Download Windows 8.1 Preview: Start button returns, boot to desktop, better search and more

[spectrenad]

Eh, I don't want the start menu, so I'll keep using Win8

I've always voted for both, but then we all know what MS answer to that was. MS didn't want to burden us with the prospect of choices. The arrogance of MS thinking they are the only ones capable of making decisions is astonishing. You are insulting you own intelligence by further supporting Microsoft.

Or maybe he simply doesn't care about the start menu. Personally, I pin stuff to the task bar so I don't care about the start menu.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Personally, I pin stuff to the task bar so I don't care about the start menu.

I pin my most common used to the Taskbar as well. And then I pin most other Apps to the Start Menu. And now with Windows 8, this is no longer an option. Hence the lack of choice with the introduction of Start Screen.

This whole Start Menu vs Start Screen kinda ticks me off, when MS could have avoided the entire ordeal with a choice between them. But no MS had to roll up their sleeve and strong arm everyone into using the Start Screen. I could have accepted the Start Screen, if they had implemented Windows Aero. But no they had to remove Windows Aero, making the OS back track a few generations in cosmetics.

 

[oldikes]

Or maybe that means they don't really just care about the sales.

Microsoft cares about the sales. Look at what happened to xbox. They did a cash grab, lost like 80% of their sales, then dropped the cash grab just to get sales back.
One with bad xbox experiences would argue Microsoft rigged the 360 to break so they could get more, you guessed it, sales.
If microsoft didnt care about the sales, why would they make a new OS instead of improving the old one?

 

[cliffordcooley]

One with bad xbox experiences would argue Microsoft rigged the 360 to break so they could get more, you guessed it, sales.

Which is precisely, why one should be highly skeptical about device kill switches. If a company has the power to kill a device, they can control how often you spend your money. And trust me on this, they all see eye to eye on this concept.

 

[p51d007]

Played around with it when it came out in a VM, just couldn't get use to the tiles. Yeah, you can put the start menu back, but from a functionality standpoint, I couldn't justify the need to upgrade. Yeah, there are security features, new features bla bla bla, but 7 WORKS. Why screw with success?

 

[Rick]

"The preview includes a myriad of improvements and enhancements"

That's like saying:
"The preview includes a many of improvements and enhancements"

Nope... ;-)

 

[GhostRyder]

Microsoft cares about the sales. Look at what happened to xbox. They did a cash grab, lost like 80% of their sales, then dropped the cash grab just to get sales back.
One with bad xbox experiences would argue Microsoft rigged the 360 to break so they could get more, you guessed it, sales.
If microsoft didnt care about the sales, why would they make a new OS instead of improving the old one?

You do realise that the consoles are sold at a loss to the company right? Console sales are not what they care about ( I mean beyond everyone having one), game sales and accessories are what make them money. I mean at the time the 360 and PS3 were released, for the price, they were some of the best machines money could buy. I mean, people bought the PS3 to use as a super computer I have even seen.

The Xbox 360 and its problems, cost microsoft alot of money, but less then fixing them, hence why they added that 3 year warranty, it was cheaper to fix than to replace the whole machine.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Except this part of the web presumably (Edit: ninja'ed by JC713 )

Now? The GTX 780 doesn't support the full DX11.1 specification...

Bear in mind that the features that aren't supported are mainly Direct2D orientated (16xMSAA and Target-Independent rasterization support in 2D applications) not Direct3D.
I wouldn't be overly worried that it doesn't fully support the feature levels of 11_1 and 11_2. D3DX 11.1 was introduced ten months ago. Number of games using (let alone requiring) 11.1....Nil.

Of course, as a marketing tool it is bound to fire up a new round of graphics card purchases for those with a need for speed bullet points

DirectX 11.2 is basically a bug fix and optimization of DX11 and 11.1 right?

 

[coppersloane]

Fantastic changes. Using it right now on my Surface. I really wonder about people who have such a hard time getting used to these changes. I pick them up within minutes. Read a book, maybe? Or visit that Lumosity site to develop your IQ?

Just trying to help.

 

[dividebyzero]

DirectX 11.2 is basically a bug fix and optimization of DX11 and 11.1 right?

The GPU overlay (2D) is new, and the bulk of the 11.2 spec looks like further optimization and streamlined resource usage. The MSDN keynote presentation had a demo of the "Tiled Resources" running on a GTX 770 (touched on briefly in this TS article), so at least the first tier is compatible with Kepler. As for a full explanation of DX11.2 check the link in my previous post - I thought you'd linked to the same info, but your link was to the 8.1 info instead.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Or visit that Lumosity site to develop your IQ?

Just so we are clear, total disregard has nothing to do with operational IQ level. However since MS decided consumers shouldn't be burdened by making choices for themselves, one could argue this as a lack in consumer IQ. I'm just saying, don't know for sure. But since you brought up IQ, I thought I would give it mention.

P.S.
I'll be waiting for your next IQ BS statement!

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Well, I'm not one of them, I'm one who's been ogling GTX 780, and now having second thoughts because of the news. I thought of starting to buy parts for my new rig for this fall when Windows 8.1 is released, but who would want to pocket out $650 for a card that won't support the latest DirectX. Doesn't sound that exciting anymore.

But then there is another thing, there is no information on the web whatsoever about DirectX 11.2, not even rumors, makes it all even more unexpected a news...

