It's About Liberty: A Conservative Forum
Topics => Science, Technology, & Medicine => Topic started by: trapeze on April 16, 2013, 07:26:43 PM
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Okay, that was just bait. Here is the story: (http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/04/16/windows-its-over-tech-site-declares/?intcmp=features)
Calling the latest operating system a “failure” and Microsoft’s leaders “idiots,” a top tech website has proclaimed the PC era over. Windows is coming to a dead end, they say.
PC shipments collapsed in the last quarter by almost 14 percent, analysts with IDC said last week, marking the biggest drop in sales since the firm started tracking them 19 years ago. The problem, said ZDNet’s well respected Steven J. Vaughn-Nichols, isn’t the designs from the likes of HP and Dell or the size of consumer’s wallets. It’s Microsoft.
And here's another one: (http://www.zdnet.com/windows-its-over-7000013964/)
Most people in our recent debate over the future of Windows 8 thought that the operating system could be saved. I'm sure many people in 1491 thought that the Earth was flat, too.
The very day the debate came to an end, this headline appeared: IDC: Global PC shipments plunge in worst drop in a generation. Sure, a lot of that was due to the growth of tablets and smartphones and the rise of the cloud, but Windows 8 gets to take a lot of the blame too. After all, the debate wasn't whether or not Windows 8 was any good. It's not. The debate was over whether it could be saved.
Indeed even Microsoft defenders are no longer talking about Windows 8 in terms of a stand-alone project but instead they're spinning it as Windows 8 being "more like a living organism, made partly from familiar bits that have evolved over the last two decades, with several new strands of DNA tossed in. It’s due to be updated for more often, and it’s part of a much larger hardware-apps-services ecosystem that is also changing quickly."
Please. Changing too fast for the user-base was what turned many former Windows fans into Windows 8 haters. Some people think I've put too much emphasis on Windows 8's dismal Metro interface for why Windows 8 has failed. I don't think so. This isn't a matter of judging a book by its cover; the user interface (UI) is everything for computer users. If the UI alienates users, you lose them. It's as simple as that.
When I was part of the PC world I read Ziff Davis mags all the time. I thought that they were one of the best places to get the straight info on all things PC. They must absolutely hate Microsoft for putting ZD into extinction mode as regards anything about PCs.
Microsoft could revive Windows 7 sales, or make Aero Windows 8.x's interface, but from everything we can see about Windows 8.1, aka Blue, that's not what they're doing. Instead, Microsoft seems to be doubling down on Metro.
Idiots.
Witnessing death throes of an icon.
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It ought to die. I'd like to help kill it myself. With my bare hands. Laughing maniacally.
Gunsmith got me a new laptop because the other one WOULD NOT switch to AC power half the time and this one has '8 on it and it does stuff that I do not wish nor purposely ask it to do.
And, trap! not one damn word about a Mac.
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And, trap! not one damn word about a Mac.
*me laughing maniacally*
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Say a prayer for my good friend B. He left a stable and upwardly mobile job in communications because his skills were coveted by Microsoft, and they courted him with a salary his old employer could not match. He's a super-smart guy and a great sales manager. He didn't believe there was any risk in joining a behemoth like Microsoft. I haven't spoken with him about negative press because I know that he knows that everything rides on the success of Windows 8, and I don't want to bring him down when he needs to have a positive attitude. But I can tell he's been stressed.
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Poor guy. Not quite as bad as being hired by Fisker Automotive, say, about three months ago but still...I wouldn't go near the place if I was in computer/software tech. Elvis has already left the building.
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And, trap! not one damn word about a Mac.
*me laughing maniacally*
Yah, fine. Just do it quietly.
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Windows 7. I have an ATT Air Card, recently had an issue that was politely resolved, they give good customer service. Anyway, during the course of conversation it was said that Windows 8 will not work with their Air Cards but they were working on the software and the problem would soon be resolved.
Not networking with ATT to assure the two products are compatible, how stupid is that? Incredible. Windows 7 is OK, I'd sooner have XP Pro. I'm ready for a Mac. Maybe with this failure someone new will step into the gap.
