I think it is amazing a company as big as MS has converged work station, tablet, phone and Xbox One UIs in such a short amount of time. Not saying I like all the changes, just amazed at the short amount of time it has taken.
I cant really cosign this one, by converging they shoehorned 2 different UI's into 1 OS, and dont seem to have given any one of the three groups what they really wanted.
I'm not stating they did it well, just saying that for those 4 different platforms (excluding xbox one until release) they already have stuff "in production". The ship has sailed, and they put the farm on it.
I, for one, love the combination. When I'm coding, I'm nearly only in desktop mode. Browser with 20 open tabs, developer environments, consoles, the whole shebang.
Then, when I want a break, I hit start and open Twitter or fullscreen IE10. I'm suddenly on a tablet (with a dock that's always attached, but ok). My ongoing work is still there but hidden from my view and my mind. I stop using the mousepad, and browse with touch only. IE10 has a really excellent user experience on a touch screen, it makes Chrome on Android tablets feel ridiculously ancient.
Then, when I'm done with HN, private mail, and the weather, I hit Win+D and poof, my tablet became a PC again.
It may be a coincidence, but Microsoft essentially made a two-mode OS that precisely matches the two ways I use a computer.
I think he means admin'ing your servers from CLI. Using the metro UI in Windows Server 2012 will make you want to hurl yourself out a window to avoid having to do it again.
But unless you plan on just using remote powershell to manage that server, you'll need the Remote Server Admin Tools package that supports Server 2012 --and it's only available for Windows 8+.
The 2012 Server Manager gui is very nice. When I have to work on 'legacy' servers running 2008 R2 I miss it.
After all the negative buzz around Windows 8, I wanted to try for myself. So I walked in to a Microsoft store and sat down in front of a 27" touch screen...without even intending to, I constantly found myself touching. It feels incredibly natural!
(Not to say there aren't downsides to the OS as well. Just that I never thought I was missing out on touch until I tried it.)
Yes, but given that it's open-source I imagine if there was a back-door in it, someone would have found it by now. That said, they could purposefully have excluded security triggers for vulnerable kernel exploits which haven't been found yet... but as far as being some direct back-door in it by now I highly doubt that.
Yes and No. I honestly don't believe there are backdoors in SELinux but it still follows the same path of Truecrypt. A lot of privacy advocates are wary of Truecrypt despite being open source because:
1. No one has yet thoroughly audited the source codes. Its too large and complex that it warrants a good amount of time and money.
2. The identity of the founders/maintainers are unknown.
3. The binary offered for download cannot be efficiently verified to the source.
One of the things I have learned is that just because something is closed source, doesn't mean it has a backdoor and just because something is open source it doesn't mean it is secure. Always assume what you din't write is insecure and proceed accordingly.
Although the original code was published by the NSA, RedHat and several other groups and companies have been involved in SELinux development over the past 12+ years. The paranoia of having a backdoor in SELinux (very unlikely) has probably made it a more frequent target of audits compared to other parts of linux.
I clicked through to the live feed on http://channel9.msdn.com/ from the link there. I was right in time for the presenter to click on the new windows button which makes an incredibly jarring animation of tons of randomly colored tiles pop up over the screen. The presenter then says "not at all jarring ... not at all jarring". Sure, right, I think you need to get out of that reality distortion field - it's not working.
Have you actually used Windows Phone or Windows 8 for any length of time? The animations are very subtle on actual devices and work very well with the flat look.
Can't speak for the animations being screencasted across the internet via streaming video though which can introduce lag, jitter, FPS drops and artifacts, especially for fast moving scenes like animations. I'll reserve my judgment till I install the preview.
The full screen, multi-colored tile metro screen is subtle and not jarring? The one that pops up whenever you want to launch a new program, completely removing any context of what you are currently working on? Is that what you're actually saying?
The strange rotating 'subtle' animation you are trying to say makes up for this just makes it all the worse by putting completely unnecessary 'bling' all over a workstation.
I figured from your post that you were complaining about some new thing you noticed in Windows 8.1 from the live stream. Looks like I was mistaken and you were actually complaining about how Windows 8 has been since a couple of years which has been rehashed thousands of times on HN.
You're right, however MS thinks it needs tablet apps to get on the tablet train and one way to increase exposure is to make desktop users look at live tiles, however misguided that it maybe.
There is a setting in Windows 8.1 to boot straight to desktop to make it better on boot.
'Jarring' is different from 'subtle'. Jarring implies that the transition between states is abrupt and confusing, nothing about how obvious of a transition it is. In fact, in order to not be jarring, a transition should be very obvious to the user.
The metro interface can and will continue to be jarring when its allowed to change the contextual relevance on screen in situations where I may not want that.
It's the same reason why you sometimes walk into another room and ask "now what was I coming in here for?"
> and website owners can create separate Live Tiles that can be pinned to the Start Screen to access RSS feeds.
