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Started by undisclosedtoyou, October 28, 2012, 04:12:01 PM

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undisclosedtoyou

So, I've been contemplating whether or not to upgrade to the new Windows 8, but I have a few concerns.  So I figured that I'd get opinions from you guys.  I want this to be a discussion, not just an "It sucks balls," or "It Rocks," posting spree.  With that being said, here are a few personal concerns I have.

1)I don't have a touch screen.  I know I can still use it with my regular lap top, but it seems as if it was made with touch screens in mind.  Is it worth the money to purchase it, if it was basically created for a different kind of interface altogether?

2) Ease of use:  I've heard that it has a pretty steep learning curve.  Is it really difficult to use, compared to 7?  Is it something I could learn to use quickly, without frustration?  And long term, will I be banging my head against the table a few months, to a year down the line, when I want to do something simple on my computer?

3)Appearances:  Is it pleasant to look at?  If I'm going to be looking at it for a long time, I want it to be something that I don't hate looking at.

4)Function:  This could and probably does go under ease of use, but I've heard that the start button is hard to find on the screen.  I have heard that it's quicker, but has anyone tried it yet, is it indeed faster?
"Not all who wander are aimless.  Especially not those who seek truth beyond tradition, beyond definition, beyond the image."
O/O's ~ A/A's ~ Avi's

Vekseid

Quote from: undisclosedtoyou on October 28, 2012, 04:12:01 PM
So, I've been contemplating whether or not to upgrade to the new Windows 8, but I have a few concerns.  So I figured that I'd get opinions from you guys.  I want this to be a discussion, not just an "It sucks balls," or "It Rocks," posting spree.  With that being said, here are a few personal concerns I have.

1)I don't have a touch screen.  I know I can still use it with my regular lap top, but it seems as if it was made with touch screens in mind.  Is it worth the money to purchase it, if it was basically created for a different kind of interface altogether?

Microsoft isn't dropping support for Windows 7 until 2015, and may choose to extend that, especially if industry pressure forces it to, a most industries are standardizing on Windows 7 as-is.

I don't find the other features in Windows 8 very compelling, personally. Some of them - Windows Store and UEFI (at least the way UEFI was implemented) - are a direct attack on the general computing model that has so drastically changed the world, and I don't care to support that. This is doubly true for Windows RT devices - running on ARM, you are locked into using -only- Windows Store apps.

Personally I plan on going from Windows 7 to Linux, rather than to Windows 7 to Windows 9 as most companies currently intend. The only reason I stick with Win7 is games, and with Valve and other major game producers ditching the Windows Store for their own platforms - some of them specifically supporting Linux over this - that reason is fast evaporating.


undisclosedtoyou

Yeah, the windows store is another reason I'm leery.  I've heard that there isn't very much available on it, to make it a pro; I could be wrong, this is just what I've heard from random sources on the web.  So if I'm locked into something, I'd prefer it to be with something that has a wide range of choices available to me.

"Not all who wander are aimless.  Especially not those who seek truth beyond tradition, beyond definition, beyond the image."
O/O's ~ A/A's ~ Avi's

Aiden

I'm happy with 7, I am sure I will be on a new computer by 2015 so no reason for me to upgrade to 8 until then.

I have not even read the specs on 8 and not being a tech guy, won't even bother.

undisclosedtoyou

Quote from: Aiden on October 28, 2012, 05:27:04 PM
I'm happy with 7, I am sure I will be on a new computer by 2015 so no reason for me to upgrade to 8 until then.

I have not even read the specs on 8 and not being a tech guy, won't even bother.

Yeah, I was going to get it without looking anything up either, especially since I can buy it for $14.99 at Best buy(because I just purchased a laptop there this month.)  I figured, hell, why not for that price?  I might even just buy it to have it, and not install it until I'm good and ready.  But I'm still unsure.  If I don't like it, could I just recover my computer to the factory state, and it'll take me back to windows 7?
"Not all who wander are aimless.  Especially not those who seek truth beyond tradition, beyond definition, beyond the image."
O/O's ~ A/A's ~ Avi's

Arohk

I would love to hear more about this, more on the specifics. I recently purchased a new computer and it will arrive on Monday. So getting Windows 8 is a very easy option for me. But I want to know if I should stick to 7. I have heard nothing but bad things about Windows 8.

