Windows 8 Release Preview Now Available To Download 363
MrSeb writes "Microsoft has announced the immediate availability of Windows 8 Release Preview. Unfortunately there isn't a Consumer Preview > Release Preview upgrade path — you'll have to format and perform a clean installation. After downloading the ISO, simply burn Windows 8 RP onto a USB stick or DVD, reboot, and follow the (exceedingly quick and easy) installer. Alternatively, if you don't want to format a partition, ExtremeTech has a guide on virtualizing Windows 8 with VirtualBox. After a lot of fluster on the Building Windows 8 blog, the Release Preview is actually surprisingly similar to the Consumer Preview. Despite being promised a new, flat, Desktop/Explorer UI, Aero is still the default theme in Windows 8 RP. The tutorial that will introduce new users to the brave new Start buttonless Windows 8 world is also missing. Major features that did make the cut are improved multi-monitor support — it's now easier to hit the hot corners on a multi-monitor setup, and Metro apps can be moved between displays — and the Metro version of IE10 now has a built-in Flash plug-in. There will be no further pre-releases of Windows 8: the next build will be the RTM."
Ok, Sherlock, your mystery is not a, uh, mystery. (Score:5, Insightful)
Despite being promised a new, flat, Desktop/Explorer UI, Aero is still the default theme in Windows 8 RP
All right, only they didn't promise the new UI for pre-release versions. They explicitly said it will be in RTM.
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they didn't promise the new UI for pre-release versions. They explicitly said it will be in RTM.
But...the chances of it actually happening for the RTM (if they haven't already gotten the kinks worked out of it) are pretty much Nil...maybe it will be in one of the service packs?
IF YOU WANT TO PIRATE A COPY (Score:5, Informative)
Here's a working activation key:
TK8TP-9JN6P-7X7WW-RFFTV-B7QPF
Re:IF YOU WANT TO PIRATE A COPY (Score:5, Informative)
If activation works in the release preview like it did in the consumer preview, there will only be one "activation key" for the publicly downloadable copy. Presumably, that key activates it for the limited time period and each copy will expire or de-activate on whatever their target date is.
What you're suggesting is about as far from piracy as you could get. I personally 'pirated' the consumer preview because the tail end of the official download (which I tried 3 times on that release day) was corrupted by whoever's transparent proxy service I had the joy of unknowingly using. Probably Time Warner's, as I've had corruption isses with other large downloads from official sources for other software.
Odds of Microsoft coming after you for torrenting freely available 'free' previews are pretty darn low. They have bigger fish to fry.
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He was being sarcastic.
Re:IF YOU WANT TO PIRATE A COPY (Score:4, Funny)
OMFSM! HOW DID YOU GET THAT KEY!?!?
oh, right http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/iso [microsoft.com]
Re:IF YOU WANT TO PIRATE A COPY (Score:5, Funny)
IF YOU WANT TO PIRATE A COPY
Here's another one!
FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8
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I recognise that! It's for XP Business.
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Source? Remember: Vista Aero was introduced in RTM too.
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I'm really tired of people spreading stupidity about Win8, and the irrational fear of the future that seems to have gripped the tech rags and social sites I visit. There are legitimate concerns that Windows 8 will be a Vista style flop with changes too substantial to be readily adopted by consumers or businesses. Then there is your inanity.
I will wager you $250 (payable to charity) via longbets.org to put your money where your mouth is. The wager would be that the RTM release of Windows 8 lacks the flattene
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
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Jesus fucking chris! misinformation everywhere. Maybe if you gave a rats ass you'd be better informed.
The secure boot was only for arm based devices (TABLETS) that will carry windows 8.
I wonder if the anti-MS bias at slashdot will ever die down.
Sometimes this place make fox news look like a legitimate place to get news from.
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You assume that the work on RTM only starts after RP is shipped to public. RP build is actually about a week old (says so right in the blog post), and the corresponding branch forked even earlier than that.
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Metro: good idea for touch-oriented systems, such as tablets and phones.
