Windows 8 Windows 8 sucks

Kerrie Bantoft

New Member
Just picked up my new laptop.. has win 8 installed (had no choice of op system) ... why is it like a tablet design? I have a tablet already.. I just want a basic computer for my photoshop/office programs
* There is no start button unless you download a start button program from another resource
* Win 7 has the ability to select various folders (without holding down the ctrl key) by ticking the folders you want.. I loved it.. but its not available in Win 8. why not?
There are numerous differences to Win 7 and I can understand they wanted to make it more modern looking but the basic features of Win 7 were not added to Win 8.
I am really really disappointed
 
I think the major problem is that the hardware has not exactly caught up with the software. Microsoft has, on occasion, had a history of doing this. The idea of Windows 8 is that one day you'll be able to control your computers with your eyes, with Windows Kinect, and eventually with diodes connected to your brain (seriously). Right now, these technologies exist, but they generally cost thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars, and are currently being researched for use by the disabled. Once this technology becomes mainstream, people will be able to switch around their OS without much difficulty, just by moving their eyeballs. I know it reads as crazy, but that seems to be the ultimate goal of Windows 8 - stay modern and predict, or even instigate new changes in human interface device (HUD) hardware.

The problem right now seems to be that the market is segregated into "tablets" and "non-tablets". Obviously, the tablet PCs have this touch screen capability. The non-tablet laptops are a lot cheaper for the money you are spending on parts, but don't have touch screen capability yet. For example, I keep looking at the Alienware website for laptops, and am wondering if they will ever release a touch screen enabled gaming system.

I look at Dell's XPS 15, which is one of its best laptop models for visual graphics and HD resolution, and I don't see anything about touch screens. So there is that whole issue.

Someone brought it up quite eloquently here when they said, "How is this Windows" when you are basically going from one full screen application to the next. Well the answer seems to be that these are tiles, and not actual Windows. This is a real problem for the brand, I would say.

However, within the desktop, things work a bit more efficiently than in Windows 7, I would argue. For one, you are promised the latest updates as they become available, you do get better driver support and peripheral detection, the network stack is better designed to handle a variety of different connection types, and overall, the system is really geared for this emphasis on mobile computing.

I think the major issue is that Microsoft, as well as many other companies, likely see where the industry will be in ten years or so. People will still be using desktops for production work, but the horsepower that you used to see on a modern desktop or laptop is now being ported over to mobile devices, and quickly. A good point was made that Intel had a chance to buy ARM Holdings many years ago, which of course, develops the ARM processors on many mobile tablets and cell phones. That company is now with its weight in gold, due to the number of people buying smart phones or tablets. They didn't acquire the company, and now they are developing their own ultra-mobile processors.

I had the opportunity to provide direct feedback to Microsoft during the developer preview and the consumer preview. I urged them to keep the Start Menu option available, to no avail. Someone spent a lot of effort removing the Start Menu between the developer preview and the consumer preview, and I have no idea why this was done, if only to push people to use the infamous Metro UI. I think this counts as a lack of consumer choice, and not an expansion of it. In information technology, or any industry, that's a really bad idea.

As for Windows 7 "folder" issue you are describing, try going to View in Explorer and changing the General Options under Folder Options:

Open each folder in its own window.
Navigation Pane - Show all folders instead of Show Favorites.

You can still make changes to how Windows Explorer (Now File Explorer) displays information using the View and Search tabs.

Overall, I would argue that Windows 8 is definitely a more stable OS. This comes at some expense, and that does include the inclusion of unwanted features for many users who simply prefer the desktop. There are ways to get around this, as you mentioned. Staying with Windows 7 is not an option for some people, as the possibility of losing an upgrade path to future versions is not good... the same way many XP users were stuck being unable to upgrade to 7 without a clean install.

These are all my opinions here, and they may not suit yours, but I think there is a trade-off, as not everyone will be pleased with the new interface. It is clearly an attempt to make inroads in the mobile computing market, which is taking off. Prior to Windows 8, Microsoft had not made much of a dent in this industry, as Android and Apple continue to dominate the marketplace. I would not be surprised if Apple starts to lose its positioning to Microsoft's new hardware and products (their unilateral release of Microsoft Surface seemed to infuriate some hardware manufacturers, who were worried the company would get into the computer hardware business like Apple).

Overall, however, I think Google's control over cell phones and most tablets is currently cemented in stone. It will take a lot more than Windows 8 to break that. Remember, Windows 8 is Microsoft's first real attempt at touch screen computing. I used to set up NVIDIA Quatro systems with quad monitors and these systems used Windows XP with touch screen drivers and custom software for a specific purpose. Microsoft seems to be moving to make Windows a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform. This means you would pay for upgrades to the OS and simply download them over the Internet. Whether or not that will ever happen, succeed, or fail, is up to conjecture.

