I use Windows 8 like a power user! Do you?


Recommended Posts

Yeah... I thought that's what I said... even though it (the super bar) was an improvement people still feared the change.

no they feared the change when they saw the superbar, but once they used it they saw how good it was... not really the same with windows 8 and metro...

no they feared the change when they saw the superbar, but once they used it they saw how good it was... not really the same with windows 8 and metro...

I'm still with you on this...I think.

I left the comment "but given time if the OS is genuinely an improvement over the old, they'll switch over." open ended regarding Win 8. Only time will tell, so it could end up being the same with Metro as with what happened with the super bar, although I doubt it.

I hate where both Microsoft and Apple are going with their next OS's. I just hate Apples version less. I liked WIn7 more than 10.7, but I like 10.8 more than Win8.

WIn8 just makes me annoyed. A user(that has been using computers since 1994) should never get annoyed when trying to learn an interface.

That's very naive of you to think that, in a way they are forcing you. If I choose to get windows 8, I will still be presented with the start screen, and I'm sure steered towards an app store somewhere, similar to how Google and iTunes do it. I don't want my OS to be a commercialized store front. Then again it they sell it for 49$ per license, and not as a promo, I may re-evaluate the situation.

How are you "sure steered" to the app store?

I'm still with you on this...I think.

I left the comment "but given time if the OS is genuinely an improvement over the old, they'll switch over." open ended regarding Win 8. Only time will tell, so it could end up being the same with Metro as with what happened with the super bar, although I doubt it.

oh ya my bad i read it wrong first.... so we're in agreement hooray! :p

it'll be successful with tablets I think...

Well I for one believe the Metro start screen is a good option.

But after reading loads of posts about Win 8 I'm pretty sure loads of people would still dislike the new windows just because it is different

People don't like learning new things, even the so called power users, they all are screaming their heads of for a menu that just got a little bit bigger

Yeah...going from something that takes up roughly 10% of my screen space when I need to use it that shows all the information I need it to in a short concise list to something that takes 100% of my screen space and has obnoxious full screen animations, bright colors, and lots of other superfluous information on it is only "a little bigger".

I'm still with you on this...I think.

I left the comment "but given time if the OS is genuinely an improvement over the old, they'll switch over." open ended regarding Win 8. Only time will tell, so it could end up being the same with Metro as with what happened with the super bar, although I doubt it.

The Super bar doesn't cover 100% of my screen when I need to use it though.

Super bar - change done correctly, gracefully, and not forced

Metro Start Screen - change done poorly and forced

There is a world of difference in the design philosophies. Now I'm not saying the metro start screen is bad per se, it's just that they are forcing people to use it no matter what, if they want Win8.

How are you "sure steered" to the app store?

A Grammar mistake. However to further explain, since you can in theory only download Metro apps from the metro app store, that's how you are steered. Assuming that will in fact be the case.

oh ya my bad i read it wrong first.... so we're in agreement hooray! :p

it'll be successful with tablets I think...

Indeed :D Yeah I think it'll be great on a surface tablet.

In the default Windows 8 configuration, when you double click on an mp3 it opens the song FULL SCREEN in a Metro Music App. DEFAULT configuration!!!! WHO WANTS THAT!!!!!!??

I know you can change it to open up in whatever application you want, but its just the principle of the thing! It's stupid!

It just yells "TABLET OS THROWN ON A DESKTOP"!

What about the new way to turn off what is starting up with the PC. Now it's in the task manager and you can't use MSconfig (it says use the task manager)

. What I liked about Msconfig is that I could click at the top and use my arrow keys to navigate down the list and then press the space bar to turn off (uncheck) something starting with windows. Now I can't do that. Now I have to click disable next to each item. I like the old way better.

you where never supposed to use msconfig to turn of start up items. some people who thoughtnthemselves power users did it that way, but it's the wrong way and whenyou have stuff disabled there windows starts up in a sort of diagnostic mode during start up. the difference is negligible, but it's still not the correct way. the correct way was to grab autoruns or best keep it on a service stick, and use that. and since autoruns allows to do more than the win8 task manager, it's still the tool for the job.

In the default Windows 8 configuration, when you double click on an mp3 it opens the song FULL SCREEN in a Metro Music App. DEFAULT configuration!!!! WHO WANTS THAT!!!!!!??

I know you can change it to open up in whatever application you want, but its just the principle of the thing! It's stupid!

