Rumor - Microsoft to Release Windows Blue, the First Free Windows Ever

[lkgriffith]

you know you are all speculating on something that has not even come out yet, why not wait till it comes out then rip it apart or not

1. Speculating and arguing about it is so much fun.
2. Considering Microsoft's past performance, the odds are that they will backtrack and pretend it was part of the plan from the beginning.
3. Considering Microsoft's stiff necked stupidity exhibited on ME, Vista, and Windows 8, the odds are that they will continue to alternate between a stiff necked stupidity and a pretend fixing the bad stuff until they go bankrupt.
4. The bottom line is Microsoft believes it is the master of the universe and is surprised when the universe says "no you aren't". The evidence supports the speculation that they will continue to be surprised.
5. Speculating and arguing about it is so much fun.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Just maybe those of us who so intensely dislike Windows 8 for the desktop have many very valid reasons for doing so. Our PERSONAL and PROFESSIONAL needs, wants, requirements, and situations are seriously impacted by the many missing elements that were taken out by Microsoft. They wanted Windows 8 to work on the grossly limited environments of smart phones and touch tablets. Its desktop capabilities was all but totally sacrificed for that goal. It is not that we fear something new, we want the new actually to be better for us than the old for OUR purposes. At least enough better that it is worth the cost of changing.

If all of that were true, I'd completely agree with you. But nothing has been removed (aside from the start menu) that impacts any work from getting done. I also completely agree about the touch-interface being limited to a mouse and keyboard setup. But you aren't forced or limited to using that UI. The one criticism I'll give is that the option of the start menu should have been included. Upon install or during the first run when the OOBE process is running, the user should be given a choice of which default UI to use...and the desktop option should have come with a start menu. Once you get passed that and add it in yourself through one of dozens of methods, there's nothing limiting about it. Treating this as a roadblock is incorrect. It's a minor speedbump, and nothing more.

This includes what has been done to Visual Studio 2012 and that total abomination of Microsoft Office. Yes, they can be used but only with constant frustration and seriously reduced productivity IN OUR HANDS. They are not worth the effort to use.

I'll agree with you on that one. I tried to use Office 2013, and rather than getting used to it, I despised it even more. Office 2013 reminds me of the Tiled interface of Windows 8, which I also don't use. In Windows 8...I have a choice. In Office 2013, I don't.

How about live and let live as a general rule of social and professional interaction? You use what works for you and I will use what works for me. We each get to decide what works for ourselves. You are not evil for embracing Windows 8 and I am not evil for rejecting it. We are simply different. Why isn't that simply OK? You seem to embrace part of that approach. Why not go all the way and accept that the I.T. world in Italy is simply different from yours but is still workable for them even though it won't work for you?

If you go back through my comments, you'll see one common theme. Yes, I am defend Windows 8...but I'm the one supporting both options as viable, great OSes. Your words and suggestions are great, but should be pointed at the people who do nothing but flame Windows 8 supporters. I've mentioned here and in other threads that I am not keep some of my systems at Windows 7 because it works and is also a great and stable OS. The majority of reasons people are rejecting Windows 8 are incorrect or blown way out of proportion, and my efforts to give factual information are usually met with flames, because, as we typically see, when it's "cool to hate" something, many people do.

I made it very clear that the I.T. world in Italy is much different than mine, and what works there wouldn't work here. There's no reason to lecture me on being open-minded. It's my job to be open-minded. That lecture is better saved for the people being closed-minded and flaming others for not agreeing. You're lecture tolerance to the person who's openly saying there are two great and valid Windows OSes to use...not just one. Going by your comments, too many people decide to turn themselves off to Windows 8, then do nothing but zip around the forums spreading their opinion (one that's only valid for themselves) as fact, which is counter-productive to anyone trying to get those factual answers.

All of your comments and points are valid...you've just been pointing the finger at the wrong side when saying them. Please don't take that as me directing any type of anger or frustration at you. That's not my intent.

The bottom line is, I see why Microsoft went in the direction they did with Windows 8 (except the start menu removal). The more I use Windows 8 at home and in my professional network, the more I like it. I've been thrilled with Windows 7 since it's release to TechNet in August of 2009 and I'm still thrilled with it. I'm just sick and tired of seeing Windows 8 and the people using it undeservedly bashed and flamed. That's all.

 

[Pedroc1999]

I was joking but god knows, there might be 1 or 2 adds maybe during install

 

[lkgriffith]

DeaconFrost: "But nothing has been removed (aside from the start menu) that impacts any work from getting done."

Have you LOOKED at the user interface on the Windows 8 desktop? Flat, featureless, colorless, and little to no ability to choose the colors or styles of any part of the user interface. THAT seriously affects one's interaction with the desktop. Perhaps that doesn't impact the way you work but since I actually USE a computer to produce massive amounts of documentation and working software, it seriously impacts mine. By being an IT manager, I doubt that you spend more than a minute fraction of your time actually using the user interface and trying to design, document, and build workable life critical applications as I do.

