Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions

[JorgeA]

Looks like Hewlett-Packard is hedging its bets, not waiting for Windows 8 tablets to, umm, "surface" out of the depths of oblivion. Wonder what Steve B. and the directors think of this:

Google, HP Announce New School-Focused Chromebook

As @Charlotte might rightly point out, more $$$ to be picked from taxpayers' pockets but at least the fleecing is at 60% the rate (price) of Win8 tablets.

Another outrage in a similar vein is that the Los Angeles School District is going to use $1 billion in 25-year "construction" bonds to purchase iPads, which last 3-5 years. Half the money would go to buy the devices at $678 a pop, "higher than tablets cost in stores," the L.A. Times noted, and half ($500 million) for "other expenses, including installing a wireless network on every campus."

Even assuming that the devices survive the beating from first- and second-graders and somehow make it to the five-year mark, at that point they'll need to replace them all for an additional half-billion, with another similar expenditure within five years after that, and so on. Will they keep issuing additional 25-year bonds to "pay for" toys that last 5 years?? Unfreakinbelievable. Shows you the sort of thing that can happen when you get to spend somebody else's future money. Wonder if these iPads will include a basic Math app...

This next databit from that article is probably inevitable, but still emblematic:

The tablets come with tracking software, a sturdy case and a three-year warranty.

[emphasis added]

Get 'em used to it while they're young!

--JorgeA

Edited October 9, 2013 by JorgeA

[Tripredacus]

I don't need to sit on "Secret" information once MS lets it out of the bag.

Windows 8.1 GA is October 17, 2013.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/427c62dd-b90a-4bcd-b1f9-d65d6305cd77/windows-81-forum-category-rename-for-windows-81-general-availability-ga?forum=w8itproinstall

[JorgeA]

Thanks, Tripredacus.

We'll see what kind of response there is to 8.1

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

This can't be good:

W3C support of DRM will hurt Web experience, critics say

Consortium to continue building EME into HTML 5.1

October 06, 2013— The World Wide Web Consortium has bowed to pressure from content providers calling for more copyright protection in the HTML 5.1 spec, a move critics say could lead to a user-unfriendly web.

Earlier this week, W3C Director Tim Berners-Lee decided the major standards body would continue its work on building the Encrypted Media Extension (EME) into the HTML5.1 standard. While the W3C was "sensitive" to the controversy around EME, it believed the technology had a place in the spec.

EME would enable copyright owners to embed within a web page video wrapped with the digital rights management technology of their choosing. Netflix, Google and Microsoft devised EME as a standardized mechanism for applying restrictions on the use of content.

Isn't Tim Berners-Lee the guy who made the Web possible, turning the Internet from the obscure plaything of academics to today's wide-open cornucopia of information and trade? And now he's helping to close it off?!?

Even code could be locked away, so Web applications could be executed, but not examined online.

"A Web where you cannot cut and paste text; where your browser can't 'Save As...' an image; where the 'allowed' uses of saved files are monitored beyond the browser; where JavaScript is sealed away in opaque tombs; and maybe even where we can no longer effectively 'View Source' on some sites, is a very different Web from the one we have today," Danny O'Brien, international director for the EFF, said on the group's blog.

[emphasis added]

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Paul Thurrott uses some dubious logic to argue that the PC is in long-term decline, but check out the laugher of a comment by "Jules Verny." As if enterprise has any use for Metro. His reasoning is backward: Metro and Win8 have contributed to the PC market's stagnation by discouraging business from "up"grading.

--JorgeA

[Formfiller]

The reason why I am asking is that I was in a mall looking for electric razors. They were a lot of them, so I wanted to go online looking for Amazon reviews for the models they had in the shop.

Unfortunately, all the laptops there were locked with some demo video, the tablets though were unlocked and online.

I couldn't even write "Amazon.com" properly! My hand isn't even big, and my fingers aren't fatty, but despite this I struggled like mad to even open up the **** webpage. Maybe it's because I don't have "tablet experience", but typing on a bigger touchscreen was so uncomfortable, just terrible. Smartphones are a bit better, because you use your thumb only, while here you need to use your fingers over a wide space, and the lack of tacticle feedback is very noticable here. It felt very uncomfortable very quickly (a stylus based system, woud have been better, seriously!)

