I'll admit to going on the comment in that article that the upgrade download is "generally 3.5GB"...

So how big/easy for the 'service pack'?


IT is what we make it...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

The final size can vary depending on if you've been keeping up to date or require additional patches to be installed first. It is estimated that the 8.1 download itself is around a gig.

If Microsoft made toasters...

Every time you bought a loaf of bread, you would have to buy a toaster. You wouldn't have to take the toaster, but you'd still have to pay for it anyway. Toaster'95 would weigh 15000 pounds (hence requiring a reinforced steel countertop), draw enough electricity to power a small city, take up 95% of the space in your kitchen, would claim to be the first toaster that lets you control how light or dark you want your toast to be, and would secretly interrogate your other appliances to find out who made them. Everyone would hate Microsoft toasters, but nonetheless would buy them since most of the good bread only works with their toasters.

^^ this :)

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If Microsoft made toasters...

Every time you bought a loaf of bread, you would have to buy a toaster. You wouldn't have to take the toaster, but you'd still have to pay for it anyway. Toaster'95 would weigh 15000 pounds (hence requiring a reinforced steel countertop), draw enough electricity to power a small city, take up 95% of the space in your kitchen, would claim to be the first toaster that lets you control how light or dark you want your toast to be, and would secretly interrogate your other appliances to find out who made them. Everyone would hate Microsoft toasters, but nonetheless would buy them since most of the good bread only works with their toasters.

If Linus Torvalds made toasters...

You couldn't go out and buy a pre-baked loaf of bread, you would have to bake your own whether you knew how to or not. You could ask all sorts of help forums and learn how, thus wasting your time when you could have simply bought a loaf of bread and gone on with your life. You could go out and buy a toaster, but it wouldn't work with most outlets in your house unless you built your own plug and receptacle. You could then brag about having your own personalized toaster, and how you were free from the evils of all Microsoft toasters, but if you moved to a different house, you'd have to redo your outlets and receptacles to be compatible with your toaster. You would then complain about the lack of compatibility and complain about Microsoft not following standards, from which few other companies are making anything to standard either. And every time you wanted to make a different kind of loaf of bread, you'd have to re-compile your toaster's kernel or find the correct library linked in someone else's pre-compiled code. To get differing levels of darkness, you'd have to open up a terminal session and type CHMOD x --toast --[lighter or darker --please don't burn --damn you why did you burn it --how come this thing doesn't just simply work --at least no one can write a virus for this --what is with all the double-dashes anyways --stop processing additional arguments --don't fart on the mouse. For some reason people would accept this as being "free" and would feel smug and superior to all other toaster users, while all Microsoft toaster users would simply have more time to do other things, and thus get more done without having to do everything from scratch.

If Linus Torvalds made toasters...

:D Love it.

T.A.

If Linus Torvalds made toasters...

:D Love it.

T.A.

Trvth!

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Meanwhile and timely:


Windows 8.1 update glitch stops RT starting up

... The Windows 8.1 update has reportedly meant some of the touchscreen devices will not start up properly. Microsoft has removed the update from its website while it looks into what has caused the problems.

At the same time, many people are reporting that the 8.1 update for Internet Explorer does not work well with Outlook and some Google services...


And there are various repeated articles from around the web about how Microsoft Windows may be getting ever more unmaintainable...


IT is what we allow it to become...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Add to that for some very expensive 'disposable hardware':


Surface Pro 2: It'll end up in LANDFILLS because it can't be repaired

Dozens of screws and a 'tar pit' of glue spell 'keep out'

... iFixit's teardown of the new slate reveals that its guts are full of thick, tacky glue and more than 90 screws, just like its predecessor. And just like the first Surface Pro, it earns a Reparability Score of 1 out of 10 – which, as iFixit observed last time around, is the lowest score ever received by any fondleslab.

In fact, a lot of the Surface Pro 2 internals looks familiar. The new motherboard is virtually the same as the old one...

... It's a nice battery, as iFixit noted in its teardown of the first Surface Pro. But it didn't exactly give that slab what you'd call a stellar battery life, and early reports suggest the Surface Pro 2 performs only marginally better.

Microsoft is clearly still expecting a fair amount of heat from the new processor, too, because the Surface Pro 2 includes what iFixit describes as a "notebook-worthy" copper heat sink and the same twin miniature fans...

... But the biggest similarity between the Surface Pro 2 and the original Surface Pro is a disappointing one, in that all of these components are still painfully difficult to get to. The display is, as iFixit put it, "trapped like a baby diplodocus in a treacherous tar pit of black adhesive," and the battery is also glued to the case, not to mention all of those pesky screws.

