I agree with the OP, Windows 8 sucks. To me it seems like 7 with the fancy metro UI that nobody really likes. P.S. When did this become a government debate lol?
...exasperated with your inability to compare like for like and not make a proper differentiation between various types of Gov etc. However, lemme touch on just one little pearl... Like in 1930-ties, for most of the civilised world? Or for all the countless US homeless today, after the lack of regulation, monitoring etc.? And how were the culprits of that enormous fiasco "punished"? By being bailed out and given countless millions in yet more bonuses?!? All of that money from the taxpayers, given away to bankers and financiers who cooked that vile broth for all of us to eat - is hard earned, of course... You really have no idea what you are saying... Let me give you an example: I knew Geoffrey Broadhurst, one of supposed Nick Leeson's controllers, a "financial director" of Barings Investment Bank, personally. At least £900 millions lost later - what happened to that lot? Let's put aside Geoff's enormous arrogance - how was he punished for his inordinate incompetence? Well, a few years ban on holding an executive directorship. That's all. How much would I get if I robbed somebody of €50? There you go... P.S. The "argument" for such a "hard and exemplary punishment" is that "there are very few people who can "do those jobs", so we must keep them where they are" - and be happy for it... Unbelievable!!!
So would you rather that the job not get done - and *everyone* - guilty or not - deserving or not - gets screwed? That's what is called *making lemons from lemonade*. There's no good (let alone perfect) answer - the only difference is between degrees of bad. And how would YOU propose compensating the victims? Remember, I'm an American - I *lived* that crusterfuque. There was, literally, NO *perfect answer*; in fact, there was no good answer. The only possibilities that were even possible would, as distasteful as it is, allow some of the guilty parties to escape. If the United States had, in fact, DONE as you are suggesting, we would have been absolutely HAMMERED for it - and we would have deserved every single whack. Why? Because the United States has a reputation for NOT playing fast and loose with our own rule of law in public. The *guilty parties* were in banking, in government (a large number in both Houses of Congress - and in both political parties), etc. You would suggest putting them *all* against a nice bullet-pocked wall - in direct contravention to the rule of law? While the idea sounds rather satisfying - it's not legal, let alone constitutional.
I guess it has started when I've tried to make clear that if one buys w8 he'll support monopoly / greed for money / incompetence / accumulation of money and denies innovation. Then I had mentioned the EU penalties for M$..... Surprisingly the vote went down from 55% to 48.12%, it's coincidental I am neither an expert in politics nor in economical matters. It is great to have members here with a lot of input PGHammer even though I have a different opinion I am glad that I have the chance to talk to an US citizen to get info / hear a opinion. Also @gorski, thanks for the input. Well I don't want to let it seem only to be a EU good versus US bad government and rules of economy. There are major differences in ideology concerning economy It seems the US glorifies money much more than the EU. Everything is possible from rags to riches. PGHammer you have said nothing is perfect. This is absolutely right. But you didn't evaluate what is not perfect! Aren't it the humans? Not a company, not a particular idea (capitalism / socialism)? Besides of that the US nation is young and has not much experiences yet. It is and was always the greed of a few and inequality that are responsible that a nation failed. The US market is less regulated. The banker could unfold themselves. Inventing more and more models how to make money. (Always with the US pride kept in mind). It became pathological. Is a hedge-fond a valid way to make money? To bet on the fall of something also? I call this cancer and the US seems far less immune to that sickness. It has to do with ethic an moral. Particular humans are not able to deal with greed. Hence a community has to regulate them! It should now clear after all the banking crisis and the whys. A community's ego is weaker and hence more immune to that cancer. And if once made clear that the greed is responsible for the fall, then it should be clear that there must be mechanisms that take away the money from where it accumulates. How to achieve that is up to the particular gov. (Taxes for the rich, tax relief for the one who re-invests, to control the banks and to forbid some sick products they have created to exploit.). I wouldn't give a damn on the US economy if I am not affected. But if the US economy goes down, the world will follow. My appeal to the US gov: Settle down your ego, cowboy! You are not alone, you are not great. Pure capitalism is vulnerable due to inequality of money. There is no perfect way, yes. But a social aspect keeps something alive much longer. Human's nature is to be social, to be capitalistic means to be anti social. (pro ego)
A *community* also elects a legislature, and when you have a *warm-body* voter base that largely does NOT study the issues, they are prone to manipulation. The Swedish *social democracy* has a few underpinnings that the US has, in fact, deliberately shucked - one of the biggest, in fact, is a tradition of *national service* - do all Swedes still have to serve at least one hitch in the armed forces? One thing I HAVE noticed - nations that have a *national service requirement* are far less likely to run off the rails (financially or otherwise) than nations without one. Could the *community* in Sweden be as simple as that? Any (in fact, every) attempt to bring such a *national service* requirement into US law has been met with vociferous opposition, shouted down, and foced to slink back into the cave it came out of. So how would you get it into law? There ARE cultural differences between nations - it's why a system of governement that works for one won't necessarily work for another - even one right next door. However, there are disadvantages to the "Swedish system", as is the case with the similar system in Switzerland - however, we're so busy looking for the bad one way (risk) we aren't paying any attention to the lack of reward such a conservative system forces. (That is in fact, *why* the US Federal Reserve has been able to keep *fiat-money* interest rates basically zero - neither the Swedes or the Swiss float debt, leaving the United States as the *least-dirty shirt* in the sovereign-debt closet. As long as the Swedes and Swiss stay out, the US Fed gets away with it.) That is, in fact, why Swedes - or Swiss - seeking growth, or even wealth, must do so outside their home countries - neither encourages any sort of risk. The issue still remains tradeoffs, Yen. Risk has downsides - I didn't say otherwise. However, being risk-averse has downsides as well.
