Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Analyst: PC buyers will wait for Windows 8.1 ( NeoWin 2013-05-29 )

an analyst for Sterne Agee, Vijay Rakesh, has suggested that PC buyers will slow in their purchasing of new devices, instead waiting for the refreshed operating system to hit the market. Rakesh predicts that shipments of PCs in June will be down versus last year, citing build orders that are "tracking softer" than expected.

Uh huh, yeah, I'm sure that's what they are waiting for!

Microsoft: Office 365 Home Premium brings in over one million subscribers Lemmings ( NeoWin 2013-05-29 )

Microsoft has sold more than 20 million Office 2013 licenses + subscriptions ( NeoWin 2013-05-29 )

Note that the first story came first, about 4 hours in advance of the second one. The second article actually was due to them contacting Microsoft for clarification, it wasn't released automatically.

So the first one got them all happy because it sounds like 'Wow, a million subscriptions!' ( BTW, why would anybody cheer such a factoid anyway? ). But then came the second story which brings the numbers into focus, and we can now state: 20 million total Office customers of which 1 million are subscribers, demonstrating anything but a wholesale jump to the cloud like the author of the first article tried to imply. As for these drips and drabs of information, It exemplifies how liars manipulate the news, releasing in data in carefully measured doses. Nothing is ever as it seems anymore. Especially at Microsoft.

[harrisjl82]

Well at least with the Office 365 subscriptions serve a purpose. We sell those to some of our small clients 2-10 people so that they can get a more functional email solution plus their Office suite. But I think MS is kidding themselves if they ever expect any company, over a certain threshold say 100 users, that can do a cost analysis to ever want to use a subscription model of Office when they can just keep their old version working just fine. I have a fair amount of clients and through them vendors, contacts, partners etc... that still use Office XP and 2003.

On top of that the people who would buy home premium are finally starting to find Open Office and the other freebies because so many students (aka children of less tech savvy people) are using it because they'd rather have a free Office suite and spend more money on whatever then on an expansive program to type words on.

Edited May 30, 2013 by harrisjl82

[JorgeA]

Speaking of Start Menus ...

RetroUI Free Start menu for Windows 8 announced ( NeoWin 2013-05-29 )

New Pokki Start menu for Windows 8 adds touch support and more ( NeoWin 2013-05-29 )

The MetroTards are unhinged as usual. Good for a laugh maybe, but if you have high blood pressure just stay clear. Actually if you have a high IQ you also should stay clear because it is suspected that hanging out with the logically challenged can drag down your intelligence.

LOL

The way they're marketing RetroUI is that you can either get it for free by signing up for it via your Facebook page, or you can purchase the Pro version for $4.95. I'd rather pay the $4.95 than have Facebook follow me all around the Web, as they're suspected of doing. (There are many free Start Menu replacements too, of course.)

BTW, the link to the PCWorld "Windows Blah" article seems to be broken -- I keep getting the "cannot display page" error.

--JorgeA

Edited May 30, 2013 by JorgeA

[jaclaz]

BTW, the link to the PCWorld "Windows Blah" article seems to be broken -- I keep getting the "cannot display page" error.

Here kid, grab my hand, let me help you cross the road safely :

http://http//www.pcworld.com/article/2040247/new-start-experience-windows-blue-is-looking-more-like-windows-blah.html

http://http//www.pcworld.com/article/2040247/new-start-experience-windows-blue-is-looking-more-like-windows-blah.html

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2040247/new-start-experience-windows-blue-is-looking-more-like-windows-blah.html

jaclaz

Edited May 30, 2013 by jaclaz

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Here kid, grab my hand, let me help you cross the road safely :

Now you're just asking for it.

Fixed link. ( and just kidding, always appreciate a correction )

EDIT: typo fixed before he nails me again!

Edited May 30, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[JorgeA]

Windows 8.1: Microsoft brings back the Start button with options to appease desktop users

Not quite, as we have seen. A comment about one other new feature announced for Windows 8.1:

There are also new navigation settings in the taskbar properties to provide greater control over how the UI works in Windows 8.1. "Show my desktop behind the Start Screen" will bring the Tiles in directly over the desktop background, making it less jarring to switch between them.

Great, so now instead of the entire Start Screen obscuring the technical instructions I'm trying to follow off a website, only the mass of tiles across the Start Screen will be getting in the way. I guess that could count as improvement, of a sort.

Microsoft bringing back the Start Button has been called their "New Coke moment." Basically what they're doing, though, is pouring New Coke into the bottles and slapping a Coke Classic label on them.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

BTW, the link to the PCWorld "Windows Blah" article seems to be broken -- I keep getting the "cannot display page" error.

Here kid, grab my hand, let me help you cross the road safely :

http://http//www.pcworld.com/article/2040247/new-start-experience-windows-blue-is-looking-more-like-windows-blah.html

http://http//www.pcworld.com/article/2040247/new-start-experience-windows-blue-is-looking-more-like-windows-blah.html

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2040247/new-start-experience-windows-blue-is-looking-more-like-windows-blah.html

Thanks, j.

