Windows 8....urgh

[zag]

I finally gave in an installed Windows 8 on my home file server, its actually usable after a number of tweaks

Start 8 - Black theme
Desktop Gadgets - Most Wanted Windows Desktop Gadgets - Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista
Shutdown, disk and clock gadgets installed
Turned UAC off but this means I can't install any metro apps. No loss there
Good thing was it recognized my 7 year old 3ware RAID card out of the box and is all 64bit.
Start up time is also improved which is nice

homeserver.jpg

Since its a file server, I don't use it very often but I must say Windows 8 is finally bearable with the tweaks and gadgets

[RabbieBurns]

yea im using StartisBack on my desktop and laptop, along with the gadget packs, and its great for an every day device. (both are non touch)

[zag]

So its been 6 months since release, what do people think now...?

I've had a chance to play with it and I love the new copy dialogue and task manager and enhanced start up speed.

Sadly the Metro interface is a huge DISADVANTAGE, and ruins an otherwise nice... if small update to the OS.

Reading around the internet this really is going to be one of those releases that most people laugh at in the future. Good luck next time Microsoft!

[nephilim]

I like the metro, even on a laptop. Remove everything you dont need, put what you do need, nice, simple, job done. OS is also very smooth to use.

[sted]

as above i love the new copy with pause and all copies in 1 window and the task manager. I even like "not metro" as ms are right on my home system i load a grand total of 12 of so programs reguallaly so why not hide the guff i use once in a blue moon? It is far from perfect my 2 biggest gripes are how it manages going between metro and desktop and say you click a link in email that opens up ie when you close ie instead of going back to email it goes to start screen which to me is silly

[nab]

What @SYNACK said. Don't get me wrong, there are some good little touches in 8. But I just feel they've tried too hard to squish a tablet and PC OS into one.

I dont think they've tried hard enough
MS never seem to get it quite right. I like that they try to appeal to the ipad market whilst trying to keep the business users happy too. I'm just not convinced they've got close enough to whatever that should actually be yet. I think its a step in the right direction though. Even if W8 ends up being another Vista, who cares? W7 came after that and it was brilliant. I got high hopes for whatever follows W8... For now I'll be sticking with W7 for laptop and Android for Samsungs Note 10.1.

[CyberNerd]

Different ZDNet authors have countering opinions as to whether anyone can save windows at all:

Microsoft's Windows 8 Plan B(lue): Bring back the Start button, boot to desktop | ZDNet

Windows: It's over | ZDNet

[RabbieBurns]

Im not sure how much the Windows demographic install base is split between consumer (home users) and enterprise (schools, business, etc) but I can see that it may be possible that the home consumer, who might buy a new home computer every 7-12 years* may this time round (is 7 - 12 years a generation?) be heading for the much more advertised consumer based devises such as ipads and non x86 tablets.

* based on the current lifetime of xp and the amount of xp computers I still know in homes currently (<100 so not a global figure)

However with most international enterpise so heavily invested with windows, be it xp or 7, i dont see them all dumping windows because windows 8 has a bit of a new UI.

Granted the 'metro' interface, and charms, etc are not ideal on a non-touch device, but as mentioned may times in all the windows 8 threads, add in a windows 7 style start menu, and windows 8 is basically a faster, and more feature rich windows.

IMO the only thing that MS have messed up with is forcing the metro interface on non-touch devices. Add an option like the 3rd party tools provide to bring back the start menu, and windows 8.1 or blue or pink or whatever they call it will be great.

8desk.png 8met.png

[ZeroHour]

I really don't understand why people hate w8 start menu so much, it works mostly very well and for most I suspect really it consumes a very small percentage of their or my on-screen time to not matter much anyway.
Is a new start menu really a huge disadvantage? how so? do you now find your whole OS experience ruined by only one aspect, the aspect used for short times to usually run programs?
MS won't be killing off legacy apps/desktop mode anytime soon. If anything based on MS's history of legacy support desktop mode apps will be around for a long time yet so does the whole metro app thing really matter much? I have found some useful apps and I do like live tiles showing snips of information when I am actually about to run a program. Metro wont replace my legacy apps but over time I may use more as the platform matures, the point is I don't have to only use metro apps (RT aside).
Touch is not dependant on the app being metro either so the new api in windows 8 mean desktop apps can implement touch as well.