Callie Del Noire

Callie's first rule of OSes.. 'Never buy a new Operating System till either Six Months after release and/or first major service pack'.

I personally don't upgrade that often on the MS side.. because I don't need it for more than classes and my school is at least a year behind. I have even delayed in upgrading browsers as they drag their feet on that too.

Chris Brady

Quote from: Callie Del Noire on October 28, 2012, 06:42:01 PM
Callie's first rule of OSes.. 'Never buy a new Operating System till either Six Months after release and/or first major service pack'.

I personally don't upgrade that often on the MS side.. because I don't need it for more than classes and my school is at least a year behind. I have even delayed in upgrading browsers as they drag their feet on that too.
This is also a good rule for most MMOs, too.
My O&Os Peruse at your doom.

So I make a A&A thread but do I put it here?  No.  Of course not.

Also, I now come with Kung-Fu Blog action.  Here:  Where I talk about comics and all sorts of gaming

undisclosedtoyou

Mhm, I definitely do the same thing, especially when it comes to windows and Apple products.
"Not all who wander are aimless.  Especially not those who seek truth beyond tradition, beyond definition, beyond the image."
O/O's ~ A/A's ~ Avi's

Callie Del Noire

Quote from: undisclosedtoyou on October 28, 2012, 07:15:10 PM
Mhm, I definitely do the same thing, especially when it comes to windows and Apple products.

Apple isn't AS bad.. but it's always good to wait. Particularly with some of the vendors dragging the feet in updating. (I got 2 bits of software that don't like moutain lion)..

ALSO.. in defense of Microsoft..they are getting better at responding to loop holes.

Vekseid


Arohk

I think I've pretty much decided not to upgrade to Windows 8. >.> Just from reading everything here and from everything I've heard.

Sounds like crap.

undisclosedtoyou

Quote from: Arohk on October 29, 2012, 10:41:42 PM
I think I've pretty much decided not to upgrade to Windows 8. >.> Just from reading everything here and from everything I've heard.

Sounds like crap.

Gotta +1 this.  But if I do end up doing it, than I'll let you know how I like it.
"Not all who wander are aimless.  Especially not those who seek truth beyond tradition, beyond definition, beyond the image."
O/O's ~ A/A's ~ Avi's

Inari

A friend of mines PC died when they got W8. So nope. Also from what I hear you need to download a load of stuff to actually make it work properly and it is a piece of shit. So no thanks. >.>

undisclosedtoyou

#14
Yeah, you have to basically buy the feature of having the old start button put in.  Which is terrible.
"Not all who wander are aimless.  Especially not those who seek truth beyond tradition, beyond definition, beyond the image."
O/O's ~ A/A's ~ Avi's

Vekseid

...ads in the default apps make me go wtf.

...I think I will be staying here on Win7. There's some lines I just don't care to cross.

Chris Brady

Quote from: Vekseid on October 30, 2012, 08:01:13 PM
...ads in the default apps make me go wtf.

...I think I will be staying here on Win7. There's some lines I just don't care to cross.

I miss WinXP.
My O&Os Peruse at your doom.

So I make a A&A thread but do I put it here?  No.  Of course not.

Also, I now come with Kung-Fu Blog action.  Here:  Where I talk about comics and all sorts of gaming

gaggedLouise

#17
Quote from: Chris Brady on October 30, 2012, 10:31:16 PM
I miss WinXP.

