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  • abufrejoval - Thursday, March 21, 2019 - link

    So here comes the Microsoft software tax: Everybody has to pay Microsoft extra for running applications on "their" operating system.

    The EU has fined Microsoft for far less monopolistic behaviour and I sure hope they react with speed and with sufficient billions to kill the incentive.

    I was very sure, that I'd never use the Microsoft shop, but now I risk usability of my systems without, half of which don't even include the shop, because they are running the server variants of Windows.

    I cannot say that I care about Intel graphics, but since Microsoft seems intent to force the shop hook down everybody else's throat, this was the time to say it.

    iHate iSlavery
  • lmcd - Thursday, March 21, 2019 - link

    wtf is this relevant to?
  • abufrejoval - Thursday, March 21, 2019 - link

    The fact that you have to create and use an account on the monopoly Microsoft store to use the full functionality of your GPU: Today you can operate Windows without the store, tomorrow you won't. And quite against my will and better interest, the store will collect data I don't want to give away, violating the GDPR.
  • StevoLincolnite - Thursday, March 21, 2019 - link

    How is that any different to the stores on iOS or Android? Or are you just whinging about Microsoft for the sake of it?
  • abufrejoval - Friday, March 22, 2019 - link

    I am sure that Al Capone had others who emulated him: That didn't make their actions legal or morally right.

    I am not alone to consider Apple's store an illegal monopoly, there are court cases pending from what I have read.

    I never had any computer from Apple and most likely I never will because of their iJail approach, that denies you full control over hardware you buy from them (store, right to repair, rooting).

    That's not the case with Android: I can operate my Android phones without Google, put on custom ROMs, root etc. You can see Google itching to take more control, but the EU thankfully seems willing to keep them in check.

    Both set their policies when they started and both have not changed them, so you can make an informed choice, especially since those choices typically last much longer than the life-time of a single device.

    In the case of Windows Microsoft has had to unbundle media players and browsers from their operating system, because both were correctly seen as being detrimental to application competition. Microsoft's pressure on software and hardware vendors to switch to a channel they exclusively control, means PC owners need to chose between using the Microsoft store or having control e.g.over their graphics settings, perhaps 30 years after committing to the platform.

    That is quite simply abuse of power.

    It's like purchasing a GM car and GM forcing you to purchase gas and food exclusively from Exxon and Aldi.
  • Notmyusualid - Friday, March 22, 2019 - link

    +1
  • abufrejoval - Friday, March 22, 2019 - link

    well actually purchasing gas and food from GM... need edit!
  • The Chill Blueberry - Friday, March 22, 2019 - link

    +1
  • patrickjp93 - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link

    Utterly ridiculous. You realise Microsoft makes no money off of Media Player or WordPad, right? The only reason they're still there is the world would be in an uproar without them on the next Windows.
  • lmcd - Thursday, March 21, 2019 - link

    Huh? You can download apps from the store without an account. Yes, it bugs you to log in. No, you don't need one.

    Source: clicking the buttons literally right now.
  • Ryan Smith - Thursday, March 21, 2019 - link

    Correct. No account is required to download free applications.

    And Intel could very well distribute the GCC outside of the store. But there's little reason to do so.
  • abufrejoval - Friday, March 22, 2019 - link

    And no assurance that will last. Evidently Microsoft is taking a careful approach here, slowly getting vendors and users used to having to use the store.

    Once all sheep are heading down that road, they can introduce the login and later up the tax.

    Microsoft's first offense is that I cannot remove the shop (among various other applications they stick on you) from the consumer variants of Windows 10. The current incongruity is that the server editions of Windows don't even include it (nor do they phone home, or at least not as obviously).

    Intel and every other software vendor should resist being pulled into Micosofts monopoly agenda. Windows has been an operating system with open software sales channels from its very start more than 30 years ago. They are unilaterally trying to change that now and it's not in the best interest of end users nor software vendors to follow them into that trap.

