Windows 8 Is a Desktop Disaster

[nekrosoft13]

Having used Windows 8 for a day now, I doubt disaster is the right word. It will sell millions because it is now the default on all new computers. It is different but not all bad. Everyone that I know that sees it likes the looks of it.

vista also sold millions, so it windows ME. and both were considered to be disasters. with vista people were requesting downgrades to xp.

windows 7 is the new xp, same faith will happen with 8. windows 8 will join vista and ME

[Wakers]

very true

"the constant schizophrenic flipping between Start and Desktop environments"

windows 8 is desktop disaster, it was made for tablet and touchscreen nothing else.

If you took 2 seconds to organise it, you wouldn't need to swap between them at all.

Then again, some people just don't have the capacity to learn.

[spudtrooper]

If you took 2 seconds to organise it, you wouldn't need to swap between them at all.

Then again, some people just don't have the capacity to learn.

I'm 100% certain they don't really even try.. The transition back and forth to start and desktop is smooth, its not jarring at all. The desktop for all intents and purposes is just another ModerUI Application - with the same modern ui experienced but able to run the legacy win32 base. You can snap it, you can open charms, you can use the deep search.. you can pin your most used apps to the app bar, you can save icons to desktop, you could create your own program folder icon if you so wish. Or you can just hit windows key and start typing, hit enter and launch your app without even thinking.

Yes, your cheese has moved, but the new cheese is so much yummier once you figure out where it is.

[Joni_78]

The problem with start page on desktop is that it is so big, tiles are huge compared to start menu and spanned across the screen. It takes more time to move the mouse to the desired application. Other than that it works great.

[xankazo]

For me, Windows 8 is just as easy to use on a desktop PC as Windows 7, or even easier. I've been a heavy WinKey user, so the transition was smoother for me. Yeah, the WinKey and other keyboard shortcuts rule in Windows 8.

[Zlain]

My only gripe with the desktop experience is shutting down - it would have been perfect if there was a shutdown button directly on the charms bar. But hey, pressing Alt-F4 isn't half bad either! Everything works fine in the desktop. Admittedly you do have to adapt a little, but its hardly a massive change as some authors will have you believe - it is totally true that many of us don't really use the start button that much, we only use a few programmes at best.

[Wakers]

You can make a shut down shortcut without too much trouble.

[spudtrooper]

The problem with start page on desktop is that it is so big, tiles are huge compared to start menu and spanned across the screen. It takes more time to move the mouse to the desired application. Other than that it works great.

Pin your appications to start bar then if you use them with any frequency. less frequent apps you can just start typing and hit enter when it shows up to run. pretty nifty.

[spudtrooper]

You can make a shut down shortcut without too much trouble.

with acpi shutdown on every darn device made in the last 2 decades, why people need to click shutdown, i dunno.. plus windows 8 shines in sleep mode so it can wakeup, check your email, update live tiles and sync your notifications and such - it also sips juice on sleep - < 10 watts for even my desktop.

in other words, tap your power button and it should shutdown, hold to hard reboot.. pretty standard

[#Michael]

I made the jump back to Win8 after being on a Mac for the last 3 years. After using it for 3 days now here is my honest opinion:

1. I didn't think I was going to like the new start menu / live tiles but after about 30 minutes I couldn't believe how much I feel that this should have been done years ago. Finally a way to see what I really want and get rid of the crap of the start menu that I don't need. Plus with live tiles I get updated feeds....that is a nice feature.

2. It took me all of 1 hour to figure out how to really navigate around. Once I learned it....moving between the desktop, start menu, charm bar, etc... was so easy.

3. Running on a laptop from 2009...this OS runs great. So far it has had no drawbacks....except that it had a problem with finding correct drivers for my trackpad. After that was fixed...it's been smooth going.

Don't get me wrong...I still have my mac mini which I love but I am going to use Win8 now full time.

[Wakers]

with acpi shutdown on every darn device made in the last 2 decades, why people need to click shutdown, i dunno.. plus windows 8 shines in sleep mode so it can wakeup, check your email, update live tiles and sync your notifications and such - it also sips juice on sleep - < 10 watts for even my desktop.

in other words, tap your power button and it should shutdown, hold to hard reboot.. pretty standard

Well this is just my solution to those that want a button the device. I don't understand either what is wrong with using the button on the front of your PC.

