Will Windows 8 Be Ready For Release In 2012? 504
MrSeb writes with an excerpt from an Extreme Tech article on the Windows 8 release timeline: "...A Microsoft vice president announced that the Windows 8 beta would begin in late February 2012. The beta will be feature-complete and will allow developers to begin listing their apps in the Store. The timing of the beta is curious, and ultimately quite telling. ... The first public build of Windows 8 ... emerged in mid-September 2011; by the time the beta rolls around, it will have been ruminating for more than five months. If we follow the timeline forward — it took 10 months for Windows 7 to go from beta to public release — then it's possible that Windows 8 might arrive just in time for Black Friday 2012, or perhaps not in 2012 at all. Will its late arrival affect its chances of cutting out a swath of the tablet market from Apple and Android? Or will Windows 8 be different enough that it will do well, no matter when it arrives?"
In related news, an anonymous reader notes that IDC predicts Windows 8 will be irrelevant to the traditional PC market.
Cyber Monday at IDC! (Score:5, Funny)
In related news, an anonymous reader notes that IDC predicts Windows 8 will be irrelevant to the traditional PC market.
Yeah but have you seen how cheap the report is from IDC? It's a mere $3,500.00 [idc.com] which is a steal considering I just shelled out twelve and a half large for their forecast on computing devices [amazon.com]. My god, the forecast I bought was a piddly 27 page PDF while this Windows 8 report is a weighty tome totaling 17 pages in girth and might even result in a printed copy that that I can set on my desk and hold down with a real human skull paperweight completely encrusted with diamonds. At this price, I am buying one copy for every member of my extended family -- these things will make great stocking stuffers next to moon rocks, 1913 Liberty Nickels and the keys to each person's personalized yacht. Of course he tweeted the meat and potatoes of this report -- they're practically GIVING it away on their site already! Be sure to stock up on these before they sell out!
Re:Cyber Monday at IDC! (Score:5, Funny)
You seem kinda riled up about this. Like you actually did buy an IDC report once ...
Re:Cyber Monday at IDC! (Score:5, Funny)
In other news.
A new release of Windows is going to be released later than originally planned.
This is really turning out to be a slow news day, isn't it?
Re:Cyber Monday at IDC! (Score:5, Funny)
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There's a new Firefox version? Why didn't someone tell me?
Re:Cyber Monday at IDC! (Score:5, Funny)
We were waiting on Duke Nukem Fo...
er, oops. Sorry about that.
Re:Cyber Monday at IDC! (Score:5, Funny)
Unfortunately I am no longer waiting for Duke Nukem Forever.
Unfortunately I own it.
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Too late, there's already a newer version available.
Re:Cyber Monday at IDC! (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh, it's even better than that. A new release of Windows might be released later than originally planned, according to random speculation from someone completely unrelated to the Windows development team or even Microsoft.
Re:Cyber Monday at IDC! (Score:5, Insightful)
My guess: Win will own the corporate tablet market 80+%. Maybe ~25% of tablet/netbook type devices people buy for home use since people will feel "more comfortable" buying something they know will work with the programs they are used to. Funny thing for home use for a lot of people: even though it is their personal computer they still in my experience, base a part of the decision on "will it do the stuff I do at work?" which for most people means windows. They might dual boot but few people go completely Windowsless.
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Re:Cyber Monday at IDC! (Score:5, Funny)
What and idiot.
Re:Cyber Monday at IDC! (Score:5, Funny)
A total looser!
Re:Cyber Monday at IDC! (Score:5, Funny)
For all intensive purposes your saying the same thing.
Moron.
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For all intensive purposes your saying the same thing.
Moron.
Don't you mean "you're" instead of "your" ?
Maroon.
Re:Cyber Monday at IDC! (Score:5, Funny)
For all intensive purposes your saying the same thing.
Moron.
Don't you mean "you're" instead of "your" ?
Maroon.
Irregardless we know what he mean's
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Irregardless we know what he mean's
Cromulently put.
