[TheBigM]

Originally Posted by LostFool

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).

[TheBigM]

Originally Posted by LostFool

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). They could offer a tablet which has the full manageability and software options that Windows has always has and corporate IT loves.

[s2k]

Originally Posted by TheBigM

Except that businesses are quite keen on tablets especially iPads.

Management love iPads. The IT departments generally hate them since they are consumer products which are being shoe-horned into the workplace.

[Rodney McKay]

Originally Posted by pfgpowell

I've just had an email from Windows warning me that the special price to upgrade to 8 for a penny short of £25 runs out on January 31. Looking through the ad, the advantages listed are:

1 Instant access to all your favorite information with the new Start screen and Live tiles.

2 Six free months of unlimited music with XBOX Music Pass**

3 New OS allows faster start-ups and longer battery life on your favorite devices.

Of these only the last is in anyway technical, and to be honest whether I boot up in 30 seconds, 52 seconds or one minute 13 seconds isn't that important to me.

Anyone care to tell me the real advantage of installing 8? I'm a lifelong Mac user but do have a Windows PC at home (for my son and for work), a Windows Lenovo netbook (because I'm self-indulgent) and a Windows laptop for my daughter, and until Windows 7 came along I've always thought Windows not just too much round the houses, but also pretty bloody ugly. 7 changed that and looks half-decent and 8 looks pretty enough, too. But is there a good practical reason to ditch 7 and go for 8?

I think people get too obsessed with operating systems. Does the software you run work OK on your existing system? If so why change?

I mostly run Office 2003, Paintshop Pro 9 and Google Chrome, all run fine on XP and I have one Windows 7 laptop.

If you're happy with your system, save the money and spend it on beer instead

[R410]

Originally Posted by DotNetWill

We're not all pirates.

Aye matey, tis true Gotta go, my hook just fell off.

Originally Posted by DotNetWill

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.

But when the new version is created with touch devices in mind but then forced onto all new hardware this is what people would think.

If Windows had shipped Windows 8 with two setup types none of this would be a problem.

Had they upon setup let you choose to have the new 'Metro' if you want it and a UI similar to previous versions of Windows more people would like Windows 8.

[TheBigM]

Originally Posted by s2k

Management love iPads. The IT departments generally hate them since they are consumer products which are being shoe-horned into the workplace.

You're right, but management make the decisions. Now at least, IT can say this is a tablet that we recommend - better security, runs Office etc.

[LostFool]

Originally Posted by TheBigM

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). They could offer a tablet which has the full manageability and software options that Windows has always has and corporate IT loves.

I was talking mainly about updating current desktops and laptop machines to Windows 8. The biggest cost is going to be user training and support. Windows 7 does what they want and they'll stick with it as long as they can.

In terms of tablets, it's still unclear which way businesses will go. Early adopters when for iPads as until recently they were the only available option - and the management who signed the orders think they are cool. Now that Android tablets have matured and Windows 8 ones are on the way, things could change. If you are a CFO looking to buy 1000 tablets for your staff then there is a big saving if you go with a Nexus 10 rather than an iPad.

[blueblazer]

I went for the upgrade on my desktop pc and I like it. Basically have two options now. The first is a normal desktop screen and the other, Metro, is just like my xbox360. If you have an xbox you will recognize it straight away. I had no problems with installation or any programmes and the mouse is fine on the apps screen.

[emptybox]

I haven't bothered to change Windows 8 much, apart from putting the desktop gadgets back on and installing the AeroRP theme. I'd still prefer Aero Glass though.

I tried Start8 when it first came out, but didn't like it.
TBH on boot-up I may spend a few minutes on the Metro screen checking twitter and Facebook updates and looking at various News apps, but after that I spend the rest of my time in the Desktop.

In fact I'm now so used to shutting down by flicking the mouse up from the bottom right and clicking 'Settings', that I'm disappointed when that doesn't work when I'm in Ubuntu.

[neo_wales]

Originally Posted by RichmondBlue

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 ?

Windows 8 is fine, the reactionary's / Luddites here simply can't handle change or have the attention span of a gnat as it hits your windscreen and just can't be bothered to look and learn something new; sad sign of the times really. I find W8 refreshing to be honest

[John259]

Originally Posted by DotNetWill

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.

