[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Bill Gates still won't let his children use Apple products ( NeoWin 2012-12-28 )

All kinds of "Yay Bill" and other rationalizations. No-one evens considers the possibility of someone in the position of billg, with the limitless means of billg, simply getting one of each and every make and model of device and comparing them objectively. I mean, he might notice something and phone up the team and say "How come we can't do this or that like so and so?". Actually, if you know anything about the early years with billg you would already know that he has done exactly that in the past and it is part of his legend as being plugged-in to all levels. This alleged no-Apple rule of his might be simply to avert criticism of stealing ideas and whatnot, but it certainly shows a shift to insular and walled-in thinking at the highest levels.


Windows 8 Complaints app removed from Windows Store ( NeoWin 2012-12-28 )

And even more insular thinking on display, practically a daily occurrence. In fact they are pretty much batting a thousand at ignoring everyone, racing down a dark road like a drunk driver intent on crashing Microsoft of a steep cliff. UPDATE: turns out Microsoft didn't pull this app, it was the author who as it tuns out is a certifiable MicroLackey ( actually I think he just got scared at hatemail from the fanboy brigade that were apoplectic at the concept of a complaints app. Here is his groveling to the fanboys: "I made the app to generate ad impressions, which it did, with a handful of sarcasm and a pinch of bad judgement. But later decided it was more harm than good in its current form. Microsoft is not an evil company like Apple and Google."


Apple and Google activated 17 million devices on Christmas Day ( TechSpot 2012-12-28 )

Now this is a real problem. They have intentionally tied "Microsoft Windows" ( the company, the brand, the franchise ) to their move into the mobile market against all smart advice, in effect betting the farm on mobile market penetration. The absolute best they could possibly hope for was in the low double-digits of percent share against Android, Apple and a few others even though there are crazy projections showing even higher

The problem is that the total number of mobile devices is skyrocketing. As that number increases ( and doubles! ), there is a much larger number of Windows devices they need to sell just to keep pace. In other words, a headline like that one just set them way back because they cannot sell enough Surface or Nokia devices to offset this. They are really screwed. The main WP8 phones are now out, the Surface RT is out and treading water, and all they got left is the Surface Pro which will not set the world on fire like some other products have.

Microsoft has destroyed what was left of their reputation just to bank a few percentage marketshare in mobile while turning natural allies and longtime veterans of the platform into mortal enemies. It is a dazzling display of colossal ignorance caused by a massive ego with a side order of tone-deaf arrogance. Originally I thought it would take one year to be able to measure the size of this fail. But I am thinking it will be far less, perhaps just one half. This is probably why there is so much talk about Windows "Blue" next summer, they must be working feverishly to salvage something then because by that time this thing will be seen as the epic fail it is.

Added: I forgot to mention the obvious. That total percentage of mobile market share is important because it will act as a positive or negative feedback, high percentage means they go to developers and say "Write apps for Windows!", but a low percentage will cripple that effort completely. Some of the commenters in those NeoWin threads keep saying there are hundreds of fart apps for Android but only a few dozen for Windows, implying that means Android sucks and Windows is better. No! It means they are writing these ( admittedly stupid ) apps for other platforms! Doh!

Also, where are Microsoft's activation numbers for Christmas day and in total? We know you got them Steve.

EDIT: updated 2nd story.

This post has been edited by CharlotteTheHarlot: 30 December 2012 - 03:56 AM

[vinifera]

Quote

Bill Gates still won't let his children use Apple products

sucks to be them

just imagine to be forced to use Vista and Win 8 (at their time)
not to mention Zuuuune hahah

This post has been edited by vinifera: 29 December 2012 - 09:14 PM

[JorgeA]

CharlotteTheHarlot, on 29 December 2012 - 02:04 AM, said:

Windows 8 Complaints app removed from Windows Store ( NeoWin 2012-12-28 )

I had written something else, but it now appears that this happened because the app developer is a Win8 fanboi enthusiast. Maybe the response was too overwhelmingly negative...

