Windows 8 - is it any better than 7

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  • user123456789user123456789 Posts: 16,589
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    lettice wrote: »
    Well you are running an App actually, unedr W8 the desktop is an app.

    But yes, I basically do the same on my W8 setup and do not use any of the app store apps at all.

    I still use my W7 setup mostly, as it has a lot of Vmware VMs tied into it for my work testing and W8 is still pretty poor on that side.

    The desktop is not an App! :eek: There is and app to launch the desktop but you'll not see a desktop app running in task manager like you do with the proper apps :p :cool:
  • darkknight77darkknight77 Posts: 3,430
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    DotNetWill wrote: »
    Yes, there is.

    You best get on the phone to Toshiba and Apple to tell them because they refer to their laptops as notebooks.

    Thank God there someone on the internet on a one person crusade to put them right ;)

    The expression "notebook" when referring to portable computers has been around since the 80s, it's not something Apple or Toshiba have come up with.
  • BrokenArrowBrokenArrow Posts: 21,665
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    lettice wrote: »
    Well you are running an App actually, unedr W8 the desktop is an app.

    But yes, I basically do the same on my W8 setup and do not use any of the app store apps at all.

    I still use my W7 setup mostly, as it has a lot of Vmware VMs tied into it for my work testing and W8 is still pretty poor on that side.

    The desktop is an App in all versions of windows.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
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    anniebrion wrote: »
    The desktop is not an App! :eek: There is and app to launch the desktop but you'll not see a desktop app running in task manager like you do with the proper apps :p :cool:

    Yes I was just playing :)
    I agree with you that it not an App as from the W8 appstore, but it can be closed etc in the same way, which I have done when remote and is a pain!.

    Also on Windows 8, I just used the 'Windows 7 File Recovery' tool using a system image and it worked a treat. Probably well worth doing if you use W8 as a desktop only O/S, as the File History/Metro restore is a pretty basic type of backup tool.
    I have no idea really why they tried to hide this away.
    Is anyone using any other tool, Ive always liked the W7 backup tool Myself?
  • DotNetWillDotNetWill Posts: 4,564
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    lettice wrote: »
    Yes I was just playing :)
    I agree with you that it not an App as from the W8 appstore, but it can be closed etc in the same way, which I have done when remote and is a pain!.

    Also on Windows 8, I just used the 'Windows 7 File Recovery' tool using a system image and it worked a treat. Probably well worth doing if you use W8 as a desktop only O/S, as the File History/Metro restore is a pretty basic type of backup tool.
    I have no idea really why they tried to hide this away.
    Is anyone using any other tool, Ive always liked the W7 backup tool Myself?

    It can still be closed? Umm... how it still needs to run Explorer as the shell to support tray apps and the alike. So unless you've gone into Task Manager and explictly killed Explorer, which I can't even see in the anymore. I can't see how you've managed it.
  • DotNetWillDotNetWill Posts: 4,564
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    The expression "notebook" when referring to portable computers has been around since the 80s, it's not something Apple or Toshiba have come up with.

    Never said they did, just that they refer to them as notebooks.

    TBH, the whole comment shows exactly what is wrong with most discussions about Win8
  • user123456789user123456789 Posts: 16,589
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    lettice wrote: »
    Is anyone using any other tool, Ive always liked the W7 backup tool Myself?

    I use: http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm
  • IvanIVIvanIV Posts: 30,301
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    DotNetWill wrote: »
    It can still be closed? Umm... how it still needs to run Explorer as the shell to support tray apps and the alike. So unless you've gone into Task Manager and explictly killed Explorer, which I can't even see in the anymore. I can't see how you've managed it.

    I think it's there for a consistency and it actually just switches away, but does not kill the explorer. Hard to tell, one needs Task Manager to check and it runs on desktop :D
  • John259John259 Posts: 28,325
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    FWIW Sinofsky said " Windows 8 will let users treat the traditional desktop as 'just another app'" and "you can think of the Windows desktop as just another app".
    http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/09/01/179245/windows-8-desktop-just-another-app
    Mind you, look what happened to Sinofsky! Of course, he's describing how it appears to the user, not how it works technically.

    BTW, what's an app? I prefer to restrict use of the term "app" to Metro apps (full screen, no close or minimise button) and use the word "program" to refer to EXE files. I fully realise that not everyone uses the words that way though.
  • StigStig Posts: 12,446
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    John259 wrote: »
    BTW, what's an app? I prefer to restrict use of the term "app" to Metro apps (full screen, no close or minimise button) and use the word "program" to refer to EXE files. I fully realise that not everyone uses the words that way though.

    I agree with you, although I think MS calls apps "Windows Store apps".

    However, from many years working as a Microsoft Trainer I know that whenever the MS Marketing department has a role in deciding what things are called, it's a disaster.
  • Kolin KlingonKolin Klingon Posts: 4,296
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    :eek: !

    I don't know which is worse; Windows 8 or finding out that people pay for operating systems!

    :D
  • DotNetWillDotNetWill Posts: 4,564
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    :eek: !

    I don't know which is worse; Windows 8 or finding out that people pay for operating systems!

