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back to article Microsoft: YES Windows 8.1 is finished, but NO you can't have it

Microsoft says it has already begun seeding the final code of Windows 8.1 to its manufacturing partners, but that doesn't mean you'll be able to get your hands on the update any sooner. In a blog post on Tuesday, Windows corporate VP Antoine Leblond said that while hardware makers are being given time to incorporate Windows 8. …

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  1. Sil

    Msdn devalued

    What's the point of paying lots of greens for MSDN Universal if devs & enterprise customers can't test new products anymore, adapt code, scripts or whatever. It is strange to take such a limiting decision for Windows 8, a product that needs every bit of love it can.

    In addition one of the biggest weakness of Windows 8 was the absolute lack of tutorials on how it was supposed to be used. How will we get decent tutorials / training materials on time - eg at availability date .- if their producers cannot get their hand on the RTM?

    Sometimes it's as if Microsoft wants to antagonize its biggest supporters.

    In the same way, while I personally don't regret the start menu at all, many customers do. Why give them hope with a fake start menu? I can already see a huge backlash coming.

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    1. Mikel
      Reply Icon
      Pint

      Re: Msdn devalued

      Be glad they still let you make apps at all. Whose OS do you think it is anyway?

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    2. d3rrial
      Reply Icon
      Meh

      Re: Msdn devalued

      You are aware that it was Microsofts goal all along, since the development of Windows 8 to destroy their company, right? There are several pieces of evidence leading me to this conclusion: For one: Windows 8(.1) with its many disadvantages compared to pretty much all other Desktop OS. Sure, it can run x86 Applications and Games, which are pretty much the only reasons Windows is still used, but it makes these things inconvenient.

      Then there's the XBOX 180, if you haven't heard the privacy outcries, you're probably deaf.

      Let's look at Windows RT for a moment, it does nothing Users expect from an Operating System (Run Applications that were not necessarily distributed through Windows Store for example) and barely works as a fondleslab, if at all. You can browse the internet with it and have it show you the weather, oh gee.

      Then there's of course Windows Phone 8, I can't go into detail on this one, because I personally do not own one and have no experience with its functionality, but complaints on various online forums suggest it's not the best pie in the oven.

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      1. d3rrial
        Reply Icon
        Linux

        Re: Msdn devalued

        Correction: I said "...can run x86 Applications..." when I really meant "...can run x86 windows binaries..." excuse the mistake, I am of course aware that competing desktop systems can of course also run x86 applications.

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  2. nk

    In most people's minds this doesn't count as a new release. It's more like a feature-rich service pack

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  3. Asok Asus

    Given the extremely rushed push to RTM, I have a sneaking suspicion that Window 8.1 is going to be an incredibly buggy mess and will be such a disaster as to completely finish off Windows 8 altogether, and actually destroy the Windows franchise itself, at least in the consumer arena.

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    1. Paul Shirley
      Reply Icon

      Given how buggy I find Win8 I struggle to see how 8.1 could make things worse, especially since they didn't touch anything in desktop mode where I'm daily confronted by glitchy shit. A 'let's block Start Menu workrounds' button is insignificant.

      The strong suspicion has to be another last minute hack is about to be perpetrated on 8.1 to further discourage use of desktop mode, just like they yanked the actual menu code out of 8 RTM days before release. If they can delay fixes and break Classic Start Menu/Startisback etc. for even a week, that's a couple of users that might fall in love with Metro.

      Except of course users installed those work rounds because they already rejected Metro, so hardly likely to work.

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  4. Darkwolf

    Well...

    It seems MS follows a pattern.

    I started out with 3.0 and have upgraded based on this pattern. Each OS was tested before making a go/no-go decision on upgrades.

    In some cases, "upgraded" means new computer (obviously)

    3.0 (started with this)

    95 (think everyone upgraded here)

    98 (tested, was junk, did not upgrade)

    98SE (tested, better, upgraded)

    ME (Tested, wow, junk, did not upgrade)

    XP (Tested, worked, used this for YEARS)

    Vista (Tested, multiple times over years, but stayed with XP)

    7 (Tested, switched and currently running on nearly every machine, have a few XP machines that cant run 7)

    8 (have tested a few times, think this might be ok as a tablet OS, for every day comp, not my cup of tea)

    So, anyone notice the pattern?

    Think I will be waiting to see how 9 (or whatever they call it) will be.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Well... @Darkwolf

      "So, anyone notice the pattern?"

      Durr, no. And nobody else ever seems to have, either.

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm pretty far from a M$ defender, but I will say that most people's gripes with Windows 8 are minor details, like hitting the windows-D key on boot and you are in your desktop, which runs well and pretty quickly. I don;t use the Metro apps as I am an office worker without a touch-screen, but it doesn't affect my use of what seems to be a pretty reliable OS so far.

