Ars Technica Reviews Leaked Windows 8.1 Update 194
A reader writes to note that ArsTechnica's Peter Bright has reviewed the leaked Windows 8.1 update that was temporarily available from Microsoft's own servers. Here's how the article starts: "Leaks of upcoming versions of Microsoft's software are nothing new, but it's a little surprising when the source is Microsoft itself. The Spring update to Windows 8.1, known as Update 1, was briefly available from Windows Update earlier this week. The update wasn't a free-for-all. To get Windows Update to install it, you had to create a special (undocumented, secret) registry key to indicate that you were in a particular testing group; only then were the updates displayed and downloadable. After news of this spread, Microsoft removed the hefty—700MB—update from its servers, but not before it had spread across all manner of file-sharing sites... Just because it was distributed by Windows Update doesn't mean that this is, necessarily, the final build, but it does present a good opportunity to see what Microsoft is actually planning to deliver."
Re:Nobody cares (Score:2, Interesting)
It's possible (billly gates??) that this is a joke and it's gone zoom! right over my head. But assuming for a moment it's legit:
Yeah, sorry, that's a made-up story. Test by: (1) the great majority hate Windows 8 as you're well aware. The story of people loving 8 is usually some kid who just can't put it down, and how it's old fogeys who can't move with the times who want their start button back. That story is getting old. (2) "Windows 9 will be a refined balanced UI" etc etc, something that neither you nor any non-Microsoft person could know.
8 is a disaster. 9 might be more or less of a disaster -- it's too early to tell. With Ballmer gone, I have hopes that Microsoft will do the right thing, but like any of us here I don't have any knowledge for or against.
Re:Power button. (Score:2, Interesting)
Here's the issue: Everyone can configure it differently.
And for many geeks, we end up being tech-support for friends so we can't risk learning a muscle-memory default that might be wrong elsewhere.
So as a result, if it's customizable we tend to disable everything we can on our own hardware and only learn the one sure-fire way to do something elsewhere.
And for 1.5 decades, yes, it was "start menu... power buttons right there" as the safe way to guarantee something would shut down cleanly. So that became our safe muscle memory option that would apply no matter who's machine we were working on, or how new/old it was.
The whole 'sleep when lid closed' default never made sense to me either, since so often hardware was sluggish to come back from sleep state, and usually you only closed the lid to carry the laptop elsewhere and open it right back up.
Different "sleep timers" for lid closed versus open? I'd be all over that like white on rice. If I keep the lid closed for 15 minutes, or open for an hour and idle? Sleep that puppy!
But the defaults sucked for a lot of folks and gave laptops a bad rep. I've met dozens of sales drones over the years that would carry their laptops wide open between meetings to avoid closing the lid putting it to sleep because they didn't know they could change that default.
Re:Nobody cares (Score:5, Interesting)
my very non technical mate got a sony vaio flip thing 10 days or so ago with windows 8 installed. he LOVES it, despite complaining non stop, it also auto updated itself this week, i think to 8.1, he certainly didnt do any registry hacks but had a text rendering issue with chrome that is apparently an issue caused by 8.1?
ive had a play and i dont really see the problem, sure its a bit different but its not a world ending calamity, i do prefer my mac tho
posting from windows 8 (Score:4, Interesting)
- install a start menu replacement to get application menus back. Application menus are handy when one has a number of applications with similar names.
- disable search and system speed jumps. Don't use it anyway, and it's pointless for a programmer like me.
- constant delays in performing tasks
- chrome can open 1/10 the tabs of linux on same hardware. That's perhaps a bad sign.
I've actually found my ability to work effectively on this platform has degraded to the point I just don't anymore.
I now use windows as a game platform and occasional (and frustrating) web browsing.
With Steam (etc), the issue with not being able to find my applications anymore stopped being relevant - I stopped using them under windows at all.
so when I want to do real browsing, real programming, or pretty much anything other than playing games, it's back to Mint for me. (because I similarly find unity and other "tablet" interfaces - interfaces less useful and intuitive than either IOS or Android - pointless)