Since the days of Windows 1.0 I have always quickly upgraded to the latest version. I could list some really great things about Windows 8.1, but I am not going to waste my time. Instead, I want to talk briefly talk about how Microsoft has been inept for a long time.

I remember when I bought my Timex-Microsoft Datalink watch, back in 1994. Back then there was no such thing as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. The watch really couldn't do too much and had to be programmed by holding it up to the monitor as it flashed black and white stripes at it. Microsoft could of had a huge jump in the wearable computing sector and today everybody would be praising their name, but they had no VISION. So they dropped the ball and now they can watch as Google, Apple, Samsung and rest of the computing world release their own watches, and who cares whatever half-baked watch Microsoft eventually releases -- they had a had a TWENTY YEAR JUMP on the whole world but had no sense to take advantage of it. I have to list this, because it demonstrates how far back Microsoft's mental incapability goes. Every one of their CEOs from Bill gates on had little long-term sense, and just wished to milk their initial success.

"The Lost Years": Notice how even Microsoft now refers to the "lost years", meaning the lost decade. They can't even put their finger on what they are trying to express, because their corporate policy demands they praise DotNet to the high heavens. The promise of DotNet was that everything would perform so much better than straight C/C++ APIs (haha) and be faster and more compact (haha again). DotNet was the very epitome of throwing more CPU power at problems and "gee, don't worry -- CPU speed doubles every two years anyhow". What a joke. This is why they had to create WinRT -- to make a faster API because regular DotNet could never be stomached on the slower low-power processors. Google had no problem with Android, because they already had the world's greatest kernel called Linux. The "Lost Years" are the DotNet years. And DotNet is such a stupid name. Which brings me to the next topic:

The first Windows Phones had a trash Windows interface -- so they were rejected. Windows Phone 7 had internals too sickening to fathom: MS in its "wisdom" decided it was a C# DotNet world and that apps should never do anything so risky as run some proper code such as SQLite -- or any other code the rest of the world runs. Windows Phone 7 deserved to die. Now they release a brand new phone with brand new internals and interface -- so what do they name it? "Windows Phone" is already associated with trash. "Windows Phone 7" equals "trash 7". So they named it "trash 8". Yeah, that sure means a lot to the average person who has no idea what WinRT even means. They should have named it "WinPhone" and "WinPad" and "WinOS" which would of really rung a bell with their users and signified something had actually changed for the better; as in, iOS type of better. Somebody go claim those websites and trademarks to mess MS over. Even the name "Metro" was too generically dumb, and now "Modern UI" signifies nothing. A catchy name can motivate a user base, but a bland stupid name -- effects things for the worse.

Design Sucks: A couple years back when MS was so proud to reveal their new "Metro" interface or TIFKAM (The Interface Formerly Known As Metro) I could not control my initial reaction. I was shocked and my jaw dropped open and I kept staring at the screenshots, saying again and again "They've Gone Insane!" Look at the old Windows 7 logo -- it was the most beautiful and organic ever produced by Microsoft. Windows 8 logo could of been drawn by any idiot with a ruler and a crayon. Sure, the total flat design has a practicality about it, but interfaces are in many ways becoming more beautiful and organic, not harsh and robotic. Also, UI's are becoming more customizable. They do not want ...

Forced Appearance! Windows early on had lots of color metrics the user could control. Then they replaced those metrics with some simplistic half-baked skinning -- then they never finished the job, instead they yanked all the skinning away completely in Windows 8. And these metro apps only let the user select two colors to customise things with. Don't they idiots realize the power desktops in Linux land let you skin every single thing? I drool over Linux screenshots!

So I'll Just Switch to Linux: It's insane to keep paying Microsoft for "Windows Professional" when any free Linux out of the can is more capable. I want a decently managed repository system, and if Microsoft ever came out with one I know it would be filled with adware and monetized trash apps, and MS would want their cut. I need commitment to the "power desktop" for desktop and laptop computers; Android suffices for the mobile world. Why should I keep paying Microsoft to slap me in the face? The Linux world is not "perfect", but it will more than suffice and not punch me in the eyes every day.

Beta will kill this community.

