Windows 8.x hits a landmark - Native Facebook client (finally)

There's a real Facebook company-produced app on the store now. Woohoo? Not that I can't check Facebook from 20 other places, but it has value in "big company cares enough to write an app" points nonetheless.

Now if Google would just do some stuff.. they swore they wouldn't, though there's a search tool for ModernUI.

 

Its a good step in the right direction, but I agree with you. They seriously need to give some incentive to developers to make apps. The store is full of junk apps that don't do much. Being on surface RT doesn't help either!

 

They're already paying certain developers to write Metro apps for them. They may have to include more developers, and/or pay them more. From the developers' perspective of course the issue is that nobody uses those apps anyway, relatively speaking: Just about nobody uses Win8 RT, and just about nobody using Windows 8.x has any interest in using those pathetic Metro apps. Certainly there's no reason to do so on a real computer; tablets may be a different story, but once again, just about nobody uses a Windows tablet.

 

[citation needed]

OEMs know what models are selling a lot better than you and I do, and they're pouring a lot of resources into tablet and convertible tablet designs that allegedly "nobody" buys.

Also, "real computer" = no true Scotsman fallacy, particularly when we're comparing x86 Windows device to x86 Windows device.

 

You mean OEMs like Microsoft, who have written off about a cool billion Dollars due to unsold Surface tablets? That kind of OEMs? Certainly looks like nobody (without quotes) has bought those, doesn't it?

 

Microsoft is not a dedicated, experienced PC OEM like Lenovo, Dell, and Sony--all of which are currently going gaga for slates and convertible tablets. And Microsoft's write-offs were of Windows RT devices, a separate issue (you'll notice I didn't disagree with you that almost nobody right now wants Windows RT...all of the dedicated, experienced OEMs have abandoned it).

You're not seeing similar write-offs for Vaio's Duo and Tap lines, Lenovo's Yoga line, etc. Instead, they're dramatically increasing those lines. This should tell you something.

 

This thread looks to be closing soon. TBH in the early days of the beta I could see the occasional use of Metro apps for consumption even on my DTR. I wouldn't want it removed just that to get to it I purposely have to navigate there. I didn't even mind not starting at the desktop and getting there from metro, but once I leave metro let me stay away. Of course it was the actions at the time of 8.0 RTM that killed it for me, first the scare M$ tried to tout with gadgets and full default removal without options and then the straw that broke the back for me was loosing Aero Glass. For others it was loosing the start menu as well.

I won't put metro out, it is M$'s attempt to get the tablet market. Beta and other testers had plenty of time to beat it up before RTM and it really was not. That is other than full screen and the like being addressed somewhat in 8.1. You all have to admit it is not metro's existence that is the killer of the deal with Windows 8.x but the fact it is forced down the users throat, whether they want it or not.............

 

By the way, the Win8 Facebook app is VERY nice. Similar layout to the web browser layout, but more polish and fewer ads. One particular nice touch is how when you touch a link, it automatically goes split-screen and opens up the article in IE11 on the right half of your screen, leaving you newsfeed uninterrupted on the left half.

When Facebook is full screen, it has a categories column (search, news feed, events, groups, places, etc all have tabs here), your newsfeed column (about 50% of the width), and a chat/messenging column. No ads on the right like the desktop. When you follow a link and go half-screen, the half-screen view is just your newsfeed, so you don't have to manually scroll left or right to get your browser back on your newsfeed. Very pleasant to use.

 

Facebook on Android uses a lot of associations too. This can kill a lot of devices performance wise. This again is another argument for metro on a PC when you want to be in full consumption mode. Just let us also have our full PC mode with no Metro and gives us our desktop stuff back. Also let all those resource hogging associations be killed while not in metro too, that is if they are not already!

 

I haven't noticed any performance impact. Probably a lot harder for a facebook app to overwhelm a notebook processor than a smartphone processor.

As for your second-to-last sentence, it's not really related to the facebook app, so here is my thread on how to disable charms and live tiles entirely in Win 8.1 without third-party software: http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...s-8-1-configuring-start-desktop-behavior.html

 

How about all the OEM's who gave up on Windows RT?

How about the fact that sales of new laptops, whether they are "convertible tablets" or not, have taken a nose-dive?

 

There's a big difference between giving up on Windows RT and giving up on Windows tablets. OEMs are fleeing Windows RT but going gangbusters for Windows 8.x tablets (including convertible devices). I was disagreeing with the idea that nobody wants Windows tablets in general, NOT the idea that nobody is buying Windows RT devices specifically.

 

Do you have any data on that? As far as I know, Microsoft has not released any specific numbers at all. While there's a good chance that it was indeed mostly Surface RT devices that remained unsold, that's just a guess I think. It is safe to assume that there's a significant number of Surface Pros in the mix as well.

 

The writedown was of "Surface RT inventory." It did not involve the Surface Pro:
Surface Write-Off Dampens Microsoft Profits
Microsoft took a $900 million hit on Surface RT this quarter | The Verge
(I could post dozen more links).

And find me a single OEM who has had a major write-off of x86 tablets. All the OEMs have abandoned Windows RT, but find me an OEM that in the past six months has decreased it's x86 tablet and convertible tablet lineup instead of increasing it.

So don't use the failure of the Surface RT as evidence that "nobody" is buying x86 Windows slates and convertible tablets. The evidence points in opposite directions for Windows RT devices and x86 devices.

 

Microsoft really hasn't given anyone reasons to buy a Windows Surface RT 2 tablet. It still has the same shortcomings the previous models had. The apps on the MS Store pale in comparison to the iOS and Android counterparts in features and quality.

 

Right. Nobody here is defending the sales of Windows RT or the Surface RT. But Windows 8.1 devices shouldn't be lumped in with Windows RT devices; that's all I'm saying. Because OEMs (who have the most reliable info on what models are selling) are dramatically increasing their 8.x tablet lineups at the same time they abandon their Windows RT lineups. As just one example, the majority of Sony Vaio model lines are now convertible tablets of one type or another (Tap slates, Duo sliders, and Flip convertibles).

Speaking of better value than the Surface, throw the Asus Transformerbook T100 on the list. Bay Trail, Windows 8.1, 10" 1366x768 IPS display, detachable keyboard dock, all for $349. There's a whole host of Bay Trail devices priced at or below the cost of a Surface RT 2 with a keyboard cover ($550 altogether) that I'd advise someone to get over the Surface RT 2.

 

I'll take a free Surface Pro if MS doesn't want one.