An important reason why I won't rush to upgrade to Windows 8

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An important reason why I won't rush to upgrade to Windows 8

Post by TronFAQ »

I just came across something the other day, that I think is pretty significant. If this applies to Windows 8, it will be a major reason why I likely won't upgrade any time soon. (As if I needed any more reasons. Win 8 really is shaping up to be the next Vista.)

Seems Microsoft has kept quiet about this. I can see why, because once people find out they will probably be pretty upset. It's just a rumor for now, and it might not yet apply to Win 8. They might not implement it until the next version. But there's a strong indication they're implementing it now with 8.

http://www.dailytech.com/Slides+Reveal+ ... e20181.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is an old article that a lot of people have only just recently discovered. It talks about how Win 8 is going to use virtualization. Or put another way, it will be partially cloud based.

Everything you do on your system, will be mirrored on a Microsoft server. The rationalization behind this, is in the name of security and protecting your system from data loss and crashes. If anything goes wrong and you lose data or the system starts crashing, the data that was previously cached on Microsoft's servers will be downloaded and restored. Instant recovery with almost no effort on the user's part.

That's swell and all. And if businesses want to entrust Microsoft to their data, they're welcome to do so. But for me, as an end user, I don't want Microsoft to "look after" me. I don't want them caching and monitoring everything I do. It's a serious invasion of privacy.

They could also potentially abuse this, by selling you parts of the OS piecemeal. Want to use a certain feature of Windows? You have to download it first. That'll be $50, please. Ka-ching! Also, they could shut off a part of the OS, or even prevent it from functioning at all on a whim. Not to mention, Win 8 will have an integrated "App store". Where they will sell you software to download, directly from within Windows.
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Re: An important reason why I won't rush to upgrade to Windo

Post by xistence »

MS is trying to get into the market of mobile pc, smartphone and tablets (just see the new UI). And as google does it the 'cloud way', they can't stand back. I agree, this is pretty stupid in days were cloud computing and shared data already proved to be unsecure, everyone tries to get into that stuff just for a quick dollar.
There will be the day were i'll stop to use retail OS because of closed and mandantory systems, only at my job i might use such systems. I already working since a 2 years on two systems, windows and different linux distribution, i'm prepared. But i won't trust companies to work with my personal data, when there is a financial intrested in the background, and others should at least once think about this, if this would be clever or not to do so.
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Re: An important reason why I won't rush to upgrade to Windo

Post by deeahchur »

The App store or integrated systems could be handy, for use with things such as MS Office or even Adobe products, shared through the system like at certain office networks. As noted, however, that is great for businesses or corporate use, but for home networks or lone users, while useful for certain aspects this should be implemented as a non-OS-integrated system.

I mean, if we had Tron monitoring the MCP, that's one thing, but this is starting to go in the direction of MCP monitors Tron. Not good. T-O
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Re: An important reason why I won't rush to upgrade to Windo

Post by Avi »

In related news, I just installed Ubuntu on my new laptop.
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Re: An important reason why I won't rush to upgrade to Windo

Post by TronFAQ »

If anyone needs any more reason to think twice about upgrading to Windows 8, then take a look at this video.



It's pretty long, at almost 14 minutes. So I can understand why you might not want to sit there watching the whole thing. But, at least stick around until he tries to figure out how to quit a Metro app.

The Metro UI is absolutely abhorrent on the desktop. And the worst part is, Microsoft is forcing you to use it through the new Start screen. There's no option to skip it, and stay purely on the desktop. You can avoid Metro as much as you want: but the Start screen will always be there, waiting for you.

Also, Microsoft is encouraging software developers to make their "apps" Metro only, so they can only be used on Windows 8. In the hope that this will force you to upgrade.
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Re: An important reason why I won't rush to upgrade to Windo

Post by xistence »

Windows 7 will be my last personal version. I'm very deep into linux (even on shell/terminal) anf there you have wine/vmplayer/virtualbox, so whenever i need a MS-software there will be a way. And a lot of softwares on that platform is quite useful. Windows 8 tries to copy the Apple-way, this won't be useful for serious developer like me, to strict, to close, to dependent.
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Re: An important reason why I won't rush to upgrade to Windo

Post by phoenixphlox »

Sorry, this won't be a too technical comment, just a personal opinion, but I watched the video, and I don't find it nice at all. The man in the video tells several times, that he likes how it looks. I don't. Huge numbers, huge rectangles and squares with annoying huge icons, with every kind of colours... :| very beautiful.
Sorry, I'm a visual type person, to me it's important how the things look on my computer, and this is not for my taste.
That cloud based thing also doesn't sound too good.

