Except for the fact that, SkyDrive is cross-platform, iTunes is cross-platform, Xbox Music is cross-platform, Google Drive and Google Apps are cross-platform.
It's also why services like Dropbox are still very popular despite offering less storage capacity.
That's where the lock in comes though and DropBox is a good example. I have a 25GB SkyDrive but I still use my 4GB Dropbox. Why? Because Dropbox is installed on all my machines, all my data is already in there and, frankly, I'm too lazy to sort it and copy it. It's easy because it's already setup, it would take something major like dataloss to make me move.
Except for the fact that, SkyDrive is cross-platform, iTunes is cross-platform, Xbox Music is cross-platform, Google Drive and Google Apps are cross-platform.
It's also why services like Dropbox are still very popular despite offering less storage capacity.
I've had my new laptop for a week now and I really like windows 8. I was dreading it as I didn't want to waste money on a touchscreen laptop as it was bought for my Open University Degree course I am due to start next month. I had originally planned to downgrade it to Windows 7 as I thought it would be a nightmare but after a week of using it I think it's great. I have really enjoyed using and it is pretty simple... It's just different but I like it!!!
We are all too familiar what a fragile relationship exists between them, apple/google/microsoft.
That is the problem or could be a problem.
sure at the moment i can use sky drive, dropbox, Google drive and other services on my computer, phone, and tablet if I had one. But will it stay like that?
I presume Google will want to keep their services on the largest platform, which is still windows, but if you got files in say Sky drive and get a Android based phone/tablet, who is to say that Google will not block the app?
Why is all that power required for chrome books? at the end of the day, a chrome book is mainly web based, so no need for loads of memory or power.
If chrome book is the future of computing, then computing have no future. It don't anyway to be honest, not like it used to have. People buy a box these days to do just browsing, listen to a bit of music and show their photos/videos.
Very little creativity now.
Probably for HTML5 I think, which performs the same kind of roles as Adobe Flash Player. If you've got a lot of animations moving around at the same time then you need a lot of computing power somewhere in the chain.
If chrome book is the future of computing, then computing have no future. It don't anyway to be honest, not like it used to have. People buy a box these days to do just browsing
Which is one reason for Chromebooks being so popular.
The other reasons (I guess) are that people are looking for something simpler and more reliable than Windows - and Google haven't yet got a reputation for losing contact with their users and arrogantly persisting with a failed user hostile half-baked mess that Metro is generally considered to be. (Fanboys: I'm reporting general opinion here, not stating one, so there's no need for you to retaliate.)
The other reasons (I guess) are that people are looking for something simpler and more reliable than Windows - and Google haven't yet got a reputation for losing contact with their users and arrogantly persisting with a failed user hostile half-baked mess that Metro is generally considered to be. (Fanboys: I'm reporting general opinion here, not stating one, so there's no need for you to retaliate.)
Depends where you look
I agree about Windows 8, it does get bad press everywhere
But if you have a read of the Google forums about some of the latest changes they have done there are lots of negativity and Google do not seem to care
I am newly back in the Windows world so can't really comment on how MS treat customers, but Google and others do not treat customers very well
Google, IMO are shocking at the moment, they ask for feedback on a new feature, get mostly negative feedback on it, then continue and do it anyway (a bit like MS with Metro?)
sure at the moment i can use sky drive, dropbox, Google drive and other services on my computer, phone, and tablet if I had one. But will it stay like that?
I presume Google will want to keep their services on the largest platform, which is still windows, but if you got files in say Sky drive and get a Android based phone/tablet, who is to say that Google will not block the app?
I only use Dropbox, it does what I require.
As your a sensible computer user all your data would be backed up offline anyway so whats the issue?
I half imagine that the long term plan is to supply Windows PCs with Metro only but with a paid upgrade option to unlock that desktop.
Microsoft would be happy for 90% of consumers to run Metro only. That might even apply to businesses too if they can grab 30% of all software sales.
Why is all that power required for chrome books? at the end of the day, a chrome book is mainly web based, so no need for loads of memory or power.
If chrome book is the future of computing, then computing have no future. It don't anyway to be honest, not like it used to have. People buy a box these days to do just browsing, listen to a bit of music and show their photos/videos.
Very little creativity now.