They had two Surfaces there too, one with the normal keyboard and one with the "touch cover". Unfortunately, the one with the tactile keyboard was not online, so I had to use the touch cover one. It's better than using a touch screen, but it's still weird. I was able to look the info up, but all the time I thought "I want laptop!"

Fizzling with the weird paperboard like keyboard and the fixed-angle tiny screen (which was not exactly comfortable to look at when you are standing), I became pretty depressed.

All the time I thought - This is it? And for this crap 30 years of PC evolution gets disregarded, Microsoft foisted Metro upon us and Apple made bazillion of dollars?!

I just don't get it, seriously. I can see tablets as media players or ebooks, but for anything beyond that (even twitter messages) even a netbook seems to be the far more sane choice. Here you still have a tactile keyboard, and the screen isn't that much smaller than of a Surface.

I don't understand the touch/tablet madness at all. It seems like a huge bubble to me.

http://www.techbroil.com/2013/09/goodbye-douchebag.html?showComment=1381149122612#c904576315567032853

[Formfiller]

Isn't Tim Berners-Lee the guy who made the Web possible, turning the Internet from the obscure plaything of academics to today's wide-open cornucopia of information and trade? And now he's helping to close it off?!?

The wonders of donations.

[TELVM]

http://www.techbroil.com/2013/09/goodbye-douchebag.html?showComment=1381149122612#c904576315567032853

Right below he writes these sad but worringly true words:

... It's as if the entire world has gone nuts ... ... It's as if there is a conspiracy against common sense in today's tech world ...

Another commenter left this interesting link:

Why tablets suck, and have set us back over a century

[jaclaz]

Another commenter left this interesting link:

Why tablets suck, and have set us back over a century

Excellent, it sums up perfectly the experiences of a lot of people, confirming how the good ol' pen computing was not that bad.

I will expand on it, re-stating how my personal experience with the Compaq Concerto was exceptionally good.

The thingy had BOTH a keyboard and the pen (as replacement of the mouse) BUT allowed to connect instead of the built-in (and anyway not at all bad/flimsy) keyboard any "standard" PS/2 keyboard and mouse.

Additionally had a VGA out (the thing had a greyscale display, but the graphic card output was colours).

That was like 1994 - almost 20 years ago - I could carry with me the little thingy (including the keyboard), I could hook it up *anywhere* on "standard" peripherals, there was no "new training" involved, it ran a "standard" Windows 3.11, i.e. the same thing that we had on our desktops, had no need for fancy "gestures", i.e. I could use it as a laptop, as a tablet (I remember using it with a custom made Excel spreadsheet to quickly check an inventory by walking with it in a warehouse and checking on the pre-made list - but also jolting down "new" item descriptions), I could use it as a "brick PC", and it wasn't even particularly slow (486DX33 and 8 Mb of RAM) when compared to common desktops.

It was at the time VERY expensive, much more expensive than the correspondent "traditional laptop" that was the Compaq Contura, but IMHO worth all the money that was paid for it.

At the time the idea was evidently "let's give to an user on the move the SAME capabilities of a desktop and some more", so that the customer can do the same things he can do on a desktop in an as comfortable as possible environment while he is out of the office.

Nowadays it seems like the idea is "let's remove from the desktop any useful feature so that the user can experience in the office the same reduced/limited environment available out of it".

jaclaz

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Toshiba claims Windows 7 PCs make up 99 percent of its business sales ( NeoWin 2013-10-11 )

When we say "vast majority", that's not an exaggeration. ZDNet quotes Toshiba's B2B product marketing manager Cindy Zwerling as saying, "From a business perspective, I would say 99 percent of our sales are Windows 7." She added, "At this point, there are few exceptions in corporate America in the enterprise space for Windows 8."

That's a novel use of English. "vast majority" or "practically unanimous"? Whatever. If they want to do something useful they should flex their muscles and demand Windows 7 licenses for the consumer lines. Tell Microsoft to send them along or pound sand. Redmond could not afford to have a couple of big box manufacturers grab headlines in this manner and would cave in quickly. And whoever did this first would get a huge jump on pent-up Windows 7 sales.

Microsoft releases Windows 7 patch made to help delete old Windows Updates ( NeoWin 2013-10-10 )

While Microsoft does not plan to release a second service pack for Windows 7, that doesn't mean that it will stop updating its older, and currently most used, PC operating system. This week, Microsoft released a new Windows 7 update that should be very helpful for PC owners who want to free up some disc space on their hard drive.

