Windows 8

memebag said:
I think it won't. Microsoft has had enough of XP.

On the Windows 8 front, there's this: The Associated Press: Poll: Scant demand for Microsoft's Windows 8

Half of the people haven't heard of Windows 8. Only 1/6th of the people think it will be an improvement.
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Well, how many people knew about Windows 7 on day 1 of launch? How many people know what Ice cream sandwich or jelly bean are? I don't think the survey spells any kind of bad news, it's probably typical, there are early adopters, then there are the rest that wait and see. I would say its as good a launch as Microsoft has done to date for any version of windows since Windows 95.
 
I think unless you buy a new computer with Windows 8 there is no reason to upgrade especially if you have windows 7.
 
Manco said:
Well, how many people knew about Windows 7 on day 1 of launch? How many people know what Ice cream sandwich or jelly bean are? I don't think the survey spells any kind of bad news, it's probably typical, there are early adopters, then there are the rest that wait and see. I would say its as good a launch as Microsoft has done to date for any version of windows since Windows 95.
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Manco I think the fact that so many business have just stayed with Windows XP doesn't bode well for Windows 8. I mean they extended support for XP because so many didn't upgrade to Windows 7.

Be honest with yourself concerning the new GUI and learning curve? What enterprise operation is going to want to go through that?

I upgraded my laptop more as something to play with and become familiar, but I don't think I could recommend this to roll out in the business environment. I did the same when I bought the Nexus 7. I wanted to get more familiar with Android. The only thing I found Nexus 7 and Android very appealing. I am not sure I am totally sold on this dual environment that Windows has introduced. I can see this on a tablet though and would find that appealing.
 
DAB said:
Manco I think the fact that so many business have just stayed with Windows XP doesn't bode well for Windows 8. I mean they extended support for XP because so many didn't upgrade to Windows 7.

Be honest with yourself concerning the new GUI and learning curve? What enterprise operation is going to want to go through that?

I upgraded my laptop more as something to play with and become familiar, but I don't think I could recommend this to roll out in the business environment. I did the same when I bought the Nexus 7. I wanted to get more familiar with Android. The only thing I found Nexus 7 and Android very appealing. I am not sure I am totally sold on this dual environment that Windows has introduced. I can see this on a tablet though and would find that appealing.
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I don't think enterprises will adopt Windows 8 in as big a way as they did Windows 7, but I don't think they need to for Microsoft to have accomplished their primary goal, to have a tablet friendly OS that individuals want. iPad's didn't start out with corporate support, it was more individuals purchasing them and corporations needed to support it.

All the cool machines out there these days being made are touch enabled, so that will drive demand for Windows 8, especially among individuals. Sure the enterprises may continue to purchase Windows 7 with non touch computers, but Microsoft gets revenue either way.
 
Manco said:
I don't think enterprises will adopt Windows 8 in as big a way as they did Windows 7, but I don't think they need to for Microsoft to have accomplished their primary goal, to have a tablet friendly OS that individuals want. iPad's didn't start out with corporate support, it was more individuals purchasing them and corporations needed to support it.
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I think if the primary goal was to come up with a tablet OS that is what they should have done without totally revamping the desktop version. Sure like Apple they could have added some tablet syncing features like notes, bookmarks, cloud, email etc. That could have been accomplished without creating a multiple environment Windows 8 desktop with a whole new learning curve. They had to break with a tablet OS no doubt about it. I just think you alienate end users and more particularly enterprise unnecessarily. Time will tell if the strategy pays off. They also could have given and option of sticking with the old start menu or switch to tile GUI. I know there is software that will allow you to start directly to desktop, but you still have to deal with the new GUI at some point.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
 
The desktop interface has some nice improvements other than the totally boneheaded move to get rid of the start menu. Start 8 fixed that problem for me. It now boots straight to the desktop and I have a start menu again. I never have to use the garbage "metro" interface or whatever they're calling it now. It might be a decent touch interface, but it's garbage on a desktop computer. It's funny that microsoft's solution to getting rid of these interface features that have been around for more than 15 years is to learn a bunch of awkward keyboard shortcuts.
 
I played with Windows 8 at Costco last night. If you're going to present the user with a touchscreen interface, also provide them a touchscreen. Using a trackpad on a laptop to interact with a touchscreen interface is awkward.
 
I've been using it since I installed it last Friday.. Today I had to give in and install Start 8. You just can't operate in two different environments like this, especially when one of these lacks even basic features. The last couple of days as I used it at work, what I initially thought was a decent email and calendar client really is lacking. Printing from an email, requires a keyboard short cut or else you can't do it. I could make you a list of what is wrong with this dual environment setup.

I couldn't in good conscious recommend Windows 8 to anyone at this point. Now on a tablet I think its be decent.
 
DAB, Place your mouse in the upper right corner to display the charms menu, select devices, select the printer and print. No keyboard shortcut required. By the way, I treat the start menu as a launch pad for desktop apps, and only use the new apps when they suit my purpose. This isn't an either or proposition, you get to pick and choose which apps and environment is best for a given task. I use the start menu for searching too, while staring at the tiles, simply type the app or doc you are looking for and it makes for quick way to find what you are looking for. The search filters are easily applied by selecting whether you want to search apps, settings or the internet. I find all of it a net plus over Windows 7, so confidently upgraded two of my machines including my primary one. I'm jut as productive if not more.
 
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What benefits would I get if I bought and learned Windows 8? I'm talking about a desktop here, not tablet. I haven't seen any new feature that made it look like it was worth the effort.
 
