Who uses Windows 8 as primary OS?

[HawkMan]

Why would you want to switch between non touch input and touch input. that'd just be annoying and brings mouse arm sickness to a whole new level.

I REALLY don't see that happening then I more see people using touch screen all the time rather than that. it's faster to just move the mouse or cursor on the pad to the hot corners than to start flailing your arm about.

[Propheta Messias]

Why are people only talking about touch on tablets, hybrids, and notebooks? We'll have touch on desktops too. I've had the opportunity to try the Release Preview on a 27" touch screen. It's really nice and I sort of get where some of your complaints are but if you want to use the mouse, it's there. If you want to use the touch gestures, they're there too. With touch coming to all devices, people will adjust and take advantage of it. It's much easier to use touch to get most simple tasks done than to grab the mouse and move it around.

[theyarecomingforyou]

While I would like to have a touch screen monitor for my desktop I certainly wouldn't use it for most tasks, as I hate fingerprints on my monitor and it simply wouldn't be practical. However, having regularly used the ASUS Transformer I can state with confidence that - for many tasks - using touch is quicker and more accurate. And that would apply to any laptop, even those with 17" or 19" displays. Part of that is because laptops use trackpads, which are considerably less accurate than mice; part is simply because laptops are physically closer when used and are usually kept at waist level, so you don't need to raise your arms like on a desktop.

So yes, I believe users will switch between touch and non-touch because that is my experience and it's what I see other people doing.

[Dashel]

Well, mice have supported gestures for quite awhile now too, so again, which is easier for users to adopt now? A $40 mouse, a whole new machine with touch? The only barrier is the things that you call gestures that really aren't, swiping in from the sides, which already sounds very annoying on a touchpad. Closing windows is another good point, the only reason its now easier to do via touch is because they made it stupidly inefficient for mouse.

Secondly, moving the mouse to the corners isn't that quick or easy. Hotcorners are a stupid legacy idea that, of all parts of the desktop metaphor, doesn't really fly. For fun I'm running one of those mouse distance trackers and already my Win8 travel is significantly higher than under Win7. Not to mention forcing more side to side movement that isn't wrist healthy on either relative input. Plus, scrolling STILL sucks.

[HawkMan]

Well, mice have supported gestures for quite awhile now too, so again, which is easier for users to adopt now? A $40 mouse, a whole new machine with touch? The only barrier is the things that you call gestures that really aren't, swiping in from the sides, which already sounds very annoying on a touchpad. Closing windows is another good point, the only reason its now easier to do via touch is because they made it stupidly inefficient for mouse.

Secondly, moving the mouse to the corners isn't that quick or easy. Hotcorners are a stupid legacy idea that, of all parts of the desktop metaphor, doesn't really fly. For fun I'm running one of those mouse distance trackers and already my Win8 travel is significantly higher than under Win7. Not to mention forcing more side to side movement that isn't wrist healthy on either relative input. Plus, scrolling STILL sucks.

Hot corners legacy ? :boggle:

As for mouse travel, and corner being hard/long to get to. Learn to use acceleration. two millimeters and I'm in ANY corner from ANY other corner. mouse distance tracker ir probably useless as well since it probably just tracks cursor distance in pixels completely ignoring acceleration.

Also as for the wrist thing. People get mouse am, not from moving their mouse(or if they do they're complete idiots and holding the mouse in a stupidly uncomfortable way. ignore ll the rules everyone else says about how to hold it, Just hold it as it feels comfortable and you'll be fine) It's the travel back and forth from mouse to keyboard that causes it. hence why the secretaries and such have the weird mousetraps. Which is also why touch screens are going to be a nightmare in the future.

[Dashel]

The corners of the screen was one of the original 'rules' of the desktop metaphor, it just doesn't work anymore with more screens that are much larger. Acceleration doesn't help, by the time you turn it up enough to 'easily' hit the stupid hot corners (and all the other issues they have), you lose precision. (2mm, really, LOL) Reasons why many of us resort to the damned keyboard.

I'll need to verify but I'm pretty sure my tracker is based on pixels traveled, which is the same regardless of acceleration level. You are right though, I can't easily track how much physical distance its covered. Still shows, using the same acceleration, that I do have to travel further for the same tasks. Which makes sense in Metro2 cause its best without a cursor.

[Andrea Borman]

I have just installed Windows 8 RP( Release Preview)yesterday. And there is now more choice of themes for the start screen than what there was in Windows 8 CP.

