Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions

[jaclaz]

For NO apparent reason , I will risk a couple links to Commercial Products (Game Controllers):

http://www.comfyland.com/products/comfy-products/iCam?Itemid=221

vs. :

http://steelseries.com/products/other/simraceway-s1-steering-wheel

But - in passing by - this is also worth some notice:

http://steelseries.com/products/other/steelseries-touchscreen-gaming-controls

jaclaz

[Kelsenellenelvian]

SkyDrive?? Naw make it SkyNet

[Formfiller]

Deja vu:

http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/160244/california-man-sues-apple-ceo-tim-cook-over-automatic-ios-7-update/80

I am a consumer and a big fan of APPLE.

The Apple Board should seriously be questioning TIM COOK. What a disservice to such a great brand and to loyal customer base. This just proves no one can run Apple like Steve. Apple should assist it customers with a role back. My iPAD has lost it richness and quality in the interface and is suffering greatly. Tim the best thing you could do for the Apple brand right now is to admit Apple Inc. has made a serious mistake and assist all those who trusted Apple in getting their appliances back on track.

You know something has gone way wrong when your children are complaining about the interface, loss of storage and awkwardness of iOS7. I became their worst enemy. How do you tell your kids you can't put it back the way it was? Apple should provide roll back options--it's just part of IT.

Sad, but this lack of quality assurance undermines the companies most valued goodwill, TRUST.

Reply:

Your comment is BS. iOS 7 is a successful overhaul to the interface with many new features. iOS 6 is dated in comparison in terms of both look and usability.

I get the DotMatrix vibe from that reply!

Apple is getting metrotarded big time.

[Formfiller]

Ouch, and read the comments here:

http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/159988/googles-schmidt-says-android-more-secure-than-the-iphone

Pretty neowintastic.

Best-of quotes:

Google needs to follow Apple's path and just assume their users are idiots and not allow any way to circumvent security options and yes, unfortunately this means the removal of the file-manager, a feature by the way that is an absolute must for any phone that I own.

I don't care about Android. AT ALL. It's a complete mess and people that buy into it have a mental problem as far as I'm concerned. I think Google has no clue what they are doing and it's OBVIOUS to me based on their distribution method. It's dumb, it's confusing and it's just Scroogling the customer.

They are even using the metrotard terms, wow.

Of course Apple doesn't allow/trust people to do a lot of things, they have what's called EXPERIENCE. Something Google lacks. Google is DUMB when it comes to setting up a platform. Probably the only platform on the market where the OEMS don't have the latest version of the OS the day you buy the hardware. DUMB. Actually, it's beyond DUMB. Only people that have no background in IT would ever consider that platform. If someone has a background in IT and chooses Android, that's a sign of a complete id***. If I owned a company, there would NO tolerance for that platform. PERIOD.

He must have swallowed a Galaxy 2 which cut off his air long enough for BRAIN DAMAGE!!!!

Edited October 22, 2013 by Formfiller

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Microsoft drops 'RT' from name of original Surface tablet ( NeoWin 2013-10-22 )

In February, Neowin reported that Microsoft rebranded its original Surface tablets, but it appears the branding changes arent over Microsoft has now dropped the RT from its original Surface tablets name entirely.

[...]

The name change follows statements from Microsofts Surface marketing manager that the Surface RT name was puzzling for consumers, which is why its new ARM-powered tablet dropped the "RT" portion of its branding. We think that there was some confusion in the market last year on the difference between Surface RT and Surface Pro, Jack Cowett said earlier this month. We want to help make it easier for people, and these are two different products designed for two different people.

Okay, got that? Microsoft is now retroactively changing the name of the Surface ReTard Edition released last year. I think that's a first. And once again there's another little clarifying quote from a Softie saying that the name was confusing the two different devices so they are making it less confusing by not using the different names.

