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DailyTech Poll Discussion Windows Users: Have you upgraded to Windows 8?
Brandon Hill (Blog) - November 14, 2012 11:00 AM
Print 43 comment(s) - last by Argon18.. on Nov 30 at 5:29 PM
Windows 8 seems to be a touchy subject these days... have you taken the plunge?

Windows Users: Have you upgraded to Windows 8?
  • Yes, I bought a new PC/Tablet with Windows 8 pre-loaded (122 votes)
  •  
    2%
  • Yes, I upgraded my existing machine(s) to Windows 8 (3,396 votes)
  •  
    45%
  • I haven't upgraded to Windows 8 yet, but I plan on doing so in the future (646 votes)
  •  
    9%
  • I currently have no plans to upgrade to Windows 8 whatsoever; I'm sticking with XP/Vista/Windows 7 (2,713 votes)
  •  
    36%
  • I'm still undecided on Windows 8, and haven't made any decisions on upgrading (665 votes)
  •  
    9%

  • 7,542 total votes

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Not until major changes
By Nyu on 11/14/2012 1:47:16 PM , Rating: 4
They'll see my money when they rid W8 off this Tiles stuff and bring the menu back and a way to directly boot into the Desktop. The way w8 works on desktops is absolutely disgusting.




RE: Not until major changes
By lord_beavis on 11/14/2012 2:00:10 PM , Rating: 2
Amen!


RE: Not until major changes
By Captain Orgazmo on 11/14/2012 3:54:07 PM , Rating: 5
If you have a wall-sized touch screen computer you can cover yourself with butter and fling yourself at the tiles rather than use a mouse. Insane, yes. Just use unsalted butter.


RE: Not until major changes
By haukionkannel on 11/17/2012 6:05:34 AM , Rating: 2
Well the best usage would be a small pad with touch screen for your wall size computer in anyway. It is not hard to see that "remote controllers" will look a lot like iPads and other pad devices we have today! Why have buttons when you can mirrow the same screen to you wall and to your remote controller pad? We allready have TV sets that can be controlled with pad computers. So not a big deal to have relative "stupid" pad devises with every telly and even with every computer.


RE: Not until major changes
By talikarni on 11/17/12, Rating: 0
RE: Not until major changes
By p05esto on 11/20/2012 9:57:07 AM , Rating: 2
Only casual content consumers would find this plausible. Any real content CREATOR would just laugh. You can't do accurate work with a touch screen, fingers are too big and they are not changing size anytime soon.


RE: Not until major changes
By gladiatorua on 11/20/2012 10:11:23 PM , Rating: 2
The joke is on you, because content creators used "touch screens" for a decades. Not with fingers though.
Look up Wacom.


RE: Not until major changes
By sheh on 11/14/2012 4:28:42 PM , Rating: 2
This might be, I hope, a catalyst for positive change. It's about time the shell was really decoupled from the OS. Well, as mainstream. If enough people dislike it, perhaps it'll finally become standard to use alternate shells, and we'll end up with flexibility and standardization.

It's not that I'm necessarily looking for much flexibility, but non-flexibility hasn't proven itself. Windows Explorer was always a rather poor/slow/clunky/unruly file manager, and Start Menu was lacking as well.

Another problem is Microsoft changing ideas about how the GUI should work, and people having the accept an unwanted GUI change even if they just want the better core. Sure, there were positive changes, but also negative ones ever since the Win9x to NT5 shift.

LiteStep and co., your time may yet come.


RE: Not until major changes
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 11/14/2012 4:58:52 PM , Rating: 3
The shell is fine, just allow some customization that reflects the differences in environments of Desktops/Workstations and Tablets/Phones. One size can fit all, if it is flexible. Sadly Windows 8's current shell is not flexible. Ironically it's more Apple than ever before.

My main complaint about making completely different shells is the Linux fiasco, which is a royal pain in the ass. Download "Mint", oh but do you want Cinnamon, MATE, KDE, or Xfce flavor? Get serious Linux, the distro should come ONE WAY, not FOUR WAYS. I like Mint, really I do, but Linux will never be taken seriously as long as it continues to be the neverending exercise in anarchy that it is. Linux - Anarchy Inside.

