Windows 8 really worth it?

[AmEv]

Possible problem is, TGS? The way Win8 is behaving, Win9 will simply be the Modern interface. No Destkop, period. Which means NO destkop apps. And the fact that all apps HAVE TO come through the market? Goodbye open-source and freeware apps on Windows.

[Konrad]

Can't say I like where the cloud is going. It almost seems like a sophisticated distributed-internet version of the old IBM dumb terminals ... only the front-end "shell" of an OS, apps, and data stored on your computer, the real meat hidden somewhere deep in Fort Microsoft. Again, great for a mobile device, not wanted on my dinosaur desktop computing.

[AmEv]

^The more things change, the more they stay the same.


Seriously, I don't CARE how fast Internet gets; NOTHING beats having files live and in your hands.

Despite what big companies think, there IS such a thing as "No Internet Available".

[Konrad]

Ah, the day came when I realized things I had recorded "permanently" on my DVR were disappearing. Without notice, without fanfare, just quietly slipping out the back door.

It seems that when the limited licenses expire, the syndicates simply erase all access. Not very permanent at all. Nice of them to never inform you, and it makes you wonder what else they may have deleted (although, truthfully, if you don't even remember missing items then they probably weren't very important).

Screw DRM, screw the cloud, save files, save bandwidth, support your local hard drive!

(It's also nice to get away from the spam, ads, and malware.)

[d_stilgar]

Possible problem is, TGS? The way Win8 is behaving, Win9 will simply be the Modern interface. No Destkop, period. Which means NO destkop apps. And the fact that all apps HAVE TO come through the market? Goodbye open-source and freeware apps on Windows.

This is, in fact, my only real complaint about Windows 8. The marketplace is anti-competitive and is a way for MS to get more money for providing essentially zero service to developers.

I might be slightly ok with it if it meant a complete end to viruses and malware, but it won't.

[AmEv]

^Yes. So, what would that mean? Windows 9 couldn't run Steam, Origin, GoG, or anything like that.


The push to Linux by Valve was because they were thinking in the future. If Windows can't run Steam, then they don't get any money. They can't just push to their Mac client as not everybody can afford a Mac.

[Konrad]

Windows will keep supporting Steam/etc until Microsoft bludgeons into those markets with their own version. Then it's just the usual pattern of Microsoft-EEE, within a few years it's standard issue on every Windows distro and the mainstream forgets that there used to be (better, competitive, often free) alternatives.

I'm thinking Microsoft just hasn't concluded Steam is a lucrative market, yet.

[AmEv]

^Windows Store.

[dr.walrus]

Possible problem is, TGS? The way Win8 is behaving, Win9 will simply be the Modern interface. No Destkop, period. Which means NO destkop apps. And the fact that all apps HAVE TO come through the market? Goodbye open-source and freeware apps on Windows.

As a .NET developer, I can tell you categorically that that's not going to happen

[AmEv]

Maybe not. It just feels that way.


Only time will tell.