Re: Polluting software with buttons and icons?

Disagree

What would the icon be for that word (singular)?

Or how do you group and sub-group icons, such as File > Open, or Edit > Paste Special > Plain Text?

The problem with your point is that an ICON does not portray a thousand words, it is a pictograms representing one word, not that dissimilar to Chinese characters. The challenge with the Ribbon or Start Menu is that they replace perfectly good words with pictures which have no standard definition, i.e. they are much harder to learn and impossible to read. Therefore one has to sit there scanning each one to try to glean their meaning.

I just feel like I'm wasting my breath arguing UI logic with these Microsoft imbeciles. They really are like arguing with the proverebial pigs; we both get dirty and the pig likes it. And the pig doesn't listen nor give a damn.

Re: What counts as a tablet?

> That's the problem for developers = develop for w8's 400M devices

Wrong wrong wrong

Each platform is utterly different--tablet, desktop, phone, all completely different THAT is the problem for developers; be it the three different user interfaces, the different presentation metaphors or just plain operating system features, you will need to develop three different versions.

Stop spreading these MIcrosoft-sponsored lies.

Re: I actually switched back to IE recently

Good for you.

Would you please be kind and go around and install IE10 on the 100 million other systems which aren't running Windows 8. What's that, you can't?

You obviously don't develop for a living as you wouldn't be using the non-existent development tools. Nor do you support thousands of desktops. Nor use all the myriad other add-ons which the other browsers support. And you're only running W8...

All of these are reasons why IE remains a festering turd of a browser.

It's not cool to bash IE...

We bash IE because it is a festering pile of proprietary bug-ridden crap.

I personally bash IE because I am sick of the amount of extra time it takes to build a website - the cost of which has to be borne by all. IE10, 11, 12 may be more reliable and better support standards, but what of the festering crap that remains? IE7 and IE8 wil last forever as you can't upgrade this on XP.

Those of us who work in the real world are thoroughly sick of Microsoft's shenanigans and don't forgive in a hurry and especially as we're still cleaning up the mess on a daily basis.

Re: another Poorly researched poorly written Nokia / MS bashing article

You're entitled to your opinions.

I thought it was a great article by Andrew. It really did read as if he'd lived with the phones for a while and came up with some very interesting and valid conclusions. It's nice to see an article that stands out from the crowd.

Microsoft have a massive hill -- of their own making -- to climb. This is just the start of some very interesting times for all Smartphone producers.

There probably is an option to "turn that Metro shit off" but nobody can find it.

A full-sized slab is a lot more expensive to manufacture than a phone-sized device.

£50 sounds way way way way way way way too cheap; you couldn't even buy the components for that price (less VAT, retailer's profit, shipping costs....)

The benchmark is the iPad. Skimp on components and you're down in the low-quality end of the market, with all the crap Android fondle-slabs. Microsoft want to produce a "quality experience", that means it needs to be *better* than the iPad. That costs money -- exactly the point the author has made.

So unless Microsoft are going to subsidise each surface slab to the tune of £300 each -- which is unsustainable -- the basis of this 'rumour' is just PR FUD, or some fanboi who doesn't understand economics.

Re: Freeview

There's a lot less shite on Freeview than Freesat. And you don't need to nail a pleb dish to the side of one's dwelling.

For the first time ever I would have liked to have had access to all 24 BBC channels, but it's all over now and I haven't enough time to watch Freeview let alone 200+ channels of complete shite on Sky, not to mention paying Murdock hundreds and hundreds of quid for the displeasure.

The BBC should have been mentioned in the opening ceremony. One of the UK's greatest achievements.

BTW why "Team GB and Northern Ireland"? Why not Team UK?

Re: Microsoft only have themselves to blame

> 8th version of NT

Errm, not on a tablet it ain't. It'll be the first version of the new Metro tablet which has "been written from the ground up". MS call it artie (RT); that's their first version.

You can't use a plain NT kernel on a tablet for exactly the same reasons you can't use NT on a phone; battery life. This is why iOS has a completely different scheduler that doesn't multi-task in the normal way (time slicing with background applications). This is why Microsoft's original tablets sucked donkey balls; massive lumps of plastic with sod all battery life running applications which were not optimised for tablets (e.g. finger/stylus).

The fact that you claim NT is on its 8th iteration (3.1, 3.5, 3.51, 4, 5, 5.1, 6, 6.1) means you've missed the point and are listening to Microsoft too much; Microsoft want you to think that RT == NT but in reality RT != NT.

On a tablet it's the first iteration (8).

Re: the dinosaur is staggering

@AC: 10:41

What's a grown-up doing in here? Get out now before we taunt you some more...

Re: Why am I not finding any of this remotely interesting?

Oh, so you're saying that to get the most out of Office, I also need to install W8 and Server 2012 whilst simultaneously ditching all existing infrastructure. And buy new fondle-friendly clients.

Bloody hell, that's. a BIG ask!

Re: Why am I not finding any of this remotely interesting?

Have they just abandoned security or are they doing it to collect the world's secrets? For whom?

In any commercial organisation one has to write a lot of Protect, Restricted, Confidential and Secret information. None of which is appropriate for storage on Ballmer's servers. That's the point of a thick client running standalone off the grid.

Are they really that stupid?

And WTF has Farsebook got to do with work? In every office I work in Farsebook is blocked on the firewall as it has a detrimental affect on productivity.

Re: MS didn't lose the plot...

I'm a Mac user who turned his back on Windows when Vista was announced. The usual words: "version N is the greatest, far better than version N-1", so I thought I'd skip a generation as their current version would turn out to be rubbish in comparison with the next version (for which I am not even capable of calculating its operational parameters, etc.).

Needless to say, I've no intention of trying version N+1, N+2 or any other forthcoming version. Once changed, forever gone.

The one thing I still use is MS Office, albeit the Mac version. They updated this last year and changed their all-in-one mail/calendar/contacts application called Entourage for an inferior "all new" Outlook. This spurred me on to change to the vanilla Mac mail, address book and iCal applications.

Here's the point; I actually think that it's better with separate applications. They all work together and I just don't miss Outlook.

It's a long process, but one can wean oneself away from Microsoft. I've only PowerPoint and Excel to go! For true MS development work, e.g. Visual Studio, there's always VMs, which are great.

Re: Getting Windows RT to developers

Shirley they're developing a tablet so that their own developers can finish developing the operating system!

Re: He's dead wrong... (@Horned-Devil)

There are two modes of operation; touch and Keyboard+mouse. These are mutually exclusive; anyone who's used an iPad and Mac (or Windows or Linux) will know this.

When I'm using my iPad on the train, I need a lightweight system that is easy to use and biased towards large fingers. I need built-in 3G mobile. I don't want size. I need to be able to use the thing in portrait (less space) and use my thumbs for typing. The applications need to be optimised for this mode of operation. I MUST have massive battery life; if I'm flying I want the thing to work for a good 10 hours or a lot more if it's just music.

When I'm using my Mac as a laptop, or as at the moment as a desktop, I need a large screen (or two), a keyboard and a mouse. I need the user interface to be optimised for this. I generally need lots of CPU to run various virtual machines, development environments, Adobe Fireworks, full on Office applications, a proper email client and shit loads of browser windows and tabs. I need lots of expansion; several USB's as a minimum. Generally I will plug the said lappie into the mains, or can accept a 4 hour life -- I'm prepared to go easy on the machine if I need to extend the battery life.

Back to my point... How the hell can you square this circle? A tablet needs to be LIGHT, supreme battery life, and optimised for touch. A lappie is the opposite.

That's why there's two completely different products; an iPad lookalike (that's WinRTSurfaceSlate) and a normal OS (that's Win8). The smoke that's currently being emitted from Ballmer's & Gates' jacksies is just FUD -- it's right out of their wrinkly old playbook.

Re: He's dead wrong...

How do you square the circle of powerful CPU + tiny form factor + battery life? Not to mention touch vs keyboard & mouse.

Oooh, it's a magic surface that uses alien battery technology

Anyone who's used an iPad and is a power user of Macs/PCs would know this.

Gates is blowing smoke -- and he must be well aware that he's attempting to get a legless donkey walking.

Re: registered property == lower transaction costs

To whom do I submit the invoice for using my name?

Re: Good work, El Reg

You're showing up the rest of the media as a bunch of useless press-release advatorial writers. Proof that the average journo writes bollocks as doing tech was too hard for them.

Well done.

Have a virtual beer token on me.

Re: If you can't innovate, acquire

I thought DOS was MS's best acquisition. Certainly their first.

@Dazzza

> the learning curve is pretty steep

That's why

Re: it must be quite galling

Seems so par for the course with the soshal meeja numpties.

Great summary of the "idea" in the article describing it as parasitic. Hmm, parasitic social media; that has quite a ring to it.

Goes well with the parasitic Paris and co.

Re: Terrible news

That'll look cool as you use a magnifying glass to see the itty bitty text.

Re: THANK YOU APPLE!

Is that your summer holidays or Christmas?