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I was recently pushed to Windows 7 at work, I don't like it as much as XP Pro. It is not as intuitive. And I only hear bad stuff about Win 8.
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Microsoft isn't going anywhere. They have far, far too many enterprise products that are invisible to the consumer user but mission critical to business users. I have no argument about Windows 8. What little bit of it I've used was painfully bad. I think they were trying to bring the mobile device paradigm onto the desktop PC and the resulting effort feels forced at best. I actually have had very few complaints about Windows 7. I think if MS wants to save their desktop OS they should just evolve with Windows 7 rather than having attempted to invent something entirely new. It's not unprecedented. Intel's Pentium 4 became a dead end technology. The current Core processor family is an evolution of the Pentium 3's architecture.
In another sense though, the PC "won" the battle from a hardware perspective. Things converged on Intel's X86 instruction set. Even the PC's arch rival, the Mac, is for all intents and purposes a PC put into Apple's aesthetic with a proprietary flavor of the BSD operating system. That observation may generate a big "So what?" nowadays, but at one time the Macolytes were enjoying the smell of their own farts while espousing the awesomeness of Motorola's RISC architecture.
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I have Win8, bites the big one, mostly those demonic swipe thingies that have overridden the 97 shell now and are once more making me curse like...when I was a sailor! ::cussing::
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I have 7 on my laptop and have no problems. Just bought the wife a new desktop with 8. It REALLY sucks a big one. The worst case of code bloat I've ever seen.
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I have Win8, bites the big one, mostly those demonic swipe thingies that have overridden the 97 shell now and are once more making me curse like...when I was a sailor! ::cussing::
Did you try the classic shell (start menu)?
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I have Win8, bites the big one, mostly those demonic swipe thingies that have overridden the 97 shell now and are once more making me curse like...when I was a sailor! ::cussing::
Did you try the classic shell (start menu)?
Yup.
Blasted swipe keeps invading!
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Those of you who are stuck with 8 and hating it, you should try putting Linux on a USB flash drive and booting up off of it to see if you like it. You can do that without committing to any changes on your system. I use one for work with Ubuntu on it. It's handy because it gives me a portable OS and if I come across a machine suspected of containing some sort of malware I needn't bother with its installed OS.
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OK, I download Linux to the thumb drive, I can do that but I how do I boot from the thumb instead of the installed hard drive?
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On most systems made in the past few years, if you repeatedly hit F12 when the system boots it should take you to a boot menu where you can specify the boot device.
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I'm somewhat clueless about this...do I download the 12.10 64-bit desktop version from here (http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop) onto a flash drive and then start up & hit F12 and it is going to look like...what?
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They're recommending the 64-bit version if your system is new enough to support UEFI. If your computer is a couple of years old the 32-bit version will work fine.
What it will do is boot separately from your installed operating system and you will experience the fully functional Ubuntu desktop. I also utilize this "OS on a stick" for anonymous computing. When you use it the only tracker is your IP address - which can be masked, spoofed, and hijacked.
When you're done you shut down the PC, remove the stick and there is zero evidence that you were ever there.
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Huh, nice. I have a new laptop I got back in December so I would think the 64-bit should work. I'll give it a go tonight! ::thumbsup::
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This is getting better all the time. Would you explain, masked, spoofed, and hijacked?
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Take a look here, this will make it much easier for you: http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/ (http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/)
You can download this tool in Windows and it will prep the USB device for you, allowing you to specify the ISO file of your chosen Linux distribution, or it can even download it for you. Just get yourself a cheap USB drive (I would get at least 8 GB in size) and turn it into a portable OS that you can use on just about any machine.
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Those of you who are stuck with 8 and hating it, you should try putting Linux on a USB flash drive and booting up off of it to see if you like it. You can do that without committing to any changes on your system. I use one for work with Ubuntu on it. It's handy because it gives me a portable OS and if I come across a machine suspected of containing some sort of malware I needn't bother with its installed OS.