--JorgeA

P.S. Went into my favorite office-supplies retailer this afternoon, the one with the big PC department in the middle of the floor and all those purple Surface screens blinking and giving passersby epileptic fits. While I was there, the only people I saw entering the PC department were on their way to the other side of the store.

This post has been edited by JorgeA: 29 December 2012 - 11:14 PM

[JorgeA]

vinifera, on 29 December 2012 - 09:13 PM, said:

Quote

Bill Gates still won't let his children use Apple products

sucks to be them

just imagine to be forced to use Vista and Win 8 (at their time)
not to mention Zuuuune hahah

LOL

I'm glad that I never did yield to the temptation to buy a Zune when we were choosing an MP3 player.

--JorgeA

This post has been edited by JorgeA: 29 December 2012 - 11:02 PM

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

JorgeA, on 29 December 2012 - 10:59 PM, said:

I had written something else, but it now appears that this happened because the app developer is a Win8 fanboi enthusiast. Maybe the response was too overwhelmingly negative...

Yeah I saw that myself. Quite the fanboy isn't he?

I updated that last post with the "news". Personally, I think he was assaulted by the MicroZombies and caved in.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

From The Forums: Windows 9 UI as Star Trek's LCARS ( NeoWin 2012-12-29 )

Quote

In a forum post called "Windows 9", Neowin member Brian Miller uploaded the image below, with the statement, "The only way I will use Windows again is if Windows Blue looks like this..."

Funny comment, but his picture is an insult to LCARS, especially with those "e" icons. So no. Just no. Let's not associate Metro with Star Trek please!

Even ST:TNG cannot save this Metro nightmare. Microsoft missed its chance to learn from them. It was 1987 and Star Trek TNG was very creative, and Windows was at version 2. Ironically, Microsoft now is in many ways simply recreating Windows from back then. The designers of LCARS set the very definition of originality, many years before anyone used a flat-panel color LCD screen. Let's see a stark comparison ( from earlier ( Post #894 ) comment ) ...


Windows 2.0 ( 1987 ) vs. ST:TNG LCARS ( 1987 )
( originals: 1, 2 )

BTW, people have been adapting LCARS to Windows since the Win9x Plus! era. The many home-made LCARS Windows Themes are really good too ( and there are a surprising amount of LCARS GUI applications around too ). Frankly there is no comparison, the user created themes blow away this Metro joke. Not everybody likes it to be sure but one thing is for certain, they were way more consistent throughout the show than Microsoft has been with Windows 8.

More TNG screen screenshots ...

Spoiler

( originals: 1, 2, 3, 4 )

EDIT: updated image URLS, and again

This post has been edited by CharlotteTheHarlot: 06 May 2013 - 07:47 PM

[jaclaz]

Well, just for the record, there is also a (still experimental/alpha or maybe early beta) LCARS Windows Shell here:
http://www.lcarsx32....lcars/index.php
http://www.lcarsx32....rs/download.php
being .NET based is IMHO "pure folly", but it does have a couple nice features .

jaclaz

[JorgeA]

Wow, I had no idea that anybody had ported the TNG computer interface over to Windows -- let alone that there were so many of them!

--JorgeA

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

( missed this one earlier ... )

Thurrott: Dell Urged Microsoft to Reconsider Windows RT Branding ( Windows IT Pro 2012-12-17 )

Paul Thurrott's take on the branding fiasco where Microsoft has willfully chosen to deceive consumers by using the "Windows" brand to describe their Windows ReTard version running on mobile devices under an ARM chipset, which because of the different instruction set cannot run the millions of traditional x86 "Windows" software. The term "Windows" has always meant a platform, it is how it began and with the exception of various Microsoft driven planned obsolescence fiascos has always meant that Windows software runs on a computer that itself runs "Windows". It is simple as that. But not anymore.

Quote

I asked Microsoft’s Steven Sinofsky, then running the Windows and Windows LIVE division, how Microsoft would avoid confusing customers about the differences between Windows 8 and the ARM-based version of the product, which was then going by the code name Windows On ARM (WOA). He claimed that Microsoft already had a plan to educate users about the differences and that this wouldn’t be a problem.