Southwest Airlines tells Microsoft to remove its Windows Phone 'WebApp' ( NeoWin 2013-10-22 )

Microsoft's Cars.com 'WebApp' now also removed from the Windows Phone Store ( NeoWin 2013-10-22 )

They really can't catch a break huh? In their zeal to get more apps in the store they are populating it with quickie mobile apps that they never bothered to clear with the 1st parties. It seems a bit like the YouTube app controversy. They are disregarding the 1st parties involved, or at least just trying to see what they can get away with, but getting bit on the butt more often then they are used to. There is some Karma to this though. Microsoft has never taken kindly to 3rd party access to their servers. They would have a stroke if someone developed an app that supercedes the Windows Update process ( even if it did perfect authentication and WGA ). Or how about an app that accessed MSKB articles or indexed Microsoft Update ( the FTP and old Softlib ) which would be pretty darned useful. We know they despise hotfix and update aggregators and really anything that dodges their official dodgy access methods. Karma. My name is Earl.

Judge says "No" to Yahoo's request to slow its Microsoft-Bing partnership rollout ( NeoWin 2013-10-22 )

According to Reuters, Meyer sought to change the agreement due to the upcoming retirement of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Mayer wanted to discuss the current deal between the two companies with Ballmer before he left. Yahoo agreed to use Microsoft's Bing search engine in 2009 in a 10 year deal, long before Mayer became CEO of Yahoo in 2012. Bing is currently the search engine for most of Yahoo's sites but a few territories have yet to make that transition.

Mayer has said in the past that she does not believe the deal with Microsoft has resulted in much of a benefit for Yahoo. There are rumors that Mayer would like to break free of the search agreement with Microsoft long before the 10 year contract ends but at the moment there's no indication that will happen anytime soon.

Well that's pretty frickin' amazing. Yahoo is actually trying to end the "Powered By Bing" thing and a court blocks it. This is a pretty twisted turn of events. Can't wait to see how this one pans out.

EDIT: spacing

Edited October 23, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Apple announces new MacBook Pros and the new US-made Mac Pro ( NeoWin 2013-10-22 )

Apple announces 2nd generation iPad mini with Retina display ( NeoWin 2013-10-22 )

Apple reveals iPad Air, thinner and faster ( NeoWin 2013-10-22 )

OS X Mavericks will be free, available today ( NeoWin 2013-10-22 )

Apple Announces Haswell MacBook Pro Starting at $1299 ( Tom's Hardware 2013-10-22 )

Mac Pro to Land this December Starting at $2,999 ( Tom's Hardware 2013-10-22 )

Apple's New iPad Air and iPad Mini 2 Pack iPhone 5s' A7 Chip ( Tom's Hardware 2013-10-22 )

So Apple has refreshed the entire line, top to bottom. Looks like typical pricing to me, a normal Apple tax making these things a few hundred dollars more expensive at each price point than a Windows machine. And many MetroTards are celebrating this and believe that this will be the "Year Of Windows 8" ( let's use that! ). But I really don't think so. They are forgetting a few things, big things.

Apple has already destroyed the MicroTard hopes and dreams on the low end because their customers have already accepted the iPad prices and are buying them at a ratio of 50:1 over Surfaces ( 2013-Q2 300,000 Surfaces versus 14.6 million iPads ) and this announcement just jacks up the performance and specs further but does NOT take anything away. In the middle market the MacBooks appear the same to me including price so I doubt they will lose much if any sales to Windows since such customers would lose the App Store and be thrown into Metro madness by switching just to save a few bucks. Strangely, that top end might not really overpriced at all considering it has a current model Xeon quad and other top spec'd parts. In short, Apple buyers are fully prepared to pay the Apple tax.

Most importantly Apple aficionados are not instantly repulsed by the operating system they get, which is the 800 pound gorilla in the room that Microsoft and her fanboys cannot see. They actually believe that Windows 8 is an advantage and a selling point, and this is at the root of all their mistakes and will continue to be so when they get clobbered again this holiday season and beyond. From reading the comments there attacking the Apple lineup, it almost seems that the MicroZealots actually believe all they had to do was whip up a mobile OS, jam it down the throats of the OEMs, make a Microsoft tablet, and the world would come running. They must think that is how Apple operates, but it is not. It is the whole package: turn-key product, predictability, support, guarantee, apps and reputation.

