Windows 8 coming... Yes, no?

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#711029 2-Nov-2012 16:10

crackrdbycracku:

Remember Vista? This feels similar.

Nope. I think its more like the windows 3.1 -> Windows 95 Jump.
Some of us that have been around for long enough will remember it ...

Remember the windows 3,1 Program manager? At first many people were also sceptical about the Windows 95 Start button. But things moved on, the old program manager has been forgotten. But one thing Microsoft did do back then was keeping people happy. The Windows 3.1 Program manager was available right up to Windows XP SP1

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tdgeek

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#711030 2-Nov-2012 16:11

crackrdbycracku: Here is the thing; JimmyH is repeating the same criticism I have been reading for the last six months.

Basically, Windows 8 is fine if you are on a tablet but not good on a PC and ... lots of people have PCs with keyboards and a mouse. People find a classic PC the best thing for what they do and they like using their PCS.

All the commentary is saying what Windows 8 needs is a 'Return to Windows Classic Desktop' button in the settings so that when you start it up you get the basic Windows 7 desktop you know and want. Who wants to give me odds on how long it will take for this to appear?

Sure, if you work on it you will eventually 'get it' but that isn't the point. The UI is supposed to get out of the way and allow you to do what you want to do, this enhances the UX. The point of the UI is not to give the opportunity practice your problem solving skills.

Remember Vista? This feels similar.

Agree 100%. A simple switch between Classic and Metro would not only have solved this, it would have enhanced migration to it.

crackrdbycracku

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#711034 2-Nov-2012 16:24

@ BraaiGuy

Time will of course tell, the press (kind of my area) seems very similar to what was being said before the Vista launch, people hated that all the way till 7.

I think uptake depends on a big 'if', and that 'if' is hardware. If the hardware is compelling then people will switch.

But there are some big problems for MS.

The magic bullet would be cheap hardware, most commentators say Windows 8 is aimed at consumers. I'm a consumer and when it is my money price sensitivity is very important. In my opinion hardware price is what has driven Android adoption, the Apple alternative is more expensive. The one thing that would get people to buy Ultrabooks is a price cut and netbooks sold like hot cakes because they were cheap.

Judging by the Surface cheap isn't a direction MS wants to go in. No mystery as to why, everybody's got to eat. But without compelling, in other words 'cheap', hardware I have a hard time seeing people running to Windows 8.

But who knows, eh?

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MikeB4

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#711040 2-Nov-2012 16:46

I have been using Win 8 for a week now and love it. Metro is great and getting around the OS is a piece of cake. I believe Win 8 is a winner.

K1000716

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#711044 2-Nov-2012 16:53

KiwiNZ: I have been using Win 8 for a week now and love it. Metro is great and getting around the OS is a piece of cake. I believe Win 8 is a winner.

I'm with you. I'd like to see some more apps in the store (spotify, springpad etc), but am very happy so far.

I'm using Start8 to sort out the start button and force desktop mode on launch, but I prefer the Metro interface. I'm using it on a 6 year old laptop docked to a 27" screen and have no issues navigating around.

Lee

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#711077 2-Nov-2012 18:03

K1000716:
KiwiNZ: I have been using Win 8 for a week now and love it. Metro is great and getting around the OS is a piece of cake. I believe Win 8 is a winner.

I'm with you. I'd like to see some more apps in the store (spotify, springpad etc), but am very happy so far.

I'm using Start8 to sort out the start button and force desktop mode on launch, but I prefer the Metro interface. I'm using it on a 6 year old laptop docked to a 27" screen and have no issues navigating around.

Lee

Me too, and that without succumbing to the initial big temptation to install a Start orb plugin

.

As a user of PC's from back in DOS days I was very sceptical about tiles and no Start orb, with both my own imagined and some of the same criticisms as others have raised here, and thinking the tiles being a dumbing down. But after exercising my imagination as to how best to set things up to suit my usage I am sold on Win 8 too and make great use of tiles on the Metro screen. Won't go back to Win 7.

Also, most things seem to run a bit snappier, as do OS starts/restarts (for the reasons Mauricio and others have mentioned). A pleasant find was that virtual machines and the apps in them seemed to work much more smoothly and reliably with Win 8 hosts, especially when working concurrently with apps in the both the host and the VM (on both 32 and 64 bit machines, and in my case apps that rely on legacy dongles not otherwise supported, and handle real time data over legacy com's, which were a bit shaking in the same VMs running in Win 7 hosts).

Had been equally sceptical about Win 8 phones but can now see one of those in my future too

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#711136 2-Nov-2012 20:26

compost: Nobody is being forced - Win 7 is supported until at least 2020 and probably beyond, so you don't have to change a thing for a long time to come. New hardware can even be downgraded to Win 7 if you want. If your (over)reaction is to move to a completely different OS where a fraction of your existing applications are supported then you may as well torch your IT department.

So what do you think a future portable productivity device OS should look like? I for one have no interest in either iOS which looks like a dumbed down Windows/Mac OS, or Android which is getting so widgetified that one day it will look like Diablo and the journey back to the 90s will be complete.

The Win 8 start screen is a dashboard, and dashboards are part of the visual language of senior execs. YOU may dwell in the detail and have no respect for dashboards, but it would be to your benefit to understand it, at the very least.