Still running XP here, like so many personal users and small non-profit organizations; I run Win7 much of the time at work though - and will probably keep XP SP3 on this machine even after extended support ends in 2014 (reinstalled it this summer after a major upgrade of the pc). I've been following the talk about Win 8 a bit from the sidelines before the OS was released and up to the present, and it does sound like MS are really pushing the pc (and some slate) customer base to the sidelines saying "you'll just have to hang on and be pleased with what you get") in order to streamline the system for the smartphone market. On a pc I definitely want a start/log-on-off button, start menu, a desktop where things are not whirling around all the time from one log-on to the next and a clear, transparent catalogue of all directories and files - that last one actually went out the window with Win7 already, the changes to the file manager/Win Explorer in that one - partly in Vista, but even more in Windows 7 - made it much less easy to get an instant and safe view of where some given files or folders were located; the Free Commander program does those kinds of tasks and some others the way the old file manager used to do it. - Also want it to be easy to manage user accounts without any risk of confusion, and to get hold of any window that's hidden under a stack of other windows and programs at the moment.

Some features of Win8 (in its default modes) seem to have been tailor-cut for people who use hotkeys and quick commands to run their tasks and get around. Okay, lots of programmers, skypers and media editors do that, in video gaming that's part of the picture too, but I'm more of a keyboard-and-mouse person: using the mouse, like a pen and a finger, to move between windows and tabs, locate all sorts of input or resize something is really ingrained with many of us. I personally think Microsoft should have made two branches of Win8, one for pc's and large pads, and one for small pads and advanced phones, and put the PC branch closer to Windows 7 both in look and depth structure, but I can see that would have risked turning away some app dvelopers. They already have a different branch anyway, the Windows RT set, which shares some features with Win8, and they do have the money, so it's not as if they couldn't have gone that road.

Good girl but bad  -- Proud sister of the amazing, blackberry-sweet Violet Girl

Sometimes bound and cuntrolled, sometimes free and easy 

"I'm a pretty good cook, I'm sitting on my groceries.
Come up to my kitchen, I'll show you my best recipes"

Teo Torriatte

Quote from: Chris Brady on October 30, 2012, 10:31:16 PM
I miss WinXP.

This times eleventy billion. Only reason I am on Vista right now, is because it came on my current laptop.

gaggedLouise

Quote from a submissive lady I knew a few years back: "Vista is threatening to push my submissive side to a dangerous new level, over into downright masochism."

Good girl but bad  -- Proud sister of the amazing, blackberry-sweet Violet Girl

Sometimes bound and cuntrolled, sometimes free and easy 

"I'm a pretty good cook, I'm sitting on my groceries.
Come up to my kitchen, I'll show you my best recipes"

Mr Bigglesworth

I haven't touched Win 8 since it was released. I know a couple of people who got computers with it, and after a few days uninstalled, and put Win 7 back on.

--Last time I tried to install Windows 8 was a late beta, it ran its little compatibility checker, said all was good, so I let it go.  It ran for a while, eventually landing with a dialog that said something like "Windows 8 could not be installed on this computer, it has been restored to its original state" - which it was, Win 7 just like before I started.

But really Microsoft, can't your dialog saying it couldn't install offer a reason?  Maybe tell me where I might find a log?  I couldn't find one anywhere.  Anyway, I just though that was funny.

Callie Del Noire

I'm sticking to 'Callie's Rule of New OSes.': Never install a new OS till at least one service pack or 6 months have passed.

Used to be JUST windows.. but I'm sticking it to my Linux and MacOS systems too. :D

Oniya

Slightly more lenient than mine, which is: Never install the latest OS, and only if it's functional when the next one comes out. (Vista got a complete miss under this rule).  However, unless my current computer craps out, I'm sticking with what I have, because of compatibility issues.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
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I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
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Mr Bigglesworth

The whole Windows 8 / Phone / Tablet strategy is interesting.  I just really don't like all those big square boxes, I think its ugly - but that's just me.

Callie Del Noire

Quote from: Mr Bigglesworth on November 09, 2012, 01:10:52 PM
The whole Windows 8 / Phone / Tablet strategy is interesting.  I just really don't like all those big square boxes, I think its ugly - but that's just me.

I think MS dropped the ball on the tablet market. .they had a TWO year lead on Apple with a prototype.. but the Windows side division killed it. (It was designed by the same folks that do things like the Xbox design )

http://gizmodo.com/5365299/courier-first-details-of-microsofts-secret-tablet
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-20128013-75/the-inside-story-of-how-microsoft-killed-its-courier-tablet/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmIgNfp-MdI