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[partycentralpartygirl]

Microsoft will not lose corporate customers because of Win8, as there is no realistic alternative to Windows.

But what about Linux? Or MacOS? Or ChromeBook?

Well I run a business, what is my opinion?

The software I need only runs on Windows. My POS system, inventory management system are Windows only. If I wanted Linux POS software I would need to go open source. Not really an option as the solutions are garbage pre alpha software that is unusable in the real world.

Maybe Win8 will not appeal to businesses like Vista did not. No matter they will buy Win7. Anyone who has used Win7 will see that it is a fine OS. I was surprised at how good it was to be honest. Strange that a MS OS is so good.

As for the market competition and such. MS already has won the console wars against Sony and Nintendo. I love my Wii but the 360 is a better unit, disregarding early RROD problems (I have the slim). Hardcore console gamers will buy the next XBOX as well, Kinect is better than the Wii & PS move anyways. So if MS can win the console wars it is not impossible to imagine they will have success in the phone industry. Perhaps the premium phones will be Apple and Android but the entry level phones will probably start to be Win phones, and to be honest my parents and grandmother would be better served with a Win7 phone than Android or iPhone due to it's ease of use.

This is my take on the matter. Geeks/power users will get Android phones, hipsters, 20-30 year old women and iSheeple will get iPhones, 12 year olds and tech un-savy 50+ year olds will get Win8 phones. In fact MS/Nokia should just go ahead and start bundling the phone with free software like they do with the XBOX, buy this phone and get Free Angry Birds Premium & Draw Something. People really are dumb enough to buy something based on that.

[commodorejohn]

Originally Posted by JJ

Desktop version dont have to use metro and from what I have read there have been some pretty big improvements in response times and the overall speed of the OS

Could someone confirm or deny this? Everything I've read says you don't have to use Metro software and can switch to a loosely desktop-ish environment, but you're still stuck with the Start screen and the desktop in general's been nerfed.

[bloodline]

Originally Posted by commodorejohn

Could someone confirm or deny this? Everything I've read says you don't have to use Metro software and can switch to a loosely desktop-ish environment, but you're still stuck with the Start screen and the desktop in general's been nerfed.

As I understand it, the Desktop is only for legacy apps... New apps are expected to use Metro... But it is developers choice which interface they choose to support...

If the App you really want to use was written to use metro... You are going to have to use Metro.

[partycentralpartygirl]

Originally Posted by commodorejohn

Could someone confirm or deny this? Everything I've read says you don't have to use Metro software and can switch to a loosely desktop-ish environment, but you're still stuck with the Start screen and the desktop in general's been nerfed.

The desktop is there, the start menu has been replaced with a start screen however. Here is the start screen that you bring up by moving the mouse to the corner where the start button used to be. http://i.imgur.com/DGQsa.png

You can pin apps to the taskbar that are frequently used and never have to use the metro interface other than to use in-frequently used programs.

I am not a fan of losing the start button, I predict there will be a skin or utility released seconds after the win8 launch to put the start menu back.

Metro is kind of silly, I hope serious applications do not use it. I know that the software I use will not transition to metro since the software is written (and still being maintained surprisingly) with 14 year old IDE. Though I do not get the updates, the old software still works.

[Duce]

Why don't people just try W8 consumer preview in a VM rather than spread FUD about it, lol.

You aren't forced into anything, really.

[commodorejohn]

Originally Posted by partycentralpartygirl

I am not a fan of losing the start button, I predict there will be a skin or utility released seconds after the win8 launch to put the start menu back.

There already has been for the Developer Preview, but Microsoft disabled it for the Consumer Preview. Says a lot, really.

Metro is kind of silly, I hope serious applications do not use it. I know that the software I use will not transition to metro since the software is written (and still being maintained surprisingly) with 14 year old IDE. Though I do not get the updates, the old software still works.

That's the real question...Microsoft are certainly pushing the idea of Metro as The Future Of Windows, and they're trying to force the issue by allowing only Metro software in the Windows Store, but unless they go so far as to disable desktop software in future updates, it's going to come down to whether developers feel like learning a whole new UI that it's not even certain people will want...

Originally Posted by Duce

Why don't people just try W8 consumer preview in a VM rather than spread FUD about it, lol.

Because not all of us have decent hardware for running VMs? I mean, I could try running Bochs on my Eee, but with the performance I'd get I might get all of halfway through the install process before giving up...

[partycentralpartygirl]

Originally Posted by commodorejohn

There already has been for the Developer Preview, but Microsoft disabled it for the Consumer Preview. Says a lot, really.

