Let's tackle both issues - but separately. 1. No tablet PCs that can run Windows 8? Then what is the SAMSUNG Series 7 (which was seen all over ICES)? It wasn't a one-off, or a special edition - the tablet is shipping (with Windows 7) today. You may mean no ARM tablets; however, if that's what you mean, say so. 2. The issue with Metro on traditional hardware (non-touch devices in particular) is not usability, to be honest, but perception. We've gotten used to device-specific user interfaces; therefore when Metro (which does have similarities to Windows Phone) came along, the desktop-centered userbase (which is the majority of the Windows 7 userbase by a large margin) howled in protest because they weren't the only UI in town any more. It's like union members (especially those in public-sector unions) in Wisconsin after the election of Gov. Scott Walker - the wake-up call was rather rude (even though he had said during his campaign exactly what he had planned, and what he would, in fact, do). Given that we have, in fact, seen the traditional UI in later builds, that should make plain to all the fearmongers that the traditional (non-Metro) UI remains an option, and in place. What *really* needs to be shown and/or detailed before the public beta (or even before a leak of a pre-beta) is the UI-selection screen - that should, in fact, shut a lot of naysayers up.
He did not say there are no Tablet PCs available in the market. He said an average user does not have a Tablet PC.
And that has been because there have been VERY few tablet PCs that have the capability of running Windows 7 (in fact, other than the Series 7 and bigger brother Series 9, can anybody name five?). Tablets and slates by and large have been (deliberately) incapable of running a full-fledged operating system other than a Linux distribution - in fact, back in the days of XP TabletPC Edition, weren't the majority of those tablets underequipped compared to Windows XP notebooks and laptops, let alone desktops? (Point of fact - quite aside from the touch interface, the Series 7 takes a back seat to very few NOTEBOOK PCs of today; all it really lacks is a standard physical keyboard.) That is, in fact, one point that FrugalTech got right - tablets and slates, by and large, have been targeted at the *appliance* market - not the portable-computer market. The blame there lies with OEMs, not Microsoft. (Kudos to Samsung, in fact, for the Series 7 - it's a tablet PC for those that want a full-fledged PC in a tablet formfactor.) That was, in fact, the major bone I had to pick with the few tablets that came with XP TPC Edition - they were basically glorified appliances - not full-fledged portable PCs in and of themselves, and their specs showed it. That same issue is also why I referred to Windows 8 as a *correction* - which the specifications for Windows 8 tablet and slate x86 PCs firmly show - no under-specced *appliance* devices need apply.
Which is why I made the second point - UI choices. I've stated quite bluntly that not even all tablet and slate PC users may want Metro as a UI (just as not all keyboard and mouse portable OR desktop users want to necessarily remain with the traditional UI for Windows as we have known it). I have no issues with Metro as a UI on a traditional desktop - that just makes me different. However, the biggest reason for all the fearmongering is that the WDP had no UI chooser. That UI selection screen is one item that a proper beta/Customer Preview *must* have - if only to waylay the fearmongering - if not stop it dead. An honest UI choice (let's face facts - that is the one area where Linux distributionsd and even the BSDs whip Windows rather badly) would actually go a LONG way to slowing down, if not actually halting, the decline of marketshare growth of Windows on PCs of all form-factors.
Don't get me started, PGHammer. That's a bunch of hooey. Just when I was getting to appreciate your views on the Win8 UI, you have to go and do that. Why? This is not a political forum, PGHammer.
Finally, I've joined MDL Heard a lot about @canouna Okay now, coming to business, can anybody tell me why did Microsoft introduce 16-bit Application Support as a setting in the Control Panel? It doesn't work by the way... I tried DOOM, WOLFENSTEIN 3D, PRINCE OF PERSIA - neither of them worked...
@canouna i wanted to ask a few question out of curiosity , how do microsoft compile their windows build , using super computer or only 1 computer and how much time does it normally take... thx