The trouble is many people are kind of being forced. PCs in shops (and especially laptops) are coming with Windows 8 and no obvious way to get Win7 instead, unless I want to pay extra for a retail box and essentially pay for the OS twice.

My version take on what a future portable productivity device OS should look like is essentially something that works for tablets and touch screens on tablets and touch screens (Android or possibly Metro), and something that works on non-touchscreen boxes on them (a mouse-friendly OS that looks like Win7, OSX etc). It's not to hammer someone with a workhorse machine with a big screen and mouse, or even worse a laptop trackpad, into a tablet-ised interface that isn't suitable for requirements. Doubtless they feel it will be good for their marketing - leveraging off the familiarity of people with their desktop base to make their tablet and phone offerings more familiar and appealing, and also force anyone wanting metro apps to only go through the MS App store where they can clip the ticket. However, this isn't in users interests.

As for visual language of senior execs - I'm not a programmer and have dealt with and presented information to senior execs quite a bit, and do have some knowledge in this area. Most senior execs just want a working email/calendar client (which is what they use most on a computer), a way to open attachments sent to them, and a familiar environment that they don't have to worry too much about learning new things to use. They don't want to spend days mastering a new garish interface and way of running things because its shiny and some MS marketer thinks its great.

If MS persists with this, it would be a great opportunity for Apple to make a decent thrust into the upper corporate layers that MS has dominated for so long. They already have the cool factor going for them, and can now punt up an OS that is more familiar, easier to use, and has refined/subdued colour scheme options etc that look more corporate. MS will be left with an offering that is less familiar, requires re-training to use, and a start up interface and colour scheme that looks more like Fisher Price's reinterpretation of a bad acid trip than something that belongs in a corporate setting.

If it wasn't for the need to jettison existing software etc that I already have and know how to use, I would probably already be looking to Apple or Linux for my impending home upgrade. I will probably look at trying to persuade IT to move me to an Apple box at work as well, if Metro upgrades are ever in the wind.

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#711174 2-Nov-2012 22:25

JimmyH: ...Most senior execs just want a working email/calendar client (which is what they use most on a computer), a way to open attachments sent to them, and a familiar environment that they don't have to worry too much about learning new things to use. They don't want to spend days mastering a new garish interface and way of running things because its shiny and some MS marketer thinks its great...

I think you have missed something along the way as a very much easier environment can be set up in Win 8 using the tiled Start screen (aka Metro) than in its predecessors to do just those things for such users; as long as the user knows how to click on a tile and where the Windows key is on the keyboard they can served just what they need and it will become a familiar environment a minute or two after its introduction to the user.

tigercorp

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#711185 2-Nov-2012 22:57

ahmad: I can't seem to get the WMC code by email. Yes, I have checked SPAM. Anyone else take more than 48/72 hours?

The first one I applied for still hasn't turned up. The second one (to a different email address) took 3 days.

nakedmolerat

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#711330 3-Nov-2012 12:34

tigercorp:
ahmad: I can't seem to get the WMC code by email. Yes, I have checked SPAM. Anyone else take more than 48/72 hours?

The first one I applied for still hasn't turned up. The second one (to a different email address) took 3 days.

Requested mine at 11.30am today. Received it an hour later 12.25pm

ahmad

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#711339 3-Nov-2012 12:55

nakedmolerat:
tigercorp:
ahmad: I can't seem to get the WMC code by email. Yes, I have checked SPAM. Anyone else take more than 48/72 hours?

The first one I applied for still hasn't turned up. The second one (to a different email address) took 3 days.

Requested mine at 11.30am today. Received it an hour later 12.25pm

Mine from last weekend still hasn't shown up.

stocksp

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#711617 4-Nov-2012 09:07

I have a problem . I bought a new windows 8 pc yesterday which came with windows 8 standard installed on it. I can't seem to find a way to upgrade to Pro without it costing abut $80 - more than the cost of the whole windows 8 pro download!!!

Surely there must be a cheaper upgrade path ( and whilst I got the email code for WMC, can't use it for windows 8 standard).

BTW - liking w8 despite the learning curve.
Sigh

billgates

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#711698 4-Nov-2012 12:11

^ There was an article about this problem you are facing on ZDNet yesterday. Windows 8 home premium buyers actually end up paying more for the upgrade to Windows 8 Pro.

The only fix is to run the upgrade assistant utility on any Windows XP, Visa or Windows 7 PC you have in the house, buy the upgrade key for NZ$50 and then you can use that key to upgrade your Windows 8 home premium machine to Pro just fine.

http://www.zdnet.com/how-do-you-get-the-best-deal-on-a-windows-8-pro-upgrade-7000006718/

Do whatever you want to do man.

stocksp

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#711740 4-Nov-2012 14:07

Thanks
do you know if I can use that key to upgrade from Vista on my old PC AND upgrade home preium to pro (or do I need 2 keys and 2 purchases?)

Thanks

ahmad

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#711744 4-Nov-2012 14:11

2 keys. Try the $19.99 upgrade (google about it).

How much is the Pro pack in retail stores? This is supposed to add WMC and "Pro" a standard install.

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