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09-22-2012, 07:45 AM | #46 | ||
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A nice, straight-up challenge to see whose vision prevails in the long run. Anyway, here's what Win8 is bringing to the table on the Laptop front: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-3121_7-...laptop-market/ Quote:
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09-22-2012, 01:36 PM | #47 | |
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But I don't consider this "Multi-Tasking". Basically, you "freeze" an application to the background and operate another one. But I'd like to operate 2, 3 or 4 apps in parallel. A basic task, such as copy/paste from a browser window to an email or from one email to another, is a nightmare of inefficiency. You go back to the email client. But you don't see the last email opened, but the email client without open email. Or you may see the email, but it didn't remember the last position. On a Windows system, I simply would open another browser session. Having 2 browsers, next to each other. Not 2 tabs, but 2 browsers. Android definitely is improving rapidly. But, in my opinion, not quite there yet. iOs is miles behind in that regard. Last edited by mgmueller; 09-22-2012 at 01:39 PM. |
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09-22-2012, 01:40 PM | #48 |
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Now that MacBook Airs and ultrabook PCs are so thin and light, I really don't see the justification for owning a "work tablet." There is so much you can do with a real computer that is still dramatically out of reach for other devices.
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09-22-2012, 01:56 PM | #49 |
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Which is why the closest thing I have to a tablet is a convertible hybrid (currently dual boot Win 7 & Win 8 preview), and the first actual tablet that interested me to the point of wanting one is the forthcoming Surface Pro.
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09-22-2012, 02:28 PM | #50 | |
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There is Windows 8 RT, and there is 'real' Windows 8. |
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09-22-2012, 02:48 PM | #51 | |
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And as light as a MacBook Air is, it's still about twice the weight of an iPad, and has half the battery life (and if you are spending a day outside the office, 10 hours vs. 5 hours is a big deal). |
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09-22-2012, 02:48 PM | #52 | |
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So I guess it depends on whether you see Metro as something added to the OS, or a part of it. I, myself, can't decide. I enjoy using it on a hybrid touch device, but it only really feels integrated when app switching or using the new menu system to open programs. |
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09-22-2012, 03:24 PM | #53 | |
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Also, as far as I understand (this is not from personal experience), Windows 8 RT does in fact include a desktop. RT comes with a basic version of the MS Office suite, and the four included applications (Word, Excel, Power Point and One Note) are not Metro apps. I expect some other standard Windows applications will be included too (Windows Explorer and such). What you can't do is install third party applications (desktop applications, that is); it's a compatibility issue, since RT runs on ARM processors. Last edited by franYo; 09-22-2012 at 03:27 PM. |
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09-22-2012, 04:43 PM | #54 |
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Correctly so. The term for that is task-switching.
True-multitasking requires that multiple applications be active simultaneously and that (at least) the OS keep track of each application's exact state. The lowest level of multi-tasking is cooperative multi-tasking (ala MacOS Switcher, circa 1990) where only one app runs at a time but it can be interrupted, paused, and its state saved so you can switch to another app. The highest level (and highest quality) of multitasking is when the OS preemptively interrupts the apps that are active and divides available CPU cycles to keep them all running simultaneously without loss of data or responsiveness (the apps don't even know they've been interrupted). How well OSes handle the scheduling of multple simultaneous apps, giving priority to time-critical/active apps while deemphasizing the inactive ones is one measure of a polished high quality OS versus a crude, simpler one. |
09-22-2012, 04:59 PM | #55 | |
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Another way to put it is that Windows has a core section devoted to plumbing, a section that runs x86 Windows Apps (roughly equivalent to Windows7) and a *new* section that runs new ("don't call it Metro or we get sued in Germany") Apps. Windows RT has all the core plumbing of full Windows and the New Section but not the x86 section. The Developer Tools for the New Apps *automatically* generate both x86 and ARM versions of the New Windows Apps. Give it a while and most *new* apps that run on x86 Windows will be running on RT. This is *not* new. Windows has *always* had other built-in "sections" for running other types of Applications; DOS, POSIX, Win16, Win32, dot.Net, etc... Similarly, MS has already changed the GUI on Windows no less than 4 times. And every time a portion of the customer base throws tantrums, screams, and curses at the "clearly inferior" new GUI. Eventually they adapt and discover that the new GUI isn't all that bad and has its uses and a few years later when MS evolves the GUI again they start cursing the new GUI... |
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09-22-2012, 05:23 PM | #56 | |
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Similarly, about the only complaints I remember about XP's GUI was that it had rounded corners on the windows and shadows on the mouse pointer. It's only since XP that people have been complaining about each new release being a step backwards in usability. |
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09-22-2012, 06:30 PM | #57 | ||
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09-22-2012, 07:08 PM | #58 |
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I think w8 may very well end up beating iOS and android in the end.
MS was late to the GUI too, and look how that turned out. They were late to the internet (early versions of IE were a joke, but they crushed Netscape eventually). Bing is now the only real competition to Google. They're killing it with Xbox. Sure they fail plenty (Zune?), but they got plenty of cash for cushion. They're now doing some very interesting stuff with surface and Kinect. W8 looks awkward now because they're trying to bridge old windows with the new metro. (Apple is sort of trying to make OSX more like iOS, with mixed results at best.). But eventually people will get with the program. Remember vista did not fail; it merely evolved to windows7. |
09-22-2012, 07:45 PM | #59 | |
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http://toastytech.com/guis/win95.html And before that there were Command Line fans who complained of the mouse-driven interface instead of the short, clean command line interface where you could touch-type your way all over instead of having to reach for the mouse and chase a cursor all over. The issue is never whether there is a valid rationale behind the changes but rather that there *are* changes. |
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09-22-2012, 07:56 PM | #60 |
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Windows won the desktop GUI wars because it was the cheapest viable option.
The first really usable version of Windows was 3.0, and at that time you could buy a Unix workstation ($10,000+), a Mac ($5,000-10,000?), an IBM PC with OS/2 ($2,000-10,000?), or a generic PC with Windows ($1,000-2,000?). Prices are based on what I could find on the web and I don't remember whether early OS/2 ran on generic PCs as well as PS/2. Windows was a joke compared to a Sun workstation, but you could buy a new car for the difference in price. Even OS/2 required more powerful hardware than Windows and came with a lot less free software. Pretty soon Windows had the largest software market overall, and when Windows 95 came out it was all over for the competition. Windows will not be the cheapest option on tablets, will not have the largest tablet software base, and will still be seen as the cheap, low-quality brand it always was. Perhaps they can sell to business markets that are still tied to Windows, but I honestly can't see how they can sell Windows on consumer tablets short of massively subsidising tablet OEMs to push the price way down. Users looking for a premium brand will keep buying iPads, us cheapskates who don't want the Apple lock-in will keep buying Android. |
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