The "Is Windows 8 a Flop?" Thread

VG008 said:
Worth the watch. He makes some good points, but over does it in certain areas.

Windows 8: The Animated Evaluation
[video=youtube;WTYet-qf1jo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTYet-qf1jo&feature=player_embedded[/video]
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He needs to learn how to use a PC
 
Windows 8 is working pretty good for me. I don't have any problems so far and the start menu aren't really that bad. I have struggled a bit to get use to it but after a while you actually understand what's the purpose behind it. I can now access my stuff much quicker then usual, it's just more a typing thing now then a clicking thing :P. O and the start up speed is insane with a SSD, much faster then windows 7.

Best improvements so far for me are the way it copies data, the task manager, and then the start up time.

other cool things are that you can link your Facebook to your apps and quickly browse your photos there like its on your computer and also you have a sharing button in most apps that allow you to share pictures and stuff quickly over Facebook, email and so on.

So basically don't expect windows 7 if you install windows 8, and also don't install a start menu button, because then you don't really get the whole picture of windows 8. . .

Well this is my opinion.
 
Windows8 doesn't come preinstalled with solitaire.
/thread.

All Windows8 has, it a better copy system and essentially two desktops. One designed to look like a phone menu. Also if you not 24/7 connected to the internet don't bother.
 
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Also using win8 since RC - so far I quite like it. As Smiley mentioned above I'm using the same app as I prefer the granular control the start menu gave me.
Using the metro apps/etc - they're not bad. But I dont like the feel for a PC. Definately made with touch in mind.
Quite a few of my friends also running win8 and enjoying it. I dont think its a failure of an OS. I do think they're going to have issues with corporate adoption.
 
Windows 8's best feature isn't being used by most Windows 8 PC owners.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/12/28/technology/mobile/windows-8-touchscreen/index.html

The ability to touch, tap, swipe and pinch on Windows 8 computers is what makes the new operating system come to life. You can still use Windows 8 without a touchscreen, but that's kind of like tossing aside the remote, getting up, and repeatedly pushing buttons to change the channel on your TV -- it's an old-fashioned drag.

Yet remarkably few people are actually buying touchscreen computers. Just 5% of Windows 8 laptops sold through Dec. 15 had touchscreens, according to the NPD Group.

One challenge is that there just aren't many touch-enabled laptops out there. Only 30 of the more than 700 laptops that Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500) sells on its website have touchscreens, and just two touchscreen laptops ranked among the retailer's top 10 sellers.

Another sticking point: Touchscreen laptops are expensive. They'll cost you around $120 to $150 more than their non-touch-enabled equivalents. The cheapest touchscreen laptop -- the 11.6-inch Asus VivoBook -- sells for about $500, but fuller-sized touchscreen notebooks with all the latest features will set you back at least $625.

That's not hugely expensive for a laptop, but it does give many people pause when they're deciding whether touch is a feature that's worth shelling out more than a hundred bucks for.

Here's the problem: It is.

Touch features aren't an afterthought in Windows 8; they're core to the entire operating system. A swipe in from the right brings up some of the software's best new additions, like in-app search and sharing. The "options" menu is accessible with a downward swipe, navigation is done with a swipe in from the left, and a laundry list of other actions are made much simpler and intuitive with gestures. The whole Windows 8 interface just begs you to touch it.

Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) has been aggressively marketing Windows 8's touch features on TV, showing off new inventions like "picture passwords" (use a gesture, like a circle, on a chosen part of a favorite image as your log-in credential) and tablet-like apps. But consumers haven't gotten the message.

That gap contributed to Windows 8's mixed reviews. It's a clunky interface when used with a traditional keyboard-and-mouse arrangement.

Getting people to adopt touch technology on their laptops won't be easy. It's not the way people are accustomed to interacting with PCs.

"The problem is everyone expected this to come out fully baked," said Stephen Baker, a consumer tech analyst at NPD. "But Windows 8 is not like anything before. It'll take time for people to get it."

Even some top industry executives haven't wrapped their heads around the concept. In April, when asked if Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) would be producing touchscreen laptops to compete with Microsoft, company CEO Tim Cook scoffed.

"You can converge a toaster and a refrigerator, but those things are probably not going to be pleasing to the user," Cook said on a conference call with analysts. "You wouldn't want to put these things together because you wind up compromising in both."

The price, availability and awareness obstacles that touchscreen laptops face can all be overcome. But at least two of those won't be knocked down until next summer, at the earliest.

Because today's touchscreen market is dominated by smartphones and tablets, there's been little vendor demand for the larger sizes needed for laptop screens. That means suppliers aren't making many of them, which drives up their price, according to NPD's Baker.

