Jump to content

Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions


JorgeA

Recommended Posts

The most valuable Internet educational tool a school could offer is using critical thinking to place truth values on information received. Mostly this involves tracking down sources of information to see how closely they correspond with the nth iteration of reporting and looking for clues that establish or undermine credibility. Instead schools take the lazy way out and issue blanket statements like "you can't trust anything on the Internet". That would be a suboptimal yet acceptable stance, but then one cannot in good faith assert that Internet in schools is any kind of necessity.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Security Related Loose Ends ...

Edward Snowden: NSA whistleblower answers reader questions ( UK Guardian 2013-06-17 )

Online Q & A with the whistleblower. Interesting stuff I hadn't seen anywhere else.

Using encryption? That means the US spooks have you on file ( UK Register 2013-06-21 )

Anyone who encrypts their emails or uses secure instant message services runs the risk of having their communications stored by the US National Security Agency, according to the latest leaks from former NSA sysadmin Edward Snowden.

The Guardian has published two more explosive documents which set out what sort of information the NSA is allowed to harvest from foreign targets, as well American citizens.

Both were issued by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and were signed by US Attorney General Eric Holder in 2009.

[...]

If someone's location can not be clearly established, then they "will not be treated as a United States person" unless other evidence becomes apparent. This would mean that anyone using anonymity software like Tor, which deliberately masks their location, is liable to have their communications stored.

Spies are also told they can retain "all communications that are enciphered or reasonably believed to contain secret meaning" for up to five years, giving them another way to keep American citizens' communications data.

I don't know how else to interpret that except that if since 2009 you used any encryption for email or transit anonymizers ( or maybe even encrypted ZIP and RAR files? ) then they have it. Period.

New DRM 'text watermarks' link pirated ebooks to their original uploader ( TechSpot 2013-06-17 )

The DRM alters word order, inserts synonyms, changes paragraph format, adjusts punctuation, and does so in an unobtrusive way as to not influence the meaning of the text, according to the researchers. TorrentFreak gives an example of the DRM swapping the word “unsympathetic” for the phrase “not sympathetic.”

This technology raises a number of concerns, one being the reliance on an automated system to make these adjustments effectively without being obvious. Additionally, changing prose as described by the researchers could lead to dampening or destroying the nuances of the text, or even breaking common literary techniques like alliteration and pace through punctuation crafted by the author.

:blink: Wait, what? :blink: Alter the original data? This is one of the consequences of precedent after precedent being established without sufficient pushback. They really think they can do anything they want to you and your data. Obviously this particular idea won't get any traction, if only because the owners of the IP will not likely agree to their product being tampered with by design. The main point IMHO is that we have to really fight these things harder or it will only get worse. If you give them an inch, they will take a mile. :yes:

Say What? Average PC Cannot Handle EA's Ignite Engine ( Tom's Hardware 2013-06-23 )

Subtitle: The Ignite engine is fine-tuned for closed console systems. Electronic Arts is at it again. What they are doing is taking a dump on PC gamers as usual and dressing it up in lies about requiring that custom AMD CPU+GPU processor. Of course it is ludicrous because they are writing the games specifically to use specific features of that platform on purpose. It is like Microsoft stating that IE9 cannot run on Windows XP because it doesn't have hardware acceleration, but not telling you that they only utilized those features precisely because Windows XP does not have it.

"So could I see the potential for EA Sports Ignite to make it to PC in the future? Yes, I think it's possible, but a couple of things need to happen," said Wilson. First the current mainstream PC needs to catch up on a hardware level. Second, the engine will need to be adjusted to handle the open nature of PC architecture versus the closed nature of consoles.

