Windows 8 killswitch...

Not exactly news, just the new control-everything philosophy of developers/manufacturers.

Kill switches are a standard part of most smartphones, tablets, and e-readers. Google, Apple, and Amazon all have the ability to reach into devices to delete illicit content or edit code without users’ permission.

Microsoft declined to answer questions about the kill switch in Windows 8 other than to say it will only be able to remove or change applications downloaded through the new app store.
 
Yeah, it sucks in theory but in reality it just isn't a problem for the average consumer. Yes Metro apps and the Windows Store provide Microsoft a nice new revenue stream. But if Microsoft opened up Metro apps to any and everyone it would simply become a cluster fuck of malware and viruses. Meanwhile Apple would run commercials reminiscent of the "I'm a Mac and I'm a PC." campaign that did nothing but bash PC over malware and Microsoft simply can't afford to let Metro, its effort critical to competing with the iPad become nothing but a new breeding ground viruses.
 
I wonder if the new version of the Apple Mac OS X (whatever it is called) has this as well, since it can use the Apple app store.
 
I wonder if the new version of the Apple Mac OS X (whatever it is called) has this as well, since it can use the Apple app store.

I can think of no reason why Apple would not have included a killswitch in the Mac App Store, since it has been included in the iPhone App Store since at least 2008. I am also unable to find any confirmation or even a mention of it, but I can't imagine it isn't there.
 
Microsoft declined to answer questions about the kill switch in Windows 8 other than to say it will only be able to remove or change applications downloaded through the new app store. Any software loaded from a flash drive, DVD, or directly from the Web will remain outside Microsoft’s control.
I'm not worried.
 
This is the whole idea of App stores from basically everyone. It's for people who don't want to keep up with patches, upgrades, or the hassle of making sure everything works properly. You have to have a way to eliminate problems if something undesired happens, thus the kill switch. Hopefully, like Apple they never have to use it, if they do their job properly.
 
We're going to be moving our systems over the Windows 7 in the next year. I just can't imagine ever going to 8 based on what I've seen so far. Once 7 is in place, and now that Microsoft has extended support to 2020, I see us completely skipping Windows 8 and Windows 9.
 
We're going to be moving our systems over the Windows 7 in the next year. I just can't imagine ever going to 8 based on what I've seen so far. Once 7 is in place, and now that Microsoft has extended support to 2020, I see us completely skipping Windows 8 and Windows 9.

How Windows 8 fares will be tide to just how tablets fare in general and Metro apps in particular. People will be able to deploy their one Metro apps in some fashion, though I don't know how this will work. But the other thing to to look at is just how compatible Windows 8 is with Windows 7, beyond the UI changes and to see what kinds of performance and battery life increases Windows 8 will bring, which could be VERY substantial particularly when running Metro apps.

Windows 8 is a extraordinarily complex OS and the story of it will be at least as complex. I know a lot of people are writing 8 off and saying Windows 7 forever and while I fully expect Windows 7 to be the primary business OS for years to come as people roll off XP, Windows 8 is probably going to have a lot of consumer appeal and it will be attractive to businesses that want to integrate tablets into their environments as it will fit in well with existing Microsoft tools and platforms.

The release of the Consumer Preview I think will begin to set the record for Windows 8's success. A few near Consumer Preview leaks have some out with those people saying that whatever we know about Windows 8 from the Developer Preview, just toss that aside. No the overall aesthetics haven't changed but supposedly keyboard and mouse operation is VASTLY superior to the DP and it's considerably faster even than Windows 7 SP1 on the same hardware.

There are going to be plenty of people that look at Metro and the new Start Screen and say Windows 8 sucks, nothing will change their minds. I think most will be more open minded about it, see if keyboards and mice really do work as well as they do with Windows 7 though maybe a bit differently. That people will look at performance, boot times, battery life, stability, compatibility, Metro apps and indeed touch. There's going to a lot of those people say "Hey, Windows 8 is actually VERY nice.

So it's unlikely that Windows 8 will receive the warm welcome of Windows 7 but I do think that it's going to be a more emotional one from both ends. There's just a lot to have look at to see how it goes.
 
I spoke with someone yesterday about buying their old touchscreen laptop once they decide to sell it. I plan on giving 8 a fair chance on hardware it was designed for, but I don't think it's going to go over well as the primary business desktop.
 
