Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 2nd Jul 2012 19:45 UTC
So, I guess Apple set a trend three years ago when it announced the $29 pricing for Snow Leopard (insert patent joke here). Microsoft has just announced the upgrade pricing for Windows 8 Pro - and it's good. Every Windows XP, Vista, and 7 install, no matter the version, is eligible for an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro (download version) for just $39.99. The fine print: this offer only runs until January 31, 2013.
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RE: Only because Windows 7 is better
by bryhhh on Mon 2nd Jul 2012 20:29
in reply to "Only because Windows 7 is better"
Member since:2005-07-22
+1; I won't be going anywhere near this OS.
Of the MS operating systems, I've used NT4, Win 2000, Win XP and Win 7, all of which have been great operating systems.
Windows 9x, ME, Vista were all terrible, and I see Windows 8 being added to that list.
They are trying to jump on the touch screen interface bandwagon. Whilst great on a small lightweight tablet/phone, it's not so good for desktops and laptops.
RE[2]: Only because Windows 7 is better
by zima on Fri 6th Jul 2012 01:49
in reply to "RE: Only because Windows 7 is better"
Member since:2005-07-06
Yeah, right... Vista was horrible, but Vista SE (aka "let's do the marketing trick with lucky 7") is great?
(also, you really forgot how bad NT4, 2k, XP were before few service packs)
And nobody really tried touch in larger scenarios, it might very well end up quite awesome (when, for example, the display tech of MS Surface 2.0 - the table kind - gets inexpensive; but that would require "forcing" the devs a bit, so that the applications will be mostly ready; I guess that's largely what MS tries to do with "Metro 1.0" ...and BTW, Windows 1.0 hardly went anywhere - but 3.x and especially fourth were all the rage)
RE: Only because Windows 7 is better
by ebasconp on Tue 3rd Jul 2012 02:52
in reply to "Only because Windows 7 is better"
Member since:2006-05-09
RE[2]: Only because Windows 7 is better
by quackalist on Tue 3rd Jul 2012 22:53
in reply to "RE: Only because Windows 7 is better"
Member since:2007-08-27
RE[2]: Only because Windows 7 is better
by ze_jerkface on Wed 4th Jul 2012 04:58
in reply to "RE: Only because Windows 7 is better"
Member since:2012-06-22
That's like saying that rotting cow carcass is a superset of steak.
Windows 8 doesn't give you the option of using the start menu or booting into the desktop.
Don't give me that Sinofsky BS about it being the same Windows. The same Windows doesn't dump all my shortcuts onto a single screen.
RE: Only because Windows 7 is better
by OSNevvs on Tue 3rd Jul 2012 06:12
in reply to "Only because Windows 7 is better"
Member since:2009-08-20
RE: Only because Windows 7 is better
by Kebabbert on Wed 4th Jul 2012 14:53
in reply to "Only because Windows 7 is better"
Member since:2007-07-27
I guess we'll see how they price future versions of Windows but maybe the reason 8 is so low is because of all the negative opinions of it.
A company proves its right to exist, by charging a fee for their products. Lowering prices is a sign of weakness. High prices are a sign of strength.
This low price shows that MS is hesitant on Windows 8. The next Windows can not be sold for a much higher price, there will be an outrage.
RE: Only because Windows 7 is better
by NeoX on Thu 5th Jul 2012 20:30
in reply to "Only because Windows 7 is better"
Member since:2006-02-19
++1 to that too!
After running the beta releases for some time now, my opinion is that they are going to have to nearly give it away for people to upgrade. No start menu, really?
Is this Windows ME 3.0 or Vista 2.0? The negatives on Vista are far less then what I have heard from virtually everyone that i know that has tried 8.
At least make an option to keep the windows 7 way of operating if you are installing on a desktop with mouse and keyboard.
I will get the upgrade simply so I can support my customers but it will not replace windows 7 for me.
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 15:53 UTC
The new WebKit Opera for Android has been released. "Opera 14 for Android is built on top of Chromium 26, with a total overhaul of the UI in native code, making it fit well with the latest Android design guidelines. Go get the build from Google Play or point your browser to m.opera.com, and give it a spin!"