It just yells "TABLET OS THROWN ON A DESKTOP"!

actually, if ou have other programs installed that can open the file, whatever it is, the firs time,

(or next time after you install an app) you wil get a toast in the upper righ, saying ou have new programs that can open this file, and asking if you want to change.

so you're talking bs.

Needless to say, the Music app is an "App Preview" which has pretty much stolen the interface from Videos App Preview for the makeshift preview purposes. It is most certainly going to be change come RTM time. Same goes for pretty much all WinRT apps, some to more dramatic extents than others. All the way back at Build 2011, the focus and goal was clearly on getting solid apps out by RTM time, just before GA.

The whole philosophy with Metro UI is that it is something that works with mouse, keyboard, touch as well as touchless gestures. Use only mouse/kb and resist change? hate Metro? Don't use it! Stay on Desktop, use Windows Media Player or foobar or whatever, as always. It is really not a big deal.

Use only mouse/kb and resist change? hate Metro?

So you are saying the fact that I use a keyboard and mouse that I am resisting change?

What can possible replace them even 10 years from now? I am a programmer, video producer, audio producer, and graphics artist. Nothing will be as good as a keyboard and mouse doing those things 8 hours every day.

I do not want to hold my hands up for 8 hours every day programming. I do not want to hold my hands up to select a part of the code just because we no longer have mice. They will not go anywhere.

[. . .]

Do this Video again and don't use the keyboard. Then we see a quite new result.

[. . .]

Why? Using the keyboard to operate Windows 8 allows users to be more productive than if they didn't use the keyboard. It's how Windows 8 was designed. Windows 7 was designed differently because it's a different operating system. If mouse and keyboard users wish to be more productive when using Windows 8, Microsoft have provided great keyboard shortcuts; if a user doesn't wish to use those keyboard shortcuts, they can't reasonably blame Microsoft for their lack of productivity.

Actually I was wrong. I was looking at the Task Manager app, as opposed to the normal taskmgr "Windows Task Manager" app, which is still there. What was missing from the Task Manager app are the column view details and other options you get in the taskmgr app, but as long as their both there, I'm fine with that.

The old task manager is already fully removed from Server 2012. If it was still in Windows 8 RP, I doubt that will be the case come RTM.

Outside of the fact that the elevation and hide processes functions no longer exist, what exactly is missing from the new task manager that was in the old one?

post-314560-0-93339800-1342103537_thumb.

post-314560-0-90378300-1342103564_thumb.

actually, if ou have other programs installed that can open the file, whatever it is, the firs time,

(or next time after you install an app) you wil get a toast in the upper righ, saying ou have new programs that can open this file, and asking if you want to change.

so you're talking bs.

Actually i'm not talking BS, i'm talking about the Out of the Box . This does not count OEM's PC's that may have already bundled different media players. I'm talking about a clean install. On Windows 7 it would open up by default Windows Media play (as it should be).

What different UIs?

Metro screen and the classic desktop... Metro has its own control panel and settings, as does the classic desktop. Metro and classic interface have totally different ui paradigms, and I the easily confused computer illiterate types I often talk to will certainly be confused (even moreso than they already are :p ) with the "invisible" start button, gestures, hot corners and keyboard shortcuts.

Metro screen and the classic desktop... Metro has its own control panel and settings, as does the classic desktop. Metro and classic interface have totally different ui paradigms, and I the easily confused computer illiterate types I often talk to will certainly be confused (even moreso than they already are :p ) with the "invisible" start button, gestures, hot corners and keyboard shortcuts.

People don't seem to be having trouble with gestures on competing tablets. Why would they be a problem on Windows?

Keyboard shortcuts exist today, and will continue to serve the same segment of the population.

Clicking in the corner is the easiest thing you can possibly do with a mouse. Don't you think there have been endless usability studies (both short and long-term) of these changes with users of all different backgrounds and comfort levels?

And do you really think the learning curve here is more of a problem than it is on any given cell phone purchase the same person would make this year?

That's its Calum, where do you want to get sliced? I like how you conveniently just throw out the 'mouse' part when referring to mouse and keyboard users.

I didn't "throw out" the mouse part. A "mouse and keyboard" user has a keyboard. If they don't wish to use their keyboard, they can't reasonably blame Microsoft. That was my point.