Beta will be the death of slashdot, if it is pushed on everyone. It should be an option for phone users. An option, that's all.

Answer: OneNote is the ultimate note taking app and I find its layout to be far more my liking than Evernote. Evernote actually repulses me graphically. It is actually the main app preventing me from moving over to Linux Mint. Libre Office suffices in place of Word and Excel, but nothing out there comes close to the power of OneNote. Listen, extremists, I'm sorry I am endorsing a Microsoft product! OneNote 2003 can run under WINE except for a few things that are trivial to me (search up the WINE compatibility database -- very useful). OneNote 2013 will not run under WINE for a *long* time, I'm sure. Only Windows flavors of OneNote are worthy of the name -- the iOS & Android varients are not good. Try to keep all comments relative to note taking software, so this fellow gets his problem solved.

Larry's comment parallels those that rant that Microsoft is doomed because Apple will eat its lunch. Or those that laugh at Apple and Microsoft saying they are both doomed because cheap Android devices will be their end. Those are extreme comments. Apple, Google, and Microsoft will both continue making record profits that will just increase. For a company, profit is the only true measure of success. They're all adapting. I think the only true change that has come about is that now coders like myself have to be knowledgeable of cross-platform methods so they can hit all the markets, both present and future. Peace out.

MS has a lot of Apple envy, as one can see by its most recent strategies. I can't help but feel that they are making this move to more closely emulate Apple's corporate structure. They're doing a lot of imitation while trying to be distinctive.

The death of BYTE magazine and Creative Computing Magazines hit me HARD. I subscribed to them in high school after I spent $3,000 on a Apple II with 32k RAM. I could not comprehend how such amazing magazines could die. I can't even raise a brow at any magazine that vanishes now, especially when the world of Internet information is at hand.

The Sahara desert was a green and lush place just a few thousand years ago: they still have the skeletons of HIPPOS and other beasts to prove it. How much water does a HIPPO need guys? Quite a bit. NASA says it was green "10,000" years ago but I always felt it was more like -- go ahead and laugh -- 4,000 years ago. Areas around Iraq had cities that were surrounded by water, Venice-style. Israel was brimming with BEARS and lions and wolves. Takes a lot of vegetation to support a BEAR. The middle east use to have plenty of forests and trees. The world is filled with examples of gigantism in previous ages. Basically, the world is dying a slow death -- and it all began before a single factory existed. The scientists that insisted that the world was climatically constant for hundreds of thousands of years have basically set everybody up for a big surprise when they begin to realize things are really changing. Now they want to shut down the economies of developed nations to hand manufacturing over to the biggest polluters on the earth.

They should of called it "winPhone" instead of Windows 8. That was like calling it Crap+1 instead of just Crap, because all the windows phones before 8 literally were pretty crappy. Doomed by association.

Slashdot is a Windows bashing site to the point of being ridiculous. It seems that Ars Technica is a little more even-handed when commenting on Operating Systems. It's good to weigh the pros and cons of all the operating systems without falling prey to the immature "Evil Microsoft" mentality that so many people have here. I like LockerGnome's opinion that an operating system's strength is often is weakness; dwell upon that one.

Herding lots of programmers must drive men to cursing, because Gates & Jobs could rant their curses with the best of them -- and it got them results. Human nature. No news here.

Android does not appear to have a standard set of emoji, which is what prevented my wife and I from switching from iPhone to Android. We enjoy texting those funny little pics to each other, which are quickly accessed from the keyboard. Rather than responding "K" I can send a face blowing a kiss, or something equally charming. It would be great to be able to text the same exact icon from any device. The creator of this project knows it will be appreciated by many in the future if all devices can standardize on a common set of emoji.

Everyone viewing this web page is using Linux: The web host is probably using Linux, as well as the ISPs delivering the bandwidth.

Vertical tabs done right, are what keep me with Opera. I often open a dozen windows at a time and the tabs only display well vertically.

MS is actually playing pretty nice; they could play ball a lot harder if they wanted to. People receive a good out-of-the-box experience from MS, Apple, Android; hopefully Ubuntu will get to where the average fellow enjoys it with less hiccups.