Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Gaming ...

PS4 Controller Confirmed to Work on PC ( Maximum PC 2013-10-07 )

PS4 Controllers Will Work with Windows Does It Matter? ( Tom's Hardware 2013-10-07 )

Sony DualShock 4 Will be Compatible with Windows Gaming ( Tom's Hardware 2013-10-07 )

Basic functions of PlayStation 4 controller will work by default on Windows ( PC Gamer 2013-10-07 )

And once again Sony has dinged Microsoft since the latter says they might allow the Xbone controller to work on PC's. However, since the Xbone and the previous Xbox 360 controllers are not compatible with each other's platform it makes this story doubly painful for the fanboys.

More and more news about SteamOS and the Steam Controller ...

Valve Talks More About Nvidia GPUs Inside Steam Machines ( Tom's Hardware 2013-10-07 )

Valve Says Steam Machines Wont Be Exclusive to Nvidia ( Maximum PC 2013-10-09 )

Valve says commercial Steam Machines will support AMD, Intel, and Nvidia graphics hardware ( PC Gamer 2013-10-10 )

Valve: Steam Machines Won't Be Only Nvidia Hardware ( Tom's Hardware 2013-10-10 )

Valve: Some Steam Machines will also have AMD and Intel graphics chips ( NeoWin 2013-10-10 )

Steam Machines to feature Nvidia, AMD and Intel GPUs ( TechSpot 2013-10-11 )

===================================================

Indie dev shares thoughts on Steam Controller after getting hands-on ( PC Gamer 2013-10-07 )

Steam Controller video demonstration shows Portal 2, Civilization V, CS:GO ( PC Gamer 2013-10-11 )

Have a Look at Valve's Steam Controller in Action ( Maximum PC 2013-10-11 )

Valve shows off Steam Controller playing games in new video ( NeoWin 2013-10-11 )

===================================================

Valve invites game devs to discuss and test Steam products ( PC Gamer 2013-10-11 )

Valve Announces Steam Developer Conference ( Tom's Hardware 2013-10-11 )

I've noticed lots of hand-wringing from PS and Xbox console fanboys of course, but sadly there is even some from PC gamers who cannot see past the nose on their face. This is all about widening the market and offering alternatives, more choice, for free. It is a hybrid of both concepts, and it will add flexibility in choosing a solution. It is also about giving Linux itself a shot in the arm which apparently it was incapable of doing on its own.

[Formfiller]

They want to capitalize on Microsoft's Jihad on their still popular pre-9/11 pre-PRISM operating System

I don't think that's the main reason MS wants to get done with XP.

They don't want the burden to support it anymore, and thus save costs.

Whether or not it contains spyware code doesn't matter to MS much. I highly doubt it that the NSA pays Microsoft "per Installation" of Vista/W7/W8. The OS itself is also a weak target for spying, since suspicious data can by analyzed going out and from a computer and they risk that hacker groups, students etc. could blow up the entire operation simply by analyzing traffic of a Windows PC.

The main targets for the spooks are the cloud services, which can't be controlled by the users whatsoever once they send data in.

Edited October 12, 2013 by Formfiller

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

They want to capitalize on Microsoft's Jihad on their still popular pre-9/11 pre-PRISM operating System

I don't think that's the main reason MS wants to get done with XP.

They don't want the burden to support it anymore, and thus save costs.

Whether or not it contains spyware code doesn't matter to MS much. I highly doubt it that the NSA pays Microsoft "per Installation" of Vista/W7/W8. The OS itself is also a weak target for spying, since suspicious data can by analyzed going out and from a computer and they risk that hacker groups, students etc. could blow up the entire operation simply by analyzing traffic of a Windows PC.

The main targets for the spooks are the cloud services, which can't be controlled by the users whatsoever once they send data in.

One thing they inserted in Vista and later ( and is presumably still in place ) was a compromised RNG endorsed by spook agencies. I think we should assume that it gets some use in important scenarios like NTFS encryption and Bit Locker. It also may be utilized by 3rd party software using Windows API calls to do whatever it is they do. If that happens to be security then the hole is even bigger than the mere OS running on your system. So I think that the concept of an OS as a target from outside hacking is truly a red herring. What matters is when they physically grab your laptop or HDD's from your home boxes and set upon cracking the hidden, encrypted stuff.

I would suggest that Microsoft stopped spending any real money on XP a while back. However, if they do have to spend any cash on the thing it is their own fault. They invented the incompatibilities between all their operating systems, were backward compatibility an iron-clad law inside Redmond, then there would be little or no costs as operating systems evolve. They broke the rule and now want to cite it to force us to upgrade.