With the Windows 8 and Windows RT launch behind us, I have yet to see any evidence of such a plan. And the branding confusion is still very much a problem.

What do you mean Paul, he lied to your face? Yep. The problem I have with Thurrott is that after all these years he never takes the next step that a real journalist would take. He has enough clout to phone up Sinofsky who has some spare time on his hands and follow up that quote by asking, 'Did you lie to me back then? If not, where is the consumer education?'. But better yet, ask a pointed no-ducking question like: 'Was this intentional false advertising just to get consumers to mistakenly buy this thing?'. Send the questions to Ballmer and Julie too. A real journalist would do this and then post it in the story open-ended or conclusively with: 'Microsoft refuses to respond' or 'Sinofsky has not returned my message asking for clarification'. This is what is maddening about some of these "journalists" like Thurrott. They never really do their job and nothing ever gets settled.

Quote

Despite the confusion, Microsoft’s decision to stick with the Windows branding was, of course, pragmatic. Had the firm used a different brand, Windows RT would most likely have been completely ignored by consumers—the same fate suffered by its superior Zune products. By calling this thing Windows, Microsoft was at least guaranteed an audience. Unfortunately, it’s a pretty confused audience.

That's not how the FTC looks at these things, now is it Paul? And the word you chose is "pragmatic"? Really? How about "deceptive"? With this intentional obfuscation they are skirting the lines of honesty just like late-night TV commercials for male enhancement and magic magnet health bracelets. What does that remind me of? Oh yeah, Snake Oil Salesman, or Used-Car Salesman.

The true reason for tying this "RT" to "Windows" is that Windows is 'too-big-to-fail' in their eyes so it should guarantee success. They know that Windows ReTard Edition and Windows 8 itself would die well-deserved epic deaths as separate products, perhaps more sensibly called "Windows Tiles". To avoid that they tied this abomination around "Windows" neck like an albatross and are willfully betting the company on their little toy project. If the Wall Street analysts and their shareholders had any real clue at the madness and recklessness that the current management and board of MSFT were up to, drastic change would be demanded.

If that semi-informative blog-post quality article ( published on Windows IT Pro no less ) isn't bad enough, well check out some comments by those that guzzle more kool-aid than even Thurrott can drink ...

"I really think this whole confusion issues is blown out of proportion. Sure, MS could have come up with a completely unique name to point out what such devices are meant for, but then they lose the market recognition, which in my opinion, is more important."

"Not everyone pays attention but Microsoft has not kept any secrets here. They have been completely clear about the differences between Windows 8 and Windows RT."

"I say if people are not smart enough or too lazy to try to understand the differences, then you shouldn't be using a computer. We didn't have confused users back in the 80's because the non-savvy users used paper and penile. ;-)"

Nothing about honesty. Nothing about respect for the customer. In fact they show the same contempt for the customer that Redmond does. Softie astroturfing no doubt. Would you buy a used-car from one of these MicroZombies? Of course not. Keep enabling that sake oil. That will really help Microsoft recover from their lost decade. This of course is one of the primary reasons that they changed their EULA which now tries to block any class-action lawsuits.

Spoiler

[Servelius]

My deeper impression of Windowd 8 is it's cool and fast, feels like more resistent to blue screens, and with a few new features to like, yet it's so dorky without real aero and without Flip3d.

Sucks Bill Gates had quit keeping his eye on final concepts in Microsoft.

[Tripredacus]

jaclaz, on 30 December 2012 - 07:52 AM, said:

Well, just for the record, there is also a (still experimental/alpha or maybe early beta) LCARS Windows Shell here:
http://www.lcarsx32....lcars/index.php
http://www.lcarsx32....rs/download.php
being .NET based is IMHO "pure folly", but it does have a couple nice features .

jaclaz

Making that a Windows desktop is an even older project. I had tried one back on my old Windows 98.... not necessarily the one here:
http://www.stardock....inning2002.html
Potentially one offered by Windowblinds... but it was far too "alien" to use as a permanent replacement, although it probably wouldn't have been terrible had I not been using a 15" monitor back then.

