Windows 8 Disaster

The first time I booted Windows 8, I thought exactly like you did. But now, I really like it. There is a pretty steep learning curve to it, especially with a mouse and keyboard, but once you've learned your way around, it's a solid experience.

I see the start screen as a "consumer mode" as opposed to the desktop which is the "productivity mode" of windows. When I just want to browse the web quickly or just watch something, the new UI delivers. When I got stuff to do, I jump in desktop mode and can do everything I could do in 7.

It makes my old mini even faster than it was under windows 7 and it's been a smooth and stable ride so far. As far as drivers goes, I didn't have to deal with them since they stayed intalled during the upgrade process. It's really been a very simple upgrade process, kudos to M$.

If you're happy with the previous version, you could stick with it, but eventually Windows 8 will become the new standard, especially with these new touch enabled laptops that are coming out.

To each his own I guess but give it a chance before going through the pain of downgrading, reinstalling drivers and so on....

Trebuin said:

I know there's tons of positive feedback

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It's called paid microsoft shills.


No one i know who has used Windows for any significant length of time and has to support end users has anything good to say about Win8.

It is going to bomb worse than vista.

i guess thats what most people think. i wasnt happy with it too. but i stuck to w8 for a couple of days although i didnt like it. as i knew that it is the same with new things so often: first u dont like it, but sooner or later u cannot image to do things different then now.

since i handled the missing start button by understanding how the new startscreen works, i wont go back to w7. i dont even have a smartphone so the new face of windows was totally unfamiliar for me. but it is a step forward and i agree that this will be standard due to the fact touchscreens will be sold more and more.

besides the stable running on my mbp 2009, i found some useful innovations i dont want to miss anymore. e.g. u dont have to mount images with an external software. u can double click images and it opens in explorer. i like the provided video and music app for quick playing files. u can attach the player on the side, desktop resizes then.

just try it for a while. i guess u will experience the same.

If Windows 8 does have issues it would be for different reasons then Vista, I still need to work with it more, I need the standard desktop to act exactly like Windows 7 because that is how I work, overall the metro interface is kind of pointless for my needs, it really does not bring anything to the table that I require nor does it make anything faster. I need a reason or use for why it is better then just being new, that will never be a good enough reason to change something that works. I know they made some improvements which can make it worth switching, love Windows 7 and it is possible I can move over to eight shortly.

That is just first impressions, I need to give it a little more time once I get my one program running.

Trebuin said:

I know there's tons of positive feedback

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing

Still running Windows 7 here, will continue to do so.

throAU said:

It's called paid microsoft shills.


No one i know who has used Windows for any significant length of time and has to support end users has anything good to say about Win8.

It is going to bomb worse than vista.

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That's probably because most of them are hipsters in Starbucks. Windows 8 has thus far outpaced 7 in sales. And let's not even start comparing the adoption pace to OSX *scoffs*. If anything is bombing right now, it's Mac software.

Funny. I too think it's a disaster, but because of a completely different reason. Coming from XP 32-bit, it was (and still is) rather a good guess as to what to buy so that I can use Win8 in 64-bit mode. The saleswoman in the store even told me to buy Vista or win7 64-bit first. If she would have been English, I'd say she had great humour...

Besides that I like it a lot right now - design wise. I only use desktop mode though, but the UI is kind of a modern XP with some OSX input. Which I don't mind as long as it makes sense. Was worth the 50bucks.

mKTank said:

That's probably because most of them are hipsters in Starbucks. Windows 8 has thus far outpaced 7 in sales. And let's not even start comparing the adoption pace to OSX *scoffs*. If anything is bombing right now, it's Mac software.

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If you call enterprise network admins "starbucks hipsters", well... I think you're misinformed...

throAU said:

If you call enterprise network admins "starbucks hipsters", well... I think you're misinformed...

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Any enterprise network admin worth a crap would use Linux. Mac Server is trash.

mKTank said:

Any enterprise network admin worth a crap would use Linux. Mac Server is trash.

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Where did I mention OS X server? This is Windows 8 thread...