To be fair they probably disabled it because they want people to try out the new system, to get feedback. I suppose the feedback is get rid of this stupidness from tech savvy folk.

People do not like change, I am a person and I do not like change either. Apparently people are mad at MS for changing the XBOX360 GUI into Metro like. I have not used an XBOX in a while and can't remember what the old system looked like so I can't judge whether or not it is worse than the old system. As someone who has only used the new interface I must say that it is very intuitive, to me at least. I can launch Apps I want in seconds (I don't play many games, mostly I use it to watch online video) and my 3 year old daughter is able to start Netflix by herself if I take too long to do it for her. So I'd say an interface that can be used by children and a 30 something year old woman with relative ease is not thaaat bad.

The only problem I ever had with windows was that I run a slew of applications. My start menu in XP has ~90 entries, it will not necessarily be a bad thing to sort them out, which is basically what metro does.

That being said I will probably install the Start Menu hack/theme/utility because like I said I do not like change. On my children's computer I will leave it alone, my unit will have a Windows 2000 theme.

[slaapliedje]

Originally Posted by persia

Maybe some of the folks over at XDA could port Android to the N9 and make it usable...

The NITdroid group is already working on it.

slaapliedje

[slaapliedje]

Originally Posted by persia

@kickstart Meego is dead, it's successor Tizen was still born. If I wanted an OS for my phone that had no apps and no future it would be hard to choose between WP and Tizen... The smartphone market is divided between Android and iOS.

Odd, I go to the Ovi Store and there are quite a lot of Apps for it. EA even ported The Sims 3 for it.

I love my N9, and a co-worker really wants one too, but he wants the 64GB version like I have, but doesn't want to spend the 600 or so for it.

It's a sweet phone, and I'm still debating whether I want to bother putting Android on it. Majority of Android 'Apps' that I've seen are worthless to me.

slaapliedje

Additionally, they already have an Amiga emulator running on it too

[mike-]

Originally Posted by Pyromania

http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?t=148807

Considering the state of their latest "update" to Symbian, "belle", they are likely to take another dump there too, "anna" was much better, and better organised, "belle" seems to be an attempt to simplify the design, but in the process they dumbed it down and tried to make it like "every other" phone OS. I regret the day i opted to "update" my E7 to "belle" ;/

[zmurf]

Originally Posted by slaapliedje

Well, now Nokia is burning because they went with WP7, and Microsoft has outright stated that WP7 is not upgradeable to WP8. So much for the 'burning platform' eh?

I actually dont understand the problem with WP7 phones not being able to upgrade to WP8. New phones will run WP8.. WP8 can run WP7 apps. Old phones will be upgraded to WP7.8. When WP7 people get new phones they will buy a WP8 phone and run their old WP7 apps on the WP8 phone.

Sure... they wont be able to run WP8 apps on their WP7 phones. But I have a hard time believing that there wont be people developing new apps for WP7... since it dosent matter if they make them WP7 apps. They will still run on WP8.

And the last WP7 phones to be released is about now... and it is at least 4-6 months left until WP8 is released. So when it is released peoples phones will be some 3-5 months old. How often do people get new phones these days? Every 12-24 months? At least the ones I know get new phones almost every year. So if you have to run a "old" OS for 12-24 months, is that really so horrible?

I have a 2 year old HTC Desire. It still runs Android 2.3. I cant run Android 4.x specific apps on it. But most apps that is released is still release with the 2.x API. But I'll have to get a new phone if I want to use the new version of the OS and run those apps...
... Thats the exact same things as WP7 users will experience.

[mikeymike]

Originally Posted by commodorejohn

Heh, true that...come the end of active support, I'm making a fresh install, getting all the updates, and then imaging it for future use...

I think XP will get owned in a million ways within say 6 months of security patches ceasing to be produced. It's easily the most popular version of Windows and XP piracy is widespread worldwide. It'll be such an easy target for malware/exploit writers.

[persia]

Yeah, there's probably six legal copies of XP left, they should rename it Windows Pirate Edition..

[runequester]

Originally Posted by persia

Yeah, there's probably six legal copies of XP left, they should rename it Windows Pirate Edition..

I think I have one lying around somewhere, unused from a PC purchase that I put linux on.

Maybe I should donate it to science or something?

[commodorejohn]

Originally Posted by persia

Yeah, there's probably six legal copies of XP left, they should rename it Windows Pirate Edition..

Says a lot that with two newer versions, eleven years later, it's still one of the most-pirated OSes...