[...]

Microsoft has only released one service pack for Windows 7 since it launched in 2009 and has no plans to release any others.

From what I've read this utility does almost nothing and the comments even at NeoWin seems to confirm it. What they really need is a full-blown WinSxS Auditor-Editor-Manager, and while they're at it they should make it or another one that does the same for all Windows Updates and all the other system folders like "Downloaded Programs" and more. The \Windows structure has been a gravitational black-hole swallowing up everything and giving up nothing. Enough of these dumb wizard tools that do nothing.

One more thing, about those bolded parts ... has this ever actually been confirmed? Has anyone actually seen Microsoft state there will be no SP2 for Win7? Have they admitted what we long ago suspected? That would be news to me.

Resellers hint at weak U.K. sales of Microsoft's Surface ( NeoWin 2013-10-10 )

According to the sources, Microsoft allocated a total of just 2,000 Surfaces - around 1,500 RTs and 500 of the Pro model - to wholesalers Tech Data and Ingram Micro, who were tasked with distributing the devices to the first nine resellers. Since then, all 2,000 Surfaces have sold out, with some resellers reporting that they had actually received more orders than their supply could satisfy. However, the sources also said that "demand has not been overwhelming", suggesting that the total number of orders they received is unlikely to be much higher than that 2,000-unit figure.

This follows recent rumors of Surface inventory "selling out" which I knew was supply-chain shenanigans. Of course the commenters have an answer, they think that customers are merely holding back for Surface 2 I wonder how many quarters and years it's gonna take before it really sinks into their heads.

Microsoft: 5.5 million downloads of Visual Studio 2012 since launch ( NeoWin 2013-10-09 )

Microsoft launched Visual Studio 2012 for MSDN and TechNet subscribers in August 2012 and for everyone else a month later. As we await the official launch of the next version, Visual Studio 2013, Microsoft has revealed some rather impressive download numbers for the current version.

( original photo from NeoWin )

Now isn't that a sight for that causes sore eyes. That GUI is easily the worse thing I could imagine having to work in. It's like an alternate universe now. It's like they gave the source code to the high school geek club and they produced this in between smoking pot and keg parties. Evey single thing about the earlier Visual Studio versions has been ruined, and every possible bad idea has been sprinkled on top. The only useful purpose for that ridiculous GUI would be use as a flashlight app on a cellphone.

Anywho, are they seriously bragging about 5.5 million downloads in one-year? That is positively anemic.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Microsoft reportedly killing the back button in Windows Phone 8.1 ( NeoWin 2013-10-09 )

Rumor: Windows Phone 8.1 will kill hardware back button ( TechSpot 2013-10-10 )

According to a new article by Paul Thurrott, a source has revealed Microsoft plans to get rid of the physical back button in Windows Phone 8.1, as users "don't realize what they're doing" when using the button multiple times. The button is also responsible for opening the multitasking screen in Windows Phone, with users holding the button down to see a series of tiles showing recent apps. Thurrott's source didn't say how the screen would be opened with the back button gone.

( original photo from NeoWin )

I sure hope all the WP fanboys weren't to attached to that button. Don't be afraid of change and progress you Luddites! Bend over and take it like a man sheep.

Microsoft Reportedly Urging Samsung, Huawei to Put Windows on Android Devices ( Tom's Hardware 2013-10-09 )

More on that story about Microsoft allegedly promoting dual-booting with Android. I previously said that Microsoft in no way, shape or form wants to go up against Android, if they did they could simply release the Lumia 1020 with a choice of operating systems and see which one people actually buy.

But one thing I hadn't really thought about was touched upon by the author of this article ...

Thus in a sense, Microsoft would gain a substantially larger market share simply by piggy-backing Android devices.

Eureka, that might just be it. They are thinking they can boost market share in the most cynical fashion ever imagined! They could actually pull this off too if they wave the Android tax that they collect at gunpoint from all the manufacturers. This is a perfect example of how a monopolistic parasite can skew a market completely. I seriously doubt that Google would stand back and watch it happen.