Thats what an awful lot of people demand from a computer device these days; this is how home/personal computing has evolved over the last couple of decades. Most people don't want to do video editing, serious DTP etc.
Over twenty years ago I spent £3k + on a PC and now the cheap Android tablets I have are far more powerful than that machine. That machine just could not work these days. I've i7 PC's and Laptop, Surface Pro......
I to a degree am still in awe of how fast devices have developed in two decades (and how prices have fallen). I still get a kick from sitting in an old Welsh farmhouse, maybe lying in bed in the middle of the night, and turn on the TV/PC base unit and chat to friends all over the world in real time (if they too are awake), surf the net, have access to several thousand films, every family photograph going back to the 1880's, my complete music collection (thousands of tracks) et al. I can also do most of that at home from a £100 Android tablet.
This is what 'computers' are all about these days and you just don't get it.
"People buy a box these days to do just browsing, listen to a bit of music and show their photos/videos" could not really be done even a few years ago on a blooming great PC sat in the family living room.
I did the School run with my youngest grandson this morning and bumped into another 'grand dad' I'd not seen in years (new School so needed to introduce ourselves to form teachers). Out came the phones, photo's and little video's of the grand children were compared...do you not think being able to do this demonstrates truly outstanding developments in 'computers'...I certainly do.
It would still be possible to be creative if you wish in an entirely browser-based world. Web sites can be created online using content management systems, browser-based games can be written, YouTube videos can be uploaded, and so on...
Probably for HTML5 I think, which performs the same kind of roles as Adobe Flash Player. If you've got a lot of animations moving around at the same time then you need a lot of computing power somewhere in the chain.
I thought HTML was suppose to be more efficient than flash?
Which is one reason for Chromebooks being so popular.
The other reasons (I guess) are that people are looking for something simpler and more reliable than Windows - and Google haven't yet got a reputation for losing contact with their users and arrogantly persisting with a failed user hostile half-baked mess that Metro is generally considered to be. (Fanboys: I'm reporting general opinion here, not stating one, so there's no need for you to retaliate.)
Google have just got a reputation of spying on their users and getting worse. windows have been pretty good in reliability for a while now, since windows 7 came out. I get a blue screen of death once in the blue moon, unless I do something silly.
I suppose the one good thing about chrome books is that they are left alone by virus writers, if it is at all possible to put a virus on them.
I did recommend a chrome book to someone a few months back, but then we found out that it can not use skype, so that went out of the window and they got a windows based netbook in the end. i can understand that Google want people to use their own services, but not having skype on it is a big thing for some people.
As your a sensible computer user all your data would be backed up offline anyway so whats the issue?
Important stuff is backed up 3 times and one of them is stored elsewhere. That is getting to be a pain to be honest as every week I have to swap the sticks around.
But the issue is that how long will it be before we will not be able to store anything off line? i would have said a few years back not in my lifetime, but the way things are going, i am not so sure.
Thats what an awful lot of people demand from a computer device these days; this is how home/personal computing has evolved over the last couple of decades. Most people don't want to do video editing, serious DTP etc.
As I said, no creativity. some people don't even have printers now and then come to me when they want stuff printed. I have got to the point where I tell them I will do it this once and then they must get their own printer.
I still do stuff for Dad and close friends if need be.
Over twenty years ago I spent £3k + on a PC and now the cheap Android tablets I have are far more powerful than that machine. That machine just could not work these days. I've i7 PC's and Laptop, Surface Pro......
I think most people know this, even when I started in the Pc world, with 166Mhz processors, we have come a lone way and even my phone have more a more powerful processor than my old PC did. I think my washing machine have as well
I know of someone who still uses a 233 machine and someone who still use a 500Mhz machine, they do what is required of them. Ok, the reason the 233 machine is still in use is because of the sound card and Yamaha daughter board.
I to a degree am still in awe of how fast devices have developed in two decades (and how prices have fallen). I still get a kick from sitting in an old Welsh farmhouse, maybe lying in bed in the middle of the night, and turn on the TV/PC base unit and chat to friends all over the world in real time (if they too are awake), surf the net, have access to several thousand films, every family photograph going back to the 1880's, my complete music collection (thousands of tracks) et al. I can also do most of that at home from a £100 Android tablet.