Wonder how that typo could happen. Charlotte, don't you highlight the URL in the address box and then copy-and-paste it over to insert the link? I'd be surprised to learn that you were typing out these URLs by hand. (Maybe it's another "Weird forum posting issue" .)

Oh, I see how it could have happened. Maybe you happened to press one of the arrow keys just before Ctrl-V'ing the URL into there, causing the default "http://" to remain in the "Insert link" box instead of getting replaced by what you copied in there.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

New Start experience? Windows Blue is looking more like Windows Blah ( PC World 2013-05-29 )

From the article:

In all, the alleged UI changes coming in Windows 8.1 don't appear all that spectacular. Microsoft is simply taking elements that already existed within the UI and exposing them to the user: hand-holding between the Start page and the Desktop, for example. Those who disliked Windows 8's schizophrenic interface will still have the same complaints in Windows 8.1.

You can say that again!

If Foley's report is true, however, the most substantive change will be the reorganization of the Start menu, exposing all of a user's apps and making them easily accessible. Organizing them by how often they're used, as Foley indicates, would go some way toward making the list of apps more useful.

UX observation: Look at the illustration of the Apps screen that comes with the article. Notice how the app listings are thinly dispersed (low information density) around the whole screen in several rows and columns. Visually scanning this screen (not to say several screenfuls of them) for the program that you want is bound to be a distinctly slower process than using the Start Menu, where everything is tightly packed into a single column in one corner of the screen. (Less eye movement required.) Moreover, in the Start Menu the listings are black type on a white background, which offers much greater contrast -- and is therefore easier/faster to read -- than white type on a black background, let alone a background that's not black as in the Start Screen illustration.

Score another point or two for the Start Menu over the Start Screen.

The comments are getting funny, especially in the MetroTards'R'Us NeoWin threads. Some clever commenters were playing them using: "What's the matter, you afraid of change now" Naturally that doesn't go over well.

Turnabout is fair play...

--JorgeA

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Oh, I see how it could have happened. Maybe you happened to press one of the arrow keys just before Ctrl-V'ing the URL into there, causing the default "http://" to remain in the "Insert link" box instead of getting replaced by what you copied in there.

I think you might be right. I have seen that exact same thing before and I think it leads to having the consecutive tags example: {b}{/b}text that I mentioned earlier.

P.S. no, I do NOT type these things in by hand!

[jaclaz]

P.S. no, I do NOT type these things in by hand!

You cleverly manage to mess them up alright by simple copy and paste, right?

jaclaz

[bpalone]

Well, they have released the DOG, read about it here.

Really makes me want to run out and get in line to get a copy......................................NOT!

We’ve learned from customers on how they are using the product and have received a lot of feedback. We’ve delivered hundreds of updates to the product and to apps. We’re just getting started, and the potential ahead is tremendous.

I mean let's get real here. The only thing they have listened to is the play toy zealots and their own egos. I am sure glad that I quit the upgrade treadmill with 2K and have since made a version of the Penguin my primary OS. I don't think I could even begin to try this abomination they call 8 or 8.1. Not even sure that I would allow someone to connect to my home network with it for fear of it leaving some social disease behind.

But, I will say that their marketing department can certainly make a turd seem like something desirable to possess (sp?). B)

[JorgeA]

Well, they have released the DOG, read about it here.

Really makes me want to run out and get in line to get a copy......................................NOT!

We’ve learned from customers on how they are using the product and have received a lot of feedback. We’ve delivered hundreds of updates to the product and to apps. We’re just getting started, and the potential ahead is tremendous.

I mean let's get real here. The only thing they have listened to is the play toy zealots and their own egos. I am sure glad that I quit the upgrade treadmill with 2K and have since made a version of the Penguin my primary OS. I don't think I could even begin to try this abomination they call 8 or 8.1. Not even sure that I would allow someone to connect to my home network with it for fear of it leaving some social disease behind.

But, I will say that their marketing department can certainly make a turd seem like something desirable to possess (sp?). B)

Thanks for the link! And I agree, of course.

Some highlights (with my comments):

As people started using Windows 8, we found that people were using their Lock screens to show pictures of their families. So in Windows 8.1, you can turn your PC or tablet into a picture frame by making your Lock screen a slide show of your pictures – either locally on the device or photos from the cloud in SkyDrive.

Great, so instead of a $1000 tablet (the Surface Pro) you can instead have a $500 or $800 or $1200 picture frame (the PC).

In Windows 8.1, the Search charm will provide global search results powered by Bing in a rich, simple-to-read, aggregated view of many content sources (the web, apps, files, SkyDrive, actions you can take) to provide the best “answer” for your query. We think this will really change the way you interact with the Web and with windows making it quicker and easier to get things done. It is the modern version of the command line!

Of the command line??

But I wonder if the user can change that search provider away from Bing to somebody else, like you can change your browser search engine from Bing to Google.

Windows 8.1 brings variable, continuous size of snap views. You will have more ways to see multiple apps on the screen at the same time. You can resize apps to any size you want, share the screen between two apps, or have up to three apps on each screen if you have multiple displays connected, you can have different Windows Store apps running on all the displays at the same time and the Start Screen can stay open on one monitor. This makes multi-tasking even easier. Also in Windows 8.1, you can have multiple windows of the same app snapped together – such as two Internet Explorer windows.