If you have lost all faith in Windows 8 as an OS, you may want to hang on and check out the Windows Blue rumors.
 
Mike
Very interesting post. MS has also really missed the boat on educating new users. They should have included a popup for the first startup with a video showing how to use the new layout. I found it annoying to have to do a web search just to find where to shut it down.
Joe
 
Hi

Just install Classic Shell on your new computer and pretend you are using Windows 7.
That's what I'm doing.

If I could go back a month I'd change my mind and install Windows 7 Pro instead of Windows 8.

I'm not having problems using Windows 8 but why have all the extra baggage when I'm no using it.

Mike
 
Yes i agree.. I just wish they would leave the basics as well for those who require them



I think the major problem is that the hardware has not exactly caught up with the software. Microsoft has, on occasion, had a history of doing this. The idea of Windows 8 is that one day you'll be able to control your computers with your eyes, with Windows Kinect, and eventually with diodes connected to your brain (seriously). Right now, these technologies exist, but they generally cost thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars, and are currently being researched for use by the disabled. Once this technology becomes mainstream, people will be able to switch around their OS without much difficulty, just by moving their eyeballs. I know it reads as crazy, but that seems to be the ultimate goal of Windows 8 - stay modern and predict, or even instigate new changes in human interface device (HUD) hardware.

The problem right now seems to be that the market is segregated into "tablets" and "non-tablets". Obviously, the tablet PCs have this touch screen capability. The non-tablet laptops are a lot cheaper for the money you are spending on parts, but don't have touch screen capability yet. For example, I keep looking at the Alienware website for laptops, and am wondering if they will ever release a touch screen enabled gaming system.

I look at Dell's XPS 15, which is one of its best laptop models for visual graphics and HD resolution, and I don't see anything about touch screens. So there is that whole issue.

Someone brought it up quite eloquently here when they said, "How is this Windows" when you are basically going from one full screen application to the next. Well the answer seems to be that these are tiles, and not actual Windows. This is a real problem for the brand, I would say.

However, within the desktop, things work a bit more efficiently than in Windows 7, I would argue. For one, you are promised the latest updates as they become available, you do get better driver support and peripheral detection, the network stack is better designed to handle a variety of different connection types, and overall, the system is really geared for this emphasis on mobile computing.

I think the major issue is that Microsoft, as well as many other companies, likely see where the industry will be in ten years or so. People will still be using desktops for production work, but the horsepower that you used to see on a modern desktop or laptop is now being ported over to mobile devices, and quickly. A good point was made that Intel had a chance to buy ARM Holdings many years ago, which of course, develops the ARM processors on many mobile tablets and cell phones. That company is now with its weight in gold, due to the number of people buying smart phones or tablets. They didn't acquire the company, and now they are developing their own ultra-mobile processors.

I had the opportunity to provide direct feedback to Microsoft during the developer preview and the consumer preview. I urged them to keep the Start Menu option available, to no avail. Someone spent a lot of effort removing the Start Menu between the developer preview and the consumer preview, and I have no idea why this was done, if only to push people to use the infamous Metro UI. I think this counts as a lack of consumer choice, and not an expansion of it. In information technology, or any industry, that's a really bad idea.

As for Windows 7 "folder" issue you are describing, try going to View in Explorer and changing the General Options under Folder Options:

Open each folder in its own window.
Navigation Pane - Show all folders instead of Show Favorites.

You can still make changes to how Windows Explorer (Now File Explorer) displays information using the View and Search tabs.

Overall, I would argue that Windows 8 is definitely a more stable OS. This comes at some expense, and that does include the inclusion of unwanted features for many users who simply prefer the desktop. There are ways to get around this, as you mentioned. Staying with Windows 7 is not an option for some people, as the possibility of losing an upgrade path to future versions is not good... the same way many XP users were stuck being unable to upgrade to 7 without a clean install.

These are all my opinions here, and they may not suit yours, but I think there is a trade-off, as not everyone will be pleased with the new interface. It is clearly an attempt to make inroads in the mobile computing market, which is taking off. Prior to Windows 8, Microsoft had not made much of a dent in this industry, as Android and Apple continue to dominate the marketplace. I would not be surprised if Apple starts to lose its positioning to Microsoft's new hardware and products (their unilateral release of Microsoft Surface seemed to infuriate some hardware manufacturers, who were worried the company would get into the computer hardware business like Apple).

Overall, however, I think Google's control over cell phones and most tablets is currently cemented in stone. It will take a lot more than Windows 8 to break that. Remember, Windows 8 is Microsoft's first real attempt at touch screen computing. I used to set up NVIDIA Quatro systems with quad monitors and these systems used Windows XP with touch screen drivers and custom software for a specific purpose. Microsoft seems to be moving to make Windows a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform. This means you would pay for upgrades to the OS and simply download them over the Internet. Whether or not that will ever happen, succeed, or fail, is up to conjecture.

