Just how many people hate Windows 8?

[trag3dy]

It's still a change and your resistance to it, even you admitted it, you didn't allow yourself to like it

That doesn't even make sense. If you cut your hand off, that's a change, but hey, just get used to it, right? All change is good after all.

[Detection]

roflmao. Ultimate Extras. I remember, now that didn't really ever amount to much did it? I do disagree about Metro being pointless on the desktop. I actually prefer to watch Netflix snapped, and would prefer to watch TV in Snap View if they had released a Modern UI Media Center. The Core apps are bad and really the #1 problem with Modern UI is that there are no meaningful desktop applications and when there are, the fact that they can't interact with the desktop will be a limitation. I would live to use the Share and Devices Charm with Win32 apps, but not gonna happen.

It is so unfinished, unpolished, and currently, unnecessary, lol, that I can see why many don't want to have it on the desktop at all. I can also see why many want all that is good. I am one of those.

The core apps Music, Video, Mail are a step backwards as is IMO, Modern UI search. That is unheard of for Windows, to go backwards in functionality. There is good reason Ballmer said this was the company's biggest gamble.

If they had branched off and gone for a pure Metro version of Windows, and released 8 as a 100% normal desktop OS, then I could see myself wanting to play with Metro on say my laptop, but mixing the two together, I just can't connect with it at all, its clumsy and gets in the way of normal use

Metro does have its place in the OS world, but not integrated into a Desktop OS where 95%+ of users use and will continue to use a keyboard and mouse, it is 101% a touch interface, my mouse pointer is nice and small, perfect for clicking little buttons

Also, I have a 23" LCD on here and Metro is far to over-powering with all its brightness and colours and masses of emptiness slapping me in the face every time I click start by mistake thinking stupidly that something useful would pop up

Agreed that apps are the key to Metro, but come on MS, not on the desktop! We actually use these things, even consoles have a more technical interface than Metro !

[BoDEAN]

Enough of these topics already.......................damn

[Denis W. Veteran]

roflmao. Ultimate Extras. I remember, now that didn't really ever amount to much did it?

Ah yes, Ultimate Extras. The magazine that never came, the extra sounds which were then made redundant by the sound themes in Windows 7 (and then nuked again for Windows 8), the games which were later made available for Windows 7 users, and DreamScene video clips were grainy.

The Core apps are bad and really the #1 problem with Modern UI is that there are no meaningful desktop applications and when there are, the fact that they can't interact with the desktop will be a limitation. I would love to use the Share and Devices Charm with Win32 apps, but not gonna happen.

It is so unfinished, unpolished, and currently, unnecessary, lol, that I can see why many don't want to have it on the desktop at all. I can also see why many want all that is good. I am one of those.

I would be satisfied if they threw in just one application that is used strictly as a bridge between Win32 and Metro. Have it as a Send To target and also use it to intercept calls to email apps. Trying to attach a file to a new email message in the Mail app is a chore in itself when the Metro file picker is incredibly frustrating to use for keyboard+mouse users (can't customize your favourites list, can't type in the name of a file to open, can't type in a directory to switch to, no breadcrumbs to take advantage of, etc).

The core apps Music, Video, Mail are a step backwards as is IMO, Modern UI search. That is unheard of for Windows, to go backwards in functionality. There is good reason Ballmer said this was the company's biggest gamble.

Not just going backwards in functionality, but somehow I feel as if Microsoft is realizing there is a certain limit you can hit with coding Metro apps using HTML and JS. Responsiveness of the apps are a bit flaky, you sometimes get weird visual oddities such as scrolling quickly in Mail and Music and seeing rectangles taking its place (I remember someone on Neowin explaining the technical reason why this happens).

My own wish for the bundled apps such as Mail and Calendar is to at least match or exceed the functionality of the Outlook web apps. Still puzzled why Microsoft hasn't added in tasks view to the Calendar app.