I don't think Windows 8 sucks, but that retarded full screen touch interface needs to go. It has no place on a desktop, IMO. With Metro turned off, it behaves like 7 and actually runs a bit smoother and snappier.
I haven't tried Windows 8 yet, but I would have to agree from what I've seen of the Metro GUI, it would be lunacy to have that as the interface for a desktop/laptop. It would only be practical for Windows phone etc, or in the case where a touchscreen is available (it could be a 'secondary' interface). The Metro GUI and 'normal' GUI should be modular, in that if you have Metro turned off (which should be the default on everything but phones), none of the Metro code is loaded into RAM. If using a touchscreen desktop (which you can get), the Metro GUI and normal GUI should be cached (meaning if that RAM is needed, its unloaded). The main pressure Microsoft has is if it looks the same, people think its the same and therefore won't bother. The only saving grace Windwos 7 had with its similar UI to Vista is that it was known to be much faster (hence people seeing it as different). Regardless of this, Windows 7 is nothing more than Windows 6.1 (quite similar to Vista), and Windows 8 is nothing more than Windows 6.2 (quite similar to Windows 7). Its why Windows 7 came out quite quickly after Vista, whereas Vista (Windows 6.0) took a very long time. At least Microsoft aren't doing what is happening with Firefox. Since IE is at version 9, and Chrome is at some high number, people think that Firefox 5 must be therefore quite old. In fact, going by traditional numbering systems, which Windows is still sticking to, Even Firefox 10 is nothing more than what would be say, Firefox 4.6. This brings up a new question. Windows 9 will be based on a new codebase, (in the sense of it being like the difference between XP and Vista/7/8, and not just between Windows Vista and 7, and because of that, will it be versioned Windows 7.0, or will they skip to Windows 9.0? Will they hold off the new codebase and have an intermediary step, which would effectively be Windows 6.5 (maybe even 6.9)?...
Well, there is no rule how developer increment the version numbers. So there is no relation to innovation. I myself have a look at the kernel version. It has been updated from 6.1 to 6.2. (W7--->W8). So there were 3 major updates only (NT branch): NT3.1-->(3.5)-->NT 4.0 NT4.0-->W2000 (5.0) WXP(5.2)--->Vista (6.0) Since it is a minor update only I do not expect a new innovative OS. Also remember when M$ has updated the kernel. They did it at early stage of development already. I conclude they don't care to develop a new desktop OS with a new innovative improvement. The primary intention to M$ to release w8 is to put metro into it, to steal the idea from Apple and to try to earn more money with apps. IMHO W8 DP is not faster than w7 SP1 (compared on SSD). If w8 becomes a success depends on metro.
Well said! Totally agree with you... MS wants to make money with apps... They have been developing Windows 8 since the summer of '09... In about 3-4 months time, it will be 3 damn years of Win 8 development... And what we'll get? A f****** start screen, a sick and ugly mix of Metro + Aero, and some ridiculous Aircraft & Cut the Rope apps on the store! Seriously, in 3 years they ccould have developed an entirely new UI! Is MS kidding us? 3 years just for a start screen, a few metro dialog boxes here and there, and a ribbon? And what does MS think - are we such fools that only the start screen and the refresh/reset feature will make us buy Windows 8?! I can guarantee that the Windows To Go and Hyper-V(with its f****** SLAT requirement) will only be available on the high-end SKUs... So then what's left for the common people? Cut the rope? Damn it! Windows 8 will be a bigtime fail! Its destined to be a failure the way MS approached its development! Windows 7 sold 7 copies per second... It will be more of a miracle if Windows 8 sells 1 copy per 7 minutes! By the way, I would love to have the tweaked Windows 8 Aero in Windows 7... Wish it could somehow happen... Service Pack 2... Please MS, please!
Hmmm. I guess when M$ is noticing that the sales of w8 will be low, then they do the same as they did with Vista. They release particular updates but not for w7 anymore. The same they did with directx10. This didn't work since directx10 is no real improvement compared to directx9. Vista has failed anyway. Together with Vista's dreamscene and many other epic fails it builds the long long row of deep wrongs of M$. They just suck.