Windows 8 is not currently a problem and won't be for a few more years.

The REAL problem will come when Microsoft stops providing security fixes for Windows 7 and most hardware companies stop producing device drivers for it.

I hope there's a good alternative to the fugly Metro interface by then (made by Microsoft or anyone else)

I'd love to se a solution like the one proposed by Paul Thurrot:

http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/it-s-time-bring-back-nt

But it's highly unlikely that Microsoft will take his advice 🙁

TELVM wrote:

**GIANT FONTS** […]
Show full quote

**GIANT FONTS**

purposely destroying

force you to swallow

Sesame Street Tiles

Hahaha. You're like a broken record.

But I think it's cute that you give human attributes to an inanimate thing like a corporation. It's as absurd as believing a chair loves you.

d1stortion wrote:

Simply don't use this shit and that's it. Win8 didn't come out of nowhere, most people use smartphones and tablets as their main devices anyway so the market is there. M$ knows what they have to do to maximize profits and rambling here won't change anything.

Pragmatic, rational advice. 😀

d1stortion wrote:

Also I remember rumors saying that Intel will solder all processors directly onto the motherboard starting from 2014, so no upgrading anymore. Wintel doesn't have the brightest future ahead of it, that's for sure 😀

Wintel has been on the decline for a few years now, PC sales are shrinking. They won't disappear completely, but they'll be a niche device in the not-too-distant future. A big company like Microsoft can't be tied up in a niche market, it's too costly.

You are missing the point in this thread though. Touch interface is already obsolete.

"It all started when one of our founders, David, was 3D modeling. What took 10 seconds by hand often took 30 minutes with a computer. Technology was actually getting in the way of technology. Fortunately, he’s a super-smart mathematician who figured out an incredibly brilliant way of tracking natural movement down to the fingertip. So now we really can mold pixels as easily as clay."

https://www.leapmotion.com/

Next step is to make you actually feel when you touch. And it already works.

Windows 9 interface will be optimized at least for that.

d1stortion wrote:

... M$ knows what they have to do to maximize profits ...

Well it's working wonderfully thus far:

That was while selling the Tiles for just $30 and allowing 'upgrading' from pirated Se7ens until Christmas.

Awesome profit maximization, sir.

The latest surreal touch 'to maximize profits even more':

Microsoft tempts Windows developers with $100 cash for new apps

Microsoft's cash-for-apps pitch to devs smells like desperation

"According to Kevin Restivo, an analyst at IDC, the countries where Windows Phone shipments exceeded those of iPhone during the fourth quarter were: Argentina, India, Poland, Russia, South Africa and Ukraine. A seventh “country” where Windows Phone shipments beat iPhone is actually a group of smaller countries, including Croatia, that IDC lumps together in a category called “rest of central and eastern Europe.”

I think even if you don't like the trend (I don't like it at all for the record), you have to acknowledge that most casual internet surfers have switched to tablets and such if you weren't living under a rock for the last 5 years. Just see what they did with 90% of the big websites by now, tablet-centered web design everywhere with lots of white spaces, big buttons and all that bullshit. So considering that all that has been around for quite some time it is naive to believe that they have a lot of reasons to keep the desktop alive...

I guess gaming will soon move to tablets/phones + hardware cloud too. You can play anywhere, no need to update any expensive hardware and you always play with best quality gfx. And hardware is not lying unused in your house most of the day and night loosing its value. I guess it is just a matter of wireless inet cost now.

...till people start getting cancer...

d1stortion wrote:

... you have to acknowledge that most casual internet surfers have switched to tablets and such if you weren't living under a rock for the last 5 years ...

Just give me a moment to peer at the real world from under my rock ... let's see ...

http://www.netmarketshare.com/

That's a hell of a niche. I would have thought twice before massively pissing off all those desktop users ...

I see it differently. The hardware that lies around unused are things such as phones, portable music devices, tablet...

Consoles will remain the main gaming hub for a long time IMO

Statcounter Global stats has some good data on actual Operating system usage for browing internet: Here It is updated monthly or something like that.

