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What is the verdict on Windows 8?

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I installed identical programs and setups on all my OS's. I measured after everything was fully setup and updated and all modifications applied being identical.

I don't see this point as being overly important as the differences are minor but most users after fully installing and modifying both indenticly for every day use (which is what really counts) - most users will see a negligible boot speed increase under Win8 - it is not a myth that Windows 8 is faster to boot - but it is faster only by a little. Nothing to make you abandon a perfectly fine & working OS for.
 
Thanks. Was just curious.

When coworkers ask for my opinion, I give them a brief summary of each, but don't generally recommend either. But I do tell them they won't be seeing it on our office anytime soon...since that is all up to me. ;)
 
Oh yeah, I wouldn't be abandoning your current setup - but I see no reason why you wouldn't opt for any new future builds having Win8 - since you can make them boot into Win7-looking Desktop with Start Menu if you want to.
 
I like Windows 8. I figured out a lot of stuff like the 'hidden' system menu, how to swap between 'Metro' apps from the desktop, etc in about half an hour just by messing around. I figure out or find new tips from time to time and am more impressed when I do. Sorry if these things were already in the thread...

  • Do people know the desktop in its entirety can be treated as a 'metro app'? Try it: get a program running on the desktop, go to the start screen, launch a Metro app, mouse to upper left and drag the mini desktop picture over to the right. At 1/3 size it will show a mini picture of each running desktop program, at 2/3 size it will show the Metro app as a 'sidebar.' Pretty cool imo, and true 'multitasking' on tablets.
  • Start screen stuff: (not that I use it much but it's nice to know)
    • Ctrl+scroll up/down to switch from zoomed in view - detailed live tiles - to zoomed out view - icons to see all Start screen items
    • Ctrl+Tab shows ALL installed programs, grouped by what would traditionally be their 'start menu folder'
    • ctrl+scroll wheel up/down from ctrl+tab that to switch to a 'bird's eye view' of Start screen organization with alphabetical grouping and grouping by traditional 'start menu folder'
    Just a few examples off the top of my head. Once you know stuff like this, the Start menu becomes much more efficient than the nested folder start menu model. I still use the desktop pretty much all the time but that's fine...the Start screen is just an improved Start menu as far as I'm concerned and I use it that way.

I don't miss the Start menu, searching by typing is faster and more efficient. MS should have deprecated the Start menu more in Win 7, not enough people use the search bar because they're used to nested folders. Pinned programs reduces a lot of the need for the Start menu anyway.

I like the new UI look of windows. It's more...serene? I don't know what the best word is, maybe less busy or distracting. Oddly people like Chrome or Firefox for their 'minimal' looks but then don't like it when the whole OS is that way. mmkay.

I think the real benefits of Windows 8 will be realized with Haswell and other hardware platforms that support things like always connected sleep and so on. There's just a disconnect between the hardware and software now, and no I don't mean 'omg, touch interface' :p

I think it's funny how computer geeks get all hot and bothered by new hardware, new games, new programs to do things better or faster, but when Windows changes they flip out and do their damnedest to make it look like the last version of Windows. It happens every. single. time. there is a major change in the UI, going all the way back to Win 95 at least. (Anyone else remember people hating the Start menu instead of desktop icons? lol, talk about full circle) Oh well...
 
Well, Windows 7 had nowhere near the backlash of Windows 8...

Wanna know why?

It worked as close to XP, the best executed Microsoft OS to date, as possible.
 
MadMan007, that is a good post. It would be helpful if people could see screenshots of some of the things you are talking about.


I like the sound of some of the advantages of Win8 you found, I sure like having the option to use them and would not choose Windows 7 over Windows 8 for that reason.

I do remember installing Windows 95 for the first time and Start Menu was useful because it allowed for one click access to Shut Down ; Reboot ; Control Panel ; My Computer ; Favorites ; and Recent items. One click fast access from Windows 95 to Windows 7.

Charms does not popup for us hyper fast users fast enough. You have to be mellow to get the mouse in that corner just the right way and then after Charms pops up - we feel it is not OK to be forced to use multiple Clicks to finally get to Power to finally be able to Shut Down / Reboot the system. Jumping through hoops every day and each and every time is not an advantage for users who like to get things done in a fraction of a second.


Would you please post more about Haswell benefits. What exactly will it bring, what is always connected sleep?


If I may, Firefox made us abandon IE because of customization, it gave us an opportunity to have anything we want anywhere we want - it gave us the opportunity to set things up just like WE want them to be so that we can execute things faster -- quite the opposite of minimalism.


So once again - being able to fly through the OS is the reason we want the old stuff - we use our fast laser gaming mice to execute half a dozen clicks in a blink of an eye.

