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twigman08

macrumors 6502
Apr 13, 2012
478
1
My best friend just got a new laptop that came with Windows 8 preinstalled. She was a little worried about using it and wasn't sure about it. I had been using Windows 8 for a little bit at that time so I told her what I liked and didn't like about it. I knew she was just an average computer person. So I was a bit worried she'd be a little lost and confused. Well needless to say she absolutely loves Windows 8 and within a couple of days she was zipping around in it. This was from almost zero help from me. Sure she doesn't know all the features, like the hidden app switching bar (I love that feature, and I love just click the top left corner) and more but she zips around it perfectly. She found control panel (hell it took me a while to find that lol) and more.

Though I will admit I think MS should had spent a lot more time showing off where things were how things work now instead of just leaving you to fend for yourself. If my grandmother was to get a new computer right now we'd both we screwed. Her because she wouldn't know what to do, me because I wouldn't get any of my personal and school projects done because she'd be calling me every 10 seconds. lol.
 

Dreamers5

macrumors newbie
Oct 26, 2009
15
0
from what i been reading it be those windows xp/7 users who actaully hate the word change like upgrade and in a few years they would be tired of win7, since win7 lost alot of steam it gotten pretty buggy i am more of a windows 8 type a person not 7
 
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Steve121178

macrumors 603
Apr 13, 2010
6,385
6,912
Bedfordshire, UK
So I consider my self a quite adept computer user. I've owned Macs and PCs since ages ago and have done quite a bit of "advanced" technical work with both.

Maybe take the time to learn Windows 8 instead of going balls-deep without really knowing what you are doing?

Windows 8 is a huge change from Windows 7 but once you learn how to use it, it's pretty good. Some of its features (or lack of features) are just annoying though. I quite like some of the bold UI changes and ways of doing things, but others are simply ridiculous (like turning your PC off).

I like the changes to the desktop and Windows Explorer, but the jury is out on the rest. I think when the big feature pack/service pack is released next Summer it will hopefully correct a lot of the things that are wrong with the OS. But it is pretty good providing you are prepared to accept the changes.
 
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I

iFanboy

Guest
Maybe take the time to learn Windows 8 instead of going balls-deep without really knowing what you are doing?

It annoys me that this is considered a sensible response.

I put my 70 year old Windows XP using father in front of a mac and he worked it out himself. Same with my Linux box, and same with Windows 7. Hell, he worked out my iPad and Android phone for himself too.

I put him in front of Windows 8 and it got immediately annoyed and frustrated and it became a team effort to find a menu item to turn the computer off.

That's the problem. Windows 8 doesn't make ANY sense. NOTHING is intuitive, EVERYTHING must be learned and explained first.

Somehow that's acceptable, and when someone gets into difficulty or experience an issue arguing that they should have studied first is acceptable. ITS NOT. ITS STUPID THAT EXPERIENCED COMPUTER USERS NEEDS LESSONS IN HOW TO USE A COMPUTER ALL OVER AGAIN.
 

cutter74

macrumors member
Nov 15, 2012
77
10
It annoys me that this is considered a sensible response.

That's the problem. Windows 8 doesn't make ANY sense. NOTHING is intuitive, EVERYTHING must be learned and explained first.

Somehow that's acceptable, and when someone gets into difficulty or experience an issue arguing that they should have studied first is acceptable. ITS NOT. ITS STUPID THAT EXPERIENCED COMPUTER USERS NEEDS LESSONS IN HOW TO USE A COMPUTER ALL OVER AGAIN.

Well, guess what! This is my first week using a Mac and half the time I don't know what I'm doing because everything seems illogical to me, using PCs exclusively for some 30 years. It took me exactly 2 days to get used to Windows 8. Yes, there is a learning curve but once you get passed that, you'll see that you're doing things faster and easier than in Windows 7.

