Windows 8

TempestBlayze wrote:

Wow, Windows 8 apparently sold 40 million in launch month. I really think the $40 price point helped that out. Still not sure if I want it on my new computer.

The latest figure does not mean that 40 million users have adopted Windows 8. Many of the sales are to PC manufacturers, who in turn sell a large number of machines to companies, very few of which are using Windows 8 yet.

Not sure it is clear yet if the price was even a factor at all.

parallaxview wrote:

Quick question for you all. Anyone using XBox Music? If so how is it? I am using Rdio today and am pretty happy, but the idea of a locker service on top of the streaming has me interested.

Like EvilHomer3k, I really like it. My wife and I have been subscribers for years--we're still grandfathered in on the old $15/month plan that gives you 10 DRM-free songs per month along with the all-you-can-eat service. The catalog is (slightly) larger than iTunes, but I do still occasionally come across things that aren't available. It has lost some functionality in the move to Xbox Music, like the playlist sharing feature in the Social. Apparently, I was one of about a half dozen people that ever actually used it. Also, while the SmartDJ function is still good, apparently the music exploration interface is gone, which is a shame. It's still definitely worth the money.

[quote=conejote]

parallaxview wrote:

Quick question for you all. Anyone using XBox Music? If so how is it? I am using Rdio today and am pretty happy, but the idea of a locker service on top of the streaming has me interested.

I like the service, but the application interface is just terrible. When managing playlists, I have yet to find a way to copy songs from one playlist to another without going back and exploring the artist and just adding them from there. And that none of this supports Windows Phone 7 phones is still a sore spot--especially since they're still planning to launch Windows Phone 7.8 devices next year.

There's some rumours going around about "Windows Blue", likely an interim release, or a move to an annual release away from big releases. The Verge also adds that it could be cheap or free.

I'm not quite sure whether to put much into that, but it would be interesting to see MS move towards a more rolling release of just "Windows", one main version, that refreshes every year rather than a bigger shift each time. I can't help thinking they would try and tie it to a online subscription though, rather than just making each release cheap and easy to acquire, and easy to upgrade to the latest. Looking at something like the xbox and how that has moved towards services I wonder if it'll be the same for windows, don't charge a large amount once (especially now).

Quick cross-post from the kickstarter thread in EE.

VLC has a kickstarter to make it Metro capable on Win8.

More info on Win8 and DVD playback support.

Am I the only one that has been thus far underwhelmed with the Metro offerings? I love windows 8 but the app store needs a bunch of work.

The Store needs work, and the Apps themselves need work. Way too much space is just wasted on my 18" screen.

I'm running this on my "alternate OS" laptop now. I'm using Start8 for my Desktop Start Menu now. Anyone have real opinion on what the best option is for that role?

LiquidMantis wrote:

I'm running this on my "alternate OS" laptop now. I'm using Start8 for my Desktop Start Menu now. Anyone have real opinion on what the best option is for that role?

Not sure if I understand you correctly, but when I was running the preview with Start8 I would boot to the Start Screen to see all of the live tile updates (which sometimes they didn't btw). When in a Modern t app the start button would return to the Start Screen first. Two clicks to get to the Desktop. When in Desktop, start button would run the start menu and there was an option to invoke the Start Screen after holding the Windows key for over a second - which is a great feature.

IMO, Start8 fixes the biggest shortcoming of Windows 8.

Nevermind. I figured it out.

This is going to take some getting used to.

Has this been linked yet? http://retroui.com

It seems like the half-way point between desktop and metro that I would be almost comfortable with.

So what is the general consensus at this time. Is Win8 better for gaming?
(Just aiming at performance. Not Steam vs App store etc.)

Scratched wrote:

Has this been linked yet? http://retroui.com

It seems like the half-way point between desktop and metro that I would be almost comfortable with.

Looks awesome. I always thought MS could've avoided all this nonsense if they didn't hide the task bar and allowed Modern apps to be windowed.

Sparhawk wrote:

So what is the general consensus at this time. Is Win8 better for gaming?
(Just aiming at performance. Not Steam vs App store etc.)

I think it's meant to be a little bit better, nothing night and day, but the general improvements you'll see with a few more years of development time.

Hey, I have an issue that I've been working around so far with just copying/pasting, but it's starting to get annoying.

Basically, clicking hyperlinks in anything that isn't a browser to start with just doesn't open them. Ever. This includes other applications that are supposed to launch browser plugins like Battlefield 3, so to start the game I had to go straight to the battlelog website and log in there to get the plugin to run. Clicking the shortcut in origin that would normally launch the battlelog browser plugin just does nothing, as do hyperlinks in emails in thunderbird, and every other app.

I found some suggestions regarding running things in admin mode, so I tried that for origin and it didn't work.

Anybody know what the deal is?

Thin_J wrote:

Hey, I have an issue that I've been working around so far with just copying/pasting, but it's starting to get annoying.

