Windows 8: One Hot Mess

[tservice]

vista was ok sorta, a system resource hog.. but not as good as xp. win 7 was good. I can not wait to try win 8.

 

[Nova5]

The problem I found is most users supplied it with minimum spec systems. I had a powerful system for it to run on. Never had any resource problems.. except firefox. That is one poorly written program. Keeps sucking up more and more memory and never releasing it.

 

[Oldskooler]

My two cents if I may. Vista sucked, Windows 7 became what Vista was supposed to be. I have an HP touch screen and have just moved to WIN 8. It was a bitch to install, but after much research I got it to stabilize and I love it.

 

[Golddiggie]

Pretty much everyone/anyone will agree Vista was an OS that never should have been released. Windows 7 is far better than Vista, and previous operating systems. On my Windows tablet, Win 8 is about 98% of where I want it to be. If I could just get the damned screen to rotate with the tablet, it would be 100%. I blame the tablet manufacturer on that though, NOT Microsoft.

With most of my "upgrade's" of the OS, I go with the wipe and install method. IME, it leads to far less issues in both the short, and long, term.

I'm giving serious thought to wiping my Windows tablet and reinstalling Win 8 on it. Especially since the manufacturer has released Windows 8 drivers and such. Plus, I had installed the release candidate earlier (via TechNet), so things could be better with a clean, current release, install.

 

[ingchr1]

It was a bitch to install, but after much research I got it to stabilize and I love it.

Following HPs instructions I had zero issues installing it on my all-in-one touch screen.

 

[Domminigan]

I feel your pain.
My Windows 7 work laptop dropped a chocolate muffin in my lap one day while at a jobsite, so I popped off to the local Worst Buy and snagged a new laptop. Windows 8. Bugger.
The first two weeks were awful. Wireless internet worked for a few minutes, disconnected, and then would not reconnect. Old programs and great games that I once used constantly are incompatible. Wrong move of the touchpad, and I'm looking at a different screen, not sure how I got there or how to get back.
I'm now doing much better on it. My only question is: How do I search the Windows Store app for a specific app? I have yet to figure that one out.
I may not be a great fan, but it's not an insurmountable learning curve.

 

[The_Professor]

...
I may not be a great fan, but it's not an insurmountable learning curve.

Diner: I'd like to have the Reuben.
Waiter: You'll have the chicken.
Diner: I'd really like to have the Reuben.
Waiter: You'll have the chicken.
Diner: Alright, so I guess some fried chicken would be good.
Waiter: It's baked.
Diner: I don't really care for baked chicken.
Waiter: You'll have the baked chicken.
Diner: Okay, I'll have the baked chicken.
Waiter: With a side of beets.
Diner: Okay.

MS: You'll have Windows 8
Consumer: Okay.

 

[Golddiggie]

Diner: I'd like to have the Reuben.
Waiter: You'll have the chicken.
Diner: I'd really like to have the Reuben.
Waiter: You'll have the chicken.
Diner: Alright, so I guess some fried chicken would be good.
Waiter: It's baked.
Diner: I don't really care for baked chicken.
Waiter: You'll have the baked chicken.
Diner: Okay, I'll have the baked chicken.
Waiter: With a side of beets.
Diner: Okay.

MS: You'll have Windows 8
Consumer: Okay.

But, unlike with apple, you at least have the chance of installing Windows 7 onto that new system (that came with 8). With apple, you don't even get a choice... It's more along the lines of: You'll have OS X nn.nn and you WILL LIKE IT!! Doesn't matter if you have software that cannot run on it. Or older hardware (that's business critical) doesn't have drivers for it yet. You got that shiny new computer from them, and all you can do is surf the web. :cross:

 

[The_Professor]

...you at least have the chance of installing Windows 7 onto that new system (that came with 8)...

I believe the media is not provided.

So after ordering the baked chicken with beets it is possible to "downgrade" to the Reuben so long as you bring it in yourself.

 

[Golddiggie]

I believe the media is not provided.

So after ordering the baked chicken with beets it is possible to "downgrade" to the Reuben so long as you bring it in yourself.

Well, there are plenty of us that have full access to Windows 7 media/ISO files. Legit ones even. Got to love TechNet.

IF you order a system from the manufacturer, most will still give you the option of getting either Windows 7 or 8 with/on it. Those that just have to rush out to the store to get it are a lot more limited in options/choices.

 

[whoaru99]

Time to come to the dark side and use Linux where you can .

I'm a computer tech and ive had pretty much the exact same reservations as you have about windows 8. The OS is not designed for a serious user. The interface is a serious debauchery of practical and efficient design. Ill be sticking with Windows 7 until i have no choice but to upgrade.

Arguably, their main intent is not for "serious" users. They're (re: Windows) OSes for the masses.

 

[Golddiggie]

Arguably, their main intent is not for "serious" users. They're (re: Windows) OSes for the masses.

Same can be said about Linux distro's like Ubunto (sp?). If I'm going to install/use Linux its going to be either RHEL or CentOS. Even there I'll do a custom install to ensure it has what I want/need.