Windows works mainstream because shit is STANDARD, but allows power users to customize most everything, provided they have the expertise or skill to do so. This keeps support costs and learning curves the same across the market.

Apple works mainstream because you get it only one way, like it or not. This ticks off corporations and power users, but the average joe isn't savy enough to notice or care. Proof of this is the wildly popular iOS devices.


RE: Not until major changes
By sheh on 11/14/2012 11:52:25 PM , Rating: 2
But unlike Linux Windows apps already expect certain things of the shell, and so do the users. New shells will have to be compatible, at least some of them for those who care.

It doesn't have to be chaos. For example, the browser market seems organized enough.

But even if it is to be some chaos, it's better than stagnation and complete enslavement to the random changes Microsoft decides to implement.


RE: Not until major changes
By drycrust3 on 11/15/2012 12:14:30 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
My main complaint about making completely different shells is the Linux fiasco,

I guess this is the old "one person's rubbish is another person's opportunity" analogy. There are Linux distributions that, probably for lack of resources, come with just one desktop. A desktop is an interface, it's part of the veneer between you and the applications that you want to run on your computer. Why do you believe having a choice of desktops is a sign of a poor operating system? Some would consider the growing presence of malware targeting Windows (and the need for third party software as protection from it) as the glaring sign of a poor and poorly maintained operating system, but I'm sure to you it's the sign of a successful marketing strategy.
I can't see how people like ... no, ... love Windows so much that they are willing to put up with all the antivirus - malware nonsense (or did the world change after Windows XP?) and constant fiddling around just to keep Windows working. Isn't the point of a desktop to help you use your computer?


RE: Not until major changes
By maugrimtr on 11/15/2012 7:38:29 AM , Rating: 2
For Linux, the desktop environment can be anything you want. Most will standardise. Ubuntu standardised on its custom Unity shell. The other standards commonly used are Gnome and KDE. None of the three are particularly hard to pick up if coming from Windows.

People forget that since Linux is open sourced, it has a myriad of desktop options. There is literally no way to enforce a single desktop option short of refusing to distribute it (which is merely an inconvenience since someone will just stick up the needed packages for download).

If anything, Linux has fallen into a similar trap to Windows 8. Ubuntu's Unity was designed for tablets. They've had to spent time polishing, changing and tweaking it to make it tolerable for desktop users and, even then, it remains a divisive feature with people migrating to Mint (which has something closer to the neat and simple Gnome 2.0 experience).


RE: Not until major changes
By drycrust3 on 11/15/2012 9:58:51 AM , Rating: 2
I would put the range of desktop options down to the GPL2 licence, not that the software is open source, although being open source does help.
You are right, most distributions do use one of the mainstream desktops.
The question, though, is why Master Kenobi (and others) consider this a sign of a bad OS?


RE: Not until major changes
By bug77 on 11/16/2012 12:16:41 PM , Rating: 2
Think for a second that you're a large company and want your software to work on Linux. Ubuntu has Unity, OpenSuse has KDE, Fedora has Gnome and so on. Where do you start? What do you target?
I think that was his point. I wouldn't call that a fiasco, because I love KDE and others swear by Gnome, Xfce, etc. No other OS will give you this freedom. And yes, freedom has drawbacks, but it's always the better choice, imho.


RE: Not until major changes
By tng on 11/15/2012 9:56:04 AM , Rating: 2
Just a viewpoint from someone who really has not looked at 8 yet much.

From the ads I see that 8 is geared to social media, Youtube and the like.

I am currently looking to upgrade my 5+ year old travel laptop and can't see where W8 would hold any advantages for what I use it for. I will not be doing allot of video or photos, no Facebook, no Twitter, no gaming and even limited internet.

What I do allot of is Word, Excel, PP, email, drawing review... etc. All of this stuff works just fine on the current system either XP, W7 or even Vista. I just can't at this time see the advantage of the new system on W8.

So W8 is more App friendly or something to that effect? Who cares? The 16 year old girl down the street?


