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The open data movement is a hammer which has gathered the support of many nails. There are the curious taxpayers, who feel their annual checks mean they deserve a peek at the interesting facts the government has collected. There are the ambitious business owners, who see an opportunity to privatize profits from work with socialized costs. And there are the self-styled activists, who believe that if we reveal the data on what the government is really doing, we will arrest corruption by exposing it to sunlight. It’s always been investigative journalism, not data mining, that’s revealed the big scandals about politicians.
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In a decision that could have widespread implications, Europe's highest court ruled on Tuesday that the trading of "used" software licenses is legal and that the author of such software cannot oppose any resale. [ITworld]
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Does that mean games purchased over Steam and Origin can be sold, and used online keys can be transferred between accounts on Xbox LIVE and PSN?
the judgement on UsedSoft case
modified 4-Jul-12 4:31am.
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California's State Assembly advanced a bill on Monday that aims to establish rules and regulations covering the safe operation of driverless cars on the state's highways. [ITworld]
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atbennett wrote: Driverless cars move closer in California
Not too close I hope, I don't want to get run over...
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This tech is great and I can't wait for it. The problem, though, will be the lawyers. Who are they going to sue when there is an issue? Who is liable? The "driver" who is designated as the responsible party but who we all know is going to be asleep? The company who put out buggy code that didn't account for a leap second? Even if there is clear language in place as to who is responsible, you know lawyers are going to find a way to blame everyone, especially in California where they will get the backing of the legal system.
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Microsoft removed the Start button from Windows 8's Consumer Preview version earlier this year, generating a lot of discussion and mixed reaction over a user interface element that was first introduced in Windows over 15 years ago. In an interview with PC Pro, the company has revealed that telemetry data was a big part of the decision to scrap the Start button and traditional Start menu in Windows 8.
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A hot corner has replaced the Start button orb in the lower left of the screen, while hot corners on the right-hand side reveal a new charms menu that includes a Windows button to navigate to the Start Screen.
Oh, that's just lovely. My main desktop is my central monitor, with a monitor on the left, and one on the right. Which of course will mean I will either have to move the mouse across potentially two monitors depending on which "corner" I want, or, worse, have to precisely navigate the mouse to the hotspot on the central monitor. Either way, it sounds like yet another "nobody really thinks" scenarios of bad UI design. Weren't invisible hotspots thrown out years ago? 
Farhan Ghumra wrote: has revealed that telemetry data
WTF. "telemetry data"? As in, "user feedback?" What am I, I f***ing machine?
Marc
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I think the "telemetry data" is more "what is Apple doing", rather than what are the users doing. I'm a fan of Microsoft (don't hate me), but they seem to think innovation is doing what Apple did years ago in a slightly crappier way. Apps that use the full screen as a revolutionary new interface? Yeah, I have that already on my Mac. Hot corners to perform actions? Yeah, I've got that on my Mac (and I can select what they do and which corner they use). $40 upgrade price? Mountain Lion will cost $20 and I can use it to upgrade all of my machines for that one cost.
Despite all of this, I really am hoping Microsoft pulls off some of these changes. I think Windows 9 (yeah, not a typo) will probably be a good OS if they do.
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Tim Corey wrote: I think the "telemetry data" is more "what is Apple doing"
Really not fair. Apple was "what Steve said" (and that worked well, in a way). In comparison, Microsoft does a lot of UI testing and feedback analysis. (they even have a blog that I can't find anymore  )
Certainly, there are some major blunders: they ignored how polarizing Ribbons would be (and that they aren't the only solution to their problem), or the grey-in-grey all-caps-title Visual Studio. But you have to look at it this way: If no one notices, they did their job perfectly.
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Then you should read the article in the "CodeProject" newsletter, "The Codeless Code - Koans for the Software Engineer" - "Microsoft’s Downfall: Inside the Executive E-mails and Cannibalistic Culture That Felled a Tech Giant" - http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2012/07/microsoft-downfall-emails-steve-ballmer . The "Start" button appears to be more of the same.
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I did before, but I don't see how it affects what I said (except "boo, Microsoft, bad boy!").
It's not perfect, but at least Microsoft uses usability studies instead of "what Steve said".
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KDE does all this too, and costs nothing. And you can have or not have a start button, you're not forced to live with what others have decided for you.
In fact, you can't say KDE is a too innovative project - there isn't much more than what Windows and OSX combined provide that KDE provides. Only, you get all this for free.