I spoke with someone yesterday about buying their old touchscreen laptop once they decide to sell it. I plan on giving 8 a fair chance on hardware it was designed for, but I don't think it's going to go over well as the primary business desktop.

Old touchscreen laptops usually have resistive touch screens. As for the whole desktop usage, I could go on forever about why the start screen is actually superior to the start menu.
 
Old touchscreen laptops usually have resistive touch screens. As for the whole desktop usage, I could go on forever about why the start screen is actually superior to the start menu.

Most touch screen laptops in the last 3 to 4 years should have a capacitive touchscreens. I have an old HP tx2 from late 2008 that has a dual-mode N-Trig multi-touch and pen digitizer and I think the HP model just before it had a capacitive screen as well though most of the HP tx2000 series devices were pen and resistive touch.

And I agree with you about the Start Screen. When the right live tile apps it can be FAR more useful and intuitive than the old Start Menu. Plus the rumor going around is that the keyboard and mouse work MUCH better in the Consumer Preview. Again, this is just like the ribbon in Office. There are plenty of people that hate it but just as many or more that do and the middle just adapted and moved on. People that use both keyboard and mouse and touch and pen with Windows 8 are going to LOVE it, this what old tablet PC folks like me wanted 10 years ago, an OS that worked well with all input methods.
 
Most touch screen laptops in the last 3 to 4 years should have a capacitive touchscreens. I have an old HP tx2 from late 2008 that has a dual-mode N-Trig multi-touch and pen digitizer and I think the HP model just before it had a capacitive screen as well though most of the HP tx2000 series devices were pen and resistive touch.
Even then, a lot of touchscreens, even capacitive ones, haven't been that great. I've used both a Dell Latitude XT (forget what its digitizer is, probably NTrig) and a Dell SX2210T touch monitor on Win7, and in both drawing a couple of straight lines in paint and seeing what the digitizer thinks is happening can be.....revealing. If I get a touch machine for Windows 8, I'll probably wait and buy new hardware.
 
Google has used theirs to kill known malware remotely, which is a good thing.

Google doesn't give a shit about your pirated 99 cent app or the pictures of your significant other's asshole, it's not that big of a deal.
 
Even then, a lot of touchscreens, even capacitive ones, haven't been that great. I've used both a Dell Latitude XT (forget what its digitizer is, probably NTrig) and a Dell SX2210T touch monitor on Win7, and in both drawing a couple of straight lines in paint and seeing what the digitizer thinks is happening can be.....revealing. If I get a touch machine for Windows 8, I'll probably wait and buy new hardware.

Agreed, not all digitizers or even different machines with the same digitizers are created equal. I totally agree with you on waiting for new hardware, I think the new stuff is going to be amazing compared to current stuff. I'll be running Windows 8 on my Samsung Series 7 Slate and Lenovo x220t convertible tablet PC until new Windows 8 hardware comes out. Put those machines are the best right now and actually have very have digitizers both pen and touch, particularly the S7S.

I expect the Consumer Preview to run well on both though the Developer Preview had a lot of bugs on the S7S with is very similar to the machine Microsoft was handing out at the Build conference back in September so I found it odd that the S7S had so many issues with the Windows 8 DP.
 
Google doesn't give a shit about your pirated 99 cent app or the pictures of your significant other's asshole, it's not that big of a deal.

Well they might care about the pirated apps. Developers HATE piracy and the more of it there is on a platform the less developers want to develop for it.
 
This just seems like something that could get exploited, I may stick with W7 for a few more years at home and run a W8 VM. I have no reason to upgrade right now.
 
True Linux releases will never have this bullcrap installed.

And if it does you have every legal right to program it out.
 
And no one uses true linux releases for desktop use other than people who need something to complain about. Linux will never replace a Windows or Apple OS as a commercial desktop os regardless of what linux developers would like us to believe.
 
And no one uses true linux releases for desktop use other than people who need something to complain about. Linux will never replace a Windows or Apple OS as a commercial desktop os regardless of what linux developers would like us to believe.

Seriously. It'll probably take only a month before the Windows 8 Consumer Preview is on more desktops than all Linux distros combined.
 
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