RE: Not until major changes
By Johnmcl7 on 11/15/2012 8:17:17 PM , Rating: 2
That goes for pretty much anything in life really and certainly with Windows 8.

Everything seems to focus on Windows 8's modern UI and the tiles but many of the genuinely useful improvements are overlooked. With its hybrid startup/shutdown system it makes Windows 7 systems feel sluggish starting up and shutting down plus I find Windows 8 surprisingly quick in use. Also it's the first version of Windows that works properly with ultra high resolution displays, it's something that Vista was supposed to sort but it and 7 still had strange scaling issues including in Office applications strangely.

I don't know what sort of drawing you do but I find Windows 8 works better than previous systems using a graphics pen as you don't need to the same precision to go through Windows when using the pen. There's other small touches such as a vastly improved task manager which now shows in one screen the number of cores, threads, current clock speed and network thoroughput. Although there's a lot of complaints about the start menu being removed, I prefer the power user menu they have put in its place as it gives quicker access to most of the items I used the start menu for.

It's also possible to set it to boot straight to the desktop and there's addins to bring back the start menu.

John


RE: Not until major changes
By nafhan on 11/15/2012 11:28:40 AM , Rating: 2
I'm waiting until I see what Win 8 SP1 is like, and I can buy it at a reasonable price (i.e. < $40). Most likely scenario is that I will hold off on upgrading until Win 9 comes out. I'm not set on that, though.

At the same time, if I buy a PC with Win 8 pre-installed, I'm not going to "go back" to 7. I consider Win 8 to be a lateral move, rather than an upgrade, for the desktop. Not bad, not good, but not worth spending money on.


RE: Not until major changes
By Johnmcl7 on 11/15/2012 8:22:52 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
They'll see my money when they rid W8 off this Tiles stuff and bring the menu back and a way to directly boot into the Desktop. The way w8 works on desktops is absolutely disgusting.


Good news - you can get rid of the tiles stuff, you can boot directly to the desktop (just set it to start explorer.exe on startup) and you can put the start menu back via third party addins.

John


RE: Not until major changes
By p05esto on 11/20/12, Rating: -1
RE: Not until major changes
By kmmatney on 11/17/2012 12:21:24 AM , Rating: 2
I upgraded my home machine only becuase it was much cheaper to buy Windows 8 vs Windows 7. I have it skip the Modern UI and go straight to desktop and have a start menu replacement. So overall, I like it, but only because it is similar to Windows 7, but cheaper.


RE: Not until major changes
By IronFusion on 11/17/2012 11:04:37 AM , Rating: 2
1st off: "wah!"
You have three (or fourish) options:
1) Luddite it up! Your loss- there is so much win8 has to offer, even on a traditional desktop, that anyone who goes this route really is being obstinate and fearful of change.
2) Buy the Leap in Feb. I don't own a touch monitor, nor do I wish to, and this is the route I am going.
3) Have $5? Buy Stardock's Start8. Bam- no reason not to get Win8 now!
~4) Use Win8, don't pay for Start8: make a toolbar on the taskbar pointing to the path "C:\Users\All Users\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu", move it to the left and lock the taskbar. You now have a winxp-era start menu. Edit the registry/startup (I forget which) to have explorer run on boot- you essentially have a computer that boots to the traditional desktop on logon, and has a start menu. Go alittle bit further- make yourself shutdown, sleep, restart, and hibernate icons on the desktop. Forget about the metro tiles; the changes and additions to the traditional desktop are still worthy of the upgrade!

You're welcome.


RE: Not until major changes
By Disorganise on 11/18/2012 5:44:30 AM , Rating: 2
These are all valid options for home use, and I'm looking forward to testing out your option 4 hack.

But for corporate land, adding some additional tool just to bring back expected functionality isn't going to happen. it opens another potential exploit avenue and probably lacks centralized management by gpo.

Then lets assume we can get passed the start menu concerns. Do you realise that all modern ui apps are different to their desktop counterparts? yes, that means the chromeless IE on the modern ui is a different exe to the desktop one. They will be patched separately and can even be upgraded independently. plug ins such as flash only work on the desktop version.
So now all our web based apps must be tested twice, or we find a way to block one version or the other from running.

it's a nightmare i know my company will avoid but simply sticking with 7.


