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Windows 8.1 Update will be available on April 8 -- here’s what’s new
 

 

Windows-8.1-update.jpg

 

Microsoft has just unveiled the Windows 8.1 Update at Build, and it will be rolling it out to users of the tiled operating system on April 8. MSDN subscribers can download it today.

 

Thanks to leaks, we already knew a lot about it, and even posted our thoughts here previously on BetaNews. I called it a Frankenstein product stitched together with compromises, which it undoubtedly is. My colleague Mark Wilson calls it the final nail in Windows 8.1’s coffin, but Brian Fagioli thinks it’s great. You’ll soon be able to try it out for yourself, but in the meantime here’s what it offers.
 
First up, yes the OS will automatically boot to the desktop if you’re using a keyboard and mouse system. Great news for many people who hate the Modern UI.

 

There are two new buttons on the Start screen next to your username -- Search, which opens the Search charm, and Power, which lets you shutdown, restart, or send your computer to sleep. There’s a new PC Settings button on the Start screen as well, so you don’t have to mess around in Charms if you want to make changes in Windows.

 

Mouse users can now sort the Start screen in a more traditional way. Right-click an app and a context menu will pop up that will allow you to unpin that item from Start screen and/or taskbar, resize its tile or uninstall it. You can select and move tiles around by holding down Ctrl and selecting a bunch at once.

 

You can also now pin Windows Store apps to the taskbar by right-clicking an app, or holding down on it, and selecting Pin to Taskbar. The Windows Store app is pinned there by default. The OS can display all running apps on the taskbar.

 

Windows Store apps now come with a title bar, making it easier to minimize or close them, and split left or right. You can access the taskbar from within running apps. The taskbar also now pops up when you move your mouse to the bottom of a running Modern UI app, so you can easily switch between apps and "legacy" programs.

 

The store UI is being improved to make it easier to use with the keyboard and mouse too.

 

If, like me, you prefer to have the Apps screen as the default rather than the Start screen, there’s a new alphabetical view which lets you filter apps by letter.

 

When you install a new app, it will be highlighted in the Apps list to make it easier to find -- about time!

 

Finally, Internet Explorer 11 has been tweaked and comes with a new enterprise mode which lets IT managers deal with legacy sites by changing the user agent string, and how ActiveX controls are invoked, re-enable degraded features, and so on.

 

So that’s what new. What do you think of the changes? If you’ve yet to upgrade to Windows 8.1 will this persuade you to make the leap?

 

 

 

SOURCE: http://betanews.com/2014/04/02/windows-8-1-update-will-be-available-on-april-8-heres-whats-new/

 

/Steve

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ditto on that ... my first clue will be if the fisher-price gui is still in place .

 

"frankenstein product stitched together with compromises"

maybe the song "frankenstein" by edgar winter should play while the os is loading .

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M$ is too big and has invested too much into making W8 what it is, to back down now. The corporate Ego is enormous, their big players have promised the plan would work to investors... It's like asking a cruise ship to make a quick left turn ; it owns the sea so it wasn't designed to turn (much) so why bother, why care. They owned the sea, past tense.

Windows 8 does have a Frankenstein-ish feel about it, more and more with upgrades it seems. Hard to believe it could get even worse..

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I too don't thinks its enough to get me to switch over to it...

The guy in the video is obviously reading cue cards, he couldn't even bother to memorize the script... hardly ever makes eye contact with the camera, makes me feel like he is talking to someone else...

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Well, 2000 rocked, ME sucked, XP rocked, Vista sucked, 7 rocks, 8 sucks....

 

Nice little trend they have going here.

 

To qualify, though, there are a lot of really kewl features of Win 8 I'd love to see in 7, and that I have used 3 party apps to supplement 7 to give me more info.  Utilities from SysInternals and NirSoft a well as Process Hacker (almost a clone of Process Explorer from SysInternals / TechNet) and a variety of other apps make working with Win 7 even easier, providing me with the info I need when I need it as easily as I can get it in Win 8 0 after jumping through 17 hoops and walking a tightrope lol.

 

I really do hope that the next gen Windows is more desktop like.  I don't mind the same app working in desktop and Mobile OSs, but for the love of everything that is holy, that doesn't mean my mobile has to look like my desktop (or, worse, my desktop look like my mobile), unless *I* choose it to be so.

 

I remember reading a while back that M$ had already started work on the next gen Windows - wonder if it is going to be to Win 8 what 7 was to Vista?  (I really do believe so, fervently)

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I am afraid W9 won't bring back what *we* need. When deciding to build W8 the way it is, they (M$ brass) undoubtedly paid huge amounts of money to marketing gurus / tech market actuarians to evaluate as many variables as possible before making their final move. They wanted a big piece of the tablet / mobile market, so lucrative right now. The number crunchers somehow underestimated (badly) the huge backlash from the apparently diminishing and non confrontational desktop/power users. Oopsy...

 

The numbers are showing that desktop and regular laptop sales are on a steady decline. That's bad news for us, because devices that are hot sellers are mobile/touch. But still, I'm hoping that the next Windows will offer a functional Desktop mode.

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  • Root Admin

Yeah real hard to get to the desktop.  WINDOW_KEY+D  

 

Windows XP - Ghost it with just about any tool out there and put it back down on disk on a new computer (using your Corporate Enterprise License) very quick, very easy.  5 minutes on a fast system.