That is technology and even when I was at college in 1981 and got my first computer a ZX81, when I had chats with the mate of mine who introduced me to computers, we could see the future where machines would get smaller and faster. It was when the spectum came out that we realised it may be quicker than we thought.
Ok, so things went quicker and larger for a while, a PC is a lot larger than a ZX81, but a lot of that was the add ons, graphic cards, sounds cards, communication cards, Eg. serial ports.
I still blame my mate for getting me into computers and all the money I have spent over the years.
Strange thing is, I am not into computers than he is these days, he have a old 2Ghz desktop because his laptop have broken down and he is not in any rush to replace it. He got a smart phone a couple of months back, now I thought he would have got one before me. the same with broadband, he is still stuck on 4Mb/s ADSL, not interested in going faster by going for FTTC.
anyway,
This is what 'computers' are all about these days and you just don't get it.
I get it, but I don't like it.
"People buy a box these days to do just browsing, listen to a bit of music and show their photos/videos" could not really be done even a few years ago on a blooming great PC sat in the family living room.
I did the School run with my youngest grandson this morning and bumped into another 'grand dad' I'd not seen in years (new School so needed to introduce ourselves to form teachers). Out came the phones, photo's and little video's of the grand children were compared...do you not think being able to do this demonstrates truly outstanding developments in 'computers'...I certainly do.
I do not deny the developments in computers and i use my phone to show pictures as well.
It just scares the hell out of me the way things are going.
Apparently (so I was reading yesterday) it looks identical to Chrome OS now
I have used CoolNovo in Metro mode, it looks the same to me as it does in desktop mode, including plug ins, i have no idea how they do that as I did not think it could be done.
Probably for HTML5 I think, which performs the same kind of roles as Adobe Flash Player. If you've got a lot of animations moving around at the same time then you need a lot of computing power somewhere in the chain.
That's only part of what HTML5, yes it can replace Flash for the vast majority of things (can't do DRM video though) but it has so much more to offer. Web sockets, web workers, web db, geolocation, more gradient/rounding options, and on and on all these things make pages better, more interactive, more performant, quicker to load and less reliant on images.
I've have seen canvas examples that perform worst that Flash, but this will be get better over time. They have a distinct advantage of the Flash runtime.
Was gonna get windows 7 but been told 8 is much better. My pc is 5 years old so will 8 be ok for me?
It should be fine.
There's an issue with some older Intel CPUs and motherboards that work fine with Windows 7, but Windows 8 won't install, but we're talking 8 or 9 years old, rather than 5.
Was gonna get windows 7 but been told 8 is much better. My pc is 5 years old so will 8 be ok for me?
I found that Windows 8 was slightly faster on my 6 years laptop than windows 7 was. Not sure if windows 8 is much better, but there are some things that are better than windows 7.
I found that Windows 8 was slightly faster on my 6 years laptop than windows 7 was. Not sure if windows 8 is much better, but there are some things that are better than windows 7.
Apart from your adverse reactions to Metro, which is a personal choice.. Windows 8 is far better than seven...:)
Apart from your adverse reactions to Metro, which is a personal choice.. Windows 8 is far better than seven...:)
Better, not sure if it is far better, but it is better. there are still some worries I have with it, supporting secure boot for a start, still not really read it through, but it seems like windows 8 can be made not to install on a system that don't have secure boot.
Granted mine is fine as my computer don't have secure boot, it does have UEFI and my windows 8 is a update.
But what about OEM ones that only works if the secure boot is enabled?
I also don't trust Ms security and people will start to think they are safe because Ms have supplied defender, this will make people feel too safe.
The flat look is not so good as windows 7 Aero.
But in use windows 8 is faster than windows 7, I would say more stable, but then I have not had any real problem with windows 7. I did have a problem with windows 8 a hour ago, it would not boot, but that was because I updated my UEFI and I did not realise it put the Sata back to IDE mode.
I have got some software that don't work as they should with windows 8 and I still have problems with my wireless adaptor, it is using beta drivers, but no new drivers have been released since.
TBH, if I did not get windows 8 for free or if I had to pay for price for it then I would have stuck with windows 7, the difference in speed and efficiency is not enough for most people to bother about.