Ha! They are selling to a subset of computing already ( consoles ) and this rarified air is probably a few tens of millions of units at most, several years from now. He is describing a scenario for "mainstream" desktop and laptop PC's ( "catch up" ) that cannot possibly happen, yet there will be plenty of non-mainstream ( high-end ) that will trounce that Xbox and PS4, and ironically they will probably outnumber the consoles. I fully understand not wanting to release a game to the PC market because of the problem of folks buying it for use on inadequate hardware ( like Vista ready ), but please don't lie and say the hardware does not exist! The commenters are not kind to this deception. Especially that last part "adjusted to handle the open nature of PC architecture versus the closed nature of consoles." which is a sneaky way of describing PC's have insufficient DRM!

Adobe Officially Launches Subscription-Only Creative Cloud Desktop Apps ( Maximum PC 2013-06-19 )

Adobe Creative Cloud has already been cracked ( techSpot 2013-06-20 )

Come on, you gotta admit that is funny, right? :lol:

EDIT: typo(s)

Edited by CharlotteTheHarlot
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wanted to comment on this link which was posted elsewhere. The "exclusive" Windows 8.1 Features list...

http://www.askvg.com/exclusive-windows-8-1-features-list/

Please tell me that isn't the new logo...

Most of the items are pretty meh to me... except this.

Windows 8.1 will come with new Metro apps such as Alarm, Calculator, Sound Recorder, etc.

Wow a calculator! What's so special about a Metro Calculator? Are they going to remove calc.exe? Or would they brag about selling an OS with 2 different calculator apps? :rolleyes:

And... Sound Recorder. If that ends up being true... and it is similar (or the same, yeah right) as SoundRec from Win9x, I know a lot of people would be happy with its return.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Windows 8.1 will come with new Metro apps such as Alarm, Calculator, Sound Recorder, etc.

Wow a calculator! What's so special about a Metro Calculator? Are they going to remove calc.exe? Or would they brag about selling an OS with 2 different calculator apps? :rolleyes:

And... Sound Recorder. If that ends up being true... and it is similar (or the same, yeah right) as SoundRec from Win9x, I know a lot of people would be happy with its return.

Maybe they think that people remembering Windows 3.1 and all the way up to XP are all dead :ph34r: or became senile and forgot :w00t: , I guess their next move will be to (re-)introduce the Object Packager, listing it as "new feature", it would probably be renamed "Content Integrator" or maybe "Modern merger".

ole4a.gif

I wonder how they will manage to create a flat icon for the "box", though :whistle: .

jaclaz

Edited by jaclaz
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Windows 8.1 will come with new Metro apps such as Alarm, Calculator, Sound Recorder, etc.

Wow a calculator! What's so special about a Metro Calculator? Are they going to remove calc.exe? Or would they brag about selling an OS with 2 different calculator apps? :rolleyes:

And... Sound Recorder. If that ends up being true... and it is similar (or the same, yeah right) as SoundRec from Win9x, I know a lot of people would be happy with its return.

Maybe they think that people remembering Windows 3.1 and all the way up to XP are all dead :ph34r: or became senile and forgot :w00t: , I guess their next move will be to (re-)introduce the Object Packager, listing it as "new feature", it would probably be renamed "Content Integrator" or maybe "Modern merger".

ole4a.gif

I wonder how they will manage to create a flat icon for the "box", though :whistle: .

jaclaz

[sarcasm]

There is entirely too much skeuomorphism in that Windows 3.x image. I mean, the icon for the Painbrush app looks like a palette, and the Clock app looks like a clock!! :realmad: They should NOT look anything at all like what they're supposed to emulate. That is so cheesy and dated. Instead they need to be squares with thick borders around them and a representative initial inside, for example a blue P or Pb for Paintbrush, a red Ca for Calculator, and a green Cl for Clock. Object Packager could be a yellow square with an OP inside. This will make it immediately obvious to the user what they do, much better than a 3D illustration of the real thing.

[/sarcasm]

--JorgeA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[sarcasm]

There is entirely too much skeuomorphism in that Windows 3.x image. I mean, the icon for the Painbrush app looks like a palette, and the Clock app looks like a clock!! :realmad: They should NOT look anything at all like what they're supposed to emulate. That is so cheesy and dated. Instead they need to be squares with thick borders around them and a representative initial inside, for example a blue P or Pb for Paintbrush, a red Ca for Calculator, and a green Cl for Clock. Object Packager could be a yellow square with an OP inside. This will make it immediately obvious to the user what they do, much better than a 3D illustration of the real thing.