Re:Cyber Monday at IDC! (Score:5, Funny)
I hope you bought the extended service plan for your sarcasm detector
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Re:Cyber Monday at IDC! (Score:4, Funny)
I used to work with someone who'd say "six of one, a dozen of the other."
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lmao. "escape goats"
"HEEEYA!!!! Faster varmint!!!!"
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The phase "scapegoat" has mutated from the term "escape goat" in biblical times and referred to one of two goats sent for sacrifice which was allowed to get away: http://www.keyway.ca/htm2004/20040924.htm [keyway.ca]
supposively
Windows 8 (Score:2)
Re:Windows 8 (Score:5, Informative)
The idea is that most people might not even end up needing to use the desktop.
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Or VLC(or any other video player) and a web browser open side by side,etc
or even a web browser and a chat client
a real minority?
Re:Windows 8 (Score:5, Insightful)
They can certainly do all of that in Windows 8.
Are you under the impression that they can't?
Re:Windows 8 (Score:5, Interesting)
Unless I moved apps to the desktop app, I was unable to have more than 1 onscreen at a time. Had to swap the whole app in and out of view
Perhaps I'll try it out again
Re:Windows 8 (Score:4, Informative)
In the metro interface you can have windows side by side: http://youtu.be/p92QfWOw88I?t=2m04s [youtu.be]
Now, this apparently only works for higher resolution monitors (although a simple registry hack [mywindowsclub.com] removes this restriction), so maybe that was why you couldn't do it.
However, this is beside the point that any user can go on the desktop and run any number of apps side by side (PDF, browser, VS, VLC, or otherwise).
Re:Windows 8 (Score:5, Informative)
There are regular Windows desktop apps (just like now, including every Windows app out tehre).
And there are new "Metro" apps, which are targeted at touch-tablet devices... but can run on desktop systems.
Metro apps can run one or two on a screen at once. They're full screen (like iPad apps), but you can "dock" two of them side-by-side as well. They're designed for tablets though. You CAN run them on a desktop, and I'm sure there will ultimately be many "Metro" apps people will want to run on Desktops... ... but most desktop people will stay in desktop. I knwo they've called it an "App", but that's just a silly way to think of it. You sit at the desktop just like you do now in Win7. Instead of the small Start Menu, you have a big Start Screen. Hit escape and you're back on the desktop just like with the Start Menu. You still have the task bar for windows apps, and you can flip full-screen metro apps in if you like and cycle through them (or switch to them with Task Manager).
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Well, I'm glad you're so open minded about it.
I'll agree that it's jarring right now. But if you actually take the time to get used to it, it's not that bad. But there are still some significant issues I have with it, that I hope get addressed in the Beta (or before GA at any rate).
I think it says a lot that you wasted the time to configure your XP start menu to look like 95's. That's just... I dunno. Weird.
I used to spend a lot of time micro-managing the start menu in XP. It was a pain, but I could ge
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No. Have you ever tried to do anything on a Windows desktop with your finger instead of a mouse? It sucks. Full-screen only (or very, very limited window management) is a sane choice for touch only devices where you can't hit targets (or move them) precisely enough.
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Huh?
How is displaying something on the screen not using the desktop?
This whole Windows 8 thing is giving me a bad feeling. I think it's gonna flop hard. Windows 7 is great, other than the fatal flaw of /Windows/WinSXS, but Windows 8 seems like a a major step backwards. I want a mobile interface on my phone, not on my desktop.
Maybe they should call it Windows Me Too! Both because it's a lame copy of an iPad, and it will be the sequel to WinME.
Re:Windows 8 (Score:4, Informative)
You aren't getting it.
Windows 8 is a super-set of Windows 7, with some really amazing advances on the desktop side (from a vastly improved Task Manager to impoved large disk management, to faster boot times, faster/better file copies, etc).
Metro apps are a bonus. Everything that ran on Win7 will run on Win8.
Nonono (Score:5, Funny)
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In their defense, they aren't the only one doing stupid things like that. OS X now has an app launcher screen that's literally no different than the way the apps are displayed on an iPhone screen. It's useless.
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Please explain how you can make file copies better.
