windows 8 Do you like or hate Windows 8?

[BajiRav]

I have gotta hand it to MS, they have taken a BIG gamble with this, unfortunately its going to fail, and I mean fail big time. They surely must have hints of that already, with the pricing structure introduced, they know its not gonna sell at the usual prices for a Windows OS, hence the much cheaper costs ;)

Microsoft also sold Windows 7 for the low cost of $50 and a few years later, it is such a big time fail! Is that the source of your guess?

My notebook has Vista still. My desktop is very much like that picture. I love it. My Win 7 machine is a bit tidier desktop-wise, but I don't find anything wrong with that. I can find everything I need quite easily on either machine.

It's ironic when people with desktop choke full icons complain about bad UI design in Windows 8. (not directed at you, just general observation)

[Daveski]

It's ironic when people with desktop choke full icons complain about bad UI design in Windows 8. (not directed at you, just general observation)

I just love irony. Win 8 is probably a brilliant design. IMHO it is ugly & overly minimalistic though.

[gate1975mlm]

I see so much hate and bad press for Windows 8 when searching for Windows 8 info so it's got me wondering what is it about Windows 8 that you dislike so much and will keep you from upgrading to it in the future? It seems like the most hated things about Windows 8 are the new full screen Metro interface Start menu, Removed Start button from taskbar and the fact that you can not boot directly to the desktop anymore.

What other things do you dislike about Windows 8 so much?

Also is most of the things you dislike about Windows 8 from a UI point of view? Or is there under the hood changes that you also do not like? Because its my understanding that Windows 8 has lots of under the hood changes that improve and help things like better memory management , faster boot times and lots of other improvments I am sure aswell.

Do you think it may be worth upgrading to Windows 8 just for the Under the hood improvments? Or is the new UI look and operation really that bad and will keep you from upgrading?

[xendrome]

I think all of the under the hood changes are great. I believe that the biggest issue that people have with it is not even so much the "Removal of the Start Button" but rather the in your face'ness of the Metro Start Screen and the unbalance of the Classic Desktop and Metro interfaces working together. At least from a desktop/corporate point of view. It boils down to "If it wasn't broken, why fix it?" Well because MS wants to capitalize on the mobile market and unify their products. Will it work? Time will tell...

It works/looks great on a tablet however.

[margrave]

No default user profile options.

Unacceptable to use the sysprep method as it cannot work with a domain account settings being set for defaults.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

I'm really getting tired of people saying they want to be able to boot directly to the desktop. you haven't been able to do that since the days of ME and earlier. It boots the the login screen just like normal. what you guys want is to login directly to the desktop. Get your terminology right or you keep sounding like idiots!!! /rant

[argonite]

Windows 8 success is entirely dependent on its success in the tablet department. Despite what people say about it still being good on the desktop, it is a platform designed to create a consistent experience across both desktop and tablet. Which means, that whether people like it or not is entirely dependent on whether they "get" what the new UI is for.

People will only truly realize this when they get home, put down their tablet, and go on their desktop where all their files and settings are synced, and they can use it in more or less the same way. It's beautiful.

[tsupersonic]

Plain and simple - the start screen. It's highly optimized for touch screen devices, but leaves an unwanted taste on non-touch screen devices (desktops/laptops/netbooks)

[Detection]

Windows 8 success is entirely dependent on its success in the tablet department. Despite what people say about it still being good on the desktop, it is a platform designed to create a consistent experience across both desktop and tablet. Which means, that whether people like it or not is entirely dependent on whether they "get" what the new UI is for.

People will only truly realize this when they get home, put down their tablet, and go on their desktop where all their files and settings are synced, and they can use it in more or less the same way. It's beautiful.

I don't know about everyone else, but I don't want my tablet sync'd with my desktop, nor my laptop with my desktop or anything else

I use them all for completely different things and have completely different things saved to each

For example, I don't want to take my laptop with me somewhere and have all my personal data, photos, favourites, emails all popping up in-front of everyone as soon as I boot up, yes it could be avoided with a different account but that defeats the point

[Brandon H Supervisor]

I don't know about everyone else, but I don't want my tablet sync'd with my desktop, nor my laptop with my desktop or anything else

I use them all for completely different things and have completely different things saved to each

For example, I don't want to take my laptop with me somewhere and have all my personal data, photos, favourites, emails all popping up in-front of everyone as soon as I boot up, yes it could be avoided with a different account but that defeats the point

well you don't HAVE to use your hotmail account, you can just as easily use a local account on everything

[Luke777]

No option to turn Areo on, I like the transparent windows on the desktop.

No Gadgets

No option to turn Metro Off.