[/sarcasm]

Sorry, but you got it wrong. :w00t::ph34r:

The "icons-with-meaningless-initials ®" are reserved to the Japanese, Korean and Chinese editions.

All western editions will use pictograms instead.

Now, since the number of envies were not enough and not enough cross-linked, they will use as "creative base" for "free inspiration" the CLEAR design Ubuntu has recently adopted (without the English text, of course):

ubuntu+pictogram1.png

jaclaz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Microsoft reveals even more US school systems that use Windows 8 PCs ( NeoWin 2013-06-24 )

Microsoft's press release states that 34 new K–12 schools and school districts will be using Windows 8. That number includes 24 school districts in the state of Main, the large San Diego Unified School District in California as well as other school districts in Texas, Florida, Virginia, Alabama and more.

Oh that's just great. Let's start raising baby MetroTards. It should be illegal for school administrators to purchase any technology. These companies should donate the equipment if they really care about the kids. But I'm not convinced they really need any computers anyway because every single minute spent on them during the fixed length school day ( a constant over time obviously ) takes away a minute from somewhere else. So please explain what was sacrificed so that the kids can click on websites and videos and check facebook?

NOTE: I just wanted to mention that in this comment ( and the previous one earlier ) I am talking about elementary schools NOT colleges ( "Uni" ). Here in the USA at least, college is optional and mostly paid by the student and their family ( but with exceptions :angry: ). The so-called K-12 schools, you know, the ones where you are supposed to learn to read and write, add and subtract, history and everything else, are what I am objecting to being used as recruiting for Big Technology victims. These institutions have no semblance of a free market or common sense. And we taxpayers are on the hook whether we have kids or not. The schools are wasting billions of dollars taken directly from the taxpayers. The prices rise annually without fail, the teachers are protected from firing except for the most horrendous misconduct. It is a huge mess of politics and lies about the poor kids deserving this or that. Big Technology is capitalizing on this un-free market and has been ever since Apple began this trend in the mid-1980's. There would be no problem if there were laws that said "NO Technology Purchases" and companies could choose to DONATE equipment as it was done in the past. But now it is all about buying the latest thing, endlessly every year, over and over again.

Microsoft's reorg all but certain, several execs rumored for promotion ( NeoWin 2013-06-24 )

You can bet that if this re-org does not appease shareholders and help boost the stock price, the headhunt for Ballmer will be stronger and louder than ever.

That was my theory too, that this is a move to hold the stock price afloat during the possible coming crash. I don't think it will work. I would bet that we will see mid-$20 shares again shortly. This stretch from Summer to October can be very brutal and after glancing at CNBC today ( where they mentioned this MSFT reorg and their share price ) the market looks like it is headed into the summer season already prepped for a correction. This will be one wild ride. :yes:

Windows 8.1 Could Become What Windows 8 Should Have Been ( Gartner 2013-06-19 )

Gartner: Windows 8.1 'could quiet most of' Windows 8's detractors ( NeoWin 2013-06-24 )

:blink: Holy Alternate Universe, Batman. Talk about missing the point. All Gartner has proved now is that they are utterly incompetent and perfectly useless for their self-described role as industry analysts. Useless! They couldn't hit the side of a barn if it fell right on top of them. It seems apparent to me that they have writers who have never even seen Windows 8, or if they have then they never saw Windows 7 or earlier versions. It is nearly impossible to have missed the two years ( this month ) of controversy unless you were trying to miss it or perhaps were frozen in a state of suspended animation like the characters in Idiocracy.