I also doubt they are getting paid to force updates or anything like that. Instead, it is a soft payment. They have been allowed to operate as a monopoly, even having the original judgement reduced from breakup to wrist-slap, and then had that dismissed right around the time of the PRISM ramp-up.

In a nutshell, the feds are looking the other way as long as they play ball. And it's not just Microsoft, it's Yahoo, Facebook, Google, all the ISP's, etc. We are stuck in the middle of monopolistic fiefdoms who are tightening their grips around our necks. It is even worse than the 1960's to 1970's era with monopolized telcos and TV because their reach has penetrated right into your living room and bedroom.

There is probably no way out of it now ( besides a Constitutional Convention and severe limiting of FedGov ), but we can at least go down fighting, bloody the hell out of them, and take a few of them down along the way.

[TELVM]

... 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.

... 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 ...

... 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. ;-)

At this rate of coffee spraying I'll need to buy new monitors in packs of six.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Microsoft Dropped "RT" From Surface to Avoid Confusion ( Tom's Hardware 2013-10-12 )

Microsoft: Surface RT branding caused "some confusion" ( NeoWin 2013-10-12 )

The Australian website ARN reports that Jack Cowett, Microsoft's marketing manager for Surface, made some comments about the name in a new interview. He said, "We think that there was some confusion in the market last year on the difference between Surface RT and Surface Pro."

Microsoft hopes to avoid that with the new Surface 2 and the Surface Pro 2, the latter of which uses full-fat Windows 8.1. Cowett stated, "We want to help make it easier for people, and these are two different products designed for two different people."

WTF did I just read? Does that make any sense to anyone here? They actually increased the confusion by an order of magnitude. By removing RT and just leaving "Windows" and "Surface" they increased the ambiguity! I had the most appropriate name ... Windows ReTard Edition ... or ... Surface ReTard Edition.


Windows 8 users have two years to update to Windows 8.1 before support ends ( NeoWin 2013-10-12 )

We can't imagine what that reason might be, but just in case you want to keep Windows 8 for a while longer, Microsoft has revealed on their support page that it will have a very quick shelf life. The page states, "Windows 8 customers will have two years to move to Windows 8.1 after the General Availability of the Windows 8.1 update to continue to remain supported under the Windows 8 lifecycle." That means Windows 8 support, at least for the version that launched a year ago, will officially end on October 18th, 2015.

So they are pushing this rapid development nonsense after all. Yeah, that'll fix Windows up real good. I wonder if the 'Tards and Microsoft herself realize that this means their latest operating system will likely never reach 10% user base at any point in time because by the time one gets to 8% the next one comes out. They will have many more different versions alive simultaneously than in the past and the lag for upgrades will increase. It's their bed, they made it, now they will have to sleep in it.

EDIT: typo

Edited October 13, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Security and Privacy ...

Skype under investigation in Luxembourg over link to NSA ( UK Guardian 2013-10-11 )

Skype under investigation over NSA links ( NeoWin 2013-10-11 )

Eric King, the head of research at human rights group Privacy International, says Skype users should no longer trust the voIP service.

"The only people who lose are users. Skype promoted itself as a fantastic tool for secure communications around the world, but quickly caved to government pressure and can no longer be trusted to protect user privacy."

The EU is on the job now and Microsoft is no doubt tucking away a few pennies to cover their next fine. To Microsoft it's a business expense. To Brussels, it's operating income. To me, it reminds of local counties and towns over here that have ticket quotas that the cops set out to collect, and the elected bureaucrats ring the cash register accordingly. Nothing of substance will likely come out of this, but one can hope.

In the comments there are very few Microsoft Skype defenders for once, I guess even NeoKids have a limit. One commenter asked: "Well.. I'm looking for the equivalent term of scroogled for MS...".

Hey I got it ... Don't Get Skype'ld

Facebook starts making profiles visible in search, removes option to opt-out ( NeoWin 2013-10-12 )

In a lengthy post, Facebook has outlined that many of its users faced issues while finding people whom they knew personally but had disabled search listing which led to a broken search experience. Users are advised to control what they post and set up post visibility in order to maintain privacy once these changes are completely rolled out globally.