[LeMarchand]

I still don't grasp the fuss over Metro/Modern. Maybe it's the way I use my machine, but I rarely see the start screen (though when I do, it's more attractive than the old version in my eyes) Mind you, I don't load huge amounts of software on. I have started to group the list and have found a way to get portable apps to show there (I try to keep as much as possible portable for easier transfer to a new device). As for the touch only argument: I have a touch screen, but tend not to use it when the keyboard is attached.

I do agree that this may be the latest "Vista", but I didn't think Vista was that bad on capable hardware.

[LosOjos]

I've been using Windows 8 for a couple of months now and it has grown on me. The Metro Start menu is actually quite useful once you get used to it. In my mind, it's a modernised desktop as opposed to a start menu replacement.

As for Metro apps - just horrible. They lack many of the basic features present in their desktop counterparts, waste masses of screen space with whitespace or oversized text/titles and are generally awkward to use (with a keyboard and mouse). There is not a single Metro app that I use regularly apart from the Mail app, and that's only because I've not got around to setting up Outlook (I don't do a lot of emailing anyway).

In essence, Windows 8 is a bit of a schizophrenic. On the one hand, it's the Windows 7 you know and love with a load of extra features and performance tweaks, but on the other hand there's this bloated, ugly Metro beast lying underneath, begging you to use it then failing to deliver the experience it promises.

Maybe I'd see the point of Metro apps if I had a touch screen, but I doubt it. Metro apps just appears to be basic, stripped down version of Windows programs suitable only for tablets. There appears to be absolutely no benefit to using them on a desktop machine.

TL;DR - like the "start Menu", hate the apps.

[Little-Miss]

IMO the only thing that MS have messed up with is forcing the metro interface on non-touch devices. Add an option like the 3rd party tools provide to bring back the start menu, and windows 8.1 or blue or pink or whatever they call it will be great.

8desk.png 8met.png

Agreed...

[CAM]

The issue is how poorly Metro integrates into the desktop. MS intended for Metro to be the all singing, all dancing place to go and the desktop felt like it was tacked on for compatibility (note how you can swipe down to close the desktop like a Metro app). They didn't expect the desktop to be the primary go-to for the user and Metro to be a languishing secondary experience.

So where does this leave Windows 8 and Metro? The live tiles only work with Metro apps, the user interface is horrendous and eats all your screen space and important parts like just opening Metro or closing an app is hidden by gestures. No close button, no start button, no indication what you should do to switch.

The people app, pointless. I'd expect this on my phone but if it was something that aggregated all my contacts from multiple networks into one window on the desktop? There's demand for that just look at Pidgin. But no, it has to be full screen and a nightmare to use.

I still don't see the point of the charms bar. It is pops up at the side and fills half my screen with a vertical bar and a clock. Some Metro apps apparently have settings hidden here but it's worthless in desktop mode.

They did really well with frankly god-like task manager. They did really well with type to search in Start (which I use a lot now but again, hidden feature!). I even like Explorer ribbons! But Metro is user hostile and inefficient and this is what is killing Windows 8, and I say this as a new WP8 user who loves live tiles...but they belong on a phone and not on a 1080p powerhouse computer.

I just don't see why I need to open full screen apps to look at some boxes with a message in when it would be better served as a desktop widget.

[LosOjos]

I just don't see why I need to open full screen apps to look at some boxes with a message in when it would be better served as a desktop widget.

Apparently Microsoft's latest research indicates that ever since Windows 1.0, people have longed for a PC they couldn't multi task on [/sarcasm]

[localzuk]

I don't understand the interface formerly known as Metro (herein TIFKAM), simply because I don't need everything full screen. I want to be able to have multiple windows open at the same time, tiled how I want them - hence the name 'Windows'...

TIFKAM makes you have a Skype chat window fullscreen or as a specific section. What if I want multiple chat windows open at once?