Because you stated it as if it were a fact.

[DotNetWill]

Originally Posted by John259

Because you stated it as if it were a fact.

So did other people saying you need to install a launcher. I wasn't aware on a DISCUSSION board you had to qualify fact from opinion.

[d'@ve]

Originally Posted by neo_wales

Windows 8 is fine, the reactionary's / Luddites here simply can't handle change or have the attention span of a gnat as it hits your windscreen and just can't be bothered to look and learn something new; sad sign of the times really. I find W8 refreshing to be honest

I have to say, that sounds a bit like fanboyism (even if you aren't a MS fanboi per se).

What this is about is consumer choice and MS could have avoided ALL the flak if they'd been arsed to provide a classic interface as an option, even if it defaulted to Metro. Their attitude this time round is typical of certain large corporates who try too hard to force consumers in the direction their bean counters want, whether they like it or not. Sometimes, they come unstuck and might even learn from the experience (or slowly fade away).

And yes, Apple do it too from time to time - and the only thing that will stop it is consumer complaints or below-expectation sales. Some of us are not beholden to the bean-counters and will not just sit quietly and accept a front-end more suited to the Atari or Sinclair Spectrum, at the App level running and showing a mere one or two windowless programs on screen at a time. I thought that kind of interface went out with the 1980s and accepting that is luddite behaviour (except on tiny tablet screens where there may be a need for it).

Having to put up with a badly integrated dual front-end just makes it worse... and hopefully the more of us who make a fuss the better the chance that MS never do this kind of thing again (and maybe fix it with their next release).

Is it better than 7? Yes! But on desktops and probably many laptops, only if you happen to like the quirky clunky dual front-end or if not, by-pass it with an add-on like Classic Shell (no thanks to Microsoft there).

[bobcar]

Originally Posted by DotNetWill

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 haven't yet used Windows 8 so am not commenting on how it is because I don't actually know.

I have several windows open on the screen that are updating simultaneously, I also want them positioned at certain places on the screen and be able to move them. If I can easily do this with Windows 8 then no problem, if it's awkward to do so then that is a major step backwards. What I don't want is the "window" filling the whole screen.

[John259]

Originally Posted by bobcar

I have several windows open on the screen that are updating simultaneously, I also want them positioned at certain places on the screen and be able to move them. If I can easily do this with Windows 8 then no problem, if it's awkward to do so then that is a major step backwards. What I don't want is the "window" filling the whole screen.

That shouldn't be a problem in desktop mode, which runs EXE programs in windows much the same as in previous versions of Windows. (There's no Start button, and instead there are Charm icons, but as discussed before both of those changes can be reverted, if you want to, by using one of the utlitities.)

It's Metro apps which fill the whole screen but they can be ignored if you wish.

[and101]

Originally Posted by bobcar

I haven't yet used Windows 8 so am not commenting on how it is because I don't actually know.

I have several windows open on the screen that are updating simultaneously, I also want them positioned at certain places on the screen and be able to move them. If I can easily do this with Windows 8 then no problem, if it's awkward to do so then that is a major step backwards. What I don't want is the "window" filling the whole screen.

You can do all of that in Windows 8 just like you could in windows 7. The main difference you would notice is the window borders are no longer transparent. The desktop is still there and is largely the same as in 7.

The full screen metro part of windows 8 is basically just an overgrown start menu that can also be used for running apps designed for tablets and touch screens. If you tried to do all of your work in the start menu in windows 7 then you might have more difficulties using windows 8 but if you just used the desktop then the only time you will see the metro interface is when you want to launch an app which isn't docked on the taskbar and even then it takes the same amount of time to use as the old start menu.

[noise747]

Originally Posted by DotNetWill

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.

For some people it may be fine as it is, but for others it is not. I thought the whole Metro idea on a desktop/laptop is stupid unless you got a touch screen.

Look at it and the metro UI looks like it is a afterthought, just bolted on. I am glad that I can get a start menu for windows 8 and by the seems of it, a lot of other people are glad as well.

My mates son, yeah I know the same old mate of a mate thing, anyway he have got a surface touch and he don't even use the apps much, most of what he does is via what MS calls a desktop.