Ah, they're going ahead whole-hog regardless of the criticism. IMHO here's why ... I guarantee that Facebook is as up to its neck in spook collaboration as Microsoft. Just look for which companies seem the most stubborn in their paths, making the most daring and egregious moves to expand their kingdoms. Acting like nobody can touch them, like they've got nothing to lose. That's Microsoft and Facebook in a nutshell ( and perhaps Google next ). The reason IMHO is that they have tacit assurances from the government that they won't be impeded as long as they cooperate. Facebook seems to have a minimum base of about a billion sheeple despite all the privacy concerns and recent articles. They're okay with that as their bottom line, and will proceed without any fear of blowback against their business. To the Feds, a billion sheeple is essentially 1 out of every 7th person on Earth, the spooks can do the math and consequently will give a wink and nod to anything Facebook does going forward. Stay the hell out of Facebook is all I can say.

Google can use your name and photo in ads under new Terms of Service if you let them ( NeoWin 2013-10-12 )

Another story mentioned yesterday, where Google has its own, just slightly less nefarious plans for your name and photo. I guess we are now officially in a race to the bottom with the social sites leapfrogging each other. Thank you sheeple.

That's a good little sheep. You know you like it ...

( original photo from here )

EDIT: spacing, typo

Edited October 13, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[Formfiller]

Windows 8 users have two years to update to Windows 8.1 before support ends ( NeoWin 2013-10-12 )

We can't imagine what that reason might be, but just in case you want to keep Windows 8 for a while longer, Microsoft has revealed on their support page that it will have a very quick shelf life. The page states, "Windows 8 customers will have two years to move to Windows 8.1 after the General Availability of the Windows 8.1 update to continue to remain supported under the Windows 8 lifecycle." That means Windows 8 support, at least for the version that launched a year ago, will officially end on October 18th, 2015.

So they are pushing this rapid development nonsense after all. Yeah, that'll fix Windows up real good. I wonder if the 'Tards and Microsoft herself realize that this means their latest operating system will likely never reach 10% user base at any point in time because by the time one gets to 8% the next one comes out. They will have many more different versions alive simultaneously than in the past and the lag for upgrades will increase. It's their bed, they made it, now they will have to sleep in it.

More like another proof that 8.1 is just a more fuzzed up service pack. They ditch support for the RTM Versions as soon as the SP comes out.

W7 RTM is not supported anymore, too.

[TELVM]

Microsoft Dropped "RT" From Surface to Avoid Confusion ( Tom's Hardware 2013-10-12 )

... Yanking the "RT" out of the device name could be seen as a little deceptive to customers who don't know the difference between ARM and x86-based architecture ...

I suspect enhancing confusion is the true purpose.

[Formfiller]

I suspect enhancing confusion is the true purpose.

Even many metrotards at Neowin came to that conclusion.

[ricktendo]

Thought this belonged here

Back door found in D-Link routers

D-secret is D-logon string allowing access to everything

LOL

Reverse Engineering a D-Link Backdoor

[jaclaz]

Yep, and:

Try to read the string xmlset_roodkcableoj28840ybtide backwards …. it appears as “Edit by 04882 joel backdoor“, very cool.

http://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/18645/hacking/d-link-backdoor.html

and :

@OSVDB: Hey @DLink. Have an engineer named 'Joel'? Fire him.

OT (cannot really say if meaning off or on topic ) some news on US government IT:

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/10/why-us-government-it-fails-so-hard-so-often/

A lot of pure bull§hit in the article, like the crazy idea that somehow Vista or 7 are actually better than XP (and even than Server 2003) and that 50ish guys should be better replaced by kids , but interesting on the "state of the art", particularly about the new EE mail system the government uses now.

In this snippet:

The bottom line is that federal IT programs' success is measured by things that have nothing to do with how successful they are or by the metrics most of the world uses. While the business world (and Web companies in particular) now monitor user experience and productivity as a metric for IT success, the government keeps throwing out numbers that mask the truth: the only people who would use their systems are the ones that are forced to.

you can replace "federal IT" with "Windows 8" or "Surface" and "government" with "Microsoft" without losing any accuracy.

jaclaz

Edited October 14, 2013 by jaclaz

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Microsoft Says Surface RT Branding Confused Customers ( Maximum PC 2013-10-14 )

More on that story from the other day, this time at MPC. I love the first two comments: "I wasn't confused by the branding personally. I saw it for what it was, the worst of both worlds between a tablet, and a full OS slate.". : And part of the other comment: "wait, you're telling me that MS realizes that people were confused over the fact that RT was different than non RT... so to solve the problem they're removing the "RT"? Does anyone else see the irony in this? There's going to be even more confusion now...". Spot on.

IE11 and Bing team up to pre-render web pages in search results ( NeoWin 2013-10-14 )

In a blog post, Microsoft discussed the inclusion of a new pre-render tag in IE11 that will enable the web page at the top of a Bing search result list to be automatically downloaded and rendered in the background. Microsoft says this pre-rendering technology has been designed so as not to waste bandwidth or a device's battery life.

