Windows Blue build 9364 leaked to the internet

I think the public would respect them a lot more if they did admit to the mistake. The only thing worse than making a big mistake, is making a big mistake, then not admitting it, and then going on to make even more big mistakes... But I agree, they won't change anything yet...

 

After some of the things I've heard today about Windows Blue I've decided to leave Windows 8 for Windows 7. My level of distrust toward MS has caused me to suspend and reverse course.

 

Looks like I'll Be staying on XP for a long, long, long, time

 

maybe it's not so much admitting a mistake as just staying on the goal they set out to do: trying to be competitive in the tablet/mobile market and integrate all those together, including desktop.
for better of for worse...

personally, i have tamed Metro into submission, so it's a non-issue for me.

 

The last day was full of new Windows Blue related articles on Neowin (I don't think there is a better source for things like this, lol), here are the latest ones for anyone interested:

Windows Store Apps will receive updates automatically in Windows Blue

Hands-on with Windows Blue

This is the file manager app for the modern UI in Windows Blue

Windows Blue has removed 'system image recovery,' leaves us a bit perplexed

Windows Blue includes better multi-monitor support

Microsoft has created a new team inside Windows to build ‘secret' apps

Windows RT to get a Blue update as well

IE11 to appear as Firefox to avoid legacy IE CSS

 

i've heard Blue will be free for owners of any previous Windows version.

can anyone confirm this?

 

It seems, they only ever build upon what they've already done. It seems to me they've integrated Metro so deep into the core of the OS that the only hope between the tablet vs desktop option is by beginning from the ground up. Unfortunately, not going to happen by track record. Hate to say it but within the coming years, It’s time to move on.

 

Sadly I just learned that the registry hack that the excellent StartisBack utilizes will not work on Blue. They've actually gone to the trouble of recoding Explorer.exe to prevent most other 3rd party apps from doing anything useful. This is an insult that leaves me speechless. They’ve actually gone out of their way to force a demented vision on the end-user. Anyone with an IQ over that of a pointy headed cretin (perhaps that's why Ballmer doesn't wear a toupée- it would slide off) realizes that Metro on the desktop is misguided in so many ways that discussion is pointless.

 

My 2 cents.
My horrible experience with Windows 8 goes beyond the crappy
tile nonsense. I had so much trouble with cd/dvds that I took
it off my computer and went back to Windows 7.

 

I wish Microsoft removed the ridiculous metro GUI!

 

Yes. - But I have another wish: please MS, REMOVE Ballmer very soon from company in your own interest! - Stop using drugs in Redmond and then sober again the false believe that "normal" programs will be obsolete and be replaced soon by "apps", THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN!!! - Windows is what is is now because of DEVELOPERS (do you remember Mr. B?) and you are driving customers and developers away with your stupid move to that rotten Apple strategy. We (many, many million people worldwide) don't want stores, we don't want apps, we want our professional Windows and using the DESKTOP and NORMAL programs! - If you move forcefully to "apps" you won't beat Apple and you will at the same time alienate all your customers from past decades and many will switch to Linux (I will!). Please, people with a brain @ MS (if there are any left!): make a REVOLUTION in Redmond and fire Ballmer and those women responsible for that horrible touch GUI nonsense! And then give us back windows and leave your tile disaster for touch devices, if you are selling any. If you don't do this before Win7 isn't supported anymore -> MS is doomed!

 

Does that mean this Blue build affects all the other Start Menu programs too? I don't know anything about how they work.

 

If that does turn out to be true it reflects, in my opinion, the real value of Blue/Windows 8.

Still, even for free, I would not consider trading Windows 2000, XP home or Pro, Windows 7, or even Vista (I've purchased all of these) for W-8 and/or 'Blue'.

 

Microsoft talks publicly about Blue and Build 2013
http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-talks-publicly-about-blue-and-build-2013-7000013154/
http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2013/03/26/looking-back-and-springing-ahead.aspx

 

Finally!

 

"Second, we declared a fundamental shift in our business from a software company to a devices and services company as outlined in Steve Ballmer’s letter to shareholders."

Yeah, that explains a lot... but where does that leave all of us users of the traditional desktop and laptop OS? Interesting times...

 

March 26, 2013:
Windows 'Blue' shows desktop's days are numbered

 

Wow, that file manager looks awful IMHO.

I'm not even sure why they need a file manager for the so-called "Modern" UI. The whole tablet paradigm seems to be about simplifying everything to make it easier for casual users. You don't need to know the structure of your system or where your files are located; they're just there in a "library" of some sort, and you only interact with them through the apps. I don't think my non-tech-savvy brother ever touches Windows Explorer (unless a window is launched by an application) as it is now.

The Modern UI also shows everything as fullscreen. Such a file manager would lack the ability to show multiple windows side-by-side, which I find very useful in certain situations. But, I guess I'm a dinosaur because I like seeing more than one application on the screen sometimes.

 

This is pure madness!!! The biggest enemy of MS is indeed Ballmer (the dumb guy always sweating and shouting), I said it before and sadly it's more than true. - I am so sorry for all those great developers and all those wonderful programs that I love. Just because MS is trying to be like Apple (and therefore annihilating it's own right to exist because an Apple copy cat is not needed, windows was always the other choice for people like me who will NEVER buy Apple products for a lot of reasons!) all this is endangered and probably really destroyed in a few years.

