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Microsoft announces Windows 8.1
- lovamova 13y agoWhat are the new features?
- deathcakes 13y agoA start menu.
- SquareWheel 13y ago-1 for inaccuracy. There is no start menu in Windows 8.1. There is however a start button.
- jagermo 13y agoPress "Windows" key. Get full screen start menu with improved search function.
- rietta 13y agoActually, as a user of Windows 8 in Parallels I find activating the start screen to be difficult because the Apple+C keyboard combo maps to Copy rather than to Win+C. And activating the corner of the screen is difficult because the mouse leaves the virtual machine window to go to the host OS. So having a Start button will improve usability for virtual machine users. And it will help the usability for my parents too on their Windows computers. My mother has become confused with her Windows 8 laptop (that has a touch screen) about how to switch between modes.
- jagermo 13y agoIs it a tablet? If yes, show her the "swipe with the right thumb from right to left" to open the charms bar. It is pretty natural, because both thumbs should also be in the correct position if she holds the tablet in landscape mode. With Parallels, I agree. Sorry, it was a reflex for the usual "Win 8 has no start menu" trolling.
- deathcakes 13y agoBecause yes, the start menu necessarily has to occupy my entire screen and push out whatever it was I was doing.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- dangrossman 13y agoNothing's set in stone until the public preview next month, but it's likely to be: * A start button (not menu) on the desktop mode taskbar, having the same functionality as pressing the Windows key * The option to boot into desktop mode instead of the start screen * More tile sizes (1/4 small thumbnails, and 2x large) for the start screen * 50/50 split view for Win8 Apps in addition to the ~25/75 option * Internet Explorer 11 * A rollup of windows update patches to date They'll probably also announce the 7.5-inch Surface tablets at the same time. They're getting 8.1 to OEMs so the next generation of Win8 tablets can ship with it.
- sixbrx 13y ago"We now have more than 70,000 apps in the Windows Store (the online app store for Windows) – apps such as Twitter, ..." Did anyone else chuckle that he felt he had to describe parenthetically what the Windows Store is?
- apendleton 13y agoPerhaps to distinguish it from the Microsoft Store, which sells physical goods?
- sixbrx 13y agoIf that's the reason (though I have my doubts), in that case it may have been a very poorly chosen name.
- dangrossman 13y agoMicrosoft has a long history of very poorly chosen names. There are at least 3 other Microsoft Stores -- their chain of retail stores (ala Apple Store), the online version of those stores, their multiple "Microsoft Stores" on the corporate campus that sell Microsoft hardware/software/books/swag to both visitors and employees predating the retail locations, and their employee-only online store.
- kravlin 13y agoI remember working with IIS at one point, and an object had a name like "site" then inside of the configuration files you had other "sites" that configured your site. Finding errors for one was incredibly difficult because the other one kept popping up.
- pessimizer 13y ago.net, anyone?
- qu4z-2 13y ago
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- AaronFriel 13y agoApple desktop and laptop sales also decreased. Are we going to use post hoc ergo propter hoc to prove Windows 8 so good that it caused Apple's sales to tumble as well?
- Samuel_Michon 13y agoLast quarter, Mac sales decreased by 1%, while the PC market overall shrunk by 11% (including Mac sales). Looking at the last year, Mac sales are up 2.25%.
- dangrossman 13y agoOf course they're not going to acknowledge poor speculative reporting by some blogs/magazines. Plenty have written the counter-piece. Windows 8 has sold over 100M copies despite the decline in PC sales. They don't run the industry, they just sell operating systems and office software. There's little they could do to change the fact that if you already have a PC that you bought in the past 5 years or so, it's just as capable as what's on store shelves now, so people are not running out to replace them for no reason. That, along with the greater time spent on smartphones and tablets, is what's caused PC sales to slow.