This means that while it's technically possible to swap out the SSD and the battery, as was the case with the Surface Pro, you can't even get at these components...


That's all a big OUCH! So... A very expensive throw-away device as soon as the battery fails to charge for whatever reason. The high heat generated ain't going to help lifespan either...

IT is what we make it...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Nearly all ultra mobile devices cost more to repair these days than it is to replace them anyway and they are designed that way so manufacturers can keep making more without running out of a market.

It's sadly a fact of life these days.

Cheers.

It looks like Apple's Macbook Pro 13" Retina scores a 1 out of 10 as well, for much of the same reasons that they fail the MS Surface:

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/10/ifixit-hard-to-fix-13-retina-macbook-pro-now-has-only-one-fan/

Did Martin fail to point this out because he only chooses to post negative news about all things Microsoft?

Naw, give the poor man some credit....

..the surface runs Windows :)

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Naw, give the poor man some credit....

..the surface runs Windows :)

And the Mac runs a nix.

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...and it didn't come from the MS-trash-happy TheRegister.co.uk.

So... A rather curious business indeed:


Redmond would be better off flinging out latest OS while it still can

With the PC market spluttering and users still sour on Windows 8, Microsoft should consider giving its latest OS out for free, say analysts...


To be fair: Note how Google "gives away" their Android Bionic+Linux OS for 'free-of-cost'...


IT is what we allow it to be...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Interesting...

Microsoft backpedals

Doesn't give much faith in Windows 8 does it?

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I suppose it had to happen sometime near the end of life...


Microsoft gives away Windows ... in India

... Windows Phone is not a stand-out in the market, so it has never achieved the dominance that allowed Microsoft to corral PC-makers so effectively...

... With Windows phone requiring hefty-ish hardware, and not enjoying Android's ability to run older versions on lesser kit, removing license costs is an obvious way for Microsoft to go...



It's 2014 and Microsoft Windows PCs can still be owned by a JPEG

Update now: [Microsoft] OS, Internet Explorer and (of course) Flash...



So... In India at least, you can now use Windows for no monetary cost with the full endorsement of Microsoft having given away their OS for no monetary cost... Just take care about what pictures you let it see!

(I'm still gobsmacked at how merely displaying a non-executable picture can pawn a certain one companies' OS and hence your computer! Ridiculous.)


IT is what we allow it to be,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

I just got my first new desktop computer in 10 years this week. It came with windows 7 professional installed. I got it on the recommendation of resident computer guru in my neighborhood. I have had a laptop for about 9 months now that came with windows vista. There are things about the way both of these computers interface with the operator (me) that I don't particularly care for but I was impressed with the fact that I was able to unplug my old windows XP desktop which had taken several hours to set up when I changed to centurylink, and then hook up the new one and just turn it on and less than five minutes later everything was working, to a degree.

Some of my old games and flight sims were too old and the new 64 bit system was not compatible with them, but all the software written for modern computers loaded up fine.

The new system is completing a seti@home work batch in a little less than 3 hrs. My old desktop took about 12 hrs. and as I recall the computer I had in 1999 took at least 24-30 hrs.

So windows 7 and vista aren't as bad as I had expected but I do get the feeling that I am not totally in control of what it is doing.

---

Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

I do get the feeling that I am not totally in control of what it is doing

Welcome to the club ;-)

You have to blame it on the dummies, who couldn't or more probably wouldn't take the trouble to learn. I think win 2000 was the last time I felt in control.

Some of my old games and flight sims were too old and the new 64 bit system was not compatible with them, but all the software written for modern computers loaded up fine.

Bob, did you try installing and running them in XP compatibility mode?

Cheers.

Some of my old games and flight sims were too old and the new 64 bit system was not compatible with them, but all the software written for modern computers loaded up fine.

Bob, did you try installing and running them in XP compatibility mode?

Cheers.

Yes we did with varying degrees of success. Most of the programs still wouldn't run consistently properly and others wouldn't run or load at all. I think it is a conspiracy to force people to chuck their old software and purchase new games. I must admit the graphics in the latest sims is much more realistic but that has never been an important factor to me. My old desktop running XP served me well for over ten years and I guess I should be appreciative of that. We only had to wipe the hard drive one time and reload everything.

At least back when dos was the OS and windows was just a convenience I felt like I was running the show unlike what we have now.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.