Windows 8
 

After a full day of forcing myself to use it I have to say it's the most non-intuitive OS I have ever used. Let me back up a little and say I'm 48, have been it IT for 28 years, and am not into the "social media" craze; no twitter, no facebook, i don't game online, nada.
I upgraded an old tablet I had to see what all the Ballmerboys were talking about. I was cursing the entire day trying to figure out how to do thIngs, where to find things, and why I have to jump out to tiles to do desktop stuff only to be sent back there to actually do it.
Now I can see this as a phone OS; that makes sense and I'm sure the younger crowd will love it for that - but that's it for me, the PC OS is just stupid, unless on course if you want to do everything in Microsofts cloud. For me almost all the tiles on the man screen are useless because A. I don't have a Microsoft account and B. I don't want all my crap in the "cloud". So for me I can see one or two useful tiles.
As far as this OS in the Enterprise, there is no way.... No real admin would ever say this is a good OS for the enterprise unless it's locked down so much it would not be functional. There may be companies out there that let their employees do whatever they want on their computers, then this may work for them, but I have never heard of them.

I feel REAL sorry for older PC purchasers that are fed a line at the store and decide to go with this OS, they will be lost. I also feel sorry for us in IT that will eventually have to deal with this OS because MS is betting the bank on it, unless of course it turns into another Vista and they develop windows 7.5

My guess is this will finally push more people who were on he fence over to Macs, even a few enterprises.

Your opinion may vary...

Bob James

Interesting.

We just bought two new computers and put Win 7 Pro on them. We can "upgrade" to Win 8 for $20 but I was not going to jump on it.

It took me a couple of weeks to figure out how to configure Win 7 to fit our needs.

"non-intuitive OS" eh?

Microsoft's problem is that they don't educate the user beforehand, as Apple does. ...I mean, really, is lobster-claw zooming intuitive?

It's new. It's different. You may have to 'think differently' (where have I heard that before)

Anyway, "Metro" is pretty much just a giant "Start" button. ...with some fast info available to those who learn new things.

That said, I really don't like it all that much. It's too 'playschool' ... just like the ipad. But in Windows case, it mixes a playschool overlay on serious functionality. (weird)

Don't want to hijack but...

Bob, my rarely used home computer (basically a simple word processor, photo editor, email checker) is a vista machine... I'm wondering if I should upgrade to 7?

I'm typing this on my work XP machine.

Thanks in advance.

Yes this is how I see it, and yes I know I can start what I need to from tiles, but how do you quit an App?, let's say you are in Desktop and you want to run Services; you have two options; search for it and run it, or go back to tiles and open it from there which takes you back into Desktop. Just try to scroll in IE every time without having he charms bar come up....

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/basics#1TC=t1

Like I said this is just how I see it

Scott, sure upgrade it Windows 7 is still the best OS Microsoft has put out...

It's for apparatus with touchscreen and an attempt to integrate them all. Apple is going the same route. Eventually all the 'smart' devices will know and design to your app's or TV viewing habits. For example, you'll start to watch some program on a phone device and finish it when home on the TV. If one has a touch / tab hybrid PC, probably a great improvement. Otherwise, not.

What I find interesting is how Microsoft is forcing the product to move. They've priced the OS lower and PC manufacturers now offer far lower priced machine's then older or those with Win 7 OS. Since I'm shopping for new notebooks, those with Win 7 are generally priced higher and yet being snapped up. I fall in that catagory as Win 7 with Pro or Ultimate gives the flexibility of running 64 bit and older 32 bit programs plus you can run XPVM (virtual machine). I'm getting machines with Win 7 home prem and paying for the Pro or Ultimate upgrades. But well worth it as it saves me thousands of dollars vs. buying new CAD or Adobe programs, etc.. No way will Windows 8 do it for me.

Never upgrade to any Windoz product until the first service pack has come out. They push these things out every fall hoping for Christmas sales, and long before the program has been debugged.