Thank you for the information.
It was an interesting topic. T-)
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Re: An important reason why I won't rush to upgrade to Windo

Post by TronFAQ »

Trust me, a lot of people here agree with everything you had to say, phoenixphlox. T-)

Welcome to our site, by the way! !YES! (YES)


It's very unlikely that I'll be installing Windows 8 when it's released. I don't know if I'm going to bother with it, at all. Microsoft have gone off the deep end. After actually listening to people and giving them what they wanted in Windows 7, they've gone back to cramming in more useless garbage in Win 8 that nobody really wants or cares about.

They're screwing over traditional PC customers, in favor of trying to capture the tablet market. Maybe your average joe will buy a tablet with Windows 8 to do e-mail, Facebook, etc. But professionals in the business world who need to do real work, will be telling Microsoft to piss off. Just wait.
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Re: An important reason why I won't rush to upgrade to Windo

Post by phoenixphlox »

Thank you, TronFAQ T-)

I live in a village in a country in the middle of Europe. I know many people (including teachers too) who are glad to know how to turn on the computer and use an internet browser + Word + PowerPoint for their work. They use the good old routines for everything, I seriously can't imagine what would they do with a new interface like this.
So I think there are many average people too who would find it confusing, and useless. !NO! (NO)
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Re: An important reason why I won't rush to upgrade to Windo

Post by TronFAQ »

Here's a great video showing the RTM version of Windows 8 in action.



I'd suggest actually visiting the video page on Youtube and playing it at the highest resolution, full screen. So you can get a good look at what Windows 8 is like, to use. I know it's pretty long at 20 minutes, but it really highlights what's wrong with the OS.

Windows 8 is finished, and has been released to business partners during the last couple of weeks. It's since been leaked to the internet. Though, Microsoft has also made a trial RTM version for the public that works for 90 days, and then needs to be uninstalled.


After seeing the desktop portion in action, I'm actually somewhat impressed. When I thought I wouldn't be. The removal of Aero doesn't bother me, as much as I thought it would. The new Task Manager is nice. I even kind of like the Ribbon in Windows Explorer.

But it's the removal of the Start Menu, and Metro being forced on you, that ruins Windows 8. (And I know Microsoft isn't calling it Metro any more, but what else are we going to call it in the meantime? T-p )
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Re: An important reason why I won't rush to upgrade to Windo

Post by xistence »

Call it 'windows 8', as this should be the offical name (ya, i know it is stupid). I'm also still not satisfied with that new OS: it is made just for users who don't want to understand an OS or intrested in how a computer works. But it is not for serious worker with computer systems, it lacks of many needed options, i mean i don't want to have my view forcely splitted as the use of windows was thrown over board my MS somehow. IMHO a user -should- know what he does with a computer, so a basic understanding would be nice, but oh well, we're not living in this days anymore...

But there is one feature which i find to be useful, as you can put several hardware HD's into a 'pool' appearing to the Windows OS as just one HD (virtual), still partionable and it can be even extended if space gets low with a new hardware HD attached to that pool (tho you can't remove hardware HD's from the pool, so you can only extend). But maybe we get this feature soon under Linux as well...
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Re: An important reason why I won't rush to upgrade to Windo

Post by TronFAQ »

Windows 8 spies on you, by default. Notifies Microsoft of every program you install. Ostensibly, to protect you from malware. The fact that they get to find out about every single piece of software you install doesn't factor into it, of course. 8-|

http://gizmodo.com/5937649/windows-8-te ... y-securely" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


I strongly suggest everyone stays away from Windows 8, at least at launch. Wait until SP1, for all the dirty laundry about Win 8 to be brought out into the open. Maybe they'll back off on some of the stupid decisions they've made.
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Re: An important reason why I won't rush to upgrade to Windo

Post by TronFAQ »

Windows 8 keeps looking better, and better! T-p

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2400985,00.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Microsoft has added a "kill switch" feature, where they can remotely disable apps purchased through their store. They claim this only affects Metro apps. But who's to say they couldn't also use it to disable the OS entirely. You just know they would, in the name of fighting piracy, if they could get away with it.
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Re: An important reason why I won't rush to upgrade to Windo

Post by TronFAQ »

Just a couple of amusing pictures I ran across.

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Re: An important reason why I won't rush to upgrade to Windo

Post by Cryogen »

I dont know! something just seems wrong with it? ( MS-Dos of the future) w8 is going to confuse alot of people especially those that already have trouble using other versions of windows i believe -> im just going to keep using win7-64bit as long as i can T-) all the programs i use run find under it ....... no need to upgrade any time soon.
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