Windows 8.....Microsoft dropped the ball?

HOLY CRAP. Not exactly sure what version but I remember installing this on a server about the size of a washing machine back in 1998.

 

Across the board. Look at televisions. Integration is where it is at. The day where the remote will be obsolete is not too far away.

 

Been telling people this for years lol

 

I bought A computer from Newegg the other night and my PC that is coming in comes with Windows 8.... Couldn't find any other good computers without Windows 8... If it comes down to me hating it, i have A copy of windows 7 Pro that I can install.

 

Yep, about that size and about that old. I was just poking at everyone talking about their "ancient" stuff. We also have some other software running way way older than that. VAX/VMS for one.

 

I don't understand what you are trying to say.


By the way, I was wigged out to see that the modern UI is in the current release of Windows Server as well.

 

Don't worry. Neither does my wife.

On another note, I may need your expertise on a home server network I am envisioning. I am great at the envisioning it is the execution that I have trouble with.

 

Again, your history is a bit inaccurate. I was there (yes, that old). Bought my first computer (Apple II) in 1981, managed a computer store (Apple, IBM, Atari, Wang, etc) in the early to mid-80's, created a (HyperCard-based) self-running or interactive demo for the Mac in 1987 used by Apple in stores throughout Europe, and was even offered a job (in 1987 by MJ Danials Company, Apple's MPX marketing firm in Europe) to manage Apple's MPX program in Europe (was returning the the USA in two weeks, so declined).

Anyway, very few schools had personal computers in 1980. It would be a few more years before schools started to purchase computers on any widespread basis, and a couple of years after that (the mid-80's) before either Apple or Microsoft made any real effort to target those schools - Apple out of desperation over declining market share and Microsoft to counter that. IBM was pretty much out of the picture at this point, with clones eating away at their sales.

In the beginning (late 70's, early 80's), Apple controlled what little business market for personal computers there was, mainly due to the VisiCalc spreadsheet program (released in 1979 for the Apple II, two years before the intro of the IBM PC) and the AppleWriter word processing program. Apple then screwed up the launch of the Apple III (can't stress the importance of this enough), leaving the door wide open for IBM, with it's own ported version of VisiCalc for the PC, to take control of that business market. The Apple III (hard drives, etc) was clearly superior to the IBM PC, but early bugs and stability issues (due to a premature release) resulted in bad press (and questions about whether Apple could even produce a serious business computer).

 

Proof? Are you kidding? That GUI (menu bars, etc) has been a key feature of the Mac's various operating systems for at least 28-years, well before (and apparently well after) Microsoft's "Start Menu." Despite the many tweaks over the years to improve the overall operating system, Apple's very latest operating system (Mountain Lion) once again makes no significant changes to the traditional features of that GUI. I think that qualifies as "intrinsic" by any reasonable definition of the word.

Anyway, the rest of your message is once again too long to really respond to. Besides, most of it seems to be trying to convince me that my preferences are wrong (I shouldn't dislike what I dislike and should like what you apparently like). Rather than quibble about that, I'll leave you to your choices (and retain mine for myself).

 

I do remember when I started high school in 1980 that the school had 4 large computer labs with NEC model computers with 1 meg of memory and dual 5.25 floppy drives. You had to use a floppy to boot up the OS in one drive then you had your data on the other floppy drive. Then we were able to do programming in Fortran, COBOL and basic.

If I remember correctly, these computers were over $3000 each.

 

Extremely unlikely. Look it up. NEC didn't even release it's first personal computer, the PC-8001, until 1979. It was limited to 32kb of memory and had no facility for floppy drives (cassette-tape storage only). No subsequent models of the PC-8001 were released. The PC-8001 was followed by the PC-8800 series in 1981 and the PC-9800 series in 1982.

That first PC-8801 was limited to 64kb of memory and likewise had no facility for floppy drives. None of the NEC PC-8801 models ever exceeded 512kb of memory (and that not until 1987). The first 5.25" floppy drive for the PC-8800 series and PC-9800 series was introduced in 1983.

That first PC-9801 was limited to 128kb of memory and two 8" floppy drives, but the PC-9801VX was eventually offered with 1 MByte of memory, in 1986.

Prior to 1979, NEC's business operations in the United States with focused almost exclusively on PABX and telephone systems.