Actually I have had very good luck with the Puppy distro (http://puppylinux.org/main/Overview%20and%20Getting%20Started.htm) for USB key booting - small enough that it runs on even really old stuff. You can also burn it to a CD and boot from that..
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I might be a computer retard. G's link wasn't working for me as far as triggering the download. My laptop doesn't let me choose where the put the damned thing, I moved the downloaded file to my thumb drive for the windows prep file and click on it and it bombs out and says I need to download again, I try to delete the old file and it says the gaddamned things is running. I finally get all that deleted and go the my link, well I killed that noise as it wants to download almost a full 8GB on a 8GB thumb drive. I go the Weisshaupt's link and it has all this jargon about ISO ans stuff that makes me realize what a truly retarded tool I am and I just pick the first one and the download says it is 133MB and it is taking forever and a day to download (I was sucking that 8GB file faster!) so I killed it. I think I'll go outside and scream at the globalwarming piled up on my lawn, it might be more productive for me!
::gaah::
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I ditched the iso to usb file, it just doesn't work. Trying the universal usb installer, click it, hit yes to allow changes and it seems like it did something now nothing whatsoever is going on...
I h8 computers!
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Maybe its this fat format crap, wtf is that? :'(
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I ditched the iso to usb file, it just doesn't work. Trying the universal usb installer, click it, hit yes to allow changes and it seems like it did something now nothing whatsoever is going on...
I h8 computers!
Okay, I like the Ubuntu kernal and package system, so this is what you do
Download:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/puppylinux/puppy-5.2.8/lupu-528.005.iso (http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/puppylinux/puppy-5.2.8/lupu-528.005.iso)
Then use a CD/DVD burning tool like Nero to burn this .iso ( an ISO is just a file copy of a complete harddisk) to a CD.
Then boot form the CD. The CD will then present a menu that allows you to just boot and USE the Puppy copy on the CD, or to create a Bootable USB.. and from there is should be relatively easy .
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Maybe its this fat format crap, wtf is that? :'(
Oh man, Trap must be laughing his A** off at that.
FAT is the really old MS-DOS way of "formatting" a Hard-drive. NTFS is the newer (and now more common) way. They are just different ways of organizing the filing cabinets. However some OS's prefer one or the other, so if you are trying to dual boot ( I don't recommend it) and have two operating systems on the same hard drive using "Grub" or similar to select which one you want at boot- you may need both a "FAT" partition and a "NTFS" one for windows. In my experience Dual Boot causes more problems than it solves-- and its better to use an Virtual Machine emulator to run the OS within your primary OS ( as trap does) if you NEED that functionality.
If All you want is some basic Microsoft compatible word processing, web browser and basic mulitiedia tools, Puppy will do you just fine. One you get the hang of getting basic puppy loaded, you can go look for a Puplet that specifically meets your exact needs. (better multimedia suite or whatever)
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You're funny Weisshaupt, a real hoot, you say it is easy...
So now I am off the usb and have to burn a CD? ::facepalm::
I don't know what burning tool I have on the laptop, no Nero or other Caesar I know that, and the old one on my decrepit desktop always wants to take all day to format a cd and then when I want to put something I want on it it goes nuts on me, which is why I haven't touched a cd in eons.
See what you have to work with?!
::bus::
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Laptop has something called CyberLink Power2Go8. I presume I can do a data disc cd.
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Laptop has something called CyberLink Power2Go8. I presume I can do a data disc cd.
According to the Internet this is a CD-burning program capable of "burning" an ISO image. What I would try is to download the ISO from the link that Weisshaupt provided (take note of where it saves the file to). Then right-click on the ISO file and choose "Open with" and select the Pwer2Go8 program (make sure you have a blank disc in the tray).
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The ubuntu application is on the thumb drive, the lupu link is still downloading (64kb/sec? ::falldownshocked:: ), between the thumb drive and cd one of these suckers will have to work!
I'll let ya know. Thanks to all for the help, I know I am not the easiest person to talk techie to!