RE: Not until major changes
By Guspaz on 11/22/2012 12:51:38 PM , Rating: 2
Corporations almost always deploy various third party tools to their machines, be they an antivirus, bug tracking software, reporting software, development software... Start8 has group policy support, so deploying it is no less feasible for enterprise than any other tool they deploy.


RE: Not until major changes
By Belard on 11/19/2012 8:57:33 AM , Rating: 1
1 - Waaah yourself, fanboi.

2 - You're an idiot. There is no issue of CHANGE. Many, if not most of us own/use WindowsXP~7, iOS and Android everyday! A crappy UI design, is just that... crap. And Win8's metro hybrid desktop mix is crap. The Win8's top suit guy just got fired. Hmmmm. Lack of reviews about Windows 8. What does Win8 offer?
a) MS app store (its plastered on all the Demo Win8 PCs
b) faster boot up? Who gives a damn? My Win7 PC wakes up in 2 seconds. Its shut-down or rebooted maybe once a week and even then, its a 20 second boot up.
c) Task manager and file-copy interface is better, very nicely. And Explorer has a button that used to come with XP. Not worth the $100~250 costs. Whoop-de-frackin-do.
d) de-Aeroized.... Win8 desktop mode is pure ugly.

3) What is a LEAP? Why the frack should I or anyone else buy some special POS hardware add-on to use some "super-easy-improved" OS?! Are you brain damaged?

4) Why should I or anyone pay $5 to "fix" the start menu?! I bet you $5 there will mal-ware infested versions of "start menus" our there soon.

5) Yeah, a toolbar... to make a semi-start-menu that never should have been taken out anyway? Is this info right there for your typical novice to figure out? Same for editing the registry to skip the metro UI during boot up...

So with all the crap YOU are telling PEOPLE to do to make Windows 8 usable...

WHERE is the "worthy of the upgrade!" come into play? Other than what I pointed out... what additions? Win8 desktop is mostly missing a lot of stuff. And the charms are stupid... there is nothing easier about using them.


RE: Not until major changes
By tayb on 11/20/2012 7:47:37 AM , Rating: 3
By "absolutely disgusting" did you mean that it works nearly exactly the same as the desktop in previous versions of Windows?

I agree that there should be an option to boot into the desktop but it's seriously a non issue. Just hit the big freaking desktop tile or press windows + D... It isn't challenging. The start menu isn't gone... It's now full screen, more functional, and called a "start screen.". Functionally, the start screen is actually superior to the old start menu.

Then again, I'm talking to someone who clearly hasn't used the OS and is instead repeating the same nonsense false information most people on this site reciprocate.


RE: Not until major changes
By Beavermatic on 11/20/2012 8:46:05 AM , Rating: 2
Not my fault you don't know how to use the new tile screens... Start menu is simply quick launch and your Apps (all programs/folder/subfolder/file) is still very much there.

Btw, if you right click on the start button box in the bottom left hand corner of the screen when it appears on the desktop in windows 8, it shows your old start menu.

Now go cry some moar.


RE: Not until major changes
By Beavermatic on 11/20/2012 8:54:58 AM , Rating: 2
oh yeah, and if you use the new "right-click on the start button" in Windows 8, and you want to add more options to the old start menu list like shutdown/restart, just use this

http://www.howtogeek.com/113775/add-shutdown-and-r...

hitting Winkey+X also bring up this menu, but i think it was wise of them to add the right click on the desktop start button (when you hover and it appears) for old time sake.


RE: Not until major changes
By dgingerich on 11/20/2012 11:28:36 AM , Rating: 2
you obviously haven't even tried it yet. It's much easier to work with than you think. Most things are still there, including the start menu, they just happen to work a little differently than you think.

To get to the start screen, the replacement for the start menu, you go to the same place, the bottom left corner. It just has a smaller, but easier to hit, target than it does in Win 7.

Overall, I got used to it within a day. I like it now.


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