I suggest you need to consider the value of aesthetic presentation as well as simply being able to do something somehow. Having the look, feel, form, and function right very much aids productivity. Having it wrong, very much hinders productivity - especially for long and frequent work sessions. Right and wrong very much depends upon the person and his purpose. This is why I say Windows 8 is a toy OS for toys and not a serious productivity tool. It's fine for email, angry birds, browsing the web, viewing videos and pictures, tweeting, and the like but not for creating actual complex content.

Personally, I am unimpressed with a manager who decides for others how they must work and what tools they must work with to solve the problems they are responsible for solving. The ONLY decisions a manager can properly make is go/no go and selecting the correct people to do the work if go. After that, they need to play golf, go fishing, or stay out of the way. If you do, your people's productivity will sky rocket. Nitpick and force them to use tools inappropriate for them and what they are supposed to do and their productivity will crash.

The question is, are you on a power and control trip or are you facilitating problems getting solved? My only power and control trip is that I get to CHOOSE how, why, where, when, and with what I work to solve the problems I choose to solve! If some manager objects to that, then I don't/won't/can't solve his problems because I am not a psychotherapist. I make things that work and work well. Managers are mostly in the way of doing that and do far more harm than good.

 

[DeaconFrost]

I'm sorry, but I don't consider the ability to change the color of my toolbars a productivity matter.

I'm hardly on a power trip, I'm performing the role I am paid to do. Very few of my staff are techno-savvy, and wouldn't want to pick out their own computers. A good manager knows his employees, knows what they need to do, and spends ample time with them to decide on what type of computer will work best for them. I am certainly not hampering their productivity, as I put a lot more time into personalizing the system each person gets than most I.T. Managers would.

What you've decided to do here is take some serious assumptions, incorrect assumptions at that, and use them in an extremely insulting manner. If you wish to debate Windows 8, we can. If you're going to take a holier than thou approach filled with wild speculation into my career, we have nothing left to discuss. The choice is yours.

 

[lkgriffith]

DeaconFrost: I'm sorry, but I don't consider the ability to change the color of my toolbars a productivity matter.

I understand that you don't consider aesthetics and personal choice a matter of productivity. I am saying that you are very wrong in that regard. Especially when the user interface for very long hours while performing a very demanding task.

Final comment: from the content of your posts, I question that you are sensitive enough to the genuine personal requirements of your people to make even close to optimal choices for them. Yes, they get their work done but at what personal cost and lowered productivity? You appear to be oblivious to such things and fail to understand their importance. The important thing for you is that you get to make the choices.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Final comment: from the content of your posts, I question that you are sensitive enough to the genuine personal requirements of your people to make even close to optimal choices for them. Yes, they get their work done but at what personal cost and lowered productivity? You appear to be oblivious to such things and fail to understand their importance. The important thing for you is that you get to make the choices.

Again, you have to go with the personal attack? You know nothing about me, or how I go about my system choices, or how the user is involved in the process, yet again, you insist on making wild, baseless assumptions. I meet with each person's manager/VP, along with the user themselves to discuss the options that fit into our company's price range. They are involved in the process every step of the way, down to the custom applications they may need installed for them. My users have total control of their systems (so much for your power trip theory), and often complain that I give them too many choices or options. Again, you know absolutely nothing about me, and the more assumptions you make, the farther from the truth you are getting.

No, I don't consider aesthetics to be a matter of productivity, because they simply aren't. A person is not going to complete their budget spreadsheets faster because they can change their active menu bar to red instead of blue. A developer isn't going to catch bugs in their code better if they are able to customize the color of their toolbars. I could make plenty of wild, baseless assumptions on a person who thinks that's actually important for productivity, but I'm not going to follow you down the low-blow-road. Besides, you can change these things in Windows 8, so it's a moot point to even bring up.

 

[x BlueRobot]

Can I just say, Windows 8 is like a 'acquired taste' you either like it or you don't.

 

[Slartybart]

Don't worry, my children.... cloud computing will come and it will go. The start menu wasn't removed, it became the elephant in the room - the whole screen is the start menu (at last that's how I understand it).

Flat versus 3D: It does look "cheap", but you have to remember when all of those cartoonish characters and icons were all the rage.

I do like how the MS websites look and the fact that there is much better information is presented in a far more organized fashion. It's very clean and very useful.

I also like how Skype looks flattened - also very clean.

re Blue.... it's a code name from what I read. Windows 8 will be the OS for years. I'm sure it will change over time, so don't fret too much about the name. You will need a valid XP, Vista, Win7, or Win8 license as the rumor stands today to take advantage of Blue.

I guess I should shut up now since I don't have Win8 and this is a Win7 forum.

This was fun! Thanks to all for the opinions expressed. Interesting how much everyone agrees, yet disagrees.

Bill
.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Can I just say, Windows 8 is like a 'acquired taste' you either like it or you don't.