My computer is NOT a smart phone or a tablet.

[Detection]

well you don't HAVE to use your hotmail account, you can just as easily use a local account on everything

It cripples everything decent about Metro then though, you need to be logged into a live account for most of the apps to work, ie. the store

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

I'm really getting tired of people saying they want to be able to boot directly to the desktop. you haven't been able to do that since the days of ME and earlier. It boots the the login screen just like normal. what you guys want is to login directly to the desktop. Get your terminology right or you keep sounding like idiots!!! /rant

You can boot directly to the desktop XP / Vista / 7 (run > control userpasswords2) i have my media center set to do this...

Great for a PC setup to perform a single task.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

No option to turn Areo on, I like the transparent windows on the desktop. - unconfirmed

No Gadgets - there were very few good ones, and just seemed to eat up resources

No option to turn Metro Off. - stop being lazy and get a start menu replacer if you don't like it so much

My computer is NOT a smart phone or a tablet. - now you're just complaining for the sake of complaining

[Charisma Veteran]

I don't intrinsically dislike Windows 8 -- I think it's lovely on phones, tablets, etc. I simply dislike how Microsoft is forcing it into the desktop environment where it doesn't really belong. We have these enormous monitors with crisp displays, insane resolutions, the ability to have 6 different windows up and all of them be clear and readable, and it's being ****ed away on giant colourful blocks that are more suited for a less precise, touch interface than a keyboard and mouse. The whole thing just reminds me of a plaything, which is what I want in my tablet, but not on my work desktop.

I know people *can* get used to it and *can* get work done with it. I do *not* think it is ideal for this, it was not designed for the way people have learned to use their computers and have for years, and that most people can be far more productive in a traditional desktop environment. It has been the same way for so long and evolved the way it has for a reason.

[argonite]

yes it could be avoided with a different account but that defeats the point

If you didn't like the point anyway, why does it matter if it defeats the point? Just use a different account.

The people who want their data synced can use unified accounts.

[shockz]

I'm really getting tired of people saying they want to be able to boot directly to the desktop. you haven't been able to do that since the days of ME and earlier. It boots the the login screen just like normal. what you guys want is to login directly to the desktop. Get your terminology right or you keep sounding like idiots!!! /rant

You can set your profile to login automatically and show the desktop in 7, Vista, XP, etc..

[Dashel]

Their philosophy

[neo1911]

I am getting used to it but even after months and months of use, the desktop and metro interfaces feel disjoint. Metro at the moment feels like a random Rainmeter skin stuck on top of desktop.

Time will tell how the desktop looks in RTM. Hopefully there is a new Metro matching iconset at release.

[xendrome]

I'm really getting tired of people saying they want to be able to boot directly to the desktop. you haven't been able to do that since the days of ME and earlier.

I get what you are saying on the terminology. But you can boot directly to the desktop in XP, Vista, 7, etc. Just remove or do not set an account password...

[Eric Veteran]

[Threads merged]

[neo1911]

My Biggest reason: Microsoft is copying Apple Store Model and shoving down our throats Kindergarten apps with reduced functionality (atleast initially). The experience feels dumbed down where I cannot even resize Metro Apps and we get the feeling that Metro is one fat mobile OS which somehow mutated itself to leech on desktop.

[0sit0]

Exactly! I can't understand why anybody would need to have a damn weather app running fullscreen, or a slow stocks app, or mail, or anything for that matter. I hate fullscreen apps on Windows and Mac. But that's my opinion :)

[PGHammer]

No option to turn Areo on, I like the transparent windows on the desktop.

No Gadgets

No option to turn Metro Off.

My computer is NOT a smart phone or a tablet.

All of that is basically eye-candy. You can still use desktop gadgets that were written for Windows 7 (I'm using the AccuWeather.com desktop gadget while their WinRT app gets rewritten) - you just can't get them from Microsoft any more. (And that applies just as much to Windows 7 as it does to Windows 8.)

That particular WinRT app was the only WinRT *anything* that wasn't a game that I use regularly - also, the AccuWeather app (like the gadget) is a background, not foreground, process - alerts pop-up like Tasktray notifications. In fact, it replaced AWS WeatherBug, which lives in the Tasktray. That is, in fact, pretty much the sort of WinRT app that sticks - something that replaces a Tasktray-based applet from 7 and earlier.

I use WinRT where it fits - otherwise, I pay no attention to it.

[xWhiplash]

Exactly! I can't understand why anybody would need to have a damn weather app running fullscreen, or a slow stocks app, or mail, or anything for that matter. I hate fullscreen apps on Windows and Mac. But that's my opinion :)

Agreed. It is very disruptive with my productivity.