from the yes-microsoft-still-has-relevance dept.
A couple of interesting tidbits came out of Build 2014 yesterday. The conference is being streamed for those who cannot attend in person.
Microsoft Planning on $0 Windows for Some Devices
Apparently competition, combined with a desire for Microsoft to invade new market spaces, is applying downward pressure on the price of some forms of Windows licenses. Microsoft announced that Windows would be available at no cost for "Internet of Things" devices as well as for phones and tablets with screens less than 9 inches. Not included: Whether this applies to Windows 8.1 or Windows 8.1 RT, but the inclusion of "phones and tablets" leads me to believe that it will be the RT version.
Start Menu To Return To Windows 8.1
After nearly a year and a half since it was removed in Windows 8, the start menu is finally returning. The previews shown at BUILD show that live tiles (similar to those on Windows Phone) will be displayed side-by-side with the more traditional hierarchy of groups. No word on when this will finally be released to users.
(Score: 3, Funny) by dotdotdot on Thursday April 03 2014, @12:42PM
Just when I finally get used to working without a start menu (by pinning icons to my task bar), they change it again.
When Microsoft released Windows Vista Service Pack 3, they called it Windows 7. Maybe they should just rename Windows 8.1 Update 1 to Windows 9.
(Score: 2) by Vanderhoth on Thursday April 03 2014, @12:55PM
I'm glad they're taking steps in the right direction, it's just too bad it took them so long. I'm liking the way things are running without Ballmer at the helm. Unfortunately the bad part of this is they're essentially giving people a reason to stick with windows, or at least reducing the reasons to abandon it.
I know it's a controversial P.O.V that *a lot* of people disagree with, but I was looking forward to companies porting enterprise applications like CAD to another OSes, which would have been the only option if Windows became unusable as an enterprise OS. It looks like Satya Nadella recognizes where MS bread and butter is.
"Now we know", "And knowing is half the battle". -G.I. Joooooe
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 03 2014, @01:24PM
It looks like Satya Nadella recognizes where MS bread and butter is.
CAL's and Office (which they are moving to a yearly sub rate). Everything else is about 'even' or at a loss.
(Score: 2) by MrGuy on Thursday April 03 2014, @01:16PM
Microsoft's biggest, boldest new ideas are:
* Fix our our own misguided usability disaster by going back to the way we've been doing things since 1995
* Give away stuff that the market isn't interested in paying for free of charge.
Cutting edge stuff, indeed!
(Score: 2, Insightful) by DECbot on Thursday April 03 2014, @01:40PM
Isn't that repetitive of your other statement? They were giving away IE and the likes to gain market share for years now. Adding the OS to the mix isn't a stretch. Hell it comes on nearly every PC for "free" already.
Though what is cutting edge is MS's SaaS offerings. I'm sure the bean counters would be happier writing a check to MS every month than having a bunch of engineers demanding server upgrades, larger IT budgets, CAL renewals, emergency server maintenance and related tech support fees. If they could remove the datacenter and all the techs and engineers related to having in house IT off the balance sheet, and only have one line item called MS IT Services they'd be happy. ---Well, as happy as an accountant can be. Perhaps vindicated and satisfied are better terms. Just write a check to MS for all things IT and then focus on what really matters, the company coffee budget and janitorial services. Can't let those get out of hand, it'd ruin the company.
(Score: 1) by spxero on Thursday April 03 2014, @01:22PM
I tried Windows 8 and 8.1 in some VMs before installing, thinking that the hot corners were just annoying and unusable because it was a VM. I was wrong. Without a touch screen it was the most unusable start menu interface I've used. I found it was easier to click, start typing, and then click again to start the program.
Classic shell has been the best thing to put this machine back to useable. The fact that they are testing going back to a start menu shows the absurdity of the decision to do the tiles in the first place.
(Score: 2) by Lagg on Thursday April 03 2014, @02:03PM
http://lagg.me [lagg.me]
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