Windows 8

[Falconeer]

Tips and tricks for current Win 8.

I have to admit that I wanted to kill people 24 hours after installing Win 8, but the next day I was already perfectly comfortable with everything, having customized what I wanted to customize. Now I have what seems to be a faster Win 7, so I am quite happy with it.

Not saying in the slightest they haven't been stupid in making an OS that requires a tutorial in order to become usable. Just saying that after you learn the ropes of it, and stop caring or even looking at Metro (I am 100% talking about Desktop here. Fuck Metro), it seems a pretty robust and efficient OS.

Definitely looking forward to 8.1.

[KallDrexx]

...

Was someone under the impression they were going to start charging for service packs? Not gonna happen.

Microsoft is moving to the Apple model with annual paid product updates.  The only difference is the first update is dealing with reasons why people don't like Windows 8, so they decided it would be retarded to charge for it.

[Yegolev]

Fucking Apple.  Or MS.  Not sure which.

[calapine]

New Game Search Experience within Windows 8.1

Today we are announcing an important step in this journey. The Bing Ads platform will be available in Windows 8.1 Smart Search which was released last week in the Windows 8.1 preview.

Bing Ads will be an integral part of this new Windows 8.1 Smart Search experience. Now, with a single campaign setup, advertisers can connect with consumers across Bing, Yahoo! and the new Windows Search with highly relevant ads for their search queries. In addition, Bing Ads will include web previews of websites and the latest features like site links, location and call extensions, making it easier for consumers to complete tasks and for advertisers to drive qualified leads.

Translation from marketing-speak: Windows 8.1 Desktop search will feature advertising. Rejoice!  

[Pennilenko]

Ads that pop up when i use the windows search feature will ensure that I switch to linux on all of my machines, regardless of my gaming habits. Seriously fuck Microsoft. I don't need my games so badly that I am willing to condone that behavior.

[Phred]

Ads that pop up when i use the windows search feature will ensure that I switch to linux on all of my machines, regardless of my gaming habits. Seriously fuck Microsoft. I don't need my games so badly that I am willing to condone that behavior.

Or just install locate32. way better than windows search anyway.

[Salamok]

Ads that pop up when i use the windows search feature will ensure that I switch to linux on all of my machines, regardless of my gaming habits. Seriously fuck Microsoft. I don't need my games so badly that I am willing to condone that behavior.

Wasn't this idea borrowed from ubuntu?

[shiznitz]

I know Microsoft doesn't care, but Win 8 is a disaster for playing older games.  I am trying to expose my 11 year old to some of the classics that I have on my Steam account.  KOTOR1 and Mass Effect won't run at all on his Win 8 laptop.  Civ 5 does. 

I didn't really expect anything different, mind you.  Just reporting. 

[KallDrexx]

I tried to play the telltale Walking Dead game but it kept crashing immediately on startup.  Turns out the solution is wither to not use windows 8, or unplug your Xbox controller.  Not sure if the wtf gets attributed to telltale or Microsoft for that one....

[Salamok]

Well after never having tried Windows 8 or 8.1 but having tried Server 2012 and the greatly improved Server 2012r2 I softened up my prejudices a bit and thought Windows 8.1 couldn't be that bad.  Over the Holiday I migrated my dad's dying Vista laptop to a new laptop with Windows 8.1.  The 3 day experience of tweaking this pile of crappola so a 75 year old of the "i'm tired of learning new shit" variety could use it without having a heart attack has now given me the real world experiences that back up my previous prejudices.

Metro sucks, attempting to force people to use metro to get to the desktop sucks even more and attempting to force someone to have an xbox gamer tag to play freecell and hearts is just fucking stupid.

[Miasma]

attempting to force people to use metro to get to the desktop sucks even more and attempting to force someone to have an xbox gamer tag to play freecell and hearts is just fucking stupid.

Is that for real?

[Salamok]

attempting to force people to use metro to get to the desktop sucks even more and attempting to force someone to have an xbox gamer tag to play freecell and hearts is just fucking stupid.

