Windows 8 previewed

[woodsmoke]

As much as folks may dislike Unity and Gnome3 Win8 is taking the whole "boxes" (lol rather like the kludgy IBM "windows" of decades ago) the whole 9 yards and given the screen and processor power, it will work.

CURIOUSLY.... when you watch the video you will notice that it has a larger "peek" to the side of the screen that will "snap" to stay in place rather like Unity.

I notice also the mention of "scalability" and A.R.M. processors

This one could actually go on a "computer" that is on the front door of a refrigerator. Just like ol' Bill wanted in the 90s.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/01/m...et-prototypes/

woodsmoke

[teh603]

Re: Windows 8 previewed

Simple. Burn the OS into the ROMs and you'll never have to worry about Linux again. Isn't that why they've been using Windows 7 Embedded in so many devices anyway?

Edit: People still use ARM processors? Didn't they go out with the Apple Newton?

[GreyGeek]

Re: Windows 8 previewed

Microsoft's "system-on-a-chip" strategy is going to force the OEMs to decide if they are truly independent corporations with their own board, CEO, policies and business model. Or, will they become like Nokia, abandoning any uniqueness and following Microsoft like a slave following its master.

An article in Arstechnica:

The chip manufacturers in question would hence be the system-on-chip manufacturers—Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, NVIDIA, and perhaps a mystery fourth company producing ARM chips; Intel and perhaps AMD would produce x86 ones. With four, five, or possibly six different chip families, there's still ample scope for a diverse range of tablets.

However, some system builders are apparently unhappy with this policy. Speaking at the Computex trade show in Taipei, Acer CEO J. T. Wang described the restrictions as "troublesome," and complained that Microsoft is "controlling the whole thing, the whole process."

Wang is also chairman of the Taipei Computer Association (TCA), and the TCA is reported to be pressuring the Taiwan government to intervene.
...

Also, Win8 is too similar to Unity to be an accident, except that it doesn't appear to be as aesthetically pleasing as Unity. Who wants to have an interface that starts with half a dozen rectangular blocks, with one or so words in them, filling the screen?

However, forcing smartphone, netbook, notebook, laptop and desktop users to use the same WinPhone 7 interface won't fly in corporate America and I'll wager that it won't fly in the home user market as well. WinPhone 7 is failing big time because its interface looks so ... 1990s.

One thing for sure, unless it gets jail-broke there won't be any dual booting with Linux. I suspect that even if there are USB ports the system bios will refuse to load the USB stick if it contains a foreign file format or files indicative of a Linux system.

Further, I suspect that Canonical will do one or more of several things;
1) Contract with a netbook, notebook and/or laptop OEM to build PCs with Linux/Ubuntu on the firmware, and start selling them online.
2) Ditto for smartphones
3) Continue making Ubuntu/Kubuntu for the PC market, as long as traditional x86 systems are being built. I doubt very seriously that the current PC architecture will go away any time soon, corporations will see to that, and while some smartphone users, who are not so smart, will slide into WinPhone 8 without thinking about what it will lock them into, most smartphone users will find WP8 unappealing when compared to Android 3. (Which is why I believe Microsoft is funding another proxy attack on it's competitor, this time using Lodsys to attack Google.)
4) Call it a day and close up shop.
5) Profit?

[MoonRise]

Re: Windows 8 previewed

GG, I agree but it really does not seem that us Americans are being vocal enough about M$ practices. Once again they are manipulating the game for their benefit while weeding out the competition. So much for the Anti-Trust case against M$. Even after that they bought their freedom and continued doing the same practices event though they were supposedly being monitored. They even are stacking the supposedly "Open" standards to their favor and no one puts up any fight worth anything so it will be that eventually, if not stopped, we will all be M$ drones and paying through the nose to be that!

[GreyGeek]

Re: Windows 8 previewed

IF MS were able to lock up the USA computer market by forcing OEMs to sell only Win8 "system-on-a-chip" I'd continue using my laptops and if they died I'd purchase PC replacements with conventional x86 architecture from anyone who wasn't a Nokia-clone, even from over seas, if I had too. If bribed Congressmen pass laws prohibiting imports of x86 architecture, regardless of the reason, then I'd stockpile some existing hardware and use it till it or I died. If they prohibit x86 boxes from connecting to the Internet (for "security" reasons - what a joke) then I shall move to Android 4G or iPad 64Gb 4G. One big reason why the Feds would want to force the use of "system-on-a-chip" in America is so that they could do with Microsoft what China already does with Microsoft, use the OS to track its citizens and allow back doors, in order to suppress political dissent.

