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Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

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Re: Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

#231

Post by YeGoblynQueenne »

chmln wrote: post #163
yummyfajitas wrote: post #144

I recently bought a Lenovo sporting Windows 10 and decided to give it a fair try. I've been using Windows exclusively on my personal laptop for about 2 months and so far it's a good experience. This is after 16 years of running linux (or briefly a mac) on the desktop. The window manager is tolerable (not as good as Xmonad, but equivalent to Unity). Windows subsystem for linux is letting me get my work done with no pr…

My experience has been the complete opposite. I've got a Lenovo Y50 running Win10. With a HiDPI display, it is pretty much unusable. While OS elements scale rather well, most of the software doesn't, even using the "DPI fix." [1] There are also ads on lock screen. [2] The "terminal", PowerShell, is slow to launch, path completions are crawling. The subsystem for linux is great, and certainly a move in the right direc…

>> The "terminal", PowerShell, is slow to launch, path completions are crawling.

Powershell often seems to hang on startup when it's actually already up and running. You're left looking at an empty terminal, waiting for a prompt. If that happens, you can try pressing enter, at which point you'll most likely get your prompt, er, promptly.

Re: Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

#232

Post by YeGoblynQueenne »

Pxtl wrote: post #180
dispose13432 wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Windows subsystem for linux is letting me get my work done with no problems While it's not bad, they blew the terminal completely!! Why couldn't they at least use something like cygwin's terminal? You can't delete text properly.

Yeah, the Windows terminal is an albatross since time immemorial. The problem was that the last attempt to rewrite it got vicious scope-creep and we ended up with powershell instead of just a non-stupid terminal.

Powershell is cool. I mean, what's wrong with it? It's the most un-windows-y part of windows. It's a modern shell, I wish bash was that nice to you (quick example: command option completion).

Re: Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

#234

Post by ZenoArrow »

ebbv wrote: post #199
ZenoArrow wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Do something truly innovative with all your billions Microsoft" What exactly are you looking for? Are devices like HoloLens and Kinect and Surface Studio not innovative enough for you? What would you class as 'truly innovative'?

No, they aren't. Kinect was using motion tracking and stereo vision technology that already existed. They just refined it and it was clearly a dead end. Also it was just a "me too" response to the success of the Wii. Surface studio is just a big touch screen. Nothing new. HoloLens is the most innovative but again this kind of AR has been around for a while, it's a refinement and I think it will just be a dead end lik…

> "the web"

Okay, but that's sort of technological shift is rare. Nothing else in my lifetime has come close.

>"home broadband"

Just a refinement of the web.

>"Linux"

Linux is based on designs from the 70s, it was old before it was first released.

>"smartphones"

I hope you realise smartphones did not start with the iPhone. The smartphone has gone through a long period of iterative design improvements.

If you're looking for a product that emerges out of a vacuum, you won't find it, all products build upon their predecessors, even the web (which made use of existing telecommunications infrastructure and existing work in the field of computing).

What you will find are new forms that build upon the past. For example, quantum computing is a relatively new field, but has roots in the existing fields of computer science, physics and electrical engineering.

Would quantum computing count as 'truly innovative' to you? If so...

https://stationq.microsoft.com/

Re: Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

#235

Post by aswerty »

joe_fro wrote: post #229
aswerty wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a massive fan of .NET and MVC as a development stack and think VS is the bees knees when it comes to my IDE (with a Vi plugin of course). But I'm hugely excited about .NET Core for the sole reason of abandoning the Windows OS. It really is a horror, it comes bundled with crapware which gets reinstalled when a major update is applied, the major updates are foisted upon you whether you want them or not, after a maj…

What bothers me is that all the data collection is on by default. If I purchase something I expect it to have my best interests at heart, if I get something for free I expect it to have the providers best interests at heart. Since you buy your computer, all data collection should be opt in. If Microsoft wants to give me a free computer, then make it opt out.

That's a good way of articulating the issue.

There is something particularly sinister about your OS gathering your data. You can switch out any other software for an alternative but changing OS is a whole other ball game (and one only the technically minded would go through).