[theyarecomingforyou]

I don't understand either what is wrong with using the button on the front of your PC.

Some people use their computers from their couch and would have to walk across the room to press the button.

Some people have their computers tucked under their desk and the button is hard to reach.

Some people have faulty power buttons.

Some people don't know about that functionality.

Some people are too lazy.

The point is people were used to shutting down their computer from the Start Menu. It wouldn't be as much of an issue if Microsoft had improved the way you shut down your computer but they didn't - instead they buried the command in the Charm bar, with is indisputably slower and more fiddly (especially on multi-monitor setups). Is it the end of the world? Of course not. Is it going to be a deal-breaker for many people? It's unlikely. But it is still a legitimate grievance. I've been using Windows 8 for over a year and I still find shutting down the computer via the Charm bar to be awkward and inconvenient.

Microsoft could have added the shutdown functionality to the new right-click start corner functionality. They could have added the option to the user tile on the Start Screen. They could have added a dedicated tile for it. They could have added that functionality to the bottom left corner of the Start Screen, so users would have been familiar with it. There was a lot that Microsoft could have done but they chose to force users to adapt to an unintuitive and clumsy system (at least for mouse users).

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

I am not a fan of Windows 8, HOWEVER, most of the issues i see people complaining about you will get used to and be just as efficient within a few days of using it. performance wise i have noticed it is better than 7 was on the same hardware for most things.

[LaP]

People don't like change, even if's better in every way.

As far as the desktop goes i wonder how removing the start menu makes windows 8 better ?

Yes Windows improve the desktop a lot. It's faster. The task manager finally got upgraded. Explorer now follow ribbon UI desktop paradigm and has been improved. Multi monitor support has been upgraded from what i heard (did not test it). Ie 10 is nice (will be avalaible for 7 but still). The store has potential. Etc ...

But i really fail to see how removing the start menu actually improve the desktop experience.

[nekrosoft13]

I'm 100% certain they don't really even try.. The transition back and forth to start and desktop is smooth, its not jarring at all. The desktop for all intents and purposes is just another ModerUI Application - with the same modern ui experienced but able to run the legacy win32 base. You can snap it, you can open charms, you can use the deep search.. you can pin your most used apps to the app bar, you can save icons to desktop, you could create your own program folder icon if you so wish. Or you can just hit windows key and start typing, hit enter and launch your app without even thinking.

Yes, your cheese has moved, but the new cheese is so much yummier once you figure out where it is.

I haven't installed windows 8 on any of my main PCs, but i am running Windows Server 2012 with destop experience features.

Start screen is simply pathetic, I did upgrade from server 2008 R2 to 2012 and after upgrade start screen was empty, there were only 3-5 titles, OS didn't detect a single app that was installed.

after of days of trying to use start screen and trying to add program to the screen, i got fed up and simply installed Start8.

This made the OS somewhat usable and what the OS should have been from the start, Start8 not only allows me to boot straight into desktop!! HURRAY!! who would have thought that on destop/server you would want to boot straight into destop.

Start8 was able to pick up all the apps that were installed without any extra work.

In start8 i got a shortcut to start screen so if I want to use any of the limited functionally, patheitc looking metro apps (still haven't found any that are worth my time) I can just click on metro shortcut, run the app and then press window key to escape back to desktop.

thats how it should work.

MS should not force metro on every windows user. can't believe I will say this, but apple got things right in OSX, they did add mobile apps support in OSX but they did not force people to use that as their main GUI.

I never was a supported of apple, but their new CEO did say something right about surface (also applies to win8) ?I suppose you could design a car that flies and floats, but I don?t think it would do all of those things very well.?

[spaceelf]

Right clicking to get to all your programs was that hard to figure out? sheesh

[remixedcat]

this thread is a disaster

[thomastmc]

I sat staring at the screen, my emotions lodged somewhere between dumbfounded and despondent. From what I was seeing, I knew I'd made a horrific mistake, and restitution must be made immediately. I'd been told time and time again there was no going back; what's done is done, you have to accept it, there's no living in the past. But a violation this total demanded from me only one response.

I had to uninstall Windows 8, and I had to do it immediately.

In the article he says that he installed it, stared at it, and then uninstalled it. Some people making comments said that they installed it and used it for a few hours, and then gave up.

These people can't be taken seriously, because they are obviously not knowledgeable, or experienced users, or serious.

