their kids a brain and teaching them how to use it. Unfortunately this level of intelligence is pretty close to the overall mean for the fanboy contingent. If NeoWin and The Verge commenters represented the world then Humanity is doomed. Or at least the Windows portion of it. Save us from the sheeple.

Here's another alternate button they could have used ...

EDIT: clarity

Edited October 21, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

The Alleged Competition ...

Ubuntu 13.10 review: The Linux OS of the future remains a year away ( Ars Technica 2013-10-17 )

Canonical Ubuntu 13.10 Now Available ( Tom's Hardware 2013-10-20 )

Canonical doing their best AMD/Intel impersonation? You would think that with the current circumstances in Windows with Microsoft handicapping itself to unimaginable proportions, that Canonical and other Linux distributions might be capitalizing on this, pardon the pun, window of opportunity, and making dramatic steps to attract Windows users and the OEMs that install Windows at the factory. But you would be wrong. Most comments are "meh", from users that barely noticed any changes. I'm not even interested enough to download it yet, though I will later, just to keep a live CD around for fooling with.

It's reminiscent of AMD and Intel with the similar reaction from CPU purchasers for the last three ticks and tocks as Intel has been sleeping with respect to performance largely thanks to lack of competition from AMD, and also having been distracted by the "mobile transition". CPU enthusiasts are stunned by the lack of improvement here and see the CPU as frozen in time. Microsoft and Intel are both taking a breather ( over two years off! ) while their non-competitors AMD and Linux flounder along aimlessly.

Something else too, I was reminded by this paragraph in the article ...

Canonical faced considerable criticism last year when it first introduced the built-in Amazon search feature. The newly expanded search system, and the manner in which it is implemented, will likely raise additional concerns.

Now if I were Canonical or even just a Linux aficionado I would take a note of all the recent high profile spying revelations of the past few months and turn the tables after taking that beating on "privacy" issues over Ubuntu and Amazon. I would be searching the articles last year looking for hypocrites that slammed Ubuntu/Amazon and then checking what they had to say this past summer. That link there goes to an article at Ars Technica called "EFF calls Ubuntus Amazon search result feature a major privacy problem".

I would guess that much hypocrisy would be found at NeoWin too. And The Verge. You will probably find perfectly contrasting opinions from countless big mouthes attacking this Ubuntu "privacy problem" who then turned around on a dime offering excuses when Microsoft was exposed as the Federal government's FIRST collaborator. I suspect that Linux fans could locate much information on this subject, if they were so inclined. Or, they can stay sleeping.

Interesting Security Bulletin ...

Destructive malware "CryptoLocker" on the loose - here's what to do ( Naked Security 2013-10-12 )

CryptoLocker ransomware - see how it works, learn about prevention, cleanup and recovery ( Naked Security 2013-10-18 )

This is one malware I haven't come across yet. I've cleaned the FBI moneypaks but nothing involving encryption. This one would have to clearly be considered unfixable, i.e., data will be lost permanently, which would be an absolute first in my experience. Read the 2nd article for a description of how it physically accomplishes the hijack. Make sure your clients have offline backups because the trojan seeks out all connected storage on all devices and encrypts documents wherever they are. Remember: a connected backup is no backup at all.

The irony of course is that there is one outfit besides the hijacker who can decrypt this data. Yep, the spooks with backdoors to widely used ciphers, and the ability to bruteforce them using taxpayer funded supercomputers. But sorry to say those resources are not available to us taxpayers, we're on our own.

EDIT: typo

Edited October 21, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[TELVM]

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.


It's interesting how users are being conditioned, like Pavlovian dogs, to:

- Only get their food from the store.

- Enable "secure" boot, or be perennially punished with a "something is broken" watermark (all for "your security", of course).

... Well before Windows 8 we had the experience of the "ribbon interface", which in my personal estimation lowered productivity on Office apps by 20 to 30% (either as in "more time to do the same thing" or "delivering an inferior quality product in the same time") ...

I practise a zero tolerance approach to that ribbon joke, even transplant Win XP's wordpad.exe into Se7en .

... Strangely enough that BMW / Intel controller doesn't look half bad. Appeals to power users I would think ...

"Controller" ? That's a real thing F1 steering wheel B) :

. . .

Edited October 21, 2013 by TELVM

[jaclaz]

The 2nd one could have been produced by Microsoft but still may be too complicated and redundant for the sheeple.

SCOOP!

Here is a prototype of the MS steering wheel 8.2!

You may want to notice the improvement given by the addition of the integrated rear mirror (useful to check who is behind you - BTW noone since they are all way ahead) and the use of a single BIG RED button in the middle, demoting all other controls - BTW marked with incomprehensible gliphs - to an unreachable position underneath)

jaclaz