[Detection]

Trying to attach a file to a new email message in the Mail app is a chore in itself when the Metro file picker is incredibly frustrating to use for keyboard+mouse users (can't customize your favourites list, can't type in the name of a file to open, can't type in a directory to switch to, no breadcrumbs to take advantage of, etc).

Trying to do anything to connect Desktop and Metro is like using a remote desktop connection and realising you need a file that is on your local machine, or a VMWare machine that won't let you drag and drop between the host and guest

[Dot Matrix]

Metro does have its place in the OS world, but not integrated into a Desktop OS where 95%+ of users use and will continue to use a keyboard and mouse, it is 101% a touch interface, my mouse pointer is nice and small, perfect for clicking little buttons

The switchover to touch has begun. It's unavoidable it will augment many desktop systems in a few years. Kids today are growing up with touch, the way we grew up with the mouse.

[articuno1au]

Huzzah, numbers..

I like numbers >.<

Works well for me :)

[rfirth]

[Detection]

The switchover to touch has begun. It's unavoidable it will augment many desktop systems in a few years. Kids today are growing up with touch, the way we grew up with the mouse.

The switchover yea, but the majority of PC owners don't have a touchscreen, and most likely never will, I'm a heavy PC user and am absolutely not looking to buy a touchscreen any time soon, especially if Win 8 is the OS I would have to run to make any use of it

What MS are doing is like saying, 'Well electric cars are the future, so we're going to start removing petrol pumps from the garages'

What about the billions of people who don't have an electric car?

(EDIT - I wouldn't even say that it is a switchover at all, Touch is a new technology, not a replacement for one that works fine)

I'd like to hear the response to your argument against companies like Razer, "Sorry guys, your mouse and keyboard range is doomed"

[trag3dy]

The switchover to touch has begun. It's unavoidable it will augment many desktop systems in a few years. Kids today are growing up with touch, the way we grew up with the mouse.

Yeah. For mobile. Huge key difference there. There are 0 uses for touch on a desktop right now and trying to force it is just going to **** people off.

[mrp04]

[Jim K Global Moderator]

The switchover to touch has begun. It's unavoidable it will augment many desktop systems in a few years. Kids today are growing up with touch, the way we grew up with the mouse.

Using touch to play Angry Birds or sending text messages isn't the same as using a keyboard/mouse to get work done.

Maybe you enjoy sitting within two feet of your monitor(s)....I don't. Touch will not overtake keyboard/mouse....people will have to be right on top of their monitors (not to include all the muscle fatigue from constantly raising/lowering arms).

[chrisj1968]

I DO NOT hate Windows 8. Let me be clear on this. I think it was poorly marketed, to say even OEMs weren't up on Windows8 and got the bad rap on poor Windows 8 sales. It is a tablet & touchscreen OS only. It was designed that way and left the rest of us behind who still enjoy our 1,2 & 3 year old systems. However, it does work on my system but, it was meant for small tablet systems like the surface RT and pro lines. I'm not privy of the surface system as it doesn't appeal to me.

I still own my copy of Win8 on a DVD I burned the ISO to. I might just have to see what Windows 9 brings to the table and skip over 8. If MS were smart, they should appeal to tablet AND Laptop/Desktop users for the home. But that's just me and my opinion.

[primexx]

Many people have decided those "quirks" that you, someone who favors Windows 8, have identified, as a reason to stick with Windows 7. It quirks them more than it quirks you. That is their choice, just as it is your choice to put up with those "quirks".

Honestly, there isn't anything that I can think of off the top of my head that I find annoying at all. I mentioned quirks because I know that I did stop and pause to reflect on a few UI choices in the past, but they're obviously not important enough or frequently used enough that I can just list them out on command. I can't imagine there's anything that Start8 or similar programs can't fix, while for the tradeoff of using some small third party fixes you're gaining a much better optimized OS, better support for modern hardware (e.g. Defrag -> Optimizer), better core programs like explorer (e.g. file copy) and task manager, and nifty new features like Storage Spaces.

[Hitman2000]

I don't hate windows 8.