Manco said:
DAB, Place your mouse in the upper right corner to display the charms menu, select devices, select the printer and print. No keyboard shortcut required. By the way, I treat the start menu as a launch pad for desktop apps, and only use the new apps when they suit my purpose. This isn't an either or proposition, you get to pick and choose which apps and environment is best for a given task. I use the start menu for searching too, while staring at the tiles, simply type the app or doc you are looking for and it makes for quick way to find what you are looking for. The search filters are easily applied by selecting whether you want to search apps, settings or the internet. I find all of it a net plus over Windows 7, so confidently upgraded two of my machines including my primary one. I'm jut as productive if not more.
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I do appreciate that info and your enthusiasm for Windows 8, but what normal is a single button push at the top of the window is now a 3 step process and this is progress? I don't think so!

You are right though you do get to pick in choose rather you work in an environment that is like dumped down with no features, to the normal real work environment. I just don't see this being a good setup and I've tried my best to like it. This far in my book this is just crap. I can tell you I am not as productive as I am on my Mac, but that is because I know it inside and out. The point is the learning curve on Windows 8 is a bitch at best.
 
DAB, you should try installing the free trial of Start 8. It installs a start menu that works just like windows 7 and also gives you the option to boot straight to the desktop. After installing it, I don't have to go the start screen at all if I don't want to (which I really don't). It's only $5 to register it if you like it. I'm still not a fan of the UI changes in 8, but that little bit of software doesn't make me really miss 7 much and I get the improvements in 8.
 
You guys have some interesting takes on Win 8 so far. I have a new Dell Inspiron laptop that I bought in June so I have the option of purchasing an upgrade to Win 8 Pro for $14.99. The price is certainly right, but I'm not sure if I should upgrade. I really like Win 7, and have everything set the way I like it. My wife uses this machine a little more than I do, so I have to consider the learning curve times two. I'll listen to your arguments to convince me to upgrade. Thanks.
 
If your wife is like mine, I recommend that you let her help you decide. I won't be upgrading my wife's machine she is not crazy about change.

For me the performance improvements (faster boot, less memory use), the new modern UI apps are all benefits that I don't get with Windows 7. One of my favorite features with Windows 8 is the file transfer is faster, and opens up only a single dialog box for your transfers. So if you copy one file at a time, it will build up a dialog box with progress bars for each file you are copying instead of having a bunch of dialogs. The new task manager is really nice too. You also get 7GB of Skydrive cloud storage, and free music streaming, or premium music subscription for $99 per year which allows you to download and take with you any album or song or stream.

The new Remote Desktop Client is really nice too if you use that.

I like having a store that I can easily download apps from as well. Of course this is nothing new for Mac users, but the new modern UI apps you just won't have access to if you don't upgrade.
 
phillyphan said:
You guys have some interesting takes on Win 8 so far. I have a new Dell Inspiron laptop that I bought in June so I have the option of purchasing an upgrade to Win 8 Pro for $14.99. The price is certainly right, but I'm not sure if I should upgrade. I really like Win 7, and have everything set the way I like it. My wife uses this machine a little more than I do, so I have to consider the learning curve times two. I'll listen to your arguments to convince me to upgrade. Thanks.
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I would not upgrade now knowing what I do now. Window 8 is a mess. This is the absolute craziest update that I could have ever imagined. I have had so many issues that I wonder how this crap got released. Printing problems, having the first sheet of multi-page document print and the others not. Too many steps to do what use to be a one step process. Mail and Calendar that to some degree aren't playing well together. Oh I could go on and on. Faster boot, OK but I boot my Mac about every 3 months so how is that an advantage that Manco keeps exclaiming. Thru-put n my Thunderbolt external is much lower than on my Mac. I assume cause of poor driver support.

I see ZERO reason for someone with a finely tuned Win 7 setup to jump into this hot mess.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
 
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DAB, I use a MAC every day for the last 4 years as my primary work machine, and if you really want to pick apart OS's, there's plenty to hate on the MAC. I'm not going to bother but I will say this. I have used Mac's since 1988, developed for Apple and my Windows software have overall been more reliably than my Macs since I started using them. The Apple hardware has been better, but even there my current MAC Pro quad core is the least reliable MAC I have owned. I have to reboot it often, the screen just blacks out requiring a hard power down and hooking up an external monitor has a noisy image but not all the time.

So in conclusion you call Windows 8 a mess, but all systems have flaws and new things to learn to get the benefit. And often you have to accept some early adopter pain such as those that had an iPhone that couldn't connect to exchange and didn't allow copy paste. Windows is a faithful servant and it gets better with time. Look how many use XP 11 years after release. Is there a MAC OS 11 years old that is still relevant?
 
So your excuse for Win 8 being a total mess is that Apple does not have an 11 year old OS on machines still in use today?

I compare the Mac to say faster booting is nice but I reboot about every 3 month.

No OS is prefect we agree there, but Windows 8 is a mess and I would caution folks thinking to upgrade to look long and hard before they leap.

There are things with the Mac OS that I do not like either but this thread is about Windows 8. I have shared just a few of the issues I have had which impacted productivity.

My offices completely moved to Mac and productivity has never been higher and my IT have a lot lower workload and in fact when one left us recently we did not replace him. We won't go there since this thread is about Windows 8 and not Mac OS vs Windows but I could go on. Bottom line is we all have a story to tell that drives us to our ind opinions.

I wanted to like this version of Windows but I absolutely stand by my claim that Win 8 is a mess at this point. I can see folks loving it on tablets but not so much on desktops.

Bottom line is that MS has helped the world be productive. No one is taking that away. For years I ran Windows and honestly do not hate it even now.




DAB
Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk
 
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