Topic: Windows 8 Is Coming

[trapeze]

LINK

"That fish is staring at me and mocking me when I'm trying to get things done." (That quote can be found at the 12:55 mark of the video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qIMuJTrxuhQ#!

Me? I don't think I'm switching back from Apple for this.

The most important message I want you to understand is this: Windows 8 is not Windows.  Although Microsoft calls it Windows, and a lot of Windows code may still be present under the hood, Windows 8 is a completely new operating system in every way that matters to users.  It looks different, it works differently, and it forces you to re-learn much of what you know today about computers.  From a user perspective, Microsoft Windows is being killed this fall and replaced by an entirely new OS that has a Windows 7 emulator tacked onto it.

[trapeze]

Quote from above (incredibly long and detailed) article about the impending release of Windows 8:

There's a range of possible outcomes from the Windows 8 launch:  

1. Windows users adopt Windows 8 enthusiastically.  I turn out to be a whiner.  Most Windows users don't miss the Start menu, and they fall all over Windows 8 in glee.  Microsoft gets a nice revenue bump from all the upgrade sales, and the Windows licensees, sensing big opportunities, jump in with great new convertible tablet designs that make the iPad look tired.  App developers create astounding new Metro programs that make things like Office and Photoshop obsolete.  Microsoft's online services become dominant because of their ties to Metro.  The aura of success around Windows 8 drives increasing sales of Windows Phone, rescuing Nokia from irrelevance.  Android tablet is obliterated, and sales of Android phones stall out as customers start to choose Windows Phone instead.  The big Asian phone companies recommit to Windows Phone and move their best engineering teams onto it.  Wall Street analysts short Apple's stock, declaring the era of iEverything over.

2. Windows users cling to Windows 7 tenaciously.  In this scenario, Windows 8 becomes the new Vista.  Microsoft's anticipated revenue from Windows 8 upgrades does not materialize, hurting the company's stock price and forcing layoffs to maintain earnings.  Microsoft's hardware partners are left with big stockpiles of unsalable Windows 8 PCs which they have to write down.  This accelerates the share growth of the Asian PC makers, who can best withstand a price war.  HP kills its PC division, and Dell is in deep trouble.  Developers who bet on Metro have to live on canned tuna and string cheese.  Nokia, stuck with a minority platform that European operators don't want to carry, wrestles with huge cash flow problems.

3. Windows collapses.  Millions of Windows users, disenchanted with the changes in Windows 8, decide to switch to some other computing platform.  Microsoft's revenues drop alarmingly, and Windows 8 is labeled a failure, causing even more customers to migrate away in a self-perpetuating collapse of the Windows installed base.  Windows Phone is swept aside, turning Nokia into the "Finnish RIM".  Microsoft survives as a fragment selling Office and some server software.

The interesting thing about these scenarios is that the Windows installed base will choose the winner.  If the Windows users are enthusiastic, Microsoft prospers.  If they're passive, Microsoft suffers.  If they turn negative. Microsoft dies a gruesome death.  So you'd think that Microsoft would do everything in its power to make current Windows users feel comfortable and excited about moving to Windows 8.  Instead, they're being confronted with deliberate incompatibilities, indifference toward their needs, and a preview campaign for Windows 8 that has already disenchanted some of the most enthusiastic Windows users.

[trapeze]

From the article:

If Start is still there, Windows users could live for years without learning much about Metro.  But with Start gone, Windows users will have to use bits of Metro now, and Microsoft believes they'll naturally embrace it once they've been forced to use it.

Sounds a lot like O'BongoCare.

[trapeze]

Here's a feature that is custom designed to win friends and influence people:

Speaking of miscommunication, Microsoft didn't clearly tell users that the Windows 8 preview is a one-way installation.  The word "preview" implies to many people an advanced sample that you can play with for a while and then toss aside.  But unless you have the original installation disks that came with your computer, the Windows 8 preview replaces your current OS and can't be removed.  Even if you do have those disks, on many PCs (including mine) the factory install disks wipe the hard drive and do a new install from scratch, deleting all your files and applications.

Yeah, that would make me happy. Happy to get a firearm and go looking for someone to ventilate.