I'm not sure if this is poorly written or if I'm overthinking it, but I remain unclear as to whether you can now have three apps showing at the same time if you have only one display. Whatever the case, the enhanced feature still doesn't hold a candle to the number, size, and positioning of windows you can have open in the Desktop.

Windows 8 has been a bold, necessary move towards mobility for the PC industry – pushing ourselves and our industry ahead with a touch-first approach that is redefining the PC as we know it, while offering the best of all worlds across any device at any time.

"Touch first" means Desktop second, in the back seat, relegated to second-class status. As we've suspected all along. Not quite abandoned yet, but definitely in the rear-view mirror.

--JorgeA

P.S. Two interesting questions down in the comments:

Great stuff, all expected additions. But where is the Notification Center? This request is also on top of the list for many people. I cannot hunt for Notifications from Tile to tile. Please include a real Notification Center solution before 8.1 hits RTM

Now you've admitted Windows 8 was a horrible mistake for the vast majority of computer users, can we trust you won't do anything to destroy the functionality of classic shell in this update? As this update offers nothing for desktop users, many will be wary of installing it for fear you've mucked up the host of third party solutions to this gaudy dog's breakfast of an OS too.

Edited May 30, 2013 by JorgeA

[Thunderbolt 2864]

So they are bringing back the Start button but that will open the Start Screen/Metro and not the Start menu we all know. Epic fail there from Microsoft. Is it so hard to provide both an option for a start menu and start screen Microsoft?

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Microsoft's Windows 8.1 secrets REVEALED ... sort of. Redmond lifts the veil on anticipated 'Blue' update ( UK Register 2013-05-30 )

Windows 8.1 offers plenty of Metro enhancements, but mostly forgets about the desktop ( TechSpot 2013-05-30 )

Microsoft Teases Return of Start Button in Windows 8.1. This isn't the Start button you're looking for. ( Maximum PC 2013-05-30 )

The other sites are catching up to those recent stories now. These three are non-Shill sites, unlike NeoWin, so the commenters are a little less forgiving. Okay, a lot less. Thing is, a lot of people still haven't yet realized that the "Start Button" points to Metro, they see the headlines about "Return of the Start Button" and assume Microsoft has fixed it! This is true at almost all the places I've seen. Then some commenter mentions it and a few more catch on, but not all. I wonder if Microsoft counted on this the same exact way they counted on the term "Windows" in "Windows RT" to fool people into thinking it runs any Windows programs. This begs the question, when going through the effort of creating this FAKE Start Button, who exactly did they think would appreciate it?

Bing search in Windows 8.1 to work anywhere in the OS ( NeoWin 2013-05-30 )

And one commenter spots the potential problem ...

As long as there's an option to change it to another engine (keep the EU from foaming at the mouth) and an option to disable it (don't want it going the way of Amazon on Unity), sounds like a nice addition... sounds like a much improved version of federated searches in the previous versions of Windows. Wonder if we'll be able to add additional sources to that too...

Naturally he is lambasted by fanboys who immediately cite Google and Apple and other bad comparisons. Microsoft is walking on thin ice here. Doing this on their Surface tablets has no antitrust problem, same as Apple on their iPads. Those devices are their products. MetroTards and MicroZealots cannot understand this simple concept - 99% of Windows computers were NOT manufactured by Microsoft. Microsoft is a 3rd party to those OEMs and home builders, if they try to monopolize these systems by kidnapping the users into BING or their walled-garden Store they are out of bounds. That precedent was affirmed with the MSIE vs Netscape saga around 1998. Now considering that fact, just how can a locked-down walled-garden with Microsoft approved apps from their Store and built-in BING search ever be anything except another monopoly case? And how could they be so id0tic to step into these waters yet again? I repeat, talking about Microsoft or Apple hardware products has nothing to do with this at all. It is clever misdirection. No-one has any expectation about using their software on someone else's hardware as shipped. But OEM computers and home-built all get the OS installed first, and if it is a walled-garden pOS it is effectively locking out everyone else at the point.

HTC reportedly cancels plans for 12-inch Windows RT tablet ( NeoWin 2013-05-30 )

Wow, another one bites the dust. I have to give NeoWin some credit here because almost everytime these RT stories come up, they are the first, and often times only one to even mention it. It probably means they are watching RT stories like a hawk, not necessarily looking only for negative stories obviously, but interesting nonetheless.

[jaclaz]

@Charlotte

Did you miss this one?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/31/sinofsky_no_regrets/

When Sinofsky was asked why Windows 8 sales haven’t revived PC sales, the ex-Windows chief took refuge in the future. “It will take a long time for things to play out,” he said. “It’s exciting, but it means while it’s going on you have to resist the urge to pick winners and losers.”

It’s the kind of history-will-prove-us-right, hard-to-benchmark argument right-wing US hawks used to justify the Iraq invasion.

jaclaz