I seem to remember reading that Windows 8 removed that stupid 'preparing to copy' thing which wastes a ton of time completely failing to work out how much time the copy is going to take so it can put up the progress bar for you?
Either way, it could hardly be worse than file copies in Vista, where copying a 2MB file could take five minutes.
Re:Windows 8 (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Windows 8 (Score:5, Informative)
Everything you wanted to know about Windows 8 file copy enhancements:
Improving our file management basics: copy, move, rename, and delete: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/08/23/improving-our-file-management-basics-copy-move-rename-and-delete.aspx [msdn.com]
Designing the Windows 8 file name collision experience: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/08/26/designing-the-windows-8-file-name-collision-experience.aspx [msdn.com]
Building robust USB 3.0 support: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/08/22/building-robust-usb-3-0-support.aspx [msdn.com]
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If that were ALL there were, you MIGHT have a point (but only barely). Taken in aggregate with all the changes and additions though, I don't see how you can possibly support your notion that Windows 8 is nothing more than a "service pack". Kernel enhnacements, boot enhancements, file system enhancements, UI enhancements, plus the whole Metro/WinRT/Touch stuff, roaming profiles, cloud storage and access integration, and on and on... certainly sounds like a major version update to me.
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Yeah seriously. Many times have I copied two folders on top of each other, knowing ahead of time that both sets contain duplicates in the other set, and have to click that dialog box to overwrite/ignore what are essentially copies of the same exact file. Why Windows can't just decide for you is beyond me.
I guess technically they could have different permissions, maybe? But Windows could always check their permissions against each other to make sure they were the same before deciding to ignore the file.
Re:Windows 8 (Score:5, Informative)
The program has existed since Vista atleast (maybe earlier)
features such as queuing copies, not running 2 simultaneous operations from the same disk if one is maxing out the read speed, an adjustable buffer, failing from a copy gracefully, pause and resume function, identifying if the source and destination are the same or different device,etc
were never in Windows
Re:Windows 8 (Score:5, Insightful)
so.. in other words. everything a *nix based os has had for years. why do i get the feeling microsoft is like a horse in a race wearing a dunce cap?
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Ever copied a bunch of files at once on Windows?
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Re:Windows 8 (Score:4, Interesting)
Windows 9 is going to be everything and nothing at once. They're stripping the kernel to its core and use it as the basis for all their products. Desktop OS, mobile OS, Xbox, set top boxes, etc. It's going to be a great thing for MS because they'll be able to focus on improving a unified core. Basically, they're trying to do with Windows what everyone has been doing with Linux for years, make it something that's easily scalable and customizable across a family of products.
It's going to save MS a ton of money and allow them to focus on keeping their products secure and fast instead of constantly having to patch crappy modules of code that have been carried over for a decade. Microsoft is a lot smarter than people give them credit for, they're just such a huge entity that it takes a while for their plans to build inertia.
Re:Windows 8 (Score:5, Insightful)
"Windows 9 is going to be everything and nothing at once. They're stripping the kernel to its core and use it as the basis for all their products. Desktop OS, mobile OS, Xbox, set top boxes, etc. It's going to be a great thing for MS because they'll be able to focus on improving a unified core. Basically, they're trying to do with Windows what everyone has been doing with Linux for years, make it something that's easily scalable and customizable across a family of products.
It's going to save MS a ton of money and allow them to focus on keeping their products secure and fast instead of constantly having to patch crappy modules of code that have been carried over for a decade"
How is that going to work? They'll be supporting the New, Really new We Mean It This Time This Is The Shiznit API and all the old ones starting from WFC, J++, silverlight, some of the .net, etc etc rot but still need to be patched.
How much of the support problems are from the kernel and how much from the huge layers of stuff on top?
Re:Windows 8 (Score:5, Informative)
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Well, there's also the whole "Roaming profiles" thing throug the cloud, the "Windows Live ID" sign-on that enables it, the ability to keep your profile on a USB Key... allowing your Windows experience to be independent of the actual physical hardware you log into... That's big.
