Microsoft Finally Sets Official Windows 8 Release Date

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I know from a software development standpoint, we're all cringing. There's a lot of "under the hood" changes that are going to screw us.

This being said, I can't see the corporate environment (where MS makes most of it's OS licensing revenue) adopting this... It's an IT nightmare.
 
[citation][nom]s3anister[/nom]It goes beyond that, Microsoft wants an "app store" so they can make even more money off their operating systems in the same way that they already do on the Xbox Live market place.I really don't like the direction that personal computing is going...[/citation]

Is it really so bad to have an app store? I mean a nicely regulated place where people who don't know what there doing can get useful programs is a good thing. It's not like they are preventing traditional means of software deployment.
 
I'll wait for my university to hopefully get it on MSDNAA before I graduate. Sure as hell worth a try if it's free.
 
[citation][nom]szalkerous[/nom]I know from a software development standpoint, we're all cringing. There's a lot of "under the hood" changes that are going to screw us.This being said, I can't see the corporate environment (where MS makes most of it's OS licensing revenue) adopting this... It's an IT nightmare.[/citation]


I dunno. I would think that there would be new Group Policy settings for Metro. If not, use Group Policy Preferences/Registry Settings.
 
[citation][nom]neiroatopelcc[/nom]I bought one of those seagate hybrid drives - win 8 boots to desktop in roughly 8 seconds[/citation]
I will admit that Windows 8 is really fast booting, he's not lying. Now all we need is for MS to ditch Metro...
 
[citation][nom]blazorthon[/nom]You don't need to use Metro for anything more than logging in if you'd rather not use it. ViStart/ViOrb, Classic Shell, and many other programs can re-install a start menu so you can pretty much just ignore Metro if you dislike it. They're freeware and available at (among other places) softpedia/com and that site also has several other such programs. They'll work in the RTM and work in all Windows 8 previews.[/citation]
I shouldn't have to install third-party applications to get basic functionality out of an OS. I can download a free Linux distro and get more functionality than Windows 8 with Metro.
 
[citation][nom]DjScribbles[/nom]Is it really so bad to have an app store? I mean a nicely regulated place where people who don't know what there doing can get useful programs is a good thing. It's not like they are preventing traditional means of software deployment.[/citation]

Not yet, but they might later on. Really, the problem isn't the app store concept IMO, it's that they don't want to force it down people's throats. So, I offered solutions to just ignore it, yet take advantage of the better OS.

[citation][nom]11796pcs[/nom]I shouldn't have to install third-party applications to get basic functionality out of an OS. I can download a free Linux distro and get more functionality than Windows 8 with Metro.[/citation]

You'd have basic functionality of the OS even without installing the third party apps. You can already launch programs and such. The difference is that the third party app stream-lines the process a little for people who are used to using a start menu. You already have a task bar and Metro and even if they're not optimal, they do work. I could download a free Linux distro too, but that doesn't change this. I could also keep using the Windows versions that I already have.

[citation][nom]11796pcs[/nom]I will admit that Windows 8 is really fast booting, he's not lying. Now all we need is for MS to ditch Metro...[/citation]

There is absolutely no need for MS to get rid of Metro. If MS simply improved it a little (being able to close programs, or apps, without needing to resort to the task manager and such would be great) and made it more optional, then it would be fine. Heck, it could be made into a welcome replacement for the Windows Widgets if you could have Metro only take up a fraction of the display and be capable of being maximized to the full display for apps that needs more space when you want to use such apps at your leisure.
 
[citation][nom]11796pcs[/nom]I will admit that Windows 8 is really fast booting, he's not lying. Now all we need is for MS to ditch Metro...[/citation]
[citation][nom]neiroatopelcc[/nom]I bought one of those seagate hybrid drives - win 8 boots to desktop in roughly 8 seconds[/citation]
Wasn't that because in win 8, shut down = hibernate? That's what i remember MS saying...
 
