Windows 8 steep learning curve

[apwillard1986]

Originally Posted By: itguy08
I don't know why people put up with this mess.

Return the computer and stick with your old one.
Build your own and install Linux
Buy a Mac (possibly the best option)

But don't install Linux on the new computer as that counts as a Windows sale. The only way to send a message to MS is to hurt their sales.


Agreed! Good hardware and software is intuitive and adapts to the user. It does not require the user to adapt to it.

 

[SLCraig]

Originally Posted By: apwillard1986
Originally Posted By: itguy08
I don't know why people put up with this mess.

Return the computer and stick with your old one.
Build your own and install Linux
Buy a Mac (possibly the best option)

But don't install Linux on the new computer as that counts as a Windows sale. The only way to send a message to MS is to hurt their sales.


Agreed! Good hardware and software is intuitive and adapts to the user. It does not require the user to adapt to it.


I both agree and disagree.
Windows has had the same interface for so many years I dont know how long time users would not have to adapt.. If it were totally new to someone, they might like it right off the bat.

Windows 8 is growing on me. Windows 7 is still my favorite for the time being. It just works.

 

[Mystic]

The thing that really bothers me is that Microsoft actually had a chance with Windows 8 to leap ahead of Apple. Apple still has separate operating systems for their desktop (Mac OS X) and mobile devices (iOS). If Windows 8 had been done right it could have been developed to be capable of being set up for whatever sort of equipment it was going to be installed on-touch screen devices, tablet computers, desktop computers, etc.

But whoever made the UI decisions tried to force a touch screen UI on everybody-even those who would be using a desktop computer. It should not be too hard to figure out that there are still hundreds of millions of desktop computers in the world. But somebody at Microsoft with a lot of power did have problems with all of that. That person or persons needs to go to FOX News and take the 1912 8th grade test if they think they are really so brilliant.

Independent developers developed software like Start8 that makes it possible to use Windows 8 on a desktop computer. You install Start8 and your desktop computer runs just fine and you discover that Windows 8, under the hood, is superior to Windows 7, an operating system I really liked. If independent developers can quickly develop software to make Windows 8 useable again on the desktop, how hard would it have been for Microsoft to do that? A little bit of thought and Windows 8 could have been developed to be useable on any device, touch screen or desktop with mouse and keyboard.

 

[apwillard1986]

Had MS had built in the ability to select the UI best suited to ones hardware and/or preference they likely would have had an instant winner because under the hood it is indeed stout.

As I have said in other posts, I am surprised they didn’t go that route. I concede that the market appears to be shifting to touch and mobile devices at the expense of PC market share. However, touch technology is unlikely to supplant the need for traditional UIs within Windows 8’s useful life. It seems odd that they would take the leap of faith approach rather than a more transitional approach.

 

[Mystic]

Exactly. I don't think we are going to see the end of desktop computers anytime soon but even if touch screen devices do replace desktop computers it will be a long time before all of those hundreds of millions of desktops already in existence are gone. Just because somebody at Microsoft, apparently somebody with a lot of power in marketing, thought the age of touch screen tablets was here today, does not mean that millions of individual computer owners and businesses are going to toss their desktop computers out of windows.

Makes me think of when Steve Jobs years ago declared that the DVD was dead. And even today if a person walks into a Wal-Mart Store they will see a lot of CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs. Steve Jobs was not quite as accurate in all of his visions as people thought.

So if Jobs could be wrong, some marketing big shot at Microsoft whose name nobody will remember in the future is hardly the last word in visionary statements.

 

[itguy08]

Originally Posted By: Mystic

Makes me think of when Steve Jobs years ago declared that the DVD was dead. And even today if a person walks into a Wal-Mart Store they will see a lot of CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs. Steve Jobs was not quite as accurate in all of his visions as people thought.


I'd say he was right for computers - optical media is pretty much dead. I have a 2008 Macbook Pro with an optical drive. Dropped it and it took me 6mo-1yr to realize the drop killed the optical drive. Bought an external HP DVD-RW and I think I've used it 5 times in the 1.5 years I've had it. Don't miss it at all. The fact my new iMac has no optical drive was not even a thought at all when I bought it.

Software is distributed via download, backups are offsite or external HD, and USB thumbdrives take up the rest of the slack. When a 16GB thumbdrive is $40 what's the point of optical media?

I also can't remember the last time I rented a DVD. Would rather On Demand, Netflix, or AppleTV it and get 1080 HD vs SD on a DVD. Have not made the BluRay jump as we don't typically own movies - see it once and I'm done.

 

[Mystic]

I still buy music on CDs occasionally and I will occasionally buy a movie I like on DVD. I use Blu-Ray to some extent to back up data instead of just external hard drives. I don't trust the 'cloud' and I once had a external hard drive fail on me. And for Christmas presents I still create slide shows with my photos and some background music and give those on DVDs to my family members and friends. And I will put MP3 music on CDs to play in my car. Cheaper than getting into the iPod, iTunes and all of that stuff. I don't have high speed internet and I really don't want to tell everybody that I put the slide show on YouTube and they should go there to watch it. A DVD seems more personable.

