Windows 8

So, I'm receiving a new pc soon (my current one is 7 years old and still has XP), and it turns out I will have the ability to immediately upgrade from Windows 7 to 8, and I'm not sure if I should...

I mean, look at this:

That's it. From what I understand, that's the desktop. Those big fucking squares. And I've read you can't change that? What the hell? It seems it's made for tablets specifially, or am I wrong?

What the hell is Microsoft trying to force? Will they be shooting themselves in their own foot (again) ?

I don't know. The change in how it looks is way too radical and crappy-looking to me, but maybe it's a decent system. Maybe...

I think you misunderstood something. What you see there, the Metro system (which they're not allowed to call it anymore so now it's called Modern UI, lol), is actually just your start menu. If you press the "Windows" button you'll be transported to a normal looking Windows OS desktop.

Watch this and then decide

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df_9-I1zL6U

If you can you should probably wait a couple of months upgrading because of the inevitable teething problems most software launches have.

  On 10/26/2012 at 12:11 PM, Squee said:

I think you misunderstood something. What you see there, the Metro system (which they're not allowed to call it anymore so now it's called Modern UI, lol), is actually just your start menu. If you press the "Windows" button you'll be transported to a normal looking Windows OS desktop.

Thanks for clearing that up. I really should do more research.

  On 10/26/2012 at 12:27 PM, triachus said:

  On 10/26/2012 at 12:11 PM, Squee said:

I think you misunderstood something. What you see there, the Metro system (which they're not allowed to call it anymore so now it's called Modern UI, lol), is actually just your start menu. If you press the "Windows" button you'll be transported to a normal looking Windows OS desktop.

 

Thanks for clearing that up. I really should do more research.

Well, look at this way... A LOT of people are going to think that the new Windows 8 will be nothing but the tile system which is quite a problem for Microsoft.

And while we're on the topic of Microsoft...

  Quote

To kick off Surface, Microsoft held big launch events in China. At the midnight event in Beijing, there were dancers, loud music, and one pissed off grandma. That's when things got ugly.

 

According to Sina, the noise was apparently keeping her grandchildren awake—a problem since the next day was a schoolday. So the grandma and the grandpa decided to do more than complain: grandma got on stage and tried to shut the whole event down. That's when staff dragged the old lady off stage. You can also see the grandfather (in red) being pulled off stage, too.

Don't do it. I'm no techsman but it seems like a remarkably bad idea to jump ship to a new OS as soon as it comes out. Let the dust settle for a year or two, Windows 7 is actually pretty good.

bullshit OS

I know everyone (including me) likes to bad mouth MS and laugh at them, but I actually think Win8 is going to be a big success. seriously.

stick with Windows 7 - Microsoft has yet again followed their pattern of "every other OS is awful":

Windows 1.0 - great

Windows 3.1 - crap

Windows 95 - great

Windows 98/ME - crap

Windows XP - great

Windows Vista - crap

Windows 7 - great

Windows 8 - crap

NOTE: the term "great" used here is subjective.

windows 3.1 is where you start...nobody really counts windows 1. and windows 3.1 was awesome! never really thought the "every other one is crap" argument really worked out..

windows 1 - discounted as only 5 people used it.

windows 2 - what? there was a windows 2?? sounds well idm...

windows 3.1 - great

windows 95 - great

windows NT - great

windows 98 - not bad.

windows 2000 - bad

windows ME - lol

windows XP - awesome

windows vista - comprehensively bad

windows 7 - yeah, I suppose it's alright

windows 8 - nobody knows at this stage.

so it's only since XP that the "every other" argument might make sense...but it's all subjective anyway.

stay with 7. this is the same bullshit they tried to pull with Vista. 8 will no doubt be riddled with problems. though, knowing them you might not get a choice in the matter. like with Vista, theyll flood the market with it and ordering a new comp with 7 will be near impossible.

I love all the Windows 8 haters on forums. Coincidentally all the same people haven't used the fucking thing.

I was cynical about the new interface originally. Very cynical, especially when they used it on Server 2012 too. I'm an IT guy btw so this affects me. However having used Windows Phone 7 (excellent, by the way) and become familiar with the interface I've started to think that MS might actually possibly manage something with this interface.

A lot of people criticize because they're used to the current look, which I get. People are scared of change. But it's brave for Microsoft to overhaul literally everything they've done and bring it all in line. Before their software had different interfaces, but now it's all being unified it has the real possibility of making computer usage simpler in the long run. Sure people will bitch and moan about the change but that's a given. The funny thing is that people criticize MS for not changing or being on the cutting edge, but then as soon as they make a change they still criticize! Fact it, it's not trendy to like Microsoft. Which I suppose is fair enough, their marketing fucking sucks.

Whether the interface is 'easier' from an objective standpoint is impossible to tell before it's used more widely and people get to grips with it. But that is the difference between Windows 7 and 8 that people are griping about.

What people aren't mentioning is that Windows 8 is fucking fast. It runs on the same hardware that runs XP, Vista and 7 and it runs better than all three of them. You don't have to buy new hardware, this is good. Smooth as fuck. This is what's actually important.