Hey Microsoft, I've got an idea that has no doubt been considered by regulators in the past. Why not ask all PC manufacturers to install dual-booting Windows and Linux at the factory. That would do wonders for their market share, eh? ;-)

PSA: Neowin.com secured with the help of Stardock ( NeoWin 2013-10-07 )

Long story short: NeoWin.net is now also available from NeoWin.com after many years of trying. The owner, NeoBond, makes the mistake of calling the previous owner a cybersquatter and gets called out for it in the comments, quite correctly IMHO. Umm, hey Steven, they had it first. The funny thing is that Stardock ( who owns a piece of NeoWin ) accomplished this as a free gift to NeoWin, and now a few commenters even criticize that! Naturally if Microsoft owned a piece of them their lips would be sealed which goes to show who the NeoSheep are truly loyal to.

Microsoft reveals planned updates to its Fresh Paint apps ( NeoWin 2013-10-10 )

( original photo from theappchamp )

Somebody help me out here, isn't that GUI the literal definition of skeuomorphism? Strangely enough that word doesn't appear in the comments anywhere. I wonder why. Juvenile hypocritical children.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Dell gets on the 'Ditch Windows XP' bandwagon with new video ( NeoWin 2013-10-07 )

Blah Blah. FUD and self-serving nonsense. Funny thing though, one eagle-eyed commenter spotted this at 0:53 in the video. So I captured it ...

... And it is still there even now. 9 days later and 3,969 views and counting. That's Karma baby. They want to capitalize on Microsoft's Jihad on their still popular pre-9/11 pre-PRISM operating system, but in the process demonstrate that they cannot even {1} spell-check their advertisement; and {2} proof-read the finished product. Yep, let's trust our enterprise to this company.


SVCHOST bug still spikes CPU at 100% 6 months before Windows XP support cut-off ( NeoWin 2013-10-07 )

Big dust-up in the comments with one commenter after another offering theories about something that their tiny little sheeple minds can never understand ...

{1} This particular issue has to do with Windows Update, specifically the local service hanging because of inadequate response from remote Microsoft servers. Guess what that is? Yep, a cloud problem. A classic Microsoft cloud problem. Ooops.

{2} This is also a Windows architectural problem, and it is Exhibit-A of what happens when you hide stuff, leaving only the barest of clues "SVCHOST" to the user. Now if that user was using ProcExp and had "Command Line" selected as one of the displayed columns he could just scroll through or mouse over each SVCHOST to see which service it is. Note that this is a typical Microsoft clusterf*ck, because after this one in XP it still carried forward into later versions anyway.

{3} Finally it is also one of many examples of how bad Windows Update really is. The biggest failing of all is that it always finds the slowest possible way to work, taking hours instead of minutes on fast bandwidth, giving no easy way to just download all the files without executing them, ridiculously inaccurate progress bars and more. Another painful bug occurs when you have a bunch of downloads executing but one of them has a prompt window to agree to a EULA hidden in the background. I cannot believe this still happens today.

Internet Explorer itself is not to blame in this case but it does offer a great example of crap programming that I like to point out ... That incredibly dumb page that MSIE serves up when the Internet connection is severed that says click to "Diagnose". Simply unplug your Ethernet cable to see it in action. Yeah, let's possibly scramble our network settings because the cable is unplugged, or the router or modem is off, or the ISP had a hiccup. What's incredible is the fact that even that little network icon in the SysTray is smart enough to realize that the cable was unplugged, and tells you that, but for some reason MSIE doesn't get the memo! That's Microsoft for ya, driving users crazy for an eternity.


HPs Meg Whitman Calls Microsoft/Intel Its Competitors Not Partners ( Maximum PC 2013-10-10 )

HP CEO Meg Whitman says Microsoft is becoming an outright competitor ( TechSpot 2013-10-10 )

HP CEO: Microsoft is becoming our 'outright competitor' ( NeoWin 2013-10-10 )

Ya think? What is amazing to me is that almost all the commenters in all those threads of slamming HP and defending Microsoft. ~sigh~ Can they even spell m-o-n-o-p-o-l-y?