I don't want APPS (WinRT junk and others), I have no use for them, I won't ever use a friggin' touch device as my computer system @ home ... if they think they don't need customers like me they will get what they deserve. WinRT is no windows for me, it's just crap. And forcing it onto desktop users (without any need!) is just pure arrogance and they deserve for that the biggest shitstorm that ever happened in this universe.

So far only analysts are saying that and they are wrong more often than right. But if this is really where MS is headed I am out! I have no problem leaving frigging Tiles, but I am very, very sorry for all those developers I supported in the past because they have superb products on the market. Those programs are REAL programs, not APP-crap! I am gonna write all of them what I think about Windows 8 / Blue and I hope that they organize themselves and send their protests to Redmond.

Windows / Tiles is NOTHING (!) without those developers. MS got so big because of the programs that where developed. And now they want to destroy all that for a madman's dream of becoming the 2nd Apple company. It's pure madness. Look at Ballmer, listen to him ... this person is insane and his decisions are the same. It's so sad that one person can destroy a company and a great product. Hope dies last, but at this moment I have no hope for Windows anymore. - Linux Mint looks interesting and maybe some of the mentioned developers are switching to Linux too .. I sure hope so.

 

The affects aren't limited to just traditional desktop and laptop OSs. The ongoing shift aware from traditional software products and independent computing devices towards ubiquitous software as a service and devices coupled to those services is affecting everything from mobile platforms to desktop platforms to business server architectures to various types of embedded systems.

Fundamentally but not entirely separate from that issue is the issue of user interfaces. Microsoft is cutting back on more feature rich user interfaces that work well for large displays and traditional input devices while forcing people to become more familiar with and use less sophisticated user interfaces that will work across all platforms. This makes sense from a cut costs and maximize cross-compatibility POV. Unfortunately, it means that those who need or simply prefer the more sophisticated user interfaces will suffer.

This is a double whammy for those who want to avoid the SaaS/coupled-device paradigm and who also want more sophisticated user interfaces.

For the short term, some traditional software and independent computing solutions will continue to be available to the Windows ecosystem and the user-interface issue will be mitigated by the availability of third-party tools which restore desired functionality. It is difficult to know for how long that will continue. Many people, even I to a limited extent, resisted the idea that these two big shifts would really happen and happen relatively quickly. I think there is a natural tendency to not believe what you don't want to believe. One thing that is easy to overlook, or at least give proper weight, is the self-reinforcing nature of all of this. Older software developers and users who have known and used something may appreciate that something, but younger software developers and users who grew up with something else will be inclined to think of the something else as acceptable, normal, the best way. Most of the younger ones will, I think, serve to reinforce the shift in progress rather than correct it. Older ones exit the prime consumption years bracket, retire, and eventually die. So their influence fades away too.

So there is, I think, good reason to expect that these shifts will continue and at a pace we are likely to underestimate. If someone doesn't like one or both of these shifts I think they have but two choices. They either give in to what they don't like or they fight it. Once you've forced yourself to make that unpleasant decision then at least you know what direction to be heading.

 

If this is true, that's pretty amazing. Although I can't really say I'm surprised.

 

Fortunately, there are some alternatives.. I have pretty much made my decision on all this. But it will probably be a few more years before this machine dies and I have to move in a new direction.

 

In reference to that article linked above with the analysts and their predictions, I think that there's a difference between the transition from DOS/keyboard to Windows/keyboard & mouse, and what we're seeing now. In my view Win8 and Blue represent an attempt to capture mobile market share at the expense of the desktop, using Windows as the leverage.

They're pretty much getting their butts kicked everywhere else except the desktop, and they're forecasting the future which probably doesn't look very pretty to them with the status quo. This looks to me to be a gamble with their best hand while they still have a chance to influence the outcome in their favor, in hopes of retaining dominance by shifting it in another direction.

The article and it's analysts seem to me to come from the perspective that MS is simply pushing us forward in technology and making us adapt to the future even though a lot of us don't like it, and that we'll all look back with hindsight and see that MS was right after all. My perspective is that this is a calculated move by MS attempting to steer an outcome before they lose their influence that they presently have.

 

I don't know if MS will be found to be "right", in the future. Really all they are doing is what has already been stated before, playing catch-up. Desktop users are getting the shaft because of it. MS is bound and determined to be a player in the game, even though they're so late to it that I'm not sure they actually can be a major player unless Android or iOS suddenly plunges for some inexplicable reason.

Windows 8 was the start of the end of MS caring one bit about the desktop world, even though that's where they are arguably better suited and where they've gained their money. I'm not surprised they are trying to disable 3rd party tinkering. For one thing it's a security measure (for some), but the biggest reason is they want their way and their way alone. This goes for Windows, Office and any other products they have. I'm not so stupid as to hold on to the fantasy that desktops are still in their glory days, but I can tell you this, I can do a hell of a lot more on my 500 dollar desktop than I can with their 800 dollar tablet.

 

Yep, you got that right. And I'll bet that most corporate/business users will say exactly the same thing.