In Windows 8 RP there are now several pastel colors you can choose from for your start screen. Pastel pink,pastel blue and some others.

And also you can still have the Windows XP or Windows 7 start menu on Windows 8 RP. As all of the start menu software still works.

I started installing Windows 8 RP from the DVD that I burned the ISO file to this morning. And now I have installed all of my Windows XP and Windows Vista programs on Windows 8 RP. And they are all working just like they did in Windows 8 CP.I only just finished a few hours ago as it takes time to install all of the programs again. But now I have finished and Windows 8 RP is up and running and everything is working.

And I have my Windows XP start button and start menu of course. As well as a lovely pink start screen when I log into Windows 8. Well it's not really log in because I have an Administrator account like on Windows 7.

And another good news is like Windows 7 and Windows XP,you don't have to have a password on Windows 8 if you don't want one. Which is sheer heaven.I just turn on my computer and go.

And Windows 8 RP is running well on my netbook. I don't have any Metro apps as they don't work on a netbook. But you can run all of your non Metro software that you run on Windows 7 and Windows XP.

And you can have the start button and Windows 7/Windows XP start menu,if you install Classic Shell or other start menu software.As you can see in my picture. And also the start screen colors like this cool pastel pink and blue are much nicer,than the dark,drab colors in Windows 8 DP and CP. Andrea Borman.

[+Warwagon MVC]

I removed Mac OSX from my Probook and installed Windows 8 on it. Windows 8 is now officially the Main OS on my Couch computer!

[dafin0]

I removed Mac OSX from my Probook and installed Windows 8 on it. Windows 8 is now officially the Main OS on my Couch computer!

i thought you were not a big fan on windows 8?

how are you finding it now?

[George P Global Moderator]

If hot corners don't work on the desktop at all then why do I now have them in GNOME3? Even Ubuntu Unity uses them last I saw. Fedora <3s hot corners as well, of course it's using GNOME3 too. On my 22" screen I can hit the 4 corners so quick with very little movement of my arm, let alone my wrist. Hell, even in Windows 7 the start orb itself is a hot corner. The mouse pointer doesn't have to be exactly on the orb to work, you can slam it down into the lower left corner and click and it'll bring up the start menu.

[+Warwagon MVC]

i thought you were not a big fan on windows 8?

how are you finding it now?

You are correct i'm not a big fan of it. But whether I like it or not, I'm in the business of PC repair so I should start using Windows 8 full time to get ready for customer support. I'm think we should use it before our customers do. Although, I will say Windows 8 is a TAD more enjoyable on a 24 inch monitor with a mouse and keyboard than a laptop. I'm not yet a fan of it, and full screen apps are retarded on a 24 inch monitor.

One thing that annoyed me last night, is someone wanted me to checkout the messenger app and wanted to show me how cool it was. So there I was looking at a FULL screen messenger window on a 24 inch monitor, in comparison to a small trillian chat window. I think even on a laptop monitor it would feel like a waste of space. So then I go back to my desktop, touch the top left and pull down and close the IM app. But then I keep getting notifications of messages in the top right of messages people send me. So now they are going to trillian chat windows and that stupid Windows 8 Messenger App. So I go back into the app and look for a way to sign out or close the god damn thing but can't find one.

[Dot Matrix]

You are correct i'm not a big fan of it. But whether I like it or not, I'm in the business of PC repair so I should start using Windows 8 full time to get ready for customer support. I'm think we should use it before our customers do. Although, I will say Windows 8 is a TAD more enjoyable on a 24 inch monitor with a mouse and keyboard than a laptop. I'm not yet a fan of it, and full screen apps are retarded on a 24 inch monitor.

One thing that annoyed me last night, is someone wanted me to checkout the messenger app and wanted to show me how cool it was. So there I was looking at a FULL screen messenger window on a 24 inch monitor, in comparison to a small trillian chat window. I think even on a laptop monitor it would feel like a waste of space. So then I go back to my desktop, touch the top left and pull down and close the IM app. But then I keep getting notifications of messages in the top right of messages people send me. So now they are going to trillian chat windows and that stupid Windows 8 Messenger App. So I go back into the app and look for a way to sign out or close the god damn thing but can't find one.

Settings > Permissions > Uncheck "Lock Screen" at the bottom.

[+Warwagon MVC]

Settings > Permissions > Uncheck "Lock Screen" at the bottom.

You mean PC settings. Because in there I can't find permissions. Does the IM app have settings? I told the IM app not to run in the background, but when I close it it still comes up!