Then it falls on the shoulders of the users to debug the crappy program and then and only then does MS put out fixes...

The 11th commandment.

Just for giggles, download a copy of Linux Mint and give it a whirl and see what you think

I dunno... I know that was the case, but also noticed the early and wide distribution of Developer and consumer previews of this Win8 code.

Also a 20+ year IT veteran, this is possibly the worst OS ever developed. I'm certain that OS2 is probably more functional today than Windows 8 will be by next year.

They give us a traditional "desktop" that you can access from "Metro" however it has everything that the Windows 7 desktop has except.... THE START BUTTON! They left off the most important item.

So now you need to learn to love your "windows" key on your keyboard and hope to heck that your app is listed on the "metro" home page, otherwise you're going fishing. I'm constantly going back and forth between "metro" and what we used to call the "desktop."

So lets say you do use "metro" as your primary interface, well it's not very intuitive either, and if you click something that you can't open by default it sends you to a "store" to get that app. There are not enough explicatives in the English language to convey my frustration with that.

For my last rant I'll just say that the damn thing wouldn't shut down by itself. Ok, so my motherboard is not from this year so I suppose it's my fault. However the remedy for this requires that you disable "hybrid boot" which is one of the key new features of Windows 8.

Microsoft has lost all hope.

Scott, there are a bunch of vid's on how to turn off Metro UI.

Here's one...

<iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DaRoBPp4dYg?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Looks very easy, and you get the "Start" button back

I actually added the start button back via one of the suggestions on Youtube but then it patched and now it's dead. It still says "start" but you can't click it. Once I get some time I'll fix it.

Good video Island, but it begs the question why would I upgrade to downgrade, or it that Ballmers master plan?

I've read many reviews today some really negative and some positive ones, but I think the sweetspot is Engadget commenting that if you do not have a touch PC/tablet/blah blah and only have a mouse, this is not the OS for you.

I have to agree as I am using a mouse and because my tablet (with pen) is older than last year none of the hot corners with with the pen and mouse is frustrating.

Back to Ubuntu...

Yep, it's not for most. I've been big on tablets since even before Apple invented them. ;)

This is what I wrote about Win 8 a year ago.
That still holds. The bulk of changes are geared towards tablets/touch devices.

I also have no desire to 'upgrade' my computers to Win8. ...not even my tablets.

The Hardware, however... that Surface machine is very nice. --Good work Red-west.

Yeah, another 20 year techie here. Just bought a Surface RT today. It takes some getting used to, but the thing rocks! Way better than either iPad or Android table for getting work done. As the eco system grows, it will be a major player in the enterprise. At home, maybe not.

Also spun up a new Server 2012 and Exchange 2013. Again, totally different beasts. :)

I just built a dozen PC,s and I used Windows 7 for all of them. Unless you're buying a brand-new PC and it only comes with Windows 8, I'd stick with Windows 7. Win7 seems to be reliable, easy to use and relatively fast on every PC I've loaded it on. All of the PC's have at least 2GB of RAM, decent hard drive and nice video card.

I'm playing with Windows 8 and I have very mixed feelings about it... I'll play more before I go into any detail...

My next build will be Windows 7, as I already have the OS for it. I might upgrade my Slate 500 to window 8.

Ubuntu lost me for a few reasons - the renaming of ethernet devices due to udev rules based on MAC address, and Unity/Gnome3. Happy using Mint w/ MATE and/or Cinnamon

Microsoft had to get in the social stuff cause it was falling behind, this is a strategic move..

For business/professional they couldn't have not hoped to convert the business side.. There must be a supported way... NO way that companies will let the users show facebook, twitter, tumbler,etc.. on the main screen.

I read that WIN + D will get you to the DESKTOP MODE. I'll try later today and report back...