- jagermo 13y agoplus, i don't think Gartner, IDC etc have included the financial crisis that a lot of countries/people/companies face. In my opinion, a lot of big buyers (governments, enterprises) postponed buying new PCs for a year or two.
- MichaelGG 13y agoSounds like a service pack just got rebranded as a point update.
- untog 13y agoShrug, Apple does the same.
- kvb 13y agoService packs typically don't contain new features, though, while this update is expected to.
- k-mcgrady 13y agoI haven't used Windows in a few years but I remember XP SP2 included several new features. Security Center was a major one but I know there were a few others too.
- sliverstorm 13y agoI believe the wireless networking support was majorly beefed up for XP SP2.
- evan_ 13y agoService packs have historically ALWAYS contained new features. Otherwise it's just released with Windows Update. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP#Service_packs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP#Service_packs > Microsoft occasionally releases service packs for its Windows operating systems to fix problems and add features.
- Samuel_Michon 13y agoThe main difference being that in order to get Windows 8.1, you’ll probably need to register a Windows Store account (or whatever it’s called this month).
- recoiledsnake 13y ago
- overshard 13y agoI'm curious if this will be delivered as a service pack or as a new OS. It seems like they are announcing it as a new OS, I've never seen this much news over a SP before.
- Zikes 13y agoI think they're trying to hype it in much the same way incremental Android/iOS updates are hyped.
- dangrossman 13y ago> Tami Reller shared with the audience that the update previously referred to as “Windows Blue” will be called Windows 8.1 and will be a free update to Windows 8 for consumers through the Windows Store. I wouldn't call installing a free update from your OS's app store a new OS. It's mostly just minor cosmetic changes from the sounds of it.
- rm999 13y agoI found this announcement frustrating to read because it contains little useful content. Almost all of it is about how supposedly awesome Windows 8 is and how well it's doing. The relevant part could have been summed up as: there's a free upgrade coming out sometime later this year called Windows 8.1.
- grecy 13y ago> how awesome Windows 8 is and how well it's doing Ironically, if that were the case, it wouldn't need an update.
- hacker789 13y agoIt's not at all unusual for awesome, successful software to be updated.
- goblin89 13y agoNot contradicting your point, but such updates would likely tend not to be in great demand. Recently encountered an interesting article on topic—Sorry, PC Industry: You’ve Apparently Managed to Perfect the PC (http://techland.time.com/2013/04/11/sorry-pc-industry-youve-apparently-managed-to-perfect-the-pc/ http://techland.time.com/2013/04/11/sorry-pc-industry-youve-...)
- k-mcgrady 13y agoMS always does this. Windows XP had three or four major updates (service packs). Mac OS X is on v10.8 (i.e. they've updated version 10 8 times). Do you expect them to release it and never release another version of Windows?
- speeder 13y agoWindows service packs were free updates, OSX dot versions are paid.and usually.change everything...
- jayshahtx 13y agoSome updates on the way: 1. Start menu 2. Tile size (source: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/380713/windows-blue-8-1-release-date-screenshots-features http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/380713/windows-blue-8-1-release-...)
- bcoates 13y agoUgh. I don't actually miss the onscreen start button (although I can imagine the discoverability hit to casual computer users). I miss the actual start menu, which was vastly more useful than the gimmicky thing they replaced it with.
- dangrossman 13y agoWhat about it was more useful? I didn't change any of my habits after upgrading to Win8. It was only a cosmetic change as far as I can tell. I still just hit the start key and start typing to launch things, search for apps and files, or run commands. Meanwhile the new start menu also lets me search any app that registers itself as a search provider (i.e. search through my Kindle books, my Netflix account, etc), which is handy.
- bcoates 13y ago> What about it was more useful? Universal search: I didn't have to choose "Files" "Apps" "Settings", etc. It just floated whatever answered the query. Outlook Integration: I could search emails, files in email attachments, and files on disk with one query in 7. As far as I can tell, Outlook 2013 wants nothing to do with the TIFKAM search at all. Not full screen: I would routinely transcribe something onscreen or drag something out of the search results into a window. If there was any upside to the weird new menu at all, I could deal with these changes, but as far as I can tell it's pure regression. Windows 8 has lots of tiny technical advances, but the shell changes are just a disaster.