Imagine if John Rockefeller ( Standard Oil ) who monopolized petroleum production to the tune of 90+% in this country decided to start selling cars and furnaces. The oil monopoly alone was bad enough to get the company scrutinized, any move into oil using devices would never have been tolerated because on a mere whim he could have changed the formula of the refined fuels to only work in his cars rendering all competitors out of luck. He could also just not sell oil to certain competitors. Try to wrap your minds around that fanboys, and think of "Windows" as the oil product. Imagine if Microsoft refused to license Windows to HP ( for whatever reason, it could be that they don't like their tablets, or some add-on Start Menu ... ). This hypothetical is to show how fast a monopoly situation can degenerate into a bloodbath. It's time for Microsoft to release Windows ( x86 family ) into the public domain ... or ... time for regulators to take Windows out of Microsoft. Supplying the operating system and selling complete systems using that operating system is way too close for comfort.

It's as if generational memory no longer exists on this planet.


Microsoft reveals IE11 features to assist blind and visually impaired users ( NeoWin 2013-10-11 )

Well since this is quite possibly the only demographic that has no complaints about the Windows 8 and Metro GUI, they better try to keep them happy. ;-)

EDIT: clarity

Edited October 13, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Security and Privacy ...

Skype adding message sync and more as it augments P2P with the cloud ( The Verge 2013-10-04 )

Now this is funny. It is a controversy over at The Verge where all the uber-fanboys had strokes over this article "attacking" their one true God - Microsoft! ... Hold your mouse over that article link and you will see the original name of the piece which is still in the URL ... Skype Attempts To Whitewash Wiretap Concerns. ... Apparently that cause the children to soil their underwear leading to the editors altering the title of the article and adding an ominous disclaimer ... "Update: We regret that the post, as it originally appeared, was not in compliance with our editorial standards. It has been changed.". Naturally the author is berated by butt-hurt fanboys in the comments, which ironically is more than he did to Microsoft with his article!

Most MicroSheep don't like The Verge very much at all. It's because they feel the articles are unfair to Microsoft ( which is simply ridiculous ). However, the absolute greatest collection of fanboys, even more than NeoWin, is found at The Verge in their so-called Microsoft Tribe forum. Nothing comes close! I can tell that they are mostly children, probably 12-year old adolescents, who are consumers but NOT customers since they are spending their parent's money. This skews the customer demographics for the entire industry. It is children like this that hype up so many sheeple toys and then see them fall flat once they hit the shelves. Arguing with them is utterly ridiculous because you have to imagine trying to reason with these dumb kids in real life, a losing battle when the opponent has no responsibility, logic skills or any experience whatsoever. When they hit their mid-20's and actually have to pay rent and feed a family they will suddenly wonder how all the kids of that era can cheer for $600 phones and $200 Playskool operating system.


Google, Microsoft and others join the Alliance for Affordable Internet ( TechSpot 2013-10-07 )

Google, Microsoft and others team up to make Internet access cheaper ( NeoWin 2013-10-07 )

This is no act of benevolence, they're merely casting nets for more "customers"! It also just happens to widen the data vacuum for the spooks, enlarges the dragnet so to speak. And our wonderful governments will naturally support this since they already have these companies in their hip pockets ( strange, didn't we used to think those roles were reversed due to lobbying? ).


Most secure Android smartphone Quasar IV to begin production ( NeoWin 2013-10-10 )

Like I said, we're looking at a bona fide growth industry. But how on Earth can we really be sure we can trust them?


BitTorrent Behind Baffling, Bleak Bicoastal Billboards ( Tom's Hardware 2013-10-09 )

Bittorrent has some interesting billboards ...

( original photo from here )

What a great idea, but I just hope regular people understand them. Not everyone is familiar with They Live! by John Carpenter ...

( original photo from thewolfmancometh )

EDIT: clarity, typo

Edited October 13, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Security and Privacy continued ...

Microsoft: No, Xbox One's Kinect won't be used to gather user data for ads ( NeoWin 2013-10-07 )

Microsoft Sends Mixed Messages on Xbox One Kinect Privacy ( Tom's Hardware 2013-10-08 )

More on that story pooh poohing the big brother or HAL aspect of Kinect. This time NeoWin has received an answer from Microsoft supposedly clarifying the earlier somewhat ambiguous statement by a Microsoft employee ...

The comments in Ad Age attributed to Yusuf Mehdi were not in relation to Kinect. We do not have plans to target ads or content to you based on any data Kinect collects. We have a long-standing commitment to your privacy and will not target ads to you based on any data Kinect collects unless you choose to allow us to do so. Furthermore, we will give you a clear explanation of what is collected and how it will be used. Importantly, we do not collect your personal information to share or sell to third parties, and you are fully in control over what personal data is shared. We have strict policies to protect your privacy and these policies will continue to be upheld with our next generation product.

