Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions

[Tripredacus]

MS is changing how the Technet forums look again!

[MagicAndre1981]

what is now changed for technet? I haven't seen new things.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Windows 9 and Windows 10 Rumors Already Making the Rounds ( Maximum PC 2013-08-30 )

The story that Jorge mentioned earlier covered by Maximum PC. Most of the opinions there are decidedly non-sycophantic.

While I can see some minor advantages in convenience for having your computer everywhere. I do not want the major liabilities of monthly fees, operational unavailability, and serious security risk for that minor convenience.

It reminds me of drug ads. For a monthly fee we can relieve your minor rash. Side effects include uncontrolled explosive bowl movements, serious infection, cancer, death, etc.

Cloud OS? Like the P O S Chromebook? Any guarantee that I will have net connection 24 7 ? Their servers will NEVER be hacked?? Guaranteed 100% not 99.999%?? Just because you can do something does not mean that many of us want to do it. If that were confirmed many of us would rethink our commitment to Windows.

Dear Microsoft, I will NEVER buy a Cloud OS!! NEVER!!! You can take that future cloud OS & stick it where the sun does not shine! I'm dam sick & tired of Monthly fees & I don't need to add anymore Monthly fees to my already bloated Nickle & Dime list of monthly fees I have to pay each month!

And they're right. Microsoft is transitioning from a company of programmers with a handful of suits to a company of suits with a handful of programmers. That is the definition of bureaucracy. And they will suffer the consequences.

IDC cuts its 2013 PC shipment predictions again; Windows 8.1 won't help this year ( NeoWin 2013-08-30 )

The research firm IDC has been changing its predictions for how many new PCs will be shipped worldwide in 2013 more than once. In March, it predicted that overall, shipments would go down by just 1.3 percent compared to 2012.

In May, it revised its estimates and said PC shipments would decline by 7.8 percent this year.

Today, IDC changed its predictions yet again, and it's not good news for the PC industry, not to mention Microsoft. The firm is now saying it expects PC shipments to total 134.4 million units in 2013, a 9.7 percent decline compared to 2012.

Hey that's some really accurate analyzing the IDC folks have been producing, eh? Now they are doubling down and promoting stupid ...

It also believes that in two years, more consumers may start buying new PCs after holding off for several years and large businesses will look at Windows 8 and 8.1 more seriously.

Uh huh. Sure they will.

EDIT: spacing

Edited August 31, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Former Windows leader Steven Sinofsky joins Box as advisor ( NeoWin 2013-08-30 )

So here's a guy ( Box co-founder and CEO Aaron Levie ) who's both clueless and a glutton for punishment!

Levie stated, "Steven has a stronger and more fluid vision for the future of computing than almost anyone Ive met."

[...]

Levie states in his post that Box sees the future of the computing industry moving away from the traditional desktop with installed software to a mobile platform, adding, "We need to do this in a way that helps customers transition comfortably from the prior paradigm, while ensuring we dont merely port old technologies linearly to the future."

That's what I call real inside-the-box thinking. Thank you for the clear self-description of yourself as an enemy of the personal computer. I'll be sure to avoid your crappy "box" at all costs and spread the word as far and wide as possible.

Microsoft 'will move forward with litigation' against U.S. government ( NeoWin 2013-08-30 )

In a blog post, Microsoft's General Counsel and Executive Vice President Brad Smith said today the company had filed a lawsuit against the government in June, along with Google, on this issue, with Smith saying they have the rights under the U.S. Constitution to release this kind of information directly to the public.

[...]

While Google has not commented publicly on its own efforts to fight the government on this matter, Smith wrote "today our two companies stand together" in an unusual show of solidarity with one of its biggest business rivals.

I love the smell of desperation in the morning. Microsoft intentionally associating itself with Google here (!), and distancing itself from the spying partnership. Makes you think that there are severe consequences for the government's first and primary partner that we do not yet know about, eh?

This one is just breaking ...

Microsoft cedes board seat to activist investor Ballmer bowing out as ValueAct storms in ( UK Register 2013-08-31 )

Probably doesn't mean much. It is likely a 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer' kind of deal. They bring them in and they suddenly wind up less activist than they were before. But I might be wrong.