Things we click on are in the Start Menu. There is a whole mentality not understood my the mellow folk - we notice when things are half a second slower and it bothers us very much. We don't want to wait 0.5 seconds for something we can execute in 0.1 seconds. Classic Shell freeware allowed us to do so and without it, we would never get to have the option of using the other benefits of Windows 8. Best of both worlds.
 
Sure, I will do that. That post was longer than I wanted and I had to run out.

I am mostly the same way about stuff being faster. I always turn off UI transitions and animations like Animate windows minimize and maximize, or fade and slide menus. They just make the OS feel like it's running through mud instead of air. I get what you mean about the Charms bar, and although there are keyboard methods to get to the power options they're still not as good as the old Win key-up arrow-right arrow-enter. I believe you can make desktop shortcuts or Metro tiles for quick shutdown, I was just never that bothered and now I have muscle memory for moving the mouse so it's not a big deal to me.

I wrote the wrong name - it's called Connected Standby. Basically the system goes into the equivalent of S3 Sleep but can still pull data from a network, say new emails or notifications. MS describes it as 'PC behaving like a smartphone when the screen is off.' Some brief searching leads me to believe Haswell isn't a requirement, there could be systems certified for it now, but it's not a standard power state it has to be specially included in the BIOS. I think though that it will be more standard for Haswell platforms. You can search and find out more than I know because I don't recall details well enough to not misinform, or here's an Intel whitepaper about it if anyone wants crazy details: http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/optimizing-windows-8-applications-for-connected-standby

As for Firefox, I was talking specifically about the streamlined 'minimal' UI of the browser, maybe that applies more to Chrome though.

Funny thing is I really don't use Win 8 much differently from Win 7/Vista or even XP. I hardly use the Metro interface, I just go straight to the desktop, 99.9% of my use for Metro is to search-launch a program which typically brings me back to the desktop. Part of the reason is because I'm super-old school and have desktop shortcuts :D although it's by no means cluttered. I organize similar programs into folders and have a few system icons, I always felt that was faster than using the XP Start menu which didn't have search. It took me a while to pin programs to the taskbar but now I have my most commonly used programs there, ones I am almost certain to use daily. I never got into using search to launch programs or find files in Win 7/Vista but I should have...like I said, I do that now and I believe sometimes people need to be pushed to change to a better method - I wish I had used search-launch more in Win 7/Vista.

I think it's fine if people want to work the best way for them, but at the same time people should at least check the options to make an informed decision. What I think is silly is being militantly anti-Win 8, like 'no start menu, won't use it!' or 'metro is ugly, MS should just leave the desktop' (heh), when you can tell people have barely used it. Or they say 'I tried it for 20 minutes and it was bad!' lol
 
OK thanks. Interesting Windows 8 extra. Yet another reason to select Win8 over Win7 if there is an equal choice b/w the two. How do you "just go straight to desktop"? The hard way? If so, why when Classic Shell is right there?

Classic Shell is easier but by the way here is a manual way to boot straight to Desktop for anyone who cares:
Code:
Right click on the lower left corner > Click on the yellow File Explorer icon > View > Options > View TAB > SELECT: Show hidden files, folders, and drives and UNCHECK: Hide extensions for known file types > OK > Now go to Computer > C Drive > Windows > Right click on empty space > New > Text document > name the file NoMetro > Open it in Notepad and enter the following:
[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=Explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

File > Save > Rename the file's extension to .scf so the file is now called NoMetro.scf (even if .scf extension is not visible)
Right click on the lower left corner > Run > control schedtasks
Task Scheduler Library > Create Task… [upper right] > Name: NoMetro > Triggers TAB > New… > Drop down menu > At log on > OK > 
Actions TAB > New... > Browse to C:\Windows\NoMetro.scf you created above (even if .scf extension is not visible) > Open > OK > OK

RESTART THE SYSTEM, it should boot into Windows 8 Desktop directly.

What do you mean Windows XP doesn't have search? You mean to type in and launch Windows apps?

You probably don't mean the real search because they removed the GUI search after Windows XP - making it longer to custom search for files and folders. To this day I do not trust the new Win7 Search engine after I caught it missing items which were totally there. If I had to do an important search in 7, I would reboot into WinXP to do it: http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=616264


How many programs did you pin to your Task Bar? If it's more than 6 or 7 max, you are taking valuable real estate where Windows should be, perhaps you could pin them somewhere like, oh I don't know... the Start Menu!? :D

I restored the Quick Launch in Windows 8 with its Show Desktop icon shortcut which minimizes/maximizes all windows with a single click and added a few other shortcuts there.
 