And yes, the cd program file is ready to go and a cd in the tray, once download is done I'll open with it. ::thumbsup::
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FAT is file allocation table. I know what it stands for but I'm not a tech so that's as far as it goes.
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::facepalm:: For my attempt I'm going to the library, maybe Marian will walk me through it.
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It's official I guess, I am hopeless.
Got the cd set up, can't get the machine to boot off it.
Went to the ubuntu on thumb drive, it looked like the set up part worked, but I get an old dos-looking error message that says stick the windows disc in (up yours Bill!) and all you can do is hit enter, then it gives you a screen that asks you to choose to start windows 8 or ubuntu, I choose ubuntu and it craps itself and kicks me back to that demonic dos message.
I guess I just suffer the scourge of the win8 swipemonster and learn to like it.
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It's official I guess, I am hopeless.
Got the cd set up, can't get the machine to boot off it.
Went to the ubuntu on thumb drive, it looked like the set up part worked, but I get an old dos-looking error message that says stick the windows disc in (up yours Bill!) and all you can do is hit enter, then it gives you a screen that asks you to choose to start windows 8 or ubuntu, I choose ubuntu and it craps itself and kicks me back to that demonic dos message.
I guess I just suffer the scourge of the win8 swipemonster and learn to like it.
LOL. You are officially qualified to be one of the users my IT department supports :). Here is every day of my life:
Nick Burns, Your Company's Computer Guy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfKL6RM8hsY#)
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Heh, I'm hell with a mouse.
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It's official I guess, I am hopeless.
Got the cd set up, can't get the machine to boot off it.
Went to the ubuntu on thumb drive, it looked like the set up part worked, but I get an old dos-looking error message that says stick the windows disc in (up yours Bill!) and all you can do is hit enter, then it gives you a screen that asks you to choose to start windows 8 or ubuntu, I choose ubuntu and it craps itself and kicks me back to that demonic dos message.
I guess I just suffer the scourge of the win8 swipemonster and learn to like it.
LOL. You are officially qualified to be one of the users my IT department supports :). Here is every day of my life:
Nick Burns, Your Company's Computer Guy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfKL6RM8hsY#)
Aw, hell; after he said "slash" the second time, I'd've moooooved without being asked.
Most of the language on this thread looks to me like blahblahblah, screen, blahblahblah, enter, blahblahblah, download, blahblahblah .......
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She's cute, I'm not, I'd just get a slap to the head.
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Take a look here, this will make it much easier for you: http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/ (http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/)
You can download this tool in Windows and it will prep the USB device for you, allowing you to specify the ISO file of your chosen Linux distribution, or it can even download it for you. Just get yourself a cheap USB drive (I would get at least 8 GB in size) and turn it into a portable OS that you can use on just about any machine.
Awesome, tried this again, Norton blocked it because it contains a trojan. ::)
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LINK (http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/330c8b8e-b66b-11e2-93ba-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2Se0uPT8H) to the Financial Times.
Microsoft is preparing to reverse course over key elements of its Windows 8 operating system, marking one of the most prominent admissions of failure for a new mass-market consumer product since Coca-Cola’s New Coke fiasco nearly 30 years ago.
“Key aspects” of how the software is used will be changed when Microsoft releases an updated version of the operating system this year, Tami Reller, head of marketing and finance for the Windows business, said in an interview with the Financial Times. Referring to difficulties many users have had with mastering the software, she added: “The learning curve is definitely real.”
This turn of events is not without some small amount of gloating...
The combination PC and tablet software was widely panned by reviewers and has been blamed by some analysts for worsening the slump in sales that has rocked the PC industry. Even before its launch, Tim Cook, chief executive of Apple, said Windows 8 would be like combining a toaster and a fridge – something that, while technically possible, was “probably not going to be pleasing to the user”.
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I wonder if software engineers at Miscrosoft wear disguises to and from the office and claim to be anything but a Microsoft software engineer to people? I'm guessing they'd rather admit being a JurnoTard, a lobbyist or a sanitation engineer...or maybe unemployed...anything but a Miscrosoft software engineer!