EDIT: spacing, new article, changed 'Guardian' to 'Register' ( sorry El Reg )

Edited September 1, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[vinifera]

... while ensuring we dont merely port old technologies linearly to the future."

so by that so called METRO is new technology ?

since win8 is not desktop anymore

but how is putting HTML/JS as UI new technology ?

they experimented with this since win95 and trashed it in late 1999

they can sell this to naive people... but not to me...

Edited August 31, 2013 by vinifera

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

so by that so called METRO is new technology ?

since win8 is not desktop anymore

but how is putting HTML/JS as UI new technology ?

they experimented with this since win95 and trashed it in late 1999

they can sell this to naive people... but not to me...

Exactly! They are pulling a fast one. They are literally using webpages as the future! Personally I am revolted by software that looks like a webpage. HTML and CSS was there NOT to build applications but to facilitate communication as best as possible in a low bandwidth environment. Now, when webpages started mimicking the workstation environment as best as they could under the constraints of HTML it wasn't so bad. it was creative really. But for the opposite case, the workstation environment to mimic the web? That's just crazy. It is a consequence of mobile tunnel vision. It is appealing to the lowest common denominator. It is as if every car company were to decide to only produce high mileage low safety tiny little sh!tmobiles with no Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Corvettes or trucks or limos or ... etc.

It is the worst kind of group-think. And Microsoft has it apparently etched into its DNA. They have been pulling this crap ever since Windows 98. I can forgive them for the CHM help system ( although it looked chintzy and amateurish it had some good points too ). But they got this "Active Desktop" and "Channels" thing into their mind and have not been able to break free ever since.

Microsoft is a company that made its reputation and great wealth doing the very difficult task of being a 3rd party operating system to an infinite variety of computer configurations all over the world while keeping them flexible and independent of the hive mentality of the earlier client-server era. Now it seems they are changing into a great pretender of that company willing only to do the minimum necessary to satisfy the least intelligent among us - the sheeple. They are the McDonald's of restaurants, self-downgrading themselves from 5 stars to 1.

I have theorized that they are simply getting out of the OS business and entering the universe of cheap walled-garden fiefdoms. This way they can do as little work as necessary to keep the lights on and the stock afloat. So just release the Windows source code and be done with it already!

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Xbox business spinoff? Could be possible with Ballmer out of the picture ( NeoWin 2013-08-31 )

Kind of an editorial just to whip the fanboys into a panic. It's kinda working too. Most are harping on the fact that Xbox is now finally profitable after like a dozen years of trying. I'm not so sure that is the case if you open the books and look at it in total. My guess is the thing is still swimming in red ink which explains all the backtracking recently. They would only be doing that if they were sitting on the razor's edge where a misstep could tip the thing over into fail territory. Doesn't really matter though. If new blood comes in and takes a cold hard look, projects that are wishful thinking will be terminated with extreme prejudice. No amount of fanboy wishful thinking will change that.

Nokia introduces HERE Auto, connecting cars to the cloud ( NeoWin 2013-08-31 )

Nokia is now joining the fold with HERE Auto, an embedded system available from the dashboard. Essentially, Nokia's vision is to create an Internet-ready car by doing more than connecting your smartphone. Such a gargantuan task could not be handled by one company, so it won't be.

Nokia refers to the 'RESTful API', and its ability to create 'in-car experiences'. Putting it simply, that means extensions to the base HERE Auto system are possible in much the same way as add-ons can be made for certain computer programs. It also provides prime branding opportunity for manufacturers.

EDIT: typo

Edited September 1, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

PSA: Microsoft will not accept new or renewed TechNet subscriptions after today ( NeoWin 2013-08-31 )

Out with a whimper. This is one of the surest signs that Microsoft is morphing from a company of programmers with a few suits to a company of suits with a few programmers.

If Microsoft moves away from developers and enthusiasts... I'm sure it's only a matter of time before developers and enthusiasts move away from Microsoft. They really need to reconsider some decisions they've made lately.

Yep, he's got it right.