So right there in the bold part they literally state that they DO have plans to target you IF YOU ALLOW IT. How is that not a lie?

If you stop and think about this entire Kinect thing you really have to wonder why they ever went this route. For instance, did they just wake up and decide the world needs a new way of controlling video games? Or is it that they had full intention of exploiting the other use of a camera in the living room all along. That creepy patent tends to confirm the latter if you ask me.


Facebook Kills Privacy Option to Hide Your Profile from Strangers ( Tom's Hardware 2013-10-11 )

Facebook Changes Privacy Policy, Makes Nearly Everyone Searchable ( Maximum PC 2013-10-11 )

Facebook removing the option to hide your profile in searches ( TechSpot 2013-10-11 )

If youve been on the fence about closing down your Facebook account over privacy concerns, now might be the time to take the plunge. Thats because the social network is removing an option that allowed members to prevent themselves from showing up in search results a move they promised was coming nearly a year ago.

Oh heck, why not. The spooks already have global search access in secret, they can just call this feature parity for all customers. Stop resisting change you Luddites. ;-)


How New York Comic-Con Hijacked My Twitter Account ( Tom's Hardware 2013-10-11 )

Okay, check this one out ... People went to the Comic Convention in NYC, they opened accounts for badges using their Twitter addresses. Then they noticed something ...

NEW YORK If you're at New York Comic Con (NYCC) 2013 and you have a Twitter account, you may have tweeted about your excitement about being at one of the biggest pop-culture conventions in the world. Or Comic Con may have tweeted on your behalf.

Many people, including this reporter, activated their Comic Con badges using a social media account and were surprised yesterday (Oct. 10) to find posts to their Twitter feeds that they themselves hadn't written. Examples included "Best four days of my life!" or "Getting my daily dose of #NYCC!" with an attached link to NYCC's Facebook page.

See the link for screencaps of these cookie cutter Tweets, posted from themselves, to themselves. Incredible. They had their identities temporarily hijacked. And they didn't even get adequate apologies ...

"We were probably too enthusiastic in our messaging and eagerness to spread the good word about NYCC," convention officials told Tom's Guide in an email. "We have since shut down this service completely and apologize for any perceived overstep."

Representatives on the convention floor refused to elaborate further, other than suggesting that the Twitter and Facebook hijacks were enabled by the RFID chips in Comic Con attendees' badges. The RFID chips, or radio-frequency identification chips, are a new badge feature this year.

Perceived? That's another kick in the teeth. What arrogance!

One user comments this: "Wonder how long we'll have to wait to find out that the home or apartment of one of the attendees was broken into because the conference let the world know that their residents was empty.". Sure, count on it.

Yep. It's a Brave New World. And the sheeple are leading the way. Don't blame the wolf, they are just doing what comes natural when a herd of sheep strolls blissfully into their den.


How to Opt Out of Google's Personal Endorsement Ads ( Tom's Hardware 2013-10-11 )

Taking a page from Facebook, Google will soon start using the names and faces of Google+ members in Google search results and other Google websites but there are a couple of differences.

First of all, Google makes it very easy to opt out of this feature, which is being called "Shared Endorsements." If you're logged into Google, go to http://plus.google.com/settings/endorsements. Scroll to the bottom of the page.

[...]

Well, even though this is a bit less intrusive than that Facebook crap, these companies are all pushing the boundaries, laying precedents, knocking them down, pushing further, repeat ad nauseum. And there appears to not be an impeding force anywhere to be found because the government has them over a barrel for "security" stuff and allows this crap just to shut them up, and the sheeple, well, they're just sheeple. Fear for your kids and grandkids, and just imagine their own kids and grandkids.

EDIT: clarity, typo

Edited October 13, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

The Competition ...

Google changing Chrome's Metro appearance in Windows 8 to mimic its operating system ( NeoWin 2013-10-06 )

Next version of Chrome essentially runs Chrome OS inside Windows 8 ( TechSpot 2013-10-07 )

Oh man! The commenters are crazy over this even though it's not quite what they fear, well, yet anyway ...