The current version of Vanity Fair has an article called "When Microsoft lost its mojo".
Talks about how the company was about innovation in the 90s, do the best they can do... until around 2000. They started being cheap, infighting, back-stabbing, standard corp America garbage. Steve Ballmer doesn't have the charisma of Steve jobs nor Bill Gates... he is strictly business... I think he'll have to go soon in order to save Microsoft.

They used to have a technology division which is to come up with different things/ideas... they came up with a tablet device many years before the iPad... or anyone remember seeing other prototype hardware... that eventually never came out. That division was gone in the early 2000s. When a new product idea is made, it MUST be designed to work with MS-Office / Windows... with the included limitations and problems they are trying to solve.

The MS company is no longer fun. They only care about Windows & Office. And they are just kind of figuring out that they need to do more. Why other companies are running circles around MS. The strong arm ties of Win8/Office2013 with WART shows this. Look at it this way, if/when WindowsOS/Office Collapses, Microsoft could die.

Apple makes more profit from the iPhone Alone than the entire Microsoft company. Ouch!
MS stock has been around $30 for almost 10 years... Apple has exploded to $614!

Who wants to bet the iPhone 5 will flop and nobody lining to to buy it and BestBuy will sell out of PC desktops and notebooks when Windows8 ships?

I think Windows8 is going to do severe damage to MS. Dell and HP want to get out of the consumer business. Acer will be happy to take over. Whatever, I think 2013 is going to be messy for microsoft.
 
By Windows8 Freak:
If MS simply improved it a little (being able to close programs, or apps, without needing to resort to the task manager and such would be great) and made it more optional, then it would be fine. Heck, it could be made into a welcome replacement for the Windows Widgets if you could have Metro only take up a fraction of the display and be capable of being maximized to the full display for apps that needs more space when you want to use such apps at your leisure.
Click to expand...
Exactly! That is all they had to do... a Metro Launcher ON the desktop... running Metro Apps, ON THE DESKTOP would be fine.

All the metro Apps are boring, lame... slow to load up. The image viewer is pure crap... it makes no sense... normal keyboard controls DON'T work (space bar, left/right keys to change photos)... on and on... its half ass.
 
[citation][nom]blazorthon[/nom]Funny, but WP is growing in popularity[/citation] WP7 is not growing... If a single typical AT&T store sells 50 phones a day. Out of those, 20 = iPhones, 25 = Androids, 1 = WP, 1=BB and 3= dumb phones... Then WP *IS* not growing.

Even at $50 a local small store hasn't sold many of them. Its right next to the SGSIII & HTX One X selling for $200. The Samsung is out selling at 3x the higher price.
 
[citation][nom]belardo[/nom]By Windows8 Freak: Exactly! That is all they had to do... a Metro Launcher ON the desktop... running Metro Apps, ON THE DESKTOP would be fine.All the metro Apps are boring, lame... slow to load up. The image viewer is pure crap... it makes no sense... normal keyboard controls DON'T work (space bar, left/right keys to change photos)... on and on... its half ass.[/citation]

This is part of why I often argue in favor of not using Metro. It's a decent concept, but MS took it too far and then, IMO, MS didn't do a good enough job of even that much either. I'd rather just use the desktop for Windows 8 and take advantage of the improvements over Windows 7 with a third party start menu installed.
 
[citation][nom]belardo[/nom]WP7 is not growing... If a single typical AT&T store sells 50 phones a day. Out of those, 20 = iPhones, 25 = Androids, 1 = WP, 1=BB and 3= dumb phones... Then WP *IS* not growing.Even at $50 a local small store hasn't sold many of them. Its right next to the SGSIII & HTX One X selling for $200. The Samsung is out selling at 3x the higher price.[/citation]

Actually, it is growing. It doesn't need to grow extremely fast in order to be growing. Starting from almost nothing in a saturated market means that it probably will take time to get big unless all of your competitors that are already far into the market screw up very badly for quite a while. The chances of Android and iOS screwing up very badly and simultaneously for more than a few months to two years are very slim, so it may take one to five years before WP really get's up there, assuming that MS doesn't screw up either.
 
at least you didn't let the "freak" comment get taken as an insult... 😉

If the ratio of WP sales stay the same (yes growing in number), it means it will not grow in market share... it will go backwards. ie: worse.

