Media center costs extra
Depending on which version of Vista or
Windows 7 you got, the Windows Media Center was part of the package. Windows 8
will break that tradition, as it's not provided for free with any version of
the Windows 8 OS.
Windows
Media Center
If you do want it - and someone might -
then you can get it for free if you upgrade from XP, Vista or Windows 7 to
Windows 8 Pro, as an 'added feature', but it doesn't come as part of the basic
installation. Quite what it's going to ask for this tool, given there are at
least three other entirely free interfaces that do exactly the same I've no
idea, but it intends to make it a purchasable extra.
The intention here seems to be to see how
many people actually want it, and if very few people do want it, Microsoft can
remove it from the next release and save the development cost of updating it.
Now this is a shocker. If you have a valid
version of Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 you will qualify to download
an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for just $40 in 131 countries across the world.
That's about £25 in jubilee beer tokens, which is the lowest cost for a Windows
upgrade for some considerable time. However, that does assume that Microsoft
isn't using the infamous dollars-to- pounds equation so beloved of American
software companies.
Microsoft
wants everyone to use its 'Store' to install applications, because in the
future it will get a portion of every software sale and not just the apps it
made itself.
This offer will run until next January from
the point of launch, so if you want Windows 8 it would be best to move before
then. By comparison, a DVD retail version will be $70 initially, for those who
like discs or who don't have a good internet connection.
Domains, not so much
Let's imagine for a moment that you're an
IT manager in a big company. Does Windows 8 have some surprises for you? You
bet.
The first - and quite drastic - admission
from Microsoft is that Windows RT doesn't play well with others, specifically
domains. That means you can't use a Windows RT machine as part of a proper
Microsoft Network environment that uses profiles and other security mechanics
like Active Directory.
To quote Microsoft, "The ARM-based
version of Windows does not include the same manageability features that are in
32-bit and 64-bit versions, businesses can use these power-saving [WOA] devices
in unmanaged environments."
On
a tablet, touching the screen seems intuitive, but on a desktop it's very
inefficient compared with the finesse of a mouse.
So having spent the last 20 years
encouraging business to manage their environment, it's now saying that it's a
good thing to have unmanaged bits?
For those using the x86 Windows 8, things
are more like Windows 7, although Microsoft wants to encourage corporate
development of Metro apps, and the local administration of the Application
Store to distribute those tools, and deny access to Angry Birds, or whatever.
Based on the time-scales that big companies
embrace new Windows features, Windows 11 will most likely be out before most
corporate customers start releasing Metro applications to their workforce.
The general message that Microsoft is
sending to the corporate channel with its lack of domain support in Windows RT,
and the Metro interface in general, is that Windows RT and Surface aren't for
you, at least not in the Windows 8 incarnation.
The general view from Microsoft is that
business users will snub Windows 8 anyway, so why bother supporting them?