Leolo wrote:

I'd love to se a solution like the one proposed by Paul Thurrot:

http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/it-s-time-bring-back-nt

I like how some of the comments are basically saying "the solution is to bring the desktop experience closer to the mobile one, and add touch ability to desktop monitors".

Really, touchable desktop monitors. It's as if they actively hate their own ergonomic well-being...

touch ability is not needed at all 😀

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCPxl9DfCzE

this one is interesting
http://gs.statcounter.com/#os-ww-monthly-201303-201303-map

VileRancour wrote:

Leolo wrote:

I'd love to se a solution like the one proposed by Paul Thurrot:

http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/it-s-time-bring-back-nt

I like how some of the comments are basically saying "the solution is to bring the desktop experience closer to the mobile one, and add touch ability to desktop monitors".

Really, touchable desktop monitors. It's as if they actively hate their own ergonomic well-being...

There is no reason for the desktop experience to be more like the mobile one.

You're at work. Piles of papers on the desk, a half eaten lunch sits right in front of you. Now you're supposed to lean forward, reach across the desk and play with the screen to work? Knocking over the coffee? Is one seriously expected to hold ones arms out tapping a screen to work?

So, the tablet/monitor now lays flat and you treat it like a real desktop. Piles of paper, unfinished lunch, coffee.. where IS the tablet/monitor now? How do you work now?

Tablets/smart phones *sort of* work simply because they are the *least ineffective* way of getting some rudimentary computing done standing on a crowded sidewalk or in a mall. Work? At some point the tablet/PDA function needs to disengage from general computing. There is no reason that what works for one must work for the other. Likewise websites need to adapt on the fly to what mode a user is in or things are going to get screwed up really fast...

John McLane looking for Molly (Die Hard, 1986)

Gorilla Arm

'The side-effect that destroyed touch-screens as a mainstream input technology despite a promising start in the early 1980s. It seems the designers of all those spiffy touch-menu systems failed to notice that humans aren't designed to hold their arms in front of their faces making small motions. After more than a very few selections, the arm begins to feel sore, cramped, and oversized — the operator looks like a gorilla while using the touch screen and feels like one afterwards. This is now considered a classic cautionary tale to human-factors designers; “Remember the gorilla arm!” is shorthand for “How is this going to fly in real use?” ... '

Why personal computers still need the keyboard and mouse, despite Microsoft·s best efforts to kill them off - The Scientific American

Elephant in the room

microsoft want one OS to do everything, because by doing so they can achieve software compatibility across different hardware platforms. the problem is just getting the interface right. i imagine ballmer is crapping himself about ipad's success [and then android] so windows 8 emphasises the touch interface.

when gui's were new, some of us sat round bemoaning the end of the command line. it's still with us.

if gorilla arm becomes a problem for business users, then health and safety legislation will destroy it.

TELVM wrote:

John McLane looking for Molly (Die Hard, 1986) […]
Show full quote

John McLane looking for Molly (Die Hard, 1986)

Gorilla Arm

'The side-effect that destroyed touch-screens as a mainstream input technology despite a promising start in the early 1980s. It seems the designers of all those spiffy touch-menu systems failed to notice that humans aren't designed to hold their arms in front of their faces making small motions. After more than a very few selections, the arm begins to feel sore, cramped, and oversized — the operator looks like a gorilla while using the touch screen and feels like one afterwards. This is now considered a classic cautionary tale to human-factors designers; “Remember the gorilla arm!” is shorthand for “How is this going to fly in real use?” ... '

Why personal computers still need the keyboard and mouse, despite Microsoft·s best efforts to kill them off - The Scientific American

Elephant in the room

We'll all end up looking like Quagmire after he discovered internet porn.

i can only see touch-screen might work if you can tilt the screen & the screen itself are not too large.

my eyes also hates it, when i must lean closer to the screen, that will likely happens on touch-screens.

oh stop talking about touch-screens till May 13 and just grab that touchless "controller" for 80$

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/923803 … _OS_gains_share