Microsoft researcher claims keyboard will soon be a thing of the past ( NeoWin 2013-08-31 )

Researchers at Microsoft like Andy Wilson invited others such as the head of Information and Computing Sciences department at SRI, Bill Mark, to get together and question the future of keyboards as we know them.

[...]

"Eventually, [keyboards] will become more of a niche thing, like programmers for example. You could almost see that with the workstation market. Workstations are going to be these altars to extreme computing, visualization, computational power, Visual Studio," said Wilson. "And only a small percentage of users do that."

Well that part's obvious I think. Always has been. Many people who bought entire home computers never really needed them. When a more appropriate system for email and web browsing came along, like tablets and phones, they went there as expected. The problem here is from these alleged futurists who cannot resist the opportunity to embarrass themselves making these grand pronouncements and theories about the future based on misunderstood observations. The problem is also inside the fickle tech industry when they listen to such baseless theories and then proceed to cripple that workstation environment accordingly. When people moved to small fuel efficient deathtrap automobiles ( "it's good enough to bring the kid's to school and run to the store" ) it did NOT mean that trucks, buses and limos were going away. They just no longer sold exclusively. People that did not need a large car no longer had to buy one.

"When you think about a pen or something like a pen, going back to a stylus writing in clay that's been around for a really long time. Thats because it works very well in certain situations. My personal feeling is that keyboards will be like that," Mark commented. "However, I think well be seeing them a lot less ..."

~sigh~ Save us from academics! Wrong you knucklehead, bad analogy because that is NOT what happened historically with clay tablets and stylus instruments. Gutenberg happened, and the printing press, and mass produced literature with efficient, consistent reproduction. If anything, the manual stylus has all but gone away in favor of efficiency and standardization. And about your touchscreens and Windows 8? They will be the blip on the radar, reproducing the old way of finger painting or stylus etching into clay, a solution in search of a problem. Besides, pen input and stylus entry has been with us all throughout the computer age, used in places where it simply made good sense, it didn't just arrive in some new paradigm that you eggheads have discovered. Mark down these two clowns as people to never take seriously.

Good comment thread underway though. Even the fanboys question these two geniuses!

[jaclaz]

"When you think about a pen or something like a pen, going back to a stylus writing in clay that's been around for a really long time. Thats because it works very well in certain situations. My personal feeling is that keyboards will be like that," Mark commented. "However, I think well be seeing them a lot less ..."

~sigh~ Save us from academics! Wrong you knucklehead, bad analogy because that is NOT what happened historically with clay tablets and stylus instruments. Gutenberg happened, and the printing press, and mass produced literature with efficient, consistent reproduction. If anything, the manual stylus has all but gone away in favor of efficiency and standardization. And about your touchscreens and Windows 8? They will be the blip on the radar, reproducing the old way of finger painting or stylus etching into clay, a solution in search of a problem. Besides, pen input and stylus entry has been with us all throughout the computer age, used in places where it simply made good sense, it didn't just arrive in some new paradigm that you eggheads have discovered. Mark down these two clowns as people to never take seriously.

Good comment thread underway though. Even the fanboys question these two geniuses!

Charlotte, you have it wrong .

The keyboard is an INPUT method, not an OUTPUT one. Gutemberg and printing is a reproducing method (in several copies) of something that has been INPUT.

If you have ever seen a Linotype (which is what took printing to a new stage in 19th century):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linotype_machine

you would know how it has a keyboard as INPUT method.

I have used extensively (and still use) stylus input devices, and I find the method perfectly adequate (and BTW much more handy than a "virtual On-Screen-Keyboard).

For a simple language such as English where there are no accents or diacritical characters a "plain" touchscreen OSK may do, but on most other languages it is a big PITA or you start writing grammatically incorrect, not entirely unlike SMS bastardized the languages.

I have the fortune (or ability ) to possess a very "clear" handwriting, and - just as an example - my good ol' Sony P900i character recognition capabilities are enough to allow me "fluid" writing (and recognition) with only a very little percentage of mistakes/backspaces needed.

To me stylus input is a very valid alternative to the keyboard.

Of course, in the case of a touchscreen device it only makes sense if you hold the device in your hands, on a desktop one would need a graphic tablet or something similar.

