Easy on the MS hate fellas. Literally every other company on the planet would have done the same things that MS has done or went out of business. The FISA courts are issuing legal court orders. If the companies don't comply, I'm sure they risk severe penalties. I've only heard of a few companies that didn't comply, and they went out of business. The real problem was the Patriot act that started all of this nonsense. I wish I could kick all of the congresspersons who voted for that bill in the genitals. Gov't contracts also have a shady history of not renewing contracts if you don't do what they want you to do. They will literally pay twice as much for things that they are contracting rather than continue to do business with someone that won't give them what they want; even if it's not legal. It's not just the US that has these corrupt laws though... I think almost all industrialized nations have them. It seems like the only country that truly cares about privacy and neutrality is Sweden these days.
I don't think he is having a go at MS. It seems sensible for governments to to avoid cloud based stuff. Sensible for corporations as well. Sensible for everyone to avoid, really.
What we need is a few more governments and lawyers involved in the computing industry. Yep, that's what we need, about as much as I need another ex-wife.
quite true, thanx.. exactly my thoughts.. just wonder how a sovereign government can let it all happen.. call me naive if you like..
i did take a peek.. bytebuster.. i would be the very last to condone brussels salaries.. as you rightly said, nothing new.. still leaves me baffled how they take up arms to a sea of trouble..
Another happen is Germany was also banned Windows 8 and 8.1. I don't know what's happen??? I'm crazy now!!! And even Windows 9 is an official name of Microsoft Company??? When it will release Windows 9?
I cannot see any restrictions here in Germany as of now so I cannot understand what you mean by "banned" ... ... and W9 will be released next year fall for public if the road-map follows the usual rules
I have to agree. The Windows store is a joke and useless programs... metro ought to be a 'feature' that consumers can install/uninstall. China also banned virtual currency. Hopefully other countries will follow suit.
Hmm... actually as of early dec. 2013 China banned financial institutions from 'unregulated digital currency' transactions. eg. bitcoins, bbqcoins, dogecoins, litecoins, etc. This is also the case in Thailand. - Meanwhile South Korea has stated it will not recognize bitcoins as a legitimate currency. A lot of todays 'regulated currency' *digital and physical* could be considered 'virtual currency'. - 'Virtual currency' (VC) is just an interpretation.
I think the problem is that store apps are just time wasters that people do in between doing real life things. 'Sit in a Doctor's office waiting room and have somewhere between 5 and 30 minutes? Pull out the phone with your 2 dollar app.' The problem with mixing it with the desktop OS is that we don't need it at all. The kind of time wasting we do besides playing games or rendering videos or whatever is just surfing the internet or commenting on forum posts. There's no need for the little phone/tablet-era time wasters on a desktop computer. Even on a laptop it's pointless because you don't really take your laptop with you to the Doctor's office.
I agree it should be a choice for desktop users to make, not for those who are using touch-screens. My idea of consumer-based system should be for any individual to have the right to choose whether to install such feature or not. By adding it to the operating system originally takes away such thing and it's what makes the different of what Windows 8 or 8.1 is all about. Nevertheless, I like the Metro-apps display at the start-up of my Windows 8.1. Maybe because I admire 'pretty triviality'. They give my system screen little artistic look. The store on one hand is very useful for somebody like me who like to install games from there rather than downloading game apps to my desktop before installing them while I still have to delete the installers later in some cases. There is more to Metro than meet the eyes though. On the other hand, I think it is more or less like the kiddie's corner where you can easily create a comfort zone for the younger ones. It usefulness cannot be over-emphasized in that regard. There is reason why China banned the use of Windows in the government sector. I read one of the reasons is because of information security through the cloud-based Windows 8 or 8.1. After-all, Edward Snowden's has been able to prove to the world how the tech giants in the United States are required to share some of their private information with the US government. Merely looking at the Chinese government action, it is clear they are taking pro-active measure to protect their secrets.
Windows 9 also will have modern UI but we don't know if it looks the same as on 8/8.1 versions. As far as information made it to the internet, it looks like that a machine specific selection can/will be done to run W9 as metro-free version on desktop and a touch/Metro version on tablets and laptops with touch interface. edit: ... and I believe that W9 performs auto-selecting on machines either run desktop only style with the remake of a kind of old Start menu and those with touch interface have the complete Start-screen like 8/8.1 without old Start menu on desktop if there still will be any available in 9
Think smart think microsoft they should did it allready with update 1 for windows 8 but will be nice to have a choice for windows 9 metro or no metro !!
That is the idea of what the Windows 9(threshold) is speculated to be. It looks like Microsoft staff is really working hard around the clock to create this modern UI. Nevertheless, the modern UI has not been clearly defined for us to know what really makes it 'modern' in all ramification.
Yes and when Mr. Snowden runs out of revelations, the people will forget about the U.S. Govt and they'll go back to being oblivious. Maybe we can get one last cloud-less OS out of it while it lasts though. I'm actually a little surprised that there hasn't been more whistle-blowers from big companies complaining about handing over all this user-data to secret govt operations. I'm also really surprised that social networking sites like facebook didn't take a bigger hit with that whole scandal. People must just not realize how all their data can identify everything about their life even on a meta level. With the right databases you could know if a woman was pregnant, who the father was, where she works, what stores she shops at, where she lives, what room she sleeps in, and everything about her family.