 

[DrunkleJon]

Yeah I would reccomend upgrading back to xp or 7. XP probably doesnt have supported drivers though. I played with it on my uncles new laptop and it is not intuitive as the others. It is too much change too fast.

It seems to be along the same lines as Vista was, which is rushed to release where 8.5 will come out and be the finished (win 7 equivalent) version of it. I just feel that they forced too many changes too fast without including the reverse compatibility of the previous version behavior. I mean Vista/7 can be made to look/behave mostly like 95/98/NT/ME/XP. I feel like someone who has never used a computer before when i bang on the keyboard with 8. It makes me feel impotent and stupid which makes me angry. No thanks. I think I am going to hold off onbuying any new devices and continue to rebuild my current ones for a while.

Hopefully MS takes heed of all the grumblings and adds a win7 mode to it.

 

[Golddiggie]

Yeah I would reccomend upgrading back to xp or 7. XP probably doesnt have supported drivers though. I played with it on my uncles new laptop and it is not intuitive as the others. It is too much change too fast.

It seems to be along the same lines as Vista was, which is rushed to release where 8.5 will come out and be the finished (win 7 equivalent) version of it. I just feel that they forced too many changes too fast without including the reverse compatibility of the previous version behavior. I mean Vista/7 can be made to look/behave mostly like 95/98/NT/ME/XP. I feel like someone who has never used a computer before when i bang on the keyboard with 8. It makes me feel impotent and stupid which makes me angry. No thanks. I think I am going to hold off onbuying any new devices and continue to rebuild my current ones for a while.

Hopefully MS takes heed of all the grumblings and adds a win7 mode to it.

I do agree that they need to at least give people the option of having the Start menu again. Flipping back to the tiles, of the start screen, is probably more pain than benefit (for many). Unless you're on a touch-screen system that is. But, there's not a lot of those out there yet. People are not about to go out and get a touch-screen to replace a perfectly working display JUST for an OS to be easier to use.

I've voiced my opinions to a MS rep more than a few times. Hopefully enough people will tell theirs (from companies) that a change will be made. Or at least give the businesses a way to bring back that aspect for their users. So maybe with the Professional and Enterprise version, but leave the 'home' versions without it. Since I have TechNet, I don't have an issue with that.

 

[passedpawn]

I do agree that they need to at least give people the option of having the Start menu again. Flipping back to the tiles, of the start screen, is probably more pain than benefit (for many). Unless you're on a touch-screen system that is. But, there's not a lot of those out there yet. People are not about to go out and get a touch-screen to replace a perfectly working display JUST for an OS to be easier to use.

I've voiced my opinions to a MS rep more than a few times. Hopefully enough people will tell theirs (from companies) that a change will be made. Or at least give the businesses a way to bring back that aspect for their users. So maybe with the Professional and Enterprise version, but leave the 'home' versions without it. Since I have TechNet, I don't have an issue with that.

There is a tool out there that will put the start menu back. Not a MS tool. Sorry, I read about it but can't remember.

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

I personally have no issues with Windows 8. I wouldn't put it on my desktop but for my laptop it's awesome because there's almost no boot time. Like under 30 seconds.

 

[DrunkleJon]

I personally have no issues with Windows 8. I wouldn't put it on my desktop but for my laptop it's awesome because there's almost no boot time. Like under 30 seconds.

I will argue with that. From my experience (with a brand new win 8 laptop) it takes even longer to boot up. Mainly because they make it so hard to do an actual shut down. Of course the laptop i was using was < 1 week old and had a crapped out battery already that would hold no charge so when it went off and became unplugged really turned off. It took longer than a Win ME workstation that was 1.5 years old to boot up. <shudder>

 

[passedpawn]

If you wan't fast boot times install OS on a solid state drive. My laptop is one of those fancy Asus ultrabooks with a SSD and it has very fast boot times.

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

I will argue with that. From my experience (with a brand new win 8 laptop) it takes even longer to boot up. Mainly because they make it so hard to do an actual shut down. Of course the laptop i was using was < 1 week old and had a crapped out battery already that would hold no charge so when it went off and became unplugged really turned off. It took longer than a Win ME workstation that was 1.5 years old to boot up. <shudder>

That's the opposite of my experience. I had windows 7 on my laptop when I bought it and it was much slower on every aspect of booting. From standby, from shutdown, a restart. I do think Windows 8 makes things harder to use, but I do have faith in MS, they're attempting to make a unified interface and I think it will be better in the future, kinda like when they made a big jump to Vista almost everyone hated it but Vista was pretty awesome in reality if you had the computer to run it and weren't trying to hookup a 10 year old keyboard or printer. 7 was much better received because it was more polished than Vista and I think 9 will be better received than 8 because it will be smoothed out.

Personally I have no issues with 8 and functionality for what I use my laptop for (mainly internet, email, and things related to those) its fine. I just pin the apps I use the post to my taskbar (chrome, firefox, windows explorer, and calculator) and then pin most of the others to the start screen.