- WayneDB 13y agoI miss jump lists on pinned start menu items. I never liked pinning things to the taskbar because when you run those apps, the launcher becomes the taskbar item and you lose the launcher. So I always pinned things to the start menu. Now I can't do that and have the jump list. I also miss Microsoft being the non-walled-garden OS company. There's no way I'm granting them a monopoly on what can and cannot be installed on my general purpose machines. If there's one thing I hope they change - it's this. Let me install Metro apps from whatever source I want.
- rammark 13y agowill be a free update to Windows 8 for consumers through the Windows Store This could be to get more people to link their Microsoft ID with their Windows user accounts so that they will be more likely to use the store in the future. The alternative would be to release it through Windows Update like every other Windows patch for the last decade+.
- jagermo 13y agoi think it will be interesting to see how this works. I'm not 100 percent sure, but i think the store basically cannot update apps and functions outside its modern UI jail, right?
- dangrossman 13y agoThe store can do whatever Microsoft wants it to be able to do. Updating and installing apps necessarily involves more permission than the apps themselves have access to.
- nivla 13y agoI miss the pre-iphone era where your devices din't require registration with the manufacture to be used/updated/upgraded. Sad to see even desktops and laptops moving towards that direction.
- conductor 13y agoDoes anybody know whether they are going to fix the INT_MIN / -1 bug in the kernel? This code below (compiled and linked with gdi32) crashes fully patched versions of Windows 7 and 8 (32 bit), I didn't try it with 64bit versions. #include <windows.h> #include <limits.h> int main() { HDC dc = CreateCompatibleDC (NULL); SetLayout (dc, LAYOUT_RTL); ScaleWindowExtEx (dc, INT_MIN, -1, 1, 1, NULL); }
- eps 13y agoThat'll likely be a regular update through Windows Update.
- whacker 13y agowhy isn't this treated as a serious security issue?
- marshray 13y agoIs it exploitable to gain elevated privileges? Typically a user with the ability to make those calls can shut down the machine anyway. But Terminal Services/Remote Desktop may be an exception.
- egeozcan 13y agoAll those jokes about how Windows 8 resembles Windows 3.1 and now this...
- RexRollman 13y agoThis will totally blow if you have to install Windows 8 just to install Windows 8.1. I hope we are talking about a stand alone installer.
- acqq 13y ago"The problem with Microsoft is that they have no taste." (S. Jobs) The reports of still insisting on Metro for big monitors and computers instead of keeping it only on phones and tablets confirm this. Ugly, ugly, ugly. (And forcing people to get an OS update over the Windows Store is as spammy as it can be.)
- tarr11 13y agoCan you clarify what you are saying here? That Metro is ugly? Or that it's only ugly on Big Monitors?
- redthrowaway 13y agoIt's a touch-centric paradigm forced onto non-touch devices.
- nivla 13y agoThat brings up a good question. With newer laptops and monitors being touch, how long do we have left before touch display become the norm? Is Microsoft trying to have a solution before the problem?
- jlgreco 13y agoI have a laptop with a touch screen and even while using programs it conceivably makes sense in (read: not a webbrowser, terminal, text editor / word processor, video player....), I still don't use it. My hands are at rest near the clickpad so why would I? As long as computers ship with good pointer devices, as far as I can tell there can be no problem to solve.