Having Metro available on desktop systems: Good idea.
Metro as default UI on desktops: Good idea for newbies, so they have a recognizable interface across multiple form factors.
FORCING Metro on people who don't want it: WHAT THE FLYING HELL WERE YOU THINKING?
Does it still suck? (Score:2, Funny)
Last preview I downloaded was pretty miserable, is it even remotely useable yet?
If they quit offering Windows 7 when Windows 8 comes out then it may just end up being the year that Linux takes over the desktop market.
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you can still buy vista. 7 is going nowhere for several years.
in fact, i forsee an "xp still on sale a decade after release, due to demand" deal going on with windows 7 unless windows 9 is excellent.
Re:Does it still suck? (Score:5, Funny)
you can still buy vista
Oh god why? Can't they make that against the law or something?
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Only on an OEM board and depending on which distribution you want to load. The total application fee to get included in the UEFI cert is $99 so unless you roll your own it shouldn't be too much of an issue.
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Only true on ARM, not on x86.
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if by locked down, you mean on by default, but you can still turn off, you begin to have a point.
I'm not sure why hardware won't work on other systems since it on'y there to tell windows it's a certified piece of hardware. If the OS doesn't care about it, then it won't matter.
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I don't think it is going to be that bad. Looking at your user ID, you are going to be able to handle issueing a command to the ROM to either turn off secure boot or use a new cert.
is any desktop user going to be upgrading? (Score:2, Insightful)
I mean, seriously? Starting stuff from the stupid Start screen? Cripple the regular version of Visual Studio to only write apps for this screen?
What the hell is wrong with MS? Does it not realise that a desktop is not a tablet?
Re:is any desktop user going to be upgrading? (Score:5, Funny)
I mean, seriously? Starting stuff from the stupid Start screen?
It was so much better back in the day when you started stuff from the shutdown menu.
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I've been considering getting it for my parents based on the reasoning that my mom at least might find the tablet-style interface intuitive. Looking at it, though...probably not. I have a hard enough time getting her to understand that attaching a Word document to an email is the exact same as attaching a photograph. I don't think I could survive teaching her how to use Metro.
Metro actually is a pretty slick UI on a phone, though the information density in its current incarnation is much too low. I thin
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Does it not realise that a desktop is not a tablet?
They are moving away from desktop, clearing the way for 2013 year of the Linux desktop.
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I have OSX lion, one of the most awkward features in launchpad, which tries to make the screen like iOS' Springboard screen. Springboard works best when you have hand gestures on a small area, not so useful on a non-touch 20" screen. Thats a lot of mousing.
Metro reminds me of this, touch metaphors on a non-touch screen to show they're changing something at least. At least i'm not forced to use Launchpad on OSX.
Launchers are surprisingly hard to do well. Apple had some bad ones in System 7 and before - At Ea
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Yeah, that's the important difference--though Launchpad is lame, at least it's optional. It's marginally more useful on a trackpad than a regular mouse, but I don't use it very often (only if my cursor is near where I know a certain app's icon is going to be when I do the pinch gesture to bring it up). For an example of a good launcher, look to Alfred.
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I mean, seriously? Starting stuff from the stupid Start screen? Cripple the regular version of Visual Studio to only write apps for this screen?
Visual Studio Express 12 is limited to Metro apps.
Not VS 2012 Pro and higher.Compare Visual Studio 2012 editions [microsoft.com]
Microsoft encourages the idea that the Start screen is the Windows 8 "home page." From there, a few mouse gestures or a keyboard shortcut will take you almost anywhere you want to go. If you need access to common functions previously available on the old Start menu, you can right-click on the lower left to bring up the Power User list. You can even modify this list, though Microsoft won't officially support or document the method for doing so.
Windows 8 Release Preview Impressions [pcworld.com], Windows 8 Tip: Edit the Power User Tasks Menu [winsupersite.com]
Nothing new here (Score:5, Interesting)
Sadly Linux won't take over anything (at least not now). Think Longhorn revolt followed by the success of W7. You gotta take a shot in the dark sometimes and if this turns out to be a ton of crap, they'll listen and go back to what's right. That's generally been the way MS has done things.