(Does it show I'm a linux fan?)
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In Release preview, the problem was fix by having a small corner where the mouse is confined. Thus it is much better...
But they still have a lot to do to improve the UI design to give more direct access to some things.
Philippe Mori
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Marc Clifton wrote: What am I, I f***ing machine?
No, a machine would be easier to reconfigure to enjoy the new UI. It would be just a very simple script set to run during your morning boot.
Not sure if W8 does that, but even wiht a central monitor, the corners can be made to "catch" the mouse by adding little virtual nubs where the mouse doesn't cross to the other screen.
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peterchen wrote: No, a machine would be easier to reconfigure to enjoy the new UI. It would be just a very simple script set to run during your morning boot.
Aye, sometimes I wish life were that simple. Narcissistic gf? No problem! Just reconfigure my OS with a simple script to enjoy the new UI! 
Marc
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not sure why the down vote, i enjoyed your message, so i'm going to give you a 5...
if we were machines, a simple script would give some humor sense to those people ...
I'm brazilian and english (well, human languages in general) aren't my best skill, so, sorry by my english. (if you want we can speak in C# or VB.Net =p)
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Marc Clifton wrote: What am I, I f***ing machine?
Yes, the human being can be considered an electrochemical android, essentially.
Sincerely Yours,
Brian Hart
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Brian C Hart wrote: Yes, the human being can be considered an electrochemical android, essentially.
Heh, not in my book. 
Marc
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Marc Clifton wrote: Which of course will mean I will either have to move the mouse across
potentially two monitors depending on which "corner" I want, or, worse, have to
precisely navigate the mouse to the hotspot on the central monitor.
Or you could just press the Windows key on your keyboard.
Marc Clifton wrote: WTF. "telemetry data"? As in, "user feedback?" What am I, I f***ing machine?
SQM data (also known as CEIP[^].
Mike Poz
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Ya'know when you install something like Visual Studio or SQl Management etc, at the last step they ask if you want to take part in the "Product Improvement Program" where it automatically send anonymous data about your usage. That's the telemetry data.
Truth,
James
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Quote: Microsoft's Chaitanya Sareen explains that the company has witnessed a "trend" towards using the new taskbar as a way to simply launch applications rather than navigating to links within the Start menu
You mean Microsoft is seeing the behavioural changes from users as more and more people move to a Mac and get used to the Docking Bar?
Well, I guess this will be a self-fulfilling prophesy then.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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OK but that still makes very little sense. People are using the taskbar with pinned items more? Ok nice. But you're not going to put all your programs there, or pretty soon you'll have to upgrade your monitor because "your computer is full".
So ok they "give" us a menu (nevermind that we already had it) to solve that problem, but then they hide it. Why? The start orb wasn't taking up so much screen real estate that is was a problem.
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Hmm. I'm "still" on WinXP and I suspect it may be the last operating system I ever use; once this machine dies I guess my IT life will go with it.
It's been a while since I actually clicked the start button (why click when Ctrl-Esc does the job and your hands are on the keyboard anyway? Is it stupid of me to assume that they have't got rid of the keyboard shortcut too?) My Start menu currently has over 200 shortcuts on it, but in an organised, structured system, nothing more than 4 levels deep (even that's too much, really). But it's quick and easy to navigate and I know what's where. I can navigate it using the keyboard (once I changed all the MS Office menu names back to Access, Word, Excel from the stupid "Microsoft Access", "Microsoft Word", "Microsoft Excel" etc introduced in Office2003 which rendered keyboard shortcuts useless...) Are MS really suggesting I pin over 200 shortcuts to my task bar (including the ones I only use once a year but know where they are when I need them)??
And what precisely is a "charm"? Is it some sort of carry-over from computer gaming where, if I use it in the right way, I might unlock some vital bit of functionality?? FFS, I'm an IT professional, I need to control and manage my system, not cross my fingers and hope for good luck to achieve what I'm being paid to do. I've said it before, but the rot set in when they replaced File MANAGER (where the user MANAGED his system) with Windows EXPLORER (where the user was left to wander about in the hope of finding his/her way through a jungle of impenetrable folders that may or may not be where they say they are...)
Windows (did) work. WTF are they doing mucking about with it just so that it's "cool" for the next couple of weeks? Does nobody LEARN from the past any more?   
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