BUT again, it can be an option.

In any case even the ancient peoples that used clay tablets used a stylus on them and NOT their fingers.

Even monkeys learn to use a stick to get ants:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tool_use_by_animals

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tool_use_by_animals#Chimpanzees

Painting with fingers is what is taught/used pre-school, it is not "natural" anymore to anyone that has actually gone to school and used for several years stylus or pens or brushes for hand writing and drawing and painting.

As a matter of fact, I personally find a graphic tablet and pen the "natural" interface for a PC, much more precise, accurate and fast than the mouse, not only inside graphic programs.

jaclaz

[JorgeA]

Good discussion of iOS 7, Johnny Ive, and "designer dictatorship" in Windows Weekly 317, starting at about 48:30. But the real gem comes at 55:00, courtesy of Paul Thurrott who unequivocally takes our side of things:

I think the thing that Windows can bring to the world is choice, and that's the mistake they made in Windows 8, and that -- if you look at some of the Metro UIs that some people apparently find beautiful, a mail app or something, my attitude is, "You know, there should be a checkbox in there where I can have those toolbars, just be on all the time. I don't understand why I have to do some action to make them slide up from the bottom of the screen. Just put 'em there. It's a productivity app, I can handle a toolbar."

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Microsoft researcher claims keyboard will soon be a thing of the past ( NeoWin 2013-08-31 )

Researchers at Microsoft like Andy Wilson invited others such as the head of Information and Computing Sciences department at SRI, Bill Mark, to get together and question the future of keyboards as we know them.

[...]

"Eventually, [keyboards] will become more of a niche thing, like programmers for example. You could almost see that with the workstation market. Workstations are going to be these altars to extreme computing, visualization, computational power, Visual Studio," said Wilson. "And only a small percentage of users do that."

Yeah, right -- like authors, reporters, editors, bloggers, lawyers, students, professors, scientists, and secretaries are going to start poking their communications into Metro Word. And everyone who posts on forums like this one or NeoWin and so many thousands of others is going to do so from an onscreen keyboard, a stylus, or voice. If you even have to so much as write an e-mail that says more than "how r u doin," none of these methods holds a candle to the keyboard in terms of speed, reliability, and efficiency. I'd like to get some of what Andy Wilson's been smoking...

--JorgeA

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

"When you think about a pen or something like a pen, going back to a stylus writing in clay that's been around for a really long time. Thats because it works very well in certain situations. My personal feeling is that keyboards will be like that," Mark commented. "However, I think well be seeing them a lot less ..."

~sigh~ Save us from academics! Wrong you knucklehead, bad analogy because that is NOT what happened historically with clay tablets and stylus instruments. Gutenberg happened, and the printing press, and mass produced literature with efficient, consistent reproduction. If anything, the manual stylus has all but gone away in favor of efficiency and standardization. And about your touchscreens and Windows 8? They will be the blip on the radar, reproducing the old way of finger painting or stylus etching into clay, a solution in search of a problem. Besides, pen input and stylus entry has been with us all throughout the computer age, used in places where it simply made good sense, it didn't just arrive in some new paradigm that you eggheads have discovered. Mark down these two clowns as people to never take seriously.

Good comment thread underway though. Even the fanboys question these two geniuses!

Charlotte, you have it wrong .

The keyboard is an INPUT method, not an OUTPUT one. Gutemberg and printing is a reproducing method (in several copies) of something that has been INPUT.

Pen and stylus input have always been around and perfectly suits specific purposes. I said that .

And I totally agree with respect to I/O and a computer interface. But there is a bit of "you say tomato" here because they dragged the prehistoric clay tablet into this ( not me! ). If we must ascribe modern I/O definitions to historical events then it is all relative. For example some ancient cave drawing was definitely the product of some particular caveman's artistic OUTPUT, but it was also the INPUT to a wall of images which was their descendants' knowledge base of how to kill or cook a mammoth or tribal history.

