windows 8 Do you like or hate Windows 8?

[Dot Matrix]

Yes, they turned it off. Microsoft was rational enough to provide a way to switch it off.

Now explain how to switch off Metro.

You cannot turn UAC off.

[Jason_Coffey]

I do not see how anyone could love it.. I guess the same people that like to tap on 4" screens all day.

[Nothing Here]

I know awhile back I posted about Win8 being D.O.A. but everyone needs to understand that I ONLY posted what I had found. I should have re-titled it, but I didn't. Oh well, live and learn.

Well, I tried to love it, but couldn't. Then I tried to hate it, with the same effect. I couldn't. I have a seperate HDD with Win8 RP installed. I do have one good thing to say about it: Steam doesn't cause my games to crash on Win8. On Win7, when using Steam's in-game chat, my games crash after a few minutes.

Will I upgrade to Win8? More then likely. Will I enjoy everything about Win8. No. But as long as it plays my games, I will be running it. At least until Linux finally plays my games through Steam natively. :p

[Windows Nashville]

are you deliberately obtuse or did you just plain ignore what I was trying to say?

What you've said over and over and over basically comes down to this: The opinions of Neowin members are "meaningless" when it suits your argument, and at other times the opinions of Neowin members "prove" your argument.

AFAIC, the numbers in this thread's poll speak for themselves without any additional spin needed.

[Jason_Coffey]

I know awhile back I posted about Win8 being D.O.A. but everyone needs to understand that I ONLY posted what I had found. I should have re-titled it, but I didn't. Oh well, live and learn.

Well, I tried to love it, but couldn't. Then I tried to hate it, with the same effect. I couldn't. I have a seperate HDD with Win8 RP installed. I do have one good thing to say about it: Steam doesn't cause my games to crash on Win8. On Win7, when using Steam's in-game chat, my games crash after a few minutes.

Will I upgrade to Win8? More then likely. Will I enjoy everything about Win8. No. But as long as it plays my games, I will be running it. At least until Linux finally plays my games through Steam natively. :p

I have never had that issue with steam on Windows 7.. I guess it is just one of those silly problems we all run into.

[Nothing Here]

I think you are right. I know a few ppl who have the same issue as I do with Steam, but for the most, I think everything is fine. Which is why they don't try and fix/help the few who have this issue.

[Windows Nashville]

Microsoft loses $494m last quarter. That's just the beginning when they try and force inferior tablet O/S's onto desktop users!

Maybe they'll recoup their losses with massive sales of their $600 Surface tablet.

[Boo Berry]

I'll be using Windows 8 with Classic Shell. So, no problems with Windows 8 for me! :D

[Nothing Here]

I'll be using Windows 8 with Classic Shell. So, no problems with Windows 8 for me! :D

Classic Shell? Could you elaborate please?

[Jakeyyy]

Personally I'll be sticking with Windows 7, I find the new metro UI so ugly.

[Defcon]

Uhmm, that's the total opposite of Windows 8 is meant to be. And Windows 8 is NOT like that in my opinion.

I know the official line is it's an easier OS because of Metro apps that are simple and beautiful, and the removal of many features considered confusing. But the way Metro works on desktop is beyond terrible. I guarantee you that on a desktop NO ONE will be able to figure out the bizzare task switching in Metro, switching between Metro/Desktop.

[BajiRav]

What you've said over and over and over basically comes down to this: The opinions of Neowin members are "meaningless" when it suits your argument, and at other times the opinions of Neowin members "prove" your argument.

AFAIC, the numbers in this thread's poll speak for themselves without any additional spin needed.

"over and over and over" ? way to dodge a bullet when I called your BS, right? Yes, the opinion of Neowin members are "meaningless" when it comes to real market performance of any product let alone Microsoft. I don't remember me using them to "prove" any argument. Care to back up your bull****?

[Nothing Here]

I know the official line is it's an easier OS because of Metro apps that are simple and beautiful, and the removal of many features considered confusing. But the way Metro works on desktop is beyond terrible. I guarantee you that on a desktop NO ONE will be able to figure out the bizzare task switching in Metro, switching between Metro/Desktop.

Oh really? My wife and 10yr old daughter had it figured out before I did and I'm the one who is more knowledgeable about OSes. All we have is a desktop running Win8. So go figure why you would even say that.

[Dashel]

I would say more than half of neowin was upset about UAC in Vista or 7. See how clever they were? Let me point it out for you: Neowinian's opinion of UAC in Windows Vista/7 didn't ultimately affect it's success or failure in the market.

I was ****ed about UAC till they fixed in in Win7. I was ****ed about the Superbar too, and still am some days. The point is that market success or not has no bearing on the goodness of any specific feature. UAC in Vista was crap that has been generally fixed in 7. You most certainly can turn off UAC, I believe there is a whole fraking thread devoted to it Dot. You are factually wrong, again.

On that note WinNash is on target. MS used to be smart enough to allow disabling of those features that caused such controversy. (Start Menu, UAC, SuperBar, etc)

[BajiRav]

I was ****ed about UAC till they fixed in in Win7. I was ****ed about the Superbar too, and still am some days. The point is that market success or not has no bearing on the goodness of any specific feature. UAC in Vista was crap that has been generally fixed in 7. You most certainly can turn off UAC, I believe there is a whole fraking thread devoted to it Dot. You are factually wrong, again.