Maybe AMD will slip it in in their next gen cards but for now I don't think current owners of DX 11.1 cards need to overstress themselves about it because it'll probably be a while before we see it incorporated in PC games. The new consoles don't support it and that's where they say the moolah lies.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Until the new games start coming out supporting it, which shouldn't take long. That, plus simply peace of mind, expected in the premium price range...

There's no such thing as peace of mind in the hi-tech game.

 

[oldikes]

You do realise that the consoles are sold at a loss to the company right? Console sales are not what they care about ( I mean beyond everyone having one), game sales and accessories are what make them money. I mean at the time the 360 and PS3 were released, for the price, they were some of the best machines money could buy. I mean, people bought the PS3 to use as a super computer I have even seen.

The Xbox 360 and its problems, cost microsoft alot of money, but less then fixing them, hence why they added that 3 year warranty, it was cheaper to fix than to replace the whole machine.

Actually no, at the time they were released, they were based on fairly mediocre hardware. The PS3 better than the xbox.

 

[Lionvibez]

DirectX 11.2 is basically a bug fix and optimization of DX11 and 11.1 right?

The other guy worrying about it is just making a big deal over nothing.

how many games are out now that are direct X 11 vs 11.1?

By the time you see a ton of games using 11.2 there will already be faster cards out than the 780.

If you were talking DX11 VS DX12 then maybe but the sub version changes are small and shouldn't stop someone from buying a videocard.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

Actually no, at the time they were released, they were based on fairly mediocre hardware. The PS3 better than the xbox.

I'm not going to waste my time looking up the exact stats, but the estimated prices of building a Xbox or PS3 from scratch was almost exactly or just a little over what they were charging. And that's excluding the blu-ray player. When the PS3 came out stand alone Blu-Rays were $200. Sony put Blu-Rays in the PS3 and sold them at a loss in order to beat out HD-DVDs. The PS3 was so cheap for what you got that people were buying them JUST for the blu-ray player.

It was not mediocre hardware. You can argue it wasn't state-of-the-art, but no console will ever have that because the hardware must be decided upon, ordered and built months in advance in order to built a few million units for release.

 

[Jad Chaar]

The other guy worrying about it is just making a big deal over nothing.

how many games are out now that are direct X 11 vs 11.1?

By the time you see a ton of games using 11.2 there will already be faster cards out than the 780.

If you were talking DX11 VS DX12 then maybe but the sub version changes are small and shouldn't stop someone from buying a videocard.

If you are a game developer, upgrading your engine from 11 to 11.1/11.2 will take a bunch of developers, and hence, more money out of their pockets. So yeah, it is not worth moving unless it is a major revision.

 

[Jad Chaar]

(Edit: ninja'ed by JC713 )

I'll work on that xD!

 

[oldikes]

I'm not going to waste my time looking up the exact stats, but the estimated prices of building a Xbox or PS3 from scratch was almost exactly or just a little over what they were charging. And that's excluding the blu-ray player. When the PS3 came out stand alone Blu-Rays were $200. Sony put Blu-Rays in the PS3 and sold them at a loss in order to beat out HD-DVDs. The PS3 was so cheap for what you got that people were buying them JUST for the blu-ray player.

It was not mediocre hardware. You can argue it wasn't state-of-the-art, but no console will ever have that because the hardware must be decided upon, ordered and built months in advance in order to built a few million units for release.

The hardware being put in them now is mediocre. they are of average quality. same with the old ones. a blue ray drive could be added to PS3s when they first came out for likely around 150. the rest of the hardware didnt cost 450.

EDIT; it would appear the PS3 was indeed originally sold at a loss. but PS3 then cut build costs by 70% later on

 

[Arris]

So they brought back a start button, not the start menu. I doubt this is really what people wanted.

 

[MrBungle]

DirectX 11.2 is a surprise. Should we expect 11.2 video cards any time soon?

Doubtful, anything above 11.0 is Win 8 and frankly Win 8 doesn't have enough market share to be relevant... Come to think about it, NOTHING with the metro UI on it has ever gained enough market share to be relevant... I wonder how long it will be until MS figures this out?

 

[cliffordcooley]

Doubtful, anything above 11.0 is Win 8

I came real close to misinterpreting "above 11.0", and was fixing to inform Windows 7 was 11. Fortunately I came to my senses (what little I have) and realized you were correct. lol

 

[GhostRyder]

The hardware being put in them now is mediocre. they are of average quality. same with the old ones. a blue ray drive could be added to PS3s when they first came out for likely around 150. the rest of the hardware didnt cost 450.

EDIT; it would appear the PS3 was indeed originally sold at a loss. but PS3 then cut build costs by 70% later on

The consoles came out November 2006 for the ps3 and November 2005 for the Xbox 360. The components put inside each console was higher than any normal consumer could have picked up for years and actually built (including the ridiculous price for just a Blu-ray player). As time went on, the component a became cheaper of course and at this point they are probably breaking about even, but even this generation, Sony (at least) will be taking a loss on each console sold and so will Microsoft. You can say the hardware is "mediocre" all you want but the fact is these machines are selling for 400 and 500 respectively.

Yes the companies obviously get the hardware for cheaper than a normal consumer would, but these machines still contain nice new components that while may not be an i7 or a fx 8350, but it's still a fancy processor with good video specs, wireless built in, Blu-ray drives. They may get close to even, but they certainly are not making profits from consoles, the money comes from game sales.

 

[Guest]

Just right click on the Start icon to invoke the menu.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

Just right click on the Start icon to invoke the menu.

Shhh... you're gonna mess with everyone's complaining....