It's an extremely valid point, and luckily, there's a very good OS to fall back to, or stick with in Windows 7. There's no reason to bash the people who like Windows 8, though, or rip apart the OS just because it's new or different. We actually have two very good, very valid OSes that are readily available to choose from. That should be celebrated, rather than used as a divisive topic.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

They seem to fear tablets, still cling to a 12 year old OS, and plan on running a desktop OS on a server.

It's not fear, its low budget. Economy here has been in lockdown for a while even before the crisis (absentee politicians) and there is barely enough cash to stay afloat for most smallish companies.

If they needed added security on a server, why would they avoid a server OS?

because the differences between 7 Pro and the server version are minimal (they said "Win server 2008 RT2 is just Win7 pro with a facelift"), while costs are higher and there is more fuss to get licences. I'm not talking of server farms of hosting services, just company servers.

Not to disregard the significant amount of servers running some kind of linux.

I also don't quite get their comments about needing to turn everything into an app.

Win8 pro tablets are basically a more portable laptop without a keyboard (but with the same price), so I thought that you were talking of the ARM versions running RT (which are also cheaper).
Also, all jobs that require a portable device are already filled with a ruggedized PDAs that work fine in far worse conditions than what a tablet could withstand. Tablets would not add anything, only costs and risks.

My company upgrades computers every three years.

heh, what they *cough*trash*cough* sell to me and similar shops still has stickers with XP pro licences, and on average was bought in 2006-2007. Laptops are an exception, and I can find anything with just a year or two, but that's because managers want their toys to be bleeding edge even if they won't do more than Office with them.

I get cheap MAK licenses due to our non-profit status.

Hey man, you're cheating.
Although I've seen my share of pirated stuff in companies (some companies with 100+ win 7 workstations and no licence to be found anywhere... a few Server 2008 R2 Datacenter worth around 5000 $ installed on suspicious machines.. :huh, so we can say they even the field with that.

If I closed my mind to new products and only looked backwards, I'd be failing myself and my company.

Wasting resources in useless upgrades is worse, especially if the company isn't swimming in cash. Bulk of the jobs are data insertion-retrieval and office applications from fixed emplacements. They could run Win 2000 and it would be fine.
Designers with some special need often use decrepit Mac tower computers but I've seen second-hand gaming rigs (lol two GTX 270 cards in SLI to run Maya and 3D Max) being pressed into service as well.

Then again, managers change laptop and smartphone every year, use as their personal cars the company-owned SUVs, and ... you get the idea.

 

[robinb9]

Can I just say, Windows 8 is like a 'acquired taste' you either like it or you don't.

lol that fits

 

[Dallas 7]

DeaconFrost: "My job as I.T. Manager is to find the solution that works best for each person, based on the role they fill and the work they do. My graphic designer has far different needs that our Office Manager, as an example. Someone who sits in a cubicle all day has far different needs than someone who's on the road 4-5 days a week."

Just maybe those of us who so intensely dislike Windows 8 for the desktop have many very valid reasons for doing so. Our PERSONAL and PROFESSIONAL needs, wants, requirements, and situations are seriously impacted by the many missing elements that were taken out by Microsoft. They wanted Windows 8 to work on the grossly limited environments of smart phones and touch tablets. Its desktop capabilities was all but totally sacrificed for that goal. It is not that we fear something new, we want the new actually to be better for us than the old for OUR purposes. At least enough better that it is worth the cost of changing.

As it stands, Windows 8 fails to reach as good as crappy for use on the desktop. This includes what has been done to Visual Studio 2012 and that total abomination of Microsoft Office. Yes, they can be used but only with constant frustration and seriously reduced productivity IN OUR HANDS. They are not worth the effort to use.

How about live and let live as a general rule of social and professional interaction? You use what works for you and I will use what works for me. We each get to decide what works for ourselves. You are not evil for embracing Windows 8 and I am not evil for rejecting it. We are simply different. Why isn't that simply OK? You seem to embrace part of that approach. Why not go all the way and accept that the I.T. world in Italy is simply different from yours but is still workable for them even though it won't work for you?

Uh Oh, you sound almost as "closed minded" as me! LOL

Excellent points! W8 was not designed to serve and impress desktop users, it was designed and optimized for touch screens and to save on battery life for phones and tablets at the expense of the desktop PC.
MS was so worried about cutting into Apple's mobile market, that they threw their own desktop users under the bus in pursuit of Apple's tablets.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Then again, managers change laptop and smartphone every year, use as their personal cars the company-owned SUVs, and ... you get the idea.

Two jobs ago, I worked for a typical "dot com" where money was no object, and the CEO's business and personal finances didn't have a clear separation. Money was spent on anything and everything he wanted, including a shower in his massive office, with a glass (clear) door. His personal assistant made $90k, and I'm sure that shower was part of her job roles. The one big lesson I've learned by working for a non-profit is that money doesn't grow on trees, and that I have to spend extra efforts getting the best deals or discounts I can find. Every dollar saved can be used elsewhere.