The inclusion of Hyper-V is also interesting, as is Native support for ISOs and VHDs. The ability to reset/reinstall windows with a click, without losing your data... "refresh". Improved shadow-copy and backup/restore.
There's lots
Re:Windows 8 (Score:5, Informative)
In Windows, the desktop is actually an app in and of itself. When explorer.exe is first run, it loads the desktop (all icons that go on it) and the taskbar. If you never run Explorer, you'll never get the desktop. It's the same thing here; a person doesn't actually have to run Explorer, and if they don't, then the desktop will never load. The first UI the user will see will be the Metro UI, not Explorer.
Now, the second a person runs a traditional windowed application, the desktop will load as well for UI consistency, and all applications (graphically) will be contained within that layer. However, not every windowed application has to be paired with the desktop. If you run the task manager, for instance, it will float above everything else even if you switch back to the Metro UI or use a Metro application.
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The file menu takes up the entire screen for one
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You get lost easily.
He's simply showing that these same things were said about Office 2007, and turned out not to be true, so all these same hysterical rantings of doom and gloom are likely to not be true about Windows 8 as well (using history as a guide).
Was that really that difficult to follow??
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Microsoft has some of the best user experience research teams in the country. Given the approach with Metro UI (consolidated functions, rather than individual functions that
Re:Windows 8 (Score:5, Interesting)
Windows 8 offers you roaming profiles, single-signon, profiles on a USB-key, dramatically faster boot times and resume times, lower power useage, higher security, better modern device support (USB 3.x, very large drives)...
Metro as a UI offers tablet users a better touch-friendly experience, as well as a "unified' UI look and feel across Microsoft Phones, Tablets, Desktops, and XBox.
Anything you can do in Win7, you will continue to be able to do in Win8.
Win8 will also enable usable Tablet form-factors.
The Metro apps shipped with the current Win8 developer preview are just little "demo" apps, written by MS Interns over a weekend. They do not show the full range of capabilities of Metro apps. Over time, you can imagine all of MS Office, and a ton of games, will be offered as metro style apps. So you'll have more than just "weather" and "stock" apps, if that's what you're concerned about. And Metro apps are sandboxed in a way that makes them very secure.
Windows 8 is offering a lot, but I think most people are getting completely distracted by the Start Screen, an unfinished UI, and a hand-full of simple "demo" apps... it'll be more obvious I think once the beta is released. Then we'll have a better handle on the strengths and weaknesses.
Re:Windows 8 (Score:4, Insightful)
Okay, I've read every single post of yours in this discussion up to this point, and have one question: Are you indeed a Microsoft employee, or an employee of a PR firm talking on behalf of Microsoft? Please be honest. I won't think less of you if you just come clean, I'd actually think more of you.
I ask this because there is no way in hell any person on this planet could fine absolutely no fault with a product, especially one that introduces completely new UX principles, and changes the long term functionality of an old system. Most OS X (or Windows, or iOS, or Android, or Linux flavor) fanboys can at least list one or two gripes about their pet platform. You, on the other hand (correct me if I'm wrong), think that Win 8 is the second coming of Christ, and Metro will wash away all of our sins.
You have to eventually (outside of not being paid to) realize that various UX schemes world for various people and various tasks better than other schemes. While Metro might be nice for some people, and some uses (information consumers), it somewhat fails in other areas, and for other users. I played with the dev preview, and will not be purchasing it. This isn't an objective judgement on its intrinsic merits, but rather an observation that it completely fails for my own personal way of doing things, and clashes with my subjective aesthetic considerations. Further, its functions would be redundant for its role on my desktop PC, since I already use my phone and tablet for the tasks that it seems to think that I find important. I find touch UIs to be great, on touch screens, and I might even try a W8 tablet someday (when my forthcoming Transformer dies) Again (to avoid trolling), this is purely subjective.