And Linux isn't suitable for ALL enterprise purposes. I have linux boxes, I have FreeBSD boxes. I have plenty of Windows boxes, Netapp boxes, etc.

Use the most appropriate tool for the job. Linux is not the best tool for every job.

mKTank said:

Any enterprise network admin worth a crap would use Linux. Mac Server is trash.

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No one mentioned server. I work in a large *nix server environment and use OS X for administration every day without issue. All i need is a terminal and a browser for most things.

I can think of a number of reasons not to use Linux on my laptop though, the main one being that power management under Linux does not even approach that of Mac or Windows laptops.

Trebuin said:

I know there's tons of positive feedback, but being an advid Windows user, I personally think that it is a disaster. This is the first time I have reverted back to a previous OS. I think that you'll either really like it, or really hate it. In my opinion, it makes me want to go back to Windows ME.

Lack of start bar and the mess that is Metro makes running all my different software a nightmare. If I hadn't already gone to OSX, today would have been the day.

Now to give it another chance, should I actually get all the drivers working with bootcamp and apart from the security, are there any real advantages to upgrading to windows 8? I just haven't seen any. I'll actually take some criticism if you're willing to offer it.

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I apologize for not getting to this before.

This will come with a caveat, as to say that Windows 7 is still good. It didn't stop working one day out of the blue. Everything it could do before, it will do today. That being said, there are some clear advantages that can be had from Windows 8 depending on what type of computer you're using.

If you are using a laptop, you will see the most benefit.

The name of the game is performance. I had Windows 7 installed on two laptops, an Asus and a Gateway. I saw around a 20 second reduction on boot, and about a 10-15 on shutdown. These were on normal harddrives. It takes my Macbook Air about 7 or 8 seconds to start up and about 2-3 to shut down.

That isn't as important as it actually giving me better battery life than Windows 7 did on every device that I've upgraded. The Asus went from 1hr on full power to 1 1//2. Might not sound like much, but that's with the processor going full-blast.

I also noticed a general speed and performance increase in programs. When I first installed The Old Republic, for example, on my Gateway? I turned everything down to low to get somewhere between 8 and 15 frames per second. It was rather unbearable. When I installed the consumer preview, that performance was then between 12 and 20. My Asus was a gaming laptop, so the change was merely "able to go from medium on some things to high on almost everything that wasn't shadows".

And, of course, there's IE 10. Windows 7 will get it eventually. But you'd be capped at 10. IE 10 is fairly good, but IE 11 will obviously be better. I know that's a concern for future you, but still. One of the advantages of using the new OS that isn't performance is the future. Microsoft will be supporting Windows 7 for a while, this is true, but it won't be given as high of a priority as 8. This means that anything they figure out that increases performance down the road, likely goes to 8.

Oh, and a smaller OS footprint is always nice.

First time today with Metro at Costco.

Yes, perhaps once people get used to it, but keep feeling like WHY muck with the tried&true desktop metaphor? I know, I know, for an iPad-like experience but I was dealing with a laptop.

My big test was pinch-zoom, IT'S NOT SMOOTH like native OSX. Like pinch-zooming in FireFox but worse.

mKTank said:

Windows 8 has thus far outpaced 7 in sales.

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Link? Because I think you're full of it - unless you're tallying upgrades, rather than full OS purchases. Because, I guarantee you, Windows 7 still isn't even beating XP, so there's no way 8 is.

revelated said:

Link? Because I think you're full of it - unless you're tallying upgrades, rather than full OS purchases. Because, I guarantee you, Windows 7 still isn't even beating XP, so there's no way 8 is.

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The only way to get Windows 8 through Microsoft currently is through an upgrade. Only way to get a 'full copy' is to get OEM discs from 3rd party retailers, but MS won't officially sell it. It's pretty easy to see that most people would take the MS route seeing as it's the only one apparently available to the average user and the cheapest too. Doesn't mean that adoption statistics should be tossed aside simply because a lot of them are upgrades. I don't see many iPhone users here acknowledge that most iPhone sales are upgrades, either, let alone OSX sales.

XP sales are pegged at around 400-500 million. Windows 7 has sold a total of over 700 million licenses.

