Windows 8.1: A bit square, sure, but WAIT! It has a Start button Windows 8.1 adds a layer of polish to the previous release, Windows 8, and fixes various annoyances. But has Microsoft done enough to rescue its OS against a background of plummeting PC sales and unimpressed customers who want Windows 7 back? Discussion of Windows 8.1 tends to focus on the Start screen and revived Start button …
"Anyone constructing a multi site, multi tenant cloud environment - such as large service providers should consider it. "
Says who, MSFT internal PR docs?
Wake up, troll and semll the reality - NOBODY will ever build large networks on MS routing. Mark my word: NOBODY.
even if they ever did none apparently EVER touched it.
"I work as a cloud and infrastructure architect - not for MS. Here is a long list of what's new if you don't like the example cited: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn250019.aspx - a number of these features are simply not available on alternative platforms like Linux, or don't scale as well."
Ah yes, you are and independent infra architect who does not work for MS but recommends implementing MS-based routing...
...as one infrastructure architect to another let me be straight with you: no offense but are you high? Seriously.
"Google had a total Google Apps blackouts on a number of occasions."
Link, please.
I have a feeling you don't know what the word "total" means in English - or you just playing the good ol' BS game from MSFT's playbook when they try to boast their reliability percentage, conveniently leaving out the fact that their outages ARE WORLDWIDE, SYSTEMIC ONES, lasting for HOURS at every other occasion (yes, MS have a LOT MORE than anyone else in the business.)
" I have previously been involved in migrations off Google Apps that were partially due to stability and performance issues (but mostly due to functionality issues)..."
Or could it be that you, as a well-paid MSFT "architect" just couldn't make any money out of that/didn't even know how to set it up etc?
See, it's very easy to counter lame 'empirical evidence' (my fav euphemism for made-up stories impossible to check) injected into some argument, presented something like a trend - if anything it's vica versa, Google Apps is practically OMNIPRESENT now, the fat Ballmerian super troupe managed to lose its old email market as well and it's unlikely they will ever get it back.
As for stability - is it one of your bad jokes again? If you want I can pull together a list of all MSFT outages in the past 3-4 years, with impact, scope and length, it won't be pretty - but hey, it works for me, the more people are aware of it the more can avoid it, the better we all off...
"I recall that Google Apps had a 30 hours total outage at one point."
At this point I have to question your basic understanding of the subject - you really need to define "total" or just admit you have no clue about the subject whatsoever/full of MS <ahem>.
Anyhow, ball is in your court - in short put up or shut up. :)
PS: BTW why is it that all you lame (obviously paid) MSFT trolls are ALWAYS ANONYMOUS, huh? You people are so pathetic, seriously.
"for example BGP routing with multi tenancy support..."
You made that up, right?
It is so utterly important that I don't even know what it is (or means), so it must be terribly important and vital to the well being of my enterprise - not.
I am more committed than ever to avoid the entire Windows 8.x branch. The changes Microsoft has instituted are insufficient. There is much left that is disliked.
I can't stand the overall appearance of the OS. It boggles my mind how Microsoft was starting to get on the right track with XP, then Windows 7, the totally botched up Windows 8. It's flat and boring. This is not how I want my workspace to look. If I want flat and boring, I'll go back to sticking post-it notes everywhere.
Windows 8 is a disaster. The sooner Microsoft realizes that, the sooner they can get back to producing something lean, mean, and compelling. The only thing compelling about Windows 8 is the intense desire to defenestrate computing devices running Windows 8.
I'm stuck with Windows 7 until Microsoft smartens up, or Linux matures as a music production and gaming platform.
Yes that's right. It's just that. Literally nothing else has happened.
Do shut up about the bloody Start Button/Menu. It's the least relevant part of Windows. It's just the bit people are making a lot of fuss about without any genuinely compelling reason.
How to launch app - Windows Vista:
hit windows key, type "Wor" and MS Word is there selected
Hit Enter.
How to launch app - Windows 7:
hit windows key, type "Word" and MS Word is there selected
Hit Enter.
How to launch app - Windows 8:
hit windows key, type "Word" and MS Word is there selected
Hit Enter.
How to launch app - Windows 8.1:
hit windows key, type "Word" and MS Word is there selected
Hit Enter.