Apple's Tim Cook claims competition (Microsoft) is "confused" about PCs ( NeoWin 2013-10-22 )

Cook told the audience, and the people who watched the event via live streaming, that their competition doesn't seem to have a clear idea about where the PC industry should go. Cook stated, "They're confused; they chased after netbooks. They tried to make tablets into PCs and PCs into tablets." Cook made these comments while the screen behind him showed a graphic of a street sign that was filled with a squiggly street icon.

( NeoWin )

Naturally that leads to the 'TardFest Thread Of The Day. Whoo boy, a holy war between iTards and MetroTards, which ironically features MetroTards taking shots at the very thing they strive to become. If a rift in the space-time continuum opens up allowing demons and monsters to escape it will be because of the cognitive dissonance on display in this thread. Didn't anybody ever tell these guys: "Whatever you do, don't cross the streams!"

Oh, check out our friendly neighborhood fanboy ...

And also you say Metro isn't needed on the desktop, I disagree. Being able to run both kinds of apps on my systems is honestly awesome functionality. It's breathed new life into my desktop which I was getting ready write off. I went from XP to Vista to Seven without gaining any new apps, while loosing many. I *lost* apps, what does that tell you about the desktop ecosystem? With Windows 8, I finally gained apps back. Users have access to a wiser ecosystem, no matter what devices they are on.

See what he did there? He accidentally accurately described Microsoft planned obsolescence ... and then blamed its detrimental ramifications on the desktop! That's a true fanboy right there. It's pretty close to the Menendez defense of killing your parents and then pleading for leniency because you are now orphans.

And another glimpse into the mind of a fanboy ...

It's easy to see that now, but at the time it was new and many people who had been using a CLI for a decade or more took several years to warm up to even the idea of a GUI. There were people still complaining about GUI's and touting the CLI in the late 1990's. {Like who? Name them.}

I really can't believe that so many people have trouble with the Modern UI on desktops. {Strawman} I'm on a desktop most of the time, and I love it. It looks great, and is really slick and smooth.

The thing that really gets me when people complain about how hard it is to use Modern UI apps {Strawman} on the desktop is that the desktop is actually harder to use than the Modern UI on any platform. It's all most people know, so since they know it they think it's easy, but the Modern UI is extremely easy, productive, and functional. The desktop is certainly more well suited to complex apps, like Photoshop, but that list of desktop apps that would be very difficult to translate to the Modern UI is very short.

They seriously are confused, that's for sure. Without all their retroactive lies about past opposition to actual improvement and strawman fiction like imagining people think that Metro is hard they would have nothing at all to talk about.

I remember people trying everything under the sun to get just a workable GUI launcher, let alone a protected mode multitasking operating environment, working in lieu of DOS. And there were lots of ideas and some pretty close tries but nothing that perfectly preserved backward compatibility of allowing all DOS apps to work without crashing. Once it actually occurred people came running. Win3x was merely a step and it almost failed but when it came together in Win95 there was no ( or very little ) of this fictional resistance. It is disgusting to make up ex post facto history to rationalize your current conundrum of having people despise your product. People never resist progress when it is actually progress. They resist devolution. Stop blaming people for despising your ridiculous Playskool child interface and cynical walled-garden plans and start blaming yourselves.

They also need to drop this nonsense of saying that complainers find Metro too hard to use! It's quite the opposite. It's insulting to say that because it is insulting to use it. Naturally these commenters find it "easy" as do the children they often cite, that's because they are all the target demographic that Microsoft is seeking out. Now bleat for me, you fine little sheep.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Windows RT-based Nokia Lumia 2520 to take on the Surface 2 ( TechSpot 2013-10-22 )

Nokia has announced their first tablet at Nokia World 2013 in Abu Dhabi. Known as the Nokia Lumia 2520, the 10.1-inch device runs Windows RT 8.1 with a range of Nokia-exclusive applications.

[...]

Interestingly, with Nokia's Devices and Services division now owned by Microsoft, the company is essentially competing with itself. Microsoft already produces the $449 Windows RT-based Surface 2, which comes with similar specs including a 10-inch 1080p display and a quad-core, albeit Tegra 4 SoC. Only time will reveal which one is a better seller for the Redmond giant.