Basically, clicking hyperlinks in anything that isn't a browser to start with just doesn't open them. Ever. This includes other applications that are supposed to launch browser plugins like Battlefield 3, so to start the game I had to go straight to the battlelog website and log in there to get the plugin to run. Clicking the shortcut in origin that would normally launch the battlelog browser plugin just does nothing, as do hyperlinks in emails in thunderbird, and every other app.

I found some suggestions regarding running things in admin mode, so I tried that for origin and it didn't work.

Anybody know what the deal is?

I had the same thing before, I was using Chromium then, but it wasn't installed right. The association with links therefor didn't work.
Make sure your default browser is associated with URLs. (Control Panel - Default Programs)
Hope this works!

I installed it tonight.

There are ads.

There are ads in this OS that I bought and paid for. I do not understand this. And no, it doesn't make it better that those ads are in the video store.

Of course, in the middle of typing my outrage, I discovered the smart DJ feature and it's playing more than just things on my HDD. It's free. What a cool thing this is (it doesn't know who Joey Cape is, however).

I dunno, I'm still trying to figure this OS out. Anyone using Start8 or some other kind of start menu? Any good?

Hot tips? Cool tricks? Make me love this OS.

Edit: luls. I knew smart DJ was too good to be true. Unskippable ad for... something after about a half hour. Ah well.

oilypenguin wrote:

I installed it tonight.

There are ads.

There are ads in this OS that I bought and paid for. I do not understand this. And no, it doesn't make it better that those ads are in the video store.

Of course, in the middle of typing my outrage, I discovered the smart DJ feature and it's playing more than just things on my HDD. It's free. What a cool thing this is (it doesn't know who Joey Cape is, however).

I dunno, I'm still trying to figure this OS out. Anyone using Start8 or some other kind of start menu? Any good?

Hot tips? Cool tricks? Make me love this OS.

Edit: luls. I knew smart DJ was too good to be true. Unskippable ad for... something after about a half hour. Ah well.

where are said ads? in the app store or something? I havent seen any yet

Blotto The Clown wrote:
oilypenguin wrote:

I installed it tonight.

There are ads.

There are ads in this OS that I bought and paid for. I do not understand this. And no, it doesn't make it better that those ads are in the video store.

Of course, in the middle of typing my outrage, I discovered the smart DJ feature and it's playing more than just things on my HDD. It's free. What a cool thing this is (it doesn't know who Joey Cape is, however).

I dunno, I'm still trying to figure this OS out. Anyone using Start8 or some other kind of start menu? Any good?

Hot tips? Cool tricks? Make me love this OS.

Edit: luls. I knew smart DJ was too good to be true. Unskippable ad for... something after about a half hour. Ah well.

where are said ads? in the app store or something? I havent seen any yet

Think he means in the stock Microsoft apps like Weather.

No, he means in the video and music channels.

See completely I get being annoyed by that. Thankfully... I have no plans whatsoever to ever use their video or music channels.

There are ads in this OS that I bought and paid for.

Haven't tried it myself, but apparently they've monetized Solitaire. Yes, that's right, Solitaire now has ads, the second or third time you run it, and from then on.

Like, somehow, that program isn't already long since finished, and paid for hundreds of millions of times.

I see little significant difference between that and sticking videos on your desktop. "This operating system brought to you by KIA!"

Hate ads? Use linux, it will be the only safe harbor soon.

parallaxview wrote:

Hate ads? Use linux, it will be the only safe harbor soon.

or FreeBSD!

Even Ubuntu is advertising at its users; by default, if you do a search of your local filesystem, your search terms are transmitted to Ubuntu, and then you get Amazon results for what you searched for.

Seriously. You can opt out of this, but you shouldn't have to.

Honestly, I'd rather see Ubuntu charge for the OS, than to do this. With the Unity fustercluck, I wouldn't pay them anyway, but as of 10.04, I'd have been willing to spend maybe as much as $50 on it. It was so, so nice in that release.

They oughta try putting a donate link on the download page.... 'hey, if you like this, would you please kick us a few dollars?'

Malor wrote:

They oughta try putting a donate link on the download page.... 'hey, if you like this, would you please kick us a few dollars?'

They did that at the same time they rolled out the new version with ads.

Well, I looked just now and didn't see one -- but at the same time, I'd be unwilling to give them a dime if I knew the OS was advertising at me by default, even if I knew I was going to turn it off.

I guess my opinion doesn't really matter, because I already wouldn't give them anything for inflicting Unity on me.

edit: oh, you know, this is the Win8 thread, we're getting rather off-track here. Sorry!

parallaxview wrote:

Hate ads? Use linux, it will be the only safe harbor soon.

IMAGE(http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t22/Gumbie84/ohnoez.gif)

Dude, when f*cking Solitaire has ads, that's uncalled for.