    And then monopolies are typically illegal once they are identified as such. The fact that Apple has gotten away with it for so long, does not make it right and I sincerely hope that that will stop rather sooner than later.
  • PeachNCream - Monday, March 25, 2019 - link

    I completely agree with the points you're making and your concerns are valid. Unfortunately, it will not be up to consumers and end users to apply the necessary leverage to force companies like Microsoft off the current course. Even though there are alternative operating systems, they do not pose a credible threat to the prison of the Microsoft Store or similar draconian practices by other businesses (Apple & Alphabet).
  • patrickjp93 - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link

    Monopolies are not illegal. Abuse of monopoly market position is illegal. If AMD went bankrupt tomorrow, Intel would not be made illegal because of its new monopoly status.
  • 13xforever - Thursday, March 21, 2019 - link

    Intel has been redistributing their UWP version of the control panel in their DCH drivers for many months now. You literally don't even have to use MS Store to do this.
  • damianrobertjones - Wednesday, March 27, 2019 - link

    Did Microsoft FORCE intel to place their new software onto the Store?
  • sean8102 - Monday, December 7, 2020 - link

    I know this is a bit old but IDK if they did force them back then but it is required now that "Hardware support apps", so apps like the intel graphics command center, realtek audio control panel etc MUST be distributed through the Microsoft store. This is from Microsoft's developers documentation site. Specifically the section about these Univeral Windows Drivers.

    "Hardware Support App (H): Any user interface (UI) component associated with a Windows Driver must be packaged as a Hardware Support App (HSA) or preinstalled on the OEM device. An HSA is an optional device-specific app that's paired with a driver. The application can be a Universal Windows Platform (UWP) or Desktop Bridge app. You must distribute and update an HSA through the Microsoft Store"

    Which BTW "Universal Windows Drivers" are changing to "Windows Drivers" and regular drivers that don't use the "Universal Windows Driver" dev model (now known as "Windows Drivers") will be called "Windows Desktop Drivers". From reading the developer documentation it seems their main goal is to get devs to move to the "Windows Drivers" because they run on Windows 10X, the regular "Windows Desktop Drivers" only run on regular Windows 10.

    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/...
  • sean8102 - Monday, December 7, 2020 - link

    Link to my first quote about the hardware support apps being required to be distributed

    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/... through the Microsoft Store.
  • eddman - Thursday, March 21, 2019 - link

    How about approaching things a bit more professionally. Personal bias should not have a place in computing, specially for someone like you who is apparently a server administrator.

    1. No one is forced to release a store app. A lot of developers still only offer traditional exe applications. I'm pretty sure all important server related applications are still available outside of the store.

    2. Yes, you need to pay a percentage to have your app listed, just like google and apple stores, but on the plus side, MS takes only 5% for non-game apps.

    3. You do not need a microsoft account to download apps from the store.

    4. I have no experience with the latest windows servers, but according to the following, you can easily download the apps as standalone packages and install them locally.

    http://thesccm.com/how-to-install-windows-store-ap...

    P.S. how is any of this related to this article?
  • abufrejoval - Friday, March 22, 2019 - link

    1. yet, 2. Apple is a bad apple, Android has alternative stores, 3. Microsoft controls how long that will last, 4. you can't actually download apps from the store on a server. You can currently, however, install an UWP app, which you have obtained somehow on a server. It typically requires you to download on a consumer Windows and snatch the package during the install and before the auto-delete (...hacking, which is only fun the first time around).

    Related: Microsoft is driving software and hardware vendors to distribute critical components via the Microsoft store with increasing force. That should be stopped as early as possible, five years before the EU hands down the proper fine, but after the damage has been done.
  • eddman - Friday, March 22, 2019 - link

    "You can currently, however, install an UWP app, which you have obtained somehow on a server. It typically requires you to download on a consumer Windows and snatch the package during the install and before the auto-delete (...hacking, which is only fun the first time around)."

    So you didn't even open that link and you expect me to take your post seriously? Hacking? How about you read something that is provided to you before acting on your emotions.