I played with it on a few touchscreen devices and it actually works great on them, full screen apps on a tablet where multitasking is not an issue windows 8 is great, on touchscreen laptop its ok, but it gets old after a while touching the screen and I resort back to the mouse and kb.

My main problem is windows 8 on a non touchscreen desktop (and no I don't care about the start menu its a non issue)

this is why I get a headache on neowin when people like dot matrix refuse to even concede a millimetre against windows 8.

[Liana]

I tried Windows 8 on my desktop on two different occasions, and both times the UI was frustrating and felt unintuitive. I really wanted to like Windows 8 but it feels like a step down from Windows 7 -- it has almost nothing to offer me to make me want to switch to it. I'm sure I could get comfortable with the UI in time, but honestly I don't see a benefit in "upgrading" to Win 8 right now or anytime soon.

I've never been much of a Linux user but after Windows 7 gets old enough, I will seriously look into using Linux as my main OS.

[PGHammer]

Meh, Your problem is thinking there is going to be one or the other, when this has proven to be false in past few years.

Touch based devices and a traditional desktop computer serve totally different purposes. While you can do some of the same on both, one does a certain task better.

No one is ever going to want to carry a desktop computer in their pocket to quickly check email, text, look up something, call people, etc, and no one is ever going to want to do real work on a current mobile touch device.

Traditional desktop computers are going no where.

They will simply co-exist together, since they are completely different.

Mistake Microsoft made was trying to make them ONE and force it on others.

Then explain Android.

Android started as a touch-only OS, but grew to accept non-touch input - most WindowsRT devices started as Android-only devices.

That is, I think, the real issue - the acceptance of change is predicated on it NOT being Windows that changes.

Windows - from a UI point of view - has changed the least of any OS since 1995; what changes there HAVE been have been fought tooth and nail.

Most of those that want no part of ModernUI would be quite happy if Android supplanted Windows in terms of non-desktop form factors - *because* Windows would be the way they wanted. They are perfectly happy with Windows becoming a niche operating system.

Never mind that it's not what Microsoft wants - what THEY want is for Windows to change as little as possible.

I tried Windows 8 on my desktop on two different occasions, and both times the UI was frustrating and felt unintuitive. I really wanted to like Windows 8 but it feels like a step down from Windows 7 -- it has almost nothing to offer me to make me want to switch to it. I'm sure I could get comfortable with the UI in time, but honestly I don't see a benefit in "upgrading" to Win 8 right now or anytime soon.

I've never been much of a Linux user but after Windows 7 gets old enough, I will seriously look into using Linux as my main OS.

And you have added another data point - you are unaccepting of the idea of a change in Windows. By stating a desire to leave Windows altogether, rather than accept ANY change, you are basically voting not for status quo ante, but for the status quo period.

[Order_66]

The best thing about this thread is that Dot Matrix posted it and because it tries (and failed) to show a positive light on windows 8 it will probably never be locked regardless of the many arguments and trolling that his post is clearly and deliberately designed to incite.

However the facts about windows 8 still ring true, it is a colossal failure at the retail level, it has a much lower adoption rate than Vista, software developers are thriving from making 8 "usable" with various start menu replacements, new customers at stores like Best Buy, Microcenter etc are avoiding windows 8 like the plague, so much that even Dell by their own admission are on the brink of going private, even sales of macs have gone up because of 8, the fail just goes on and on...

Windows 8 is BY FAR the biggest failure os ever released in the entire history of microsoft, it didn't have to be that way but it is what it is unfortunately.

[francescob]

Windows 8 hasn't stopped me doing anything that I could do in Windows 7.