Microsoft Vanishing From Average Person's Life (Score:5, Interesting)
Of course Microsoft will still get the massive number of automatic installs due to their lock on OEMs and corporations locked into Microsoft tech, but for every single person I know Microsoft has become a non-entity in their lives.
Over the past few years it has rapidly become cellphones and tablets. No one goes home after work to sit in front of their computer checking their email and webbrowsing. They do that all day long now on their Android phones and tablets or iPhones and iPads. Ten years ago I would hear all the time about what computer someone was planning on buying or what they were doing with their computer. Now it is all about what Android or Apple cellphone or tablet to buy. And in the rare occasion someone actually does talk about buying a new computer it is almost universally a Mac to replace their old Windows machine.
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Steam is doing great, and vendors selling games through Steam are very happy with it. EA copied Valve with it's own system, and they're doing great guns too.
WTF are you smoking?
Metro apps (Score:2)
Anybody knows why Metro apps are restricted to screen resolutions of 1024x768 or higher?
Is it just an arbitrary limitation or is there a technical reason for this?
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Probably to ensure support for limited resolution tablets. It would probably make more sense to require a 1024x768 layout and allow any other layout in addition but that imposes more costs, particularly support costs, on Microsoft.
Re:Metro apps (Score:4, Informative)
Simply put, it's so that Metro app developers don't have to concern themselves with supporting anything smaller.
And In A Non Related News Event (Score:5, Funny)
Why upgrade? (Score:2)
This is a dead serious question, so please do not downmod because it doesn't agree with some corporate agenda. ;)
I currently run Windows XPSP3 on 7 laptops, and 1 desktop, at home. Behind a NAT firewall. I've never had a virus or other security problem. I re-image and update approximately every 2 years because, yes, Windows does slow down and break with age, and I also want a backup of the latest apps. But otherwise XP works great, with minimal interference,on machines with as little as 800Mhz P3, 128MB RAM
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Win7 has a slew of features that you may or may not like; if you do (most people seem to), it's a question of whether you consider them worth the price.
It's really impossible to answer your question precisely. If you are absolutely happy with XP and can't see how it could possibly be any better, then you probably don't have any reasons to switch (until support ends entirely, that is).
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Win7 has a slew of features that you may or may not like
Such as? This was exactly my question.
It's really impossible to answer your question precisely
Why? It is a piece of deterministic software, not a religious conundrum.
you probably don't have any reasons to switch (until support ends entirely, that is)
Also assuming that any support is relevant. I do keep all our Windows machines updated at least once a year, but frankly, I'm not sure how important that is since most of them run behind a firewall. The FUD does not seem to apply in this case.
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The parent post is exactly right that you can't answer the question precisely. It's a general purpose operating system. Some purposes can be fulfilled with windows XP, some can't. Basically - If you don't know why you should upgrade, you probably don't need to.
Also, don't forget that direct ne
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Most useful to most users is the real live 64 bit support (can use > 3.5GB of RAM), support for DirectX 10, excellent driver support out of the box, and a few other bits and pieces (I'm no expert on win 7...)
Thanks, those are real details.
I'm not a PC gamer, so I don't have any need for more than 3.5GB (actually 3.25GB on our biggest system) RAM, nor DirectX 10. The most extreme stuff I do is video transcoding. Second, realtime video and image editing. Third, video playback with various codecs, ranging from mjpeg to avc/h264. But I leave the games for our consoles.
Re: drivers, I do use lots of odd pieces of hardware like serial microcontroller programmers, DMX controllers, dataloggers, Arduinos, 3D 6dof control
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There's no reason I can see. From XP to 7 you get DX11 which is a bonus plus better handling and proper handling soundlayer system. From XP or 7 to 8? Maybe the filesystem, but I can't see that being a huge thing for the average person. Not for you, not for me. There doesn't appear to be anything specific for directX either.