The political system in this country is totally corrupt, both the Left, which would shred our Constitution until it read like the KM's "Manifesto", and the Right, which allows laws "by corporations and for corporations", eventually reducing us to the "freedoms" that the Virgina coal miners experienced. From a civil rights standpoint, some would argue that we are almost there already. (TSA patdowns, suppression of free speech and religious rights, 2nd amendment, 4th amendment, etc...- for all practical purposes nearly meaningless words on old parchment.) Imagine the worst of both the Right and the Left: something like China, a Leftist dictatorship where the dictators are the heads of the state controlled corporations. As far as the Internet is concerned we are almost there already.

I don't see an outlawing of corporate "person-hood" anytime soon, so expect to see corporations and the federal agencies continue their illegal relationship regardless of who is elected. Frankly, corporate abuse and incestuous relationships with federal agencies has me much more worried than anything else.

But, I rant. Just the frustration of seeing basic laws flaunted with impunity by MS and other big corporations just infuriates me. If I were to plant a virus or root kit on someone's computer it would be a violation of federal law which would get me a long prison term and a big fine quicker than I could afford a lawyer who didn't have holes in the soles of his shoes. When will Sony's CEO or board members be brought up on charges of planting root kits in their customers hardware? Don't hold your breath. Microsoft has been doing it for years, even though it was well documented in a website called "****microsoft.com" (see the Wayback Machine http://web.archive.org/web/200502120...microsoft.com/), but replace **** with the obvious. The earliest archived webpage is from March 2, 2000. That was when most Windows users, for the first time, learned that Microsoft tracked their every move on the Internet, every email they sent out, and every document that email included, and stored it in hidden files which, if they were discovered and erased, would be recreated at the next boot up. Every so often, when the Windows user connected to the internet, Windows would "phone home" and upload all the "demographic" data back to Redmond. Then it would empty the files and start over.

[MoonRise]

Re: Windows 8 previewed

+1

[teh603]

Re: Windows 8 previewed

GG, I agree but it really does not seem that us Americans are being vocal enough about M$ practices. Once again they are manipulating the game for their benefit while weeding out the competition. So much for the Anti-Trust case against M$. Even after that they bought their freedom and continued doing the same practices event though they were supposedly being monitored. They even are stacking the supposedly "Open" standards to their favor and no one puts up any fight worth anything so it will be that eventually, if not stopped, we will all be M$ drones and paying through the nose to be that!

Nobody wants to stop the greed, because their ultimate dream is to unseat the big boys and have that same money for themselves. Never mind the fact that the deck is stacked against them.

That having been said, I don't think its a major issue. When the government defaults on its credit in a few months- because they're too deadlocked to do anything but argue- things will start breaking down and the big businesses will start collapsing like dominoes.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Windows 8 previewed

..
Nobody wants to stop the greed, .....
.....
That having been said, I don't think its a major issue. When the government defaults on its credit in a few months- because they're too deadlocked to do anything but argue- things will start breaking down and the big businesses will start collapsing like dominoes.

It's the greed that is driving the Mexican drug gangs to do violence to everyone, and Americans are not above doing the same for easy money or to avoid working. That makes it very scarey. It is inconceivable that folks would elect representatives who are more moral than they are.

A breakdown that will cause the collapse of corporations will also bring down societal structure. Only violent psychopaths, which describe drug "lords" and gang leaders, prosper in such an environment.

If a breakdown happens people will learn very quickly that there is less than 30 days supply of groceries, toiletries and other necessities setting on shelves. After that roving gangs will start robbing the weak and invading homes searching for supplies, precious metals, and goods to barter when stealing isn't an option. Even a single mother with two kids and a gun will shoot first ... forget about the questions. If people don't report to work because they can't eat or are out of fuel, the infrastructure will break down. Sanitation plants will fail, forcing many to dig latrines (if they just don't dump it where they are). What will they use for toilet paper after it runs out? My city holds 175,000 to 250,000 - depending on where you draw the boundary. When that many people start peeing and pooping anywhere they can the stink, the flies, the mess and the health issues will become profound. But, there will be no medicines because the shelves are empty.

