Microsoft launches Windows 8 Release Preview
The Windows 8 Release Preview has a bunch of tweaks and changes, but the enabling of the Do Not Track flag has advertisers up in arms.
The primary changes over previous releases are new apps for the divisive Metro UI, including Bing Travel, Bing News and Bing Sports apps. If you think that's a bit Bing heavy, there's also a Gaming app and a Music app designed for use with Zune Pass on the company's Xbox 360 games console. The existing Mail, Photos and People apps have also been tweaked based on user feedback.
Additional improvements include enhanced multi-monitor support, increased personalisation options for the Start screen, a tweaked Windows Store interface and Family Safety features.
The real news, however, comes in the inclusion of a new build of Internet Explorer 10, which includes for the first time a default setting of 'Do Not Track.'
Introduced in multiple browsers to enhance user privacy, the 'Do Not Track' flag tells websites that the user does not want their doings recorded for behavioural advertising. Many browsers include the option, but Microsoft is going a step further by switching the flag on by default in Windows 8.
It's a move which has advertisers worried. 'Advertising has always been about connecting consumers to products and services that are likely of interest to them,' claimed Stu Ingis, general counsel for the Digital Advertising Alliance, in a statement regarding Microsoft's announcement. 'While new Web technologies deliver more relevant advertising to consumers, comprehensive industry self-regulation is also providing consumers with meaningful choices about the collection of their data. The Administration and FTC have praised these efforts. Today’s technology announcement, however, threatens to undermine that balance, limiting the availability and diversity of Internet content and services for consumers.'
According to the DAA, Microsoft's decision to enable the Do Not Track flag - described by the group as 'a unilateral decision by one browser maker, made without consultation within the self-regulatory process' - could have a serious impact on advertising-funded products and services available over the internet. Privacy advocates, naturally, disagree and have applauded Microsoft's move.
The Windows 8 Release Preview is available for free download now from the official website - but be warned: there's no in-place upgrade for users of previous releases.
Previous Article
35 Comments
Discuss in the forums ReplyNice to see Microsoft taking a proactive approach toward user rights/privacy - the 'Digital Advertising Alliance' is talking nonsense about "self regulation"... some of the adverts on Bit-Tech are a perfect example of how targeted ads can totally fail to be relevant. And self regulation only works if everything is approached honestly...
Of course I'll keep a desktop for work...
In the meantime, I'll stick with Win7 but will try out Win8 in a VM
Yeah, I laugh when I see adverts for products which received low scores from bit-tech.
So far Win 8 has been "utter crap" from my point of view and will not be down-grading to Windows 8 when it's released unless something totally out of this world happens between now and the big release day when Microsoft release it to the unfortunate public.
I really do not like Metro on my desktop or laptop. I can see the point on a tablet or other touchscreen device but a proper computer? Nah, Microsoft have defintely lost the way, then need Bill Gates back at the helm to steer the non-controllable-rudder-fallen-off-ship that is now Microsoft. I can see why Microsoft are trying to cash in on the tablet / touchscreen but this is not the way to do it. A seperate Windows 8 Tablet Edition maybe but a one-size-fits-all Windows 8 is not the way to do it, I'm sure my employers (100,000 employees world wide) will probably not adopt Windows 8.
I'm really hoping something has changed in the latest pre-release but I'm not holding my breath.
I think most people will be like you, though think your being a bit mellow dramatic. If your just browsing the internet a tablet or phone is fine I work on my latop, browse mostly on my phone and game on the desktop I only use it for gaming I play more than just world of tanks though. Ideally I would like a ultra high spec laptop for gaming, but since they are vastly more expensive I will stick to my tower PC in the celler/games room.
As for windows i'm looking forward to the higbrid tablet/latop designs and will probably get one of them at some point, not really intreasted in win 8 for my desktop. Though am lookng forward to the whole Win 8 Eco system thing with phone xbox and pc/tablet all integrated.
Surely that would just make it Win 7....
I actually quite like it and originally I tried it on VM but installed it on a separate parition eventually, and it feels a lot 'slicker' than Win 7 in desktop mode and I think its just as good as iOS for touchscreens.
I'm dubbing windows 8 as windows smashed. :)
It's just so hard to do stuff with Metro on a desktop; it enjoys thrusting things I'll never want to use down my neck, while obfuscating many of the things I want to make easy. I find it particularly annoying that with no touchscreen, half the prompts are things like "Tap on the box to control how Windows handles blah-blah-blah." I could do that - but it wouldn't get me anything other than fingermarks on my LCD. Forcryin'outloud...
On my Dell Latitude XT (convertible multitouch tablet) however it works a dream and really demonstrates the operating systems strengths on touchscreens, much better than using Windows 7 on it.
I am a little mithered that I would have to do a clean-install over the Consumer Preview which I have some stuff installed on.
Although it's called "Release Preview" this is what is usually referred to as a release candidate. Meaning that it is feature complete and identical to what will ship as the release version. Only bugs will be ironed out now.
I know some people (myself included) would call Metro its biggest bug, but don't count on that particular showstopper being addressed. It's a particular shame that Microsoft didn't even feel the need to improve Metro mouse/keyboard usage over the Consumer Preview. Needless to say this version of Windows will probably never be installed outside a VM on my computer.
Except it is not entirely true - the replacement for Aero UI didn't make it in RP.
There will be a proper RTM version late July\August. That is the one where I expect to have all Aero features removed and completetly metrofied.
The Internet looks horribly claustrophobic when I am on a friend's computer or a public computer!
LOL! as if advertising was content. advertising people really are the worst kind of people next to justin bieber and dictators.
Lol classic. Would be nice to add in EA though too.
Tiles belong in the bathroom. Oh., and on phones. ;)
I'm not getting that impression from this thread though. But I do like the sound of getting rid of the traditional desktop and having live panels.
Because it limits what I can do.
My only complaint is that it's not OPTIONAL. If I chose not to use it (which MS acknowledge as you can still get to a normal desktop environment should you want to) I should also have the choice of whether it boots into Metro or not.
surely though you wouldn't write off an OS completely based on the 2 extra seconds it'll take you to go from metro to desktop?
i agree it's not ideal, but if the win8 brings in a host of tangible improvements, then booting into metro is just a tolerable little nuisance.
Couldn't you "autostart" the switch to desktop-mode?