So for me optical media is not dead. And judging from 120 million Americans still using DVD players and millions od CD players in cars and all of those CDs, DVDs, and Blu-Ray in Wal-Mart, optical media is not dead yet.

And if holographic storage works out 500 GB on one optical disc sounds pretty good.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Quote:

Vista and Win 8 will probably go down in history as two dogs from MSFT. Opinions differ.


Yes, opinions differ a little bit. I thought 'Windows Me' was the absolute worst.

 

[Mystic]

I think Windows ME was the worse Windows operating system. Even people selling custom built computers warned people not to use Windows ME. I did not like Windows 3.1 either. I never could understand why some people liked it. First Windows system I liked was Windows 95.

I don't think Vista was too bad but it certainly was not as good as Windows 7. Windows 7 is actually an excellent operating system.

After I checked out Windows 8 on a computer in a store I told myself I was going to stick to Windows 7. But when I saw Start8 demonstrated I decided to upgrade to Windows 8 and install Start8. Start8 makes Windows 8 useable and the thing you find out is that Windows 8 is really, really good. Without Start8 Windows 8 is fine for a touch screen tablet computer but lousy for a desktop computer. With Start8 you can still use the tiled apps if you want to but Start8 also makes the desktop totally useable. And Microsoft obviously could have done this if common sense had been used when they decided on a UI. A lot more PCs would have been sold.

They better do a better job on Windows 9. Too many more goofy mistakes could really cost them.

 

[NJC]

I just a refurb cheap Lenovo B575e with Win 8 Pro ... although I bought it because I thought this meant a Win 7 installation. From product description at Lenovo:
Quote:
Windows 7 Professional 64 - English (Downgraded from Genuine Windows 8 Professional)

I haven't owned a Win7 machine, but navigation in Win8 seems confusing compared with XP. Esp following MS's instructions ... oy.

I also have Start8 installed and it's a good addition. I hope the 8.1 upgrade is good ... because the downgrade option looks like a PITA.

 

[NHHEMI]

Originally Posted By: itguy08
I don't know why people put up with this mess.

Return the computer and stick with your old one.
Build your own and install Linux
Buy a Mac (possibly the best option)

But don't install Linux on the new computer as that counts as a Windows sale. The only way to send a message to MS is to hurt their sales.


Unfortunately, my old computer could not be upgraded enough to use the most modern web browsers and web design software I need to be able to run. It was running XP and Vista was as far as it could go. Was almost maxed out in RAM and I needed more than I could add for a program I recently bought. Trust me, had I not needed to upgrade I was perfectly happy with my old system. It ran flawlessly for me for many many years. It just became too antiquated to be upgraded far enough to continue doing what I needed it to do.

By the time I bought the parts and software to build my own, even if I used my old case and just did the MB, CPU, RAM, SC/VC, etc... I would be well over what just buying the new computer cost me. Just not worth my time plus the system I got is actually a pretty good one all things considered seeing as it was a prebuilt and I didn't have my input on the SC/VC's used.

As much as I hate the way Microsoft does things at time I will NEVER run a Mac. I just do not like them. I like Windows for my OS.

Microsoft is like all these car mfg's. They are going to do what they want and they really could care less what we think. They will say it is based on consumer wants and feedback yet the dumb stuff they do is never anything people say they like or want. It is the mfg telling the buyer what they SHOULD want/like not the other way around. Unless EVERYONE stops buying their product nothing will change and that isn't going to happen. Windows was, is, and most likely always will be the most popular OS.

You learn to live with it or work around it. I have configured my new system so that god awful METRO desktop in Windows 8 is a thing of the past. It is there but I don't have to see it or deal with it now. I now have a traditional platform to work from and I love the new computer. Lightening fast and tons of power. I just need to upgrade the mediocre SC/VC's that were used at some point.

 

[Mystic]

Microsoft could have had a big winner if they had done a better job with the UI for Windows 8. They could have leaped ahead of Apple and designed an OS that could be setup to work on anything, from a touch screen tablet to a desktop computer.

There is nothing so wrong with Windows 8 that Start8 software will not correct. Windows 8 is actually a good OS-under the hood.

Somebody with a lot of power at Microsoft and maybe not so much common sense probably dictated that UI. The programmers seemed to have done a pretty good job. But probably somebody from the business side of Microsoft dictated the UI. Let the programmers do the programming.

 

[Ed_T]

Originally Posted By: Nyquist
I've grown to like Win8. The built-in inline search to the Metro interface is very powerful, but few even try it. For my user type (very advanced), I've been able to acclimate.

A friend of mine once says that animals that resist adapting go extinct.


I agree. How many more major goofed products can MS afford to decimate their markets with?