In about 2 weeks folks will be getting hungry. In a month or two mass starvation will occur. Do you have 3 to 6 months of dried and canned goods stored? A device to filter dirty ground water to create bacteria and virus free drinking water. Do you know how to eat off of the land? Which insects are OK to eat and which to avoid? Can you find worms? Or make pond scum soup? I say insects because people with guns and hunger pains will start shooting every living creature that moves. Cats, dogs, squirrels, rabbits, any kind of birds, raccoons, possum, deer, ... it doesn't matter. Within 6 months every living creature within a tank of gas driving distance from a major town, and most smaller ones, will be killed for food. Waters will be seined free of fish of any size. Minnows will be editable. Then what? Only insects will be available everywhere. Do you have a collapsible shovel and a wire saw to dig up worms or saw through rotted wood to find grubs and other crawlies? Can't stomach eating insects? Then die. People in the bush in Nigeria are eating insects as a major source of protein in their diet. The rodents are too rare to rely on as a source of protein.

Most houses will be ransacked and destroyed, stripped for valuable metals, plastics, and other resources. IF you have a car, a class four tent and sleeping bags, camp stove, large Fresnel lens, fire stick, matches, rope, a small portable electric generator and/or solar power sheet to charge rechargeable batteries to run your walkie talkies, starlight vision monocle, a couple spare 5 gal gas cans, and a medical kit then perhaps you can make it to some remote area where people aren't too numerous and find an out of the way place to camp which is easily defended. Oh, do you have a 20 gauge shotgun with several cartons of slugs, 000 buck host, and #4 shot? How about a .22 LR semi-auto pistol with a thousand rounds of ammo? Air rifle with several thousand rounds of .22 pellets? -- the cheapest small game weapon you can own. And can you shot them accurately? No? Then how do you plan to defend yourself when some person who is armed thinks your shoes should be his?

We are a much more violent society today. Nothing is sacred except money, porn and drugs. Honesty, ethics and morals are curiosities, or behaviors to be exploited for advantage. While many proclaim themselves religious, or even Christian, most visit churches/worship services only on Easter, Christmas, some wedding and some funerals, and give only lip service to religious teachings. Things were different when the 1929 crash took place. Back then the total population was 105,710,620 and the farm population was 31,614,269. Farmers were 27% of the labor force. So, 31% of the population lived on farms and produced their own food and food for everyone else. Most farms were less than 150 acres and produce and live stock was sold locally because urban sprawl hadn't taken place and almost everyone lived a short distance from a farm or a farmer's market. Only in places that became part of the "dust bowl" did farmers find it impossible to raise crops to feed even themselves.

TODAY, much less than 1% of the US population are farmers who raise mono-cultures on 1,200 to 10,000 acres or more . Most of the farmers now get their groceries off of supermarket shelves, just like everyone else, because they plant road-to-road (no longer fence-to-fence) and don't have time to raise a garden for themselves because the smaller farmers have to work in town to be able to keep their dream of farming alive. Even if today's farmers did stay on their farms during a collapse they don't have mules or horses that could pull plows or cultivators, enabling them to plant a crop, even if they had the seed, which most don't. Their equipment requires thousands of gallons of diesel fuel, which won't be available in a collapse. Would the government step in and help? Sure, just like they did with Katrina or Texas. In a breakdown, most people wearing a badge will be used for target practice, mainly because their past behavior hasn't been even handed in many situations. Only a well armed and coordinated military unit with air support could survive against thousands of enraged and armed citizens, but there is a doubt that such a military unit would remain cohesive if their members go awol to their own home towns, or refuse to shoot their friends or family. (Unless such units are made up of foreign troops or mercenaries.)

I pray constantly that a breakdown does not occur if the monetary system collapses because of hyper inflation, or any other reason. Not for my sake. I am an old man who has reached his allotted "3 score and 10". Even though my dad lived to 94 and my wife says I am the spitting image of him, every day beyond today is pure gravy. I pray for my son and daughter, their spouses, and my three grandsons, 5, 9 and 17.

How to tell when a collapse of the Dollar may reach the tipping point? When the Dollar is officially removed from its status as the World Reserve Currency. When that happens, Uncle Sam printing money will just make it worth less than it already is. 98% of the population is not prepared for that eventuality. Many, like myself, think it will happen sometime this year.