When he said, and I quote: "When you think about a pen or something like a pen, going back to a stylus writing in clay that's been around for a really long time. Thats because it works very well in certain situations. My personal feeling is that keyboards will be like that," he has blurred input and output right there speaking of a classic historical OUTPUT scenario while musing over modern INPUT devices ( he also has it backwards IMHO because the pen will most certainly remain the "certain situation" device ). Anyway, what I was getting at is that the printing press eliminated the entire previous human history of using a stylus or quill or bloody rock to create each "copy", the movable type becoming the INPUT device ( rather than your hand ) in the printing press process but also the OUTPUT from the point of view of the typesetter who instead of writing is manually re-arranging ink stamps on a block.

He is incorrectly ascribing to legacy status a current device though. In fact he is the one going backwards in technological advancement. Maybe I didn't make it clear enough, but I mean that manually handcrafting characters and glyphs was improved upon by the perfectly reproducible design of chars on a printing press ( keyboard today ). Their illogical idea now is to revert back to manual input ( handwriting ) in lieu of a keyboard even though it removes the very thing it improved upon - accuracy, efficiency and reproducibility. Yes, the computer processing and logic may be able to step in and correct the errors in which case their particular idea of pen and stylus input would have made a very nice interim step prior to the Gutenberg era. It would have added portability to the caveman artistic experience, but not much more.

So I think these academics are blurring the definitions, not me. Almost all uses of touchscreen that they advertise is about fingerpainting and creativity OUTPUT. I disregard all those swipes and presses on Microsoft Tiles because they are redundant to keyboard pressing, mouse clicking and pen jabbing. In fact there really isn't a single new thing in this new paradigm except for the deliberate fingerprints on a screen which was almost exclusively an OUTPUT device but now does both.

I think we can distill this whole thing down to a single point of truth ... MetroTards really see a computer as an OUTPUT device but geeks and developers see it as BOTH. I should have just said that in the first place!

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Windows XP loses over 3% of OS market share in August; Windows 8 gains 2% ( NeoWin 2013-09-01 )

Well it seems that the incessant FUD spread by Microsoft and her loyal sycophants has paid off, at least for this month. Windows XP statistics fell from 37.19% to 33.66%. At least some of that lost 3.53% was redirected to Windows 8.0 which gained a whole 2.01%. However, let's look at the entire history which begins in September 2011 ( as far back as Net Applications provides ). ...

NOTE: the '---' stands for no data reported for that month, the OS was NOT listed at all. It is NOT the same as zero, which itself appears as '0.00' on their charts. If you want the dataset yourself but do not feel like going through their website pages, click the spoiler for all of the values in CSV format that can be dropped in a spreadsheet or if necessary, convert each comma to a TAB character ...

