Windows 8

[Ryex]

ok I never thought I'd say this. But I'm considering putting windows 8 on my laptop. it needs to be reformatted anyway.

have any of you used it? I know when It first came out I verver would of considered it, but I know it had it first update and they fixed problems like bring back that start and task bars.

basically I'm asking for a recommendation

[WhiteRose]

I bought a new mini laptop with Windows 8 on it, and am still getting used to it. It does have a few advantages over Windows 7, such as (at least from my experience) a faster start time, and a few neat navigational features. It does seem a little "iPad-esque" in the handling of running applications, in that it's sometimes difficult to see at a glance what is actually running and what windows are open. I do think the visual theme is nice, if only because it's a change from the Windows 7 that I've been using for so long.

Give it a try and see what you think. It takes some getting used to, but it's fun to use a new OS, if nothing else.

[Blizzard]

http://forum.chaos-project.com/index.php/topic,12542.0.html

EDIT: Even though Windows 8.1 (which is a free upgrade for all Windows 8 users) is supposed to fix a few of the problems, ultimately Windows 8 is not a good OS, especially not for developers. A few fixes here and there will not fix the core design flaws.

I've used it on a tablet at work as well and it's meh. It could have been done a whole lot better. As a pure tablet OS it's on par with iOS and Android, but as a Windows platform on a tablet, it simply has problems (mostly because Windows is not a tablet OS). All in all I constantly felt like I am being slowed down while doing something.

EDIT: Oh, I'm also running it now at work with 3 GB of RAM and the performance still isn't satisfactory. As a matter of fact, I am getting more and more frustrated by all its flaws.

I was also totally wrong with Microsoft winning back market shares. Well, they would have if they had developers that make apps, but nobody wants to make apps for them because the entire procedure of getting registered, actually releasing an app and getting it through their certification process is incredibly bothersome, idiotic and unnecessarily complicated.

[/rant]

[Zexion]

I've had it since the beginning of summer, and so far I have absolutely zero complaints. My only problems with it came from getting a possible illegal version from the guy that sold me my laptop on ebay. It came unlicensed and getting the key and activating was a complete nightmare. After that though it runs pretty well. Although it was a bit of an adjustment getting used to not having a typical start menu, once I learned to use the new start menu, I found it way easier to navigate. You can literally open a program that is not on your task bar in like 10 seconds lol. I also like that I can loose power and restore completely with almost zero lag and a pretty quick start up. I also like the new lock screen because I can change the picture to anything Also, if a program isn't made for win8 you can run it as win7/vista. It also has a built in pdf reader and can mount .iso's with a right click. I can honestly say that I have no regrets in getting windows 8 Also personally, I've always like the live tile look it's so different from the ugly ios and default icon layouts. Btw, if you really must have a start menu like in windows 7, there are plenty of hacks that add it I've seen them on DeviantArt

This is just from a personal use perspective, as I'm obviously not a developer, so I wouldn't know/be affected by anything.

[Blizzard]

You can literally open a program that is not on your task bar in like 10 seconds lol.

I need 3 seconds in Win7, because that's how long it takes me hit the Windows key, type something in Windows Search and wait for Windows to actually find it. :/

[Ryex]

so basically windows 8.1 fixed none of the problems that were important to me?

Why Microsoft, why.   Why did you write an OS so targeted and yet so flawed.

[PhoenixFire]

Well, I guess it depends how you work really. There are definitely some serious flaws if you expect to do your work like you used to back in the Win7 days. However, If you get used to it enough, Win8 CAn, though usually isn't, just as productive.

You can literally open a program that is not on your task bar in like 10 seconds lol.

I need 3 seconds in Win7, because that's how long it takes me hit the Windows key, type something in Windows Search and wait for Windows to actually find it. :/

Good example right there. It takes me about 2-3 seconds to open a program in 8 as well. Hit the windows key, start typing, and press enter when it pulls up the right one. Sometimes it can take 4-5 seconds if your program has a similar name to other programs, as it might take a few more letters to narrow down your search.


Now for the flaws... I'm a developer to a degree, though not quite the same as Blizz or others on here. And yeah, I went back to Windows 7. Partly because of programming and performance issues, but honestly, I couldn't run certain programs that I wanted to that weren't developer related (mostly games).

I would say, see if you can get a demo (like developer preview) of Win8 from someone, and try it out first. I know I have my old disk copy of the developers preview somewhere back at home. I could find it, make an image, and upload it for you.

[Blizzard]

The developer preview is like a normal preview. They only added "developer" because they probably enabled some system stuff. It's not a "developer edition" or something like that so you don't need to bother. Win8 is just a bad platform for developers. Even my co-worker who was totally "Woah, Windows 8 is awesome" has come to hate it.

EDIT: I just remembered another thing that annoys me to no end. In Windows Explorer you can't see the image properties such as resolution anymore. And if you want to open it to view it, it runs that retarded image viewing Metro app (which needs 5-10 seconds to start up) instead of plain old Photo Viewer that previous Windows versions used.

[Zexion]

I changed that to the photo view XD it's still included but not used by default

[Blizzard]

Weird, I couldn't find it.

[PhoenixFire]

The developer preview is like a normal preview. They only added "developer" because they probably enabled some system stuff. It's not a "developer edition" or something like that so you don't need to bother.

I wasn't suggesting it because it says developer. Feel free to find the consumer preview as well. I just happen to have an image backup of the developer preview, so I suggested it, on the offchance he needed a copy of it.

Even my co-worker who was totally "Woah, Windows 8 is awesome" has come to hate it.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions, so that doesn't surprise me. I personally know people, including myself, who were skeptical about it at first (I really didn't like it at all with how much it changed things), but once you play around with it for a while, and learn how things are done now, it's not so bad.



On a sidenote, I do think this new style is going to soon become the new standard for OSes across the board. I'm sure that comment will get plenty of criticism, but look how OSes have changed over the years.. We went from command line, to simple windows, to very stylized and graphics-centric, and now touch-centric everything. I know our house is a little unique, but we have 2 "normal" laptops that are non-touch running Win7, 2 touch laptops with Win8, 2 Surface tablets, 2 Kindles (one fire color, one original) And three desktops (one is a server and I don't even know what it's running, and the other two running Win7). Supposedly in the next year or so, we'll have all of our laptops with touch, and it will just be my desktop left that's non touch, and non Win8.

[Blizzard]

As I already said, most average users will probably move to tablets and touch interfaces. But the market is 47% normal consumers and 53% businesses. I don't believe that Microsoft can afford to mess up half their market just because they are being stubborn to push through an inferior design (both visually and logically). And the fact that they "fixed" lots of the stuff that annoyed people in Windows 8.1 shows that this is true.

We went from command line, to simple windows, to very stylized and graphics-centric, and back to simple windows.

Fixed. LMAO!

Seriously though. The fact that iOS 7 will use the same minimalistic design as Windows 8 shows that both Microsoft and Apple are out of ideas and the only way that they can see new stuff is that they first downgrade everything a few generations back. The next incarnations will have a somewhat improved graphical design, trust me. From a long term perspective it makes sense, but it sure has pissed off a lot of customers.