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

If you wan't fast boot times install OS on a solid state drive. My laptop is one of those fancy Asus ultrabooks with a SSD and it has very fast boot times.

Well if I wanted a super duper fast load I'd get a chromebook. Which has a Solid state drive and an infinitely lighter OS. I've actually kicked the idea around of getting it, but I have concerns.

 

[LuckyBeagleBrewing]

I have been using Windows 8 since before the release version and there is only one problem. People are not good with change for any reason. It has nothing to do with the OS it has everything to do with people. That is not a bad thing they just need to phase certain things in though. Take the start menu away from the user and they will scream. The stardock thing is nice but they should have given the user install options. Now the one exception is Windows 8 RT. Trying to be too much like Apple there. I only used Apple to the point of reading their EULA. Do any of you read that thing?

Now for the kicker. Vista was OK as long as you knew how to set it up. If you were not tech savvy then you would never get it to run right. UAC and Aero were the two killers on that.

 

[Golddiggie]

I personally have no issues with Windows 8. I wouldn't put it on my desktop but for my laptop it's awesome because there's almost no boot time. Like under 30 seconds.

My desktop (dual E5345 Xeon's, 16GB RAM, etc) boots to the login screen/prompt in about 20 seconds (post bios items, which is not on the drive) with the SSD I installed not that long ago, with Windows 7. I would expect Windows 8 to be a few seconds (if past experience with a tablet is any gauge).

My Windows tablet used to take 30+ seconds to boot into Windows 7. Went to Windows 8 on it and that's now maybe 5 seconds. Fast boot times is one of the things that keeps me thinking about going to Windows 8 on my desktop. One of the things holding me back, though, is that I'd need to get the new release of Roxio in order to burn discs (cd/dvd)... Really don't want to spend the money right now. Once I'm working again, that's a different story.

 

[passedpawn]

Well if I wanted a super duper fast load I'd get a chromebook. Which has a Solid state drive and an infinitely lighter OS. I've actually kicked the idea around of getting it, but I have concerns.

This might seem like a dumb question, but can you run windows apps on that?

 

[Golddiggie]

This might seem like a dumb question, but can you run windows apps on that?

Doubt it... Although you can get the software to run Android apps on your Windows system.

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

This might seem like a dumb question, but can you run windows apps on that?

No Chromebook is uber simple. Basically, it's running Google Chrome and that's about it. There's more function to it than that of course, but that's the easiest terms I can think of it.

Windows is certainly a more expansive experience, but for what I like using my laptop for (Email and internet) I think the chromebook may be a better situation. Plus with my Android phone and tablet, I can just be google everything!!!

 

[DrunkleJon]

Vista was not terrible, it just was not finished. 7 is finished Vista.

My biggest complaints other than the interface is all the chopping MS did. They took out DVD playing functionality from WMP because "streaming is the future"?

And since I am an extreme power user (I use the mouse as little as possible) now alot of the commands I know do not all work anymore.

 

[estricklin]

Vista was not terrible, it just was not finished. 7 is finished Vista.

My biggest complaints other than the interface is all the chopping MS did. They took out DVD playing functionality from WMP because "streaming is the future"?

And since I am an extreme power user (I use the mouse as little as possible) now alot of the commands I know do not all work anymore.

HUGE issues, I mean it's bad enough Windows 7 won't even play a Blu Ray.

I use the keyboard a LOT, much faster and with windows 8 I noticed really quick that was not going to work the way I wanted it to.

 

[day_trippr]

So the markets are speaking and they are clearly not pleased with the direction Microsoft took that essentially condemns their flagship product (well, arguably that could be Office, but anyway) to the lowly role of "content consumption platform".

Content Creators need not apply. Or bother.

The internet has been ringing with a whole host of work-arounds for the plethora of Windows 8 shortcomings. Some work fairly well, some not so much, but bottom line is if you loved W7pro or ultimate, you are good and truly screwed with Windows 8.

Yes, within days of firing up a killer laptop that came dreadfully encumbered by this POS OS, I wiped the SSD and moved a W7pro license over.

And I'll never forget the "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" moment when the login prompt appeared.

Mark my words: Microsoft has to fix this - and will. Big Business will never adopt this OS as it provides absolutely no advantage to doing so - indeed, the platform is nothing but an array of distractions for those who are actually involved in creating things.

I predict there will be this POS for content consumers, and something very much like W7 for creators - with Metro pushed to the background where it belongs.

btw, if you want to see something truly hilarious/tragic/senseless, try spreading W8 Pro across 7 square feet of LED monitors...

Cheers!

 

[day_trippr]

From an article on CNN:

"Microsoft is gearing up to release a new version of Windows later this year, codenamed Windows Blue. According to several reports, Blue will give users the option to replace the new start screen with a traditional desktop by default."

There better be a lot more to it than just that, but the writing is clearly all over the wall: change is direly needed, and there shall be change, as predicted...

Cheers!

 

[day_trippr]

Getting closer to the official release of

"Windows 10: We Are So SO Sorry About The Whole Windows 8 Thing!"

Yay for total capitulation!

Cheers!