That's assuming you've not already already pinned it to the taskbar. Etc Etc. And in most cases you can type even less depending on what you have installed. If you use the app all the time and you like the clicky clicky way of doing things, you can pin it, stick it near the beginning of start and so on.
Do get with the way the UI has worked for several releases now. I don't even really *see* the metro/tifkam/whatever screen at work because that's how everything is done.
At home I see it ALL the time because I don't really have any need for the desktop mode.
If my mum can use Windows 8, having NEVER used a computer before, and being the type to still call me and ask how to set her bedside alarm clock up, I can only assume the average person who reads this supposedly technically biased site is so utterly lacking in basic IT skills they have hired a friend to even comment about how they dislike Windows 8 so much.
Every single person I've given windows 8 to (and that's an awful lot of people) is coping just fine, regardless of skill. I spent 5 minutes showing them everything. It's called training. You may have done it as a child to learn how to use a loo. Same thing, not sure why it's so much of a crisis that once every few minutes a bit of learning is needed.
Basic outline of training needed:
"Here's how to shut it down" - admittedly added as everyone asked. Fair do.
"Here's how to start your programs" - only an issue for people I've not shown Vista upwards
"Here's what this key on the keyboard does" - only an issue for people I've not shown Vista upwards
"OK great, you're good to go, give me a shout if you have any issues..."
"Oh yeah, everything else you already do, please crack on"
Ever since the release of Windows NT nearly 20 years ago, Windows has been essentially based on a VMS core, which is known to be very effective and reliable. (It's ironic, come to think of it, that Mac OS too is layered on an older, utterly unfashionable, brilliantly engineered OS). Most of Windows' problems derive from the condition that Gates laid on Cutler and his team right at the outset: they must keep the existing Windows look and feel as nearly unchanged as possible. Over the years we have seen lots of experiments and proposed improvements, many of which overburdened the core operating system with slow, inefficient, and sometimes downright unworkable user interface extras. Vista was a classic case in point. It's looking as if Windows 8 is another.
I keep seeing comments from serious professionals lamenting that Windows gets between them and the operating system, rather than helping them as it is meant to.
"No, WindowsNT is not based on VMS, that's utter nonsense. NT inherited a few design properties which are similar to VMS but that's about it."
It's clear you have never studied Windows NT (and subsequent) internals. Even the names of most of the routines and locations are the same.
I think the truth is "inherited a lot of design properties".
But not from the VMS codebase, just from paying the same architect.
Anyway, it's the subsequent history that matters. Microsoft consistently put marketing ahead of securirty. NT 4 blew huge holes in the VMS security model. W2K blew some more. By the time they realised security slightly mattered (around XP SP2 time), it was so completely F*cked that mentioning VMS ancestry just made one feel like crying.
I have now spent 7 years away from VMS.
I miss it every day, and despair at my colleagues and their complete ignorance - an ignorance created and curated by Microsoft (and if I hear "best practices" again, I may just do physical violence to the speaker) ...
But alas, my family needs feeding and we are all left here in the soup that Microsoft and their perverted focus over decades, has left us.
Like always, in cases like this, one asks ,, "How did it come to this", and after the apprpriate quantity of ale, one concludes "it just sort of happened" and blame the anti-christ himself.
I haven't spent much time with Windows 8 or 8.1 yet, but I have spent a fair amount of time working with server 2012. it still blows my mind that they put this mentally repressed, logically deficient interface on a server OS.
My first day setting these servers up was hell, literately, I couldn't get shit accomplished, I just about punched the monitor trying to find the shutdown dialog to restart the damn things. After taking as long lunch to gather myself and regroup, I came back and installed a start menu replacement and revived the quick launch area on the taskbar, I installed classic shell, not the best choice but it allowed me to be productive and finally get some work done. what a nightmare.
Once I undid the Microsoft user interface fuck up, working with server 2012 wasn't bad, it does the job its designed to do very well. I set up multiple identical servers in a failover cluster running Hyper-V, I was extremely impressed with how well server 2012 handles multi-path I/O and VM failover. If only Microsoft wouldn't have completely desecrated the user interface they would actually have a golden egg here.
I think it boils to the fact Microsoft cant handle / is afraid of success, they go through all the trouble to make a great OS, but deep down inside they have a defect that just wont allow themselves to be great, so they had to go and bork that great OS by fucking up the user experience.
Win8 - 8.1 has some compelling features as well, like full fledged Hyper-V on the desktop OS and a few other things, but with the mental retardation of the user interface, i just cant bring myself to do it... I recently tried StartIsBack+ on a Win8.1 VM, Its a great start menu replacement and very well polished, but the underlying retartedness of Win8 still oozes thru that band-aid, so at least for now, its Windows 7 and VMWare...
I run a small IT business , locally outsourced IT best describes what I do. Out of 18 companies, not one has been happy with Windows 8. Classic menu had to be installed on the Win8 stations and even then, the clients weren't happy. I was asked to install Windows 7 on the majority of systems, at the client's expense!
Hopefully WIndows 8.1 will satisfy their needs. I do not run WIndows, but most of my clients do. The recommended upgrade to XP is currently Windows 7, maybe Windows 8.1 will become the recommended upgrade. I hope 8.1 works (for them), because it would make my life easier. Eventually when everyone realizes a 'fat client' is a terrible idea we can get rid of the expensive 'PC' and go to (browser based?) thin clients.
I love these "it has a start button" articles about the Win* update. Yup, it has one, that does nothing. NIce job listening to your customers MS. So far, I have yet to see anything fix the core problems Win8 is plagued with and users continue to be upset about. All MS continues to do is ignore the user and insist on trying to force a change that no one running a pc really wants, needs, or cares about. As others have mentioned, streamlining the OS, keeping the Win7 interface would have made the latest release a winner. Instead, sales of Win8 are pathetic, businesses are ignoring it, and the only ones who seem to be enjoying it are recreational users.
Windows 8 is an abomination. I have worked with almost all Windows from v3 to 95, XP, 7 and now 8. It is true Windows 8 is not the first leap in style - Windows 95 was quite different. BUT on all the other versions before Win8, 90% of the existing applications ran in the same fashion - just the usual wait for device drivers to catch up. Skype usage is terrible on Windows 8 - so difficult to switch between windows and look up some information on IE you are looking are whilst Skypeing. The workaround for this is to install the desktop version of Skype - which does work better but is still not an elegant solution. On Windows 8 RT things get worse...Skype desktop version cannot install.
Also on Windows 8 you are forced to log in to Skype with a Windows Live ID and it will not let you use any login other than that of your Windows login ! - I have a separate Skype account and want to use that - thanks very much Microshaft - or maybe my gf wants to use her Skype on my laptop. I know there are potential workarounds of using local logins - but yet again more effing around before you get to where you want...argghhhh....
I see the logic of unifying Windows Phone 8, Windows Surface and Desktops/Laptops with same UI but the execution of that idea has been awful. Most of my friends are IT professionals and they are getting sick and tired of hearing friends/family complain about Windows 8 and the PC retail outlets refuse to take the items back....the retailers have had to become hard-headed and have had to baton down the hatches to avoid losing sales - they leave people with unsuitable laptops/desktops/tablets and a whole generation will lose trust in PC sales outlets. If someone comes to me or my friends asking advice BEFORE they buy we search for a Win7 machine to save them pain....but that will become more difficult in months to come as supplies of Win7 laptops dwindle. I was thinking to buy as many Win7 PCs as I can afford as people out there will pay a premium price for them on well known personal selling sites - they may well increase in value despite CPU tech moving on !
The PC sellers, manufacturers and Microshaft appear to have colluded to make it difficult for an average Joe to downgrade to Windows 7 with UEFI - is this a coincidence ? - I think not, if it was just coincidence is was a pretty useful one for them . What happened to "the customer is king" ? - they want me to use MY PC in the fashion THEY dictate. I have spent years disparaging Apple for similar closed-shop, over-hyped and over-priced reasons...but right now it is MICROSOFT that sucks big time.
Disappointed former Microsoft fan,
Ton
People keep saying "You can't polish a turd", but you can. You just gotta wait a while first. See, for example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyds_Bank_coprolite
Why, that could mean that if someone were to bury Win8.x, in only a thousand or so years it might be worth something.
I say that we try the experiment. As, as it's difficult to fossilize stuff, we should bury _all_ examples of Win8.x, just to see if we can get even one example that's worth a damn come 3013-3113 or so.
"Nevertheless, Windows 8.1 is a step forward and a worthwhile upgrade over Windows 7 even for those sticking with desktop, keyboard and mouse."
Really? From all I've read about Win 8 and 8.1 I just can't see any advantages for me with my desktop, keyboard and mouse - used for games, normal home stuff (editing photos, home movies, managing music collections etc) and a bit of working from home.
Given I moved to Win 7 from XP for this desktop, I think I'll skip a generation again.
I am not exactly a newbie when it comes to dealing with Microsoft Windows - I have been using their products since, well, since they first came out.
When I installed Windows 8 for a friend recently however, I had to boot up my own Windows 7 laptop so I could Google two questions:
1) How do I shut down Windows 8?
2) Where is control panel on Windows 8?
Microsoft seem to think that progress involves deliberately confusing their long term customers. And the point of that is?
Windows 3.1 had more flexibility than Windows 8. When windows XP came out there was an option to make it look like Windows 98. From an aesthetic point of view Windows 8 looks worse than iOS seven. If customers want a start menu, give them a start menu, if a start screen is better they will eventually start to use that instead, but never force a customer into doing something they don't want to do. Economic's 101.
I use Ubuntu 13.04 (dual booting with Windows 7), and I prefer Unity and iOS 7 over Not Metro. I am dictating this on my iPad 3 and have an android phone (cyanogen mod 10.2). I love technology and operating systems that make hardware dance - but I dislike Not Metro (loved 98SE, XP and 7, IBM OS2 & Warp, MS and DR DOS).
And it's not because I'm too stupid to find the shutdown option in the 'Charms' menu, or the missing Start menu, or too lazy to press the start button on the keyboard, or the fact that it's become a bit of a spyware program in its own right, or the clusterfuck that is UEFI, it is simply that Microsoft have stopped listening to me, to allow me to work the way I want.
Having said all that, I'll probably still check out 8.1, as I do like a challenge.
EOL.
My day has just been ruined by doing a Windows 8.1 upgrade. Apparently it doesn't play nice with systems running Intel hd 4000 displays. thanks Microsoft for making a rubbish product even worse. Wish I had windows 7 installs :(
oh and the "start button" is a super weak excuse for something useful
Remember how illogical it was to click "Start" so you could shut down? Now you log off - very logical, before you see the shut down button. Just one example of why Windows 8 is better than any of its predecessors, and why I don't intend to (but will probably be forced to) install the 8.1 upgrade. One of the things I like most about Win 8 was getting rid of the Win 95 Start Menu. Even without a touch screen Windows 8 is my favourite OS.
If you could possibly think of a more cack-handed way of implementing a start button for the desktop, Microsoft have managed to achieve it already. The situation as I see it is I've upgraded from 8 to 8.1, primarily to get things like the start button back, but now I've got it back it's so utterly crap I want it taken away again.
I recently bought a new laptop after mine died, and didn't have much choice other than to go for WIndows 8.
Straight away I installed Start8 and ModernMix, and never looked back. For all intents it now behaves exactly as I (and everyone in my household) would expect.
The 8.1 upgrade broke my WiFi though - the bundled Microsoft drivers don't seem to play nicely with the Intel 6205 WiFi card and it kept losing its DNS resolution every couple of minutes. Downloaded the latest drivers from Intel though and that seems to have fixed it.
Unlike previous Windows versions it appears that you can only use the Skydrive desktop application if your user account is a Microsoft account. This is of course all wonderful for the less IT savy user such as my mum who will gain all the benefits of a roaming user profile/email/personal settings regardless of what Windows 8.1 PC she uses. But for those who are concerned with privacy this is totally unacceptable. Given all the commotion about NSA and their Prism program there is no justification to make it easier for governments to snoop on peoples files (although they probably already have a backdoor).
Likewise it is hard to imagine enterprises endorsing this. They have their own IT policy. For them to convert user accounts to microsoft accounts seems unimaginable. Skydrive seemed like a great product and very competitive. But with Windows 8.1 my guess is that Dropbox will be seeing a surge of interest among estranged Windows users and reduced interest in upgrading to Windows 8.1 by enterprises.
Yet again Microsoft have shot themselves in the foot.
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