[MoonRise]

Re: Windows 8 previewed

2012!!!!

[GreyGeek]

Re: Windows 8 previewed

I am not a believer in the Dec 21, 2012 catastrophe. The Mayan calendar myth holds no magic and its termination date is merely the result of an extrapolation of certain cyclic relationships being limited for sake of space and time by the Mayan mathematicians. It just numerology.

The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) have already formed an agreement to create a currency which they plan to use as a new "World Currency Reserve". China is the muscle of the group and the Chinese know it. They have effective veto power over any BRIC initiatives because without them, who really cares? China has the big resource reserves. They are the biggest potential market. The United States is the largest deficit and debtor country while China is the largest surplus country and holder of dollar reserves. If the Dollar collapses then so does the Chinese economy. We are their greatest market. IF we, the "G2" go down, so does the rest of the world. Like the world has never seen before. Before it is over, I am afraid, the world could loose 1/3rd to 1/2 or more of its population. And this at a time when the world's know resources, and the availability of energy to exploit what is remaining, is nearing exhaustion.

Plainly put, neither business nor the world can continue to rely on "growth" as a valid economic model.

[MoonRise]

Re: Windows 8 previewed

Star Trek!!!

[bsniadajewski]

Re: Windows 8 previewed

Wow! How did a preview of Windows 8 become a political discussion?

Anyway, looking at the screenshots of Win8, I'm going to stay with Win7 on my Windows install as it works well for me like Kubuntu does. It borrows so much from the smartphone and touch-based UI's that I would want that on my desktop sytem.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Windows 8 previewed

Star Trek!!!

Now you're talking! 8)

I've always felt that I was born about 500 years too soon. I don't know if FTL travel will ever become a reality, even if most of today's physics don't think so, but regardless... I can dream. That's why my desktop wallpaper is an graphic of the NCC-1701-A leaving Earth!.

I had time to watch the Windows 8 video this evening.

It was really dazzling, even if they replace icons with tiles that stink and look drab. What they've done is increase the size of the pixel "hot-spots" so that it is easier to use than most touch screen OSs and applications.

I was struck with a vague since of Deja Vue. Then it occurred to me... I've seen this style of presentation before... with LongHorn, which gave promises for a fantastic user experience.
Remember WinFS? Or Avalon? Or Indigo? Or AERO?

2002 The "leak" with no less than Microsoft's favorite lawn Jockey, Rob Enderle, supplying some details:
http://www.seattlepi.com/default/art...al-1102071.php

2003 - Lifting the "Lid" on LongHorn:
http://www.infoworld.com/t/platforms...onghorn-os-320

2004 -- The obligatory screen shots and favorable performance reviews:
http://www.extrememhz.com/longhorn-p1.shtml
This is where you really learn who the MS shills are.

2005 Naming LongHorn: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/p...07-22lhma.mspx
The Name: VISTA

2006 - The "Three Pillars": Avalon, Indigo and WinFS are identified and discussed:
http://www.techenclave.com/reviews-a...osoft-106.html
AERO is no where to be seen.

2007 - Disaster struck! An internal email from Jim Allchin, via MS vs Iowa lawsuit:
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/conte...l_exposed.html

There's a court case going on in Iowa, where the Mac-loving e-mail appeared last month. It's now available among plaintiff's documents, but readers need go no further than the next paragraph to read the entire e-mail. Allchin, who is co-president of Microsoft's Platforms & Services Division, sent the e-mail to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer on January 7, 2004:

"This is a rant. I'm sorry.

"I am not sure how the company lost sight of what matters to our customers (both business and home) the most, but in my view we lost our way. I think our teams lost sight of what bug-free means, what resilience means, what full scenarios mean, what security means, what performance means, how important current applications are, and really understanding what the most important problems are customers face are. I see lots of random features and some great vision, but that doesn't translate into great products.

"I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft. If you run the equivalent of VPC [Virtual PC] on a Mac you get access to basically all Windows application software (although not the hardware). Apple did not lose their way. You must watch this new video below. I know this doesn't show anything for businesses, but my point is about the philosophy that Apple uses. They think scenario. They think simple. They think fast. I know there is nothing hugely deep in this.

