Windows 8: Do you care?

[Renai LeMayKeymaster]

Hey everyone,

FYI, I’m putting together an article, or series of articles, looking at the WIndows 8 devices that will be launching in Australia over the next couple of months, with Windows 8 slated to launch on 26 October in Australia.

My question is: Do you care? And what sorts of stuff do you care about? There will be tablets, laptops, PCs and a mix of all three. Are there certain features you’re interested in, to find out how well they’ve been integrated with the Windows 8 software? Are you planning to, or have you already installed Windows 8 on your own PC?

In short … Windows 8 … do you care? What do you care about? And why?

Personally … while I think Microsoft has introduced some interesting new features in Windows 8, I really hate the new UI and the fact that it’s being forced on people. I will be staying with Windows 7 for my home PC (I now use a Mac at work).

[Dan]

I only care that devices which will be sold to run Windows 8 will be able to run other operating systems due to the restrictive requirements from Microsoft such as for signed bootloaders.

Otherwise it looks like the best reason to move to anther OS since Windows Vista and Windows ME before that.

I have avoided running Microsoft Windows outside of virtual machines for years now and see no reason to risk putting it on bare metal.

[Phillip Stevens]

Windows8 = don’t care.

Corporate migration to Windows7 probably won’t change (but can’t speak for IT department), given WinXP still prevalent.

Personal migration to Android & iOS tablets and Ubuntu workstations is complete.

Only Windows8 opening possible: desktop gaming is no longer developed on Windows7.

[Renai LeMayKeymaster]

“Personal migration to Android & iOS tablets and Ubuntu workstations is complete.”

I pretty much gave up on Ubuntu following their own user interface redesign. Just as GNOME was getting better, they threw it away and implemented (dis)Unity.

At the moment I use an iMac at work, Windows 7 at home (mainly for gaming), Windows 7 on our media centre, Android on mobile phone, and iPad tablet. It all used to be mainly Linux.

[Kamil Czajko]

Windows 8 is a no start for me, too many things wrong, dislike “modern” ui, closing off of the windows ecosystem with the store requirement etc.

Most people I speak to (users and techs alike) hate it and will be sticking with win 7 or moving to linux.

Kam

[GongGav]

I have an old PC (relatively speaking – only 4 yrs old) that I just need to plonk a fresh vid card in (got a cheapo card somewhere) and its good to go. Then I’ll pop a trial of Win8 on and see if I like it or not. If not, it’ll be a linux box or 2nd Win 7 box plugged into the TV.

I suspect Win 8 will work well though for a media box.

[Renai LeMayKeymaster]

“I suspect Win 8 will work well though for a media box.”

Really? I don’t know … from a media centre, above all I want stability, reliability and consistency (it’s an ‘appliance’) and I don’t anticipate that Windows 8 on launch day will be able to deliver all that. Normally, although Windows 7 was a bit of an exception, it takes at least six months before a Microsoft operating system is bedded down to the right level.

[Ben]

Given large corporates are still migrating XP to 7, some only just starting, I think 8 will likely be a non-starter.
It is either too much too soon and simultaneously too little too late. Three yearly updates are no longer the sweet spot for corporate IT, if ever they were.

[seven_tech]

I can see it being useful on Laptops, Tablets and Hybrids. Desktop, no. Stick with Win 7.

I’m looking at the Asus U500. Inititally Win 8 gave me pause, but I’ve used it a bit on a boot partition on my Win 7 desktop and while it isn’t good for desktop, I can see with a touchpad and gestures on a laptop it’d actually work quite well. Bit like OSX.

Primarily what I care about is backwards compatibility with 7- if all the stuff runs on 8 as it does with 7, that’s enough to make me consider it a success. I’m in 2 minds about not-Metro-anymore, but I can see its’ usefulness. And I LOVE the shortcut by typing not-Metro-anymore brings in. SOOOOOO easy to type “con” and hit enter for control panel….but maybe that’s just me :P

[Hubert CumberdaleParticipant]

Windows 8. Don’t care. Windows 8 is the result of a company (MS) looking at their last successful product (Windows 7) and saying to themselves: “Wow we made the bestest OS ever! yay us! Now since we can’t improve it in anyway let’s make it real ugly and stupid to get everyone’s attention! yay!” or if an analogy would help imagine the most impressively engineered bridge in the world; The Millau Viaduct, now imagine someone came along and painted it pink and put a Justine Beaver statue on every pier. That’s Windows 8 in a nutshell.

[seven_techParticipant]

I think that’s a little Harsh HC.

Sure, MS have been slack over the years, but with Win 8 I think they’re really trying hard to produce an overarching theme which will enable them with 8 and 9 to consolidate and merge their mobile and platform OSes.

You may not like not-Metro-anymore, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad or useless.

[Leefe]

While Microsoft was hungry Windows 8.

I have Windows 8 trial installed on a VM, and I’m not really thrilled. Don’t like the change of interface.

Of course, I agree with what I have read elsewhere, that Microsoft is ignoring corporate users with Windows 8. That MS doesn’t expect them to want to upgrade from Windows 7 so soon, so why not try out something really different on home users in the meantime.

I like Hubert’s comment:

“Wow we made the bestest OS ever! yay us! Now since we can’t improve it in anyway let’s make it real ugly and stupid to get everyone’s attention! yay!”

Which I see as ‘lets experiment with home users and see what happens’.
:)

[TenguTechParticipant]

While Microsoft was hungry Windows 8.

I have Windows 8 trial installed on a VM, and I’m not really thrilled. Don’t like the change of interface.

Of course, I agree with what I have read elsewhere, that Microsoft is ignoring corporate users with Windows 8. That MS doesn’t expect them to want to upgrade from Windows 7 so soon, so why not try out something really different on home users in the meantime.

I like Hubert’s comment:

“Wow we made the bestest OS ever! yay us! Now since we can’t improve it in anyway let’s make it real ugly and stupid to get everyone’s attention! yay!”

(Yes, I reposted the comment. I’m experimenting with the new forum)
Which I see as ‘lets experiment with home users and see what happens’.
:)

[Graeme]

Windows 8 ? Only if they fix the hundreds of annoying little glitches in Win7 first. Like the appalling File manager (Explorer) and the broken search function.

[Gav]

The improvements beyond the UI are pretty good, but whether they’re worth the weekend of reinstalling everything I’m not sure. Definite temptation to buy one of the new tablets, but can’t really justify the purchase.

I’d like the Modern UI to be more fully-realised, but cost-benefit stopped that font dialog from changing for 15 years so it could take a while.

The $40 to download it is pretty great value, so I’d almost just buy it now and install next year some time once more updates have come out.

[Renai LeMayKeymaster]

“The improvements beyond the UI are pretty good, but whether they’re worth the weekend of reinstalling everything I’m not sure.”

For me, it’s hard to look beyond the UI to those improvements — the UI is such a huge deal to get past. I don’t think I want Windows to radically overhaul its default PC UI at this point — not after two decades of using it.

[Renai LeMayKeymaster]

First Windows 8 TV commercial:

http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-8-campaign-kicks-off-with-first-official-television-commerical

I note during the commercial that few of the things I use Windows for (that is, actual work, hardcore PC gaming and so on) were displayed. Instead, it basically looked like an iPad commercial, a device on which I do very little work, but instead read and view things.

[seven_techParticipant]

To be fair Renai: I think Microsoft know people such as yourself aren’t going to use Win 8. They know Win 7 is good for productivity and simple tweaks and updates will keep it that way for most businesses and professionals.

What Microsoft are trying to do here is REALLY get into the consumer game, particularly on the mobile side. They’ve been overtaken by Apple in the Mobile computing arena and they’re trying to claw it back.

Windows 8 is about being an answer to integration between the digital consumers mobile and desktop worlds. And there are many hundreds of millions out there to whom that is relevant. It is to me and I’m (relatively) a professional. But I would use Win 8 RT on the go for much of the things indicated in the ad. While I can use Win 8′s “Win 7″ underlying to run hard core games and do Office work too.

This OS is about the consumer and the consumer nature of computing that has evolved from the iPad etc. Professionals will keep Win 7 and Microsoft knows that. There’s nothing wrong with 7. But the same could be said once you get past not-metro-anymore in Win 8- it’s still a fully functioning Professional OS, with improvements over 7 too.

I think people are just over-thinking the impact not-metro-anymore is having- once you go out of it and pin stuff to the taskbar, you barely have to see it if you don’t want.

[Renai LeMayKeymaster]

@seven_tech

I take your point, but I think the thing which annoys about Windows 8 is the way they’ve tried to conflate all of these uses into one O/S. Apple hasn’t yet turned Mac OS X into iOS, for instance, and Android is clearly a separate operating system from Linux. However, when it comes to Windows, Microsoft appears to be attempting to merge it all together. I can see why they want to go in this direction in the long-term — the integration of tablets and laptops makes sense from a certain perspective — but I think in the short-term they’re trying to force-feed people something they don’t want. This is an approach which hasn’t worked well for Microsoft in the past …

[seven_techParticipant]

@Renai

And I take your point back good sir! :-)

I think though, to be fair, WHENEVER they decide to start that integration, there’s gonna be a lot of resistance to change. After all, as you’ve said, we’ve had it basically the same for 25 years, but the computing world is changing- tablets have become proper computing devices and so there is call for a full blown OS for them- Win 8

This might very well be too early. But I don’t see them forcing people. As you say, they’ve tried that before and failed….miserably. I see them still happily supporting and assuming business will use Win 7 for many years, quite probably at least till 9. I see them in the consumer sphere however trying to get people off Win XP….and that is a good goal. And I don’t think you could say XP is better than Win 8. Clearer and more familiar, but not better IMO.

[Annoying Old FartParticipant]

Not at all; I don’t play games (I have kids for that!), so I’m not interested in the toy OS.

Personally, I’ve been on Linux exclusively since OS/2 faded from the scene. I find it very satisfying to honestly say to family, friends, and assorted freeloaders with computer crises, “sorry, I don’t know much about Windows”.

Professionally, I’m still on XP; it does what I need – running mandated enterprise apps, and dozens of putty sessions on the hundreds of Linux machines I look after. Sooner or later my desktop machine will die, and I’ll get another with W7. Yet to install the SOE in a Linux KVM :-)

[Tinman_auParticipant]

I’m kinda excited about the tablet and phone versions, I think MS have a real chance of having a productive/content creation winner, but I’ll be passing on the desktop upgrade though.

I still don’t understand why MS didn’t make the Win7 aero tile thing the main UI on the desktop version, and go with the tiles on the phone/tablet. Or even having an option to switch between them. And I REALLY hate how aero stuff all runs full screen, it defeats the purpose of having a 30″ monitor!

Having said all that, I’m sticking with the 7″ Nexus and Sammy s2 for a while though.

*note: Yeah, yeah, I know it’s not called Aero any more :p

[tomParticipant]

Short answer: No.

Long answer: Ubuntu does everything I need, and iPhone/iPad handle the rest.

[ausgnomeParticipant]

Windows fullstop = No Care
apart from being forced into it for work W7

[Renai LeMayKeymaster]

“I still don’t understand why MS didn’t make the Win7 aero tile thing the main UI on the desktop version, and go with the tiles on the phone/tablet. Or even having an option to switch between them. And I REALLY hate how aero stuff all runs full screen, it defeats the purpose of having a 30″ monitor!”

+1 to all of this

[Tinman_auParticipant]

What really frustrates me about Win8 is that it’s all just UI issues for desktop users, everything else about the OS seems to be a good solid upgrade. Win8 wont be another WinME or Vista, but in a lot of ways (for desktop) it’s two steps forward and one step back…

[Renai LeMayKeymaster]

“What really frustrates me about Win8 is that it’s all just UI issues for desktop users, everything else about the OS seems to be a good solid upgrade. Win8 wont be another WinME or Vista, but in a lot of ways (for desktop) it’s two steps forward and one step back…”

+100

[KarlParticipant]

Nope. I don’t use a tablet and if I did it would for sure be an Android device, not Windows. So I’m never going to switch to an operating system that loses critical features compared to Win 7.

The one thing I’d be interested in reading here is the occasional Win 8 tablet review, but that might just be because I’d find it highly amusing if Win 8 was horrible there as well.

[David W. CampbellParticipant]

I’m actually finding my Android tablet has taken up 90% of what I do at home on computers now, I only occasionally boot up windows 7 for steam, and with the push by valve to linux even that may change soon. We still use windows 7 open licensing to downgrade to XP at work and I doubt that is going to change any time soon.

[pblakezParticipant]

I wouldn’t but work comes into play, UI meh

My concern is prople will by the the Surface RT and expect to logon to their work network, as happens with win home, ipads etc

here is an email I send out today

“Gidday All Key Support Group

Microsoft Surface RT has been released today #note it is NOT suitable for secure business systems esp. those on domains like most of you

Microsoft will be releasing Microsoft Surface Windows 8 Pro soon that MAY be more suitable but as yet is untested with your software

please do not make the mistake of so many who bought cheap windows 7 laptops with windows home only for me to tell them no or pay me to upgrade

that is the windows weather for today….

cheers pb… “

[Author]

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