On that note WinNash is on target. MS used to be smart enough to allow disabling of those features that caused such controversy. (Start Menu, UAC, SuperBar, etc)

I think the only reason MS allowed UAC disabling in Vista was app compatibility and IIRC you can't disable UAC in Windows 7 UI (although registry still allows it). SuperBar changes weren't as "revolutionary" as UAC was or on a much broader scale as metro is.

[Dashel]

True, while you technically can only silence it via the CP in Win7, its still 'off' as far as your end user is concerned which is really the point.

I'm just saying please stop trying to paint members as 'wrong' by falsely equating a product's success or failure with specific line item changes. Win8 is 90% awesome, with 10% of crap that historically we could have disabled till they fixed/optimized it if it bugged us that much.

[n_K]

All I see is a very close 50/50 split.

50% love the start menu, 50% want it gone, reminds me of marmite, no-one's happy in the middle.

[Noir Angel]

The reason why it does is the very reason why the critics of the StartScreen defend the Start menu - it shares space with the desktop. The deeper you have to go into the Start menu, the more it overhangs the desktop. You wind up rearraging your desktop shortcuts to compensate - therefore taking time that you could be using to be productive - doing actual work - and using it for fiddlework.

I stopped reading there because, of course you are completely and utterly wrong. Since the start menu was altered in Windows Vista it rarely causes overhangs because most of the menus and even the jumplists are self contained.

[Dashel]

It's simply insane Javik. He still can't give a concise example of this magical search result compared with Win7 either and keeps going on and on about depreciated services, so I can only assume he's rocking a tricked out WinXP 'desktop' like Andrea. :D

[Shadrack]

I love these threads.

I got to spend some quality time evaluating the latest-and-greatest of two operating systems this weekend: Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion and Windows 8 Consumer Preview. I spent more time in Windows 8 than ML because in all honesty not much different in ML than Lion... I mean, the apps are nicer and the performance is great but no major shifts for the OS worth spending any significant amount of time on.

Windows 8, that was a whole other beast. I must admit that at first I found the OS very confusing. I hope that the final release does a little more hand holding for the end user. Once I figured out the idiosyncrasies of the new UI elements I found that I could get around at about the same pace as I could in Windows 7. I must admit, reading all the backlash about Windows 8 had left me skeptical. After sitting down and trying it for myself, my opinion now is that the people vocalizing that the name of doom for Microsoft is Windows 8 are being over dramatic.

I think Windows 8 is a worthwhile upgrade from Windows 7 and for $40, I'll be a buyer even for desktop.

Some opinionated points:

* The current start menu in Windows 7 is not good for anything beyond what you have "pinned" there and the recent program list. Going into "All Programs" is an absolute navigation nightmare.

* I like how the new Start screen allows me to organize things so much better than the Windows 7 start menu. Even if I don't ever use a single metro app, I'm of the opinion that the Windows 8 Start Screen > Windows 7 Start Menu because I can organize the shortcuts to my applications more effectively.

* Further, when you go to "All Programs" in Windows 8 you are presented with a very eye pleasing list of everything installed and I like how the sub-menus are automatically expanded upon... Its just a lot nicer even if it does perhaps take up the entire screen "needlessly".

* The new task manager is very nice.

* The new copy dialog is very nice.

My only complaints:

* Desktop mode should mesh more with the whole metro style. They need to ditch the Aero glass look once and for all and give us a flat looking metro style that blends well with the new API.

* Although I don't mind how the start screen is full screen, I dislike how searching takes up the full screen. There should be a desktop alternative to the metro search screen.

* The overall style direction of Office 2013 makes my eye bleed. I don't really like it. It is just way too white or something. And the icons in Outlook are terrible. I know, not related to Windows but it still kind of is related to how MS has constantly struggled to make their products mesh together and appear as if they come from one company. Microsoft should focus more on making Microsoft branded products with less emphases on their sub-brands IMO. People should think "Microsoft" when they see and XBox 360, not "Xbox". People should think "Microsoft" when they see a Windows PC, not "Windows".

[BajiRav]

I stopped reading there because, of course you are completely and utterly wrong. Since the start menu was altered in Windows Vista it rarely causes overhangs because most of the menus and even the jumplists are self contained.

IMO the overhang was actually better than the Vista+ container menu. :p It would spread out but at least it's not a the scrolly mess it is right now. I don't have that problem on my own PCs but at work on some common system, it can is an utter chaos.

[Windows Nashville]

"over and over and over" ? way to dodge a bullet when I called your BS, right? Yes, the opinion of Neowin members are "meaningless" when it comes to real market performance of any product let alone Microsoft. I don't remember me using them to "prove" any argument. Care to back up your bull****?

Either address the point or don't bother to respond at all.

[Noir Angel]

How is the current start menu an organisational nightmare: :/ all applications are listed in alphabetical order. Install Nero 9 and then tell me you still consider the organisation of the Metro start screen to be better.

[BajiRav]

Either address the point or don't bother to respond at all.

I am trying to understand what point I was supposed to address. I followed this thread back to the point where I first commented on your post and don't seem to have missed any. I can respond all I want and ignore your posts but I am still baffled by this post of yours.

[Defcon]

Metro on desktop is an utter disaster no matter how you look at it - usability, discoverability, design, intiutiveness. It's basically every single design principle they teach you being vioated.

Win 8 when limited to desktop is a strange mixture of improvements (bootup, memory, task manager), new but very limited features (File history, storage spaces), removing features for no reason (lots of customization options) and total neglect (old icons, notepad, menus).

It's an OS that is very very hard to love, but one that you grudgingly accept because it is after all the new Windows.