Posted on 01/21/2015 6:27:53 PM PST by smokingfrog
Today’s Windows event was the flashiest to grace Redmond in years. The company pulled a number of projects, like HoloLens, out of its skunk works in an effort to convince finicky geeks it isn’t out of ideas.
Whether this gambit was successful is hard to say (the Twittersphere seems impressed), but in a few weeks it will also be irrelevant. Microsoft’s problem has always been execution, not imagination. Kinect, Courier and even Windows 8.1 are examples of ideas getting ahead of reality.
Yet this event wasn’t entirely about concepts and prototypes. Alongside holograms and room-sized tablets, the company also displayed a number of improvements and innovations that could once again give Windows an edge. Practicality, not pizzazz, will win back the confidence Windows 8 lost.
The Windows 10 Technical Preview is only the latest in a long line of beta builds used to test out new editions, but its rollout has been different than those prior. Built-in feedback tools have helped users direct their concerns to the people in Redmond who can actually fix them.
It’s easy to see the results. At the event, we witnessed a refined Start Menu that works better with tablets, an easy way to switch between tablet and desktop mode, and a blending of the control panel and Metro settings menu that finally resolves a core conflict between the old-fashioned desktop and the modern Windows interface.
(Excerpt) Read more at digitaltrends.com ...
I prefer icons over tiles as well.
Hate the Win 7 Libraries. Prefer the XP file manager.
My new HTC phone has Win 8.1, and it seems okay.
I’m looking forward to Win10.
Presently run a couple of Win7 machines, and one Win8.1.
Win 8 was a nightmare in that you had to configure it to work like what eventually became Win 8.1. Configure out all the touch screen stuff. Nobody wanted to pay for that kind of experience or lack of consideration from M.S..
With Win8.1 you presently have to add an extra program to get a normal startbutton and startmenu. This will be the same with Win10. Win8.1 in reality will and over time will just be viewed as a stripped down Win10-— the Chevy compared to the Buick, both made by G.M. Windows 10 just being a Win8.1 with more bells and whistles.
Also I use 3rd party software for multiple desktops which is sometimes buggy and Microsoft Win10 is supposed to add their own so this may be more stable.
Overall Win8.1 is better than Win 7, tighter faster code, more reliable, and best OS install experience I’ve ever had.
Right at the beginning of the install, it gets your wifi password and starts downloading needed drivers by itself as part of the install. All my computers are Dell, didnt even need to go to the Dell page to get my custom batch of drivers for my machine like I had to for XP/Win 7. Not needed!
Nothing wrong with 8.1 after you install you own start menu program.
I’ve got Vista/Win7-ready machines running Win7 and Win8, and Vista/Win7 ready machines should run Windows 10—no problem. Found XP-ready machines were not well accomodated to Win7. Although would work, but at a significant performance hit.
BTW, I code for a living, degreed in C.S., so my view may be different from yours.
Bookmark
And no bookmarks? You kidding me?
Well I mean I had to relearn the start menu itself, especially how to get to network connections. Homegroups work a lot better on 8 as well from my experience.
Looks like it's showing weather for Bucuresti - so maybe it's a european user.
Amen brother!
I went from Win7 to Win 8.1 and never looked back - fASTER and FAR more stale.
When I power on my Ultrabook, it boots VERY fast direct to my desktop without any add-ons.
The Win8.1 haters simply cannot grasp reality and must hate MS as they hold-on to their dear XP et al.
Well, Vista was a big break from XP, then 7 improved slightly on that (internally mostly). Then 8 also did improved internals and the new layout. 10 will also be Vista based.
I don’t seeing them really changing the deep kernel of windows for another 10 years at least. Too much stuff relies on OLE and its descendants still. And the registry would need to be completely redone or eliminated at some point. At one point there was going to be a new file system to replace NTFS in 7 that would help kill the registry, but they know that’ll take as long to change as it took from going to DOS to Win3.1. Many years.
I have no idea what that’s a reference to .. Internet Exploder 11 has the same bookmarks dialog as I’m used to with whatever vesion of Internet Exploder is on Win7.
For all the excuses, they are still married to the idea of one operating system for phones, tabs, and desktops. There will be inherent compromises. For those of us who are 100% sure we will never have a MS phone, this is only a negative.
8.1 plus a decent SSD has kept my 2007 vintage computer going. It boots almost instantly. SSDs are another reason to move forward with OS’s as they are more OS optimized as time goes on. For instance the Samsung 840 evo and 850 pro can use the ssd’s hardware for the AES decryption when using Bitlocker.
I run Classic Shell app on the front end - it mimics the classic Windows Desktop ...
www.classicshell.net
Speaking of Bitlocker, 8 was the first one to let you use just a password (you have to enable it in the gpedit.msc settings but it’s easy. 7 needed either an always connected USB thumb drive or a TPM on the motherboard and nobody has TPMs
“I went from Win7 to Win 8.1 and never looked back - fASTER and FAR more stale.”
Yes stale good!
Windows 8’s problem was it was not stale enough!
Funny, unfortunate typo!
quicker on the draw
My biggest peeve with windows is when I am done and I tell the machine to shut down, I am greeted by a message stating that the system is installing updates and I shouldn’t pull the power cord. I don’t always have 45 minutes to allow the update to do its thing.
Keep up with processor development.
There need not be and will not be ANY COMPROMISE OTHER THANS
SYSTEM MEMORY SPEED FOR PHONES.
Intel’s 13nm processors hit the shelves in the second quarter of this coming year. That equates to full windows desktop systems in tablets and giant cell phones.
The whole reason for pushing Windows Ten so hard is because there will no longer need to be compromises.
And in one fell swoop Windows phones will have more available software than the Google Play Store and Apple App store combined.
After 18 years using Windows I, for technical reasons,switched to Mac just in time for the update to Yosemite to totally obviate a three thousand dollar investent in music production. Now my studio is off line, silent aND useless. Starting to miss Windows...
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