    Again, no one if forced to publish a store app. It is quite irrational to hold a personal grudge against something that hasn't even happened yet and shows no sign of happening for the foreseeable future. Dabbling in FUD is unhealthy for IT people.
  • abufrejoval - Friday, March 22, 2019 - link

    Microsoft Shop links use a URL which starts with scheme name "ms-windows-store://".
    That scheme is not registered in Windows without the shop application, such as Windows Server 2019, which I run on some of my machines, because they run VMs, RDP sessions, file services etc.: They will *all* fail to open, no matter which application.

    Intel's GCC isn't the only shop application I've tried to run on these machiens, Cinebench 20 was a recent other which isn't available outside the M$ store. In fact Maxxon issued take-down notices to sites, which were offering downloads of the app to those without a store: It seems there is quite a crowd out there who refuse to go near the store, knowing full well what game M$ is playing.

    I did, however, manage to obtain a copy of Cinebench 20 from my Windows 10 system and install it on the server variant, so I know they can be installed. Most likely because Windows build farms may well run the Server edition for automated testing of the installer, before it's released to the store.

    So no, since I was out of the country when I did my first post on the topic I did in fact not try to open the link. But I did try just now, first thing out of the airplane (to make sure you'd take me seriously) and it did behave exactly the way I predicted (404). And no, I didn't try to hack the "GCC" (GCC should really be reserved for the GNU compiler), because the Intel iGPU on these machines is actually disabled because they run RTX 2080ti and GTX 1080ti dGPUs.

    Microsoft's agenda is no secret: They have a long tradition of copying what others have done successfully, usually late and usually with a vengance. They lost that game on Windows Phone, and more recently on the browser, they still play along with Bing search, but they seem to do alright on Azure.

    I don't mind them starting independent new things, competing fairly and losing every now and then.

    But when they force the worlds desktop population which has grown over three decades with indepdendent software distribution channels into a single absolutist shop, there are well documented precedents on how that should be dealt with. And we all know that they have Steam, Epic, Ubisoft and now Stadia on their target list.

    Microsoft remembers those EU fines and proceeds with caution, but the lure of absolute power is as big as the potential rewards. Yet even the software and web giants sometimes react also to users, if the demonstrate their interest in sufficient numbers and conviction.

    A recent example of that is the API that Chrome extensions for ad-filtering require, where Google was trying to create a privilaged position for themselves, strongly motivated by the fact that ad-filtering cuts their revenues.

    After more than 35 years in the industry I know that everything that can go wrong, also will, unless you take care of it. I'd like you all to be careful, watch M$ and react with force to protect your interests as end-users.
  • eddman - Saturday, March 23, 2019 - link

    404? That link works. I just clicked on it. Instead of copy-pasting it in the address bar, click on it. It opens up.

    Here's another: https://www.scconfigmgr.com/2016/04/05/deploy-offl...

    In case this link magically doesn't work, have you ever tried searching for "how to install store apps on windows server 2016"?

    The rest is FUD, again. There is no sign of side-loading and non-store applications going away any time soon. If you have a link where MS have started they are going in that direction please share, otherwise you are merely speculating.
  • eddman - Saturday, March 23, 2019 - link

    Here is a microsoft Docs link with all the information on managing store apps for business: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-store/
  • eddman - Saturday, March 23, 2019 - link

    The intel Graphics Command Center is bundled with the driver itself:

    https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/28646/In...
  • abufrejoval - Saturday, March 23, 2019 - link

    While I appreciate your willingness to help, you may want to re-read the original post and my responses.

    It's about Microsoft trying to establish a software distribution monopoly for the Windows platform with a combination of carrot and stick, in this case a certification requirement for drivers. I want to draw attention to that trend, because it signals major trouble going forward, not because I have difficulties installing Intel GPU Control Center on Windows Server 2019.

    That their drive towards the monopoly fails to work seamlessly across Microsoft's platforms just highlights that they are doing bad things also badly.