Imagine this comment: I installed Linux and then stared at the screen. Icons and menus weren't in places that I have gotten used to in Windows. I quickly realized my mistake and uninstalled it.

Edited October 29, 2012 by Charisma

[Dot Matrix]

vista also sold millions, so it windows ME. and both were considered to be disasters. with vista people were requesting downgrades to xp.

windows 7 is the new xp, same faith will happen with 8. windows 8 will join vista and ME

So you're just blowing out hot air, because...?

I haven't installed windows 8 on any of my main PCs, but i am running Windows Server 2012 with destop experience features.

Start screen is simply pathetic, I did upgrade from server 2008 R2 to 2012 and after upgrade start screen was empty, there were only 3-5 titles, OS didn't detect a single app that was installed.

after of days of trying to use start screen and trying to add program to the screen, i got fed up and simply installed Start8.

This made the OS somewhat usable and what the OS should have been from the start, Start8 not only allows me to boot straight into desktop!! HURRAY!! who would have thought that on destop/server you would want to boot straight into destop.

Start8 was able to pick up all the apps that were installed without any extra work.

In start8 i got a shortcut to start screen so if I want to use any of the limited functionally, patheitc looking metro apps (still haven't found any that are worth my time) I can just click on metro shortcut, run the app and then press window key to escape back to desktop.

thats how it should work.

MS should not force metro on every windows user. can't believe I will say this, but apple got things right in OSX, they did add mobile apps support in OSX but they did not force people to use that as their main GUI.

I never was a supported of apple, but their new CEO did say something right about surface (also applies to win8) ?I suppose you could design a car that flies and floats, but I don?t think it would do all of those things very well.?

Trying to pin apps...? Days??? How hard is it to right click, and click 'pin to Start'?

[sjms]

3 days into using it on my laptop. at first it was un-nerving to use. i added Stardocks Start 8 (still a little buggy) and it resolved pretty much all my issues. getting to like it more and more. faster and, even in the long run, more efficient. all my programs run just a bit snappier. rolling with it for good and waiting for a week or so to do my base computer. its really not all that "different". i would like just a little more control over my tiles though.

the apple hubris may be their undoing in the end.

[zhangm Supervisor]

Trying to pin apps...? Days??? How hard is it to right click, and click 'pin to Start'?

Not sure how this process differs significantly from how one pins a program to the Win7 start menu.

[Dashel]

Have you looked at the new All Programs? I can think of several.

[spudtrooper]

Some people use their computers from their couch and would have to walk across the room to press the button.

Some people have their computers tucked under their desk and the button is hard to reach.

Some people have faulty power buttons.

Some people don't know about that functionality.

Some people are too lazy.

The point is people were used to shutting down their computer from the Start Menu. It wouldn't be as much of an issue if Microsoft had improved the way you shut down your computer but they didn't - instead they buried the command in the Charm bar, with is indisputably slower and more fiddly (especially on multi-monitor setups). Is it the end of the world? Of course not. Is it going to be a deal-breaker for many people? It's unlikely. But it is still a legitimate grievance. I've been using Windows 8 for over a year and I still find shutting down the computer via the Charm bar to be awkward and inconvenient.

Microsoft could have added the shutdown functionality to the new right-click start corner functionality. They could have added the option to the user tile on the Start Screen. They could have added a dedicated tile for it. They could have added that functionality to the bottom left corner of the Start Screen, so users would have been familiar with it. There was a lot that Microsoft could have done but they chose to force users to adapt to an unintuitive and clumsy system (at least for mouse users).

wow... you typed all of that but you still refuse to do 3 clicks to shutdown? If its really that difficult, learn to sleep mode..

[thomastmc]

Not sure how this process differs significantly from how one pins a program to the Win7 start menu.

No difference in pinning to start, but you can't drag a shortcut or exe to pin it.

The only difference between pinning a program to the taskbar and start menu is that you're given the option to pin to taskbar by right clicking it's icon in the taskbar. To pin to start you must right click the shortcut or exe. You can also search for an app in the start screen and pin it from there.

Anyone having trouble obviously never right clicks their exes or shortcuts, or tried it in the new OS to explore for new features.

[Dashel]

Beside the point, its a legitimate grievance. There is no reason it should be only on the Charms vs on the under-used User drop-down.