Clicking in the corner is the easiest thing you can possibly do with a mouse. Don't you think there have been endless usability studies (both short and long-term) of these changes with users of all different backgrounds and comfort levels?

you have no idea how computer illiterate the people I talk to every day are. They have trouble with everything and anything, including apple devices. Having two separate interfaces to switch between will make some of their heads implode :D many users can barely find the (currently visible) start button in windows 7.

And gestures on tablets are significantly more intuitive than MS's implementation of gestures with the mouse. I found metro gestures with the mouse were a pain in the ass and keyboard shortcuts were the only usable method. (many users I deal with can barely even comprehend the concept of a keyboard shortcut.)

The old task manager is already fully removed from Server 2012. If it was still in Windows 8 RP, I doubt that will be the case come RTM.

Outside of the fact that the elevation and hide processes functions no longer exist, what exactly is missing from the new task manager that was in the old one?

Additional column views & other right click options, along with the items you mentioned.

you have no idea how computer illiterate the people I talk to every day are. They have trouble with everything and anything, including apple devices. Having two separate interfaces to switch between will make some of their heads implode :D many users can barely find the (currently visible) start button in windows 7.

And gestures on tablets are significantly more intuitive than MS's implementation of gestures with the mouse. I found metro gestures with the mouse were a pain in the ass and keyboard shortcuts were the only usable method. (many users I deal with can barely even comprehend the concept of a keyboard shortcut.)

<smartass>

Well, IF their heads DO implode, there are going to be some pretty happy funeral directors, and the gene poll will end up becoming clearer since stupid people that cant figure out a simple key stroke will not be there to propagate. Hell, IF this happens, maybe the national deficit will be reduced to zero since the funeral directors will be able to prop up the economy with all the money they are going to make