 

Microsoft is trying to combine the tablet and desktop experience into one. Apple on the other hand has kept the desktop and tablet experience separate. Yes, you can go back to what Win7 and before it look like, but why should the consumer have to change a setting in the first place. MS is trying to save money in creating one operation system, instead of creating two very different ones.

Something that just came to me, why not have Win8 have a setting for laptops that turn into tablets have it set that it switches between the touch screen interface when in tablet mode, and then when you flip the screen back to a laptop, that it changes to a desktop interface. I haven't played with Win8, so I don't know if that option is already possible.

 

The operating system isn't the same even if it looks the same. You still need a different operating system because the internals of the phone/tablet aren't the same as a computer. It doesn't save them much money.

If you look at the Surface with Windows RT, it looks and behaves like Windows 8, but it's not (customers will be able to get a Surface with Windows 8 on it in 2013). Surface with WinRT won't run Windows applications.

It just creates common look and feel.

 

California High School had a Wang that had only a card reader and chain printer when I took math analysis in 1979/1980.
My electronics lab bought a TRS-80 Model-I in 1980.
1981, Cerritos College had a pair of DEC-10 systems running back to back.
Married, divorced, and back to Cerritos College in 1984 and the computer lab was fully equipped with Apple-II.... 4 rows of tables, probably 40 machines in the lab.

I started working at Radio Shack in 1986 and the Tandy-1000, clone of the PC Jr, was already considered "old had" and the smaller 1000ex was released.
The store operating system was on a Tandy-2000 (with a 10 meg hard drive and audio modem).

 

I believe you are going off of the definition being 'essential', whereas I'm going off the definition 'natural'. I believe the the menu bar and so on was a natural choice at the time based off what they saw at PARC and it made logical sense at the time. Now, people are asking, "is all this old stuff really necessary? Does it still make sense?" After all, look at what we've done with the command prompt.

I'm not saying that MS's choices were correct, I'm just saying I understand the reasoning behind what they are doing.

For me, I believe in "there when you need it, out of the way when you don't need it". This is one of the reasons I hate Opera so much, and I think Firefox gets cluttery (I'm a Chrome fan - less is more). However, I don't like "where the hell is it?", which is sometimes the case with Win 8

You mistake me. I'm explaining what the reasoning why MS is changing the foundation of their OS. Apart from the occasional jab o) , my attempt was informational.

 

I suppose it depends on the use of the machine.

For someone who generally only does 4-8 things with their machine, an icon-based desktop is ideal. Having only Firefox and Word would be all my wife needs.
I use dozens of applications, and frequently have as many as 8 "My Documents" windows open set to various folders across various network drives.
That would be unmanageable on a desktop... even the 6-monitor station at work.

OTOH, my old boss... his entire desktop was cluttered with data file icons and folders. Write it off to borderline computer literacy... he just drops everything on the desktop. When it gets too cluttered, he creates a folder and drags the related files into it.

He's basically created a Windows 3.1 interface for himself.

 

I'll be skipping Windows 8. I'm happy with win 7 and linux and Android. I don't need Windows 8 reporting what I install to Microsoft. The license alone is reason enough to not support them. Let alone the stupid design.

I'm with Valve as far as gaming as well, Win8 is bad for gaming and is about MS trying to horn in on sales of 3rd party products as a revenue stream for MS while not adding any value.

 

Do you think Windows-9 is going to be any better in this respect?

When it comes to licensing and DRM, Microsoft will NEVER go backwards.

Sooner or later, hardware and software will force you to abandon Windows-7... that is the only reason I am no longer running 98se.

 

Actually, it's the only reason I'm no longer running DOS 3.2

 

LOL you do realize how much information your phone sends out? Waaaay more than your computer can (thank you GPS). My computer thinks I live on the other side of the US, or sometimes in Dubai, though if the program/OS was more serious, it would simply do a trace to find my closest switching station based on my internet connection - which puts them within 15 miles of my house.

You realize that google monitors all your search terms, and many other webpages rely on some form of adsense to figure out how to better toss ads at you?
You know that many cloud-based services consider anything you upload to be their property?

Windows 8 has opt-out abilities on the apps for what you want to share, which is similar to apps on your phone or extensions on your browser.

On initial install of Windows 8,they at least default you to 'Do Not Track', and you get a clear option for opting out of sending information out.

About the only way to avoid 'reporting what you do' is to go full-on linux (I'm not talking Ubuntu, because even they have options for submitting data), use a pay phone, and jump around coffee shop wifi like a nomad.