In reply to a post by yarwell:

Vista, obviously.

Never used it.

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

It allows you to bypass the paywall

That's odd... when I tried it from your post it took me to the same place as the link in my OP, i.e. the wrong side of the paywall.

I've just tried it again from History and, yes, it bypassed it .

I retract my instruction to return to your place of repose

A (probably) more balanced view.

With a headline like that, it wouldn't be worth reading.

I just can't understand the negative press, I really can't. The media (and a lot of consumers) just set out against Windows 8 all along for absolutely no reason. The next version of Windows (Windows Blue) was always in the pipeline and planned to be released not too long after Windows 8. Adding the start button back might be a "u-turn" but its not a major one. It is because Microsoft are aligning so many of their products they knew they would never be able to get it all done for Windows 8 RTM. You might even speculate Microsoft knew that people would be against Windows 8 (a bit like they was vista) so they planned to come out with a new version shortly after. You know, a bit like how everyone loves Windows 7 so much yet it is not a million miles different from Vista!

Edited by Pipexer (Tue 07-May-13 19:32:46)

Question is will it be a free update? I suspect not.

Most sources suggest the update will be free to Windows 8 customers. It will be free to Windows Phone 8 customers almost certainly. The server flavor might not be but that is covered by different agreements anyway and its not so easy to just upgrade servers like that.

Personally, if is a nominal fee I will not mind at all.

And if you are lucky Microsoft might open up the upgrade to older OS versions

Not what it says here

In reference to blogs.windows.com/windows/b/bloggingwindows/archive/2013/05/06/wind...:

Tami Reller: We recently surpassed the 100 million licenses sold mark for Windows 8. This number includes Windows licenses that ship on a new tablet or PC, as well as upgrades to Windows 8. This is up from the 60 million license number we provided in January. We�ve also seen the number of certified devices for Windows 8 and Window RT grow to 2,400 devices, and we�re seeing more and more touch devices in the mix.

As we talked about in our last Q&A, Windows 8 is a big, ambitious change. While we realize that change takes time, we feel good about the progress since launch, including what we�ve been able to accomplish with the ecosystem and customer reaction to the new PCs and tablets that are available now or will soon come to market.

Edited by deleted (Tue 07-May-13 20:05:10)

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-...

Updated version of operating system will take into account complaints made by users as decision to overhaul the much-maligned operating system has put Bill Gates�s successor under pressure

And there you have the essence of good business sense. Listen to your customers, and respond to their demands.

Not being funny but is that article just a made up story from an alternative universe? What is this so-called U-turn??

I don't see any U-turn going on, unless bringing back a little windows logo in the bottom left of the screen is what is called a u-turn. That's just insane, and an insult to the millions of new lines of code in Windows 8 and yet a few thousand to add back a start button is called a product U-turn. Ridiculous.

Steve Ballmer is doing a fine job, yes Microsoft missed the boat on some things but technologically they are very well positioned now. Windows Phone 8 is amazing. Windows 8 is amazing. I think Windows Blue will be amazing too.

Also, the person who was driving Windows 8 was not Ballmer, but Steven Sinofsky, who left under undisclosed circumstances... interesting how the media etc were sad when he stepped down and blamed Ballmer for getting rid of him yet they are also the same critics of Windows 8 that Sinofsky was in charge of!

Edited by Pipexer (Tue 07-May-13 20:58:10)