Oddly, I've been running Win7 for the last 3ish years(Original Install Date: 10/28/2009, 11:44:46 AM) and have yet to reinstall it. It seems to be running as fast as the day I
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Of course, you have to rely on audio hardware vendors actually supporting the nifty new Windows 7 sound layer. If that vendor happens to be Creative, you're screwed, particularly if the product is discontinued. Case in point: the E-MU 0404 USB, which has a beta Windows 7 driver that hasn't ever been updated [creative.com].
It works beautifully on an XP desktop system, and recent Linux kernels seem to support it at least for playback. On Linux, the Clementine audio player works well, but I like Foobar2000 better. Unfortunat
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Memory support,and about 1000 other modern abilities.
Since many people actually run new software, XP is won't work for them.
OTOH, you can't even manage your XP machines correctly, so I'm not sue upgrading is a wise thing for you to do.
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Memory support,and about 1000 other modern abilities
Memory support...my XP machines do max out at 2.0GB to 3.25GB depending on the mobo. But this isn't a problem. The OS and many services easily run in a couple hundred MB, without virtual memory. My biggest memory consumer is a web browser, which may exceed 1GB with lots of tabs and plug-ins, but that usually only happens on my main work machines. So 2GB is far more than enough for most of the machines.
What are the "1000 other modern abilities" that you seem to think are provided by Windows beyond NT/2000/XP
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1) You want to run newer applications
2) You want to use newer hardware
3) You want to to run older applications on more demanding data
4) You want some of the collaboration features for phone / tablet...
Otherwise no reason to upgrade. I know a woman who still writes on xywrite with a dot matrix printer since everything is setup perfectly for her. When she's finished she hands a floppy off to an editor who translates it. Old computers still work. Ask the mainframers.
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You are right that there's nothing compelling you to switch, just as there's nothing forcing you to drive a car with ABS, seat belts, fuel injection, etc.
That metaphor is thoroughly broken. The safety and efficiency benefits of ABS, seat belts, and fuel injection are provably worthwhile. Also, these have been standard features on most cars for the last 15-45 years. There is absolutely no comparison.
The question was, what features would inspire me to upgrade from XPSP3 to 8?
I'll add: what would inspire me to take the massive hit to performance and resource consumption? Again, note, one of my still-running machines is a P3 800Mhz 128MB laptop, which performs v
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Are you installing XP 64 bit? It looks like you are not. Some people have a need to put 4GB or more of RAM in the computer to work with the huge images files, video files, and other huge files.
Correct, I run 32-bit, because 64-bit gives no benefit for my applications.
I do work with lots of video and large image files. Rarely more than 30 megapixels/image though. 30 megapixels * 3 bytes = 90 megabytes in the buffer, a rather small number compared to a modern bloated web browser running a few dozen tabs, flash, java, acrobat, and silverlight. A 2GB machine is more than enough for this.
Really, I was just looking for any features or enhancements that might steer me towards Win7 or Win8. The impressio
ISO? Where? (Score:2)
I went to http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/release-preview [microsoft.com] and all I got was a 5MB .EXE file.
Kind of pointless for those of us who want to try it via VMWare or similar.
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It's a small link but it's there: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/iso [microsoft.com]
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The link was there, it's just not up in your face the way web installer is.
Windows 8 RP: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/iso [microsoft.com]
Windows Server 2012 RC: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/hh670538.aspx [microsoft.com]
Visual Studio 2012 RC: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=247147 [microsoft.com]
Does it have better monitor resolution support? (Score:2)
Experiment then refinement... (Score:5, Interesting)
I think a lot of people are missing a few really smart choices it would appear Microsoft is intentionally making. First, they realize that corporate customers like their long term anchor software. They have done that with Windows 7 as the successor to XP as frequently mentioned. Second I think they are going to a release plan of Experiment followed by a Refinement release.