I think he is regretting buying the thing now and realise he could have got a ultrabook cheaper that can do more. the reason he got the surface, so he have said is because he is fed up with viruses, malware and google type companies sticking adverts on his computer. considering he is suppose to have some sort of computer knowledge and got a piece of paper to say he have, I don't think he is not as clever as he thinks he is.

I don't have those problems

Anyway, as of yet I have yet to meat or talk to one person that likes the new Modern UI apart from on here. i do know someone who have got a windows 8 phone and he thinks it is the bees knees, I have no idea why mind you.

If MS knock out these menu add ons with a update then I will go back to windows 7.

[noise747]

Originally Posted by LostFool

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.

I used a surface and it is ok, but pretty limited, the problem I have is that it is fine as a tablet, for the basic browsing stuff, but as soon as you add on the keyboards, then using the touch screen is a pain as the unit is so light you push it every time you touch the screen.

It is a nice bit of kit in that it seems well made, but just too limited. The surface pro may be better, But then you getting into a normal laptop with a touch screen, but smaller.

i found the modern UI on the surface to be limited, ok the modern UI itself may be ok, but the Apps are too limited and a lot of them are to be honest a total waste of time.

Take wordpress for instance, you can read blogs, but you can't edit them with the app, or you could not when i last looked.

the other problem is that to use most things, you got to have a so called Ms account.

[and101]

Originally Posted by noise747

the other problem is that to use most things, you got to have a so called Ms account.

That is just a general problem with modern devices. Android and iOS are both pretty much useless unless you have google and apple accounts.

[IvanIV]

Originally Posted by John259

It's Metro apps which fill the whole screen but they can be ignored if you wish.

And even with Metro apps you can snap one to the left or right and have the other semi-fullscreen next to it.

[IvanIV]

Originally Posted by noise747

I used a surface and it is ok, but pretty limited, the problem I have is that it is fine as a tablet, for the basic browsing stuff, but as soon as you add on the keyboards, then using the touch screen is a pain as the unit is so light you push it every time you touch the screen.

Yeah, the touch cover works, but it's not that comfortable to use. I use a virtual keyboard on screen, much better. I am probably not a typical user, but I do not find it limited, quite the opposite, there's USB2 port, micro HDMI, bluetooth, there's extension micro SD slot. There's Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, OneNote). There's enough apps for what I need, I can stream videos from my homegroup computers. I can even connect with remote desktop to those computers. As for connectivity, it's better than iPad.

[neo_wales]

Microsoft should have launched the Surface and Surface Pro at the same time IMHO. I'm buying a Pro when launched because I need and want to run full programmes of choice (and I'm a W8 fan).

[anniebrion]

Originally Posted by neo_wales

Microsoft should have launched the Surface and Surface Pro at the same time IMHO. I'm buying a Pro when launched because I need and want to run full programmes of choice (and I'm a W8 fan).

Too right, I'm also waiting to see the price of the Pro before I decide which tablet to buy, my main requirement is Windows 8 Pro as RT is too restrictive for me.

[R410]

Originally Posted by noise747

the other problem is that to use most things, you got to have a so called Ms account.

You can switch W8 to an offline account so you don't need an MS account.

http://dottech.org/87239/windows-8-h...nd-vice-versa/

[cnbcwatcher]

Originally Posted by neo_wales

Windows 8 is fine, the reactionary's / Luddites here simply can't handle change or have the attention span of a gnat as it hits your windscreen and just can't be bothered to look and learn something new; sad sign of the times really. I find W8 refreshing to be honest

Yeah but there's too much change too soon and it's a learning curve for many people which could have been avoided. The old interface is what people are used to and if that works well for them then why change it because MS says you should be using a different interface? One thing that really annoys me is change for the sake of change.

Originally Posted by BrokenArrow

The desktop is an App in all versions of windows.

Really? Even in Windows XP/the dreaded Vista/7?

Originally Posted by John259

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.

It's short for application but everyone seems to be using it these days. I don't like the idea of using the term to describe desktop software. Apps are for phones and maybe tablets but not for desktop computers. I prefer to use program or even application when talking about desktop software.