There are obvious failings in Win 8, or at least from a standard usability context. These failings might be mitigated by great implementation, or decent added functionality. But from this point of view I don't see this. I haven't seen anything in Win 8 (outside of under the hood stuff, which isn't really all that innovative or as much improvement to make me want to put up with the other changes) that really makes me want to switch from Win 7. I was genuinely excited by Win 7, and lived though all the hassle of the dev preview and beta just because it was that much better than Vista (or any other version of Windows). Windows 7 fits my workflow perfectly, and if something isn't broke I see no reason to fix it.
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Not in 2012 for me (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Not in 2012 for me (Score:5, Interesting)
I'll be waiting for Windows 9 after this iOS mimicry flops. This could end up being the worst mistake yet, ME and Vista could both look like minor failures in comparison.
Re:Not in 2012 for me (Score:5, Interesting)
I think the Windows Phone interface on the desktop is quaint. It's an interesting replacement for the start menu... but at the end of the day, that's all it is. I've been working with Win8 as a sort of free windows licence for a VM I run, and as soon as you use a traditional app, it kicks you back to the desktop and acts like Win7. It's one of those things that management is mandating to push... I guess they have an app store?, but at the end of the day all the new interface really is, is a full screen start menu.
It's really, really snappy on Virtual Box though. Goddamn.
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You're making a judgement based on a developer preview pre-beta, where the UI isn't finishe... That includes the mouse/keyboard access. I'd say the problem is your expectations and interpretations, not Windows 8.
Re:Not in 2012 for me (Score:4, Insightful)
Instead of having a nice GUI with lots of options, it's a purdy GUI with few options and the rest buried in some power shell syntax.
So... they're making it more like Linux?
Re:Not in 2012 for me (Score:5, Informative)
Actually yes, since server 2008 they've moved to a CLI-before-GUI system, where all tasks can be performed from the CLI and the GUI only handles a subset of them, as in Linux. This is good since everything now becomes scriptable, the GUI becomes optional, and you don't need a full virtual desktop to get things done remotely.
Re:Not in 2012 for me (Score:5, Informative)
Even better, the GUIs for things like Exchange 2010 allow you to view the CLI commands being used for any of the changes you make, so that you can easily script them, rather than having to try and work out which particular command and property name that checkbox needs.
Re:Not in 2012 for me (Score:5, Funny)
You mean like smit in AIX? Better 20 years late then never I suppose.
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They've even been adding POSIX compliance:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Services_for_Unix [wikipedia.org]
Re:Not in 2012 for me (Score:5, Insightful)
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I'm trying to remember the last Windows version that didn't require waiting until at least SP1 to be worth using.
Re:Not in 2012 for me (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh, also, MS has caught onto the game, they ship a ceremonial SP1 within a few months of launch now.
Re:Not in 2012 for me (Score:5, Funny)
You don't remember Windows 7?? Come on, man, it wasn't THAT long ago!
Windows 7 was just a service pack for Vista that removed most of the suck.
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I'll be waiting for SP1.
But they will release something on schedule. As the day approaches, its features will be trimmed to meet the schedule, as usual. The promised features will come in SP1 and some of them might even work reliably by then (Quality is job 1.1), while security will come in SP2 or SP3. Fool people once, shame on you. Fool people dozens of times, and you must be Microsoft.
It's because of those XP EOL users (Score:5, Interesting)
The "traditional market" is a combination of consumers and bulk business users. The consumer market doesn't use XP much any more (outside of the Asian pirate community). The businesses still stuck on XP are slowly migrating as their old hardware dies, or switching to other devices ... BUT ... (there's always a "but") Windows 8 fulfills Microsoft's goal of moving back to a more frequent release model, thereby enabling them to EOL earlier versions quicker.
They don't want a repeat of XP, where an old OS cannibalizes future sales, ever again. You'll see annual "new versions", same as the iPhone (Balmer steals another Apple trick).
Re:It's because of those XP EOL users (Score:5, Insightful)
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We'll be lucky to be halfway off XP on the desktop by 2013. Between user resistance, licensing restrictions, compliance requirements, tight replacement budgets, and vendors dragging their feet, I'll be supporting thousands of XP installs until 2014.