</smartass>

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Posts

    • AMD RX 9070 GRE AI, Blender benchmarks vs 9070 XT, 7800XT, Nvidia RTX 5070, 4070 by Sayan Sen Earlier this week, we shared the first part of our review of AMD's new RX 9070 GRE. It was about the gaming performance of the GPU, and we gave it an 8 out of 10. As a follow-up, similar to how we did with the 9070 XT and non-XT, we are doing a dedicated productivity review for the RX 9070 GRE as well, where we compare it against the 9070 XT, 9070, 7800 XT, as well as Nvidia's 5070 and 4070. This will include AI, rendering, compute, and more benchmarks. AI performance, especially, is a very important metric in today's world, and AMD also promised big improvements thanks to its underlying architectural improvements. We will be pitching it against the data we already have for the RX 9070, and RX 9070 XT, but also the Nvidia 5070 FE, MSI GeForce RTX 4070 VENTUS 2X 12G, and Gigabyte Radeon RX 7800 XT GAMING OC 16G as they are in a similar price class, but also because we do not have a comparable 5060 Ti card lying around here that we can compare it against. Before we get underway, this is a collaboration between Sayan Sen and Steven Parker, who lent me his test bed. Also, there was no editorial input from AMD. First up, the specs of the RX 9070, 9070 XT, and 9070 GRE, which were given to us by AMD: Radeon RX 9070 GRE Radeon RX 9070 Radeon RX 9070 XT Boost Clock: Game Clock: up to 2.79GHz up to 2.20GHz up to 2.52GHz up to 2.07GHz up to 2.97GHz up to 2.40GHz Stream Processors 3,072 (48 CU) 3,584 (56 CU) 4,096 (64 CU) Ray Accelerator 48 56 64 AI Accelerator 96 112 128 ROPs 96 128 Texture Mapping Units 192 224 256 Memory 12 GB GDDR6, 18Gbps Clock, 192-bit Bus 432 GB/s 16 GB GDDR6, 20Gbps Clock, 256-bit Bus Effective Memory Bandwidth: 640 GB/s Infinity Cache 48 MB (3rd Gen) 64 MB (3rd Gen) Card Bus PCI-E 5.0 X16 Output 2x HDMI 2.1b 2x DisplayPort 2.1a Power consumption 220W 304W Recommended PSU 650W 750W Slot width 2x 3x Price (SEP) $549 $599 As you can see from the specs above, it is less than the standard RX 9070 in every way that counts, except for slightly higher Boost and Game clock speed. Design Moving on, the RX 9070 GRE we were given is an XFX Swift triple-fan, dual-slot design with two 8-pin connectors. At 30cm (self-measured), it will fit in most systems easily. There is no RGB either. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE by XFX from all angles. Test system Our test system consists of the following: Lian Li O11 Dynamic Mini V2 Flow (Amazon|Newegg) ASUS Z890 ProArt Creator WiFi (Amazon|Newegg) Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus (Amazon|Newegg) Thermal Grizzly KryoSheet - 44x37 (Amazon|Newegg) 2x 16GB G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB (7200 MT/s in XMP) (Amazon|Newegg) Sabrent Rocket4 Plus 2TB SSD (Amazon) Windows 11 25H2 (Build 26200.8246) AMD shared a press driver based on the recently released Adrenaline 26.5.2 that we were required to use. We now move on to our benchmarks. First up, we have Geekbench AI running on ONNX. For some reason, the 9070 GRE does exceptionally well here in both half-precision (FP16) and single-precision (FP32). It manages to beat the RTX 5070 and RX 9070 non-XT, and is only behind the 9070 XT. Since Geekbench runs in short bursts instead of continuously hammering the graphics card, it seems the GRE's faster boost clocks are helping here. Next up, we move to the UL Procyon AI test suite, starting with the image generation benchmark. We chose the Stable Diffusion XL FP16 test since it is the most intense workload available on Procyon. The Nvidia cards do very well here, as even the 4070 out-muscles AMD's best fairy easily. The positive thing about the GRE is that it gets quite close to the 9070 non-XT in this test; this indicates that the VRAM does not play a very big role here, as SD XL relies on float16 (FP16). So this is something to keep in mind again. If you wish to work with float32 AI workloads, graphics cards with larger than 12 GB buffers would likely emerge as victors. Regardless, the gains are still massive on AMD's 9000 series compared to the 7000 series. Following image generation, we move to the text generation benchmark. This is one test where the 9070 GRE struggled, quite a lot. It seems that the 12 GB VRAM and lower memory bandwidth of the new Radeon 9070 GRE are hurting it quite a bit; the split is massive, especially in a test like Llama2, which packs 13 billion parameters. As such, in all the tests, the 9070 GRE is the slowest of the lot. Next, we tried Blender, and here the AMD GPUs were beaten by Nvidia. Rendering is something the Green team has always had a lead over the Red side, and it has not changed so far. On the positive side, though, the 9070 GRE shows significantly better results than the 7800 XT, which means AMD is on the right path. Catching up to Nvidia, though, will require a lot more effort. And we hope HIP and ROCm can keep improving. Wrapping up AI testing, we measured OpenCL throughput in the Geekbench compute benchmark. The RX 9070 GRE alongside the 9070 did not fare well here at all, even falling behind the 7800 XT. Interestingly, even the RTX 5070 could not beat the 4070 on OpenCL, so perhaps this suggests that OpenCL optimization may not have been a priority for either AMD or Nvidia in the modern era. Conclusion We reached the end of our productivity performance review of the 9070 GRE, and we have to say it's a mixed bag. Unlike the 9070 and 9070 XT, the GRE excels in some areas while losing ground fairly easily in others. Similar to how it happened in gaming, any time the card's memory subsystem gets hammered, it tends to fall behind the others. This was the case with text generation, wherein we saw the VRAM sometimes hit its maximum available 12 GB of usage with larger model sizes. So what do we make of the RX 9070 as a productivity hardware? It can certainly be used, but you have to know it has its limitations. For those looking for a GPU that can deal with more, AMD recently unveiled the Radeon AI PRO R9700, which is essentially a 32 GB refresh of the 9070 XT with some additional workstation-based optimizations. On a similar note, the new Ryzen AI Halo platform is something you can consider if you want to set up a local AI processing station. Considering everything, we rate AMD's Radeon RX 9070 GRE a 7.5 out of 10 for its productivity performance. Price is less of a factor for those looking at productivity cases compared to those considering the GPU for gaming, and as such, we felt it did quite decently on many occasions and can be handy if you need a 12 GB GPU and, for some reason, don't want to get Nvidia. Purchase links: RX 9070 / XT / GRE (Amazon US) As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
    • Does anyone here know if these updates are integrated into the UUP dump isos?
    • Motrix Next 3.9.4 by Razvan Serea Motrix Next is a modern, open-source cross-platform download manager built as the official next-generation successor to the original Motrix project. It has been completely rewritten using Tauri 2, Vue 3, TypeScript, and Rust, while still relying on the powerful Aria2 download engine for high-speed multi-protocol transfers. The app supports HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, BitTorrent, ED2K and magnet links, offering advanced features like multi-connection acceleration, task scheduling, bandwidth control, and batch download management. With a significantly reduced install size (around 20MB), it focuses on being lightweight, fast, and resource-efficient compared to traditional Electron-based download tools. Designed for Windows, macOS, and Linux, Motrix Next delivers a clean, modern UI inspired by Material Design 3 principles, with smooth animations and a minimal workflow. It improves usability through better download organization, system tray integration, and enhanced torrent handling including selective file downloads and tracker management. Motrix Next features: Multi-protocol downloads — HTTP, FTP, BitTorrent, Magnet, .torrent, ED2K, and Metalink tasks BitTorrent — Selective file download, DHT, peer exchange, encryption controls, metadata caching, GeoIP peer flags, and tracker probing Browser extension integration — Embedded Extension API with independent authentication, download confirmation, smart auto-submit, filename hints, referer/cookie forwarding, and real-time controls (Chrome Web Store · Edge Add-ons) Safe filename handling — Content-Disposition, RFC 2047, non-UTF-8, percent-encoded, and extensionless URL resolution with path traversal sanitization Download organization — Favorite and recent folders, optional file-type categorization, stale-record cleanup, and completed history backed by SQLite Concurrent downloads — Independent controls for active tasks, HTTP connections per server, segments per file, and BT peer limits Speed control — Global and per-task upload/download limits with day-of-week and time-of-day scheduling System integration — Tray operation, optional tray speed display, macOS Dock badge/progress, protocol handlers for magnet://, thunder://, and motrixnext:// Lightweight mode — Destroys the WebView on minimize-to-tray while Rust keeps the engine, task monitor, notifications, history, and extension routing alive Notifications and power options — Native task start/complete/failure notifications, keep-awake during downloads, and optional shutdown after completion Network controls — Scoped proxy support for downloads, app updates, and tracker updates, plus system proxy detection Auto-update channels — Stable, Beta, and Latest Across Channels policies with separate download and install phases Diagnostics — Structured logs, exportable diagnostic ZIPs, database integrity checks, automatic DB rebuild, and Linux GPU rendering fallback Personalization — Light/dark/system theme, 10 color schemes, 26 languages, and first-launch system language detection Motrix Next 3.9.4 changelog: Motrix Next 3.9.4 promotes the 3.9.4 beta cycle to stable. This release refreshes bundled engine binaries, improves task detail readability and copy actions, expands link handling for magnet and ED2K workflows, polishes responsive navigation and text wrapping, updates browser extension documentation, and refines network preference controls. New Features Task Detail copy actions — Added copyable values for task metadata and reusable render functions for long text fields. Magnet and ED2K lifecycle support — Added task lifecycle handling for magnet and ED2K links. History cleanup for deleted tasks — Deleted tasks can now remove matching history records. User-Agent management — Added user-agent management and improved related network preference controls. Browser extension documentation — Added the Firefox Add-ons link for the Motrix Next extension. Improvements Engine binaries — Updated bundled binaries for supported architectures. Task Detail readability — Long task names, URLs, tracker values, and copyable metadata now render more clearly. Deletion messaging — Refined localized task deletion text for clarity and consistency. Text wrapping — Improved URI input wrapping and task name multiline display. Navigation layout — Improved sub-navigation responsiveness. Disk allocation default — Changed the default file allocation method to trunc. Proxy controls — Improved proxy button styling in network preferences. Download: Motrix Next 64-bit | ARM64 | macOS ~20.0 MB (Open Source) Links: Website | macOS / Linux | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • NVIDIA officially supports Ubuntu, as linked above with the GeForce NOW Hands on I did in collaboration with Paul Hill.
    • TO be clear I am not running linux today, however I keep thinking about it. And I want to make sure there are minimal obstacles if I decide to make that switch in the coming months.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Proficient
      Eric Biran went up a rank
      Proficient
    • Dedicated
      Conjor earned a badge
      Dedicated
    • Week One Done
      Windows Guy earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Dedicated
      Mark Spruce earned a badge
      Dedicated
    • Collaborator
      conkir earned a badge
      Collaborator
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      479
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      244
    3. 3
      Steven P.
      72
    4. 4
      FloatingFatMan
      66
    5. 5
      +Edouard
      66
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!