- dangrossman 13y agoIf you are a kid today growing up with smartphones and tablets, the fact that you can't touch things when you're old enough to start interacting with computers would be weird. That you naturally default to using the mouse is a learned habit. It's not one the next generation will have when they grow up; give them only a pointer device and they will not buy your device. If Microsoft weren't positioning itself to work the way they will be accustomed to just as well, it'd be ensuring its own demise when they become the next generation of workers and computer customers. Microsoft is trying to play the long game, as always; whether they're doing it well is up for debate. They want Windows to work for you with your mouse, for Bob who wants a tablet to watch videos and check e-mail on, for Stacy who wants a tablet to seamlessly switch between working in Office and entertainment, for Josh who only uses a smartphone, and for Johnny who's just growing up and will be a potential Windows customer in 5-10 years.
- cmelbye 13y agoI'm disappointed to see no mention at all of Windows Phone in the post. This is supposed to be the update that finally unifies Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, which are currently quite separate from each other.
- JoeKM 13y agoI hope they add a feature to change the Start Screen wallpaper. I have to use Decor8 just for that, but it's worth it in my opinion. The Start Screen looks much better when you use the same wallpaper as your desktop, but blur it a bit.
- xeper 13y agoSo SP1, but "SP" = "." because we "why not".
- recoiledsnake 13y agoStory seems to be getting flagged and is going down the front page. Looks like some HN folks with good karma can't stand a Microsoft story that is not super critical and bitching about them. Those stay on the front page for days. http://i.imgur.com/wFN21wY.png http://i.imgur.com/wFN21wY.png Even announcements are not spared. Can anyone who flagged this post care to tell us why? I suspect the answer is "lol M$'.
- MichaelGG 13y agoI didn't flag it, but the article is fairly content free. It's just saying they're going to release an update. Well, yes, of course - it's safe to assume Windows developers are still working.
- MichaelApproved 13y agoAre you speculating or do you know it's being flagged? An alternative could be that only people with low karma are voting it up which is what's keeping it from having more staying power.
- nivla 13y agoThats news to me. I din't know someone with a higher karma gets a better voting rank. Reminds me of what Digg wanted to achieve and it backfiring.
- MichaelApproved 13y agoI think HN uses a weighted Karma system for voting but I don't know for sure. It would make sense to give certain people more weight than others. At least in a primitive way with something like "new user" VS. "trusted user".
- wsc981 13y agoI didn't flag the link or anything (can't even flag if I wanted to, probably not enough 'karma'), but read the article and wondered why it was posted here at all. It pretty much told me nothing except that a Windows 8.1 was coming - doesn't even tell what features to expect.
- Zenst 13y agoAll I want too know is can you now easily make Metro not the default GUI and can the start button menu now appear easily. ALl without hacks and addons and mods by third parties. If they have done that, I'll bite, that alone stopped a laptop sale for a friend who stuck with windows 7 laptop as not even a salesman could demo/handle it. Tried a few shops as well and all and myself and friend just could not handle it, was messy. Now touch screen laptops, whilst much more compfortable with metro, still only suitable if you use it as a tablet with keyboard
- wcfields 13y agoI'll wait for 8.11 for workgroups.
- billsix 13y agoI frequently hear that 8 should have a start menu, and should be able to boot to desktop. Although I agree, I've found a solution that serves me well. http://www.classicshell.net http://www.classicshell.net gives a start menu, and boots to desktop. I'm mainly a Linux user, but I upgraded from my xp drive to 8 because the upgrade was only 40 bucks at the time, and I couldn't find a copy of 7 in stores nor online. With classic shell, I'm content for the limited uses of windows I need. And all of my programs written for xp run correctly, which surprised me.
- malbs 13y agoI'm feeling like the Windows 8.1 upgrade, available on the Windows Store, is just a way to force Windows 8 users to finally register for the Windows Store? Speaking from personal experience only, I've never used the Windows Store, and I don't know anyone who has. I'd love to see the numbers of Windows 8 installs vs Windows Store accounts.
- mvkel 13y agoIs this Microsoft's official Windows blog? What a piece of garbage. Who labels their feeds (Atom??) as "Syndication"? I don't know who works at Microsoft anymore, but it's a really weird culture.