Windows 7 - No authorized imaging that I'm aware of [if you know of please post] (has to be a scripted install on each box = SLOW AS HECK) each box gets individually licensed and activated (can't do like XP)

Windows 8 - Same issue but with even more snags along the way.

 

I just don't see how any of these updated features are helping Corporate Business users. 

 

Yes both 7 and 8 have some good features under the hood and most Admins are not complaining of that.  The main complaints are forcing users to use features or methods they don't want to use or the GUI itself with it's dismal navigation regardless if you're in Metro or Desktop both are hideous interfaces to use unless you only click on a couple of well used apps.

Then any type of forced "through the store" feature for a business computer again is dumb as heck and annoying because it requires a user and password.  So John Doe admin has to sign in or use his logon credentials on 500 or 1,000 computers so that it will work?  Then how does he protect his user name and password from some possible hacking tool?

 

Just saying they take 5 steps forward and 4 back with this new stuff.  Leave the good stuff alone and add on don't trash what works well.

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Windows 7 - No authorized imaging that I'm aware of [if you know of please post] (has to be a scripted install on each box = SLOW AS HECK) each box gets individually licensed and activated (can't do like XP)

Ron not exactly sure what you meant by this but here is some info...

I can ghost windows 7 computers using Symantec Ghost Solution Suite v2.5. With this I am able to restore an image on any drive, however only to the same model of computers... restoring on a different model causes a BSOD most of the time.

I however also use StorageCraft Shadow Protect 5 which runs in the background and it creates backup images of my workstation. I can mount the images and retrieve individual files from it if needed. I can also restore the image onto ANY computer using the ShadowProtect CD, that you will make using the software, fix a few driver issues and your back up and running, everything working.

Hope that helps...

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  • Root Admin

No I mean that using a Corporate license of Windows XP we could create a ghost image and deploy it to any computer and as many computers as we wanted as long as we did not deploy to more computers than we were licensed for. With Windows 7 each computer needs it's own license and own activation (from my understanding - have not explored it well as we've not needed to do any rollouts in numbers). Dumping a Ghosted imaged to another system it sees the hardware differently and wants you to now license and activate it, with XP you did not need to as the activation was not that smart compared to 7

I don't see Windows 8 making anything easier for Network/Desktop Admins to support hundreds or thousands of systems. A scripted install using the "Microsoft" way takes much longer. I'm sure there really must be a way as I just don't see how they could have abandoned - I probably just need to investigate an "approved" method.

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Ron Symantec Ghost Solution Suite v2.5 that I use lets me create the image, then I send it to like 50 computers at one time, and in the process I have it rename each computer, and when I fire them up they all work just fine. You can even automate adding them to the domain.

Granted these are all Dell computers the self activate out of the box cause they have been prepped by Dell that way I suppose.

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  • 2 weeks later...

We're well beyond that point now, GhostMotleyX. They put the Start button back with the 8.1 upgrade. Or so they say. It's a very limited button, with some right-click options (left click it and you're on the Metro screen). You might have meant a Start Menu, a real one like W7's and prior. That's where the arrogance kicks in (in my opinion). They don't want you to have a Start Menu. They want you to use Metro, so you won't buy other iOS or Android equipped devices ever again. If you become familiar (by force) with Metro, you'll want all your devices in one ecosystem. Right ? That's their Plan. Not just Metro, they want you to use the MS Store, to sell you apps ; they can't sell apps to those who use the Desktop exclusively (like me). They also want you to use a MS account instead of a local account. With a MS account, they'll try to push you to save all your Documents to the cloud (hello SkyDrive), so you'll end up paying for storage space when the free limit is reached. Whoopie.

 

For my non touchscreen computers, I'll have my Desktop, Start button + Start Menu and my local account. If I have to install third party shells and gizmos to get there, so be it. For the next few years, my main system is and will remain W7. I have a few W8 installs, because I got them for $15 and I like to at least try the new stuff.

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  • Root Admin

Windows Server 2012 is quite a bit like Windows 8 too.  PITA - arg... 2008 was bad enough.  Server 2003 is pretty much like XP with a pretty good interface but I guess we're all crying over spilled milk as they might make tweaks here and there but I seriously doubt they'll ever return to XP/2003 interface days.

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Feh.  I roll my own.  Last time around I evolved from Fedora Core 2 (or 3) to a custom kernel to compiling my own kernel to Gentoo.

 

I'm just waiting for gaming to take off on Linux so I can be done with Windows.  Too many of the games I play are not on Linux at all.

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No kidding.  Which is why I mentioned the progression there.

 

Custom kernel --> compiled kernel --> compiled everything after a bootstrap of a working (compiled) kernel and minimal system, aka the Gentoo way.

 

I'm now looking at LFS b/c there seems to be too much emphasis in Gentoo not doing it how I did 10 years ago.  I like compiling stuff for myself - once it is done, it runs with the way I have i configured for the hardware I have installed - none of that floozy HAL stuff where it polls for resident hardware and then decides to load a module or three.

 

On a Pentium 200 with a pair of 20 GB 7200 rpm drives, I had it cold booting to desktop in under 30 seconds.  On my current BIOS based system with SSDs I hope to achieve half that easily.  I doubt it though.

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