Intel CEO Tells Staff Windows 8 Is Being Released Prematurely

An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from Geek.com: "Intel CEO Paul Otellini may be getting an angry phone call from Steve Ballmer today after it was revealed he told staff in Taiwan Windows 8 isn't ready for release. Otellini's comments were made at an internal meeting in Taipai, and he must have naively thought they would never become public knowledge. We don't know if he went into detail about what exactly is unfinished about Windows 8, but others have commented about a lack of reliable driver support and supporting applications. For many who have picked up previous versions of the Windows desktop OS early, this probably isn't coming as a surprise."

Re:Been testing Windows 8

[Seumas]

Yes, but have you used it on a computer?

Re:I agree with Intel...

[devlil]

Why were you beta testing on a production machine?

Re:Been testing Windows 8

[Anonymous Coward]

Already got your monthly astroturf paycheck?
S.B, would like to thank you for licking his albanian car. (TopGear UK viewers will know what I mean)

Re:It is ugly though in Desktop mode.

[SJHillman]

I think Aero just took a while to get used to. When I first started using Win7, I disabled it. It wasn't until I got some hardware with enough power that Aero's extra resources were negligible that I gave it a chance; I still don't love it, but I don't mind having it on. Whenever Windows does the next big UI change, people will probably wonder why they can't stick with the Win8 design.

Driver support

[Murdoch5]

Has windows ever been released with full driver support? Windows 7 still has driver issues, XP had driver issues for years etc.... I'm not sure what his point was if he mentioned driver support.

Windows releases are ALWAYS premature...

[Anonymous Coward]

This is not news. Microsoft have ALWAYS released new OSes prematurely. Users basically beta test the OS, and then MS goes on an ad nauseum patch release cycle for bugs that have been found. I recall that it took XP at least 2 to 3 years before it was solid. And, let's not forget Vista. That was nothing else than a stop-gap release of underperforming beta software.

Define premature

[Missing.Matter]

In all the Slashdot articles trashing windows 8, the one and only criticism ever brought up here is of Metro and the start menu. Windows 8 is stable, uses minimal resources, performs well, features a variety of real improvements to the UI and workflow, is secure, is scalable to hardware even 7 years old (at least), is compatible with almost all software available for Windows 7, is compatible with almost all drivers for Windows 7... for almost all tangible measures of the ability of an operating sytem, it's ready, and has been for a long time. Public betas and pre-releases have been available for over a year now, including a free RTM evaluation, so we've all been free to test and evaluate it on our own machines. And still the *only* complaint anyone here (a place where Microsoft is derided at every turn for stability, performance, and security) ever manages to come up with is their own opinion on launcher preferences. If that's the worst you can come up with for Windows 8, I'd say it's good to go.

Re:Been testing Windows 8

[Anonymous Coward]

Ugg... stop it with the shill accounts, Microsoft. They're too transparent for anyone to take seriously.

Re:Define premature

[will_die]

The UI mess is any easy thing to complain about and one that people instantly see.
The main problem is what technical or feature reasons are there to switch to Windows 8? I can point to benefits of switching to Vista when it was released but windows 8 is some bug fixes, ms-phone tied in, and a poor UI.

Can we tag an article as "troll"?

[Bugler412]

Been running the RTM version for over a month on reasonably current hardware machines from multiple vendors, desktop, laptop, tablet/laptop hybrids. Zero instability, zero driver issues, everything works. You can bitch all you want about the metro UI, and the disconnected nature of dekstop to metro switching. Some or much of that bitching is completely and absolutely justified and I agree justified. But the OS is objectively better in a lot of other areas than Win7. If you don't like it, don't buy it, the market will make it's opinion known. But younger users more accustomed to iPhone or Android when exposed to Win8 next to some of it's competitiors in my experience have 100% unamimously thought that Win8 is "cool" and expressed a real interst in running it on at least touch enabled hardware. But inflating UI bitching into some larger issue with the OS is just immature trolling. Much like what we see every time a Linux distribution switches out the default GUI.

Re:Been testing Windows 8

[Grishnakh]

They're idiots. People DO use the start menu, they just don't use it very often, but when they need it, they want it to work like they expect.

On my car, when I check the oil, it's really simple: there's a dipstick right in the front when I open the hood. Do I check the oil often? Certainly not. But when I do, I know how to do it, and it's simple; I don't want some car company coming up with some weird-ass procedure for checking the oil just because I don't do it every day.

Re:Define premature

[bmo]

>In all the Slashdot articles trashing windows 8, the one and only criticism ever brought up here is of Metro and the start menu.

When Metro is the biggest change that the user sees to the OS, isn't that a core criticism?

>Windows 8 is stable

So is XP. So is 2000SP4. So is 7SP1. Windows 7SP1 is going to be the new XP. Deal with it.

>uses minimal resources

That title belongs to Windows FLP, which boots in 7 seconds and not even a second after hitting enter on your password to get to a desktop. It does not belong to 8.

>performs well

Compared to what?
,
>features a variety of real improvements to the UI and workflow

Marketing nonsense.

>is secure,

That remains to be seen. Out of the lists of changes to Windows in 8, none have listed any major changes in security. If there are changes, they aren't ever listed.

>is scalable to hardware even 7 years old (at least)

No it isn't. That belongs to Windows FLP and XP.

>is compatible with almost all software available for Windows 7

Isn't that to be expected? 7 is only 3 years old. SP1 is 18 months old.

>is compatible with almost all drivers for Windows 7

But wait, isn't this article about the Intel CEO complaining about drivers not being ready?

>it's ready, and has been for a long time.

Says you.

>Public betas and pre-releases have been available for over a year now, including a free RTM evaluation, so we've all been free to test and evaluate it on our own machines.

Yes, and it's like Microsoft has not only ignored any and all criticism of Metro, but went out of their way to disable turning it off.

>And still the *only* complaint

No, it's not the only complaint even though you frame it that way. See this current article.

> If that's the worst you can come up with for Windows 8, I'd say it's good to go.

I would say that an interface that is as maddening as Metro is on the desktop with no way to turn it off means that it's not ready for prime time.

It's funny how there were all those ads years ago about how Microsoft was proud of how they took ideas from users to integrate into Office. They don't listen so much now, do they?

>modded insightful
>marketing spew

Well, there's no accounting for taste.

--
BMO

Re:one bug I noticed in developer preview

[roc97007]

Microsoft would be a good name for a microfiber cloth company, lol

Perhaps, some day that's all they will be known for.