The developer version of Google's Chrome browser now allows users to run the application in Windows 8's Metro environment with an interface similar to the company's Internet-enhanced Chrome operating system. The similarities largely end in appearance, however, as the only major feature of the operating system available with the browser's Metro environment is an application bar that is essentially nothing more than a glorified bookmark bar, opening websites.

At some point though Google will figure out a way to get their apps to execute in there. That would be awesome for fanboy entertainment value. Of course they are already freaking out, and displaying massive ignorance of reality in the process ...

Microsoft needs to block this because it a complete abuse of APIs. This works because Microsoft opened up new APIs that allows desktop browsers to run in full screen mode and interact with the modern side of the OS that other desktop apps don't have access to . By making this, Google is essentially using APIs that is reserved for only browsers to virtualise their desktop OS which is a complete abuse of the OS.

microsoft should make rules about application appearance standards.. then block chrome for not meeting them.

Microsoft should Block them just like google loves to do to Microsoft.

Such arrogance. That should help to illustrate their true core values and why they are called MetroTards and MicroZealots in the first place. To these fanboys Microsoft is truly their God and Metro is his one true son. How dare any infidel create a false image of their prophet. ;-)

The real problem though is that they actually believe these are Microsoft's computers. Yes, that computer you are reading this very thread on is owned by Microsoft and they should control what programs you can run, and what those programs are allowed to do. Other commenters try to reason with these fanboys, reminding them that blocking Google or anyone else for that matter will bring down the wrath of regulation, therefore they will not do this ( but we can certainly hope they listen to the fanboys and try ).

But even that misses my own long argued point here that Microsoft is now blurring the lines between what they actually are - sometimes a 1st party, but most times a 3rd party. That latter case is the x86 world in a nutshell, where Microsoft supplies some software that merely makes the system sold by the 1st party manufacturer operate. They call this software an operating system. If the OS does not work, the system does not work, and we are approaching the concept of sabotage ( if by design, else we can say incompetence which covers most Microsoft use cases ).

I think Google has a great idea here! If they or anyone can make some Metro app that kicks open the doors on the walled-garden it will really tick off the mothership and possibly bait them into legal territory. Make it so!


Apple said to be cutting iPhone 5c production in half ( TechSpot 2013-10-10 )

Apple is reportedly cutting iPhone 5c production output in half after weak sales ( NeoWin 2013-10-10 )

As you might imagine there are commenters celebrating this factoid, even though they are missing the 800 pound gorilla ...

( Originals: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 )

Looks to me like the common denominator is the cheap and childish appearance. Perhaps the Baskin Robbins selection ( and by extension the Microsoft Tiles ) really looks like Playskool to the masses and sells accordingly? Actually, there is a very logical reason for the iPhone 5c problems, it simply wasn't priced low enough, which reinforces that graphic even further since all of them are overpriced to begin with.

Oh, and isn't just ironic that because of the Surface trendy colors and Microsoft Tiles Playskool GUI that they have actually managed to make the iPad look like the professional business device and their Surface looks like, well, you know, a toy. The proof as they say, is in the pudding as 2013 Q2 saw 300,00 Surface sales and 14.6 million iPad sales, in the same timeframe.


Firefox OS Updated, Getting Wider Distribution ( Tom's Hardware 2013-10-10 )

Chris Lee, Director of Product for Firefox OS, updated the Mozilla blog with news that the company's mobile operating system has been updated to v1.1. The release arrives after the first Firefox OS phones hit the market this summer, and now provides new features, significant performance improvements and support for more than 15 new languages.

That said, Mozilla announced in a separate blog that Firefox OS is expanding into new territories. Telefonica has already released the ALCATEL ONE TOUCH Fire and ZTE Open devices in Spain, Venezuela and Colombia, and now plans to launch Firefox OS in Brazil and three other Latin America markets in 4Q 2014.

Who'd'a thunk it. Choices all over the place.


Lenovo IdeaPad A10 is an Entry Level Android Laptop. Secret laptop confirmed. ( Maximum PC 2013-10-11 )

( original photo from Maximum PC )

Looks okay for a tiny 10 inch laptop tab-pad-thingie, I guess. And since it's from the MetroTards favorite company it's really gonna leave a mark when the story gets picked up at NeoWin.

The real point though is that thanks to Microsoft Tiles we just might get to see that year of Linux yet. Good job boys!

EDIT: typo

Edited October 13, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot