Redmond slashing Win8, Office OEM rates for small devices Microsoft is reportedly offering its OEM partners discounted rates on its Windows 8 and Office 2013 software, in a move designed to encourage production of more Windows-powered tablets and ultraportables. As to just how low Redmond is willing to go, however, and what kinds of devices qualify for the discounts, reports vary. …
If they had included a "default to desktop with start menu" option (no some 3rd party fix) I might be intrested. But as it is I would not give them 50 cents for their Frankenstine in a dress Operating system.
I just had to RDP into a machine to fix something and I was about ready to shoot something.
Pedantic and wrong.
Terminal Services is the.. service (the hint is in the name) that Microsoft give to the service which accepts remote connections.
'Remote Desktop Connection' application from Microsoft (sitting on my Win7 task-bar right now) is the application that makes connections (the hint is in the name) to a machine running Terminal Services via the Remote Desktop Protocol.
So the original poster was quite correct. They RDP'd to a box in the same way we FTP files - using a File Transfer Protocol. The actual client and server details are unimportant, compared to the protocol being used.
And while I haven't had to RDP to a W8 box yet (on the basis that I am actually yet to see a Win8 box actually being used), I can just imagine it would indeed be rage inducing.
This post has been deleted by its author
" RDP: See RFC 908 (1984)
"MS" RDP is a proprietary protocol running over port 3389 (Terminal Services) "
You made an assumption about which protocol he was talking about and were supercilious about it. The assumption was incorrect - you were indeed wrong. The old "But but but <insert reference to RFC here>" routine just makes you look like a dick who can't accept having his errors pointed out to him. Or, indeed, accept that he's made them. The biggest problem you have here, I think, is that you let your desire to be a pedant blind you to context. The revisionist twats comment is just childish.
Pedants really need to remind themselves that MS have a long history of giving new names to old things, so they can 'own' them. Bring your MS<->rest of world phrase book to any MS story.
It's a practice IBM pioneered... so another thing MS didn't invent but 'borrowed' ;)
The domain thing surprised the heck out of me. Microsoft are playing catch-up and by throwing away domain membership and the manageability that comes with it, they're throwing away one of the areas where they hold an advantage with business and education customers. This product was designed to fail.
...pay for the advert that has all the kids dancing around clicking keyboards to slabs. Last I looked the commercial touts that and the fact you can flip from screen to screen.
Not much else is shown (could it be that you can't much else?).
If you want to do any "real" work on a W8 slab, you might as well get a lappy (which is what many have already decided I suspect).
"you might as well get a lappy" - and this is what it comes down to.
Developers and geeks don't really do tablets. Yes, we may tinker a bit, but to actually do anything of meaningful value, you need a "proper machine".
Managers are the people who do tablets in a big way. And since they're all about swanking it up in front of their peers, they need to be seen as "cool".
And Microsoft has not been cool for a long time - too much muddy water under that bridge.
The only way Microsoft has into the tablet market is the long game - make something a bit different that eventually proves to be as good an option (if not better) than everything else. At this point in time, it's difficult to see how the Surface may be that device.
I'm not saying that Microsoft should dump the Surface - not yet at any rate. But by rushing to try and grab a slice of the slab/phone action, they've gone off half-cocked with a desktop OS that is a bit too different and lacking in key familiar features, and a mobile counterpart that could have used a bit more thought.
Personally, I hope it catches on (eventually) - I've got a nasty feeling that a Google-controlled IT monopoly would be even worse than Microsoft...
While Iagree the RT version of Windows 8 doesn't seen set up for business and to expensive for home use compared to android or even ios devices, I'm not even sure win 8 as a full x86/64 system works for business as you can't add anything app-wise to the touchy-feely side of it without a Microsoft account, which I'm sure we'll go down well in business.
As a personal OS it's not too bad, but the fact you need to integrate everything to as hotmail or live account is quite annoying, but gets really irritating when installed as a test machine on a domain.