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The problem with this "more frequent release" model is that it is going to push businesses to some other OS. The company I work for should have just about completed the process of preparing to migrate to Windows 7 by the time Windows 8 comes out.
Oh please, enough with the FUD. Microsoft guarantees a minimum 10 years of support on professional/enterprise versions. Check it out, extended support will end in 2020 [microsoft.com]. What else are they going to move to that offers longer support? If your answer to that is "Linux, because they have the source code and can support it forever" you've been listening too much to RMS.
Re:It's because of those XP EOL users (Score:4, Informative)
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Vista didn't sell because it was crap at release.
It was a crap at release. It was a crap 6 months later. It was a crap 1 year later. It is still a crap and it will be until the end of time.
Worst OS ever released. I mean it. Even worse than Windows ME.
Phone UI Hell (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Phone UI Hell (Score:5, Interesting)
XFCE and LXDE are also still in the sane camp.
Re:Phone UI Hell (Score:4, Insightful)
The thing about Lion is if you ignore the tablet influenced features, you forget they are there and just don't use them. I'm with you. Something tells me Microsoft will get this part all wrong in their effort to jump on the tablet bandwagon (2 years late).
Traditional PC market (Score:3)
Win8 is a non-event (Score:5, Informative)
Three things:
1. Everyone knows that every other release of Windows is good (Win 3.1, 98, XP, 7) and every other one sucks (Win 3.0, 95, ME, Vista.) No enterprise is going to jump on this release.
2. Enterprises are in various states of completing their transition to Win 7. Very few enterprises are going to begin another rip and replace cycle next year, so no one is going to jump on this release.
3. Everything in the press has stated how Microsoft has taken a different direction for this user interface (but lately admitting the old one is still there.) No enterprise is going to jump on this release.
With regards to tablets and phones.. I really don't care what OS mine runs other than I want to to work exactly the way I want it to work. I doubt Win8 will.
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1. Everyone knows that every other release of Windows is good (Win 3.1, 98, XP, 7) and every other one sucks (Win 3.0, 95, ME, Vista.) No enterprise is going to jump on this release.
Oh quit it with this superstitious "every other release" bullshit. The fact is, 3.0, 95, and Vista were all releases which introduced new technology into core parts of the OS. Those releases certainly had major problems because of that. But because of their position in a sequence? Are you for real?
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Hmmm. Just on the basis of the touch screen interface alone, I imagine that it will be very popular with the consumer market, and IT people everywhere will avoid it like the Black Plague.
Should be entertaining to see the clashes between the people who want their Windows 8 tablets supported on the company network, and IT's unwillingness to allow any mission critical apps anywhere near it.
Re:Win8 is a non-event (Score:5, Insightful)
You're wrong on Win95. 95 was a revelation when it was released; a much better user interface than 3.1 and preemptive multitasking, and more stable (given good drivers) than 3.1, plus built-in TCP/IP. Sucked that they didn't give OSR2 as a free upgrade (or indeed at all except to OEMs) so that we could have had FAT32 sooner.
98 sucked when it came out, so you're wrong there as well. 98SE was pretty awesome in its day, though.
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The main UI innovation of Win95 was to copy NextSTEP, except not quite right. It is foolish to have the 'kill window' button too close to any other button. Kill should be on one side (e.g. right), and other functions on the left.
Nextstep: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3b/NeXTSTEP_desktop.jpg [wikimedia.org]
Win95: http://theoligarch.com/images/win95.gif [theoligarch.com]
In both looks and basic functionality for a desktop OS, NeXTSTEP is still more "right" than anything else. Even MacOSX screwed up and most apps have red(kill)
Re:Win8 is a non-event (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm still using XP at work. I've heard rumblings that we'll eventually upgrade to 7. Considering the past track record, we MIGHT go from 7 to 9. W8 isn't even a remote possibility.
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> Considering the past track record, we MIGHT go from 7 to 9. W8 isn't even a remote possibility.
more importantly... (Score:5, Interesting)
Do we care?
Estimated release date (Score:3)
It's all clear now... (Score:3)
you've got that backwards (Score:3)
"Or will Windows 8 be different enough that it will do well, no matter when it arrives?"