Well, then try importing and deleting photos from your camera, the stock photos app doesn't even allow that (also you cannot associate WLPG to photo importing any longer), or sending mails from desktop applications or even explorer "send to": when you use the metro mail app, it won't work because the Mail app does not support MAPI so you actually need to use two mail apps, one for metro apps and another for the desktop apps. In general, every metro app is an huge step back from the windows live suite versions and have only a microscopic fraction of the features: the photo app with the unbelievably small zoom slider at the bottom right, that doesn't remember any sorting order, or even the thumbnail size, is the saddest application ever conceived after the visual basic user interfaces in CSI.The whole metro experience also feels unnatural, using the vertical scroll wheel to scroll horizontally, right click to select items, ctrl+scrollwheel to zoom photos, options that appears only when pressing right click without any hint of their existence? Maybe if they simply simulated a a touchscreen so that you could simply click and drag to scroll it wouldn't have felt so weird to use.

[seta-san]

It's still a change and your resistance to it, even you admitted it, you didn't allow yourself to like it

your argument here relies on the presumption that all change is good. I went into windows not with an open mind but fully believing that it was going to be the greatest thing ever. And then it continually got on my nerves. I finally broke down anad installed a start menu replacement program and banished the start screen. I'll try it again when 'blue' is released. I guess one of the saddest ironies of Windows 8 is that it seems to be a first step to get rid of the desktop and yet it sports the best version of "windows explorer" found on any version of windows.

[+Warwagon MVC]

Geesh get a life all of you windows 8 haters, touch is the future. Go back to Windows 7 if you hate windows 8 that much. The start menu is gone the start screen is here to day. We don't need 20,000,000 threads a week about how bad windows 8 sucks. Did I mention how awesome windows 8 is? I can do everything I could do on Windows 7, my productivity hasn't been effected in the least. I also pin everything I want to use to the taskbar. Windows 8 is the best operating system ever. Did I mention how awesome windows 8 is?

/S

[tanjiajun_34]

I just don't find having 2 UI makes sense other then that I am ok with it.

I like the faster boot on Windows 8 and the new "Aero" theme. I won't mind using it but mainly due to lack of Nvidia drivers I am not using it :(

But still I like Vista when it is released more than 8. The Aero looks awesome at the beginning!

[Digit12345]

It's still a change and your resistance to it, even you admitted it, you didn't allow yourself to like it

I'd like to think I'm not a dinosaur. I switch software, often code turkey, especially when it clicks with my notion of elegance and improves my workflow. Some paradigms are clearly better than others. I'd love to have all the optimizations and objective improvements 8 brings along but I feel the compromises I have to make are not worth it. It's worth it for some while others don't even have to make any compromises and that's great for them.

[seta-san]

Geesh get a life all of you windows 8 haters, touch is the future. Go back to Windows 7 if you hate windows 8 that much. The start menu is gone the start screen is here to day. We don't need 20,000,000 threads a week about how bad windows 8 sucks. Did I mention how awesome windows 8 is? I can do everything I could do on Windows 7, my productivity hasn't been effected in the least. I also pin everything I want to use to the taskbar. Windows 8 is the best operating system ever. Did I mention how awesome windows 8 is?

/S

touch is great for portable devices and kiosks. I had to write a 20 page paper on optics for my physics final. I could never imagine having to do all that work on a touch screen. Touch will never be nearly as accurate and precise as a real key stroke and I could never imagine doing all notes and MLA crap and sourcing on touch either. and software programming.. with all the special characters required. What a pain in the ass. "Touch" and all the other "natural" inputs that they keep trying to develop are basically toys and never measure up to real buttons.

Just look at gaming.

Wii's controls are just wailing your arms around hoping that it got your input correct

Kinect's voice recognition is a hit or miss experience as well as flailing your arms and legs at the camera

Move is just the same.

so yeah. "natural inputs" are really in alpha stage of development but being sold as complete products when they aren't. I don't think most people would stand for a mouse or keyboard that sometime got a keystroke right and sometimes not. Why should we accept it from these technologies?

[iron2000]

One sign that Windows 8 isn't doing well in my country: I never seen a Windows ad on TV until Windows 8 :p

The Win 8 ads have been going on TV since the Win 8 release.

Microsoft even partnered with the local TV stations to produce a few web drama series with Win 8 product placements.

Maybe I'm thinking too much and its just more agressive marketing in my country.