What I see with Windows 8.1 Blew is the added use of common wallpaper between the desktop and Metro, and the uber-cynical use of a "Start Button" to switch from the desktop to Metro. Can anyone locate a criticism of NuWindows that cited either of those things as critical for endusers? Thought not. This will go down as the biggest corporate kick in the nuts to the customer ever. Even New Coke vs. Classic Coke doesn't hold a candle to it.

OxBnSUT.jpg

EDIT: typo

Edited by CharlotteTheHarlot
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Report: Samsung to shut down its desktop PC business ( NeoWin 2013-06-24 )

Umm ... what desktop PC business? :wacko: NeoWin. ~sigh~ Feeding the MetroTards. UPDATE: Samsung denies pulling out of desktop PC business.

Government Snooping Is Nothing New ( John C. Dvorak PC Magazine 2013-06-24 )

It was always about snooping on the public to catch people breaking the law. Why would this desire ever disappear?

We already see examples of this use and nobody complains. Some kids do something illegal and brag on Facebook or YouTube like idiots. They are arrested and everyone thinks it is great. The police don't really have to do much investigation.

What if everything went this smoothly? It can! Just snoop on everyone and everything will be great. Over time it becomes impossible to argue against and the next thing you know Big Brother is watching every step you take. I think we are long past the tipping point, but most people do not know it yet. Or we don't care. We care more about what Kim Kardashian named her baby.

I'm starting to think John is taking the same medication that Thurrott is, ping-ponging back and forth from column to column. In his defense, this isn't exactly a cheer-leading article for all the snooping, mostly a general overview of how it happened. He did forget to mention "Carnivore" and other baby steps taken along the way. Unlike him I think this will lead to a backlash over time. The people here in the USA at least still have the power on paper to roll this back either through elections or Constitutional Amendments. Whether that occurs or not is the real question. As long as the corporations ( like Microsoft ) and government itself keep treating the people as sheeple, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, they morph into the citizens seen in Idiocracy - pressing tiles like monkeys, reproducing like rabbits and limited to a vocabulary of grunts and groans. Government will have no problem herding these sheeple into the pens they deem necessary.

More Details Emerge in Coming Massive Reorg at Microsoft ( Thurrott 2013-06-24 )

“Ballmer has been making these significant plans with limited consultation with the wider leadership group at the software giant,” the report states. “He has been working with only a small group of his direct reports and also some Microsoft board members, numerous sources said.”

In my opinion that describes a power-play possibly designed to put rivals in their place. When the Kremlin Redmond boss only seeks a rubber stamp from the Politburo Board, then Stalin Ballmer definitely gets his purge. :lol: I'm sure someone will think that's over the top, and it might be, but you gotta admit that their current top-heavy structure exactly mimics that infamous dictatorial model. Siberian prison camps and deadly famines obviously excepted. But then again, so do many companies, public and private.

The services part of the company would be run by current Server and Tools president Satya Nadella, and the devices part would be run by current Windows co-chief Julie Larson-Green, I was told. But the Wall Street Journal correctly notes that the plan has shifted repeatedly, and it’s entirely possible that Larson-Green’s strange performance at a public event last month doomed her chances.

The Wall Street Journal never mentions Larson-Green, but instead offers up Mr. Nadella, Skype president Tony Bates, and even Interactive Entertainment Division President Don Mattrick as possible leaders under a new corporate structure. Mattrick, however, just flamed out at the Xbox One launch.

As they say in baseball, their bench is really light. Obviously this is partially aimed at "The Street" ( Wall Street that is ) to stave off an exodus and keep MSFT in the $30 range, but ironically it might just be interpreted as a shake-up ( in fact I would expect those exact words plastered on CNBC and the Wall Street Journal ) which more often than not means a company is in trouble. I'll bet they manage a tiny little bump in stock price and then two days later it is forgotten, the shares keep moving sideways until the next MicroCrisis rears its ugly head. :yes:

Curious opinion from one Thurrott commenter ...

Engineer's adage: if it ain't broke, don't fix it...

You have to wonder how many companies have been ruined by the violation of that rule...