Simple example: Some say the PS3 is a failure because it doesn't have as many units as the 360. Huh? Off the top of my head, there are 50k 360s and 45k PS3s... do wouldn't it mean that when the 360 was at 20k and the PS3 at 12k, that both are failures? The growth rate of both have been stable with SONY slowing narrowing the total unit gap... In reality, I think there are more PS3 units out there (because of the dead 360s).

So in a year in phone sales:

A = 100m sales (android)
i = 120m sales
W = 2m sales.

Year 2:
A = 120m sales (android)
i = 140m sales
W = 3m sales.

Year 3:
A = 150m sales (android)
i = 150m sales
W = 4m sales.

After 3 years, what is the total:
A = 370million units
i = 410million sales
W = 9million sales. YES, W sales grew!

But its ratio market share has gone badly. Its remains at roughly 2~1.5%.


You talk about screw ups... MS is screwing up in many corners.
 
@Belardo, Blazorthon: A metro launcher ON the Desktop would be awesome! I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft did something like this with Windows 9 while they're in "listening" mode.

As it seems, they alternate between "force-feed" mode and "listening" mode. Vista = force=feed mode and Windows 7 = listening mode.

I mean, the Metro tiles could simply take up the right side of the screen while the standard icons are on the left--sell it as a replacement for Gadgets, if you will.

Start Menu button could be brought back, or have a mini-metro-like menu like one of the third-party replacements (I think it was ViStart or Start8--can't remember).

Either way, Microsoft wants Metro to be front-and-center to get their app store going, sacrificing everything to make that a reality. Again, it's not unlike Sony taking major sales hits with the PS3 to win the Blu-ray vs HD-DVD war.
 
[citation][nom]killerb255[/nom]@Belardo, Blazorthon: A metro launcher ON the Desktop would be awesome! I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft did something like this with Windows 9 while they're in "listening" mode. As it seems, they alternate between "force-feed" mode and "listening" mode. Vista = force=feed mode and Windows 7 = listening mode. I mean, the Metro tiles could simply take up the right side of the screen while the standard icons are on the left--sell it as a replacement for Gadgets, if you will.Start Menu button could be brought back, or have a mini-metro-like menu like one of the third-party replacements (I think it was ViStart or Start8--can't remember). Either way, Microsoft wants Metro to be front-and-center to get their app store going, sacrificing everything to make that a reality. Again, it's not unlike Sony taking major sales hits with the PS3 to win the Blu-ray vs HD-DVD war.[/citation]

I have to disagree about MS's actions being similar to the HD-DVD versus Blu-Ray war. That was just a standards war. They happen whenever there are competing technologies and usually, the cheaper standard wins. How effectively and how we use our computers wasn't really affected by standards wars such as these, at least not lately. If MS does manage to force Metro on us completely without making it beter, then that would mean no OS upgrades through Windows for many of us who refuse to use Windows without the Windows desktop.

That would probably be much worse than choosing between one optical disk technology and another optical disk technology. Sure, it would mean that most of us would either stick with older versions of Windows for as long as reasonably possible or switch to Linux, but that's not really the same as choosing between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD IMO.
 
ill be installing windows 8 but i will find a way to disable the metro entirely, its very childish for microsoft to try to force people to use a mobile app software on a desktop computer
 
[citation][nom]Windows8metroislame[/nom]ill be installing windows 8 but i will find a way to disable the metro entirely, its very childish for microsoft to try to force people to use a mobile app software on a desktop computer[/citation]

Call it what you want, but Metro's origins in mobile products aren't a problem. What it is and how MS tries to make us use it is a problem, but that it was first used in Windows Phones is not important. MS could have made Metro much better than they did and implemented Metro less forcefully regardless of Metro's mobile origin.
 
just to add a load of my friend downloaded the preview of win8 and they think its the real deal what a bunch of noobs still working on the crack so it makes the 90 day version work like the real deal just for my own use though
 
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