[trapeze]

It is absurdly difficult to turn off Windows 8.  So difficult that there are entire web pages devoted to tutorials on how to do it.  CNET wrote an unintentionally hilarious article detailing four different ways to turn off Windows 8, each more baroque than the last.

So...I guess what I'm thinking here is, "Have fun with that new OS."

[Libertas]

Everytime MicroSuck tries something new it is full of glitches.  I still have service packs up the wazoo for XP.  A new OS?!

 

I might have to buy Apple stock and an Apple machine!

[Pandora]

Here's a feature that is custom designed to win friends and influence people:

Speaking of miscommunication, Microsoft didn't clearly tell users that the Windows 8 preview is a one-way installation.  The word "preview" implies to many people an advanced sample that you can play with for a while and then toss aside.  But unless you have the original installation disks that came with your computer, the Windows 8 preview replaces your current OS and can't be removed.  Even if you do have those disks, on many PCs (including mine) the factory install disks wipe the hard drive and do a new install from scratch, deleting all your files and applications.

Yeah, that would make me happy. Happy to get a firearm and go looking for someone to ventilate.

Oh sht.  There are computer-days when I feel like that right now.

Nothing like shoving a product down yer throat and then offering to help ya swallow.

[AlanS]

I'm going against the grain here. I'm not really fond of MS products, but I refuse to pay a higher price for the same hardware to do the same thing my cheaper Windows unit does. But then again, I have learned some about computers and am able to keep my machine (laptop) clean and trouble free.

Now the desktop at home that gets used by the wife and kids is a whole 'nuther problem. They refuse to listen and seem to be hardheaded.

[Alphabet Soup]

Windows 8 is an OS for the illiterate. I've heard every comparison from Microsoft Bob to the huge flatscreen in the movie "Idiocracy". What Microsquish doesn't (or is unwilling) to recognize is that it simply will not work for business. Who ever heard of suicide by software?

[charlesoakwood]

My desk top operates XP Pro flawlessly.  XP Pro is still in use by
some of the largest medical centers and science centers around.
I'm sure there is some arcane application that requires the latest
system but not I.
 

[AlanS]

My desk top operates XP Pro flawlessly.  XP Pro is still in use by
some of the largest medical centers and science centers around.
I'm sure there is some arcane application that requires the latest
system but not I.
  

My last laptop ran XP flawlessly, too. That is until it didn't past the smoke test one day (plugged it in and it started smokin'). Can't blame that on the software, though. The new one came with Windows 7. It works, so I use it.

[charlesoakwood]

Mine started making a little extra sound then stinking, I replaced power supply
fan and the fan at the back inside of the case.  It stopped stinking and it's still
going.  

[trapeze]

I have a Windows emulation program for my Apple computers because I have a few proprietary (business) programs that run on Windows exclusively.

I run XP on both of them. I do not use the Windows OS to access the internet in any way so I do not have any anti-virus or firewall stuff installed. I also have not updated the XP OS...no security updates, nothing.

It is my belief that if I don't have any of that stuff installed and continually adding updates (code bloat) that the XP OS will run fast indefinitely. So far, after several years, the theory is holding. I have not had to go through what I used to have to do when I had Windows-only machines. That would be the annual (and sometimes semi-annual) backing up of data, formatting the main hard drive and then reinstalling all programs and data and then waiting while the OS installed endless updates. I would have to do that to restore the machine to some semblance of normalcy. Without that process the machine would spiral down and down into slower and slower operation.

The slower operation would happen inevitably and in spite of all known and necessary precautions such as running and keeping up to date anti-virus programs and subscriptions...running regular disc defrags...running auxiliary programs such as CCleaner, Spybot Search & Destroy and various other registry utilities...having the latest and greatest firewall...and so on and so on.

Knowing that I could not completely divorce myself from Windows (for reasons stated above) I waited until Apple developed hardware and an OS capable of running the Windows OS and programs. Since then, using my plan, I have been able to use XP without any of the previous hassles. No anti-virus. No defrags. No nothing.

It works for me.

[Glock32]

Windows 8 looks like it has the potential of being the next Windows Vista, which was itself the next Windows ME.  I still recall when Windows was just a graphical shell that ran under DOS.  I still revert to the command line for lots of things.  I'll do the same on OS X, which is itself largely a reskin of BSD.