Shortly before Christmas, I set up a laptop a friend got for her ~10-year-old daughter. The mother wanted it to be ready for her out of the box so she didn't have to configure it, aside from adding a few personal accounts. The OEM had included several Windows Store apps that weren't their own, but I found absolutely no way to install other things she would use without tying it to a Microsoft account. I tried a few Google searches but found nothing relevant.
It's not as if I wanted to pirate anything - the apps were all freeware. I just wanted to pre-install the Windows Store version of Skype, the Amazon Kindle application to complement her Kindle Fire, a few game demos, the freeware Microsoft games, and a few other things. Yeah, that didn't happen. I ended up installing the desktop version of Skype and tried to make Metro as easy to use for her as possible, grouping things like Office and removing uninstall links that got dumped to the start screen.
So far, she's not had any troubles with it. It seems kids are more willing to adapt to new things than adults though.
> So far, she's not had any troubles with it. It seems kids are more willing to adapt to new
> things than adults though.
Yes, a child might think Windows 8 is fine. But I suspect their needs and perspective might be a little different from an adult with years of experience performing real productive work...
Have you used TIFKAM? particularly on a nontouch PC? There are so many fundamental interface/UI fails it beggars belief.
To extend the gas cooker analogy...TIKFAM is a gas cooker that has the main ignite control hidden down the side of the cooker, the gas control dials are hidden under flaps, which themselves have no visible means of operation, and you can only use one hob at a time, unless you lift up the cooker top surface, and attach your own hobs underneath. And there are absolutely no labels or instructions on anything.
Hate to say it, but Old Painless has a point.
I installed Win8 a while back. Personally, I don't mind using it (although my machine does have a nasty tendency to crash every now and then while in hibernation), but without the keyboard and desktop shortcuts, I can see how it would get very frustrating, very quickly.
can't find command prompt?
right click in the bottom right corner. Honestly if you can't work out some of the shortcuts just because you cannot spend five minutes on google then ... well I don't need to finish that sentence. Every iteration of every operating system comes with new tools, new shortcuts, and new omissions, just spend a while doing some research and people can stop whining.
funny you should mention research.
Here's what the professional UI researchers have to say:
"The situation is much worse on regular PCs, particularly for knowledge workers doing productivity tasks in the office. This used to be Microsoft's core audience, and it has now thrown the old customer base under the bus by designing an operating system that removes a powerful PC's benefits in order to work better on smaller devices.
The underlying problem is the idea of recycling a single software UI for two very different classes of hardware devices. It would have been much better to have two different designs: one for mobile and tablets, and one for the PC.
I understand why Microsoft likes the marketing message of "One Windows, Everywhere." But this strategy is wrong for users."
http://www.nngroup.com/articles/windows-8-disappointing-usability/
You keep up. The copy you get with a new PC is not covered by that revision.
Which is fair enough when talking about OEM copies supplied with hardware, of course the software should be tied to the hardware. You can re-install the software too, as often as you like, just restore the system image. On the same hardware.
However buying Office separately is a completely different kettle of fish, and Microsoft have now done the sensible thing and revised their licensing terms for standalone purchases.
The "OEM copies supplied with hardware" is still paid for by the user.
Restoring the system image will lose every change you have made to the system since first delivery. Or are you proposing making a full system image weekly or daily to compensate for dumb MS policies/ In any case hardware still fails outside of warranty and with the OEM version of Office you are screwed.
due to lack of interest - not sure this move will help much.
"For its part, Microsoft has remained mum, with a spokesman offering only, "As we've said before, Windows 8 was built to scale across all sizes of PCs and tablets – large and small. We continue to work with partners to ensure that Windows is available across a diverse range of devices.""
Queue the lawsuits; price fixing, monopolistic practices, etc.
Office, Windows, Azure downtime. Bing going nowhere. Windows Phone dropping share to 3%. Is anything clicking right for them anywhere?
Meanwhile Apple's selling more devices per day than all of the Windows ecosystem vendors, and the sum of Android vendors is doing over twice that.
Somewhere in Redmond a tall sweaty man needs a hug.
They're going to have to make it not do stupid stuff when you swipe the trackpad, a trackpad is not a touchscreen so the gestures make no sense.
They're going to have to fix the UI abortion when not using the touchscreen in desktop mode (bring back the Start menu, etc...).
They're going to have to have another sit down and think about how context switching works (probably just run TIFKAM apps on the desktop unless the device is in tablet profile).
And they're going to have to have to do the opposite for Windows RT - unnobble domains, enable the desktop mode for more than just Office, allow any ARM compiled apps to run Windows RT, maybe put in an x86 emulator for legacy apps.
That's the problem they got themselves into as they marketed Windows as one thing across two different device profiles and two different architectures and they've now got to deliver on that promise. Had they marketed Windows RT under another name and thought a little more about how Windows 8 should work they wouldn't be in this mess.
My main PC is an IMac
My current tablet is an iPad
My next tablet will be Android
If I ever want a laptop I would buy a Macbook
For gaming I have a quad core W7 PC running Steam that should laste years.
I used to love Windows but the more they get into this unified interface metro cobblers the more I dislike it so no matter how cheap (and nasty) these devices are my wallet is staying closed.
Similarly:
My main PC is an IMac
My office app is OO & iworks
My photoediting app is Apeture
My browser is firefox
My email client is imail
My current tablet is an iPad
My current phones are iphone and Galaxy Note 1.
For gaming I have a PS3
My PC runs my turbo trainer, and is win7. I have a XP VM, but haven't opened or needed it in 6 months. I don't even have an MS mouse or keyboard.
I haven't bought anything new from MS in many, many months, nor do I see any reason to in the future either. Worse still - I build my family's IT the same way, and MS won't be getting any future business from them either.
This is MS's problem - all traditional *consumer* revenue channels are drying up, as educated people (and their families) find better and/or cheaper alternatives. And with win8/TIKFAM, now the corporates are starting to think that way too.
Main PC - Windows
Main Laptop - Chromebook
Main Phone - Android
Tablet - Blackberry Playbook
I like to spread it around. I like them all. They work just fine for me. Price is the overriding factor on my choices these days. It's not so much that I'm using Windows less, it's that I now have more equipment choices to do work on.
Five years ago it would have been PC and Laptop only. Now I have a range of weapons in my armoury.
My Home Main PC is triple boot Kubuntu (Main use), Windows 7 (Games), Windows 8 (Software Testing)
My Home Development Laptop is Windows 7 Pro ( because I have to test stuff on IE sigh )
My Home diagnostics notebook is kubuntu ( used for networking diagnostics )
My Phone is LG P990 CyanogenMod 10.1 (Android 4.22) ( using hardly any Google services as they are evil too, and sometime give you some choice)
My Webserver is Ubuntu server based
My Work Development Laptop is Windows 7 (coding)
I may get an Android tablet in the future but my body will be cold before an Apple product enters my household. Despite how much I hate Microsoft, I hate Apple more and I am certainly not in love with Google either.
If I had the choice of moving to Linux development for my work I would.
Also beware the windows 8 upgrade that says “Keep Nothing” (I did not get caught but I bet some will)
"According to Taiwanese tech site DigiTimes, makers of touchscreen notebooks with 11.6-inch and smaller screens can now buy Windows 8 licenses for $20 less than the previous list price. What's more, devices with screen diagonals of 10.8 inches or less qualify for the discounted Windows licenses plus free copies of Office 2013."
This is a rather innovative pricing structure!
Maybe I could trade in my 21" screen for a 17" screen and get a discount on a Win8 license too?
On the other hand, this might be seen as illegal discrimination under EU law (other jurisdictions are available) as smaller screens may not be usable by older users whose eyesight isn't what it was or, worse!!,discrimination against those with inherent eyesight disabilities.
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