Realistically speaking there was going to have to be aesthetic change eventually, technology is forever marching on. But the problem is people are never going to appreciate it.

So I guess what I'm suggesting is that people who haven't actually tried Windows 8 for a good couple of weeks and seen how it affects their productivity, or whatever they use a PC for, should perhaps shut the fuck up? I'm not a Microsoft apologist, but expert comments like "8 will no doubt be riddled with problems" by dickbag up there, having no experience with it, serve no real purpose and only cloud real discussion about the platform.

I've not got 8 yet but I'm reserving judgment on it until I've used it.

I read a lot of tech blogs, journals, all that shit and I was surprised to see that they don't all despise Windows 8. Actually there are a lot of positive things said about it. So maybe just give it a go first? It actually has the potential to be a real game changer in the computing world.

man, you sure got it out for me don't ya. lol.

ok, maybe coming right out of the gate on the first day saying it will suck is a bit much. yes, 7 is probably the best OS they ever made. even better than XP. but why do they need to try and top it so soon. after that whole Vista debacle i would think they would like to wait a little longer. its only been 3 years now with 7, id wait at least 2 more years making sure 8 wont be another Vista. its not like Mac is gonna beat windows anytime soon. they can wait a little longer.

Don't take it too seriously.

I agree though, 8 is too soon.

Forcing the metro thing on Desktop seems useless for a desktop pc and looks like it could be super annoying in the long term. The app paradigm is good on mobile devices because it is a solution to the problem of having limited computing resources, input devices (mouse keyboard) and screen size, constraints that a desktop pc doesn't have. I don't know what they are thinking when forcing apps to be full screen instead of windowed. A much better approach would've been to have the metro apps behave like Win7 gadgets, maybe even have them be full screen but having them display as a background instead of being the main focus. I guess they are trying to unify the OS along all platforms but I don't see the point in that. Maybe it'd be cool if one could sync all devices together so that you can pretty much use your PC from you phone or tablet, something that's already possible, I know, but if it was made super easy it could be cool.

Bottom line, it's good that the whole metro paradigm can be avoided and only use the start screen as the launcher for commonly used programs, however, getting used to its behavior could prove annoying. I haven't used it but that's the impression I get form that review video. If I were on Win Vista I would switch and on WIn7 I would wait some time until all the problems with it are out in the open and evaluate better.

the main problem with win 8 is it doesn't know what it is. is it a touchscreen OS or not?

i suspect it'll be great on a tablet, but i didn't like it ONE BIT on a mouse/monitor setup.

this might be a good thing for MS depending on the saturation point for tablet/touchscreen devices, remains to be seen.

the most important thing i think about with any new OS upgrade is will my applications that i use now work and will my device drivers still work. If it fucks with me in either area i probably won't upgrade until i absolutely have to. Apple has been fiddling with shit too often recently, i lost a significant amount of hardware support when going from Snow Leopard to Lion so i had to go back to not drive myself crazy.

  On 10/26/2012 at 7:28 PM, kaini said:

the main problem with win 8 is it doesn't know what it is. is it a touchscreen OS or not?

i suspect it'll be great on a tablet, but i didn't like it ONE BIT on a mouse/monitor setup.

 

this might be a good thing for MS depending on the saturation point for tablet/touchscreen devices, remains to be seen.

it seems kinda confusing right now and metro is indeed useless on desktop but i think they might be going for for the unified universal OS, im very very interested to see how it'll interact with the x86 Surface.

anyway, it was very easy to turn it into good ol windows xp interface, so as long as comparability is ok and the windows 7 features and quickness remain it should be alright.

the boot times on it are EXTREMELY impressive, i'll give it that. that's because it never really 'turns off' except for updates, when you turn it on it's essentially returning from hibernation every time.

  On 10/26/2012 at 5:34 PM, Obel said:

I love all the Windows 8 haters on forums. Coincidentally all the same people haven't used the fucking thing.

 

I was cynical about the new interface originally. Very cynical, especially when they used it on Server 2012 too. I'm an IT guy btw so this affects me. However having used Windows Phone 7 (excellent, by the way) and become familiar with the interface I've started to think that MS might actually possibly manage something with this interface.

 

A lot of people criticize because they're used to the current look, which I get. People are scared of change. But it's brave for Microsoft to overhaul literally everything they've done and bring it all in line. Before their software had different interfaces, but now it's all being unified it has the real possibility of making computer usage simpler in the long run. Sure people will bitch and moan about the change but that's a given. The funny thing is that people criticize MS for not changing or being on the cutting edge, but then as soon as they make a change they still criticize! Fact it, it's not trendy to like Microsoft. Which I suppose is fair enough, their marketing fucking sucks.

 

Whether the interface is 'easier' from an objective standpoint is impossible to tell before it's used more widely and people get to grips with it. But that is the difference between Windows 7 and 8 that people are griping about.