Microsoft says, "Because half of people click on the first result on the search results page, pre-rendering that page is an important addition in our quest to improve the overall task completion time."

: nah nah nah. You should have been honest and said: "Because half of people click on the first result on the search results page, pre-rendering that page will be useful one haf of the time. The other half? Oh well. Wasted processing. Wasted power. Wasted time."

The only reason I even mention this is because of the rationalization for destroying Windows, particularly the aesthetics like Aero Glass, for alleged power savings ( even if you don't have a battery in your wall-plugged PC! ). This is the second time now we have seen Bing spending all that saved power and CPU cycles thanks to Windows 8. Wasting power is just fine whenever they say it is. MicroHypocrisy at its finest.

And what about bandwidth. And local storage. Did they really just admit to 'background download to local storage'. That adds wasted bandwidth and wasted disk space to the hypocrisy. And one more thing ... Let's hope that first search result isn't something dangerous! What if you search for "FBI Ransom Virus". Sounds to me like the authors of poison webpages only need to jack up their Google/Bing rank to make result #1 and get a free ride to the local hard drive, no clicking necessary.

Windows 8.1 Guide: Customizing the Start screen ( NeoWin 2013-10-14 )

Blah blah blah. They used to have this thing called Themes you know. Kind of a rolled-up collection of many different customizations of all manner of GUI elements. One click and multiple items are altered, another click and they are altered again, or reverted back to the original. But re-inventing the wheel is apparently in vogue these days, even when they re-invented nothing at all ...

updated

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Microsoft's Joe Belfiore: Lack of key apps still a problem for Windows Phone ( NeoWin 2013-10-14 )

Err no, sorry Joe, but it's much, much more than that. I wonder just how long this guy can keep repeating the exact same excuse to the Board before they start laughing at him ( BTW, I'm sure he is a nice guy, nothing personal meant at all, but I have this picture of him walking into a Board meeting every quarter for three or four years now and saying the same thing over and over again! ).

Anywho, as incredible as it sounds, Android has somehow become the new Windows, at least with phones, so far. How did that happen? Android is the flexible OS. It is the ubiquitous OS with many apps. It is the customizable OS with the least limitations. It even most resembles the tried-and-true desktop which the world has used for two decades. Of the other two, iOS is most locked-down with lots of apps but the most, uh, consistent interface which has now been flattened into a 2D pastel teenage girl theme. The other one, WP, has, tiles. Squares and rectangles. Lots of them. Woohoo.

If ten years ago we were asked which interface would be most flexible and user customizable in the future: Apple, Google or Microsoft? Everyone would have said Microsoft Windows, regardless of form factor or device. Sadly it was not to be. These jokers in WP ( and later Metro ) first cynically appropriated the "Windows" name hoping to capitalize on the hard-fought reputation and translating it into sales. Not content with just mis-using the name they also decided all that freedom of user customization was some weird mistake and set about killing it with a committee designed Playskool interface. However the customers saw right through this huge scam like Superman with X-Ray vision and have relegated NuMicrosoft to laughingstock status by every metric available.

Lots of Windows Phone fans want a Back button for Windows Phone 8.1 ( NeoWin 2013-10-13 )

Another story from yesterday. Man, some people are just stubbornly resistant to change. ;-)

Microsoft releases special Walking Dead TV commercial for Windows ( NeoWin 2013-10-14 )

Dead OS walking? I've said for a long time that this Windows 8.1 Blew thingie is just a do-over. A Mulligan. A cynical repeat of last year with a few little tweaks to stuff that no-one ever asked for while ignoring the huge issues that we pounded into their thick skulls for well over two years.

So now they are also repeating the strategy from earlier this spring. It's now October, but six months ago was April when the Walking Dead TV series ran their earlier half of the season ( umm Redmond, this marketing didn't work the first time ). Doubly bad idea because the first episode this week kinda sucked anyway ( IMHO ). But since we're doing it all over again, here's a graphic I made in April ...

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Security and Miscellaneous News ...

Google's new ad policy protest has folks swapping profile photos for Eric Schmidt's ( NeoWin 2013-10-13 )

That is a great idea! : But don't forget Page and Brin. Might as well throw in Zuckerberg. And Mayer, Gates and Ballmer too. Better yet, use photos of their children. And if anyone thinks that would be crossing some dangerous line, then make them answer a simple question: What are they afraid of?

