[JerryGreenberg]

I think dropping the DVD playback is not a good idea. This is a cheapo way to make a few more bucks per copy, rather than keep the tradition of playing back DVD disks for the ones who want to use it. This will also add to discourage many users from upgrading to Windows 8 until they have to.

[rkinne01]

Yet another reason to pass on Windows 8

[moshind]

Shame on them, not everyone around the globe has Hulu and other online video sources.

Microsoft is shooting her on legs.

[wierdninja]

Big nail in Windows 8 coffin. Apple will gain market share with this latest move. Windows 7 is my last Microsoft OS.

[Evildave]

wierdninja, on 07 May 2012 - 12:38 PM, said:

Big nail in Windows 8 coffin. Apple will gain market share with this latest move. Windows 7 is my last Microsoft OS.

I don't see why: Apple will probably 'lose' the optical drives, at least on the rest of their notebooks, some time soon.

Besides, OEMs will rush to plug this 'hole' with software, just as they did before Microsoft made DVD playback 'part of the OS'.

Complaining about this is like complaining about the floppy drives going away.

It's cranky, space-consuming, old-fashioned hunk of obsolescence. Makes notebook PCs chubbier, and takes up space for more useful IO ports.

Want to play movies on the road? Rip 'em at home, and you can carry a library of hundreds. No extra baggage to lose, have stolen, or be damaged.

Crying about not having a DVD drive at all? External USB drives cost about $30. You know, exactly what it would cost if you lost two DVDs while travelling. All better. Go ahead and order a floppy drive, while you're at it. 'Just in case'.

http://www.google.co...q=usb+dvd+drive
http://www.google.co...sb+floppy+drive

[realman]

If Microsoft keeps it up, my next computer will be an Apple one.

[realman]

If Microsoft keeps it up with Windows 8, my next pc will be an Apple one!

[LiveBrianD]

Evildave, on 07 May 2012 - 12:51 PM, said:

Crying about not having a DVD drive at all? External USB drives cost about $30. You know, exactly what it would cost if you lost two DVDs while travelling. All better. Go ahead and order a floppy drive, while you're at it. 'Just in case'.

http://www.google.co...q=usb+dvd+drive
http://www.google.co...sb+floppy+drive

Yeah, so let's just conveniently ignore the FACT that DVDs had $4.47 BILLION in revenue in 2010 and plenty of people use them while floppy disks only hold 1.44MB, are slow as hell, and no one wants them. I'm not saying that removing DVD drives from laptops is a bad thing, but removing the codecs just makes things less convenient for the many people out there who have DVD drives and want to use them.

[waldojim]

LiveBrianD, on 07 May 2012 - 08:51 PM, said:

Evildave, on 07 May 2012 - 12:51 PM, said:

Crying about not having a DVD drive at all? External USB drives cost about $30. You know, exactly what it would cost if you lost two DVDs while travelling. All better. Go ahead and order a floppy drive, while you're at it. 'Just in case'.

http://www.google.co...q=usb+dvd+drive
http://www.google.co...sb+floppy+drive

Yeah, so let's just conveniently ignore the FACT that DVDs had $4.47 BILLION in revenue in 2010 and plenty of people use them while floppy disks only hold 1.44MB, are slow as hell, and no one wants them. I'm not saying that removing DVD drives from laptops is a bad thing, but removing the codecs just makes things less convenient for the many people out there who have DVD drives and want to use them.

That data is SOOOOoo 2 years ago.

[Evildave]

They're still selling DVDs, but the numbers are shrinking. Between rental, streaming and blu-ray, DVD sales are declining.
http://www.the-numbe...annual/2012.php
http://www.the-numbe...annual/2011.php
http://www.the-numbe...annual/2010.php

For instance, in 2010, there were numerous hundred million dollar sales figures. In 2011, there were none. In 2012, it's too early to say, but I doubt the numbers are trending upwards.