I think Windows 8 will be different enough that it will do badly, no matter when it arrives.
A huge population of computer users do not want "new and different". This is a large part of why Windows XP has remain entrenched for so long, not just in businesses but also in people's homes. I made a point of replacing my parents' aging XP computer with a new one while XP was still available because I knew they'd hate learning whatever changes there were in Vista. On the other hand, now that XP is no longer a realistic option for new systems, I'll be watching the release date of Win8, so I can get them their next computer with Win7 on it, because it'll be less drastic a change than Windows 8 would be. I'd even undertake the effort of switching them to OS X or Linux before I'd try to switch them to Win8. (It's the same reason I find people familiar with ye olde MS Office tend to prefer switching to Open/LibreOffice rather than to MS Office 2007/2010.)
I'll pass on it! (Score:3, Interesting)
With their (MS) history of every other version flavor of Windows having problems, I'll wait for the successor to Win 8. Consider the history...
Win 95 - Win 98
Win NT - Win 2000
Win Me - Win XP
Win Vista - Win 7
Granted, the second one of each pair had problems but not nearly as much problems as the first. Is there a pattern here?
Windows for free? (Score:3)
I'm wondering if Microsoft is contemplating giving windows away more or less free and then locking down the platform and go for an app store model where they take a cut of the software pie. A more secure DRM'd platform... Certainly takes away most of the threat of viruses and trojans and that could be used to sell the idea to the public.
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I think it'll be the inability to get any serious work done without a keyboard and a mouse that will affect its chances much more than a few months difference either way on release.
And how is that any different from any other tablet OS?
Office (Score:5, Interesting)
If this is the Microsoft I'm familiar with, it'll probably be: "Windows isn't done 'till Office won't run." I mean, we are talking about an entity that cannot keep interfaces consistent across divisions of the same company.
I am forced to work with Outlook 2007 under Windows XP. What a nightmare. Copy/Paste doesn't even work consistently within the application itself. Sometimes you'll copy text out of a message and paste into a reply of the same thread, and either the OS or the App will add extra returns and spaces/tabs for no apparent reason. Annoying.
Worse still is Outlook's annoying habit of "are you sure" for EVERYTHING. Find an email with an attachment, open it, close the email. Windows/Outlook asks "Save changes to attachment?" NO. All I did was OPEN it, I didn't change squat! Why the app can't figure this out is a MAJOR FAILURE of Q/A.
So trust me, it'll be Office that breaks under Win8. Or something else critical. Or maybe it'll be by design so that everyone that "upgrades" to Win8 will be forced to buy new copies of Office.
Re: (Score:3)
That notion has been thoroughly debunked already. Let it go.
You're joking me, no? (Score:5, Funny)
Let me just try that out - hold on;
Me: What could be a huge market for tablet devices which utilize native handwriting recognition and run industry standard software?
Siri: I found 7 industry standards... 3 of them are not far from you: [...]
Me: No, no, Siri, listen, I need a huge market for tablet devices which utilize native handrwriting recognition!
Siri: The Ojibwa and Tuskarora Iroquois are recognized Native American tribes near your location.
Me: Siri, are you dumb? I am looking for a huge market for tablet devices which utilize native handrwriting recognition!
Siri: I found 5 markets for tablets are near your location. Tap the one you want directions to:
Re: (Score:3)
The term "Enterprise" with regards to Microsoft?
It refers to the cream of the crop, in terms of software. The software that has no built-in limitations (market segmentation), and typically a fair number of advanced features. In my experience, Microsoft rarely offers anything above Enterprise...I'm having trouble think of an example. This tier of the software is typically used for companies in excess of 10,000 employees or when you are really going overboard with clustering / redundancies / data mining.
The w
Re: (Score:3)
Why must MS take this path? They have a perfectly usable GUI right now...and I do not want the Apple or Minority Report approach to computing.
Yes, touch screens are fun, no, any large amount of typing on a touch screen is murder on one's hands. I do not want a VS 2014 with integrated touch screen capabilities.