Consider first that Microsoft supports too many customers with too diverse of requirements to be doing miniscule yearly feature releases as with OSX and Linux. OSX can because they have fixed hardware to support and a vastly smaller software library. Linux can because the community doesn't have anywhere near the hardware support of Windows and software is not binary compatible a requires recompilation.
Faced with this issue, it only makes sense that Microsoft will release an OS filled with experimentation to find out what users and customers do a don't like and then make the next version the refinement, enhancement, and trimming of those features. Vista was full of UI experiments which were great ideas but only marginally implemented or just didn't flow easily. I couldn't stand Vista and only used it a few hours before going back to XP. I know I am by far not in a minority in having this experience. Windows 7 was taking all those features and fixing them, making them flow and interact together and getting rid of the development cruft. Windows 7 is great for many users, myself included.
Windows 8 is filled with great ideas. It's filled with original ideas and people are complaining. Sure, Metro came from WP7 development, but nobody else considered using the metaphors for desktop use or how to adapt them. Again the number one complaint is incompleteness or not enough UI interoperability with the manners in which users have become acclimated. If Microsoft continues the pattern, then sure, some consumers will be forced to be guinea pigs with Windows 8, especially if the Windows tablet market takes off appreciably. In the same stroke, Windows 9 could easily come as the refinement stage where it all makes better sense.
Who cares if Windows 8 is a dog. Vista was a dog and it led directly to 7. Give some credit to a company that could sit on it's old style of business like IBM in the late 70's, but instead challenges itself with products which can fail and are interesting and different.
Linux by comparison has no consistent desktop metaphors. You have to test drive at least 3 different distros before you are sure which one will work. The only nearly consistent interfaces are the ones released at the same time as XP in stripped down distros. Unity is not bad, but it's just not for me. The more recent release is really getting there though. It's great experimentation in a different direction for fusing the desktop, laptop, and tablet UI segments.
OSX is the opposite of where Linux and Windows have been experimenting. There is an extreme lack of interesting change since 2001 and only very small incremental refinements. Oooh, we just got a notification system, but really it's the one from our phones because we couldn't stand the thought of using a functional desktop one like in Windows 7 or Linux. You could actually load identical machines with OSX from 10 years ago and the latest Mountain Lion side by side and the average user wouldn't notice that they were different. If you think I am full of it, check this out: http://macgateway.com/featured-articles/a-decade-of-mac-os-x-a-retrospective/ [macgateway.com]
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Who cares if Windows 8 is a dog. Vista was a dog and it led directly to 7. Give some credit to a company that could sit on it's old style of business like IBM in the late 70's, but instead challenges itself with products which can fail and are interesting and different.
Microsoft cares if Windows 8 is a dog. They're betting the farm on this release. They desperately need this to work as a gateway to the mobile space, an area they're hopelessly behind in, and they don't have another couple of years to get it right.
Apple's actually made a number of very significant improvements to OS X over the last 10 years but they also recognized the UI paradigm is fundamentally sound for the desktop space so there's no reason to make radical changes. Of course they also realize that a
Re:Experiment then refinement... (Score:4, Insightful)
Microsoft does not care if Windows 8 is a dog in the corporate desktop world. That is why the features which people are most unhappy with are entirely features which are great on tablets and other touchscreen devices. They are working on getting Windows 8 right for the mobile space. It is entirely reasonable to think their plan is to let Windows 9 tie that effectively with the desktop. Also, the OEMs are starting to push touchscreen desktops substantially. Once Windows 8 gets some adoption, it wouldn't be surprising to see off the shelf monitors in the consumer / commodity price range pop up with touchscreens as cheap options. IR touchscreens are really cheap to add manufacturer side and fit great with existing LCD bezel design.
I would never say Apple hasn't made a lot of good changes to the backend of OSX, but the UI still feels worn and heavy. Sure, consistency is great, but it just says to me that people use their computers exactly the same way they did 10 years ago, and that is sad.
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Also, the OEMs are starting to push touchscreen desktops substantially.
Who the fsck wants to sit at a desktop holding their arm out to touch the screen all day?