[JorgeA]

CharlotteTheHarlot, on 31 December 2012 - 05:41 AM, said:

What do you mean Paul, he lied to your face? Yep. The problem I have with Thurrott is that after all these years he never takes the next step that a real journalist would take. He has enough clout to phone up Sinofsky who has some spare time on his hands and follow up that quote by asking, 'Did you lie to me back then? If not, where is the consumer education?'. But better yet, ask a pointed no-ducking question like: 'Was this intentional false advertising just to get consumers to mistakenly buy this thing?'. Send the questions to Ballmer and Julie too. A real journalist would do this and then post it in the story open-ended or conclusively with: 'Microsoft refuses to respond' or 'Sinofsky has not returned my message asking for clarification'. This is what is maddening about some of these "journalists" like Thurrott. They never really do their job and nothing ever gets settled.

Good points throughout (and I loved the spoiler!), but I want to focus on the paragraph above.

This is what makes the difference between a "real journalist" and a mere blogger. Thurrott has authored a number of books about Windows, so maybe he qualifies as a prestigious blogger, but not quite as a journalist.

I'm waiting for a major newspaper exposé on the dirty details of Windows RT branding. I'm not expecting to read about it first on Ars Technica, Neowin or any other tech site. If a newspaper or other "general news" source loses access to Microsoft insiders, it's just one company that'll no longer talk to them, out of thousands. But if a tech news site gets shut out of Microsoft, it's a disaster for that site.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Servelius, on 31 December 2012 - 08:56 AM, said:

My deeper impression of Windowd 8 is it's cool and fast, feels like more resistent to blue screens, and with a few new features to like, yet it's so dorky without real aero and without Flip3d.

Sucks Bill Gates had quit keeping his eye on final concepts in Microsoft.

Yeah, despite Bill's recent cheerleading for Windows 8, I have to think that if he'd had a hand in it, the product would have come out much better.

I'm with you on those visual enhancements like Aero and Flip3D. IMHO, using Windows on the flattened interface they've designed, is like watching cartoons instead of movies with real people.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Something that occurred to me as I was saving my reply to Servelius:

As we've noted many times in this thread, the problem stems from the growing popularity of tablets and Microsoft executives' desire to have a horse in that race. Therefore they have consented to wrecking the UX for the hundreds of millions of people in their established base, for the sake of speculative gains in the tablet segment.

But as we know, tablets are an inherently limited and limiting environment. Seems to me Microsoft might instead have played to its strengths by undertaking a marketing campaign focusing on all the things you can do with a PC that you can't do on a tablet. Picture a father adding special effects to a home movie of the kids' birthday parties; an architect designing a futuristic-looking building; a novelist putting the final touches on his opus; kids selecting an upcoming children's series for recording on Windows Media Center; a financial analyst at her coffee table performing complicated calculations for her clients (maybe while her mind-numbed boyfriend is watching inane YouTube videos on his iPad ).

"I'm a PC, and I can do this."

"I'm a PC: I don't just surf the Web, I create the websites that others surf" (cue in cool animation).

"I'm a PC. I'm not a spectator in life, I'm right onstage."

"I'm a PC, and I create."

--JorgeA

[TELVM]

Happy new year!

Windows 8 adoption rate falls way behind Windows Vista

[Servelius]

JorgeA, on 31 December 2012 - 11:45 AM, said:

As we've noted many times in this thread, the problem stems from the growing popularity of tablets and Microsoft executives' desire to have a
horse in that race. Therefore they have consented to wrecking the UX for the
hundreds of millions of people in their
established base, for the sake of
speculative gains in the tablet segment.
But as we know, tablets are an inherently
limited and limiting environment.

I'm with you on those visual
enhancements like Aero and Flip3D.
IMHO, using Windows on the flattened
interface they've designed, is like
watching cartoons instead of movies with
real people.

Agree with every word said, very well and precisely put. I see why they came up with windows 8, but I don't understand at all why on earth would they decide to let it run on desktops without the beauty of windows 7, without those aero goodies which Microsoft themselves used to call "the best UI ever in the OS history".