He predicts that increased demand will force screen makers to ramp up their large touchscreen supplies by the middle of next year. That will push more touchscreen laptop prices down into the $500 range.

"It will be a very different market by 'back to school,'" Baker said.

Will consumers take notice? If they want the best Windows 8 experience, they should.
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moklet said:
As a rule every other version of windows seems to suck (windows me sucked, xp was ok, vista sucked, windows 7 was ok, windows 8 sucks)
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XP and 7 are more than ok and vista was worse than sucked. Haven't tried 8 yet. Which is a first for me as I always ran the RC from the first Windows editions. Windows 8 is designed for touch. I don't have a touch enabled laptop or PC, so no 8 for me.

7 is perfect. The sh$t will hit the fan when they EOL that.
 
I have been using Windows 8 for a while now, and I am 100% used to the way it works. It doesn't feel foreign to me anymore and navigation is quite natural and unimpeded. People appear to have this misconception that they are forced to use Metro, but to the contrary, you don't.

I spend 100% of my time on the Desktop. The only time I see Metro is when I don't have the shortcut for the application that I want to launch on my Taksbar, and then also when I boot the PC, which is once every 2 or 3 weeks, maybe less than that depending if I do updates or other tasks that require a reboot.

You do not need to have a touch PC to enjoy some of the benefits of Windows 8, which includes it being faster, better memory management, but to name just a few. I do use two monitors on my setup, therefore I am delighted with the new multi-monitor functions that is built into Windows.

If Metro and the touch capabilities is what is causing you folks to get your panties in a knot, then I suggest you ask yourself why. It isn't the end of the world, and the other functional changes that MS implemented makes Windows 8 well worth a try. If this is too hard for you to do, then stick do with Windows 7, just find something worth complaining about.
 
I hear rumours that Windows 9 will come middle 2013 already BUT that it will be more Modern and less Desktop. Obviously a touch screen PC is forced down our throats obviously also to promote sales of Windows Tablets. I do not appreciate where MS is going with Windows. Corporations are dragged along this path due to OS lock-in. I so wish Google would push Goobuntu into the market or buy Canonical and give us Ubuntu with their muscle to promote and support it.
 
Perhaps a beta, yes, for something that will be released in 2 or 3 years. But not a complete OS. It just doesn't make practical business sense, nor am I able to find this rumour, except for the rumour being that MS is already working on Windows 9, code named Windows Blue, which will still use Metro, but with more customization options.

BeVonk! said:
I hear rumours that Windows 9 will come middle 2013 already BUT that it will be more Modern and less Desktop. Obviously a touch screen PC is forced down our throats obviously also to promote sales of Windows Tablets. I do not appreciate where MS is going with Windows. Corporations are dragged along this path due to OS lock-in. I so wish Google would push Goobuntu into the market or buy Canonical and give us Ubuntu with their muscle to promote and support it.
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NickLeStrange said:
Perhaps a beta, yes, for something that will be released in 2 or 3 years. But not a complete OS. It just doesn't make practical business sense, nor am I able to find this rumour, except for the rumour being that MS is already working on Windows 9, code named Windows Blue, which will still use Metro, but with more customization options.
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There are plenty rumours of MS trying to get into an annual release cycle - here is one:


Microsoft (MSFT) is rumored to be switching to an annual release for its operating system starting with “Windows Blue” in mid-2013. According to a PCBeta forum user who goes by the pseudonym “maxy” and has been unofficially identified as a Microsoft official, “Windows Blue” or “Windows 9 Dev” as some call it, will get customization options in the form of Windows Phone 8′s resizable app tiles. Microsoft will also reportedly still keep the legacy “desktop view” around,
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WinBlue in 2013 makes plenty business sense if Win8 is flopping. A rapid release cycle makes business sense if you are playing catch-up big time, as MS are, having been left in the dust in the "mobile space" as they have by Apple and Android, like an ox-wagon in a race with a McLaren F1. But then, the tortoise did beat the hare in a similar match-up once, they say.
 
Maybe I'm too "old school" but touch screens are great for tablets that are used differently from my laptop where I WANT TO USE A MOUSE. As an artist (on the sidelines) I cannot do without a mouse. My fingers will never get it right. I use Photoshop on my tablets but with finger accuracy there is only so much one can do. Vector drawing is a no-go with fingers.