Is that for real?

Where did the Microsoft Games go on Windows 8 and Gaming in Windows 8.1.  It is also lovely that it is not really "easy" to get shortcuts on the non Metro desktop (or start bar) to Metro apps AND when using the Metro apps I tried the they are all full screen (no start bar).

Basically to get the Windows 7 versions of Solitaire/Minesweeper/Hearts/Freecell/Chess on a Windows 8 machine you need to copy them over from a Windows 7 box then hex edit the version checking to work with Windows 8.

[Miasma]

My whole weekend has seemed to revolve around being angry and depressed at software companies and marketing assholes so that's a good way to round it off.

Edit: I'm not sure what marking assholes is about, I meant marketing.

[MahrinSkel]

Downgrades are the new upgrades.  Breaking shit so they can charge subscription fees for allowing inferior versions is what now substitutes for innovation.

--Dave

[Merusk]

You forgot to work "the cloud" in there, too.

So subscriptions to software access, in addition to cloud fees for storage of those files on the cloud servers so you can access the files you created.  All while features are stripped out and sold back to you piecemeal 'to improve performance.'

[Surlyboi]

Hey, we gave our latest OS upgrade away for free.

Just sayin'...

[Merusk]

Pushers always give free tastes.

Just sayin'   

[Der Helm]

You forgot to work "my ass" in there, too.

Heh.

[Yegolev]

you need to copy them over from a Windows 7 box then hex edit the version checking to work with Windows 8.

Sheesh.  So much wrong.

[Soulflame]

It looks like they are bringing the new mentality of "our customers are advertisers, you are the product" mentality from the xbox one to every part of Microsoft.

Appalling, really.

[Chimpy]

No fucking tray notification for pending windows updates in Win 8(or 8.1) and Server 2012 (or 2012 R2) is clown shoes. There is a notice on the login screen but you don't see the login screen when you use RDP 

[jgsugden]

That's right... dance my little monkies.  Suffer through Microsoft treating you like chumps until something nearly usable emerges .... Dance...

[Teleku]

And yet, still better than the alternatives!   

[calapine]

No fucking tray notification for pending windows updates in Win 8(or 8.1) and Server 2012 (or 2012 R2) is clown shoes. There is a notice on the login screen but you don't see the login screen when you use RDP  

I think our "Metro sucks for desktop PCs" complains will feel quaint at one point, seeing what the future holds:

WINDOWS 10 TO BE ‘CLOUD OS’

Details on Windows 10 were also provided, with claims that the future operating system will be a “cloud OS,” meaning that all of the processing and computing would be done on Microsoft’s servers, and be streamed to your computer, completely eliminating the need for a powerful rig and only requiring the basic bits to run peripherals and such. Windows 10 would essentially just be a new cloud service for Microsoft, on top of Office 365 and the new Xbox Cloud on Xbox One, pushing the company further into the cloud ecosystem.

Fuck the cloud!  

[Merusk]

Everythings going to the  cloud.  I'm at AU and its appaling how many cloud evangelicals there are.  "Run everything off your 9 year old laptop at the same speed as  a supercomputer!"  Its the death of the PC!  Renting software is better than owing it"

fuuuuck

[Ingmar]

I'm pushing lots of shit out to the cloud (email, backups, anything customer-facing, looking at ERP...) The ROI numbers are hard to argue with.

[jgsugden]

I'm pushing lots of shit out to the cloud (email, backups, anything customer-facing, looking at ERP...)

Moving data to the cloud carries a lot of legal risks and complications.  If you're doing it in a professional setting, I'd make sure your legal department does their due diligence twice.  It is a huge issue in the legal world right now.   

[Surlyboi]

And yet, still better than the alternatives!   

Nope. Just more convenient if you're a gamer.

[Merusk]

And yet, still better than the alternatives!  

Nope. Just more convenient if you're a gamer.

Except for that whole saving to the network and business application thing.

I'm pushing lots of shit out to the cloud (email, backups, anything customer-facing, looking at ERP...)