That little tidbit really stood out as interesting to me. I seriously hope that MS does this well, and I can have live tiles for all my favorite sites that actually update with their new content.
Is its function the exact same as pressing the Windows key (bringing up all the app tiles/metro UI thing)? I already do that whenever I want to start something. I tend to navigate using only my keyboard when possible, so when I open stuff up I just hit Windows key and start typing what I want ("chr" and then Enter would start Chrome, for example).
The only downside to the technique I use is that they separate Apps from Settings/Utilities (whatever word they use), so if I want control panel type stuff, I have to arrow down to that filter to see the search results that I want. I hope 8.1 consolidates that (or that there's an option to make it work that way)
Before today I was under the impression that the start button they were bringing back would be like the Windows 7 start button.
It's nice in remote desktop. When you aren't in full screen mode it was annoyingly difficult to get the mouse exactly on the single-pixel-or-two hot corner.
Bing integrated all over the place? Does Microsoft honestly think they'd lost enough market share that they are no longer viable candidates for antitrust lawsuits?
Obivously, and I'd argue rightfully. Microsoft HAS lost market share, especially if you include tablet/smartphone OSs in the mix. I cannot seem to find it now, but not too long ago I ran across a survey which included portable devices into their calculations of OS marketshare percentages, and determined that Microsoft now has a minority share of the global OS market when those numbers are included.
Microsoft still dominates on the desktop, but the desktop doesn't matter like it once did. I doubt that the government will express much interest here, and rightfully so.
I doubt even the EU will act against the only meager competition to Google's absolute dominance. Not to mention that devices with Google as default are the majority these days because of iOS, Android on phones and tablets with declining PC sales. Bing is only default in IE which in nullified in EU because of the browser ballot, Google pays off Mozilla and some OEMs to have it as the default.
I guess I'm a little shocked at how willingly everyone just thinks this is ok. Bundling like this is not in the best interest of the consumer. Why would interested in artificially inflating a company's market share in an unrelated space because you forget to disable it?
Are you going to be ok if Microsoft introduces ad tiles in Metro?
Tightly integrated products have many benefits to consumers. Bing isn't being integrated (solely) to "inflate" its market share, it's being integrated to improve the Windows user's experience. Google doesn't even necessarily support all of the APIs that are needed for the integration, and you can always use it via a browser if desired.
Yeah, what if Apple force-bundled their maps service on the iPhone and gave it OS-level hooks that no other apps were allowed? We'd all be in upro- oh, wait
EDIT: below was a conversation with rdouble, who decided to delete his entire half of the thread.
When did I say I was talking about inside apps only? There's a reason I specified OS-level hooks. The entire point is that Apple does not let you choose the Maps application your OS uses- even at it's worst, IE's "default browser" behaviour could be changed.
That is discussing sending the user to the Google Maps app rather than the Google Maps mobile site. Nothing to do with Apple's OS-level handling in places like Contacts, where it is impossible to use a different Maps application.
I actually really enjoy Windows 8 and will probably just wait for 8.1 to be released. Its cool their listening to their customers but I hope they don't force the start menu back on everyone. At least boot to desktop will be awesome considering my "D" key is broken and clicking the "Desktop" tile takes an eternity.
I like it. Nearly all the features shown off in that video make me go "want!". The additional start screen organizing features are precisely what i'm looking for.
Now all I want is more and better fullscreen apps. Not the "your favourite news source" apps. They're bullshit on phones and they're even more bullshit on PCs or big tablets. Real, useful apps. Like a barebones spreadsheet that fits in a sidebar. Zen-writing text editor. Extensions for IE-in-fullscreen-mode. Music player that doesn't suck and doesn't want to be all "cloud".
They're getting real close here. I really hope app vendors follow suit.
(p.s. if you try Win8 without a touchscreen, you didn't really try it at all)
Well, Windows 8 probably has the best handling for screen sharing out of any tablet OSes- the whole "snap" functionality is very clever. Not so for desktops, of course.
personally, i don't care about Windows on a tablet ... i develop software and create graphics using a 24" monitor ... i don't like seeing full screen anything. Windows 8 is a disaster for serious content creators and productivity professionals like me.
What, all because of a fullscreen start menu? Start8 lets you configure it to open in a smaller popup overlay if you'd prefer. Or indeed have an old Windows 7 style menu instead.
Sloppy[1] is a really old tool that does this. For iOS development specifically, I've been told of Network Link Conditioner[2], and supposedly, Fiddler[3] and Charles[4] both includes some of this functionality.
Can anyone confirm whether or not this includes ReFS support? That's probably more important to me than any other feature 8.1 could possibly offer, having encountered silent data corruption just a few months ago (thanks, WD).
93 comments
[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 168 ms ] threadI, for one, love the combination. When I'm coding, I'm nearly only in desktop mode. Browser with 20 open tabs, developer environments, consoles, the whole shebang.