So you were wrong on pretty much all accounts, but I'm full of it? Go do some research before calling people out.

mKTank said:

The only way to get Windows 8 through Microsoft currently is through an upgrade. Only way to get a 'full copy' is to get OEM discs from 3rd party retailers, but MS won't officially sell it.

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And that's where they screwed up imho. How can I get W8 64bit when I only have a previous 32bit version?
You're not able to go the cheap & easy download route. Buying the retail version (2 discs | 32 + 64 bit, still cheap though) you can install it, but there is a lot of confusion about it, since it's nowhere officially stated whether it works or not. Let alone those retail salespersons who have no clue at all. I had to do some pretty lengthy internet reasearch after which I still wasn't sure. Sure you can buy OEM but most people don't know what that is, let alone that it has no shiny packaging, no support but costs much more.

Besides that, I literally love it so far (except that it doesn't recognize my BluRay drive and headphone jacks are mixed up a bit. Even thinking about upgrading my desktop now and stay wit MS, instead of playing the Mac Pro waiting game any longer.

Windows 8 Is really **** and also really good.

The start screen is awful and should be avoided at all costs. If you're working from the Desktop screen its quite nice.

Office 13 works nice and looks nice. I don't see any large organisations adopting windows 8 on desktop PC's because its just too messy.

blazey said:

i guess thats what most people think. i wasnt happy with it too. but i stuck to w8 for a couple of days although i didnt like it. as i knew that it is the same with new things so often: first u dont like it, but sooner or later u cannot image to do things different then now.

since i handled the missing start button by understanding how the new startscreen works, i wont go back to w7. i dont even have a smartphone so the new face of windows was totally unfamiliar for me. but it is a step forward and i agree that this will be standard due to the fact touchscreens will be sold more and more.

besides the stable running on my mbp 2009, i found some useful innovations i dont want to miss anymore. e.g. u dont have to mount images with an external software. u can double click images and it opens in explorer. i like the provided video and music app for quick playing files. u can attach the player on the side, desktop resizes then.

just try it for a while. i guess u will experience the same.

Click to expand...

I have windows 8. The only issue I run across is minor hiccups with my wireless adapter drivers. I like it. But haven't noticed anything really game changing.

Win8 is pretty much how I'd feel if OS X took away Finder and Spotlight and made me fully use Launchpad... except in Launchpad you can have Folders, so I'd probably even prefer that... Basically I immediately recognized the gimmick craptacularness of all the "Modern UI" apps and promptly uninstalled all of them...
That pretty much leaves you w/ an App Launcher kind of like Launchpad & Unity in Ubuntu (neither I'm particularly fond of) with an unnecessary transition animation into a different UI... just to launch your apps... I can more or less deal with that, window key and type a few letters press enter yadda... except when you have a suite of apps installed and you're actually looking for a particular app and you're not sure which, then it all starts to get messy filtering out what you're not looking for a big sea of apps. That's when folders really start to make sense.

I can't speak for everyone but I wouldn't be too keen on touching a desktop screen all the time.

1. Its massively uncomfortable
2. Finger prints/smears on screen would drive me insane

I could't stand the Metro UI either. But I do like Win8. So I did like anyone else who has the ability to USE GOOGLE.

http://www.google.ca/search?client=...oe=UTF-8&redir_esc=&ei=NT-uUMKsLcG9ygHHm4DACQ

There are several programs that make Win 8 run a real start button. I have tried a few but the one I find works the best is a product called Start8.

http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

There are others that are freeware, but I find them not so polished and user friendly.

Give this a try for 30 days free. I'm sure you will like it.

I think people are taking these metru ui problem too far, if you havent used/worked with windows 8 for atleast full month then you cant speak about it.

The damm works the same/better than windows 7, if you are only a mac user again stop the trash talk.

Switchback666 said:

I think people are taking these metru ui problem too far, if you havent used/worked with windows 8 for atleast full month then you cant speak about it.

The damm works the same/better than windows 7, if you are only a mac user again stop the trash talk.

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I'm getting onto a month and Windows 8 is excellent except for the Start Menu.

Sad but true. I'm glad you're liking it but you're in the minority.