Microsoft Killing Off Zune, Windows Live Brands? 262
suraj.sun writes with this excerpt from The Verge:
"Microsoft appears to be killing off two of its key user-facing brands with the upcoming Consumer Preview release of Windows 8. Windows Live applications have been rolled into preinstalled apps that work as the core 'Windows Communications' applications for Windows 8, and this lack of Windows Live branding is only the tip of the iceberg. 'Microsoft Account' will replace Windows Live ID in Windows 8, and the software giant has also removed traces of Zune from its Windows Store, Music, and Video applications, although Zune Pass functionality remains."
Re:Ding Ding the witch is dead! (Score:5, Informative)
I wonder if Windows 8 will have an emulation layer for x86 on the ARM.
Nope. [msdn.com]
Re:Let us take a moment of silence... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Back to the classics (Score:4, Informative)
Re:None of them do the same thing (Score:5, Informative)
Apple changes things at pretty much the same rate...
iTools - Originally launched as a free collection of internet services for users of Mac OS
Then "relaunched" in 2002 as a paid subscription as ".Mac"
Then "relaunched" again in 2008 as "MobileMe"
which it discontinued offering, and will kill in 2012 entirely
as it herds everyone over to its newly launched "iCloud"
I'd say Apple is pretty much exactly the same thing.
Re:Great (Score:4, Informative)
You didn't pay for a "Windows" license, you paid for a license for a version of Windows that is configured in one particular way and loaded down with a bunch of shitware. What you're doing is like buying a Chevy Aveo (with a big discount in exchange for having ads pasted to the side of the car) and then complaining that you didn't get a Corvette.
Macs are more expensive partially because they're not loaded with shitware. The shitware makes a big difference in price; that's how the mfgrs are able to sell you a laptop with Windows for less than the same laptop with Linux (which itself is free): your cost is being subsidized by all the pre-loaded shitware. By being forced to spend $300 or whatever for a fully-featured Windows license, you're only being forced to realize the true cost of the software. Of course, the preloaded Windows versions also frequently have various limitations that the higher-cost versions don't, hence the "Starter" edition which only lets you run 3 programs at a time, etc.
Comparing a shitware-loaded OEM Windows version to a Mac is apples and oranges. If the version of Windows you want ends up making your system cost as much as a Mac, then that shows that Windows isn't, in reality, any cheaper, it only appears that way when you use crippled versions and/or various vendor marketing deals that subsidize the cost.
Re:Back to the classics (Score:5, Informative)
All stocks are up this year, Microsoft's it just up a little more than the average. Stocks and commodities are going up because central banks the world over are printing staggering quantities of money [zerohedge.com]. Central bank balance sheets are where money is created out of thin air and turned over to banks who then leverage it anywhere from 11X to 50X creating a tidal wave of inceasingly worthless dollars, euros, yuan, and pounds.
Stocks and commodities are going up to counteract the decline of the paper currencies they are denominated in. The actual valuation of the companies hasn't changed that much but their value in dollars and euros soars as the real value of these fiat currencies plunge as more and more are printed (they are not actually printed they are electronically conjured from thin air with a stroke of a key on a computer).
The DOW rally from 6,660 to 12,000 was driven almost entirely by the Federal Reserve flooding the worlds banks with dollars which they mostly plowed back in to stocks and commodities.
The huge rally in the stock market so far this year started on the day the ECB gifted European banks with 500 billion in newly created Euros in exchange for their increasingly worthless PIIGS bonds, in a program called LTRO. The ECB is scheduled to do another round of this at the end of this month that could equal that or go as high as 1 Trillion Euros. The ECB had a German President opposed to printing money in 2011, but he was replaced with an Italian who immediately opened the spigots to save Italy's bonds from collapse. It did miracles for Italy's bonds and stock markets the world over. Its also fueling a new round of inflation in oil and assorted other commodities.
Re:Great (Score:5, Informative)
If you mean windows starter edition you can run as many programs at once as you want. check your facts before posting.
I did:
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/04/21/1356245/windows-7-starter-edition-3-apps-only [slashdot.org]
No, you didn't. You're just spreading FUD. See here [arstechnica.com].
Re:Great (Score:2, Informative)
At the time my link was posted, it was correct. I can't be bothered to keep up on every single little development in MS-land. The fact is the 3-app limit was their plan, even if they changed their mind later.
Re:Great (Score:4, Informative)