The Three Flavors of Windows 8 500
First time accepted submitter Kelerei writes "Windows 8 has been confirmed as the official name for the next x86/x64 version of Windows, which will be released in two editions: a home edition (simply named 'Windows 8') featuring an updated Windows Explorer, Task Manager, improved multi-monitor support and 'the ability to switch languages on the fly,' while a professional edition ('Windows 8 Pro') adds features for businesses and technical professionals such as encryption, virtualization and domain connectivity. Windows Media Center will not be included in the Pro edition and will be available separately as part of a 'media pack' add-on. A third edition, branded as 'Windows RT,' will be available for ARM-based systems."
Re:Can't wait!!! (Score:5, Informative)
Oh look, a shill post in the first message.
You're supposed to wait a bit so as to not be so obvious. /tip
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BMO
Don't forget Windows 8 Enterprise.... (Score:2, Informative)
With all the boss features... PC management and deployment, advanced security, virtualization, mobility scenarios and so on
http://www.cmswire.com/cms/mobile/official-microsoft-names-windows-8-for-intel-windows-rt-for-arm-015185.php
Re:Can't wait!!! (Score:5, Informative)
I was going to accuse you of giving a knee-jerk reaction against anyone saying something good about Windows 8, but then I checked OP's post history.
This is literally his only post, so yea, shill.
Re:RT Aplenty (Score:3, Informative)
Original submitter here. :)
TFA mentions (and I quote): "the focus for Windows RT is development on the new Windows runtime, or WinRT..." -- so, I'm guessing that that's where the name comes from. I blame lack of caffeine at the time for leaving that out of the submission.
Bit of a bland choice though, in my opinion.
Four versions (Score:5, Informative)
Re:x86 (Score:5, Informative)
And how many of those apps will really not run on a 64-bit OS? I've not come across anything in the last couple of years that won't work under 64-bit Windows 7 unless it has a moronic installer check that it doesn't need or is something ancient that needs the 16-bit subsystem to function.
Re:Did MS learn something from Windows 7 "flavours (Score:4, Informative)
Or make a plain "Windows 8" for home users and "Windows 8 Pro" for business/power users.
That's what they did. The third version is for ARM processors, which obviously needs to be different.
Re:RT Aplenty (Score:5, Informative)
Do you ever watch RT ( http://rt.com/ [rt.com] ) ? [The russian CNN/BBC/Al Jazeera]
Re:x86 (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Can't wait!!! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Don't forget Windows 8 Enterprise.... (Score:4, Informative)
Are they seriously hoping someone will buy two different versions to get everything they need?
Yup. One license included by the OEM on the cheap machines the small business orders, then another license (and fee) for the version with the features the business actually needs.
Also, what's with the X86/X64 offerings?
My understanding is that the x64 version also runs the Windows-On-Windows system, which provides the backwards-compatibility for 32-bit software. That means a different registry structure, different drivers, different libraries... A separate installation seems to be the easy way.
Re:Don't forget Windows 8 Enterprise.... (Score:4, Informative)
Some Atoms are still 32-bit, aren't they?
Also, if you want to run old 16-bit apps you still need 32-bit Windows or some kind of emulator.
Re:Oh, lookie! (Score:5, Informative)
What about "Office Open XML"? If that's not intentionally causing confusion with a competing product, I don't know what is.
Re:Don't forget Windows 8 Enterprise.... (Score:3, Informative)
Really wish MS would stop with all of the micromanaged 'versions' of Windows. It adds complexity where none is needed. .
The burden of complexity isn't placed on the user anyway. If users order a computer, they get it with whatever is installed. Businesses either don't need active directory and order whatever anyway, or would have an IT person order them. It's in Microsofts best interest to have at least two versions. A less expensive home version to encourage people to keep using windows, and a more expensive business version to milk more money from businesses who will probably never escape Microsoft office/exchange/whatever anyway.
Re:Can't wait!!! (Score:4, Informative)
Re:RT Aplenty (Score:5, Informative)
No matter how many times I see it, RT is apparently going to imply realtime to me. I have to remind myself it means "Windows API 2.0" every time.
Re:Can't wait!!! (Score:5, Informative)
I'll say this: if it weren't for Metro I would unquestionably recommend Windows 8 as an upgrade to Windows 7 and especially Vista/XP. The UI's generally clean, they've updated many of the things that needed updating (like the task manager or the file transfer dialog) and boot times are improved.
However, the forced inclusion of Metro through their "start screen" idea is flawed at best, a deal-breaker at worst. No, it's not utterly unusable, as some people might say, but it is a lot less convenient than the start menu. It's a needless downgrade from something which took less space, less mouse movement, fewer clicks and especially which fit with the aesthetic of the rest of the OS better. As it is there's a fairly jarring jump between the appearance of the desktop and the Metro tiles, making it feel like you're running two different OS. If the start screen let me use Windows programs more efficiently, it would've been good (and it's entirely possible to make it do so, Microsoft just didn't do it). As it is, programs take way too much space for no reason, getting access to things takes too many clicks, many traditional features are locked behind a "pretty" UI and it generally feels a bit schizophrenic.