,2011,2011,2011,2011,2012,2012,2012,2012,2012,2012,2012,2012,2012,2012,2012,2012,2013,2013,2013,2013,2013,2013,2013,2013
,Sep,Oct,Nov,Dec,Jan,Feb,Mar,Apr,May,Jun,Jul,Aug,Sep,Oct,Nov,Dec,Jan,Feb,Mar,Apr,May,Jun,Jul,Aug
Windows 8.1,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,0.02,0.24
Windows 8,---,---,0.03,0.05,0.02,0.03,0.11,0.12,0.13,0.18,0.20,0.23,0.30,0.41,1.09,1.72,2.26,2.67,3.17,3.82,4.27,5.10,5.40,7.41
Windows 8 Touch,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,0.02,0.05,0.08,0.10,0.12,0.02,---,---,---,---
Windows 8 RT Touch,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,0.00,0.01,0.02,0.02,0.02,0.00,---,---,---,---
Windows 7,32.42,34.62,34.60,36.99,36.40,38.12,37.54,38.67,40.51,41.59,42.21,42.76,44.04,44.69,44.71,45.11,44.48,44.55,44.73,44.72,44.85,44.37,44.49,45.63
Windows Vista,9.09,8.85,8.48,8.44,8.22,8.10,7.65,7.32,6.88,6.72,6.60,6.15,6.05,5.80,5.70,5.67,5.24,5.17,4.99,4.75,4.51,4.62,4.24,4.11
Windows XP,50.50,48.03,48.89,46.52,47.19,45.39,46.86,46.08,44.85,43.61,42.86,42.52,41.23,40.66,39.82,39.08,39.51,38.99,38.73,38.31,37.74,37.17,37.19,33.66
Windows 2000,0.17,0.19,0.14,0.13,0.13,0.15,0.16,0.14,0.09,0.08,0.08,0.07,0.07,0.06,0.06,0.04,0.06,0.06,0.05,0.05,0.07,0.04,0.04,0.04
Windows NT,0.23,0.14,0.06,0.07,0.06,0.06,0.12,0.10,0.05,0.04,0.06,0.03,0.03,0.04,0.05,0.04,0.05,0.06,0.07,0.11,0.22,0.19,0.17,0.09
Windows ME,0.01,0.01,0.01,0.01,0.01,0.01,0.01,0.01,0.01,0.00,0.00,0.00,0.00,0.00,0.00,0.00,---,---,---,0.00,0.00,0.00,---,---
Windows 98,0.03,0.02,0.02,0.02,0.02,0.05,0.04,0.04,0.01,0.01,0.01,0.01,0.01,0.01,0.01,0.00,0.01,0.01,0.00,0.00,0.01,0.00,0.00,0.00
Windows 95,---,---,---,0.00,0.00,0.02,0.01,0.01,0.00,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---
Win64,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,0.00,0.01,0.01,0.00,0.00
Mac OS X 10.9,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,0.02,0.04,0.05
Mac OS X 10.8,---,---,---,---,---,0.01,0.01,0.01,0.02,0.03,0.28,1.41,1.60,1.85,2.14,2.27,2.44,2.61,2.65,2.82,2.97,3.14,3.28,3.42
Mac OS X 10.7,1.41,1.83,1.86,2.02,2.18,2.69,2.59,2.71,2.82,3.12,3.27,2.45,2.34,2.24,2.18,2.00,1.96,1.93,1.81,1.82,1.76,1.73,1.69,1.65
Mac OS X 10.6,3.53,3.62,3.22,3.05,2.95,3.00,2.79,2.71,2.59,2.57,2.48,2.38,2.34,2.25,2.19,2.07,2.00,1.97,1.87,1.78,1.77,1.76,1.68,1.65
Mac OS X 10.5,1.15,1.14,1.06,1.00,0.97,0.95,0.89,0.85,0.79,0.78,0.73,0.70,0.69,0.64,0.61,0.56,0.52,0.51,0.47,0.45,0.43,0.43,0.41,0.39
Mac OS X 10.4,0.30,0.29,0.27,0.25,0.24,0.23,0.22,0.20,0.19,0.18,0.17,0.17,0.16,0.15,0.15,0.14,0.13,0.13,0.12,0.11,0.11,0.10,0.09,0.09
Mac OS X Mach-O,0.01,0.01,0.01,0.01,0.01,0.01,0.01,0.01,0.01,0.01,0.01,0.00,0.00,0.00,0.00,0.00,0.00,0.00,0.00,0.00,0.00,0.00,0.00,---
Mac OS X (no version),0.04,0.05,0.03,0.03,0.03,0.04,0.04,0.04,0.03,0.02,0.02,0.02,0.02,0.02,0.03,0.02,0.02,0.02,0.01,0.01,0.02,0.02,0.01,0.01
Linux,1.11,1.19,1.31,1.41,1.56,1.16,0.98,0.98,1.03,1.05,1.02,1.10,1.11,1.17,1.25,1.19,1.21,1.21,1.17,1.21,1.26,1.28,1.25,1.52
SunOS,0.00,0.00,0.00,0.00,0.00,0.00,---,---,0.00,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---

It is a suspicious jump IMHO and I would not be surprised if there is a problem in these numbers. The biggest delta I can find in there previously has been about 2 percent, which occurred two years ago for Windows XP. The only explanation I can think of currently is that they might now be counting Windows Phone or tablet hits on webpages which must also show up as some form of Windows 8. This chart does specify "Desktop" as its source but I have yet to find a clear explanation of how they separate desktops and laptops from smaller devices.