Back when Ubuntu brought in their Amazon spyware partnership I jumped ship for Linux Mint. Even turning this stuff off doesn't provide any peace of mind, the system for gathering your data is still in place and why should the user trust that turning the anti-feature off will be honored or that the switch won't be reset during an update.

Re: Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

#236

Post by discordance »

ktamura wrote: post #165
yummyfajitas wrote: post #144

I recently bought a Lenovo sporting Windows 10 and decided to give it a fair try. I've been using Windows exclusively on my personal laptop for about 2 months and so far it's a good experience. This is after 16 years of running linux (or briefly a mac) on the desktop. The window manager is tolerable (not as good as Xmonad, but equivalent to Unity). Windows subsystem for linux is letting me get my work done with no pr…

>Cortana is actually pretty cool. A fellow Windows user (with a decent experience on Linux as well). Is there a way to use Cortana from PowerShell/cmdline?

I assume you want to be programmatic with Cortana? - Look up Cortana Skill Kit. It's kind of like Echo's SDK, but cross platform:

https://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2016/12/13/cortana-sk...

Re: Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

#237

Post by [deleted] »

scholia wrote: post #65
kolme wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- Windows is not free, they just offered a free update for a limited time, which is already over. - Basically, every non-apple consumer computer comes with Windows preinstalled, and they charge a licence (I think around 50$). That's a solid business model right there. - Most of the people around me who are not programmers, prefer MS Office to do their work, and they swear by Excel. Google Apps still doesn't cut it fo…

> they charge a licence (I think around 300€) Pretty interesting if Microsoft can charge €300 for an operating system that ships on €150 (£150/$199 or less) laptops ;-) The Windows installation fee used to be around $42-$44 and some versions cost around $11-15 (Windows XP Ultra Low Cost PC version). IBM used to pay $27 (which we know because it complained bitterly about Microsoft tripling the price). The tablet versi…

[deleted]

Re: Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

#238

Post by jandrese »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #185
KirinDave wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They aren't even the default now, right?

My windows machine does not display them, and I don't remember even being asked.

IIRC the wording wasn't "let us display ads", it was cloaked in some deceptive language.

Re: Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

#239

Post by freehunter »

MiddleEndian wrote: post #224
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, the "ads on the lock screen" thing is a wee overblown. Microsoft is the single-party provider of any of their so called "suggested content". Aka, you saw Tomb Raider not because Square Enix paid to be on the lock screen, but because Microsoft was trying to push that you can get AAA games in the Windows Store. The Surface has been up there, I think they put a movie-related one up once or twice, again, referring…

>you saw Tomb Raider not because Square Enix paid to be on the lock screen, but because Microsoft was trying to push that you can get AAA games in the Windows Store I would still consider this to be an ad.

Not any more than "upgrade to Windows 7 Pro to access these features" that they've had for years.

Re: Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

#240

Post by rubyfan »

slezakattack wrote: post #81
rubyfan wrote: post #70

This article loses credibility with the opening line... FTA: After years of missteps, the software giant is among the few titans of the 1990s to figure out the new world of mobile technology and cloud computing. Saying MSFT have figured out mobile is a little too much of a stretch. They have tried many things in the space, they have figured out more of what doesn't work than what does. Unfortunately the market doesn'…

They might not be a huge contender in the smart phone market, but are tablets not considered "mobile"? I agree, it might've been more appropriate to not generalize with saying they solved mobile and instead point out a particular mobile offering that is excelling or something.

I don't agree with the notion that Surface and the chincy touch enabled notebooks are mobile. A laptop with a touch screen is still a laptop.

In 2000 no one was talking about Dell or HP/Compaq as leading mobile. They were selling what they still are selling, laptop computers. When Mobile came along people recognized it for what it was, something different than general purpose computing of the past.

To say Metro, Windows Phone, Lumia, the write off and destruction of Nokia or touch enabled laptops were anything but failures of MSFT to figure out mobile is misguided.

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