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Windows 8....urgh

Domino

By Domino
in Windows 8

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LosOjos

LosOjos

Posted
Posted

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

Little-Miss

Posted
Posted

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.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]17823[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]17825[/ATTACH]

 

Agreed...

CAM

CAM

Posted
Posted

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

LosOjos

Posted
Posted
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

localzuk

Posted
Posted

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?

Duke5A

Duke5A

Posted
Posted
I'm honestly trying to like it. I'm in the middle of building a base image of it so a few of my more advanced users can try it out and whilst doing this some of the UI changes I'm coming across just makes me wonder. Under the hood it's actually faster than Windows 7, but what it all comes down to is if it takes longer for me to perform a task on the new version of Windows than it did on the previous iteration, then it's failing. I hope they clean up some of the mess in the next release.
  • 3 weeks later...
Arthur

Arthur

Posted
Posted

Windows 8.1 public preview is out on 26th June.

 

blogs.windows.com/windows/b/bloggingwindows/archive/2013/05/14/windows-keeps-getting-better.aspx

 

“Windows Blue” will be called Windows 8.1 and will be a free update to Windows 8 for consumers through the Windows Store.

 

We have much more to share about Windows 8.1 in the coming weeks. We will also be making a public preview of Windows 8.1 available starting on June 26, timed with the Build developer conference in San Francisco. The preview will be available for Windows 8 and Windows RT.
Gatt

Gatt

Posted
Posted
I got the joke straight away if that's any consolation, although it went straight over @Gatt's head. :)

 

http://i.imgur.com/OLEN05Z.jpg

 

 

Err yeah it did I'm afraid - suprised you lot didn't hear the penny when it finally dropped about an hour later :twitch: :getmecoat:

  • 6 months later...
zag

zag

Posted
Posted (edited)

Yey!

 

Microsoft have finally given in and it looks like they are going to address the concerns about windows 8.

 

Microsoft's forthcoming wave of Windows updates will streamline the OS and will even see the return of the much-missed Start menu, according to new reports.

 

Rumors that Redmond is planning a new round of updates to the various forms of its OS first surfaced last week, with ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley reporting that Microsoft will deliver a mass overhaul called "Threshold" that will bring significant changes to Windows, Windows RT, and Xbox One.

 

On Monday, Foley and fellow Microsoft-watcher Paul Thurrott both elaborated on those whispers, with each citing sources who claim the software giant will use Threshhold to address longstanding customer gripes with Windows 8.

 

According to Foley, this next round of updates – let's call it Windows 8.2, although no version number has been announced – will see Microsoft's OS consolidated into three versions, each aimed at a different market.

 

For starters, there will allegedly be a "modern" version of Windows that will be oriented around Windows Store apps, Redmond's touch-centric software model that debuted with Windows 8. This version will be similar to the current Windows RT OS that ships on Microsoft's ARM-based Surface tablets, but in its new incarnation it will span PCs, tablets, and phones, and it may run on the Intel chip architecture as well as ARM.

 

A second version of Windows will be aimed at customers who want a more traditional PC experience, Foley reports, with emphasis on the desktop and a UI designed for keyboards and mice.

 

There will also be a third version that targets enterprise customers, Foley's sources suggest. One difference with this version will be that instead of frequent, automatic updates delivered via the Windows Store, Microsoft will ship security fixes on a more predictable cadence to suit business IT admins.

 

The idea appears to be that Microsoft will tailor slightly different versions of its operating system for different audiences, rather than the one-size-fits-all approach it tried when it launched the touch-driven Windows 8.

 

Thurrott seems to agree with most of Foley's murmurings, but his own sources add that Redmond will also use the updates to address customer complaints about how Windows 8 works. For example, he claims, the so-called Windows 8.2 will allow users to run multiple Windows Store apps in windows on the desktop, rather than being forced to run them full screen even on high-resolution monitors, as they must do now.

 

And in even bigger news, Thurrott said that he expects the next version of Windows to bring back the traditional Start menu as an option, addressing what is perhaps customers' biggest gripe in much the same way that Windows 8.1 restored the ability to boot directly to the desktop. He added, however, that it's possible that this feature will only be available on versions of Windows that support the desktop, and not on the consumer-oriented, Windows Store–centric version.

 

How much credence do we give these rumors? It's always safest to be skeptical, but both Foley and Thurrott are seasoned Microsoft sleuths with reliable sources close to Redmond.

 

Even if these reports are accurate, however, there is still plenty of time for Microsoft's plans to change. Foley and Thurrott both agree that this next round of Windows updates isn't due to hit until 2015.

 

Source: It's true, the START MENU is coming BACK to Windows 8, hiss sources

Edited by zag
  • Thanks 4
localzuk

localzuk

Posted
Posted

Thank FSM for that! I was dreading a move to Windows 8/9 eventually here, as it seemed Microsoft simply wasn't listening to their largest customers - enterprise.

 

There's a reason why office PCs have keyboards and mice - they're the most efficient method of entering information into a PC. You wouldn't replace a hammer with a brick...

sparkeh

sparkeh

Posted
Posted

Fingers crossed this happens. It should have been the strategy from the start (that was unintentional :)).

 

The annoying thing is that under the nonsense Windows 8 is a good OS.

zag

zag

Posted
Posted (edited)

Indeed! It sounds like they actually listened!

 

Its the same old Microsoft cycle, good OS, bad OS, Good OS :)

Edited by zag
Quackers

Quackers

Posted
Posted
Indeed! That reports sounds like they actually listened!

 

Its the same old Microsoft cycle, good OS, bad OS, Good OS :)

 

What Cycle? NT 4 Good, Windows 2000 Good, XP Good, Vista Bad, 7 Good, 8 VERY VERY bad, 8.1 Bad.

sparkeh

sparkeh

Posted
Posted (edited)
What Cycle? NT 4 Good, Windows 2000 Good, XP Good, Vista Bad, 7 Good, 8 VERY VERY bad, 8.1 Bad.

http://www.fixmypcfree.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/microsoft-windows-good-bad-cycle-operating-systems.jpg

Edited by sparkeh
  • Thanks 3
localzuk

localzuk

Posted
Posted
What Cycle? NT 4 Good, Windows 2000 Good, XP Good, Vista Bad, 7 Good, 8 VERY VERY bad, 8.1 Bad.

 

98SE good, ME bad, XP good, Vista bad, 7 good, 8 bad

 

NT and 2000 were a separate stream really until XP, and were not Microsoft's 'leading' product.

LosOjos

LosOjos

Posted
Posted
That don't work as 3.1/95/98/ME are a different line of OS to NT4/2000/XP/Vista/7/8

 

All those OS's in the graphic were MS flagship OS at time of release, not including server or workstation versions

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