What people aren't mentioning is that Windows 8 is fucking fast. It runs on the same hardware that runs XP, Vista and 7 and it runs better than all three of them. You don't have to buy new hardware, this is good. Smooth as fuck. This is what's actually important.

 

Realistically speaking there was going to have to be aesthetic change eventually, technology is forever marching on. But the problem is people are never going to appreciate it.

 

So I guess what I'm suggesting is that people who haven't actually tried Windows 8 for a good couple of weeks and seen how it affects their productivity, or whatever they use a PC for, should perhaps shut the fuck up? I'm not a Microsoft apologist, but expert comments like "8 will no doubt be riddled with problems" by dickbag up there, having no experience with it, serve no real purpose and only cloud real discussion about the platform.

 

I've not got 8 yet but I'm reserving judgment on it until I've used it.

 

I read a lot of tech blogs, journals, all that shit and I was surprised to see that they don't all despise Windows 8. Actually there are a lot of positive things said about it. So maybe just give it a go first? It actually has the potential to be a real game changer in the computing world.

Yes, the UI is probably very nice. for touchscreens.

The UI is completely unsuitable for keyboard and mouse driven machines, which accounts for probably the majority of computer users out there.

As a consequence, it'll be a very long time before I move onto Windows 8, I think.

edit: I have used Windows 8, btw.

i've been a Mac guy for nearly 10 years now, because i was fed up with the Windows b.s. i grew up with. supposedly they turned things around with 7; my very limited experience with it wasn't fantastic, but it seemed to be a reasonable OS, and less riddled with the aforementioned b.s.

i finally jumped up to a true smartphone about a year ago, and decided to do so with a WP7.5 device, based on all the information i could read up about my options; i hate iOS with a passion, it just rubs me wrong in a thousand ways, and the fragmentation and ridiculous issues with most or all Android options left me uninterested and unimpressed, so i went with what look felt and performed best for me. i mention this in that it influences my perceptions on what i read about Windows 8 (which i have yet to actually use)

Windows 8 looks like a solid, yet still small, step forward for Microsoft. for tablets and generally consumption-based devices it looks great. for legacy application users i could see it being more of a hassle than anything. if all you want is traditional Windows applications and the desktop interface, you have very little reason to consider upgrading; Windows 7 will keep getting support and new applications for years in part because of Windows 8, since their guts (based on my limited understanding of the inner workings of software and OSes) are essentially the same.

I owned a MacBook Pro for about a year, had it stolen...i used it for essentially playing on the internet (WATMM!) and some homework and such (i'm in college). i've been considering getting another but have held off for monetary reasons, and because i really just don't need a portable computer, as i've got a good smartphone. however if money and whatnot works out i'm considering getting a Surface (yes i know Windows RT is different from Windows 8) in the next couple months. not because i need it but because it seems like a great compromise that would truly fit what i was using a laptop for, which is essentially internet browsing and occasionally some homework and such.

i give all of this to say that Windows 8/Windows RT seems absolutely perfect for a tablet, and that is its true intent; Microsoft designed it to be optimized for touch and small screen usage (hence why its Metro influence comes from the Zune and WP7 interface) and to be hybridized for manufacturers and consumers to mold it to their own usage. all i've read of it says it achieves this well; not perfect for all situations or users, but for a large percentage of them. that's why i really think they've got something solid that will not necessarily kill other portable and PC options, but will carve out a space for itself.

i've read a LOT of articles about it, and most people either like it right away, or grow to. even the Surface reviews that are up almost all admit that with a little time the device, and of course the software/OS, grew on them a lot. it's different, but it is an improvement in a lot of ways. it'll be interesting to see if there are any huge hiccups in the coming months.

  On 10/26/2012 at 7:27 PM, VIII said:

Looks like one of those Fisher-Price children's toys, the more I think about it.

Interesting to note - you cannot buy a proper retail copy of this

You can only buy upgrade editions. So you must already have a legit copy of XP, Vista, or 7 installed.

yeah, i wonder how rigorous they'll be when checking for the "legitness" of previous os..

actually wtf, im gonna run the upgrade assistance and see. it's only 40$ too...

  On 10/26/2012 at 8:17 PM, eugene said:

yeah, i wonder how rigorous they'll be when checking for the "legitness" of previous os..

 

actually wtf, im gonna run the upgrade assistance and see. it's only 40$ too...

I'd imagine they'll be pretty on the ball - they know the major WAT exploits, and also know the majority of traded product keys....

Should be interesting to find out though, post your findings!

  On 10/26/2012 at 8:07 PM, oscillik said:

Interesting to note - you cannot buy a proper retail copy of this

 

You can only buy upgrade editions. So you must already have a legit copy of XP, Vista, or 7 installed.

That's weird, forces pirates to keep pirating.

Another worrying point that I've read about is that Microsoft is thinking about forcing everything on the system to be installed via an app store model. Like if you want to write a program and have other people use it you would have to submit it to the store or whatever. Not sure if this applies to every piece of software or just metro apps but it would certainly prove catastrophic in the former case.