Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 28th Nov 2012 15:17 UTC
"As we pass the one month anniversary of the general availability of Windows 8, we are pleased to announce that to-date Microsoft has sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses. Tami Reller shared this news with industry and financial analysts, investors and media today at the Credit Suisse 2012 Annual Technology Conference. Windows 8 is outpacing Windows 7 in terms of upgrades." Not bad, but there are the usual asterisks, as Ars notes.
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RE[4]: Comment by MOS6510
by MOS6510 on Wed 28th Nov 2012 20:34
in reply to "RE[3]: Comment by MOS6510"
Member since:2011-05-12
RE[5]: Comment by MOS6510
by lucas_maximus on Wed 28th Nov 2012 20:40
in reply to "RE[4]: Comment by MOS6510"
Member since:2009-08-18
I think the kernel isn't designed for it. Vista's is slightly better, but isn't brilliant.
There is an actual blog post on how they designed the Windows 7 kernel to work well with Multi-core processor ... but I can't find it now.
Vista also used 300 MBs just for the Window Manager ... which IMHO was a bit shitty.
EDIT: I believe it was the idle time being adjusted that made the difference.
Edited 2012-11-28 20:47 UTC
RE[5]: Comment by MOS6510
by WereCatf on Wed 28th Nov 2012 21:12
in reply to "RE[4]: Comment by MOS6510"
Member since:2006-02-15
Why doesn't XP run well on multi core PCs and isn't there a fix?
The kernel simply wasn't designed for multi-core systems as at the time such systems were first and foremost high-end devices and the situation was not anticipated to change. If you think back to those times people and companies were entirely focused on megahertz - race -- including Intel and AMD -- and people just assumed we'd be running into hundreds of gigahertz on a single core.
There are various kinds of fixes to make XP run slightly better on dual-core systems, but even these do not really fully fix the situation and XP's kernel still suffers a serious penalty on three cores or more.
RE[5]: Comment by MOS6510
by zlynx on Wed 28th Nov 2012 21:24
in reply to "RE[4]: Comment by MOS6510"
Member since:2005-07-20
There were several "fixes". For example, there's a dual-core optimizer program that AMD wrote and gave to gaming companies to fix XP for their Athlon64 X2 CPUs.
I'm not quite sure what it does, actually, but it seems to help.
There were quite a lot of video drivers that updated to optimize dual-core and hyperthread support for XP. I believe they forced various driver threads onto specific cores so the XP thread scheduler wouldn't get involved.
Some of those tweaks are less optimal now that CPUs have four/eight cores/threads and the Windows 7 and 8 thread schedulers.
RE[4]: Comment by MOS6510
by WereCatf on Wed 28th Nov 2012 21:08
in reply to "RE[3]: Comment by MOS6510"
Member since:2006-02-15
8 is miles faster than 7.
People keep claiming this, but I just am not seeing such. I have Windows 8 on my laptop and while it is faster to boot the difference between Windows 7 and Windows 8 boot times is about 2 seconds, and while running there is absolutely no difference in speeds whatsoever.
RE[5]: Comment by MOS6510
by zlynx on Wed 28th Nov 2012 21:28
in reply to "RE[4]: Comment by MOS6510"
Member since:2005-07-20
I believe that there were some latency improvements in Win8. Things seem to happen more quickly after you click.
Some of that is related to the removal of the Aero effects.
All in all it gives an impression of more speed. I don't think things are actually faster. But making them seem faster is a worthy thing in its own right.
RE[5]: Comment by MOS6510
by WorknMan on Wed 28th Nov 2012 22:09
in reply to "RE[4]: Comment by MOS6510"
Member since:2005-11-13
8 is miles faster than 7.
People keep claiming this, but I just am not seeing such. I have Windows 8 on my laptop and while it is faster to boot the difference between Windows 7 and Windows 8 boot times is about 2 seconds, and while running there is absolutely no difference in speeds whatsoever.
People keep claiming this, but I just am not seeing such. I have Windows 8 on my laptop and while it is faster to boot the difference between Windows 7 and Windows 8 boot times is about 2 seconds, and while running there is absolutely no difference in speeds whatsoever.
Same here, although it's definitely not any slower
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 11:29 UTC
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:33 UTC
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
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OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/08/13 14:22 UTC
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/02/13 15:28 UTC
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/18/13 11:21 UTC
Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/16/13 9:29 UTC
The day has finally come: Google has started shipping Google Glass to the lucky few early adopters. Now that it's shipping, Google has also unveiled a lot more about the API and the specifications of the device itself. While the company had already given out substantial details at earlier occasions, there are still a few surprises here.More Features »
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Member since:
2009-08-18
It depends, Windows XP runs like a dog on Dual Core machines. Vista, 7 and 8 run much better. 8 is miles faster than 7.
Speed wise Windows 8 > 7 > Vista.
The main problem is RAM, because of the aggressive pre-fetching, however it does scale itself back properly.
I personally don't find it a problem.
I agree. I am using 8 and I just use the classic part for most things. I like the Metro Apps but I just don't really use them except for mail and skype.
I would have liked an Arm powered laptop with 8 that was running VS ... could have been an awesome machine.
Edited 2012-11-28 20:36 UTC