BTW, a mate of mine is finding a couple of his games are not working as well on windows 8, i don't know which ones, as he roll of these names and i have no idea what he is on about.
Comments
That's where the lock in comes though and DropBox is a good example. I have a 25GB SkyDrive but I still use my 4GB Dropbox. Why? Because Dropbox is installed on all my machines, all my data is already in there and, frankly, I'm too lazy to sort it and copy it. It's easy because it's already setup, it would take something major like dataloss to make me move.
But thats no good when this happens
http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/apple-lifts-10-month-block-from-microsoft-skydrive-app-updates-1142487
We are all too familiar what a fragile relationship exists between them, apple/google/microsoft.
That is the problem or could be a problem.
sure at the moment i can use sky drive, dropbox, Google drive and other services on my computer, phone, and tablet if I had one. But will it stay like that?
I presume Google will want to keep their services on the largest platform, which is still windows, but if you got files in say Sky drive and get a Android based phone/tablet, who is to say that Google will not block the app?
I only use Dropbox, it does what I require.
http://winsupersite.com/mobile-devices/new-attack-windows-chromebook-heads-intel-haswell
Why is all that power required for chrome books? at the end of the day, a chrome book is mainly web based, so no need for loads of memory or power.
If chrome book is the future of computing, then computing have no future. It don't anyway to be honest, not like it used to have. People buy a box these days to do just browsing, listen to a bit of music and show their photos/videos.
Very little creativity now.
The other reasons (I guess) are that people are looking for something simpler and more reliable than Windows - and Google haven't yet got a reputation for losing contact with their users and arrogantly persisting with a failed user hostile half-baked mess that Metro is generally considered to be. (Fanboys: I'm reporting general opinion here, not stating one, so there's no need for you to retaliate.)
Depends where you look
I agree about Windows 8, it does get bad press everywhere
But if you have a read of the Google forums about some of the latest changes they have done there are lots of negativity and Google do not seem to care
I am newly back in the Windows world so can't really comment on how MS treat customers, but Google and others do not treat customers very well
Google, IMO are shocking at the moment, they ask for feedback on a new feature, get mostly negative feedback on it, then continue and do it anyway (a bit like MS with Metro?)
As your a sensible computer user all your data would be backed up offline anyway so whats the issue?
I half imagine that the long term plan is to supply Windows PCs with Metro only but with a paid upgrade option to unlock that desktop.
Microsoft would be happy for 90% of consumers to run Metro only. That might even apply to businesses too if they can grab 30% of all software sales.
Thats what an awful lot of people demand from a computer device these days; this is how home/personal computing has evolved over the last couple of decades. Most people don't want to do video editing, serious DTP etc.
Over twenty years ago I spent £3k + on a PC and now the cheap Android tablets I have are far more powerful than that machine. That machine just could not work these days. I've i7 PC's and Laptop, Surface Pro......
I to a degree am still in awe of how fast devices have developed in two decades (and how prices have fallen). I still get a kick from sitting in an old Welsh farmhouse, maybe lying in bed in the middle of the night, and turn on the TV/PC base unit and chat to friends all over the world in real time (if they too are awake), surf the net, have access to several thousand films, every family photograph going back to the 1880's, my complete music collection (thousands of tracks) et al. I can also do most of that at home from a £100 Android tablet.
This is what 'computers' are all about these days and you just don't get it.
"People buy a box these days to do just browsing, listen to a bit of music and show their photos/videos" could not really be done even a few years ago on a blooming great PC sat in the family living room.
I did the School run with my youngest grandson this morning and bumped into another 'grand dad' I'd not seen in years (new School so needed to introduce ourselves to form teachers). Out came the phones, photo's and little video's of the grand children were compared...do you not think being able to do this demonstrates truly outstanding developments in 'computers'...I certainly do.
Is anyone using Chrome Beta in Metro mode?
Apparently (so I was reading yesterday) it looks identical to Chrome OS now
I thought HTML was suppose to be more efficient than flash?
Google have just got a reputation of spying on their users and getting worse. windows have been pretty good in reliability for a while now, since windows 7 came out. I get a blue screen of death once in the blue moon, unless I do something silly.
I suppose the one good thing about chrome books is that they are left alone by virus writers, if it is at all possible to put a virus on them.