However, my biggest gripe isn't actually the start screen, it's the "Charms". Whereas the bottom-left corner opens up the start screen, the right border opens up the charms panel, which has things like wifi strength and such; that much is good. However, in order to do the extremely unusual action of shutting down or hibernating the computer, you have to go into Settings, then Shutdown, all of which AFTER having opened the Charms menu. How's that for intuitive?
Make the start screen more efficient and put a prominent power button in there and I'll be a lot warmer to the OS. As it is Windows 7 still does the job well enough to stop me from moving on. Oh and, the fact they've shoved Metro in Windows Server 8 (even with the "desktop experience" pack disabled) is utterly insane.
Re:Can't wait!!! (Score:5, Informative)
Make the start screen more efficient
You might be interested in this [msdn.com] blog post, which tries to address concerns that the new start screen is less efficient. For example, you complain about things being further away and larger, but according to Fitts law, this exact combination maintains the efficiency of the menu, and if fact the math works out so that it's more efficient for a higher number of items. Further, the shape and grouping capability of the new start screen, which is only possible because it's a screen instead of a menu, make it possible to take advantage of different types of memory recall like spatial memory. After using the new start screen for a while, I find it much more useful than the start menu.
Re:Windows 8: The Playskool OS (Score:5, Informative)
... Speaking of hoops, you have to jump through a few of those just to get to what in previous versions of Windows were basic system resources, like the Control Panel, My Computer, etc.. Seriously, it's like it's designed for idiot children...
you can access control panel in windows 8 faster than you ever could in any version of windows. Move mouse curson to bottom left corner, and instead of left clicking, RIGHT CLICK. You will be treated to a nice context menu, of witch one of the many option is "control panel". Also the my computer icon has been replaced with the new windows explorer icon. If you click the windows explore icon you get the EXACT same window as if you had opened "my computer". You just have to learn to not be a giant man baby about windows changing things around to notice.
Re:Don't forget Windows 8 Enterprise.... (Score:3, Informative)
It has the ability to play media - there's a Metro app for that. It's just not WMP.
It does have an RDP client (two, even - a classic desktop one, and a new Metro one). It doesn't have an RDP server, though. Same as Win7 Home.
It doesn't have GPO, but it does have other means of limiting what the device can do.
Re:Can't wait!!! (Score:4, Informative)
Except - how many people in a work environment have their data reported?
Microsoft addressed this exact question in this [msdn.com] post, reposted below:
@Andrew wrote: "I'd like to point out that this data you collect is most likely from non-corporate users, you're basing all your statistics around home users and not business users. Most enterprises will turn off the CEIP by default in Group Policy as a security precaution and to prevent chatter from the network."
Andrew, while it’s true that some enterprises choose not to enable the CEIP (Customer Experience Improvement Program, which gives us anonymous, opt-in feedback about how people are using Windows,) we still receive a huge amount of data from this program, including from enterprise customers. In addition, knowing the region, language, edition, and deployment attributes of the product allows us to further refine the data as needed. We often refer to this data as a full "census" (again noting that the data is opt-in and anonymous) as the number of unique data points is magnitudes beyond a "sampling."
In addition to the CEIP program, we have a wide variety of channels to our corporate customers to understand their needs. For example, we collect feedback continuously during direct engagement with customers (such as during on-site visits and in our briefing centers around the world), from advisory council and early-adopter program members, and at public events such as TechEd and //build/. We also work closely with industry analysts (via consultations and their research) and execute a wide range of our own research studies directly. From these interactions, we know the kind of functionality and control that enterprises want over the Start menu and we are definitely taking these into account as we are designing and developing the changes for Windows 8.
When you look at the data, we can see that enterprise customers do, in fact, have some different experiences with their Start menus:
While 81% of home users have the default links like Control Panel, Games, and Documents on right hand-side of the Start menu , fewer than 2% of our enterprise customers have this experience.
Most people have removed some items in this part of the Start menu (with Games and Media Center entry points most often removed).
Enterprise users are launching pinned Start menu apps 68% more often than home users, but the usage of pinned items is still less than 10% of the sessions.
What are we doing with this information?
In general, individual enterprise customers are using Start menus that their administrators have customized. Using this research and our engagement with the enterprise community, we are working on special features that can help address the need for customization in the Start screen. For example, enterprises can remove items like Games and Help & Support from the Start screen. For Windows 8, we support deployment scenarios that include Start screens with a layout of tiles that matches their business group’s needs, allowing for an even greater number of pinned apps to be pre-defined for their users. We also support the managed lockdown of customization of the Start screen so that it is consistent across the corporation. These features have been built especially for our enterprise customers, taking into account the existing functionality that we have provided in the past and the needs that we perceive they will have in the future. And as many know, tech-savvy individuals can use these customizations as well.