Perhaps just my semi-ignorant non-techie perception, but my opinion of every new MS product that I've played with is that they take the same functionality, move/hide all of the icons, change the UI, and call it new. I still struggle to find features in Office 2010, yet I haven't encountered anything that I see as an improvement. Windows 7 wasn't a drastic departure from XP once you turned off some of the stupid features (User Access Control anyone?), sounds like Windows 8 is embracing the philosophy of adding confusion instead of content.

I had a PC with Vista for several years. I've replaced it with a PC that's running 7. Frankly, I can't see what all of the ire is about. My Vista PC ran fine. I like my 7 PC, but I don't think it's better because it's running 7. Vista and 7 just don't seem that much different to me and the stability of the OS wasn't an issue on Vista for me.

I would say, no, you shouldn't need to upgrade.

The only time I upgrade a OS is when I change computers. I still have a copy of Windows 386 (Win 2.11) in my closet. It is on 5.25 inch floppies. I bought a Microsoft mouse that has a steel roller ball and two big green buttons and it was a wide serial port connection.

I have skipped many versions through the years. I do like the Win 7 64 bit speed with PhotoShop. That was worth the pain of changing.

Yep. A problem MS has is for the most part, XP works. Office 2008 works. And this is very bad for the price of stock. Windows 7 is better, Office 2012 is, well, they moved/hide all of the icons, change the UI. (I suspect that office 2015 will be software/apps that you can only rent, not own. This way they still get revenue even if you dont upgrade.)

20+ year IT guy and I suspect that windows 8 / server 12 will be the next step, once you have a touch screen. If you are not one of the 1%ers, sorry could not resist, and are still running a mouse, the OS is not good.

I did download a program that adds the start button, but leaves the windows 8 features, and this removes a huge annoyance. Now I can try to figure out what the OS does, not cuss just trying to get it to do anything.

I upgraded all of our PCs to Win7x64. It works and was a worthy upgrade from Win XP-32.

We are still running Office 2003, with the file converters. I'm considering putting Office 2010 on one PC and see if I can get used to it.

I cannot fathom using Office 365. What happens when you lose your internet connection? And the data is not kept on you PC or server, it is held by MS? No thanks,

An interesting take:

Microsoft Surface RT: The Sad Treadmill Of Overhyped Expectations | TechCrunch

Widebody, that graphic is ridiculous. I was there.

From the Windows RT thread on Win8 debut..

Good article but I have to disagree with this "I find Win8 to be a solid OS and an amazing step forward. General acceptance will be slow, but the value proposition, especially in unifying the Win8/WinPhone worlds, is there."

Explain the value position when you have to sync your PC and phone over MS' cloud service...This will not take in the Enterprise but it may take with consumers, right up until their account is compromised or MS has another "cloud crash".

Just my humble opinion

^^^ Interesting article.

Tablet PC's combo's really are terrific for biz / traveler's. I've maxed the mileage out of an older AMD dual core HP TX2 Touchsmart PC- tablet 12" screen, running 64 bit Win 7 Ultimate + XP virtual mode but sadly smoked for good. It was lousy when I first had Vista Ultimate but transformed into a great running / practical workhorse once upgraded the full Win 7 Ultimate. In time, I cooked thru 3 mutha boards... due to my fault over running it plus sometimes pushing a dual monitor set-up. My next tab / PC combo will likely have the Win 8 and for that machine, would hope its decent.

Just ordered in two other brand conventional notebooks but only with Win 7. They'll get the Win 7 Pro upgrade but after I specified what I wanted with Win 7, funny to see the retailers stock dwindling fairly quick and them pushing the Win 8 o.s..

I guess for the future and if one's not happy with Win 8, on a conventional laptop, probably format the drive and start fresh with a Win 7 o.s. version.

Other- I actually like some of the cloud freebie's. I don't get what the stink is as I still run auto backup's on a home network drive.