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You are right that Apple's interface is very stable. Mainly because they pulled so far ahead with interface in the early 2000s. That being said the GUI has gotten way way better since 10.1.
Quartz Extreme
Universal Access (this was huge for lots of people)
Fast User Switching
Expose
Preview later: instant alpha, graphic extraction
Quicktime integration
Spotlight
Dashboard
Automator
Integrated H.264/AVC
Resource forks handled by command line
XCode visual modeling, remote debugging, integrated reference library
Integra
Is Windows 8 really as bad as people say it is? (Score:2)
So, I briefly tried Windows 8 Consumer Preview months ago, and found it utterly counterintuitive. Still, seeing as I ran out of patience after about 10 minutes, it's possible I just never got to the "good part." I don't presently have the energy to download and fiddle with it again, so I'm requesting input from those who are doing/have done so.
A lot of people seem to have complained about how "bad" it is, but until now, they may have just been going from a buggy "Preview" copy. Can those who have tried thi
No luck in VMWare Player (Score:2)
Re:Linux on the desktop, now? (Score:5, Interesting)
Windows 7 is still good, and it's the next "XP" - the version Enterprise customers will be keeping until Microsoft finally shuts the doors on it, so we have a good 10 years or so left - and Microsoft has time to pull its collective head out of its collective ass and being back a GUI that makes sense in a desktop world.
If the Linux world can deliver an operating system that won't give my mother fits to use, maybe it can make inroads while Microsoft tries to shove WinMetro down people's throats, but I gave up holding my breath for that years ago.
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Hi. I work for a very large customer of MS. we also don't like upgrading. We ahve been given pretty definitive dats on when to stop using XP.
Hint: not 10 years.
If enterprise customer wants to run an old unsupported OS with known vulnerabilities, they sure can. But they aren't getting support, and there are fewer and fewer IT people willing to twiddle there career away duct taping XP and going without the latest tools.
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The last time I got the call to fix my parents computer I backed up all their data and installed ubuntu I think it was version 9 or 10. Installed Open office and copied back their data. Set up their email, tested a few things that I didn't test before I went there. They thought they were on windows for about 4 months. They did not like having to use a password at first. But for what they do, ubuntu worked fine. The hardest part was finding an application that let them do what print shop did.
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Once it occurred to me its basically an on screen start menu, it became really easy for me to use.
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Huh? Active Desktop was awesome. Active X allowed for really power distributed applications that were web based. I'd love to have channels for my phone today. PointCast which is still the best screen saver I ever had kinda like news360.
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All of us who keep denying that the desktop is dying are ignoring that most people already only use their computer to access "the cloud", even if it is
Lies, all lies. There are some things in the "cloud" or "clouded" but the majority of businesses still use Desktops as Desktops, running.. you know, desktop applications. The large company I'm currently at runs Outlook, Lync, MS Office, and has been locked stupidly in to lots of .net garbage (time software, project planning/tracking, etc..). Before this, it was a large company that ran Windows + Lotus Notes + lots of .net garbage (time software, inventory front ends, project tracking) that they stupidly
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The majority of businesses do, but they really don't need to.
Sure, you'll always have engineers who need top-end rigs to run their CATIA and what-not, and there will always be jet-setting VPs who need their laptops ... but the vast majority of business-class users could easily perform all of their tasks on a dumb terminal connected to a VM server somewhere. We have users in my office with towers sporting core i5 and i7 processors, 4+ gigs of ram (on XP *le'facepalm*) and dual 24"-inch monitors, who do noth
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All of us who keep denying that the desktop is dying are ignoring that most people already only use their computer to access "the cloud", even if it isn't called that. Web mail, web galleries, media streaming, even the occasional image editing and office work is now done in a browser.
I vaugly remember using a computer when the killer app was not access to a computer network because such access simply did not exist or was too expensive. At that time not many people on earth owned a computer or would even choose to if given the opportunity. However for most of my life it was either an IP stack or terminal emulator connected to an insanly slow modem.