And overall DVD sales says nothing about carrying fragile, bulky DVDs around to be scratched or lost, versus ripping them onto your notebook drive or tablet and carrying absolutely nothing at all extra, when you travel.

Leave your DVDs and Bluray at home, where they are SAFE.

Don't compromise on a notebook that is fatter and heavier, to support a DVD player that you will never use on the road, versus a thinner, lighter one, without, and a DVD drive on the side for those remaining software installs and whatnot that still come on that kind of media, not to mention ripping from.

Besides, it will play movies longer on battery from the internal drive (especially SSD) than any DVD drive.

[Evildave]

In fact, how many of you still use CDs to play your music when you travel? Whether or not you have physical CDs, do you carry a CD player AND all of your CDs with you to listen to your music?

MP3 has completely replaced it.

MP4/M4V replaces carrying your DVD media around with you in exactly the same way.

If it makes sense to carry DVDs around, along with your notebook, then obviously it makes exactly as much sense to carry CDs around, and use a portable CD player instead of something that conveniently supports MP3, and every song you have, with no moving parts, and probably continuous 24 hour playback on one charge of the batteries, versus a few hours for the mechanical CD player.

[shanedr]

I guess Microsoft will never understand the concept of customer service.

[TonyinTX]

It appears the "Microsoft Era" is waning quickly. Apple and Google will bury them with their inter-operability between platforms, Cloud storage, and simplicity of use and reliability of service to customers, always promised but never delivered from MS. The customer always wins when competition is allowed! RIP MS... Win 7 was an essential effort to fix Vista and keep you viable, but you missed the mark again with Win 8. Time to reinvent yourself while you still can.

[JohnUSA]

There is no way that I will use Windows 8, or buy it. When I buy a new PC I will definitely downgrade to Windows 7, and I am waiting for the SP2 version anxiously.
Microsoft could not have messed up Windows 8 more, they made it intolerable before its release, that took a lot of imbecilic people to do this.

[rickman2k]

so how do we install our software that's on disk ???
I'm sticking to my kick azz gaming desktop and Windows 7 !

[rickman2k]

Windows 8 won't be 4 me, thumbs down !

[rickman2k]

why does Windows seem to have a good OS then Crap then a good one then crap, .......

[waldojim]

rickman2k, on 14 May 2012 - 06:38 AM, said:

so how do we install our software that's on disk ???
I'm sticking to my kick azz gaming desktop and Windows 7 !

1. Insert Disc
2. Wait for pop-up asking you what you want to do.
3. Install software.

That sounds like the exact same method used in Windows 7. Who knew?

You appear to be, like so many others, a tad confused on the issue. MS is removing the ability for Windows 8 to watch DVDs out of the box. You can still use DVD Data discs, and even watch movies with 3rd party software.

[JimH443]

rickman2k, on 14 May 2012 - 06:43 AM, said:

why does Windows seem to have a good OS then Crap then a good one then crap, .......

That's almost a MS tradition, going back to MS-DOS days. It's actually crap, good, crap, good...
DOS 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.0, 5.0, Win95, Win98, WinME, WinXP, WinXP, Vista, Win7...

[waldojim]

JimH443, on 14 May 2012 - 09:08 AM, said:

rickman2k, on 14 May 2012 - 06:43 AM, said:

why does Windows seem to have a good OS then Crap then a good one then crap, .......

That's almost a MS tradition, going back to MS-DOS days. It's actually crap, good, crap, good...
DOS 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.0, 5.0, Win95, Win98, WinME, WinXP, WinXP, Vista, Win7...

Hey now, you tossed in 4.0 (?) and forgot 6.22! Hands down the bestest best DOS eva! Interesting tidbit - Dos 6 sold in three versions, with only version three being worth the money. 6.0 had broken/stolen code regarding disk compression (for example), 6.2 removed the broken crap, and 6.22 got all new tools that actually worked.

This post has been edited by waldojim: 14 May 2012 - 09:18 AM