I think the “value proposition” is not in where the data is stored but rather having one basic underlying OS: Phone, tablet, PC; and a common set of productivity tools such as Office. It helps MS by maintaining / developing a single OS versus 2 or 3, and for the user with a single interface regardless of platform.

Umm, that was because Win95 was a good product, a REALLY good product.

I installed Win 8 launch day...removed it the next evening. If I were on a touch screen interface it would have been a keeper...on my current PC it was just cumbersome. My PC is new, works great with Win 7 and appears it will maintain that OS. I also use vmware to run Ubuntu for some programming...the two OS's meet my needs.

We were compelled to switch to Office 2010. It took about a week to get productivity in Excel back to prior levels. Outlook seemed pretty much the same. Not noticed anything tricky about Word. I can find no advantage to Office 2010 over Office 2003, but the switch is not that hard. Just pointless.

As for Win 7, I also find it a very good OS.

I used Office 2007, back when it came out. I didn't care for it. I've been forced to use 2010 a couple of times wth "weird" spreadsheets that would not load under 2003, even with the converters. I have a new laptop for a conference room which came pre-loaded with the trial. I might convert it to full.

There are a few features we might use, if we used an Exchange server for our e-mail. But since we're not, it just seems silly to upgrade. And I can find legal copies of 2003 for something like $50 or less!

One of my neighbors does CRM and he was "shocked" to find we're not using office 365. Really?

I still use Office 2003 at home for my MBA coursework, and will continue to do so until file compatibility becomes an issue. There's just no good reason to switch that I can see.

I just finished cleaning up an older laptop for my 8yo daughter. Toshiba Qosmio G35. More of a desktop with a battery than a portable notebook. 12lb beast of a machine. Dual drives.

Added an Intel 330 SSD and installed Win 8. Went with 8 Pro since it is only $69. Left Win 7 Ultimate on the other drive and installed a dual boot program called EasyBCD.

So now she has a dual boot machine with 7 and 8. I played with 8 for about 5 hours and at first really hated it since you basically cannot do a damn thing without creating a Microsoft Account. Once I caved and set it up all went fairly smooth.

Windows mail integrates guite well with Gmail as long as you set it up as an Exchange.
The tiles on the main screen are kind of cool if you are used to smart phones with notifications on the opening screen. The Mail tile and Calendar tile will get used a lot by the typical user.

When you boot up the machine, you have to click on the first screen, enter your password on the second screen and then the main screen opens - kind of silly but not that big of a deal. Access to the traditional desktop is available with another click. To do any real computing you have to hover your mouse in a corner to access the new Start menu.
The new Search feature is nice - I actually prefer it. Will post a pic later.

Its really not that bad once you get used to it but does seem like they added a bunch of extra steps just to get rid of the orb on the bottom left corner.

To shut down, you have to hover in the corner, click Settings, click Power then choose Shut Down. 4 steps vs the traditional 2. Not sure why MS did this.

Overall I think the younger generation will like the new system. It is more of a PC OS than a workstation OS.

Regarding speed, if you haven't switched to SSD you should. Best bang for the buck if you want to turbo charge your PC.

Boot times with Win8 on SSD - 23 seconds. Win7 with HD - 100 seconds.

Pin the RUN button to the Task Bar. Then to shut down, click on RUN, and type shutdown /s /t 00. If using multiple users on it, RUN, and type logoff.

[Tinfoil hat activated, check]

Dormant cameras and microphone inside your home= NSA access.
Microsoft and Skype set to allow backdoor eavesdropping | memeburn
How NSA access was built into Windows | Telepolis
Same with Kinect and other products.

Sorry, I'm a little selfish and don't like "sharing" 24/7.

Backed up what little data I had on my Windows 8 Pro install and it's getting formatted tonight. My FPS rate for video conversions in Handbrake is about half what I could get in Windows 7 and I have 100's of DVD's to convert yet.

Secondly having gaming issues with my SLI Nvidia cards, Nvidia says its an MS issues, MS says Nvidia, same old same old.