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I wonder if software engineers at Miscrosoft wear disguises to and from the office and claim to be anything but a Microsoft software engineer to people? I'm guessing they'd rather admit being a JurnoTard, a lobbyist or a sanitation engineer...or maybe unemployed...anything but a Miscrosoft software engineer!
Maybe piano players in houses of prostitution.
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I wonder if software engineers at Miscrosoft wear disguises to and from the office and claim to be anything but a Microsoft software engineer to people? I'm guessing they'd rather admit being a JurnoTard, a lobbyist or a sanitation engineer...or maybe unemployed...anything but a Miscrosoft software engineer!
Maybe piano players in houses of prostitution.
Anything but the truth will do!
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I wonder if software engineers at Miscrosoft wear disguises to and from the office and claim to be anything but a Microsoft software engineer to people? I'm guessing they'd rather admit being a JurnoTard, a lobbyist or a sanitation engineer...or maybe unemployed...anything but a Miscrosoft software engineer!
Maybe piano players in houses of prostitution.
Anything but the truth will do!
You ain't kidding. The new laptop took a notion to drop off the wi-fi network last night. There USED to be a little PC icon on the old laptop taskbar that could be used to "repair" this sort of thing, but that's not the way '8 is, and I could not find the correct place on Control Panel with which to fix it.
The blue smoke is finally clearing out of here now.
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I wonder if software engineers at Miscrosoft wear disguises to and from the office and claim to be anything but a Microsoft software engineer to people? I'm guessing they'd rather admit being a JurnoTard, a lobbyist or a sanitation engineer...or maybe unemployed...anything but a Miscrosoft software engineer!
Maybe piano players in houses of prostitution.
Anything but the truth will do!
You ain't kidding. The new laptop took a notion to drop off the wi-fi network last night. There USED to be a little PC icon on the old laptop taskbar that could be used to "repair" this sort of thing, but that's not the way '8 is, and I could not find the correct place on Control Panel with which to fix it.
The blue smoke is finally clearing out of here now.
::hysterical::
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Yet another article (http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/05/31/microsoft-aims-to-simplify-with-windows-81/?intcmp=features) that sort of explains how MS is going to tweak Win8 so that everyone won't hate it as much as they do right now. This is really a pretty good idea and I can think of so many other applications for it. Certainly there is a big market for making gonorrhea so that people don't hate it as much. And root canals...they could be made more fun.
With the release of Windows 8 seven months ago, Microsoft introduced a startup screen displaying applications in a mosaic of interactive tiles instead of static icons. The shift agitated many users who wanted the option to launch the operating system in a mode that resembled the old setup. That choice will be provided in Windows 8.1.
However, Microsoft isn't bringing back the start menu on the lower left corner of the screen. Windows has offered the button for accessing all programs and settings on every previous version of the operating system since 1995. Microsoft believes the startup screen replaces the need for a button, but its omission has ranked among the biggest gripes about Windows 8.
Oh, yes...joy. This will certainly make it all better.
Spend millions on polls and focus groups to find out why your target market loathes your premier product and then pretty much ignore what they are telling you because they are stupid and haven't figured out the awesomeness of Win8 but they will soon 'cause, Microsoft or something.
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Eight's on my list. I used XP until I was dragged kicking and screaming to Seven.
I still favor XP and have it on my old IBM. I this laptop with Seven breaks I would
seriously consider paying to have my HD reformatted and then loaded with Seven.
While doing that shopping I would certainly consider the cost effectiveness of a Mac.
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Yet another article (http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/05/31/microsoft-aims-to-simplify-with-windows-81/?intcmp=features) that sort of explains how MS is going to tweak Win8 so that everyone won't hate it as much as they do right now. This is really a pretty good idea and I can think of so many other applications for it. Certainly there is a big market for making gonorrhea so that people don't hate it as much. And root canals...they could be made more fun.