I suspect the same thing will happen to me with Mountain Lion in a few more days. We are all creatures of habit, i'm sure you'll feel differently in a few days, the same way I'll get used to Macs. And if all else fails, well, no one forces you to use Windows, right?
 

jf1450

macrumors regular
Aug 25, 2012
110
3
I am *so* with the OP on this one. I've been around since before the Windows 3 days and am in the systems business. I got a new laptop a couple weeks ago with Win 8 installed. WTF???!!! A computer is not, and never will be, a tablet so don't make it try to act like one.

Since I am well within the return period I'm spending the weekend deciding whether or not to exchange this laptop for a MacBook Pro on Monday and making the break entirely. I just don't like the direction MS went with this one. I do need the ability to run a VPN client and a remote desktop app for work purposes. If need be and I do get the Mac I'll put VMware on it and run Win 7 in a VM partition.

-jeff
 

twigman08

macrumors 6502
Apr 13, 2012
478
1
While I will admit that their are some things that I question why Microsoft put them where they are, but there are some things that in my mind Microsoft did very well. The Task switching bar. Perfect. It'd be even better if it worked for apps that were only on the desktop instead of just having the Desktop "App" there. I find myself using that feature most of the time instead of just doing an Alt+Tab. I have found it easier.

Powering the computer off: This is one part where Microsoft stretched the tablet universe onto the desktop universe too far. Their reason to making it hard to find is that "you should rarely have to turn your PC off. It's just like a tablet."

Also I welcome the changes they did to multiple displays. Even though what they did was really just add functionality that had been there by using 3rd party programs or hacks in other versions of windows. Though I do like that the the bars are accessible from any screen.

Though the multitasking on the Modern UI is absolutely terrible. Maybe for a tablet it's nice for for a desktop? Terrible. Want to use Google Chrome in Windows 8 mode while still trying to type something up in MS Word? Yep get ready for a lot of switching back and forth or having to tell chrome to load this page up in desktop mode. Heck when using the Modern UI for multiple apps its terrible. That is something that I can't stand that they forced Desktop users to suffer from just because it is nice on a Tablet.

Though some things I absolutely love about Windows 8: Task switching bar, Modern UI is gorgeous, runs faster (like someone said earlier, I felt Windows 7 kept getting slower with every update they put out), Contextual search/settings from charms bar, new Multiple Display functionality (even though it just added what was already possible from 3rd party), and the changes to the desktop are very nice too.
 

jf1450

macrumors regular
Aug 25, 2012
110
3
Though the multitasking on the Modern UI is absolutely terrible. Maybe for a tablet it's nice for for a desktop? Terrible. Want to use Google Chrome in Windows 8 mode while still trying to type something up in MS Word? Yep get ready for a lot of switching back and forth or having to tell chrome to load this page up in desktop mode. Heck when using the Modern UI for multiple apps its terrible. That is something that I can't stand that they forced Desktop users to suffer from just because it is nice on a Tablet.

That's what really put me over the edge. Yesterday I was using my web design software that runs on the desktop while at the same time wanted to reference an email in the Win 8 Metro (or Modern or whatever MS is calling it today) email app. You can't get there from here. :mad:
 

twigman08

macrumors 6502
Apr 13, 2012
478
1
That's what really put me over the edge. Yesterday I was using my web design software that runs on the desktop while at the same time wanted to reference an email in the Win 8 Metro (or Modern or whatever MS is calling it today) email app. You can't get there from here. :mad:

Only way would had been to use the multitasking bar, select that tile and then switch back and forth. That's the biggest flaw with Windows 8 right now in my opinion. Having to switch back and forth so much.


Though multiple displays works great here. I currently have all my desktop stuff going on one display and my modern UI stuff going on the other display.

Actually you could had actually had the email app using the way the Modern UI displays multiple apps. Having it use that small view or w/e they call it. Can you read an email that way?
 

TuckLive

macrumors newbie
Dec 1, 2010
15
0
Are the Metro Apps useful at all?

The ones that I have played with, No they are not useful.

The windows phone app doesn't have wireless syncing.
The Xbox music app doesn't have podcasts and can't edit metadata.
None of the apps I have used have very many options. What you see is what you get.

I could go on, but the Metro apps seem like a step backwards to me. Nice design language though.
 
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