Windows 8 RTM relased to MSDN; Evaluation version released
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 15th Aug 2012 21:30 UTC
Windows Microsoft has made Windows 8's final release available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers, so if you are one of those - have fun. The 90-day trial has also been released, so us mere mortals can have a go at it as well. The evaluation version is Windows 8 Enterprise, so it contains a number of features regular users normally won't see. As far as I can tell - it's a bit unclear - the trial version cannot be upgraded to a final version a few months down the line. Happy testing!
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RE[6]: Pass
by kaiwai on Mon 20th Aug 2012 02:51 UTC in reply to "RE[5]: Pass"
kaiwai
Member since:
2005-07-06

This is why the OEMs need to get together and support ReactOS because that is what it will take to finally break free of MSFT. Imagine a desktop that can run Windows drivers, Windows programs, Dx11 games, and had your choice of XP or 7 DE by default but could run even KDE or GNOME if it suited your fancy.


ReactOS or any clone would be a patent nightmare where as I'd sooner see a vendor take some of their cash and invest it into FreeBSD (stable driver API and ABI thus making closed sourced drivers realistic), implement OpenGL 4.3 in Mesa, replace Xorg, implement a system like upower/udisk/udev where the OS can talk to the desktop thus make mundane tasks such as mounting/unmounting volumes or installing new hardware a lot easier, then fund the movement of FreeBSD to LLVM/Clang along with the third party software sitting on top from other software projects. There needs to be a clean break but unfortunately we have vendors unwilling to look long term and invest money right now in unshackling themselves from Microsoft and dependency on the Windows release cycle as to boost sales.

Trying to RAISE the price of PCs in a dead economy like MSFT and Intel are doing is suicide, just look at how few of those ultrabooks are selling. I can tell you as a retailer the sweet spot you HAVE TO HIT if you want decent sales is the crucial $350-$550 price point and there is just no way to throw in a decent touchscreen at that price, just no way. And with margins razor thin as it is there is just no fat to trim to add a touchscreen and still hit the crucial price point required to move units.


Nothing wrong with pushing customers up the price point as long as you as a vendor can justify the extra price - right now Apple has no problems selling in this so-called 'dead economy' because lets get one thing straight, not every economy in the world is dead. Regarding touchscreens - they're a fad on the desktop whose only real benefit is when one is using a tablet. It appears that once again we have Microsoft throw all the usability studies out the window in favour of focus group feedback and telemetric data that quite frankly mean nothing in the end but it appears that managers rely on said faulty information because it gives them something/someone to blame when things don't turn out as expect (as we all knew was going to happen).

In the end though I have a feeling its gonna be Vista all over again, where Dell trotted out Ubuntu units and started to advertise them...only for MSFT to cave and let Dell and everyone else continue to sell XP. I think like Vista you'll see "Win 8 system...with Win 7 preinstalled!" and a Win 8 DVD sitting in the bottom of the box that everybody chunks and when ballmer fails yet again the board will end up getting him out of the big chair.


I think the biggest rebellion will be from third party desktop software developers wondering whether they've been abandoned by Microsoft through their lack of something to replace Win32 going forward. From an outsiders perspective you have a brand new shiny WinRT and Win32 more or less on life support thus doesn't give one confidence about the future. Believe me, if I was Apple right now what I would be doing is investigating how one can speed up the refresh of the Mac Pro and bring it down in price, update OpenGL to 4.3, refresh the iMac, how to get some major engineering applications like Solidworks on Mac OS X and so on. This is the opportunity for Apple to really make hay whilst things are quickly turning to shit in the Windows world right now - the question is whether Apple can even be bothered taking advantage of that opportunity.

If they really want a shot at mobile they are gonna have to spin it off, trying to shoehorn a cellphone UI into an OS being used on HD widescreens? Just doesn't work.


Why not just have Windows NT + WinRT with the desktop stripped out of it for the phone? why do desktop users have to put up with metro that really has no relevance on the desktop? why not have a 'boot straight into desktop' thus allow the traditional menu but warn end users that it would mean that they can't launch Metro applications from it? I can't wait to see the whole thing crash and burn because it would re-enforce what Steve Jobs said regarding the stupidity of merging two operating systems for two different devices that are targeted and different audiences, different uses and different ways of interacting with the device.

Edited 2012-08-20 02:55 UTC

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