Moving data to the cloud carries a lot of legal risks and complications.  If you're doing it in a professional setting, I'd make sure your legal department does their due diligence twice.  It is a huge issue in the legal world right now.   

Oh its ok IP is a dead thing becauze.. millenials!  Just give away all your company methods and content..becaus..millenials!   

Just dont you DARE pirate anything from the guys providing cloud services, damnit!

[Ingmar]

I'm pushing lots of shit out to the cloud (email, backups, anything customer-facing, looking at ERP...)

Moving data to the cloud carries a lot of legal risks and complications.  If you're doing it in a professional setting, I'd make sure your legal department does their due diligence twice.  It is a huge issue in the legal world right now.   

Yes, they go over everything. Email in particular got a lot of scrutiny, although more because of EU laws than US ones.

[Surlyboi]

And yet, still better than the alternatives!  

Nope. Just more convenient if you're a gamer.

Except for that whole saving to the network and business application thing.

Double Nope. Both can be done.

[Morat20]

Everythings going to the  cloud.  I'm at AU and its appaling how many cloud evangelicals there are.  "Run everything off your 9 year old laptop at the same speed as  a supercomputer!"  Its the death of the PC!  Renting software is better than owing it"

fuuuuck

When the internet goes out, stare at the black box! When your shit gets hacked, stare at the black box!

When you "use the cloud" and realize your fucking ping is shit-tastic and your neighbors are hogging the bandwith and you're paying out the ass because everyone's gone away from unlimited streaming and you're breaking your cap just running fucking Windows 10, USE THE CLOUD!

What the fuck can go wrong?

(Mind you, I use mozy to back my shit up and love google backing up my phone. But my goddamn OS? Are you INSANE?)

[Merusk]

And yet, still better than the alternatives!  

Nope. Just more convenient if you're a gamer.

Except for that whole saving to the network and business application thing.

Double Nope. Both can be done.

Then you need to tell me how i get Autodesk prducts, newforma and adobe products to run on a network without a third party app and without bootstrapping in to another os.

Everythings going to the  cloud.  I'm at AU and its appaling how many cloud evangelicals there are.  "Run everything off your 9 year old laptop at the same speed as  a supercomputer!"  Its the death of the PC!  Renting software is better than owing it"

fuuuuck

When the internet goes out, stare at the black box! When your shit gets hacked, stare at the black box!

When you "use the cloud" and realize your fucking ping is shit-tastic and your neighbors are hogging the bandwith and you're paying out the ass because everyone's gone away from unlimited streaming and you're breaking your cap just running fucking Windows 10, USE THE CLOUD!

What the fuck can go wrong?

(Mind you, I use mozy to back my shit up and love google backing up my phone. But my goddamn OS? Are you INSANE?)

In cloud land everyibe has a 100% uptime 1000 gigabit connection.  look how we demo it working perfectly at tradeshows when the servers ar in another area!

The entire tech industry is taking Blizzards stance to folks with shitty or unreliable connections, "move out of the third world, you walkin wallets,"

[Ironwood]

 

[KallDrexx]

I have actually replaced both my IPad and my main windows laptop with a Lenovo Yoga 11 WinRT laptop/Tablet convertible.  I then have my Desktop PC (no monitor but it is always hooked up to my tv) setup to stream games to it remotely.  So if I'm in my house I can easily play stream BL2 and other games to it perfectly fine, and when I'm out of the hose i'ts perfectly fine for non-fast paced games (Sword of the stars the pit, avernum, Civ 5, etc....).

I also am able to remotely connect to the desktop from wherever if I ever need to write code, and the benefit I get from it all is 14 hours of battery life, very little heat emmission, no fan noise (all passively cooled), and extremely light. 

The only reason this isn't in the cloud is because no cloud service yet provides what I want, but I'm essentially living the idea.  Yeah, when my internet goes out I"m fucked but judging from past experience I"ll be bored anyways if the net goes out.  Plus you know, there is always books.  Luckily that doesnt' happen often.