The biggest change overall is obviously in Windows XP. Last month if you added up all Windows 8 and Vista you got 9.66% combined total which Windows XP surpassed by 4 times over. Now it is lower, 11.76% combined total which Windows XP still dwarfs but only by 3 times over.

Linux shows a small 1/3 percentage point gain this month as do the last two Mac OS X versions, add that to the 1.14% pickup for Windows 7 and it would seem to be that some Windows XP users are fleeing to non Microsoft Tiles based computers.

One huge thing that is going to really anger the fanboys in the coming months ... They are now counting Windows 8.1 Blew as a separate statistic! This is going to cause Windows 8.0 to flatline when the service pack goes to general availability in the fall. Since Net Applications has been breaking out the point releases of Mac OS X all along they really have no choice now do they?

Interesting fact: The total of all Mac versions is currently holding at 7.26%, while all Windows 8 versions is at 7.65% despite the massive push and marketing blitz and endless FUD. One year into the Microsoft Tiles era it has just nudged past Apple's private Mac operating system which is not even available on any computer without an Apple logo!

One mysterious thing is that they stopped notating the "Touch" versions of Windows 8 for some reason about four months ago. This is also unexplained and does not immediately make sense to me.

Also, there is now a category called "Win64" which is mysterious. The only thing I can think of is that it means some form of Itanium rooted OS, but even that is nonsensical because it wasn't released in April 2013 when the charts begins showing it. Does anyone understand this?

[SIW2]

From Ed Bott

.What happened? Did 40 million people suddenly wake up to the fact that support for Windows XP is ending in a matter of months and rush out to replace their outmoded machines with shiny new Windows 8 devices?

Sorry, no.

The real explanation might be more prosaic: Net Applications recently changed its formula for measuring usage.

http://www.zdnet.com/new-stats-show-windows-8-usage-up-sharply-as-xp-usage-plummets-7000020098/

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Following up the above post from SIW2 ...

New stats show Windows 8 usage up sharply as XP usage plummets ( Ed Bott ZDNet 2013-09-01 )

It seems that sudden change was in fact due to something extraordinary, a methodology change by Net Applications ( tcha tcha tcha ~wags finger~ ). Ed Bott has turned up some information ...

What happened? Did 40 million people suddenly wake up to the fact that support for Windows XP is ending in a matter of months and rush out to replace their outmoded machines with shiny new Windows 8 devices?

Sorry, no.

The real explanation might be more prosaic: Net Applications recently changed its formula for measuring usage. In an undated note labeled “Important methodology change,” the company explains:

This month we start deducting hidden pages from our usage share statistics. Hidden pages are pages that are rendered but never viewed by the user, therefore, they should not be included in usage share data. An example of a hidden page is a page that loads in a background tab upon the launch of the browser and is never made visible.

That note appears to have been added to the site in July, although it's not clear from the note when the new methodology took effect

Don't they realize that adjusting data is suicide to a business that deals in data? That alleged phantom page count should have been left in as a "consistent error" ( if in fact it is an error at all ) to allow month to month comparisons to remain valid, or, that sudden change should have been explained in detail in clear terms requiring no super-sleuthing to locate it.

No wonder nobody trusts these guys!


Microsoft to stop Masters level certification exams on Oct. 1 ( NeoWin 2013-09-01 )

Microsoft Senior Consultant Neil Johnson, added that the company will no longer offer Masters and Architect training anymore. People who have already reached the Masters level of certification from Microsoft will still be able to claim that credential and will not need to be re-certified.

The Microsoft Connect message board has been one of the places where community members have written and posted their displeasure on this move. However, Tim Sneath, Microsoft's senior director of Microsoft Learning, did address those concerns in his own board post. In short, it would seem that the Masters certification program has not been as successful as Microsoft would have liked. Sneath said:

The truth is, for as successful as the program is for those who are in it, it reaches only a tiny proportion of the overall community. Only a few hundred people have attained the certification in the last few years, far fewer than we would have hoped.

I guess there were a few categories of people left to be insulted and infuriated by NuMicrosoft. We have found them, IT Support professionals! Ha, ya'll thought they forgot about you, eh? Welcome to the party pal!

EDIT: spacing

Edited September 2, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot