Microsoft's device masterplan shows it's still fighting Apple In its advice to the manufacturing community, Microsoft has said it wants PC builders to focus on quality and features that differentiate PCs from Macs. It's also seeking to migrate high-end features, and AR, into cheaper kit. Redmond's Channel 9 blog recently posted the WinHEC presentation made in Shenzhen to dozens of local …
I'd hate the idea of purchasing an Apple product (but don't mind corporate issued iPhone;) yet recent novelties coming from MS are just ridiculous, overpriced junk (and unfortunately some suits fall for them by the virtue of coming from approved vendor and "leading the change"). If it worked out MS way I'd surely had to switch to alternatives just to maintain sanity (it's already bad with W10 abomination).
I tried Win10 for a month. I tried. I really did. But I have just reinstalled 7, and when they finally kill it I will probably move to Linux.
I fucking hate the thought of Linux, but Win10 scares the fucking shit out of me. It's not an operating system, it's a cunt.
use a chromebook/box and remote desktop to a desktop computer (in your basement or something) for when you need full applications. If you game, then use the computer directly - it won't kill you once in a while. I don't know why we expect one device to do it all to where we have to fully "switch" to one thing or another.
Outside of gaming where graphics performance is king, running a VM for whatever version of Windows you like is a good solution. You never have to worry about "hardware" changes and can simply migrate it from host machine to host in the future. You never have to re-install your software and find all those damn license keys, configure stuff after installing, etc.
You choice of host can vary, but if you are not using a supported version of Windows then it comes down to Linux or a Mac. Pay your money, take your choice...
"I fucking hate the thought of Linux, but Win10 scares the fucking shit out of me. It's not an operating system, it's a cunt."
You have nothing to fear from Linux. If you just do basic stuff like check email, watch videos, post on Facebook then by all means get a Chromebook. If you want to do serious work then try out the Windows-like Linux Mint, Linux Lite or Zorin. Installing new software is easy and safe using the provided Software Centers.
I know kicking MS is eternally fun on here but as a linux fan who uses Window 10 at home (mostly due to my 6 year old loving games - and me wanting to play Star Citizen (no linux client - yet!). It's actually OK, but my wife did laugh when I spent 30 minutes one morning trying to get Cortana to do a very simple task.
"Cortana -open chrome"
cortana opens notebook
"Cortana open chrome"
cortana opens edge
"Cortana open chrome"
Cortana mutters something about not understanding
"No sh!t Cortana you should go home"
Cortana opens chrome
I pull the mic on the computer and disable Cortana forever. By the end I was literally shouting at it.
Yes so anyway, there are a lot of nice touches in Windows 10, mutliple desktops at long last, it's surprisingly solid, boots quickly etc. You can easily send your data to random recipients like microsoft with little (or no) effort. But in there, behind all that p!sh is a decent OS crying for help in the corner, naked and alone.
Then I just boot back out into Linux.
but around these parts you won't find much Windows 10 love.
There are good number of users who have you use your crappiness every day and do so with gritted teeth.
Some people love it. Can't for the life of me figure out why but they are entitled to their opinions.
As has been said, people will go back to Window 7 just to escape your silliness.
Now that you have basically abandonded the mobile space the surface (an a few copycats) are the last vestiges of your one size fits all stratedgy.
As for still taking on Apple well you may have a point. AFAIK, the iPad is still selling lots more (by volume) than the surface but in my opinion, Chromebooks are a bigger threat.
Really MS, if you want folk to have a good reason for buying a new PC then hammer home on the OEMs that anything less than "full HD" is simply shit.
And forget about copying Apple: there are plenty of folk who would rather have a 5mm thicker machine with good battery life and decent connectivity (e.g. few USB3, Ethernet, HDMI), not to mention those occasions where an internal DVD drive is useful (like any time you want to carry the laptop somewhere and not a bag of accessories with it).
But it seems that we're going to get several, despite what we actually want.
"Hey, let's add another feature!" No, please don't. When Windows 8 came out, I bought a new laptop. It was so awful that I promptly made Ubuntu my main OS instead of secondary OS. I hardly ever use my Windows laptop now. And no, I did not have an easy time "upgrading" it to Windows 10; it required a complete reinstallation.
Microsoft is about maximalism, not minimalism. More bloat, more slow, more suck.
I was helping a friend look for a new computer this week and shocked by what was available in the shops. But just as much by the lack of customers actually eyeing the kit.
Manufacturers are still making the same mistakes they have for years and pushing sub-standard machines for Windows: 2GB on a modern machine isn't acceptable. This is real landfill, to use one of Andrew's favourite terms, and isn't helping the Windows cause. There is one potential brightspot: the I-Mac clones such as those from HP but these really need to be in the shops and on display.
The irony is that while I'm moaning about the spec of notebooks around the € 500 mark – okay but I'm not sure I'd like to work with one – (below this there are too many compromises) I'm fuming about Apple's prices. But, guess what, Apple's MacBook Pros (without the idiot bar) compare well to similarly specc'd and weighted (max 1.5 kg) notebooks but Lenovo seems desperate to give me a touchscreen (no, I really don't want one). Yes, there is a price differential but it is not sufficient for me to want to switch to Windows for development and nearly all the Linux GUIs make me cringe (I quite like some of the KDE stuff but there isn't everything I need in my stack). So, for me at least, it's going to be a Mac again (though no fecking I-Cloud or Siri) but maybe I'll pick up something like a Pi-Top as well.
Going forward: if anyone makes a serious go of Android-based keyboard devices then they could do quite well because what both IOS and Android apps do really well (among all the crap) is focus on the user.
Microsoft and Intel investors should be worried.
"Manufacturers are still making the same mistakes they have for years and pushing sub-standard machines for Windows"
which would work JUST FINE if they had LINUX on them...
Actually the single BIGGEST problem is something I've been SHOUTING about for quite some time: People do NOT PERCEIVE the 'new machine' as BETTER than the 'old machine', *ESPECIALLY* when the 'new machine' has a *SUCK* OS on it like Windows "Ape" or Win-10-nic!
And THAT is what allegedly 'killed' the PC market. It's a combination of MurphyMoore's law no longer making next year's machine 50% FASTER/BETTER than THIS year's machine, the market FAIL of Vista, the market FAIL of "Ape", and the "let's eat our vomit and see if it will stay in our stomachs this time" ABSOLUTE FAIL of Win-10-nic.
that and the stinky economy, but I digress...
I propose that if PC makers started SHIPPING WITH MINT on them, and Intel+Dell+Lenovo+others _INVESTED_ in software vendors producing LINUX versions [and they DID so in a short enough period of time], that the PC market would RE-VITALIZE within a YEAR, and Micro-shaft would be FORCED to deal with it!
Because, THEN, people would see Linux as a VIABLE ALTERNATIVE, wouldn't be in any way 'scared' of it, could run ALL of the software they normally use with it, would get a BETTER "user experience", MORE security, and ultimately LOWER cost for comparable performance to whatever they might otherwise get.
It's a TOTAL WIN. Right?
afterthought: a utility to 'upgrade' their OLD OS into a virtualbox VM to run legacy applications with
Really, carrying around a tablet *and* a laptop may be uncomfortable for not a little percentage of users. When I travel - and even when I don't - I found my Surface Pro the ideal device. I got rid of the laptop, I also use a powerful desktop for "heavy" tasks - which again few laptops could ever match, but some self-propelled heavy models which would still lack some features (i.e. the AdobeRGB monitors...)
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