[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Hehe. Funny thing happening at Fanboy Central ...

EDITORIAL: Calling Windows 8 the next Vista makes you look like an id*** ( NeoWin 2012-09-18 )

Written by one of their mindless staffers, Brad Sams. Full of the usual juvenile defensiveness that young fanboys reflexively spout when their toys are threatened. But that is normal fare over there really. The forum owner, Neobond ( Steven Parker ) seems to enjoy the religious jihad as it must drum up site hits.

However it appears that Brad Sams crossed a generally accepted line if you dissect several of the comments. You see, the top post editorial shows NO mention of any post-publishing editing ( such as: 'this post was modified' ) but some quotes exist that do not match it. NOTE: for reference sake, at this time the post is labeled: Brad Sams 5 hours ago 175 Comments. This exact quote is currently in the top article ...

Quote

"The next person who says that Windows 8 is the next Vista deserves to be kicked in the shin, twice. The context for making this comparison is so far off-base that by saying it, not only does it make you sound dumb, but it lowers the IQ of those around you."

In the comments we see one reference to slightly different previous wording ...

Quote

"The next person who says that Windows 8 is the next Vista deserves to be shot, twice."

Hmmmm. Way to keep it classy Brad Sams. We'll have to check back to see if that remaining quote is scrubbed or other changes slip in. The point is, Journalism and Professionalism can only survive when integrity is present, and any signs that point to unacknowledged post-edits demolishes that integrity. When this happens in a forum it causes a few side-effects, not the least of which is leaving many comments looking out of place. Sometimes the coverup becomes as bad as the crime.

Are we having fun yet Steven? This is what happens when your forum is overrun with unhinged fanboys.

I have to dispute this "EDITORIAL" on other grounds though, and would correct it thusly: Calling Windows 8 the next Vista is an insult to Vista. Perhaps Windows ME would be more accurate.

EDIT: please note that the asterisks *** are substituted by this forum software, not me. To be able to use that link which also has asterisks, you will need to substitue iot for ***

This post has been edited by CharlotteTheHarlot: 18 September 2012 - 03:17 PM

[jaclaz]

No need to further comment, just look at his "page":
http://www.neowin.ne...ofile/brad_sams

Besides the actual photo, which represents clearly a typical Fortune 500 consultant/Wall Street Journal reader

Quote

Brad was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio where he consults for Fortune 500 companies. He is a business person at heart and is always reading the Wall Street Journal; his homepage is set to bloomberg.com.

Brad has written many SWOT reports and enjoys reading about the latest technology in the consumer and business worlds. He believes that we live in a fast moving world and if you don't adapt you won't survive. Brad will bring to Neowin a business perspective to editorials and an analytical review of business moves in the technology industry.

Or the linkedIn profile:
http://www.linkedin....sams/10/849/8b9

Quote

Currently manage the news writing staff for Neowin.net, interact with vendors for product promotion, advertisement, and sponsored events. I also write news for our front page which receives over 4 million hits per month.

It sounds a lot like the guy is an "aggressive" kind of consultant, strongly interested in the financial part of everything. , most probably he is a very nice guy , but the image he projects is definitely a bit yuppish and (let's say ) "non-unbiased".

jaclaz

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

The Windows 8 holy war continues in what is really becoming a funny episode over at Fanboy Central. Now there is a side thread going on over discussing the above-mentioned editorial ...

Editorial news calls quite a lot of people Idiots ( NeoWin 2012-09-18 )

... with some discussion on whether this author, Brad Sams did in fact say we "should be shot". Even one of their other moderators is incapable of figuring this out ( he cannot see an edit in the logs apparently ). But many of the readers have pointed it out that there was a change but with no mention of the change. ( which was my point above ).

It isn't until Post #57 that the author comes out and says this vague non-apology apology ...

Quote

"Whoa, I did say that was wrong, thus the change. Sorry, it was posted on Twitter (where most of the flak came from) and it was changed...not hiding here.

It was a poorly placed joke from the Office: [IMAGE]"

... not very clear Brad. Where is the mention of the update in the editorial? Another brazen fanboy staffer-moderator over there, Calum, chimes in at Post #63 unhelpfully attacking one of the commenters while completely ignoring the "should be shot" controvery. Yeah, that's professional.

Still looking for words from forum owner Neobond ( Steven Parker ) ... hmmm, at Post #72 he offers an image but it makes no sense to me. Later he offers some off-topic throw-away comment. ~sigh~ Steven, you really need to get up to speed on things. For starters, where is the EDIT acknowledgement? You really don't think that stuff like this just goes away, do you? Only Paul Thurrott is as much in the tank as are so many of your staff and commenters.

[hoak]

One thing not really discussed in going deeper with the 'deeper impressions'; is that NCI does appear to play nice with Asian Languages... Metro/Modern/NCI looks like it was made for Kanji, Katakana, and Hiragana when you see Chinese or Japanese Windows 8 sites. Considering a substantial segment of the U.S. economy is floating on debt to Japan and China, and that China (even with the slow down) is still estimated to be one of if not the largest growth market -- one has to wonder if there's not more here then just Microsoft jumping the shark...

