Discussions

Wouldn't that mean that mobile devices constitute some 80% of the total?

@JoshRoss: The problem I see is that what people expect from a Windows 8 app is not what they expect from a website. If you don't want to go for the least common denominator, then I'm not sure what JS would buy you in this case unless, of course, you are so familiar with the language that it would cut significantly your development time.

Every version of Windows sold big, even Vista the terrible, even Me the blue-screener. Regardless of what we think of it, Windows 8 is going to be a huge platform, huge enough that comparing it to some fancy flavored vodka is not the correct simile IMO. Try coffee... yes, you can drink it in nondescript paper cups, but there's a huge market for ceramic mugs.

4 hours ago, SteveRichter wrote

*snip*

exactly. If it is doable to put a battery in a laptop, why not have an option to put a small battery in a desktop. I would pay for that.  ( figuerres, there are not problems shipping laptops with connected batteries. )

btw, I lost power last week and today. IE both times lost stuff. Where I lost my IE most popular sites, had to reenter passwords.

It is doable; it's only expensive. If widely adopted it could be less expensive than an external UPS (and more efficient), but for most people black-outs are infrequent enough that it wouldn't make sense to pay more for their desktops.

If you are into DIY electronics, it's not very difficult to make it yourself; again, it's just expensive.

@SteveRichter: if all you want is your PC to survive a power glitch in the split second range, you could theoretically just use a simple circuit that adds large capacitors on the low voltage lines of your PSU; the problem is that handling the "Power Good" line properly may not be straightforward.

My advice: get a laptop.

5 hours ago, Proton2 wrote

*snip*

Music seems awfully a lot like a drug.

*furious snipping*

Can't say I followed your rant, but you definitely got something right. Music is a nasty psycotropic substance; it can be exhilarating, it can make you cry, it can make you drive like a baboon and usually crave for more and better stuff.

The good thing is, it's legal in most countries, and nobody can stop you from making your own (except for common decency and, maybe, your neighbors).

Rock and roll, man...

37 minutes ago, Harlequin wrote

From W3C.

2012	Internet Explorer	Firefox	Chrome	Safari	Opera
December	14.7 %	31.1 %	46.9 %	4.2 %	2.1 %

I figured down to 30% or so, not < 15%. I think Google's TV campaign must have helped over the last bit. You rarely see Microsoft TV ads except during the Simpsons and Family Guy on Sundays.

Other sources are wildly different; Net Applications, for instance. has IE constantly over 50% and inching up for months. Go figure.

Probably neither is correct, or maybe both are: after all it's an ill-defined problem that doesn't have an unique answer.

22 hours ago, DeathBy​VisualStudio wrote

Seems like the SteamBox has the same issues as SurfaceRT:

1. It's an unknown quantity.
2. Has little app support compared to competitors.
3. Existing apps must be ported to it and some rewritten altogether.
4. There are already many other options in the marketplace that provide a similar function.

That's largely true, but the comparison is a bit of a stretch.

A tablet (or a smartphone, or a laptop) can be made indefinitely useful with just a handful of applications. By contrast, a game console needs a constant stream of titles being ported to it or it will soon become as useful as a doorstop.

Also, if you want to - say - browse the web, it doesn't matter much which browser your tablet provides, as long as it does a decent job. But if you want to play some specific game, no substitute will ever do.

Bottom line: the Surface doesn't have it easy, but that's a walk in the park as compared to a new game console.

7 minutes ago, Bas wrote

*snip*

I have seen Microsoft advertising the hell out of all kinds of W8 device brands.

True, but the Surface is going to be accused of being the teacher's pet regardless.

Truth be told, some recent stunts in product placement did not help

15 minutes ago, swheaties wrote

Clearly you don't understand two factor auth.  How does sending an email to a phone qualify as two factor auth but sending an email to a computer does not. 

*snip*

Clearly you don't understand two factor auth

Multi-factor authentication was not designed to verify your identity; its purpose is just that of making it harder to compromise your account (and removing single points of failure). Leaving biometrics aside, it all boils down to mix "something you have" with "something you know", the typical example being an ATM card and a PIN. (the little device you mentioned is just a glorified ATM card, with the added bonus that it allows you to prove ownership online).

In the case at hand, the password to your email account serves as the "something you know" factor, while your mobile phone (actually, the phone number) serves as the "something you have", so it's a good example of two-factor authentication.

Things can be less than ideal with smartphones, where it's possible to set up the sensitive email account and leave it unlocked. But since someone cracking your password is a much bigger threat than someone stealing your phone, it's still better than nothing.

43 minutes ago, Bass wrote

@Blue Ink:

Cheers, but the new and modern(tm) metrosexual Windows interface that you SHOULD be using if you are cool and hip is still locked on the app store, x86 or ARM. They took it to levels that even Apple won't touch. Who says Microsoft isn't innovative? Regardless, I don't want to be involved in the endless Windows 8 debate, is plenty of other people around here that can hate on Windows 8 better than me.

I appreciate that you don't want to start yet another "I hate Metro" argument and I will return the favor by not entering into a "the desktop is not legacy" one.

As I mentioned, browser vendors get equal API access in the x86 Windows 8 Start Screen, which means that more x86 tablets will make the original complaint even less relevant than it is right now. And I don't really get your point about the app store: you should be thrilled that you can actually download your browser of choice on Windows without having to touch IE.

Microsoft blowing all sorts of time and money reinventing its own quasi-comptable rendering engine instead of using the industry standard Webkit renderer is kind of stupid too, but that's a different story. I guess "helps the economy".

We had a dominating rendering engine once, and it didn't turn out very well. Just say no.

Google must think so, too, given how they are funding the development of Gecko.