If you have lost all faith in Windows 8 as an OS, you may want to hang on and check out the Windows Blue rumors.
 
I'm not to happy about win8 on my new 1 week old dell XPS but going to give it a try before moving all my work/files over. When I first booted up the new dell I said DUH--- now whats next... it's the first OS that it took an hour to figure how to get to the various programs. If all else fails I got Win7 Pro(unused) to install. But for now will give it a try.
 
I'm not to happy about win8 on my new 1 week old dell XPS but going to give it a try before moving all my work/files over. When I first booted up the new dell I said DUH--- now whats next... it's the first OS that it took an hour to figure how to get to the various programs. If all else fails I got Win7 Pro(unused) to install. But for now will give it a try.

The biggest benefits of Windows 8 is the speed of the OS itself and the efficiency in which it uses the hardware especially the CPU and RAM.That being said, you've got to give at least 30 days....it does take some getting use to it. I'm dual booting and find myself using 8 more than 7.
 
Hi

I dual booted for a year, and I never went back and used 7 so it was natural to get my new computer with 8.
But I'm finding the final version to be more intrusive then the beta version that didn't have a lot of working apps anyway.

I'm not using any of them, and the OS is stable and fast, but it still bugs me that it doesn't come with an interface that makes any sense.

I remember the first time I booted into the beta version and couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do when I got to the screen with only a background on it.

What is that all about anyway?

Why not just go to the log in screen?

It' like they went out of their way to make everything a little harder and less convenient to do then it was before.
It's as if they had people sitting there thinking how can I add an extra step to each of these procedures.

Mike
 
Kerrie,

1st, just as quick aside, I thought sure there was something when you 1st turn on a Win8 machine offering a 'show-n-tell' about what Microsoft thinks is how it is to be used or manipulated, navigated. Anyway, that said...

Yes, it's a big different from the recent past & one has to learn (never too old for that) or discover it before it becomes a new comfort zone. But, not meaning to bicker @ all, it sure does NOT suck; quite the opposite, really! It is an extremely good OS and fundamentally just another Windows OS computer. People get thrown off stride cus it looks different & you go about things a bit differently, but, it's just cosmetics & 'mechanics'... grass-roots there's nothing weird or bad about it. It does have some cool Feature-sets, whether they are (all) used or not & technically it is on a very high order.

Now, Kerrie, so you can be happier in your Windows 8 experience, take a look @ this (this being the link provided @ the bottom of this note). I'd be glad to tell you how to accomplish this & you'd have the good ole desktop experience to which you are accustom. Plus the cool things Win8, also, is, does & offers.

Regardless of agreement or not... Windows 8 is downright enjoyable to use, especially when done as this link discusses. When you get to know it & that does not need take long, especially if someone point out a few helpful bits... well, let's just say, much as I liked 7... there's no looking back... 8 is just so much better & easier.

It sure doesn't deserve the bad press, negative hype or all the stuff that misleads people about it.

And, remember, all it takes to go to Desktop is hit Enter :)

And I do find it note-worthy that where we used to hear it bashed, now we are hearing (accurate, realistic) praise & much of it raves from the same people that were putting it down. Damn thing tends to grow on a person.

http://windows8forums.com/windows-8...838-win8-desktop-approach-you-might-like.html

Cheers,
Drew
Win8Logo.jpg
 
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I think the major problem is that the hardware has not exactly caught up with the software. Microsoft has, on occasion, had a history of doing this. The idea of Windows 8 is that one day you'll be able to control your computers with your eyes, with Windows Kinect, and eventually with diodes connected to your brain (seriously). Right now, these technologies exist, but they generally cost thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars, and are currently being researched for use by the disabled. Once this technology becomes mainstream, people will be able to switch around their OS without much difficulty, just by moving their eyeballs. I know it reads as crazy, but that seems to be the ultimate goal of Windows 8 - stay modern and predict, or even instigate new changes in human interface device (HUD) hardware.

The problem right now seems to be that the market is segregated into "tablets" and "non-tablets". Obviously, the tablet PCs have this touch screen capability. The non-tablet laptops are a lot cheaper for the money you are spending on parts, but don't have touch screen capability yet. For example, I keep looking at the Alienware website for laptops, and am wondering if they will ever release a touch screen enabled gaming system.

I look at Dell's XPS 15, which is one of its best laptop models for visual graphics and HD resolution, and I don't see anything about touch screens. So there is that whole issue.