Yes the killer app was, is and always shall be access to the network stupid. This has not changed as you seem to be asserting it has. Lots
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Metro isn't a GUI for the desktop. It's a GUI for a tablet or a phone.
I couldn't have said it better myself. The real problem is... why does Microsoft insist on forcing it onto desktop users?
Couldn't you just put a 'Show Desktop' shortcut in the Startup folder? Then the only reason to use the start screen is to launch programs that you don't have pinned to your taskbar, so it's basically just clicking an icon there rather than clicking through the start menu, no more difficult anyway.
Re:Linux on the desktop, now? (Score:4, Interesting)
Oh please, what a stupid comment. I can understand where you're coming from, but it's still pretty stupid. Linux needs more users; that's how you get more mindshare, and more willingness by hardware mfgrs to provide specs or even drivers so we Linux users can use their hardware without a lot of trouble. With most things except for (Nvidia and ATI) video, Linux is pretty much "plug and play": you just install a mainstream distro and everything just works, without having to go hunt down drivers like you do for Windows. There's still problems, however, namely video drivers as mentioned before, and a few other things (all-in-one print/scan/copy devices, etc.). To rectify this situation, we need more mindshare and more users. More low-end, "grandma" type users is helpful here.
The key to keeping both grandma and the geeks happy is to have different distros aimed at each, or different distro versions at least.
However, the main problem the Linux world is having right now is all the UI changes in the forms of Unity and Gnome3, which are supposedly to be easier for the grandmas, but in reality aren't easier for anyone, not for power users, and certainly not for anyone who's familiar with Windows. Add in the fact that most distros use one of these UIs and the situation isn't looking good. With more users moving to KDE and distros that use it, however, this hopefully will get better.
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Why would you stop using windows 7?
the only reason I switched to vista at all was the whole "we won't put directx 10 on xp" bullshit that microsoft did, and even then i dual booted into linux for a year and a half for everything non-game related until windows 7 came out.
until microsoft pulls a stunt like that again, long live windows 7.
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>>>masterpiece of design like Windows 7 and making it a pain in the butt to use.
I'm planning to buy a second Win7 machine, so if the first goes bad I am not forced into upgrading to Windows Vista..... er, I mean 8. (And no I can't use GNUlinux or Mac, as I need Windows for working at home.)
Re:Linux on the desktop, now? (Score:5, Funny)
That'll show Microsoft they can't jerk me around.
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you joke but with windows 7 hardware installation requirements you might need 10 copies to last you 10 years.
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Telling them the old one blew its capacitors did help a bit.
Otherwise they would've just chuckled at you and commented that it was an incredibly well endowed motherboard?
Sure (Score:2)
Just get me all the apps I need and I'll move on over.
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You're welcome to move, but i'm not sure how you consider this to be a pain in the but. I find it much easier and more intuitive.
OTOH, you own't really change. you'll use what you are using as long as you can, then switch to whatever version of windows is and make up excuses on why it's ok for you to use.
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Yea I have heard over the past 5+ years how the Linux desktop was going to dominate the desktop world. Any day now.Businesses have invested a ton of money creating windows apps so as soon as they can re-write all of them the change over is a slam dunk.
Re:Posting with it now... (Score:5, Insightful)
look, i'm writing this from a machine running a canonical OS, but if you think people are going to view windows 8 as a reason to go to linux, i think you're in a pipe dream. they're going to view windows 8 as a reason to stick with windows 7.
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That's what I said about Vista. It took all the way to SP 7 to fix that steaming pile. Where Vista nudged me into Linux, I believe 8 will be the last push over the edge.
Off to dust off my whiteboard with my CLI commands cheat sheet...
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Why? has it gotten easier to code your own linux drivers in 2012?
No, now we have monkeys to code them for us.
Seriously, go download and test out a live ISO of any of the "desktop" linux flavors...Ubuntu (pre-metro), Xubuntu, Mint...none of these have required you to write your own drivers in...well, not since I started using them several years ago.
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Ubuntu doesn't have drivers for my wireless card.
