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Author Topic: Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011  (Read 8967 times)

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Offline SysAdminTopic starter

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Posts on this account before August 4th, 2012 don\'t belong to me.
 

Offline commodorejohn

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Re: Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011
« Reply #1 on: December 27, 2011, 04:48:37 PM »
Feh, more Wired bullcrap about The Tablet Future. I've been a longtime Windows user, but one look at Win8 killed any hope I had of things remaining tolerable. I'll keep running XP until I can't get a new laptop that will run it; from there I'll see if 7 can be tweaked to be acceptable to me, and if not I'll just pray that I can get the XP desktop environment running through WINE on Linux.
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Offline huronking

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Re: Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011
« Reply #2 on: December 28, 2011, 04:14:56 AM »
Quote from: commodorejohn;673101
Feh, more Wired bullcrap about The Tablet Future. I've been a longtime Windows user, but one look at Win8 killed any hope I had of things remaining tolerable. I'll keep running XP until I can't get a new laptop that will run it; from there I'll see if 7 can be tweaked to be acceptable to me, and if not I'll just pray that I can get the XP desktop environment running through WINE on Linux.



I hate M$ with every bone in my body but I have to admit that 7 gives me surprisingly little to bitch about.
 

Offline commodorejohn

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Re: Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011
« Reply #3 on: December 28, 2011, 06:23:01 AM »
It looks annoying, but I haven't actually done much with it, so I don't know if it's easily tweakable to be more like XP...
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Offline Duce

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Re: Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011
« Reply #4 on: December 28, 2011, 06:43:19 AM »
Would be business suicide for them to release it without an easy 1 click option (or registry tweak) to default to the standard Win 7 traditional style computing desktop, at least on the x86 platform.  There is simply too much corporate business they would lose if they forced the Metro UI, and we're a long ways from people being able to productively use a PC with a gesture/touch UI for real computing or data input.  Win 8 is not a heck of a lot more than Win 7 underneath the Metro UI anyways when it comes down to brass tacks - they would prefer you not know this, as most serious users won't buy Win 8 knowing that, heh.  Try the Win 8 beta and you'll see it plain as day, and the differences between the current beta on x86 will not be all that different than RTM versions.

The ARM version of W 8, I do expect that to be Metro only though - it'll be the "tablet" version of Win 8.

The day comes where I am forced to use my hands like an ape fighting with coconuts on the monitor to input data into a database is the day I change to another real computing OS with a real desktop interface.  We simply at not at the point where touch is a workable enough solution to force upon serious computer users, and the corporate market is a vast % of MS's business - which will be using keyboards and a mouse for a long time to come.

Win 7, for a MS product, as painful as it is to admit - is a quite pleasant experience.  Win 7 is a walk in the park on a sunny day with a cute girl compared to Vista, which was nothing more than a never ending root canal comparison/pain wise.  It's no classic, friendly OS like Amiga OS, but it's light years ahead of what Windows used to be.  Vista was bad, comparable to Windows ME, Active Desktop, and MS "Bob" on the pain-o-meter.
« Last Edit: January 04, 2012, 09:51:01 PM by Duce »
 

Offline runequester

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Re: Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011
« Reply #5 on: January 04, 2012, 09:22:51 PM »
The tablet thing is significant but I think a lot of people come at it the wrong way.

It's not that tablets and smartphones are replacing computers for people who want computers.
They are replacing computers for people that want to do computer things, but never wanted a computer otherwise. Facebook, email, instant messaging, basic web browsing etc.

There's a wealth of people I know that barely use their computer except to write the occasional letter, but they are online almost every waking hour on some portable device.

When you factor in that in that environment, manufacturer/vendor lockdown is widely accepted, and piracy is a lot harder, it becomes a nobrainer for someone like microsoft to follow the trail.
 

Offline commodorejohn

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Re: Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011
« Reply #6 on: January 04, 2012, 09:45:00 PM »
Even supposing that's true (I think there's a lot of people who might think they want a controlled, web-specific environment, until they're actually forced to live with one,) they'd be alienating a lot of users (professionals especially, but more than a few personal users as well) if they don't give the option to keep the standard interface. Look how much hell's been raised even by GNOME 3's comparatively small changes, and try to imagine what happens if the best-selling OS in the world tries to force users into even bigger changes.
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Offline runequester

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Re: Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011
« Reply #7 on: January 04, 2012, 09:48:26 PM »
I don't disagree with you, but you are speaking of computer guys. People who expect to get in there under the hood and get dirty.

Most people are just consumers, who want to post on facebook. BUt they spend money too.
 

Offline commodorejohn

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Re: Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011
« Reply #8 on: January 04, 2012, 09:59:49 PM »
I really don't think that's true. I think it's a sort of half-truth (half-lie) that people have heard repeated so often that they've begun to accept it. I know plenty of non-techies who use their computers for well more than Facebook, and who are quite happy with the standard desktop UI model and don't really want change. (In fact, I just spoke with a friend/tech-support client the other day who expressed a desire to go back to XP!)

People are mostly okay with Vista/7, I think, because despite the aesthetic tweaks it doesn't really screw around with what already works (too much.) But if Microsoft tries to force users into a different model, I think there's going to be a lot of backlash.
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Offline runequester

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Re: Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011
« Reply #9 on: January 04, 2012, 10:19:03 PM »
Maybe Im just surrounded by hipsters then :)
 

Offline commodorejohn

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Re: Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011
« Reply #10 on: January 04, 2012, 10:20:50 PM »
Well, you do live in Portland...
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Offline runequester

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Re: Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011
« Reply #11 on: January 04, 2012, 10:22:13 PM »
Quote from: commodorejohn;674373
Well, you do live in Portland...


Hah, yes. I think I can probably clear out a coffee shop by carrying my old IBM model M keyboard in there ;)
 

Offline haywirepc

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Re: Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011
« Reply #12 on: January 04, 2012, 11:01:29 PM »
Personally, I'm tired of hearing people herald the death of the desktop pc.

Tablets are nice, but what if you actual create digital content like graphics, audio or video? Your not doing that comfortably on a tablet so I think desktop pcs will still be around for a long long time, if nothing else as digital content editing workstations.

Steven
 

Offline runequester

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Re: Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011
« Reply #13 on: January 04, 2012, 11:12:25 PM »
Quote from: haywirepc;674381
Personally, I'm tired of hearing people herald the death of the desktop pc.

Tablets are nice, but what if you actual create digital content like graphics, audio or video? Your not doing that comfortably on a tablet so I think desktop pcs will still be around for a long long time, if nothing else as digital content editing workstations.

Steven


It's not dying. It's just that sales are tapering off, because there's more competition in the market, and people are less inclined, I think, to do the habitual 2 or 3 year upgrades that was so common in the 90s and 2000s
 

Offline Iggy

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Re: Microsoft's Dumbest And Smartest Moves Of 2011
« Reply #14 on: January 04, 2012, 11:15:26 PM »
I'm with most of you on this.
Tablets are a bit painful as a substitute for a PC.
Kind of like carrying around a giant cell phone
 
Anyone remember those giant novelty TV remotes?
 
Honestly, if I have to carry around something that big, I want a real fricking keyboard.
 
And Windows 8, why?
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