If MS wants to get rid of the mouse and leave me with these fugly touch friendly tiles I will be forced to forever move away from Windows ... get out of the ecosystem completely. And I'm sure more and more people will do the same.
 
moklet said:
As a rule every other version of windows seems to suck (windows me sucked, xp was ok, vista sucked, windows 7 was ok, windows 8 sucks)
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Well using that rule XP and Windows 7 sucked.

biometrics said:
Is that all you can come up with?
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What more can you really say about someone who is basically demonstrating they're too dumb to learn a new interface?

HideInLight said:
All Windows8 has, it a better copy system and essentially two desktops. One designed to look like a phone menu. Also if you not 24/7 connected to the internet don't bother.
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It works perfectly without the internet.

roadcat said:
Windows 8 is designed for touch.
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People keep saying that. Did I get some special version of Windows 8 that works perfectly with a mouse?

7 is perfect. The sh$t will hit the fan when they EOL that.
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It's far from perfect.
 
BeVonk! said:
Maybe I'm too "old school" but touch screens are great for tablets that are used differently from my laptop where I WANT TO USE A MOUSE.
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I thought the same until I got my Ultrabook. I now can't imagine using a laptop without a touch-screen as my day-to-day machine. The combination of touchpad/mouse and touchscreen is a definite win for me, regardless of OS.

@Noxibox, I think you and I both got this elusive version. I've been using W8 on my desktop since dev preview and it's been awesome.

And yeah, noone if forcing you to connect it to the net. Just use a normal account instead of a Microsoft account. I know you guys don't realise this either, but no one if forcing you to use metro apps. If you don't like them, and if you don't like the store, then just ignore it. Unpin it.
 
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what were they thinking with the whole revamp of the classic start menu..
It is a mess, I see many sticking with Win7
 
roguemat said:
I thought the same until I got my Ultrabook. I now can't imagine using a laptop without a touch-screen as my day-to-day machine. The combination of touchpad/mouse and touchscreen is a definite win for me, regardless of OS.

@Noxibox, I think you and I both got this elusive version. I've been using W8 on my desktop since dev preview and it's been awesome.

And yeah, noone if forcing you to connect it to the net. Just use a normal account instead of a Microsoft account. I know you guys don't realise this either, but no one if forcing you to use metro apps. If you don't like them, and if you don't like the store, then just ignore it. Unpin it.
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Ultrabooks seem to be stuck with 4GB RAM. Newer ones may be upgradeable to 16GB, but many are not. I am in between Linux and Windows 8 right now. The use of Windows only for syncing my phone with my computer - contacts, calendar, etc. I like using Nokia Suite which has no Linux equivalent. Sending SMS from the computer.

How does Windows 8 and ultrabooks work together? Is it a reasonable match or what would you suggest? RAM usage by the OS seems very high, when I checked out various demo laptops at Incredible. It seems that 1.2 - 2.6GB may be used just for Windows 8. If the ultrabook has no discreet graphics adapter, pretty little RAM remains available to user apps and documents.

What is your user experience?
 
Windows 8 is a usability disaster.

Nothing is labelled or clearly indicated. Information density is very low and the metro interface relies almost entirely on recall rather than recognition.

There is very little visual differentiation between tiles. They are all the same shape and size.

Metro apps completely dominate your workspace as soon as you open them. If you have a 4K resolution display and a metro app opens, you're going to be pissed when it fills the whole screen. For some unknown reason, metro apps also can't run on netbook displays. There is no way to resize them and for some odd reason you can't actually kill them. You just minimize them. Windows decides when to suspend them and when to give them cpu time.

The charms bar is a damn riddle and they decided to hide shutdown somewhere in that mess. Alt-F4 is now more effective for shutting down windows than hunting in the not-quite sidebar.

And the advice people give you to use windows 8 effectively? Avoid metro. Honestly, its such a disaster that the people who actually prefer this abomination still avoid the new interface. They use it for any other reason but metro. Speed, power efficiency (new kernel timing mechanism), new task manager and file copy dialog...but not metro. Unless of course you are one of the 5% of consumers who recently bought a pc with a touch screen. They just pissed off ~95% of windows desktop users who were used to the old system.

People often say that the new start menu is so much faster, but thats only because the search function is faster. They could have used the same thing in the old start menu and made it faster.

Oh and they also decided to disable the administrator account so you can have less control over your pc. Don't tell me you can re-enable it in the registry. Why did they bloody disable it in the first place? They decided to hide everything and give you a bunch of ad-ridden apps to waste time.

If MS made windows 8 with all the current improvements and left out metro, would you have preferred it? I would.

This is just my opinion and some of the people around here will disagree with me, but for me, they ruined a good windows 7 improvement with metro (Or whatever its called now).
 
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