Review: Windows 8, the hybrid OS has arrived

Not going to consider Windows 8 until the Windows 7 start menu is implemented as an option.

Going from Windows 7 to Windows 8 is a downgrade at the moment.

Standard users are going to struggle using Windows 8 which will probably impact sales.

 

That's my take on it too. Can you imagine non tech oriented people walking into stores like Best Buy and trying to figure out how things work on a desktop or laptop? I think a lot of people will just flat out reject it and buy something else. If Apple would lower their prices some, they could make a killing in the market in the next year or so....

 

From PCWorld: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2013144/use-ninite-to-give-windows-8-a-classic-start-menu.html

I've heard that lots of folks are working on little things like that.

Whether MS suffers is yet to be seen. The majority of people probably never used Windows 8 through its various testing phases, so whether they like it or not will all depend on what happens after they press the power button. I don't think it will be a pleasant experience for them, but they may get used to it over time. In fact, that may be the only way it really succeeds, is that people get used to it. MS can forget the corporate world helping it succeed as they'll not get around to putting it in place until possibly 3 or more years down the road. Windows 7 isn't even in all corporate environments yet.

 

If they go into Best Buy, it'll be shoved down their throats. In most of these stores, the "old" PCs are tucked away off of the show floor if they're even kept, and the new stuff will line every shelf. They certainly won't learn anything from the sales reps there, as all they really do is recite the specifications sheet (Which lots of non-techies can't figure out either.) and bring up the media player or start-up menu to show off programs (Usually listing how much crapware you're about to inherit.).

 

I can't see Windows 8 being adopted by business or government.

Where I live (North Carolina), most business and county/state government agencies are still using XP and a few I personally know about are still using Windows 2000. I have yet to see ANY business or government agency computer running Vista or Windows 7.

Say what you will about the enhanced security provided by those newer incarnations of Windows, but I believe the expense of new software and the cost to train- in some cases- hundreds (perhaps thousands) of employees to use Windows 8 will lead business and government to relegate this OS to use on tablet PCs and cell phones, which is where it belongs.

 

Business has always operated that way. The government, well, it's the government But, for major corporations the time and money spent just getting new software on the machines and then tweaking to their necessary needs, and then testing to make sure nothing blows up and only after that training staff from the bosses down to the peons..is just not worth the effort. And to do this every time MS decides their old version isn't good enough anymore? Not happening.

 

A few weeks ago, I was talking to one of the sales reps at a local Best Buy, and was told that for a while, they'd be selling about 2/3 Win 8 and 1/3 Win 7 machines. I don't know if this is still true, or how long it will last, but I'd guess if the company still has or can get Win 7 machines, then they'll keep selling them.

 

I should take a few trips to my local one over the next couple of weeks and see how they'll do it.

 

In order for Windows 8 to be a successful venture, Microsoft must bring abord the major corporations (Fortune 100 at least) and government agencies at every level and do so within the next twelve to eighteen months.
There is no way this operating system will be a successful endeavor unless and until that happens.

Selling a few thousand copies per month via new computer sales and one-at-a time install packages will never anywhere near get the market share MS is hoping for and needs.
-Besides-
In a few days, (I predict) complaints and angst about the new interface and unexpected learning curve will be posted all over the internet by those who didn't realize what they were buying and how different it is from the Microsoft operating system(s) they are familiar with. That alone will cause those considering the leap to pause and think if they really want to use this software. Remember, the majority of users worldwide are relatively illerate as to the intracacies of an OS; they just want to boot up and do whatever it is they normally do with their computer without any hassle, delay, or BS.
A ten or even twenty per cent improvement in boot time is hardly a reason to buy a new computer or a satisfactory reward for having to spend the time re-learning where everything is.

 

I agree. They have their place, but I just don't see using one as my primary system. I don't need my primary system to be portable. I don't need to replace my desktop with a tablet (or even a hybrid thing like Surface) any more than I need to get rid of my stereo speakers and use headphones all the time, or ditch the television and replace it with a little screen to carry around.

That said, I think some of the hate on Windows 8 is overblown. Once you get rid of the Metro apps and populate the Start Screen with desktop apps, it's quite reasonable to use. I still don't care for the visual aesthetic, and some things like shutting down are awfully unintuitive at first, but it's not as evil as it's been made out to be.

But that's just today. My concern isn't so much what Windows 8 is now, but where it's headed. I'd hate to see the day that the PC becomes a locked-down box, with every application having to be approved and licensed by MS.

 

With that, noone, you've probably hit the proverbial nail on the head

I have found lately another type of O/S is suiting my needs quite nicely

 

I'm also moving in that direction, albeit slowly. As for Windows, I'm happy with what I have. What they and their promoters are calling "the future" looks useless to me. I don't need to give it a month or more to see if I can adapt to it. There's no reason that I should have to.

That does look like the direction it's going. Except for the operating systems which are also very stripped down, I don't have any MS software. I doubt that most of what I do use will ever end up in the store or on their approved lists. I'd rather not have a PC than to be stuck with something like that.

