Microsoft Surface: Just When You Thought Windows 8 Couldn't Suck Harder

He claimed to be leaving on his own and not fired, right?

From what I gather, it wasn't entirely his choice in the matter. Bill Gates was said to have weighed in and said the guy needs to go.

I'm using Windows 8 now. From what I can tell it is two operating systems. The first (the one Windows probably doesn't want you to use) is basically Windows 7. It works fine.

The second OS, is what you would need if you had a tablet. It's as if they created two OS's - one for mobile, one for desktops - and said, fuck it, let's just give them both out as one program so people can choose.

Normally, I would log on and click several programs on my task bar. But now I am put on the "Metro" screen at start up. So I click my browser. Can I click the other programs? No, of course not. Because when you click your browser you're transported to the Windows 7 desktop and then you can click your other preffered programs from the taskbar. In otherwords, for me at least, the Metro "tiles" don't make anything more convenient.

And don't get me started on shutting the thing down. Ctrl-Alt-Del should not bet the first step in a normal shut down protocol.

MS's big problem is they were so fat and happy with their main windows monopoly that they didn't bother to invest in any of the new stuff until years, sometimes most of a decade, too late. Often they did this intentionally simply because they didn't want to encourage a move away from their big money making desk top and laptop software.

Well, now it has bit them in the ass and they'll need 2-3 generations just to turn their current 3rd string offerings into something which matches the current leaders. The problem is that will be a huge amount of money and by the time they do it the competition will have already significantly improved their offerings. It will be like the windows smart phone OS all over again; a day late and a dollar short.

No, the problem was that they bungled it, not that they were late to the party. Prior to iOS and Android, Windows Mobile and Blackberry were the best thing out there (not that it says much).

Interestingly enough, "WIRED" (I think) was saying, recently, that Microsoft has been hamstrung for the past 10-15 years by the settlement of the Clinton Administration's antitrust suit against them.

I don't buy that for a second. They have had billions of dollars to use during that entire time period. With that kind of money you can afford the best people for everything from planning and R&D to marketing and sales. There is no excuse for being late to the party with a clunky hybrid OS to show for it.

I've had Win8 for a bit now. Aside from an initial driver issue that about drove me insane, I've no real complaints. I realize that Metro is totally different UI so am trying to get used to it. I'm sure picking up a Lumia 822 for my birthday will help the transition.

Yet Apple's Iphone division brings in more money than all of Microsoft's divisions.. combined.

Sink that a bit.

It's had more to do with the EU's antitrust suits. Keep in mind that even with the release of Windows 8 the EU is still bitching about internet browsers.

It helps that everything Apple sells costs a lot more than everything else.

They still have billions of dollars to use. One billion dollars is way more than enough to engineer an OS using top notch talent. MS has profited 10's of billions of dollars per year for nearly 2 decades now. Not revenue, profit. It's mind boggling how much money they have made. Money is not a legitimate excuse for MS's failure, leadership is. The ship needs a new captain and better crew.

This isn't the article I read, but it is in a similar vein, if you feel like killing 5 minutes:
http://wmpoweruser.com/microsofts-a...l-the-gloves-come-off-with-the-shackles-also/

UI expert less than thrilled with Windows 8.

More at the link. Coincidentally, as I was typing this, I saw an ad for Windows phone, and the ad gave the impression that Windows phone 8 was identical to Windows 8. This isn't true, of course, and the apps written for Windows phone can't run on Windows 8 or even the Surface RT (which can't run Windows 8 programs).

When Paul Thurrott, the arsekisser and general flag waver of everything M$ says that Surface is a dud, you got a hot mess in your hands. Balmer needs to go, pure and simple.

I discovered a new annoyance with 8 tonight: It isn't nearly as easy to find wireless networks as it is with 7.

Microsoft will no doubt get Windows 8 right (at least more or less) but only after months of Beta testing by unsuspecting early adopters. I never ceased to be amazed at how they continually get away with releasing inadequately tested, buggy software. Premature release, grudging acceptance of problems, months later fixes that should have been caught in proper beta testing more less fixed, with subsequent releases resulting in adequate products before the new "latest and greatest" version gets released. Wash/rinse/repeat.
By the way did anyone see this shot at Microsoft?

I figure if Windows 9 looks and acts like Windows 8, then I'll make the full switch to Ubuntu. I love Windows 7, because I use desktops. I have a cheapie little tablet that uses Android, and aside from the tablet's very low specs it does a fine job. When I have a more advanced tablet, it will also likely be an Android tablet. Those OSes have advanced enough that I don't really need Windows to have a pleasant user experience.

Yeah that isn't really just limited to Microsoft. For example, in Android's most recent release, it is impossible to select the month of December in the date picker. Despite what an easy fix it is (it is literally a couple lines of code in Datepicker.java) there has been no fix forthcoming. Or who could forget antennagate, or the Apple Maps snafu. Point being, Microsoft gets a lot of scorn thrown its way, but rarely any praise, because no one really gets excited about desktops.

Apple's "us vs the world" attitude that has been showcased with the recent legal battles with Samsung and every other tech company they can find any reason to sue, and choice to do battle with Google through the Maps and Default searches on iOS are going to be their undoing. They think they can take on the whole world but I think they are going to find out it is a valuable thing to have a few friends in the long run. I've read they are exploring moving away from their partnership with Intel and start producing their own in house chips. Sounds like a recipe for having your "ecosystem" become 100% incompatible with other technology to me. That is very much a step in the wrong direction in terms of being consumer friendly, although very profitable until people get tired of paying the Apple tax on anything they want to use their devices with.

The reason Apple lost the PC wars was that a closed system just can't innovate as quickly. Because of clones and MS licensing the OS you had far more people working on the IBM platform. The good innovators prospered and the ones that didn't innovate went away (heck, IBM hasn't made "IBM compatible PCs" in decades). This happened with Google and Linux to a degree too. Because they were even more open in some ways than Microsoft, they've pulled ahead in recent years.

Apple's solution is to become even more proprietary? I knew the company wouldn't last long after Jobs croaked.