Windows 8 - the Features, Applications and News Thread

Curio said:
How can I pin regular ol' IE to Metro?
Click to expand...

If you go to IE10 on the desktop then go to tools>internet options>programs there is a drop down box which also you to force desktop mode from all links whether in metro or the desktop. Hope this helps.
 
This is looking worse the more I hear about it MS are taking a massive chance as they obviously want to dominate everything so not even including flash support over silverlight it going to backfire alone in a big way its not possible to convert all the flash based content to silverlight & why should anyone when most people are happy with Windows 7 already why could they not just enhance that instead :(

The best thing to do would have been a W7/8 hybrid OS.
 
Calling it Windows RT is just so much fail. To laymen "RT" means nothing. To developers it means "Runtime". An operating system isn't a "runtime".

Why not just call it "Windows OS" if they're going for the white-box approach. Or hell, dust off the old "Windows NT" or "Windows New Technology" ;)

Putting WMC into an option pack is a good idea IMO. Most people don't use WMC. And those that do normally spend a few hundred quid on home theatre PC hardware anyway. So what is an extra 10 or 20 quid anyway?
 
AWPC said:
This is looking worse the more I hear about it MS are taking a massive chance as they obviously want to dominate everything so not even including flash support over silverlight it going to backfire alone in a big way its not possible to convert all the flash based content to silverlight & why should anyone when most people are happy with Windows 7 already why could they not just enhance that instead :(

The best thing to do would have been a W7/8 hybrid OS.
Click to expand...

There'll still be flash/silverlight support on the traditional desktop, just not through apps built for metro - no different to how Apple have done it for iOS.

NathanE said:
Calling it Windows RT is just so much fail. To laymen "RT" means nothing. To developers it means "Runtime". An operating system isn't a "runtime".

Why not just call it "Windows OS" if they're going for the white-box approach. Or hell, dust off the old "Windows NT" or "Windows New Technology" ;)

Putting WMC into an option pack is a good idea IMO. Most people don't use WMC. And those that do normally spend a few hundred quid on home theatre PC hardware anyway. So what is an extra 10 or 20 quid anyway?
Click to expand...

They won't sell/market Windows RT though. To the public they'll be marketed as Windows 8 Tablets/set top boxes etc by whoever makes the device.

Not sure WMC is a good idea...remember Vista Ultimate extras...remember WHS being farmed out to the server team. If people are paying for it, then they'll expect some improvements and support. Not sure it'll happen.

The cost itself is nothing, but if it's the same as in Win7 where it's included then you'd hope they'd reduce the cost of the Win 8 retail/upgrade...can't see that happening either.
 
On the desktop I don't see how flash cannot be allowed - especially for those of us not using IE. On Chrome and Firefox there is already a different install of Flash from the IE install. So I agree, in will only be on tablets that there is no Flash. It seems a shame, though, that tablet users won't be able to watch BBC News videos etc.

On Windows 8, I do wonder about what will be included. WMC isn't something I use but I am sure it is very popular with some people so it seems odd not to include it. I wonder what else Windows will leave out when we come to buy it .... or not.
 
It seems like a great OS so far - whether it will be successful is another matter. I'm of the opinion that they should just keep Windows 7 as the Enterprise OS, and then market Windows 8 as purely a mobile/media alternative instead. There's room for both. If they try and ram 8 down the business world's throat then it will fail like Vista.

No way will my work switch to Windows 8 - they'll stick with 7 for at least 5 years anyway, but the Metro screen will probably be enough to put them off 8 completely....."I don't want that ****....where's me start button?" etc, etc. I'm afraid the boring corporate world isn't ready for Windows 8, and the "trendier" companies who are using Mac's won't switch. It could be a rocky transition for MS.
 
prescott28 said:
Suicide - for Microsoft - if they want tablets used for businesses.
Click to expand...

What is stopping you installing Windows 8 Pro on a Intel tablet? Nothing. What is stopping an OEM doing the same? Nothing. The differences in Metro between Windows RT? Nothing. Does Windows 8 "regular editions" have the WinRT API? Of course.

There was ALWAYS going to be market segregation. ARM for light stylish consumer devices. Intel x86 for prosumer and corporate tablets.

I don't find the lack of domain/GP support in Windows RT to be all that surprising. I'd actually say it was *expected*.

The articles doing the rounds on the various misinformed tech websites are just hilarious. The journalists running those places don't have a single clue how things work or the direction the market is heading.
 
Last edited:
In typical Microsoft fashion, where others see WOA's lack of proper domain support as a fundamental flaw, they see it as a engineering problem.

Think about it for second. Why would a company want lots of WOA devices that they probably don't even own (i.e. the whole "bring your own" device technology spring that is happening) to be joined to their domain? It would be a huge hole in enterprise security.

So they've solved this problem by creating a new product for enterprises called Windows Intune. The details are sketchy at the moment but it's clear that this will be some sort of lightweight security policy management and corporate application advertisement/deployment/upgrade system that will operate with WOA devices and others. The lack of domain group policy is not a major shortcoming because, quite simply, WOA devices are already a sandboxed walled garden environment to the extreme anyway (even more so than iDevices, which have more holes than swiss cheese in their "walled garden".) DRM like this is making the old fashioned practice of granular group policy management as almost extinct.



Jeffrey Sutherland, a Program Manager Lead in Microsoft’s Management Systems Group, says this in his recent blog post:

“For WOA, we have integrated a new management client that can communicate with a management infrastructure in the cloud to deliver LOB apps to users. “You’ll hear more about this management infrastructure at a later date from our friends on the System Center blog, so this post will focus on the benefits and capabilities of the WOA management client itself.”
 
Last edited:
And then of course there is the point that iDevices don't seem to be having too many problems gaining corporate acceptance. And they certainly can't join domains either.

One rule for MS, another for Apple? Even if only subconsciously?
 
What's more ominous is... does this spell the beginning of the end of the corporate domain as we know it? The future is all going to be tablet and other mobile devices. Your "desk" at your workplace will, in general, simply be some monitors, a keyboard and a docking station for your tablet.

In a mobile workforce environment of the future, where peer to peer and remote working becomes the norm, where DRM and "walled garden" OSes are the norm.... surely the venerable "corporate domain" will become an old relic?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom