www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Geek Hall Impressions of Windows 8?

Upgraded my home computer last week, and decided to go with Windows 8 in the process.

So far, I like the fast boot-up and shut-down. The new interface--not so much.

I have a few thoughts about my experience with Windows 8 so far, but would like to hear what others have to say about it.

Felt more like a sidegrade or even a slight downgrade for me (coming from Windows 7 Ultimate x64 to Win 8 Pro x64). They don't even have an Ultimate line for this one... Sorry, but as much as I would like to think Win 8's the new norm, I have to "downgrade" back to Win 7 Ultimate... Just can't get used to navigating through tiles over that of a start menu.

Its definitely designed to lock users into Microsoft. I detest the idea of having to sign on to get to my own computer.

I've deleted most of their panels and I don't need a "cloud" because I just have a dumb phone.

Accessing the "panel" by hovering over it is despicable, apparently I don't have the right "touch." I'd much rather click.

Windows 8 is on my laptop; no way will I install it on my desktop.

It's something I can see not wanting to deal with, personally. But, since I'm in networking support, I have to learn how to walk users through setting up their network connection, for devices using it. I personally still use windows xp 64, on a virtual box, in a Linux computer.

Lamest OS ever. Charms? Really?

Thanks for your comments, brethren.

I'm not fond of it, either, but I think I'm going to try and live with it for a while. (I'm starting to pick up some of the weird little tricks, like right-clicking the desktop to get to the Control Panel.)

I suspect one of the reasons Microsoft is pushing so hard for this "smartphone/tablet" interface is that the kids are more likely to trust things like the "cloud," whereas I am not inclined in the least to go putting my personal data out "somewhere," where I don't even know where it is--but *somebody* does.

Once I started installing my normal applications, I discovered Windows 8 was placing them in a separate window on the "Metro" screen. When I open any of them, I am transported to a normal-looking desktop--minus the Start button. At least this is a somewhat-familiar environment.

I'm not sure if I'll get used to this or not, but I'm thinking I want to give it at least a couple of weeks before opting for one of the third-party add-ons that are out there to make Windows 8 look more like Windows 7.

Nobody ever asked Apple to make the Mac OS work more like Windows.

Windows 8 is a failure, and Microsoft has all but admitted it with the upcoming Windows Blue update. I purchased a PC with Windows 8 in November; being in tech support for a cable company, it seemed like a good idea to get it a try and get familiar with it. The tiles interface is quite boring, being white text on an off-color. It's hard to believe they paid someone to come up with this color scheme. My other personal beefs: I had to look up how to turn it off, I also had to go in and set the IE icon on the desktop to the default for launching Explorer. It seems that favorites on the tiles menu is a long horizontal list! There is no built in software to play dvds. What used to take a few clicks on Start now requires the Charms menu and typing in what you are looking for. I hear that somewhere underneath this interface is a faster, more efficient version of Windows. Well, if I don't want to use it, what's the point?

Exactly. On top of that, Windows 8 does NOT have an Ultimate flavor... Not to mention that Windows 7 Ultimate still offers up bells and whistles that Windows 8 Pro, quite frankly, lacks a lot of. So I agree with you, William.

My son (who is my technical advisor) recommends that anyone unhappy with the Win 8 interface obtain the freeware "Classicshell" which will restore a Win 7 style interface, or, if you prefer, all the way back to a Win XP-like interface.

So, what are industry IT departments doing? Are they replacing Windows 7 on their enterprise desktops? My guess is no, because of (a) compatibility problems with older software; and (b) a high level of retraining needed to bring workers up to speed on Windows 8. The OS does not seem optimized for either laptops or desktops, but rather was conceived principally for the mobile market. But the real money for Microsoft is still in enterprise desktops, and if they don't make inroads there, the nominal advantage of having the same OS on all your devices (which is already present in Mac OS 10.8 and IOS 6) disappears. And if that goes, why bother buying a Windoze tablet or phone?

We've gone to Apple. No more Windows for us. Blech!

Come into the light, Dan.