Then, when I want a break, I hit start and open Twitter or fullscreen IE10. I'm suddenly on a tablet (with a dock that's always attached, but ok). My ongoing work is still there but hidden from my view and my mind. I stop using the mousepad, and browse with touch only. IE10 has a really excellent user experience on a touch screen, it makes Chrome on Android tablets feel ridiculously ancient.
Then, when I'm done with HN, private mail, and the weather, I hit Win+D and poof, my tablet became a PC again.
It may be a coincidence, but Microsoft essentially made a two-mode OS that precisely matches the two ways I use a computer.
The one good thing about Windows 8 in my world is that it's forcing people to make decisions they have been putting off for years.
What do you mean?
Also there's the meta-decision that comes from questioning Redmond's judgment and actually looking at alternatives.
The 2012 Server Manager gui is very nice. When I have to work on 'legacy' servers running 2008 R2 I miss it.
I gave my folks a touchscreen all-in-one PC and it's surprising how much you will touch the screen once it's available.
(Not to say there aren't downsides to the OS as well. Just that I never thought I was missing out on touch until I tried it.)
Try Linux.
1. No one has yet thoroughly audited the source codes. Its too large and complex that it warrants a good amount of time and money.
2. The identity of the founders/maintainers are unknown.
3. The binary offered for download cannot be efficiently verified to the source.
One of the things I have learned is that just because something is closed source, doesn't mean it has a backdoor and just because something is open source it doesn't mean it is secure. Always assume what you din't write is insecure and proceed accordingly.
Can't speak for the animations being screencasted across the internet via streaming video though which can introduce lag, jitter, FPS drops and artifacts, especially for fast moving scenes like animations. I'll reserve my judgment till I install the preview.
The strange rotating 'subtle' animation you are trying to say makes up for this just makes it all the worse by putting completely unnecessary 'bling' all over a workstation.
You're right, however MS thinks it needs tablet apps to get on the tablet train and one way to increase exposure is to make desktop users look at live tiles, however misguided that it maybe.
There is a setting in Windows 8.1 to boot straight to desktop to make it better on boot.
http://microsoft-news.com/new-start-button-screenshot-disbab...
It's the same reason why you sometimes walk into another room and ask "now what was I coming in here for?"
Live blog http://live.theverge.com/live-microsoft-build-2013/
Ballmer being his usual trademark excitable self. http://d35lb3dl296zwu.cloudfront.net/uploads/photo/image/130...
spoiler: it involves a lot of Metro, what with it being the Windows UI now, and all.
That little tidbit really stood out as interesting to me. I seriously hope that MS does this well, and I can have live tiles for all my favorite sites that actually update with their new content.
Would be nice.
The only downside to the technique I use is that they separate Apps from Settings/Utilities (whatever word they use), so if I want control panel type stuff, I have to arrow down to that filter to see the search results that I want. I hope 8.1 consolidates that (or that there's an option to make it work that way)
Before today I was under the impression that the start button they were bringing back would be like the Windows 7 start button.
I just want less full screen shit.
Microsoft still dominates on the desktop, but the desktop doesn't matter like it once did. I doubt that the government will express much interest here, and rightfully so.
[1]That doesn't mean the EU won't use totally unrelated market share stats from 5 years ago to continue treating Microsoft like a money pinata.
Are you going to be ok if Microsoft introduces ad tiles in Metro?
EDIT: below was a conversation with rdouble, who decided to delete his entire half of the thread.
http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/12/14/mapsopener/
What I'm surprised is why EU, at least, allowed Google to buy more market share by paying Firefox
http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/hands-windows-81
I have used Windows 8 (work on IT, I am forced to). Windows 8.1 seems to look, and behave just the same as Windows 8. Adoption not happening here.
Now all I want is more and better fullscreen apps. Not the "your favourite news source" apps. They're bullshit on phones and they're even more bullshit on PCs or big tablets. Real, useful apps. Like a barebones spreadsheet that fits in a sidebar. Zen-writing text editor. Extensions for IE-in-fullscreen-mode. Music player that doesn't suck and doesn't want to be all "cloud".
They're getting real close here. I really hope app vendors follow suit.
(p.s. if you try Win8 without a touchscreen, you didn't really try it at all)
Downloading at a pitiful 600k/sec :(
You can read the text as it downloads. You use interlaced jpegs so that people can see something while the rest of the image downloads.
1. http://www.dallaway.com/sloppy/
2. http://mattgemmell.com/2011/07/25/network-link-conditioner-i...
3. http://fiddler2.com/
4. http://www.charlesproxy.com/
Agree in a way though. I still remember being utterly jaw droppingly surprised when I got a 128k ISDN instead of my lowly 28.8k Hayes+POTS setup.
Don't like it at all. The apps screen is a disaster and it's clunkier than Windows 8 was originally.
Not impressed and rather annoyed that I wasted another evening.