( original photo from here )

C'mon, this has got to be a gag. I can't believe Nokia had this in the pipeline and actually though that cloning a barely-selling device was a good idea. This doesn't really sound like them at all. It must be from pressure. I mean, do they believe there are people out there who looked at the Surface and waved it off but will look at this and suddenly say: "That's what I was waiting for".

Nokia announces 6-inch Lumia 1520, Lumia 1320, and Instagram for Windows Phone ( TechSpot 2013-10-22 )

But then again, this is the same Nokia is still producing this insane white on yellow tile scheme as seen on their brand new 1520 ...

( original photo from here )

Note: that isn't just a static tile with an icon which would be far less important, it is a live tile for the calendar that shows appointments which you actually do need to read.

[JorgeA]

Right from the pages of How to Make Friends and Influence People (NOT):

US National Security Agency 'spied on French diplomats'

NSA internal memos obtained by Le Monde detailed the use of a sophisticated surveillance programme, known as Genie.

US spies allegedly hacked foreign networks, introducing the spyware into the software, routers and firewalls of millions of machines.

It comes a day after claims the NSA tapped millions of phones in France.

[...]

On Monday, Le Monde alleged that the NSA spied on 70.3 million phone calls in France between 10 December 2012 and 8 January 2013.

Mexico calls alleged US spying on former president 'unacceptable'

Der Spiegel said in May 2010, an NSA division known as "Tailored Access Operations" reported it had gained access to then-president Calderon's email account, and turned his office into a "lucrative" source of information.

According to Der Spiegel, the NSA succeeded in hacking a central server in the network of the Mexican presidency that was also used by other members of Calderon's cabinet, yielding a trove of information on diplomatic and economic matters.

Curious that these revelations keep appearing in European newspapers. Anybody U.S.-based seen them on the network news? No, over here the big news is that Kanye West proposed to Kris Kardashian.

Little by little, the world is turning into one giant zoo, where the basic needs of the population are provided without its participation in their production while all their activities are monitored and analyzed for the sake of Science or Safety or Security. While not formally prohibited, independent initiative is increasingly circumscribed by an ever-growing web of rules and the motivation for it hollowed out by said provision of Bread and Circuses.

--JorgeA

[Formfiller]

Actually, metro IS hard to use on a desktop:

You have a mystery meat navigation, with no chrome or any hints. To close something, you need to grab it and drag it down. The red X on the desktop is far more intuitive. There is no menu bar and no standard items (File, Edit etc.), this means you need to learn the basic handling for EVERY SINGLE APP, in opposite to the desktop, where most programs follow a similar layout. It's a lot like the DOS times, where applications didn't follow a single rule, but each program had its own handling paradigm.

The whole charms approach to share information between apps is far less obvious than drag & drop on the desktop.

Multi tasking is far harder.

Copy and pasting is more difficult due the full screen nature of it.

There are far more mouse-meters because the controls are so spread apart on a bigger screen.

The OS is invisible, and essential features (Charms) need to be invoked by some gesture-voodoo or keyboard shortcuts. This approach has far more in common with DOS TSRs and pre-Windows DOS GUIs than with Windows.

It's a mess. They should have just added an app store to MS-DOS and sell that, they would have gotten the same result.

Edited October 23, 2013 by Formfiller

[TELVM]

Actually, metro IS hard to use on a desktop ...

No kidding.

[G8YMW]

On the news tonight. The NSA has been wigging in on Angela Merkel's (Hope I've spelt it right. The German Chancellor) mobile phone calls.

One irony is that she came from the former East Germany with its own "agency", the Stasi!!

[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.

Intel Provides Fix for Windows 8.1 Secure Boot Issue ( Tom's Hardware 2013-10-23 )

Microsoft previously suggested that inflicted users check to see if Secure Boot has been disabled in the BIOS, and if so, then re-enable it. If that doesn't work, then reset the BIOS back to factory settings, or if that doesn't even work, reset the PC back to its original factory state and then re-enable Secure Boot.

[...]

However, as Softpedia points out, many computers do not have a Secure Boot option in their BIOS menus, so Microsoft's fix won't make much sense. Luckily, Intel has the correct solution: simply reboot the device, enter into the BIOS mode, and access the secure boot options menu. Enable secure boot (if disabled), check on the option that says "Install Intel platform key," press F10 to save the changes and restart the system.