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Re:What? (Score:4, Funny)
(I hadn't gotten around to testing out the CP I downloaded a while back).
Burn in hell, paedophile!
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Re:What? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not someone to bash Microsoft whenever they come up. They've had good software and bad software, made good moves and bad moves, and Windows 8 strikes me as solidly in the bad move, bad idea column. I keep thinking they must have something else up their sleeve.
Re:What? (Score:5, Interesting)
I keep thinking they must have something else up their sleeve.
You may be right - they do have a history of using Queen's ducks to distract reviewers.
There was the mandatory Vista startup sound http://slashdot.org/story/06/08/31/2347201/vista-startup-sound-to-be-mandatory [slashdot.org], 3 app limit for W7 starter http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/04/21/1356245/windows-7-starter-edition-3-apps-only [slashdot.org], etc etc.
It's vaguely possible Microsoft is floating the horrible W8 desktop interface in front of reviewers to generate the buzz, but then release an (expensive) "Enterprise" version that works exactly like a cosmetically enhanced W7. They'll release it with a fanfare saying "we listened to our adoring fans, and this is the result.".
MSM "journalists" will lap it up, comparing it favorably to the Metro'd atrocity doing the rounds now, and conveniently forgetting they'd just been presented with a lukewarm rehash of the OS they'd already paid for many years earlier.
Of course, the alternative view is that sales of Android rocketed past Windows licenses last year, and are looking set to double W7's sales figures well before the end of this year. That's got to be terrifying to a company structured so heavily around lock-in. Maybe W8 is the result of raw panic after all...
Re:What? (Score:5, Insightful)
A couple of hours isn't enough time to decide that something is conclusively good, but it is enough time to be convinced that something is crap.
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I installed Win 8, and have the World's BIGGEST Kin - without touch!
KINNING!
Re:What? (Score:5, Funny)
I would have loved to be a fly on the wall in the exec meeting where they came up with the idea of turning Microsoft's monopoly desktop product into a cell phone.
Re:What? (Score:5, Interesting)
You know what would be funny?
Let's assume (okay, state) that Windows 8 is a direct, reactionary response to the iPad and the whole "Post PC" thing.
What if Apple did it as a fake-out? What if, say, they pushed on tablets, but knew it would only go so far, yet pronounced that it would be the end-all, be-all? Microsoft spends all this time and treasure in a panicked reaction, turning their monster ship around to sail towards the mobile UI, overreacts (well, they already did IMHO), and commits irreversibly to the Metro UI thing. Once Windows 8 has been out for awhile, Tim Cook mounts the stage at the next Apple event, and proclaims that from here on in OSX would be sold retail for use on select Dell/HP/Lenovo OEM models, at reasonable prices. Furthermore, let's say that Apple would (from its rather massive war chest) pay OEMs more than Microsoft pays (at a ratio of 2:1 or perhaps 3:1) in "co-marketing" money in order to promote OSX over Windows.
Any takers on how big of a brick Steve Ballmer would shit out at the news? As an alternate bet, how much time do you think it would take him to call those OEMs with dire threats?
(I know - impossible, etc etc... but now with Jobs gone, maybe not so impossible? It would certainly liven up the OS wars a bit, and would be fun to watch. As a bonus, I could stop having to bother with the PITA efforts I usually expend in hackintoshing each new machine I get...)
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That's... that's just... My God.
I'll be in my bunk.
Re:What? (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, they sure did go out n their own with Zune. And with the WinPhone7. And with Windows, itself. Boy! That Window imaging model introduced with Vista, what a brilliant departure from Quartz!
I think the use of touch and gestures that was an original in MS labs really schooled Apple on how to make a human interface work - after years of "struggling in the dark" over at Infinite Loop.
Microsoft's pioneering work on App stores is also not to be overlooked.
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If you need nothing new, don't upgrade until you do due to driver support.
I keep various XP and 7 VMs and install them for customers, but have no use for either as a primary OS. Ubuntu does fine for that.