[GRLUG] M$* Blue

[Mike Williams]

It's a bit of history repeating itself. In the days of Windows 2000 and 
such, Microsoft did their unification theory between server OS and 
desktop OS. Windows 2000 (and I'm pretty sure NT 4, but this knowledge 
is rusty) had basically identical code for workstation and server 
products. Slight tweaks to the scheduler, different licensing models, 
and the option of installing more server applications were the only 
differences between server and workstation. So server hardware had to 
run the full, fairly processor-intensive for its day, NT 4 GUI on 
servers that nobody ever used as workstations. While 100 megs of memory 
and 4 megs of video memory are trivial these days, servers of the day 
didn't always have that to spare. Linux made a better server OS in many 
cases because you could save a significant fraction of the machine's 
meager resources by not running the GUI.

It's a similar problem with Windows 8. Like a server is not a 
workstation, a desktop is not a tablet! MS figured this out in later 
server versions, differentiating them from the desktop OS even though 
they share quite a bit of code, but they're trying to make something 
that works as both a tablet-on-the-go operating system and a 
desktop-at-real-work, and it isn't working. I've been forced to use 
Windows 8 a bit at work (because somebody, somewhere really loves the 
Surface), and it feels like a toy. This big, animated tiles thing so I 
can quickly pick out the one application I want  to look at, rather than 
the start menu that takes up a small amount of screen space to let me 
add another running application to the five I already have going. 
Windows 8's interface might be perfectly viable if I just need to read 
something during a commute (consuming content), but it sucks for doing 
any real work (creating content).

Yes, I'll get off my soapbox now.

On 05/09/2013 06:00 PM, Thad Ward wrote:
> Except Windows 8 was made from the desire to unify versions across workstations,
> laptops, tablets, and phones. That is the reason why it stinks so badly. I'm sure
> novice users love it, because things work similarly on the phone, tablet, and laptop
> or desktop (if they have either).
>
> On 5/9/2013 10:49 AM, Steve @ HCS wrote:
>
>> On 5/8/2013 4:44 PM, Eric Beversluis wrote:
>>
>>> AP says, "The tune-up...part of a software package given the codename
>>> "Blue," [is] a tacit acknowledgment of the shortcomings of Windows 8." Is
>>> codename "Blue" meant to remind us of the blue screen of death?
>> Probably "Blue" refers to the faces of the windows users who have tried
>> it.  As a tech, i don't like it, as common tools are harder to find.  Hopefully
>> they will split the OS like Apple does.  One version for tablets, one for
>> workstation/laptops.
> _______________________________________________
> grlug mailing list
> grlug at grlug.org
> http://shinobu.grlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/grlug