5 ms·

I 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 w

by rm999 13y ago

I 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 ago
  It's not at all unusual for awesome, successful software to be updated.
  - goblin89 13y ago
    Not 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 ago
  MS 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 ago
    Windows service packs were free updates, OSX dot versions are paid.and usually.change everything...
    - k-mcgrady 13y ago
      I know, I was making the point that all software gets updated regardless if it's good or bad.
- Ralz 13y ago
  MS had planned to make the update before Win 8 was released
egeozcan 13y ago
I fully agree and I couldn't help but add this as the summary of the post (http://i.imgur.com/Wcw43l4.png http://i.imgur.com/Wcw43l4.png) using tldr.io
- gbaygon 13y ago
  Thanks, i didn't know tldr.io
k3n 13y ago
This sums up my experience with MS in general; conversations driven by marketing and nothing else. For many other tech companies it's a much lower marketing:info ratio. Google is fairly good about it, and Mozilla is pretty good, while Apple is just as bad as MS.
- jagermo 13y ago
  I think MS is as bad as Apple. They learned/copied a lot from Apple over the last year when it comes to marketing. Including the highly annoying "No comment".
  - Steko 13y ago
    Parent and grandparent claims look false. Apple generally doesn't make announcements unless they have a real demo, or often until the product is ready to go. What we're talking about here OTOH is Microsoft providing a product (update) announcement without much substantial, soemthing MS is well known for. The stark differences between their current approaches have been extensively documented, for example: http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/Q4.06/922B4392-850C-4CA6-92F3-9C265E22DD1E.html http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/Q4.06/922B4392-850C-4CA6-92...
- Someone 13y ago
  I disagree about the Apple part. If Apple tells you something, they will generally tell you what you will get, but not how it works. Microsoft, in this example, tells you neither. The three items of information are "it's Windows 8.1", "it's a free update", and "we will tell you more" (that third one is counting liberally) With Apple, this would either be a new OS X release that gets a page showing its new end user features, or it would be an update that simply showed up in System Update.
  - k3n 13y ago
    Yes good point, for announcements Apple typically won't divulge a whole lot, but it's strategically important to drive the message (i.e. key features/capabilities), and then saving the rest for later. At least that's my observation, and I can't fault them on that basis.
panacea 13y ago
The public relations drone(s) who wrote this and thought it would be a good way of announcing the point release is fucking terrible at their job.
randomfool 13y ago
Announced at some no-name conference which just happens to be the day before Google I/O. This is just a marketing attempt to get their name in the news when the wave of Google stuff comes out. They like to do this for Apple too, though I never quite understand the point. Stay classy Microsoft.
- pook1e 13y ago
  To be fair, Apple (and I'm sure Google) does this too. There is no doubt in my mind that Apple is going to announce a milestone of it's own tomorrow[0], a day that just happens to be the day of the Google I/O keynote. [0] https://www.apple.com/itunes/50-billion-app-countdown/ https://www.apple.com/itunes/50-billion-app-countdown/
  - technoslut 13y ago
    Apple has done this before announcements (software updates usually) but not regarding iTunes app sales milestones. I'm of the mind that it is a coincidence. Google's done the same as well after Apple events such as them announcing they would drop h.264 for Chrome which never came to fruition.

by rm999 13y ago

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 ago
It's not at all unusual for awesome, successful software to be updated.
- goblin89 13y ago
  Not 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 ago
MS 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 ago
  Windows service packs were free updates, OSX dot versions are paid.and usually.change everything...
  - k-mcgrady 13y ago
    I know, I was making the point that all software gets updated regardless if it's good or bad.
Ralz 13y ago
MS had planned to make the update before Win 8 was released

egeozcan 13y ago

I fully agree and I couldn't help but add this as the summary of the post (http://i.imgur.com/Wcw43l4.png http://i.imgur.com/Wcw43l4.png) using tldr.io

gbaygon 13y ago
Thanks, i didn't know tldr.io

k3n 13y ago

This sums up my experience with MS in general; conversations driven by marketing and nothing else. For many other tech companies it's a much lower marketing:info ratio. Google is fairly good about it, and Mozilla is pretty good, while Apple is just as bad as MS.

jagermo 13y ago
I think MS is as bad as Apple. They learned/copied a lot from Apple over the last year when it comes to marketing. Including the highly annoying "No comment".
- Steko 13y ago
  Parent and grandparent claims look false. Apple generally doesn't make announcements unless they have a real demo, or often until the product is ready to go. What we're talking about here OTOH is Microsoft providing a product (update) announcement without much substantial, soemthing MS is well known for. The stark differences between their current approaches have been extensively documented, for example: http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/Q4.06/922B4392-850C-4CA6-92F3-9C265E22DD1E.html http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/Q4.06/922B4392-850C-4CA6-92...
Someone 13y ago
I disagree about the Apple part. If Apple tells you something, they will generally tell you what you will get, but not how it works. Microsoft, in this example, tells you neither. The three items of information are "it's Windows 8.1", "it's a free update", and "we will tell you more" (that third one is counting liberally) With Apple, this would either be a new OS X release that gets a page showing its new end user features, or it would be an update that simply showed up in System Update.
- k3n 13y ago
  Yes good point, for announcements Apple typically won't divulge a whole lot, but it's strategically important to drive the message (i.e. key features/capabilities), and then saving the rest for later. At least that's my observation, and I can't fault them on that basis.

panacea 13y ago

The public relations drone(s) who wrote this and thought it would be a good way of announcing the point release is fucking terrible at their job.

randomfool 13y ago

Announced at some no-name conference which just happens to be the day before Google I/O. This is just a marketing attempt to get their name in the news when the wave of Google stuff comes out. They like to do this for Apple too, though I never quite understand the point. Stay classy Microsoft.

pook1e 13y ago
To be fair, Apple (and I'm sure Google) does this too. There is no doubt in my mind that Apple is going to announce a milestone of it's own tomorrow[0], a day that just happens to be the day of the Google I/O keynote. [0] https://www.apple.com/itunes/50-billion-app-countdown/ https://www.apple.com/itunes/50-billion-app-countdown/
- technoslut 13y ago
  Apple has done this before announcements (software updates usually) but not regarding iTunes app sales milestones. I'm of the mind that it is a coincidence. Google's done the same as well after Apple events such as them announcing they would drop h.264 for Chrome which never came to fruition.