Someone brought it up quite eloquently here when they said, "How is this Windows" when you are basically going from one full screen application to the next. Well the answer seems to be that these are tiles, and not actual Windows. This is a real problem for the brand, I would say.

However, within the desktop, things work a bit more efficiently than in Windows 7, I would argue. For one, you are promised the latest updates as they become available, you do get better driver support and peripheral detection, the network stack is better designed to handle a variety of different connection types, and overall, the system is really geared for this emphasis on mobile computing.

I think the major issue is that Microsoft, as well as many other companies, likely see where the industry will be in ten years or so. People will still be using desktops for production work, but the horsepower that you used to see on a modern desktop or laptop is now being ported over to mobile devices, and quickly. A good point was made that Intel had a chance to buy ARM Holdings many years ago, which of course, develops the ARM processors on many mobile tablets and cell phones. That company is now with its weight in gold, due to the number of people buying smart phones or tablets. They didn't acquire the company, and now they are developing their own ultra-mobile processors.

I had the opportunity to provide direct feedback to Microsoft during the developer preview and the consumer preview. I urged them to keep the Start Menu option available, to no avail. Someone spent a lot of effort removing the Start Menu between the developer preview and the consumer preview, and I have no idea why this was done, if only to push people to use the infamous Metro UI. I think this counts as a lack of consumer choice, and not an expansion of it. In information technology, or any industry, that's a really bad idea.

As for Windows 7 "folder" issue you are describing, try going to View in Explorer and changing the General Options under Folder Options:

Open each folder in its own window.
Navigation Pane - Show all folders instead of Show Favorites.

You can still make changes to how Windows Explorer (Now File Explorer) displays information using the View and Search tabs.

Overall, I would argue that Windows 8 is definitely a more stable OS. This comes at some expense, and that does include the inclusion of unwanted features for many users who simply prefer the desktop. There are ways to get around this, as you mentioned. Staying with Windows 7 is not an option for some people, as the possibility of losing an upgrade path to future versions is not good... the same way many XP users were stuck being unable to upgrade to 7 without a clean install.

These are all my opinions here, and they may not suit yours, but I think there is a trade-off, as not everyone will be pleased with the new interface. It is clearly an attempt to make inroads in the mobile computing market, which is taking off. Prior to Windows 8, Microsoft had not made much of a dent in this industry, as Android and Apple continue to dominate the marketplace. I would not be surprised if Apple starts to lose its positioning to Microsoft's new hardware and products (their unilateral release of Microsoft Surface seemed to infuriate some hardware manufacturers, who were worried the company would get into the computer hardware business like Apple).

Overall, however, I think Google's control over cell phones and most tablets is currently cemented in stone. It will take a lot more than Windows 8 to break that. Remember, Windows 8 is Microsoft's first real attempt at touch screen computing. I used to set up NVIDIA Quatro systems with quad monitors and these systems used Windows XP with touch screen drivers and custom software for a specific purpose. Microsoft seems to be moving to make Windows a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform. This means you would pay for upgrades to the OS and simply download them over the Internet. Whether or not that will ever happen, succeed, or fail, is up to conjecture.

If you have lost all faith in Windows 8 as an OS, you may want to hang on and check out the Windows Blue rumors.

I also agree with this. I am using windows 8 from one month in my laptop and I do not feel any big problem yet.
 
If Windows 8 behaved exactly like Windows 7 then this would be true but facts are it is not.
I always hated Explorer (Files) as when you need another window open it never allows this.
So for someone doing multiple tasks it is unlike Windows 7 as Explore (Files) is not needed.

Now Windows 8 has many improvements but the UI for a Desktop is just crazy.
Really making a Desktop respond like a Tablet is just beyond stupid.Bad press results.
Also I get they want to look like a Tablet but just spaced off the 99% of users use a mouse.

I now have to use 2 hands to use Windows 8 while a single mouse in hand in all the previous Windows 95 to 7 could do the same thing with one hand.
Being 1 armed Windows 8 is truly wrongheaded.
 
Richard, I dunno where you got this stuff but, it is not true. I can't even make sense of what you're saying. Win8 on a non-Touch machine works beautifully. And you never need to leave Desktop, anyway. Nothing says you have to use the Start/Tiles screen, @ all.

This is SO much faster & easier to use & navigate than 7 or before ever was.

Sorry, but, you've missed something somewhere about working in Windows 8. It is a speedy, easy, joy. If you don't care for what you call Tablet-like, don't use it that way :) You can, don't have to; I hardly ever do.

Cheers,
Drew
Win8Logo.jpg
 
Mike
Very interesting post. MS has also really missed the boat on educating new users. They should have included a popup for the first startup with a video showing how to use the new layout. I found it annoying to have to do a web search just to find where to shut it down.
Joe


There is a small animation showing this at first boot.
 
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