I don't see myself switching to Windows 8.  I have very few complaints about Windows 7, actually.  I have been running it on a solid state disk for about three years and have not encountered the gradual accumulation of bloat and sluggishness that was often the hallmark of a Windows installation. It's very fast to boot up and remains snappy.  Regardless of your operating system I highly recommend a SSD.

[AlanS]

I have not had to go through what I used to have to do when I had Windows-only machines. That would be the annual (and sometimes semi-annual) backing up of data, formatting the main hard drive and then reinstalling all programs and data and then waiting while the OS installed endless updates. I would have to do that to restore the machine to some semblance of normalcy. Without that process the machine would spiral down and down into slower and slower operation.

Doing a file backup would be smart just because we have hardware failures, not just software crashes. See my above laptop smoke test failure. My laptop is 3 yrs old and I haven't had to format the hard drive yet. I do defrag about every other month if I think about it. My anti-virus is so minute, it doesn't slow my computer down. I don't run all of the the CCleaner and antispyware crap. The only protection I have is 1) Avast Anti-virus, 2) Window Security Essentials, and Zone Alarm Firewall. I'm far from a computer expert, but I would think a firewall would be a pretty good idea even on a Mac.

My point being, my laptop is 3 yrs old and I haven't really done squat and it's still fast. And it's still cheaper than a Mac.

[trapeze]

I am pretty sure that Macs have a firewall of sorts built in. File backups are automatic with a Mac. I plug in an aux drive, the Mac asks me if I want the drive to be a backup, I tell it yes and after that it takes care of itself.

I am not advocating that anyone switch to Mac. That was my solution when I got fed up with XP. I have never used Windows 7 but my understanding is that, unlike previous versions, it stays fast.

And yeah, Macs are expensive but I have owned quite a few Windows based laptops and none of them stood up to even very good treatment for more than two years before they fell apart from what I guess can only be described as minimal use and/or abuse. I am well into my fourth year with my MacBook. It's laser cut from a single slab of aluminum with a glass screen. The screen did, in fact, die a few months ago so I replaced it. The keys are beginning to show signs of wear and if I wasn't a touch typist that might be a problem. I confess that I did upgrade the hard drive and memory (by myself, of course) last year because I needed the space and since I had it opened up it seemed smart to add memory at the same time. At any rate, the MacBook while being the most expensive laptop I have ever owned is also hands down the best computer I have ever owned (well, except for the iMac).

Perhaps we are all going to be using tablets in the future. That seems to be the big picture with Windows 8. If that's the case then I will probably get an iPad at some point. I have resisted getting one because I didn't want to be an early adopter. I will wait until the technology is proven...completely proven and probably somewhat cheaper...before I get one. And that will, of course, include a solid state drive which is a good thing.

I do scratch my head at Microsoft, though. They are taking a big gamble with what they are doing to Windows. And they are (as stated in the above linked article) almost certainly pissing off a large segment of their established customer base in the process. Perhaps Bill Gates is losing his touch. Don't know.

[Alphabet Soup]

If not for company-supplied laptops I would own a Mac. But when your computer is essentially free who am I to complain?

I still have Random's laptop which I use to surf the net. I learned how to create Ghost images a long time ago so if anything goes haywire with the Internet Surf Machine (contains no data) it takes 14 minutes to restore it and off I go again.

All data is contained (and duplicated) on external hard drives which are shielded from the Internet and routinely synchronized. For really sensitive surfing (or espionage) I use a Linux CD - I just run from the CD. There's no personal identification associated with me so it is completely anonymous.

I insist that these machines do what I WANT THEM TO DO - not what some pinhead in Redmond wants for me. So I think I'll skip 8 altogether. Better luck next time Microsquish.

[AlanS]

For really sensitive surfing (or espionage) I use a Linux CD - I just run from the CD. There's no personal identification associated with me so it is completely anonymous.

I've tried that, but haven't had much luck on my laptop. Which version of Linux are you running?

[Alphabet Soup]

For really sensitive surfing (or espionage) I use a Linux CD - I just run from the CD. There's no personal identification associated with me so it is completely anonymous.

I've tried that, but haven't had much luck on my laptop. Which version of Linux are you running?

I actually stopped at about 9.04. I kept trying to upgrade in the hopes that they would support aircards but finally gave up.