This post has been edited by hoak: 19 September 2012 - 01:45 AM

[jaclaz]

hoak, on 19 September 2012 - 01:44 AM, said:

One thing not really discussed in going deeper with the 'deeper impressions'; is that NCI does appear to play nice with Asian Languages... Metro/Modern/NCI looks like it was made for Kanji, Katakana, and Hiragana when you see Chinese or Japanese Windows 8 sites. Considering a substantial segment of the U.S. economy is floating on debt to Japan and China, and that China (even with the slow down) is still estimated to be one of if not the largest growth market -- one has to wonder if there's not more here then just Microsoft jumping the shark...

Yes, but you see, this has always been.
We (the western) are taught that a number of symbols in a given order is associated to a meaning, they (the eastern) use single pictograms/ideograms to express basic "concepts" and when these are assembled they associate the concepts to the meaning.
It is an entirely different way of the brain to react to written text, it provides a definite advantage where icons (or tiles) are used, and they tend to develop a superior capability to identify shapes, and identify "patterns" and connect them to meanings.

See, as an "extreme" example:
http://advanced-japa...ngest-word.html

We (at least myself) find this way extremely difficult, and to understand (a very few) kanji I need every kind of trick/mnemonics.

There are interesting approaches in this particular field:
http://www.vizcabulary.com/
http://www.tofugu.co...their-meanings/
http://www.logobird....ood-pictograms/

jaclaz

[hoak]

Yes jaclaz, 私は理解して -- that was part of my point... What I'm wondering is how is Windows 8 actually perceived in the Asian markets, i.e. do they feel there's any functional usability value in NCI, or think it's as dumb as we do? I also wonder if there's any deliberate motive on Microsoft's part in this direction...

[jaclaz]

hoak, on 19 September 2012 - 03:51 AM, said:

Yes jaclaz, 私は理解して -- that was part of my point... What I'm wondering is how is Windows 8 actually perceived in the Asian markets, i.e. do they feel there's any functional usability value in NCI, or think it's as dumb as we do? I also wonder if there's any deliberate motive on Microsoft's part in this direction...

My impression is that the good Japanese guys think very like us:
http://yaokou.cocolo...ws8windows.html
http://www.sd-dream....%83%A5%E3%83%BC

Usual (absolutely faked ) possible Japanese translations :
名も無きクラップインタフェース

名無しのインターフェースくだらないこと

jaclaz

[hoak]

Hmm, no really strongly negative opinions via those links -- mostly just a recitation... The guy blogging at the second link seems more surprised bewildered then disappointed... I wonder who the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese equivalents of John C. Dvorak would be...

[jaclaz]

hoak, on 19 September 2012 - 04:37 AM, said:

I wonder who the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese equivalents of John C. Dvorak would be...

Yep, we miss some info on that part of the world, maybe blackwingcat may provide some insight. (he is the only very active member I recall being from Japan)

For NO apparent reason (if not adding to the confusion) :


jaclaz

[xpclient]

Apparently the morons will waste a 10 digit amount on marketing the OS that no one wants

[jaclaz]

xpclient, on 20 September 2012 - 03:09 AM, said:

Apparently the morons will waste a 10 digit amount on marketing the OS that no one wants

Any Top Level Executive actually saying the highlighted/bolded sentences in public:

Quote

What keeps Han up at night: “For me personally, it’s my three kids. That aside, what actually keeps me up at night is the fear that we’re too cavalier for this. We’re too cool for school. Realize that this isn’t just another year. This is a year when Microsoft isn’t just talking big. We’re investing big.”

Should be IMMEDIATELY taken to a Court and judged (and condemned) for "utter lack of intelligence and common sense", IMHO.
Being a clown is not an offense per se, but there are limits.....

jaclaz

[hoak]

xpclient, on 20 September 2012 - 03:09 AM, said:

Apparently the morons will waste a 10 digit amount on marketing the OS that no one wants

Holly Shi...! DANGER WILL ROBINSON! We have arrived here...

There has to be a rule of thumb about what it means when a company spends eleven fold on marketing what it spends on product development....

[Tripredacus]

Let me add a bit of positive impressions back in. Something REALLY cool I found out by accident. I have a Windows 8 PC here, that when I plugged it into the corporate network, it automatically found and installed the network printer. It was totally transparent. The only reason I knew it was added was because I found it in Device Manager. As a test, I sent along a Test Page and it printed just fine. That really takes the pain out of installing printers!

[xpclient]

Tripredacus, on 20 September 2012 - 08:22 AM, said:

Let me add a bit of positive impressions back in. Something REALLY cool I found out by accident. I have a Windows 8 PC here, that when I plugged it into the corporate network, it automatically found and installed the network printer. It was totally transparent. The only reason I knew it was added was because I found it in Device Manager. As a test, I sent along a Test Page and it printed just fine. That really takes the pain out of installing printers!

You mean the location-aware printing feature of Windows 7? Someone must have configured the default printer on your corporate network.