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 22:43 UTC
The Verge pointed me to a blog post by Leap Motion - which reveals how their Kinect-like motion control works with Windows 8. "From the second you plug in your Leap Motion Controller, you'll be able to browse the web and interact with your computer just by moving your hands and fingers in the air. With Leap Motion technology and Windows, you can do everything that's possible with multi-touch inputs - without actually touching anything. This also means that existing applications in Windows 7 and 8 will respond to your natural hand and finger movements. Soon, we'll show you how Leap Motion will work with Mac OS X." Quite cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 21:50 UTC
PocketNow interviews Marc Dillon, and there's an interesting note about why Jolla is keeping the display properties under wraps: "We're leaving some of those details out because we do understand that there are a lot of really big players in the market and they tend to take certain components in the market and dominate them. We created the ability to actually be able to run Sailfish on multiple hardware displays and be able to swap components, so this is part of the demand and supply planning phase. We are committed to this industrial design which is a 4.5-inch display, an 8 megapixel camera on the back and a front-facing camera at the front, and the exact specs of the display we'll provide when we're close to delivery." Something you rarely hear anything about.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/19/13 23:15 UTC
"This is my NeXTstation Turbo Color booting the Mac System 7.1 Operating System using a hardware add-on called 'Daydream'. The Daydream has a Mac ROM and a few custom ICs in it and hooked up to the NeXTs DSP port. Turns your NeXT into a full fledged 68k powered Mac." So cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/19/13 23:11 UTC, submitted by Drumhellar
"The NetBSD Project is pleased to announce NetBSD 6.1, the first feature update of the NetBSD 6 release branch. It represents a selected subset of fixes deemed important for security or stability reasons, as well as new features and enhancements. Please note that all fixes in the prior security/bugfix updates (NetBSD 6.0.1 and 6.0.2) are also in 6.1."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:06 UTC
"At the end of a week in which Electronic Arts confirmed it wasn't developing a thing for the Wii U, one of the software engineers in EA Sports' Canada studio, in a series of since-deleted tweets, disparaged the console as 'crap' and suggested Nintendo should give up on hardware altogether. 'The Wii U is crap. Less powerful than an Xbox 360. Poor online/store. Weird tablet', tweeted Bob Summerwill, listed as a senior software engineer at EA Canada, in a reply to a tweet posting a link about EA's no-Wii U news. 'Nintendo are walking dead at this point'." The Wii U is turning into the 21st century's Virtual Boy.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 7:37 UTC
"In NixOS, the entire operating system - the kernel, applications, system packages, configuration files, and so on - is built by the Nix package manager from a description in a purely functional build language. The fact that it's purely functional essentially means that building a new configuration cannot overwrite previous configurations. Most of the other features follow from this." Interesting approach. A Linux distribution, sure, but with some very refreshing ideas about system configuration.
Linked by fran on 05/18/13 1:38 UTC
Appfour added, among other features, C/C++ support to its new version of AIDE. From Android-IDE, "Now you can write parts of your app or your whole app in C/C++ on your device. AIDE supports the Standard Android NDK toolchain (GCC 4.6 + Bionic, STL, ...). No changes are necessary if you want to build an app developed on a PC with Eclipse. C/C++ development is fully integrated: Build errors appear in the error list and files can easily be navigated to with Go to file. The editor supports C/C++ syntax highlighting."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/17/13 23:35 UTC, submitted by kragil
Ars nails it: "The answer is that Google did announce what amounts to a fairly substantial Android update yesterday. They simply did it without adding to the update fragmentation problems that continue to plague the platform. By focusing on these changes and not the apparently-waiting-in-the-wings update to the core software, Google is showing us one of the ways in which it's trying to fix the update problem."
Linked by MOS6510 on 05/17/13 22:22 UTC
"It is good for programmers to understand what goes on inside a processor. The CPU is at the heart of our career. What goes on inside the CPU? How long does it take for one instruction to run? What does it mean when a new CPU has a 12-stage pipeline, or 18-stage pipeline, or even a 'deep' 31-stage pipeline? Programs generally treat the CPU as a black box. Instructions go into the box in order, instructions come out of the box in order, and some processing magic happens inside. As a programmer, it is useful to learn what happens inside the box. This is especially true if you will be working on tasks like program optimization. If you don't know what is going on inside the CPU, how can you optimize for it? This article is about what goes on inside the x86 processor's deep pipeline."More News »
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Member since:
2006-05-12
I guess we'll see how they price future versions of Windows but maybe the reason 8 is so low is because of all the negative opinions of it.