Google Adding Photos, Comments, Names of Users in Ads ( Tom's Hardware 2013-10-14 )

If Facebook's new search policy wasn't bad enough to swallow, news of Google's new revision to its terms of service policy may cause you to turn off the Wi-Fi, disconnect the Ethernet and pull out a book. The search engine giant, following Facebook's lead in the advertising landscape, has decided that you should star in advertisements that your friends might see. Will you get paid? Of course not.

Beginning November 11, advertisements will begin showing Google user's profile pictures, names and comments shared on Google Plus. These ads will be visible in Search, Google Maps and Google Play, but will not affect those without Google Plus accounts, and those who use Google without signing in. The company said it's making this personalized ad move because recommendations from people you know "can really help".

Despite that story above from yesterday about a revolt of people using Schmidt's photo, they proceed anyway. And they have the nerve to tell us it's for our own good too! Yep, humanity is most definitely doomed.

Canadian government wants to unbundle television channels, offer a la carte programming ( TechSpot 2013-10-14 )

The Canadian government will soon require cable and satellite providers to unbundle channel packages and offer them a la carte. During a recent television appearance, Canadas Industry Minister James Moore said it wasnt right that Canadians have to pay for bundled television channels they dont watch. He went on to say they want to unbundle television channels and allow residents to pick and pay for the specific channels they want.

As long as the cable companies don't turn this into a net gain for themselves it would be great. If they use this to jack up rates so that the sum total price of all the channels you get now added up individually do NOT exceed the current bill, then all would be peachy. Even a penny more in price for them added a la carte means they are milking this.

This will never occur here in the States though. The problem is not really the cable companies at all, it is the god-forsaken network content-providers, the vampire mega-companies that own dozens of channels and bundle them for sale to cable and satellite operators ( at ransom sometimes, witness the recent CBS scam with Time-Warner ), with no way to break them up. They do this because they know their oddball channels and foreign language only channels, and home shopping channels would never be picked up and transmitted by the cable/satcos.

This is a tough one for sure. On one hand we want channels to stand or fall on their own merit rather than be propped up by bundling. But on the other, we may now see deal-making between the networks and cable/satcos to pick up this-or-that channel for some nefarious deal. ~sigh~ The only answer I can think of is to limit every company to owning just one channel. Goodbye Viacom. Sell all but one network. :

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

The Competition and Gaming ...

DICE Talks About Steam Machines, Linux Gaming ( Tom's Hardware 2013-10-14 )

DICE creative director Lars Gustavsson told Polygon on Saturday that one single "killer" game is all the Linux platform needs to explode its way into mainstream gaming. He pointed to Halo and how it helped make the original Xbox highly competitive despite Microsoft's "rookie" status in the console market. Thus, even though Linux is easily accessible, the platform still needs its own flagship game to really motivate player interest.

[...]

He said that the studio "strongly" wants to get into Linux, and that Valve's SteamOS and the Steam Machines initiative will be good for the console market because these products will explore new, possibly better ways of consuming games than the current Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo method.

More at the link, at the link. One commenter brings up a point about a Media Center, which I hadn't thought about. If Valve makes this a top priority it might go a long way to firing up interest since Microsoft took a giant dump on Windows Media Center ( and let's not forget the DVD codec issue ). A Media Center would be a potential killer app, especially since this thing ( SteamOS, SteamBox, Controller ) targets the big screen by design.

Cross-platform play between PC and Xbox One makes a lot of sense, says Microsoft exec ( PC Gamer 2013-10-14 )

Bad title unfortunately . There is no real discussion of cross-platform "play" from the Softie. Just game "saves" really. Microsoft is as interested in cross-platform gameplay between Xbox and PS as they are in Xbox and the PC. Zero. Zilch. Nada. There is way too much risk that someone on a PS or a PC will blow away the Xbox player and the reputation for the Xbox as frag-bait console would grow rapidly.

AMD's Mantle API not compatible with the Xbox One ( TechSpot 2013-10-14 )

Many people assumed that, aside from optimizing the performance of PC games on AMD hardware through low-level 'metal' GPU access, Mantle would allow game developers an easy way to co-develop for PC and next-gen consoles.

However this isn't quite the case as it turns out. Microsoft confirmed through a blog post that Mantle is not compatible with the Xbox One, despite the similar graphics architecture found in its custom-built AMD Jaguar APU. Instead, the console solely relies on Direct3D 11.x - not too surprising considering it's a Microsoft-developed API - with specific enhancements designed for "close to metal" performance on the system.

Man, the hits just keep on coming. I'm actually starting to feel sorry for the old girl ( Microsoft ).