"http: //www.apple.com/ilife/video/ilifeO432C.html [Note: Link is now dead]

"I must tell you everything in my soul tells me that we should do what I called plan (b) yesterday. We need a simple fast storage system. LH [Longhorn] is a pig and I don't see any solution to this problem. If we are to rise to the challenge of Linux and Apple, we need to start taking the lessons of 'scenario, simple, fast' to heart.
Jim"

This was after Allchin's LH developers came back from the Apple OS X launch saying that "Tiger is what LongHorn was supposed to be". The reason for the "pig" comment was probably because of WinFS, which was pulled shortly after. So was Allchin.

The video referred to is here. One look and you'll see why it sunk LongHorn. On a touch screen it would still sink Win8.

With all of its MS PR, it's "sneak peeks", the tales of beautify, performance and security from pre-release previews by sycophants like Rob Enderle and Laua Didio, after VISTA was born it turned out that Allchin was right; "LongHorn" was a pig, with or without WinFS. Clearly the 2nd worse OS ever made. WinME holds the title.

Win8 has had its beauty pageant roll out.

[woodsmoke]

Re: Windows 8 previewed

I've mentioned in other forums and was roundly laughed at, that there PRESENTLY exists the ability to "block" a stream of information from a place and that also means that it can be blocked going "to" a place.

An example of this was, several years ago, a fellow who started a legal, paid, copyright compliant radio station in "the rest of the world" and said that he was waiting to be "un-blocked" from coming into the U.S.

That means that a person in a place outside the U.S. could send "information" around the world, but he, PARTICULARLY was "blocked" from having his stream coming into the U.S.

Again, this was several YEARS ago.

When I mentioned that the same technollgy could keep, say.... a download from Kubuntu from coming into the U.S. that it could, indeed , be done.

Again, I was laughed at......the reply being.....how could they POSSIBLY.... check ALL of the streams coming into the U.S.?

Another reply was...well, it could come in on a cell phone.

Ummmmmm several years later....we see

That the Patriot Act authorization depends on the ability to DO NOW just what I stated several years ago.

To restate that.... the "government" ....could NOW..... check every kind of stream coming into the U.S. if it was legal to do so.

The Patriot act was reauthorized by a DEMOCRATIC....and REPUBLICAN...congress a week ago and Pres. Obama just HAPPENED to be out of the country when he had to sign it....hmmm no media coverage there.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/kevingl...ization_passes

President Obama.....through White House "surrogates"....stated March 2011 that they want to use the Patriot Act...

To STOP STREAMING MUSIC.....

Ok..... we have heard this kind of thing before...but.....

NOW....enter the Interstate Commerce Clause.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commerce_Clause

It says, and has been UPHELD by the Supreme Court that if someone "here" produces something...

FOR FREE and GIVES IT AWAY........

That the act constitutes taking revenue AWAY from the money that another company might get.

Is the streaming music or whatever thing in the new authorization of the Patriot Act? I don't know, I've looked but can't find anything.

But if it IS in the Patriot Act...

Microsoft could use the Interstate Commerce Clause to say that Linux, which is free, streaming into the U.S. consitutes a LOSS of POSSIBLE income....and ask that such stuff be blocked.

And.....the government several YEARS ago ....had....the ability to block such streaming.

Ok.....so the reply when I mentioned this a few years ago was...ok...

a jillion guys stream Kubuntu..... surely some will get through.

If they can trace a jillion possible phone calls for WORDS........

they can SURELY check incoming traffic

for....oh.....MD5 sums....

In one way or another, all stuff goes over the net. If it has to be blocked in Canada....it could still be blocked.

And, it might take a few days or weeks. or months but when enough people get tired of not being able to get their distro except by a mailed CD...

Microsoft has won.

And the U.S. will have truely built an electronic fence around the country when we couldn't seem to get a physical fence on the borders. >

http://www.motherboard.tv/2011/3/17/...l-streaming--2

And this.....from the VERY PEOPLE who WATCHED "1984" in college and roundly decried Big Brother. >

woodsmoke

[erigais]

Re: Windows 8 previewed

i saw this story on yahoo news, and if you look at all the comments people put, NO ONE liked it, i think 1 out of 600 people replying said "it looks cool" but he still had a negative comment for it. this might be the big chance linux, and more importantly kubuntu has to get a much larger user base. there were quite a few comments saying "i guess time for me to give linux(or mac) a try"