 

This time, I think standard users will adapt faster than savvy ones.

Windows 8 doesn't need as much "babysitting" as previous versions.

 

I'm pretty sure a standard user won't even know how to turn their Win 8 machine off without Googling it.......

 

You are underestimating people.

 

And you are underestimating the impatience of people....

 

I don't think most people is that impatient. And, most importantly, I don't believe that Microsoft is naive too. I would bet $100 that Microsoft is releasing this OS to the public, aiming the general public and backed up by optimistic results of several tests with their large and representative target/study groups. I don't buy the argument that Microsoft is releasing a product that regular users can't easily adapt to. Regular users do things "with" their computers, not "to" their computers. I tried to use Windows 8 from the perspective of a regular user and I sincerely believe that the W8's experience is, at first, a more intuitive and natural experience for most regular users than for most of the nerds. A regular user has less expectations of a "fixed order" on his device. What matters is if he can check his e-mail and online social profiles, play his favorite games, play videos and musics, open and edit his documents, research some topic using the power of a search engine, for example. Such tasks are easier with Windows 8 - especially with this new hardware generation where most devices are coming with support to a combination of input methods (touchscreens+keyboards+touch-pads+mouses). It doesn't matter for a regular user if he can't apply obscure tweaks to his OS as easily as he used to or if his favorite HIPS software isn't as compatible as it used to be on a previous version of the OS. A regular user normally doesn't apply obscure tweaks to the OS and neither loses time babysitting some HIPS software.

 

The hot corner may be a good alternative to the start menu once you get used to it, but if you still want the start menu back in win 8, there are a bunch of free and paid programs that implement it.

I use 8StartButton by TotalIdea Software on my virtual win8 machine and it works fine.

Others I've seen but not tested include Stardock's Start8 and Iobit's StartMenu8 (beta).

 

Stardock's Start8 is the BEST start menu tool for Windows 8.

 

Classic Shell replicates Windows 7 a bit better I feel, but Start8 is fine.

 

I think things can be argued either way really. I used the 2 releases for several weeks each, and yes, I did get used to things, and it wasn't bad at all. For me though, the deal killer is Metro. I just don't want it at all on my computer, it's unnecessary. If I could remove Metro, or there was an option to install without it, I'd have bought 8 yesterday already. But as it is, I'll stick with 7.

I think the problem comes when people get used to something for years and years, and then they change it radically. Young users just getting into computers and tablets etc will probably like it. But I don't think the rest of the market does.

My opinion is, 8 will be a large failure in general. You can argue the other way and that's fine, but I've been looking at it for a long time now, and that's the conclusion I've reached. Time will tell, right?

 

As cold as it may sound...I sincerely, truly hope Windows 8 fails.

I also feel a movement should start among consumers, prosumers, and business users alike, where whether you have 8 or 7, you turn off ALL telemetry functionality (e.g. Customer Experience Improvement Programs for Windows and each Microsoft product individually).

You may ask why...afterall, Microsoft likely has the best telemetry of any software company. That may bd true, but I don't like the way they are using it (or claim they are using it). Their telemetry has been used as a reason for changes in Windows 8, all the way to the largely unpopular settings removal of MSE. I'm sick of their crap and I'm just about done with their telemetry. If they are going to interpret me pinning things to the taskbar or clicking from desktop as, "oh, he doesn't need his Start Menu", well then screw them. That's a very bad way to interpret telemetry data and implement very major, radical changes based on such "conclusions".

I have always been an advocate of helping MS improve their products. Not any more.

 

It's an operating system, that's all. I fully believe they went about Windows 8 on the desktop the wrong way, and I don't think it'll be wildly popular on it. If it succeeds though, it does. If it doesn't, then MS should use it as a learning experience. I have Windows 7, software vendors aren't going to drop Win 7 support for years, so whether they fail or succeed is not anything I need to worry about. If it really gets to the point where I refuse to move further but can't keep Windows 7 and have to change, then I'll prepare myself for the trade offs and move to Linux, where I'll have more choices than I can shake a stick at.

 

Tried out Windows 8 on a virtual machine and am liking it so far.

A few of the new features I found to be quite useful are below:

- Improved shut-down and boot up time
- Native USB 3.0 support
- Better support for multiple monitors
- Windows live syncing (lets you sync user settings with a windows live account so you can apply them to other windows 8 PC's when on a different windows 8 PC)

The new task manager was a bit strange at first glance, but if you expand it using 'more details' it gives a lot of information about processes running on the computer and even lets you disable/enable start up programs.

To get over my issue with the new start menu I am trialling Start8 and after it is installed it is pretty much identical to using Windows 7's start menu.

 

Yep, there is always that option, which is good. I've been using linux off and on for 5 or 6 years now. I prefer Win 7 at this point, but linux is definitely an alternative, and a pretty good one at that. Most of the popular distros now have pretty much everything you need.