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This topic comprises 5 pages: 1 2 3 4 5
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Topic: Microsoft rumored to be preparing to make Windows 8.1 freeware
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Frank Cox
Film God
Posts: 2234
From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada
Registered: Apr 2011
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posted 03-02-2014 04:15 PM
I think that the idea behind Linux (and Unix-y operating systems in general) is that you have a system administrator who sets up your computer for you, and then you just use it.
I have set up Linux desktops for a few small businesses and it works so well that some of their employees have even purchased their own computers and asked me to set up a Linux desktop for them at home.
The nice thing about Linux is that it can be set up in such a way that it is more-or-less bulletproof. I can set up a desktop for you today and drop it on your desk. Five years from now that machine will still be there on your desk doing exactly the same thing in the same way and just as well as it did it when I first set it up.
Unfortunately, most people don't have a system administrator readily available to set their Linux desktop up for them.
When you buy a computer at your local office supply store, you take it home, plug it in and it comes up with Windows or OSX. Since it's now working, there is a vanishingly small number of people who look any further than that.
One other thing that drags down things like Windows is the dancing pig problem. By design, a properly configured Linux desktop is a lot less susceptible to that sort of vulnerability than Windows.
Of course, nothing is 100%. A few months ago my wife, who is reasonably computer-savvy (after all, she lives with me) responded to an exceptionally well-crafted phishing attack and ended up giving away her gmail password. Fortunately, about five minutes later she casually told me what she had just done (not yet realizing that she had been duped) and after I climbed back down off of the ceiling we managed to change her password before the bad guys logged into her account. But that was a damn narrow escape and while I don't think that exact thing will be happening again (to her) there's always the possibility of a new-and-better scam coming along that she might fall for. I'm actually pretty surprised that she fell for this one, but I'll admit it was very well done and many people just don't have security front-and-center on their mind. I have a more suspicious nature than she does, apparently.
Not every scam is written in fractured English and signed by Prince Abullah's nephew.
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Justin Silverstein
Film Handler
Posts: 10
From: Northport, NY, USA
Registered: Feb 2014
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posted 03-03-2014 01:15 AM
I mess around with deeply-buried OS settings as much as anyone, and the vast majority can be accessed in Win8 through the classic-style control panel, which doesn't differ from Win7's in any important way. Even with all the tinkering I do, I don't need to venture into the metro-style menus more than once every few weeks, if that, and it's a pretty minor annoyance even then.
With regard to compatibility, I'm certainly not calling anyone a liar, but the problems some people seem to be having running slightly older software are clearly dependent on the individual setup, which makes me wonder whether they're really inherent to Win8. As a specific example, I'm running Outlook 2010 on Win8 along with the rest of Office 2010 Professional Plus, and have been doing so for over a year. I use all of Office 2010 including Outlook 2010 virtually every day, extensively, and have never experienced a single glitch of any kind beyond the usual minor stuff that occurs on any version of Windows. This is true on all three of my systems. I don't doubt that the people who claim to be having problems really are having problems, and maybe there really are inherent flaws in Win8 that are causing those problems for some people, but I find it strange that these reports are so inconsistent.
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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 03-03-2014 11:29 AM
One difference between the versions of W7 out there is that W7 Home/Ultimate can handle up to 16 GB of RAM, whereas W7 Pro can do up to 192 GB:
Memory Limits for Windows and Windows Server Releases
W8 starts at 128 GB, and W8 Pro goes to 512 GB.
Granted, not many people are going to be running 128 GB in their boxes, but 16 GB isn't the high-water mark it used to be. My next box will have 16 GB as the start, and I might just get another 16 so I can use it for caching, a RAM drive, and lots of breathing room for software.
Microsoft definitely ran into a brick wall that they had to have been expecting, but thought they could overcome. They tried to change people's behavior by making a radical shift to an interface that was better suited to touchscreen tablets than to devices with keyboards, mice, and standard screens.
I don't think Microsoft has anything to fear from the Mac or Linux-based installations for the desktop realm. Sure, Mac is more popular than it ever has been, but the far greater threat to MS is the mobile-device segment. iPads and Android tablets have done far more to harm Microsoft in a short time than the Mac will ever do. So many people use their computers for nothing more than reading E-Mail, browsing the web, and looking at photos. These are tasks that touchscreen tablets excel at, and Microsoft had a severe case of fear and envy.
W8 was Microsoft's lead-in to get people to use the Surface interface, but Surface will never be what Android and iOS are already. The gamble failed, and the result is that nearly everyone at the management level at Microsoft involved with W8 is now pretty much gone or demoted.
It will be interesting to see where they go with Windows 9 or whatever they will call what they release in April 2015.
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