[JonathanVP]

I have it as a primary os on my 6 year old laptop but not on my main desktop.

[MikeChipshop Member]

You mean PC settings. Because in there I can't find permissions. Does the IM app have settings? I told the IM app not to run in the background, but when I close it it still comes up!

No app settings.

When in the app, go to the charms bar and select 'settings'

[Dot Matrix]

You mean PC settings. Because in there I can't find permissions. Does the IM app have settings? I told the IM app not to run in the background, but when I close it it still comes up!

In that case try Settings > Options > Turn On (off) Messaging and see if unticking that works.

[Dashel]

Are you just wanting to turn off the Desktop pop-up or disable completely? I don't think you can turn it off without the global switch as Dot shows. If you just don't want to have it intrude on the Desktop its in Settings > Permissions > Notification.

[PGHammer]

Well, mice have supported gestures for quite awhile now too, so again, which is easier for users to adopt now? A $40 mouse, a whole new machine with touch? The only barrier is the things that you call gestures that really aren't, swiping in from the sides, which already sounds very annoying on a touchpad. Closing windows is another good point, the only reason its now easier to do via touch is because they made it stupidly inefficient for mouse.

Secondly, moving the mouse to the corners isn't that quick or easy. Hotcorners are a stupid legacy idea that, of all parts of the desktop metaphor, doesn't really fly. For fun I'm running one of those mouse distance trackers and already my Win8 travel is significantly higher than under Win7. Not to mention forcing more side to side movement that isn't wrist healthy on either relative input. Plus, scrolling STILL sucks.

A whole new PC with touch?

Why a whole new PC, when touch can be added to an existing PC (and a desktop, at that)?

The following are all the touch-screen monitors (at 19" - 24") that Newegg carries today.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007721%20600012169&IsNodeId=1&name=19%22%20-%2024%22

Three are 21.5" (diagonal), and are from three different companies (Planar, HP, and Dell) - all three are sub-$300USD.

All three support Windows 8 directly (touch and all).

They are available today.

To put that in perspective, *none* of the three are even twice as much as my TN flat-panel (with the same screen resolution and NO touch support) was three years ago.

Planar PX2230MW - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824016156

HP L2105tm - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824176142

Dell ST2220T - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824260064

[contextfree]

I'll need to verify but I'm pretty sure my tracker is based on pixels traveled, which is the same regardless of acceleration level. You are right though, I can't easily track how much physical distance its covered. Still shows, using the same acceleration, that I do have to travel further for the same tasks. Which makes sense in Metro2 cause its best without a cursor.

You are still ignoring the fact that larger hit targets allow you to make better use of acceleration and acquire targets faster by not requiring you to carefully decelerate as much on "landing".

[Genocide121]

I m Using windows 8 RP as my Primary OS on my AMD Single core Processor (AMD athlon LE 1640 2.70GHz)

[giannisgx89]

Windows 8 running really well on my pc and the funny thing is that with windows 7 when i used to play games my pc was restarting because of a heat issues but now it doesn't even make a noise :D

[Dashel]

You are still ignoring the fact that larger hit targets allow you to make better use of acceleration and acquire targets faster by not requiring you to carefully decelerate as much on "landing".

So you are saying that somehow every other target I then have to hit becomes as large as the hotcorners? Has MS increased the default acceleration? No.

PG, I'm sure we'll see more and more hitting the market. I never denied that will change and they will become more accessible. Me personally, my next display is going to be 3D, not touch, on my gaming rig. I'll never goo up my main screen for such ornamental gestures. The desktop format is dead remember, mobile and AiOs will rule the day.

[Lee G. Veteran]

I currently have Windows 8 installed on a VHD, and am dual booting with Windows 7. I'm using Windows 7 as my primary OS because it suits my needs, and it would take too much time and effort to install all my programs on Windows 8.

[rfirth]

So you are saying that somehow every other target I then have to hit becomes as large as the hotcorners? Has MS increased the default acceleration? No.

The point is that tracking mouse distance travel is a silly measure - it doesn't measure speed of access. You may have to travel far to get to a hot corner, but it's really easy to hit - you can do it blindfolded with great precision. Any other button on the screen requires careful precision. If you try to do it fast, you'll overshoot the button. So you speed up, then have to slow down. With hot corners, the distance is farther, but you can speed over to it and hit it without giving it much thought.

[rfirth]

... oops, I thought I double posted ... just deleted my later message on accident ...

Meh, I don't care enough to fix it. Just know you're wrong. YOU'RE ALL WRONG! :p