My thoughts on the Windows 8 Consumer Preview

This post is a follow-on from eliehass's thread titled "My thoughts on Windows 8" and, specifically, my post in it.

The observation I've made from playing around with this pre-release version of the next edition of Microsoft's flagship OS is just how much it actually imitates OS X.

I know this isn't the first time such an accusation has been made (Windows v1.0 itself being a copy of the original Macintosh system), and in many ways the next version of Windows looks far less like Mac OS; and, indeed, previous versions of Windows. However, functionally, it is a far closer copy than one might have anticipated.

Starting with the Start Screen, the thought occurs that it is essentially a fusion of the Dashboard and Launchpad; just with many apps launched via their widgets (or, to use the Windows nomenclature, gadgets) similar to how one can launch from widgets in Android.

The removal of the Start Button & Menu (arguably the one advantage Windows's taskbar had over OS X's dock) means the taskbar is now nothing more than a slightly less functional copy of the dock.

The use of hot corners and the ability to mount disk images in Explorer as one can already do in Finder are just direct imitations of features which are rather old-hat now.

And even the fact that (by necessity, due to all Metro apps being full-screen, or partial full-screen, only) the menu bar is now fixed in place, rather than floating with a window, means that Windows has finally cought-up with OS X (& many Linux distros) in terms of ergonomic efficiency.

As I said in my post in the thread this is a follow-on from, it does seem that Microsoft has tried to extrapolate where Apple is going with their ever-closer desktop & mobile operating systems; and has ended-up with a strange Frankenstein's Monster-like hodgepodge of hypothetical future versions of OS X & iOS with a Windows twist...

Don't know if anyone else sees it as I do & agrees, or thinks that I'm just being overly analytical...?

I think it's safe to say that everyone borrows from everyone. Seeing commonalities between similar products is a consequence of competition (especially when one form is popular with consumers).

It seems that MS is doing the same thing as Apple in scaling up their mobile OS. However, MS seems to be taking much more from WP7 than Apple is from iOS (which I don't think is a good thing). That said, W8 seems to be this odd marriage of the new with the old. I am truly interested to see how this version works out with the masses.

I've actually seen quite a few people argue against a unified menu bar. This debate is quite loud in the Ubuntu community actually. Personaly, I don't care - I've gotten very used to it which might have been eased by the fact that I live by keyboard shortcuts.

they can do what they want to mimic other platforms. this wont make me switch to windows. i will still stay with osx and look at my other linux options before i choose microsoft. in fact ive been thinking of dumping windows as a development platform as a whole and switching to creating linux projects. its more needed there and im happy to fit the spot.

I saw an interesting post in a NNTP FIDO Windows forum that I sometimes tune in to. The poster observed:

Windows XP Thumbs up

Windows Vista Thumbs down

Windows 7 Thumbs up

Windows 8 Thumbs ?

Can MS publish two OS versions in a row that are great? I doubt it.

Did you guys read about how Microsoft removed DVD playing abilities from W8? If you want to play DVD's, even though computers COME with a DVD player(!) you will have to use pay extra from either programs, or with the purchase of a Windows Media Center Upgrade. It's all apparently so they can cut down on royalty fees.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/05/03/making-windows-media-center-available-in-windows-8.aspx

All a bunch of crap if you ask me!

Nothing new there. You couldn't play DVDs in XP with the Windows Media Player without paying for an extra codec. Luckily several free codecs were made available by third party developers.

chscag said:

Nothing new there. You couldn't play DVDs in XP with the Windows Media Player without paying for an extra codec. Luckily several free codecs were made available by third party developers.

Click to expand...

XP was that way for sure. Some vista installs I messed with needed a player with codec also but Windows 7 (like Every OSX version) plays DVD's out of the box.

Will it not even support 3rd party DVD playing applications? For example, I use VLC to play DVDs - even though my (Windows 7) computer came bundled with PowerDVD (& Windows Media Player, obviously) - would VLC still not work on Windows 8 due to some inability of the OS to recognise media DVDs when inserted to the optical drive & send the data to the player app or are the codecs bundled with players like VLC all that's not included in Win8?

According to sources (Windows FIDO network) VLC will still work to play DVDs in Windows 8 even though MS has removed the ability to play DVDs with its media player.

Sorry, I can't get past that Metro. It's GREAT for a pad and phone. I hate it on my desktop through. Could never stand it. Hope Windows 7 is supported for years to come!

Well as far back as Panther OS X.3 it is alleged the cry at Microsoft was 'Get the photo pier ready, Redmond!"

Why would Microsoft not want their computers to play DVD's right out of the box? Is it only to sell the software that will enable that feature? I'm not really in to movies, I just assumed that computers would play them. I have a new MacBook Pro, will it play DVD's?

Berk said:

Why would Microsoft not want their computers to play DVD's right out of the box?

Click to expand...

I haven't owned a PC with a factory install of Windows in many years - but most of those that I've seen come with some kind of codecs for DVD playback, even if it's just a free trial. I don't think it's a case of Microsoft "not wanting their computers to play DVDs", it's just whether or not they licensed the codecs for resale with their OS.

Is it only to sell the software that will enable that feature?
I'm not really in to movies, I just assumed that computers would play them. I have a new MacBook Pro, will it play DVD's?

Click to expand...

Are we talking about Microsoft or Apple? If Apple, yes, Apple's DVD Player app (built right into the OS) will play DVDs right out of the box. It will not, however, play Blu-Rays.

Berk said:

Why would Microsoft not want their computers to play DVD's right out of the box? Is it only to sell the software that will enable that feature? I'm not really in to movies, I just assumed that computers would play them. I have a new MacBook Pro, will it play DVD's?

Click to expand...

As cwa107 stated, it's a matter of licensing. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act adds the burden of licensing to play copyrighted DVDs here in the US. And since MS is a US based corporation they have to comply (in other words pay).

As VLC is a French owned company and uses open sources to play the DVDs, they do not have to comply with the DMC.

chscag said:

As VLC is a French owned company and uses open sources to play the DVDs, they do not have to comply with the DMC.

Click to expand...

This would be why their popular libdvdcss library, used to crack DVD encryption, is rarely included in official package repositories for Linux distributions.

In all honesty, it doesn't really matter if WIndows doesn't come with support since 90% (I'm guessing here) of Windows installations are on new machines which will include DVD player that legally license the libraries and keys needed to play DVDs. The few that upgrade Windows themselves will likely still have the software required.