Sammael
Adventurer
I'm not going to upgrade my desktop to 8, but I may purchase a Surface Pro tablet once it's out.
Windows 8?
I suspect that Win8 is better on a touch screen and with actual Metro apps.
so Metro ready Visual studio and MS Office would probably be a world of difference than imagining my current apps in it.
In any event, I would NEVER recommend doing an upgrade. Buy a new PC with it. Maybe wipe your current PC and load up Win8. But never for the love of Eric's Grandma should you attempt an in-place OS upgrade.
Everybody who's done it will initially swear it worked fine, and then weeks later, all heck breaks lose and they admit they were wrong and wipe the box and start fresh with the new OS.
Relique du Madde
Adventurer
I am also thinking of getting windows 8 but once the Surface Pro comes out.
After reading some reports I am positive that you will need as much ram as possible since even RT eats up a goog portion of a surface's HD.
-Sent via a cybernetic device.
After reading some reports I am positive that you will need as much ram as possible since even RT eats up a goog portion of a surface's HD.
-Sent via a cybernetic device.
sabrinathecat
Explorer
I looked at it in the store last week. And hated it. "Isn't it cool that we keep hiding things?" NO!!! Leave it on the #$*&'ing screen so I can find it. Stop trying to imitate Mac/Apple's interface.
I don't know why this trend keeps getting worse and worse. It's like they aren't thinking about function. I'm tempted to find some old copies of Office 2000 and Windows7 and just stockpile them until Microsoft comes to its senses and remembers that some of us like to use hammers made of metal and wood instead of clear plastic.
I want my toolbar. I want it to stay where I can see it without having to tap some extra button every single time I want to use something. I want my list of active programs to be constantly visible so I can switch back and forth without having to hunt for the sleeping sidebar or whatever.
I know--I'm an old geezer. To me, phones and tablets aren't real computers--computers have buttons.
So I will be here, sitting in a dark closet raging against a machine that seems hell-bent on ignoring me.
I don't know why this trend keeps getting worse and worse. It's like they aren't thinking about function. I'm tempted to find some old copies of Office 2000 and Windows7 and just stockpile them until Microsoft comes to its senses and remembers that some of us like to use hammers made of metal and wood instead of clear plastic.
I want my toolbar. I want it to stay where I can see it without having to tap some extra button every single time I want to use something. I want my list of active programs to be constantly visible so I can switch back and forth without having to hunt for the sleeping sidebar or whatever.
I know--I'm an old geezer. To me, phones and tablets aren't real computers--computers have buttons.
So I will be here, sitting in a dark closet raging against a machine that seems hell-bent on ignoring me.
jonesy
A Wicked Kendragon
Totally there with you. I even hate it when people say stupid things like 'Why is your desktop so cluttered? Don't you hate having all those icons there blocking the view?'. No, the icons are there because I.. and I know this is a really hard concept to understand, but ..I use them.
I installed Win8 back in November when it first came out because I needed a new copy of Windows and it didn't seem to make sense to buy a brand new copy of 7. I gave Metro an honest try until January, when I broke down and installed Classic Shell, a program that brings back the standard start menu and lets you turn off a number of the Metro-isms.
Unfortunately, Metro sucks on anything that isn't a touch screen. It adds unnecessary movements, clicks, and searches to find things are easily accessible in earlier versions of Windows. It's awful in terms of organization, and it's jarring to move back and forth between anything that runs on the old desktop and Metro apps. The fact that it's non-intuitive to people have used older Windows is a forgivable fault (like the ribbon interface on Office); the real problem is that once you find everything again, it's still less efficient (for desktops and laptops). I also find it highly aesthetically unappealing, and feel a general repulsion to the "app store" they are pushing.
But now that I've gotten rid of Metro, and started customizing things, I can honestly say I like Win8 a lot. It's quick to boot, stable, and efficient with resources. It has a lot of nice new built in features, like the upgraded Power Shell. So far, the built in security have been useful but reasonably unintrusive. It's also compatible with almost all Win7 drivers and older software, so the upgrade has been pretty seamless.
The bottom line is that Windows 8 is really nice under the hood, it just has a really ugly hood. It's a Lexus trapped in the body of an Edsel. Overall, I would say it's not really good enough to upgrade if you're already on Win7, but I also wouldn't buy a new computer without Win8. If you're willing to put enough time into customizing the interface, it may even be your favorite Windows yet.
Unfortunately, Metro sucks on anything that isn't a touch screen. It adds unnecessary movements, clicks, and searches to find things are easily accessible in earlier versions of Windows. It's awful in terms of organization, and it's jarring to move back and forth between anything that runs on the old desktop and Metro apps. The fact that it's non-intuitive to people have used older Windows is a forgivable fault (like the ribbon interface on Office); the real problem is that once you find everything again, it's still less efficient (for desktops and laptops). I also find it highly aesthetically unappealing, and feel a general repulsion to the "app store" they are pushing.
But now that I've gotten rid of Metro, and started customizing things, I can honestly say I like Win8 a lot. It's quick to boot, stable, and efficient with resources. It has a lot of nice new built in features, like the upgraded Power Shell. So far, the built in security have been useful but reasonably unintrusive. It's also compatible with almost all Win7 drivers and older software, so the upgrade has been pretty seamless.
The bottom line is that Windows 8 is really nice under the hood, it just has a really ugly hood. It's a Lexus trapped in the body of an Edsel. Overall, I would say it's not really good enough to upgrade if you're already on Win7, but I also wouldn't buy a new computer without Win8. If you're willing to put enough time into customizing the interface, it may even be your favorite Windows yet.
sabrinathecat
Explorer
Is "classic Shell" something you have to buy, free-ware, or so app that someone created?
Call me silly, but XP has one of the most intelligent design options available: the option to look like pre-XP. Why anyone thought the rounded corners etc was necessary is beyond me. Trying to copy mac interface again?
Call me silly, but XP has one of the most intelligent design options available: the option to look like pre-XP. Why anyone thought the rounded corners etc was necessary is beyond me. Trying to copy mac interface again?
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