This article (http://mollyrocket.com/casey/stream_0004.html) explores the implications of a closed application environment for developers and consumers by comparing it to the switch from MS-DOS to Windows 3.0. The bottom line is that it looks very likely that Windows as an open platform for development is going to disappear in the next 20 years if they keep this up. It's downright terrifying, and it definitely convinced me that I should stay the hell away from it.
That is...downright frightening. Does Microsoft really fear the threat of competition that much, that they would intentionally go Brave New World on us with Win8?
You mean 1984, and time will tell.Well, Orwell was mentored by Huxley, and I'm more familiar with literary works by the latter...but yeah, 1984 is a closer match. Hopefully Microsoft will realize that they can't play Big Brother is a world that's still fiercely capitalistic, and will fix these control issue before everyone jumps ship to Ubuntu or something.
I'll stick with Vista for now.
Windows 8 is the biggest change in Windows since Windows 95 introduced the desktop.
3.1 was the first desktop, yes.
Your computer needs to be repaired.
It does not have a 64-bit processor.
OpenOffice! Like Office, just without bullshit!I've learned the hard way to be careful about using OpenOffice's PowerPoint clone for equations. It has a really good equation editor (far better than the one in MS Office), but what it produces is not compatible with MS Office, so if you load it into Office, your equations will not display.
And without some of the advanced functionality, but oh well.
OpenOffice! Like Office, just without bullshit!
Doesn't the monitor have brightness control?Yes. Have you ever tried to use it? Do you know how many button presses it takes to bring the brightness down from a level that's comfortable during the day, to what's comfortable during the night? For my monitor, it's about 40.
Doesn't it repeat on holding? Mine does. Anyway, how often do you want to change it - a laptop is used in different circumstances, which makes it necessary (I presume Windows gets access to the function buttons that laptops have built in, but a separate desktop monitor doesn't give that access).I turn it down every night, after the sun goes down. If I was using the monitor's controls, I'd have to bring the brightness down from 100 to 0 in order for it to be at a comfortable level. Takes about fourteen seconds to do that. The shortcut to Dimmer I have on my taskbar does it in less than one second.
Do your monitors (I'm talking to all of you who've had monitor backlight/hue/etc issue) use an SVGA port? (3-row, 15-pin DB-style port) Or does it use HDMI?As far as I'm aware, modern video cards have foregone VGA ports entirely, and instead use DVI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVI) ports predominantly. HDMI ports on video cards are a relatively recent addition, to accomodate people hooking up their tv's to their computers. My own monitor has a VGA and a DVI port, but no HDMI, and my dad's monitor is probably the same.
It's possible that Windows 8's hardware controls rely on a "higher-order" digital interface, either USB or HDMI 1.4. If the touchscreen uses USB, there's no guarantee that the USB control of the monitor extends to the options otherwise managed by the OSD. I'm just surmising with your monitors, but that's exactly how larger flat-panel displays work, and I'd assume Microsoft would try to mirror those methods.
Upgrade to Win 7 (seems logical, may still have a three-year-old free upgrade)
Buy Windows 8 against all the common sense on the internet
Windows seems to have alienated users since Vista came out, really. Only recently have I realised what a irritating system it is to use once you want to do more than just look at lolcats. Sometimes seems like Windows, as an OS, can rather stifle the humble laptop.
Also, I found another 'interesting' change in the Metro interface: What do you do when you are on a webpage and you want to access the (auto-hiding) URL bar? First person to guess correctly gets a free meme.
That could be true, I don't know what Ctrl-D does, but I was looking for the mouse command.Also, I found another 'interesting' change in the Metro interface: What do you do when you are on a webpage and you want to access the (auto-hiding) URL bar? First person to guess correctly gets a free meme.
CTRL+D
Did I get it?
I like that! I've always been about the keyboard shortcuts anyway.Keyboard shortcuts FTW.
friggin mice.
Windows uses a system of software for handling multimedia that it calls “DirectX”. DirectX is responsible for how video is displayed, 3D graphics are drawn, and how music is played. Because of this, it is responsible for how your computer games appear on your screen (as well as other things).
It's planned obsolescence. There's no real reason why Win 7 couldn't run it other than MS is forcibly future fucking those who don't upgrade. Developers and consumers both.clever bastards... I'm sort of upset with microsoft for this now
forcibly future fuckingSay that five times fast.
I'm also talking about being unable to utilize the full capability of your graphics card. Is some bullshit.There's gotta be some sort of loophole...there's always a tweakable registry key or something, right?
clever bastards... I'm sort of upset with microsoft for this now
well I spent the 80's in an ovary, my digital experiences in the nineties were mostly comprised of word processing and phonics computer games
It's happened before, behind the scenes - look at the way the end-of-life for Windows XP got put back, and back (at least for corporate customers). At work, I was still getting new computers from Dell with XP pre-installed as little as 18 months ago.