    :D

    We're not all pirates.
  • noise747noise747 Posts: 30,691
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    :eek: !

    I don't know which is worse; Windows 8 or finding out that people pay for operating systems!

    :D
    DotNetWill wrote: »
    We're not all pirates.

    You don't have to be a pirate to get a free OS, Linux is free and depending on what distro you use is a very good Os.

    it is stable, reliable and secure, ok it have not been hit with the amount of viruses and malware that windows have been.

    But and this is the main problem I have with linux, lack of software. Sure you got the basic stuff like browsers, office suites, desktop publishing, but it s when you come to stuff like video editing, audio editing even photo editing the software falls down..
  • RichmondBlueRichmondBlue Posts: 21,279
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    Let's get this straight, from what I can understand reading through the posts...Windows 8 is fine on PC's provided you change it from the way Microsoft intended it to be used ?
  • LostFoolLostFool Posts: 90,623
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    Let's get this straight, from what I can understand reading through the posts...Windows 8 is fine on PC's provided you change it from the way Microsoft intended it to be used ?

    In a word, yes.
  • DotNetWillDotNetWill Posts: 4,564
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    noise747 wrote: »
    You don't have to be a pirate to get a free OS, Linux is free and depending on what distro you use is a very good Os.

    it is stable, reliable and secure, ok it have not been hit with the amount of viruses and malware that windows have been.

    But and this is the main problem I have with linux, lack of software. Sure you got the basic stuff like browsers, office suites, desktop publishing, but it s when you come to stuff like video editing, audio editing even photo editing the software falls down..

    I'm well aware of this, I was making an equally as pointless post.

    I live mostly in Xbuntu on my desktop PC now and I find I can do most of the stuff I do in Windows via the browser. The rest I do is dev work and Linux is awesome for this. Apart from when I need to work on Windows apps.
  • DotNetWillDotNetWill Posts: 4,564
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    Let's get this straight, from what I can understand reading through the posts...Windows 8 is fine on PC's provided you change it from the way Microsoft intended it to be used ?

    No Windows 8 is just fine as it is. Some people just have the attitude of "THIS IS NOT WHAT I'M USED TO, SOMEBODY NEEDS TO BE FIRED FOR THIS, HOW DO I GET THE OLD VERSION BACK" - imagine the pointed haired boss from Dilbert.

    I'm actually waiting for someone to start posting "M$", the general level of reasoning is certainly around there.
  • John259John259 Posts: 28,325
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    Let's get this straight, from what I can understand reading through the posts...Windows 8 is fine on PC's provided you change it from the way Microsoft intended it to be used ?
    That seems to be generally regarded as making it just about usable, provided you don't run into any hardware or software incompatibility problems, or the fast start bugs (fixed by disabling that feature), or operating system files put on inappropriate hard discs, and you're ok with having a ribbon bar instead of a menu in Windows Explorer, and you're not running high-end 3D games or simulations which might run slower.
  • John259John259 Posts: 28,325
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    DotNetWill wrote: »
    No Windows 8 is just fine as it is.
    That's an opinion. Not a common opinion though.
  • DotNetWillDotNetWill Posts: 4,564
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    John259 wrote: »
    That's an opinion. Not a common opinion though.

    And having to install Classic Shell or w/e is a fact?

    FYI, it's not a popular opinion here. In other places there is a bit more balance.
  • John259John259 Posts: 28,325
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    DotNetWill wrote: »
    And having to install Classic Shell or w/e is a fact?
    No, it's an option which many people prefer.
    FYI, it's not a popular opinion here. In other places there is a bit more balance.
    Where?
  • call100call100 Posts: 7,264
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    Funny how those who are anti consider their opinion to be fact and that those who like it only have an opinion.....
  • DotNetWillDotNetWill Posts: 4,564
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    John259 wrote: »
    No, it's an option which many people prefer.

    Where?

    So what was the point you're trying to make by calling mine out as an opinion? Thankfully for the world at large, popular opinion and what is right are not the same thing.
  • LostFoolLostFool Posts: 90,623
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    call100 wrote: »
    Funny how those who are anti consider their opinion to be fact and that those who like it only have an opinion.....

    I haven't tried Win 8 on a touch interface yet but I can imagine that it works quite well. However, the Modern UI is totally unsuitable for a keyboard/pointer based system. Having one app open at a time is fine on a tablet but not in a desktop working environment where the whole point of Windows is to have multiple...errr.. windows open at the same time. No corporate IT department is going to touch 8 with a bargepole.
  • TheBigMTheBigM Posts: 13,125
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    LostFool wrote: »
    I haven't tried Win 8 on a touch interface yet but I can imagine that it works quite well. However, the Modern UI is totally unsuitable for a keyboard/pointer based system. Having one app open at a time is fine on a tablet but not in a desktop working environment where the whole point of Windows is to have multiple...errr.. windows open at the same time. No corporate IT department is going to touch 8 with a bargepole.

    Except that businesses are quite keen on tablets especially iPads.

    Now a corporate IT department can issue a laptop and an iPad. Or they could offer one device which can be both (e.g. the Surface Pro).
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