It's really like keystone cops at Microsoft these days. They seem to be acting like they didn't know exactly where that watermark originates ( from them ).

[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.


Windows RT 8.1 Start screen no longer includes desktop tile by default ( NeoWin 2013-10-23 )

And the sheeple cheer ( really ). However, in the interest of truth in advertising, shouldn't Windows RT 8.1 no longer include the "Windows" name by default?


Microsoft confirms some older AMD processors do not support Windows 8.1 ( NeoWin 2013-10-23 )

Well there goes that old talking point about working on all devices that Windows 7 works.

Seriously though, how about that headline? ... processors do not support Windows 8.1. As if CPU's support the operating system. They're like a completely different company now to invert the actual relationship between Hardware <--> OS <--> Software. Not to mention the simple fact that one came first ( these CPUs ) and one came later ( Windows 8 ) making this a self-evident mistake. Aside from time travel and a retroactive CPU announcement I do not believe that there were data sheets from AMD ( or Intel for that matter ) ever announcing support for future operating systems. CPU's support an instruction set, x86 in this case, and those multimedia extensions, etc. The OS supports a CPU instruction set plus those extensions and other chipset goodies. so if an OS comes along and stops supporting any part of that instruction set it has failed in its one and only job. That means Microsoft broke it. NeoWin should have said 'Microsoft confirms Windows 8.1 Blew does not support some older AMD processors'.

I know this sounds like nitpicking to some, but that title and the general thought process of those at NeoWin completely inverts the actual reality and does this cynically to protect their stillborn baby - Windows 8.

EDIT: clarity

Edited October 24, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Microsoft: We are 'working with content owners' on Windows Phone WebApp concerns ( NeoWin 2013-10-23 )

Neowin contacted Microsoft for a statement and this morning a spokesperson for the company send over a response. The statement said:

WebApps are an easy way to better connect our customers with popular websites through a good application-based experience, but we are also working with content owners to address any concerns they may raise.

Continuing the controversy from yesterday. Kind of a half-hearted admission of violating content-owners rights. Shouldn't the FBI now swoop in and take all the servers, have Akamai wipe them clean, apologize for any inconvenience for lost original data, and then start over?

Microsoft's Frank Shaw: Apple is playing "catch up" with us ( NeoWin 2013-10-23 )

We also knew that it would make our competitors take notice. That as consumers got a taste of devices that could really help them get things done, they would see alternatives as being more limited. And so its not surprising that we see other folks now talking about how much work you can get done on their devices. Adding watered down productivity apps. Bolting on aftermarket input devices. All in an effort to convince people that their entertainment devices are really work machines.

In today's atomic bomb NeoWin thread we get quotes from Frank Shaw throwing slabs of red meat to the MicroDogs to chew on. It's really only persisting the convenient myth that Apple is Microsoft's competitor which serves to tamp down the notion of Antitrust and gin up the vitriol of the fanboys. True, Microsoft is trying hard to become a competitor in a few markets, but seriously, 300,000 Surface vs 14.6 million iPads in Q2 2013 sure gives new meaning to Frank Shaw calling Apple "our competitors", and makes the NeoWin title: "Apple is playing "catch up" with us" look even more silly.

DARPA Offers $2 Million for Self-Healing Software ( Tom's Hardware 2013-10-23 )

As for the CGC itself, DARPA wants to develop computer systems that can repair software without having to wait for interested parties to develop patches. The benefits of self-repairing software are hard to overstate, especially for government institutions that deal with sensitive information regarding weapons and military technology.

( original photo from here )

Yes Sir, we're completely in control sir, nothing could possibly go wrong ...

( NOTE: That's not the exact quote from the movie, I couldn't remember it actually so I didn't caption it )

[TELVM]

Intel Provides Fix for Windows 8.1 Secure Boot Issue ( Tom's Hardware 2013-10-23 )

...

It's really like keystone cops at Microsoft these days. They seem to be acting like they didn't know exactly where that watermark originates ( from them ).

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.