I did recommend a chrome book to someone a few months back, but then we found out that it can not use skype, so that went out of the window and they got a windows based netbook in the end. i can understand that Google want people to use their own services, but not having skype on it is a big thing for some people.
Important stuff is backed up 3 times and one of them is stored elsewhere. That is getting to be a pain to be honest as every week I have to swap the sticks around.
But the issue is that how long will it be before we will not be able to store anything off line? i would have said a few years back not in my lifetime, but the way things are going, i am not so sure.
As I said, no creativity. some people don't even have printers now and then come to me when they want stuff printed. I have got to the point where I tell them I will do it this once and then they must get their own printer.
I still do stuff for Dad and close friends if need be.
I think most people know this, even when I started in the Pc world, with 166Mhz processors, we have come a lone way and even my phone have more a more powerful processor than my old PC did. I think my washing machine have as well
I know of someone who still uses a 233 machine and someone who still use a 500Mhz machine, they do what is required of them. Ok, the reason the 233 machine is still in use is because of the sound card and Yamaha daughter board.
That is technology and even when I was at college in 1981 and got my first computer a ZX81, when I had chats with the mate of mine who introduced me to computers, we could see the future where machines would get smaller and faster. It was when the spectum came out that we realised it may be quicker than we thought.
Ok, so things went quicker and larger for a while, a PC is a lot larger than a ZX81, but a lot of that was the add ons, graphic cards, sounds cards, communication cards, Eg. serial ports.
I still blame my mate for getting me into computers and all the money I have spent over the years.
Strange thing is, I am not into computers than he is these days, he have a old 2Ghz desktop because his laptop have broken down and he is not in any rush to replace it. He got a smart phone a couple of months back, now I thought he would have got one before me. the same with broadband, he is still stuck on 4Mb/s ADSL, not interested in going faster by going for FTTC.
anyway,
I get it, but I don't like it.
I do not deny the developments in computers and i use my phone to show pictures as well.
It just scares the hell out of me the way things are going.
I have used CoolNovo in Metro mode, it looks the same to me as it does in desktop mode, including plug ins, i have no idea how they do that as I did not think it could be done.
Still don't see the point mind you.
CoolNovo= chrome clone.
That's only part of what HTML5, yes it can replace Flash for the vast majority of things (can't do DRM video though) but it has so much more to offer. Web sockets, web workers, web db, geolocation, more gradient/rounding options, and on and on all these things make pages better, more interactive, more performant, quicker to load and less reliant on images.
I've have seen canvas examples that perform worst that Flash, but this will be get better over time. They have a distinct advantage of the Flash runtime.
It should be fine.
There's an issue with some older Intel CPUs and motherboards that work fine with Windows 7, but Windows 8 won't install, but we're talking 8 or 9 years old, rather than 5.
But they won't because they want people to use their Google Talk or what ever it is now.
I found that Windows 8 was slightly faster on my 6 years laptop than windows 7 was. Not sure if windows 8 is much better, but there are some things that are better than windows 7.
Apart from your adverse reactions to Metro, which is a personal choice.. Windows 8 is far better than seven...:)
Better, not sure if it is far better, but it is better. there are still some worries I have with it, supporting secure boot for a start, still not really read it through, but it seems like windows 8 can be made not to install on a system that don't have secure boot.
Granted mine is fine as my computer don't have secure boot, it does have UEFI and my windows 8 is a update.
But what about OEM ones that only works if the secure boot is enabled?
I also don't trust Ms security and people will start to think they are safe because Ms have supplied defender, this will make people feel too safe.
The flat look is not so good as windows 7 Aero.
But in use windows 8 is faster than windows 7, I would say more stable, but then I have not had any real problem with windows 7. I did have a problem with windows 8 a hour ago, it would not boot, but that was because I updated my UEFI and I did not realise it put the Sata back to IDE mode.
I have got some software that don't work as they should with windows 8 and I still have problems with my wireless adaptor, it is using beta drivers, but no new drivers have been released since.
TBH, if I did not get windows 8 for free or if I had to pay for price for it then I would have stuck with windows 7, the difference in speed and efficiency is not enough for most people to bother about.
BTW, a mate of mine is finding a couple of his games are not working as well on windows 8, i don't know which ones, as he roll of these names and i have no idea what he is on about.