Just how much extra effort would it have taken to simply keep all the good stuff so user decides: got a desktop then help yourself turn the eye candy on, got a tablet then leave it off by default. Especially given that all testers as one were literally imploring Microsoft to keep aero and flip.

------

@CharlotteTheHarlot posted some cool pics, and I fear that's a step further with Windows 9, this time without a pixel of redundancy.

[MagicAndre1981]

TELVM, on 31 December 2012 - 07:04 PM, said:

Happy new year!

Windows 8 adoption rate falls way behind Windows Vista

imagine how the graph looks when the cheap upgrade offer stops

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Servelius, on 31 December 2012 - 07:47 PM, said:

... I don't understand at all why on earth would they decide to let it run on desktops without the beauty of windows 7, without those aero goodies which Microsoft themselves used to call "the best UI ever in the OS history".

Just how much extra effort would it have taken to simply keep all the good stuff so user decides: got a desktop then help yourself turn the eye candy on, got a tablet then leave it off by default. Especially given that all testers as one were literally imploring Microsoft to keep aero and flip.

I was just talking about that on another thread.

The big announcement came on the official Destroying Windows blog on May 18, 2012. The day that Aero Glass died. Normally these were Sinofsky posts but he left the dirty deed to Jensen Harris that day. Whether that means anything ( perhaps Sinofsky was against it? ) who knows. Until we get some serious journalism that badgers them until they get answers we'll never know.

Anyway, that is a very long blog post chock full of crap rationalizations, really it is a marvel of insanity. But the comments are a must read since you get to see the reactions of people around the world as they found out about the sudden amputation of Aero Glass and the forcing of even more flat, blinding, bland, Windows 1.0 level theme elements. This is when they sealed the deal, declaring war on the desktop and their entire history of customization and differentiation, and the anger in the comments is palpable. There are also a bunch of pathetic un-embarrassable fanboys cheering them on for even more ( ' please replace those fancy icons with flat crap! ' ).

There are two distinct groups of people in this fight. Those that have taste, class and want customization options and do not want to become mSheep treated like iSheep, and they do not have any desire to dictate other peoples' themes and options either. Then on the other hand, we have the brainless class of user with no-taste that needs and desires to be led around by the nose even having Microsoft selecting their themes and are demanding that they force their tasteless selection on everyone else. I cannot adequately express my anger at these petty little dictators. I would rather have Microsoft crash and burn and go belly-up than allow this nonsense to continue. We cannot allow them to dumb down the entire world in order to please these spoiled children from generation Xbox.

P.S. I just noticed that the Microsoft Destroying Windows blog comment section is no longer working in Opera 11.64 ( the page does not completely load ). It just says "Loading...". It works fine in Firefox though. It used to work fine. Can anybody else confirm? Back when that blog post was active many people noticed problems ( mostly on MSIE! hehe ) but now Opera has bit the bullet apparently. Don't try scrubbing the page Microsoft. We have copies.

EDIT: typo

This post has been edited by CharlotteTheHarlot: 01 January 2013 - 10:00 AM

[JorgeA]

CharlotteTheHarlot, on 01 January 2013 - 09:59 AM, said:

P.S. I just noticed that the Microsoft Destroying Windows blog comment section is no longer working in Opera 11.64 ( the page does not completely load ). It just says "Loading...". It works fine in Firefox though. It used to work fine. Can anybody else confirm? Back when that blog post was active many people noticed problems ( mostly on MSIE! hehe ) but now Opera has bit the bullet apparently. Don't try scrubbing the page Microsoft. We have copies.

FWIW, I just tried it in IE8 and it worked fine. The last comment at the bottom is dated May 22 from a Metro fanboy who barks about "those winning [sic] about Aero's fall."

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

TELVM, on 31 December 2012 - 07:04 PM, said:

Happy new year!

Windows 8 adoption rate falls way behind Windows Vista

Thanks very much for the graph, that's remarkable. Wonder how they'll try to spin that one. Maybe they'll blame it on the alignment of the stars or the phase of the moon at launch.

Happy New Year to you and all!


--JorgeA