    IMHO the Intel “GCC” has zero end-user value today, because Intel does not yet produce GPUs sufficiently complex and powerful enough to benefit from such in-depth configuration. They are heavily invested into changing that but Microsoft’s Windows monopolist software strategy and certification requirements affects all hardware vendors today and increases the pressure on software vendors in general.
  • eddman - Saturday, March 23, 2019 - link

    Microsoft have been distributing drivers since, IINM, windows vista. This is not much different.

    Their latest driver certification requirement says that drivers for windows 10 and server going forward must be in the Universal Windows format but there is no clause that says they should only be distributed through windows update/store.

    Do you have anything that indicates MS is planning to prevent non-store software installations, besides your personal thoughts?

    Actually, everything is pointing out to them becoming more open, even open-sourcing some of their software.
  • abufrejoval - Monday, March 25, 2019 - link

    The univerwal windows format is the new name for Metro apps and this is what Wikipedia has to say about them:

    "Distribution and licensing
    For most users, the only point of entry of Metro-style apps is Windows Store. Enterprises operating a Windows domain infrastructure may enter into a contract with Microsoft that allows them to sideload their line-of-business Metro-style apps, circumventing Windows Store. Also, major web browser vendors such as Google and Mozilla Foundation are selectively exempted from this rule; they are allowed to circumvent Microsoft guidelines and Windows Store and run a Metro-style version of themselves if the user chooses to make their product the default web browser."

    Of course, the Wikipedia occasionally contains errors, but it represents a little more than my personal opinion.

    Do you contest that Microsoft is trying to strong-arm the Windows platform into a Microsoft Store platform and make the store the exclusive distribution channel will all the benefits of control such a monopoly privides?

    Do you contest that they are slowly and continously raising the bar and will only stop short of a practical monopoly if they face resistence and penalties?

    If that's the case, arguments won't help you change your mind.

    Open source these days has little to do with what Richard Stallman has in mind. Instead it has become a weapon in coporate's arsenal for market domination. Components these days are open sourced to starve the competition of market share and revenue. Just look at what Google has done with Kubernetes or many of the other examples over the last decades.

    Microsoft is in open source mostly because they painfully learned that they cannot survive the competition with a free and open source OS software ecosystem, not because they agree with Richard Stallman's philosophy.

    Perhaps I am too paranoid and Microsoft is as benevolent and open minded as you seem to believe. I'd love to be wrong, but in the mean-time I'd rather cry 'Wolf!', too.
  • eddman - Monday, March 25, 2019 - link

    "Microsoft is as benevolent and open minded as you seem to believe."

    I never wrote they are benevolent. No company in the business of making money is, but you come to an unrelated article and post a rant about some uncertain future that might or might not become reality.

    So far, there has been no indication that MS is planning to disallow non-store software distribution. Even these universal drivers are downloadable from their developers. I even posted the link. Windows server 2016 and 19 do not even have the store, so there must be an option for standalone driver installations.

    Besides drivers, no developer is forced to make universal software. I haven't seen any news or even rumors that standalone exe installable programs are going to be prohibited.

    This is not the place or the time for crying wolf. You do know what happened in the story, right? How about waiting for the signs of the actual "wolf" (when we get news of a possible store-only apps plan).
  • eddman - Monday, March 25, 2019 - link

    Also, have you heard of MSIX? If they are planning to force everyone onto store, then why create a new packaging format since ten years ago that can easily be distributed independently?

    https://www.howtogeek.com/402021/the-future-of-sof...
    https://insights.adaptiva.com/2019/msix-and-config...
    https://www.advancedinstaller.com/msix-introductio...
  • eddman - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link

    This is a late comment but I just noticed something:

    "Cinebench 20 was a recent other which isn't available outside the M$ store."

    This just proves you rather post doom and gloom rants to satisfy your personal feelings rather than doing the slightest amount of research.

    The non-store download link for cinebench 20 is RIGHT THERE on their own downloads page.

    http://http.maxon.net/pub/cinebench/CinebenchR20.z...