[Tripredacus]

xpclient, on 20 September 2012 - 09:23 AM, said:

Tripredacus, on 20 September 2012 - 08:22 AM, said:

Let me add a bit of positive impressions back in. Something REALLY cool I found out by accident. I have a Windows 8 PC here, that when I plugged it into the corporate network, it automatically found and installed the network printer. It was totally transparent. The only reason I knew it was added was because I found it in Device Manager. As a test, I sent along a Test Page and it printed just fine. That really takes the pain out of installing printers!

You mean the location-aware printing feature of Windows 7? Someone must have configured the default printer on your corporate network.

Maybe, but none of our Windows 7 PCs ever pick up the printer automatically. We always have to install the HP software which then searches the network and installs it.

In other news.... UEFI vulnerability found in Windows 8:
http://www.theregist...9/win8_rootkit/

[jaclaz]

Tripredacus, on 20 September 2012 - 11:21 AM, said:

In other news.... UEFI vulnerability found in Windows 8:
http://www.theregist...9/win8_rootkit/

To be fair , it is a UEFI vulnerability, a similar one already found and published for MAC's by some good guys from down under.

Unsurprisingly, freedom vs. security imply some trade off's:
http://blogs.msdn.co...-with-uefi.aspx

http://www.itsec.it/...dows-8-bootkit/

Quote

How to protect Systems? Some words about the new Microsoft Secureboot technology are required. SecureBoot is a brand-new Microsoft Security feature that, in cooperation with Intel and OEM Firmware producers, digital signs even the main Boot EFI Loader. Firmware has a digitally signed catalog of recognized Boot loaders SHA hashes. If startup EFI Application is not digitally signed, or if it has been changed, EFI Firmware refuse to boot. This fact obviously will increase whole platform’s security, though the biggest drawback is that it will render entire architecture closer, decreasing user freedom’s of choice. Anyway, the discussion whether or not SecureBoot is the right technology is outside the scope of current analysis

jaclaz

[JorgeA]

This is how Windows users will ultimately be dragged into Metro-land: make previous versions of Windows able to do less and less.

If you're on XP, you can (I suppose) switch to a different browser, but there are tons of "default" users out there who aren't aware that they can do that, and wouldn't know how to do it anyway. That's how they can pronounce a new sh*tty interface a "success." And in any case, resisting the upgrade treadmill is getting harder and harder to do, as all sorts of inter-related software keeps pushing you to the latest and worst greatest. Norton security products, for example, no longer support earlier versions of Firefox, so as a user I'm forced to choose between losing the Norton browser toolbar or switching to the current Firefox version.

Increasingly, the Information Superhighway is constructed such that your current car will no longer run on it and you have to keep getting new cars.

--JorgeA

[jaclaz]

JorgeA, on 21 September 2012 - 10:42 AM, said:

This is how Windows users will ultimately be dragged into Metro-land: make previous versions of Windows able to do less and less.

Well, this has actually nothing to do with WIndows 8 (i.e. it's collateral damage) it is evident how the idea is to push Chrome.

And as well, the good thing is as always freedom I cannot imagine how much should Symantec pay me to install any of their bloated crapware on any of my machines, as an example .

jaclaz

This post has been edited by jaclaz: 21 September 2012 - 10:58 AM

[JorgeA]

Microsoft software takes another step toward the feudal model (you pay rent to the cyberlords in perpetuity).

Quote

With the addition of subscription-based pricing for Office 2013, Microsoft is aggressively pushing its Office customers to get out of the traditional software business and begin paying subscription fees.

To do that, it’s using a classic “carrot and stick” approach.

The first stick is the sticker shock you’ll get if you price out the “traditional” boxed versions of Microsoft Office. For Office 2013, those prices are up a minimum of 10% and as much as 17% per copy.

But the hurt is magnified if you want to install Office on multiple PCs. Office 2013 will offer no multi-copy discounts for traditional packaged software as Office 2010 does.
If you want to run Office 2010 Home & Business on a desktop and a notebook, you can buy a discounted two-pack license for $280. A similar two-PC deal is available for Office 2010 Professional at $500.

For Office 2013, you have to buy two separate licenses, at a total cost of $440 and $800, or an increase of 57% and 60%, respectively.

Note that, despite the additional hit, if you tend to use your software for longer periods, then it's still a better deal to buy it outright. For example, using Office for six years (I used Office 2000 through the end of 2008) brings the yearly cost of the license (vs. a $100 yearly subscription) to less than $75.

That is, unless they render the software practically unusable, as discussed in my previous post above.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

jaclaz, on 21 September 2012 - 10:55 AM, said:

JorgeA, on 21 September 2012 - 10:42 AM, said:

This is how Windows users will ultimately be dragged into Metro-land: make previous versions of Windows able to do less and less.

Well, this has actually nothing to do with WIndows 8 (i.e. it's collateral damage) it is evident how the idea is to push Chrome.

Collateral damage is right. I don't think that (in this case) there is a general plan to push people off XP and onto a newer OS, but that's the effect. Assimilate or suffer the consequences. And within a few weeks, any regular PC user who finally gets pushed off XP and buys a new computer, chances are it'll have Windows 8 on it.

--JorgeA