There is a much better application of that old adage, and it applies directly to Windows and Office. :yes:"You have to wonder how many companies programs have been ruined by the violation of that rule"

EDIT: added article

Edited by CharlotteTheHarlot
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[sarcasm]

There is entirely too much skeuomorphism in that Windows 3.x image. I mean, the icon for the Painbrush app looks like a palette, and the Clock app looks like a clock!! :realmad: They should NOT look anything at all like what they're supposed to emulate. That is so cheesy and dated. Instead they need to be squares with thick borders around them and a representative initial inside, for example a blue P or Pb for Paintbrush, a red Ca for Calculator, and a green Cl for Clock. Object Packager could be a yellow square with an OP inside. This will make it immediately obvious to the user what they do, much better than a 3D illustration of the real thing.

[/sarcasm]

Sorry, but you got it wrong. :w00t::ph34r:

The "icons-with-meaningless-initials ®" are reserved to the Japanese, Korean and Chinese editions.

All western editions will use pictograms instead.

Now, since the number of envies were not enough and not enough cross-linked, they will use as "creative base" for "free inspiration" the CLEAR design Ubuntu has recently adopted (without the English text, of course):

ubuntu+pictogram1.png

jaclaz

Thanks for enlightening me! :thumbup Brilliant!! :lol:

I'm shaking my head at those Ubuntu icons. As the saying goes, "they all look alike." I can easily see trying to use an Ubuntu phone becoming a frustrating experience.

--JorgeA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm shaking my head at those Ubuntu icons. As the saying goes, "they all look alike." I can easily see trying to use an Ubuntu phone becoming a frustrating experience.

The issue is not only that they all look alike, they additionally have NO MEANING whatsoever :realmad: .

Download the image, and print it in several copies, once "as is" and many more after having removed the explicative text.

Then try giving one of the copies without text to anyone you happen to meet and ask them to write below each of them what they think the icon/pictogram represent.

You will have on average 4 or 5 "correct" answers (correct in the sense that they will express the same concept of the original text).

Another good question could be:

What happens when a "live tile" crashes/loses connection?

Possibly :unsure:

th_thth4565166.gif

jaclaz

Edited by jaclaz
Link to comment
Share on other sites

NOTE: I just wanted to mention that in this comment ( and the previous one earlier ) I am talking about elementary schools NOT colleges ( "Uni" ). Here in the USA at least, college is optional and mostly paid by the student and their family ( but with exceptions :angry: ). The so-called K-12 schools, you know, the ones where you are supposed to learn to read and write, add and subtract, history and everything else, are what I am objecting to being used as recruiting for Big Technology victims. These institutions have no semblance of a free market or common sense. And we taxpayers are on the hook whether we have kids or not. The schools are wasting billions that is taken directly by the taxpayers. The prices rise annually without fail, the teachers are protected from firing except for the most horrendous misconduct. It is a huge mess of politics and lies about the poor kids deserving this or that. Big Technology is capitalizing on this un-free market and has been ever since Apple began this trend in the mid-1980's. There would be no problem if there were laws that said "NO Technology Purchases" and companies could choose to DONATE equipment as it was done in the past. But now it is all about buying the latest thing, endlessly every year, over and over again.

+1,000,000

Windows 8.1 Could Become What Windows 8 Should Have Been ( Gartner 2013-06-19 )

Gartner: Windows 8.1 'could quiet most of' Windows 8's detractors ( NeoWin 2013-06-24 )

:blink: Holy Alternate Universe, Batman. Talk about missing the point. All Gartner has proved now is that they are utterly incompetent and perfectly useless for their self-described role as industry analysts. Useless! They couldn't hit the side of a barn if it fell right on top of them. It seems apparent to me that they have writers who have never even seen Windows 8, or if they have then they never saw Windows 7 or earlier versions. It is nearly impossible to have missed the two years ( this month ) of controversy unless you were trying to miss it or perhaps were frozen in a state of suspended animation like the characters in Idiocracy.