With the release of Windows 8 seven months ago, Microsoft introduced a startup screen displaying applications in a mosaic of interactive tiles instead of static icons. The shift agitated many users who wanted the option to launch the operating system in a mode that resembled the old setup. That choice will be provided in Windows 8.1.
However, Microsoft isn't bringing back the start menu on the lower left corner of the screen. Windows has offered the button for accessing all programs and settings on every previous version of the operating system since 1995. Microsoft believes the startup screen replaces the need for a button, but its omission has ranked among the biggest gripes about Windows 8.
Oh, yes...joy. This will certainly make it all better.
Spend millions on polls and focus groups to find out why your target market loathes your premier product and then pretty much ignore what they are telling you because they are stupid and haven't figured out the awesomeness of Win8 but they will soon 'cause, Microsoft or something.
I find that to be one of the biggest aggravations, the lack of the traditional start-up. The tiles are a major pain in the ass as well, and I had to hunt for the "shut down".
Who the hell ever thought this was better because new needs a beatin'.
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Try Linux. All you need is a cheap USB thumb drive and you can boot it up and try it out without making any changes to your computer.
www.pendrivelinux.com (http://www.pendrivelinux.com)
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I'm ready, oops, thumb's too small, Monday then. I referred back to http://itsaboutliberty.com/index.php/topic,8123.msg96076.html#msg96076 (http://itsaboutliberty.com/index.php/topic,8123.msg96076.html#msg96076,) and scroll to 13, nothing ventured nothing gained.
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So, revisiting my past failures I see...so that's how its going to be, eh?! ::slapfight::
Re: Trap's post - I note they don't say squat about that nasty charm/swipe/whateverthehellitis thingy that invades from the right! Who the frick likes that crap? I know, Trap...Mac! Next time...next time!
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So, revisiting my past failures I see...so that's how its going to be, eh?! ::slapfight::
Re: Trap's post - I note they don't say squat about that nasty charm/swipe/whateverthehellitis thingy that invades from the right! Who the frick likes that crap? I know, Trap...Mac! Next time...next time!
That can be turned off and don't ask me how; I found it by chance when I was hunting around for a fix of the printer issue.
eta: Okay, I looked and found. Here's how, I think:
Cursor to upper right corner of screen until vertical, five-icon list appears. Click on "search". When the screen comes up, click on "settings" (one of the choices below), in the box, type in "touchpad" and enter. "Synaptics Touchpad V"-something" will appear in a list on the left; click on that and a menu-box will appear with "turn off" as one of the options.
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So, revisiting my past failures I see...so that's how its going to be, eh?! ::slapfight::
Re: Trap's post - I note they don't say squat about that nasty charm/swipe/whateverthehellitis thingy that invades from the right! Who the frick likes that crap? I know, Trap...Mac! Next time...next time!
That can be turned off and don't ask me how; I found it by chance when I was hunting around for a fix of the printer issue.
eta: Okay, I looked and found. Here's how, I think:
Cursor to upper right corner of screen until vertical, five-icon list appears. Click on "search". When the screen comes up, click on "settings" (one of the choices below), in the box, type in "touchpad" and enter. "Synaptics Touchpad V"-something" will appear in a list on the left; click on that and a menu-box will appear with "turn off" as one of the options.
No shyt? I'll try that as soon as I get home! Thanks! ::whoohoo::
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You must be using an external mouse to be able to disable the touchpad. I stumbled into Mouse properties and saw I could suspend right edge swipe, perhaps that will solve my issue. ::praying::
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You must be using an external mouse to be able to disable the touchpad. I stumbled into Mouse properties and saw I could suspend right edge swipe, perhaps that will solve my issue. ::praying::
No, I'm using the laptop's touchpad.
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You must be using an external mouse to be able to disable the touchpad. I stumbled into Mouse properties and saw I could suspend right edge swipe, perhaps that will solve my issue. ::praying::
No, I'm using the laptop's touchpad.
On mine there is only enable or disable, if I disable the touchpad goes dead. Anyway, the way I did it seems to be working. What a system, eh?! ::unknowncomic::