    You do need to select how to launch certain files to prevent Metro tile versions, e.g. image previews or video player. You do need to realise that right clicking bottom left gives you context menus similar to Start. You do need to get over that Power Off is in a different location - seriously, if you are so non-technical that a change in a new OS is reason not to use it...

    that said, there are some fantastic Linux versions out there. Mint is a cleaner alternative to Ubuntu (no ads), and as one poster said above, these days most productivity tools are hosted and served by browsers. I use the pivot functions of Excel a lot, but my company implemented a reporting portal which means linux users can get the same benefit with only some slight delay - there's really not that many apps that mandate Windows anymore, and for those few a Windows VM may get around it neatly

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  6. Mikko
    WTF?

    Windows 8? I upgraded immediately. Speed was the most important reason, it just works quicker than Windows 7 - especially with a little bit older hardware.

    The UI mostly worked ok, with the occasional annoyance caused by the Modern world intruding on my workflow. So after six or seven months of trying to get to terms with the inconsistencies, I gave up and installed the Start8/ModernMix combo. Especially the windowed Modern apps allowed by ModernMix removed just about every annoyance I had, and suddenly, for me, Windows 8 became the best Windows version ever, fast, stable, and usable.

    Now, based on what I have read about Windows 8.1, it seems I will still be using the Stardock add-ons. This is quite odd - after all, the UI clearly does not need major updates to improve the user experience in a dramatic fashion, and the Windows 8 UI could do with some old-fashioned evil empire embrace and extend.

    I will give the UI tweaks in 8.1 a chance, but I'm worried that there is no one left in power at Microsoft that can actually look outside their Microsoft-centric bubble and copy someone with good taste. They clearly can't do it on their own...

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Not my older machine

      "it just works quicker than Windows 7 - especially with a little bit older hardware."

      I have a P4EE 3.4, the last and hottest (literally) of the P4 machines.

      The lack of the NX instuction(?) means Win8 is out of the question. Just what is NX anyway and why the f* do we need it anyway?

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  7. TheBully
    FAIL

    Annoying problem

    I had an annoying problem with the Windows 8 on my work desktop yesterday. Returned from holiday to find someone had turned off the server room air conditioning and a couple of servers had hung. My windows 8 was playing up the music app Xbox Music was taking over the whole system replacing my desktop with an orange screen and a picture of headphones. ALT F4 or CTRL ALT Delete would not get rid of it. I tried moving it to my second screen but it was constantly grabbing window focus so I couldn't use the desktop. It still did it after logging out and back in and after a restart it started doing it after half an hour. If I killed the app in task manager it just started up again instantly lol. I ran windows update and it has not done it since but it happened just at the wrong time when I needed my desktop to remote in. :(

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Annoying problem

      You have to grab the the Xbox Music Window at the top, in the middle and then drag it down to the bottom of the screen to close it, with a Metro App. Easier on a touch screen but a pain in butt with a mouse.

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  8. That MrKrotos Bloke

    W8.x

    I really do not understand why so many do not like Windows 8, yeah so no start menu...big deal!

    I love it, it makes windows 7 look slow!

    Let the flaming commence :P

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    1. K
      Reply Icon

      Re: W8.x

      No flaming - credit where its due performance in Windows 8 undeniable :)

      Also you misunderstand people frustrations, given your reaction, I doubt you work at the front end of IT providing services to end users.

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  9. Caesarius
    Devil

    Eats shoots and leaves

    I saw a book title, and mentally added some punctuation:

    Windows 8: for dummies

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  10. PaulR79

    Favourite Win 8 'feature'

    I've mentioned this before but it's such a big pointer to how confused and messed up the whole Notro / Desktop mess is and shows even MS don't know what they're doing.

    I get update notifications for Windows Updates so I click to view them. It (un)helpfully takes me to Notro to view the updates and I can install from there. However, if I want to view optional updates or select which updates to install first it throws me instantly back to the Desktop Windows Update of old. Why was this ever allowed to happen? If Notro is so great why dump me straight back to the Desktop version? Why force me to even view the Notro version if it doesn't have the same, or better, functionality? What purpose does it serve other than to add more confusion and ".... why?" moments to your day?

    For anyone that has unfortunately installed Win 8 to try and are now stuck with it through reluctance to reinstall and wanting a fast way to shut down you can easily make a shortcut to do so or the often forgotten clicking your desktop then using Alt-F4 of old. I'm not saying you're doing anything wrong by wanting these options as others have I'm just offering ways to do it that work.

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  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Switching between Windows Hate Point None and Hate Point One.

    I currently have to actively switch between Windows 8.0 (Hate point none) and another identical PC running 8.1 Preview (Hate point one).

    The addition of the new start button in 8.1 means the standard Task Bar Icons (IE etc) appear slightly offset to the right, compared to 8.0, and stupidly, you can't align them across versions. This is basic ergonomics Microsoft! You'd think MS would have done a Windows Update on Windows 8.0 to also align all standard icon positions across Versions, to take account on the new start button in 8.1

    Windows 8, there is just too much to hate.

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