    It seems there was no point replying to you to begin with. I wasted my time.
  • eddman - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link

    Also, "M$". That is what I expect from an impartial individual. /s
  • taylorwatson - Thursday, March 21, 2019 - link

    nice
  • wr3zzz - Thursday, March 21, 2019 - link

    So in the future I cannot rollback bad driver-apps anymore because the one and only Windows Store apps version are always bug free and without any features removed? WTF

    On the plus side, I no longer need to submit to Nvidia and Razer my personal info and access into my PC anymore just so I can use the hardware I paid for, instead now to Microsoft.
  • MrSpadge - Thursday, March 21, 2019 - link

    Read again: the drivers are stripped from bloat and distributed as always. This UWP app is just the control panel for the driver settings.
  • lmcd - Thursday, March 21, 2019 - link

    Fun fact Microsoft only requires a login if you're going to pay for software.

    You can easily download and install the vast majority of free software in the store without an account.

    Thank you for your concerns on data collection.
  • jay.t - Thursday, March 21, 2019 - link

    I wonder if they will release this for Linux?
  • PeachNCream - Thursday, March 21, 2019 - link

    For what reason?
  • lmcd - Friday, March 22, 2019 - link

    Nvidia's driver panel is on Linux, even if GeForce Experience definitely isn't
  • flgt - Thursday, March 21, 2019 - link

    Curious about enterprise Windows 10 and the windows store. We finally are moving to Win10 at work and the store is disabled. Other comments indicate you can get utility apps like this without the store. Will admins package these apps and push them through their management tools?
  • danjw - Thursday, March 21, 2019 - link

    I find it interesting that they are supporting CPUs that weren't worth the bother when it came the issuing Smeltdown fixes. Seems their priorities are in the wrong place.
  • IntelUser2000 - Thursday, March 21, 2019 - link

    It's in the right place. Skylake is 4 years old. Nvidia/AMD supported GPUs for longer than that.

    People complained that they only supported 2 generations. The change is that it'll be supported for longer like the two.
  • jeremyshaw - Thursday, March 21, 2019 - link

    Intel's IGP architecture hasn't changed at all from Skylake onwards. Skylake was the 2nd 14nm product. For mobile, we are on the 5th or 6th (depending on how you count Coffee Lake) 14nm product "generation." Desktop, ~3rd, or 4th, depending on how you count it.
  • IntelUser2000 - Thursday, March 21, 2019 - link

    jeremyshaw:

    That's true. They also said Skylake will be the architecture unified drivers work. If 10nm wasn't delayed, we would have seen Gen 10 in 2016 and Gen 11 in 2017.
  • HStewart - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link

    I think Architexture of CPU/GPU is independent of the node process. Of course larger nodes take up more room. But the architexture is a different process - how long did it take Intel competitor to come up with it new chip - but what is so significant about what is Intel is doing is how is they are packaging it. First with EMiB and up and coming with Foveres 3D
  • prime2515103 - Thursday, March 21, 2019 - link

    How is this new? The Windows store says it was released on 11/26/2018.
  • Ryan Smith - Thursday, March 21, 2019 - link

    I know Intel has been testing it internally for a while. That might be the date the project was first added to the Microsoft Store.
  • PeachNCream - Thursday, March 21, 2019 - link

    Interesting and I think an actual improvement. Personally, I see no reason whatsoever to bother with a graphics control panel so decoupling it from the underlying driver is beneficial to those of us that are satisfied with managing what little we care about from Windows' already present resolution and screen control settings. So while the bigger news is that Intel is updating the UI, something that's nice for people that want or need to tinker with those settings, there's a benefit for the rest of us as well.
  • MT_ - Saturday, March 23, 2019 - link

    Does the new Intel Graphics Command Center support integer-ratio (pixel-perfect) scaling with no blur? For example, FHD-to-4K with logical pixel as square group of 2×2 same-color physical pixels. Thanks.
  • Yondaime - Wednesday, January 27, 2021 - link

    Graphics command center doesn't have menu "scale full screen", this is useful for games that have been around for a long time so that they can be displayed full screen

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