Windows 8 dead on arrival.

[jj2007]

Interestingly enough, you can still convince Win8 to think it's XP ;-)

[dedndave]

that's a little like putting a chevy 350 engine in a rolls royce so you can work on it   :P

[hutch--]

Or worse, putting a Rolls Royce V8 into an old Chevy.

[dedndave]

vrooom - lol
rolls engines are a thing of beauty
i think if i had one, it would be a show-piece, never to be fired up

i have never been much on fancy cars, really, even though i have had a few caddys
a while back, i had a 78 chevy impala with about 60,000 miles on it
straight-6, 3-speed auto, power steering/brakes, AC
easy to work on and reliable - i was perfectly happy with that car   :P

Z likes her mercedes   ::)
i think for Brits, even moreso than for Yanks, a car is a big social statement

[K_F]

i think for Brits, even moreso than for Yanks, a car is a big social statement

That is a BIG .. understatement !! 

I think I might have mentioned this before..
Both my kids go to a private school which costs big $$$, the eldest is finished. Luckily for us they both obtained scholarships otherwise they simply wouldn't be there.
The most amusing thing I enjoy of the school is when I pick up the kids. It's a Who's Who of who owns the latest, biggest and most expensive car, a kind of $$ snobbery if you wish.
I drive a 10yr old car which is about half (or 1/3) the size of these cars. The looks people give each other.  :P

My eldest said that he always felt as if he was the poorest kid in the school. Mom and I said to him - Well, over the five years of high school we saved on the scholarships, such that we can afford to send you for pilot training all the way to Commercial rating - where are your class mates now?. Maybe the poorest, but we sure use our money wisely and efficiently. Also just because they drive (or have) expensive things don't think they own them - in most cases these people are in debt up to their necks and the bank owns what they drive (or have). True rich people do not show off their money ;)

[Bill Cravener]

If Windows 8 sales don’t improve soon, Microsoft might have to pull a Coke and cut its losses on its radically reengineered OS.

Windows 8 Fizzling, Time For Windows Classic?

[Gunther]

If Windows 8 sales don’t improve soon, Microsoft might have to pull a Coke and cut its losses on its radically reengineered OS.

Windows 8 Fizzling, Time For Windows Classic?

Yes, it's time.

Gunther

[CommonTater]

Microsoft could enjoy a huge upswing in sales... and they already have all the bits and pieces they need.

1) Produce a small core OS... no web browsers,  no dvd burners, no voice recognition and especially not 5,000 drivers nobody ever uses... nothing that's not absolutely essential to booting the thing up and running applications.

2)  Beyond that *everything* is an application.

3) On installation the user is given a choice of UIs ... Desktop, Metro, etc.

4) Now the user can (optionally) go to microsofts's store sight and download what they need, paying as they go or opt for other choices over the net.


IMO... what we are seeing here is the continuation of the same mistake as they made with "Plug and Play"... trying to be all things to all people.  In reality they're simply treating their customers like idiots and distributing a huge payload of stuff that never gets run by anyone.

Bought a new printer... Go and download the drivers.
Added a new usb gadget... yep, get the driver off the net.
Changed your video card... uh, huh, go and get the driver.

Maybe it's time for "Windows Basics".

[Vortex]

Hi CommonTater,

The small core OS sounds like an interesting idea. You are probably thinking something similar to the Linux kernel.

[P1]

One way to save W8, announce W8 nows supports all WXP apps !!!

Regards,  P1

[dedndave]

my older sister just bought a laptop
her options were windows 8 and windows 8
THAT'S how you increase sales

i am not so "nice"   
i would have told the salesman, "either give it to me with windows 7, or i'll buy it elsewhere"
bang ! - "oh, yah, we have one"

[CommonTater]

Hi CommonTater,

The small core OS sounds like an interesting idea. You are probably thinking something similar to the Linux kernel.

In a way, yes... Strip it down to bare essentials... kernel, API, basic desktop... Charge $49.00 for it.
Everything else is an option.

[dedndave]

they'd lose a lot of money, that way
people would....
Everything else is 3rd party

[CommonTater]

they'd lose a lot of money, that way
people would....
Everything else is 3rd party

I'd bet not... If it came up first time with a "store" appy that let people download IE, Office, Speech Recognition etc. at a reasonable price, I'm betting half the world would put in their credit card numbers and do the downloads.

Also, I'd bet real money that with an OS at a reasonable price, piracy would be cut in at least half, which would likely mean 5 times as many people would be paying for their software.

Also nothing stops them from still offering Win7 and Win8 as turnkey systems...  I'm just suggesting a very reasonable alternative for IT departments (who are notoriously slow to upgrade) and Power users who've been crabbing about bloat for a long time.  In fact the latter group have gotten to the point of writing such gems as NLite and VLite for the exact purposes of ripping all the crap out of the OS.

[shankle]

From my reading Nlite and Vlite doesn't work on Windows 7.
If you already have the OS installed what does Nlite/Vlite
do for you then?
Microsoft used to have upgrades for around $30. Which I thought
was fair and reasonable. Now we get this bloated thing with 50
languages of which 49 will never be used. Back in those days
you had the option to install each item presented or not.
My example is just one of the many things that I would like to get rid of.