Upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for only $39.99!

[runequester]

Nice try but they'll have to pay me a lot more than 40 dollars to use their software.

[runequester]

I don't want that to happen, and I don't want to have to fall back on Linux to avoid it, either. Windows has been the only really open commercial OS for years now, with Apple slowly sewing up Mac OS X into as much of a closed environment as iOS. I don't want that to go away, but it's clear that Microsoft does.

Someone said Linux? :angel:

Joking aside, isn't this the sort of logical end result though? Apple is making filthy amounts of money, and a certain share of their reputation as "reliable" comes from a relatively walled in garden where they can control the number of moving parts. Microsoft would kill for a setup like that, and if the consumers (and you're always a consumer, never a user) basically don't care, that's what will happen.

(this is ignoring the possibility for sweet sweet app revenue from a "microsoft store of course but Im sure that crossed their minds too)


A lot of the explosion of computers in the last few years came, I think, from people who fundamentally don't like computers. THey like what the computer let's them do (facebook, porn and angry birds, as far as I can tell), and when other options came along (phones, tablets, locked in computer choices) that did those things simpler and easier, they went for them.

[runequester]

I ask again - John, have you tried Windows 8?

I hate the tiles nonsense as much as anyone else and I will not be upgrading to 8, just curious if you have tried it.

It is delusional to think they are going to kill the "install what you want" on the open Windows 8 (non RT) version.  Even Apple hasn't gone that gonzo yet.

MS to Adobe:

MS:  "Hey guys, we're changing what we had for 30 years - you now have to make a special version of Photoshop and I'm afraid that means you can't sell it anywhere but our stores and the users will not be dealing with you on your own product at all.  OH, by the way - we take 30% of the profits"

Adobe (and every other major vendor):  "**** you"

And what's to stop them?

Adobe can say **** off but then what? Even if they start throwing all their weight behind Mac OS and Linux, that just means 90% of the install base won't buy the product anymore.

Microsoft controls the market. When they say dance, everyone goes home and get's their monkey.

[runequester]

eight is bigger than seven

Well, that's lame. Microsoft did windows 98 years ago, and that was a way bigger number. Maybe this "8" business is just for pocket calculators or something :lol:

[runequester]

50 bucks, and cough up 30% of your revenue, or stick it on your website for the cost of hosting, and keep all the revenue.

Out of curiosity, what cut does places like Steam and Desura take, for selling your game through them?

[runequester]

Given that they're proudly announcing 4700 free apps, I think shovelware is what they're counting on...

In communist china, crapware writes YOU

[runequester]

On release date, donate the amount upgrading would have cost you to the EFF or your favourite linux distro

[runequester]

That's actually a great idea - though I'll be putting it towards either ReactOS (a hell of a lot closer to the Windows I want than this crap) or Haiku.

Yeah, for sure. Any of the little guys can use the funds a lot more than the corporate giants.

[runequester]

There are plenty of apple and Linux fan bois to spread misinformation, as is evident from this thread. They'll have to come up with something else to bitch about when it ships, or get comical ali to help them.

As the resident linux fanboy, it pretty much doesn't matter if Win8 makes pizza and gives you a wank in the morning. Windows is irrelevant to my needs, and irrelevant to the open source movement as a whole, other than a yardstick to measure against in one specific, limited area (desktop computing).

However, It IS interesting from a general technological perspective though, and the paths taken by the major players will of course influence the competition along the way. Since Microsoft is the 900 pound gorilla in the kiddy pool, when they move, it makes a splash.
Likewise, it will be interesting to see the piracy rates, compared to earlier versions. Will the lower price point convince people to buy it, or will they pirate it at the same rate as before.


And I can tell you with quite a bit of certainty that CommodoreJohn is certainly no linux fanboi

[runequester]

I heart linux AND windows

How ya like them apples?

Depends. Do YOU like them Apples?

[runequester]

 
It doesn't sound great for open source who want everything for free, but someone has to pay. Even free hosting for open source projects has to make money somewhere, usually from people who don't use the open source software at all (like advertisement, where it's the customers of the products advertised that are saddled with the cost).

It's not free as in beer, it's free as in freedom.

[runequester]

And you have the freedom free to write any software you like for windows 8 tablets. The thing that is being complained about is that it costs money.

Money isnt a concern. People steal windows all the time if they feel its too ****e to pay for. Ditto for photoshop and all the other wondefull killer applications people yammer on about.

As far as freedom, you know it isn't about "free to write a program"'. Its about freedom to do whatever you damn well want with the software on your computer.

[runequester]

And there is nothing to stop you doing what you damn well want with the software on your computer either.
 
People have been making **** up about Microsoft locking your computer down in the "next version of Windows" for ages.
 
Anyone who thinks it will ever happen needs to put their tin hats back on so nobody can steal their thoughts.

You're missing the point comrade.

Windows will always be locked down, because it's proprietary. I can't copy and distribute it. I can't peek at the code. You're forced to colour within the lines. Someone else owns the software you happen to be borrowing at the time.

As one example: On my linux box, I've swapped out the entire GUI multiple times: From Gnome to Unity to KDE to Openbox. Can't do that on a windows box.


For some people that doesn't matter. For others it does.

[runequester]

Having multiple GUI's is one of the reasons that Linux will never win any desktop share. If they could actually come up with one good one, then it might stand a chance.
 
You might think it's really neat that you can do that, but the fact that you even have that choice is an extra burned on the majority who would live with what they are given.

"They" ? Who are they?
The Ubuntu people? IBM? Intel?
 
There's no monolithic entity pushing linux. That's what's so beautifull about it. That's why you can use linux in a wrist watch, and a wireless router, and a tablet, and a desktop computer and a supercomputer cluster.
 
 
And if we're at "I'd rather have other people choose for me" as a culture, then it's over. The big men in suits won.

[runequester]

Software is a tool, it's not a religion. I put companies that promote Linux alongside Television Evangelists.
 

IBM and Google are television evangelists? I think we can end this conversation here. We don't have any frames of reference that are in the same realm of sanity.