What I see with Windows 8.1 Blew is the added use of common wallpaper between the desktop and Metro, and the uber-cynical use of a "Start Button" to switch from the desktop to Metro. Can anyone locate a criticism of NuWindows that cited either of those things as critical for endusers? Thought not. This will go down as the biggest corporate kick in the nuts to the customer ever. Even New Coke vs. Classic Coke doesn't hold a candle to it.

IMHO the only substantive improvement to the UX in 8.1 is the native ability to boot straight to the Desktop. As we've pointed out, the "concession" of a revived Start Button actually serves as an insult since it takes the user to the Metro screen. They probably tell themselves (and others) that this improves functionality because now people have a visual cue for how to get to the Metro screen, and that's true insofar as it goes, but they miss (or ignore) the fundamental point which is that tons of users prefer to get to the Start Menu when they click on that button.

BTW, I had the chance to check out a friend's new Win8 Toshiba laptop replacing one that died. There is no Start Button of course, but the desktop includes an icon for what they call "Desktop Assist." When you click on it, it provides links to a number of applications and utilities that don't have tiles on the Start Screen. Without this Desktop Assist, there would be no evident way for you to know that these programs are on the computer at all. It simply is not the case that the Start Screen is just a full-screen Start Menu.

--JorgeA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm shaking my head at those Ubuntu icons. As the saying goes, "they all look alike." I can easily see trying to use an Ubuntu phone becoming a frustrating experience.

The issue is not only that they all look alike, they additionally have NO MEANING whatsoever :realmad: .

Agreed!

Download the image, and print it in several copies, once "as is" and many more after having removed the explicative text.

Then try giving one of the copies without text to anyone you happen to meet and ask them to write below each of them what they think the icon/pictogram represent.

You will have on average 4 or 5 "correct" answers (correct in the sense that they will express the same concept of the original text).

That would make an interesting experiment for somebody like Jakob Nielsen to test. I suspect that your predictions would bear out well.

Fabulous 404 tile, BTW. :D

--JorgeA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

More about the TechNet forum adjustments.

I've been reading through some of the threads at social.technet.microsoft.com. And it is like Formfiller said, mostly negative. This had to be expected though, because who could really find the changes and the new look anything except butt ugly!

Well I found one. ~sigh~ The threadstarter for an official topic called: Love the new Forums UX !!! ...

w5gmzp1.jpg

  • - Fast
    - I can search relevant results and still in the same experience
    - I love how fluid the UI looks like
    - It's easy to use

... how transparent can you be? Will Microsoft managers really take that seriously?

Microsoft's shills are very easy to catch (even the cloaked ones): They use phrases that no one else does, like "Modern UI" and "fast and fluid".

Almost every time someone uses these terms on the internet regarding Windows 8 and other MS products, it's a shill. You will notice suspicious patterns in his/her post history if you care to look up (first time poster on Amazon; writing a glowing five-star W8 review. Thousands of posts in forums, almost all of them are about praising MS etc.)

I always wonder why they don't avoid terms like "fast & fluid" to appear more legit. Any ideas? It's like they WANT to be outed as shills.

Maybe the corporate RDF is so strong, that not even shills can escape it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know about Microsoft's policies, but the firms hired to do "blast" (shill) marketing tend to employ people who can write just well enough. Any worse and it becomes distracting and even suspicious because the hired guns are often foreign and will make different mistakes than native speakers. Broken English written by a foreigner stands out even to less critical readers. These marketing mercenaries are probably coached to say certain things and are encouraged to deliver a specific message in addition to general praise, which, again, stands out if you're aware that these people exist.

But, again, I'm referring to the "day one" commenters posting at places like IMDB and Amazon when a new movie or book comes out. From what I've seen, Microsoft's underground marketers are a solid step up from the norm. In addition to having generally better writing skills, they tend to deliver a more "integrated" message, as if they formed their own approach after a attending company meeting rather than being handed cue cards. I haven't read many of the 5-star Amazon reviews, though, so I could be wrong about those being better than average.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...