Windows 8 --------- 20120717 http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/windows-8-technology-shift-coming-end-win32-apps Windows 8 technology shift: The coming end of Win32 apps ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley reported that users who do not have Windows 7 and wish to upgrade to the coming Windows 8 will lose out; Microsoft said that only PCs running Windows 7 will be eligible "for a full upgrade to Windows 8, one that retains applications, data files, user accounts and Windows settings." Furthermore, under "What won't work," Foley reported, Microsoft is also "not allowing users interested in doing a cross-architecture -- i.e., 32-bit to 64-bit -- install to do so. Whether running Vista or Windows 7, these users won't be able to keep their existing Windows settings, personal files and applications or data. They won't be allowed to upgrade this way, period." 20120726 http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/07/steams-newell-windows-8-catastrophe-driving-valve-to-embrace-linux/ 20120827 http://gizmodo.com/5937649/windows-8-tells-microsoft-about-everything-you-install-not-very-securely 20121004 http://owened.co.nz/how-microsoft-might-sink-its-own-ecosystem The Windows ecosystem reboot is bad news if you plan to move country 20121014 http://www.techsociotech.com/2012/10/windows-8-hardware-that-will-physically.html Windows 8: Hardware That Will Physically Hurt 20121111 http://dendory.net/blog.php?id=509ec629 The amount of crap computer users have to put up with is incredible 20130103 http://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/31207/do-people-really-want-to-look-at-multiple-windows-at-once Do people really want to look at multiple windows at once? 20130306 http://www.zdnet.com/five-reasons-why-windows-8-has-failed-7000012104/ 20130417 http://www.drdobbs.com/windows/pulling-back-from-windows-8/240153041?cid=DDJ_nl_upd_2013-04-16_h&elq=d67a27e58d004b2c873f3e6f0c45a8ae 20130508 http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/steve-ballmer-the-boss-who-bet-his-company-on-windows-8--and-lost-as-computer-giant-announces-biggest-product-uturn-since-new-coke-8605776.html Steve Ballmer: The boss who bet his company on Windows 8 – and lost as computer giant announces 'biggest product U-turn since New Coke' Updated version of operating system will take into account complaints made by users as decision to overhaul the much-maligned operating system has put Bill Gates’s successor under pressure 20130514 http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/05/microsofts-teeny-tiny-unreadable-windows-8-product-key 20130629 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130627/07462223636/result-stupid-protectionism-microsoft-kinect-cant-be-used-microsoft-windows-pcs.shtml http://www.muktworld.com/articles/microsoft-locks-xbox-one-kinect-cant-use-it-pcs/27 The Result Of Stupid Protectionism: Microsoft Kinect Can't Be Used On Microsoft Windows PCs With all the recent coverage of how Microsoft handled the Xbox One release, in which it had originally planned on limiting used games use and requiring an internet connection to function, before subsequently walking all that back amid the understandable outcry, you may have been under the impression that Microsoft learned its lesson. Perhaps you thought that they would no longer go about product releases in a locked-up, protectionist fashion. Well, you'd be wrong, of course. Recent reports indicate that Microsoft is reversing the way they handled tinkering capabilities on their Kinect device for their new console, locking the device up this go around. 20140115 http://www.zdnet.com/biggest-hurdle-to-overcome-with-windows-9-the-dead-end-7000025115/?s_cid=e539&ttag=e539 Biggest hurdle to overcome with Windows 9: The dead end Information is beginning to leak about Windows 9, and the conversation has turned to how badly Microsoft has failed so far with Windows 8. It's being said that Microsoft is floundering, with Windows 8 even being compared to Vista. Some wonder how Windows 9 might turn things around, but that may be harder than Microsoft can manage. There's a big problem in the Windows ecosystem that a new version probably can't address. WRH: This business model of forcing everyone to buy a new operating system every few years can survive in a healthy economy where people have the extra cash to always purchase the latest and greatest. But such vanity-driven marketing starts to break down when the economy tightens and people make their choices over upgrades based on whether those upgrades will really make their lives better. Along the way, Microsoft got so far into making their new operating systems LOOK slick and modern they forgot to actually make them more functional (except for the NSA, of course) which led to the disasters of VISTA and Windows 8, which came with lots of pretty new background screens and icons, and little else to recommend it to the end user. Coupled with the bloated overhead of DRM (which blocks legally-owned media as often as the illegal) and awareness that the "Trusted Computing Environment" has a back door open to Microsoft, NSA, and cyber-crooks who figure them out, it is small wonder people are turning away from Microsoft towards open-source LINUX (and don't even get me started about what a nightmare Exchange has become). Simpler is better and frankly the very best thing Microsoft could do is go back to their last stable operating system, XP, and just work to improve it, then sell us upgrades that actually improve performance, rather than merely arrive in this year's fashion colors. XP works fine for me. I don't see any reason to stop using it other than some money-junkie at Microsoft wants another yacht and intends to pay for it by forcing us to buy the same product, an operating system, over and over and over and over again. I do have one VISTA machine that was donated to me because the owner screwed it up and wound up buying a machine that would run XP. I record the daily radio shows on that VISTA box; other than that I turn it off. I have helped friends with Windows 7 and Windows 8 machines and I see no increased functionality for the end user, and deliberate obfuscation of the system level (possibly to conceal the NSA's machinations) that make dealing with the numerous bugs in the code far more difficult than it should reasonably be. I have no intentions of ever buying another OS from Microsoft. Give me XP or give me Linux. 20140417 http://www.infoworld.com/t/microsoft-windows/microsoft-confirms-its-dropping-windows-81-support-240407 Microsoft confirms it's dropping Windows 8.1 support Microsoft TechNet blog makes clear that Windows 8.1 will not be patched; users must get Windows 8.1 Update if they want security patches 20140716 http://www.polygon.com/2014/7/15/5901051/microsoft-could-lay-off-thousands-this-week Microsoft could lay off thousands this week This could be Microsoft's biggest employee cut in the company's history, according to the report, with layoffs "probably" centering in the Nokia and Microsoft divisions as well as its marketing and engineering departments. The latter, according to Bloomberg's sources, could include the global Xbox team and its U.K. European headquarters. The report states that individuals "with knowledge of the company's plans" said Microsoft's restructuring is still in the planning phases, but could be carried out as early as this week. When asked for comment on the report, a Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment. WRH: Danged Windows 8! Microsoft's arrogance got the better of them. They stopped giving the customers what they wanted and forced the customers to buy what Microsoft wanted to sell. I am seeing Windows 8 machines marked down 50% in come places, and Windows 8 is LOSING market share to Win7 and refurbished XP machines. 20140725 http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/22/5928219/microsoft-will-merge-windows-into-one-os Microsoft will merge separate versions of Windows into one unified operating system Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has confirmed that his company will amalgamate all major versions of Windows into one operating system. Speaking on the company's quarterly earnings call today, Nadella told analysts Microsoft will "streamline the next version of Windows from three operating systems into one single converged operating system." Describing the implications of the change, Nadella said "this means one operating system that covers all screen sizes." WRH: This was the long range goal of Microsoft when they started Windows 8. They had to break it up on a platform basis just to get it out the door, but it was always understood that Microsoft wanted a single OS for all platforms to save development costs, no matter how inappropriate and wasteful it is for the end user.