I miss the search dog from XP -_-

He was so useful, being able to search the contents of text files is so freaking useful, and being able to choose wether or not you want to.

They actually REMOVED that from Windows 7+... sigh.

EDIT!

Installed W8 Pro on VMW9 Workstation

Tried to install a legacy program, the first one I always install whenever I get a new computer with a new OS. Musicmatch 6.1. My favorite music player. Uses SO little resources, unlike iTunes. Love it. Very reliable, fast, etc. Last supported OS noted on this version is Windows XP.

First thing I get from W8?

question_zps9e86e4b0.png

Lol.

What causes it to know it is an older program? How does it know to bug me with this window instead of allowing me to choose my own settings (Right click, Properties, Compatibility, like normal)
What makes it know it is a legacy program?
 
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If it automatically applies Compatibility Mode and makes a program work instead of displaying an error telling you it doesn't work or worse - reboots or you get a Blue Screen Of Death - if Windows 8 instead automatically applies compatibility settings and actually makes your program work - then that is a big PLUS +.


If instead of having things automatically work, you want to get an error message - forcing you to try to apply Compatibility Mode MANUALLY like you had to do with Windows 7, than that is not better behavior - that is worse.


I think you can turn that off but if all this is true - you have just found another good thing about Windows 8!
 
... and two other major advantages of Windows XP over both WIndows 7 and Windows 8:

• Windows XP allows you to group files or folders on different parts of the screen whereas in Windows 7 and 8, you can *only* do this on their Desktop and nowhere else. Windows 7/8 has no option to turn Auto-Arrange off. [Registry hacks forcing it to do so break other features so they are not the solution.]

• Search Engine in Windows 7/8 is more difficult to use and not as reliable as Windows XP Search Engine.
 

No one mentioned in that article works for Microsoft, so I'm not sure what you mean by "they."


I've only been using Windows 8 for one day, and I like it for the most part. I tend to use keyboard shortcuts, so the lack of a start button doesn't bother me. It's better if you think of Win8 as an entirely new operating system. You wouldn't complain that OSX is missing the start button would you? People want it to be something it isn't for no particularly good reason.
 
I was expecting but could not find stories about OEMs contacting Microsoft saying we've lost x millions of $ from dealing with returns of Windows 8 computers.

I'm surprised it took this long for those stories to surface...


Millions of pople are complaining about Start Button and solution is not to bury your head in the sand and say 'they'll get used to it - I did'. They won't.
 
If you want a start button get Windows 7. Windows 8 is not Windows XP 2013 edition so stop treating it as such. I am infinitely surprised at how unable people are to realize that a different product has different features. Or why people who clearly have no use for Windows 8 and don't want it are buying it, despite plenty of reviews.
 
Why would we give up all the extra features of Windows 8 when we can have the Start Button easily and for free? Why would we give up the option to use the Metro later if, for now, we want to boot into Desktop by default, easily and for free?

I am infinitely surprised at how unable people are to realize that a different product has different features. Or why people who clearly have no use for Windows 8 and don't want it are buying it, despite plenty of reviews.

So are Microsoft's engineers/designers/developers... who have apparently been given free reign when it comes to decisions involving what it's like in the real world, instead of being limited to coming up with as many ideas as they possibly can... as long as someone else handles how the final version of the product is delivered to the market.

People more connected to the real world should make those final decisions because a simple option to boot into Desktop would have resulted in people not returning Windows 8 to go and buy machines with older versions of Windows or go out to buy older versions of Windows themselves, from possibly illegitimate sources because more & more places are Windows 8 only now.


People are unaware that they can quickly and easily have the Start Button and boot directly into Dekstop and keep all Windows 8 extras. That is why we have communities like this forum, to help each other achieve customizations of products we bought, without being forced to accept developer's "our way or the highway" approach.
 
LOL KURT

dont even get me started on Macs, Id rather use Windows 8 than a Mac. I tried to use one at my school once to print a simple paper and I couldnt for the life of me figure out how. Most unuserfriendly peice of garbage OS ever. But Windows 8 comes close.

Also, what is the keyboard shortcut for opening the control panel? Because I forget. What about custom folders you make in my documents? Lol... An entirely new OS destined to fail.

XP 2013 edition would sell so many copies. A relatively bloat free OS with admitted security holes that can be plugged with firewalls we all install. Amazing compatibility, accesibility, mmm.

A different product may well have different features, but would you expect to go to a dealership, ask for a GMC Yukon, and they show you a compact that is now named "yukon"?

You'd feel cheated...
 
Whew my brain still runs on 256mb of RAM, kudos if you can remember all of that. I still need my start menu tho, and so do millions of others =P
 
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