Windows 8- Your first impression

The biggest benefit of using windows 8 is it's lighting fast even with using older hardware. But the really sad part of this debate is that slowly but surely everything is going to the touch environment whether we like it or not. MS is just staying ahead of the curve.

I tested 8 heavily with a dual boot up of 8 and 7, both beta and RTM versions of 8. Once you get used to it....that's the key right there...you have to get use to it...then you'll be pleasantly surprised at how much you end up really liking it. As for me...I have a copy of 8 pro ready to go when I upgrade some outdated hardware. My current hardware setup just doesn't play nice with the windows 8 generic drivers to really enjoy 8 at the moment.

I like it. In fact, I'll be upgrading my 7 Ultimate PC in a little bit, later on today. Just gotta get my files backed up, and install. I hope the $99.99 I spent at Target earlier is worth it. If it's anything like the Beta versions, I should be good. I used all of them, and I liked them.

Dinesh said:

What I really like is the start-up and shutdown time!

I know! That is pretty nice even on a slow 5400RPM drive

Here I go!

Tried Windows 8 back in its CP and RP days. Left with the impression that it has potential to be great on tablets and smartphones; Metro is designed specifically for small-screen touch interfaces where everything need to be big with low information density to make up for the smaller screen and lack of precision that a finger brings along.

In general though? Lack of the start menu, cripplingly unintuitive interface, bad visual design (clear borders serve a legitimate purpose, none of this border-less and flat Metro philosophy!), and a closed system with Metro only allowing software installations through Windows Store (aka: Apple's iOS + App Store).

Overall: Potentially good, but as it stands I won't get Windows 8 even if Microsoft paid me to. My desktop isn't a tablet and any pros Windows 8 brings to the table doesn't merit the myriad of cons that it also brings along.

King Arthur said:

Tried Windows 8 back in its CP and RP days. Left with the impression that it has potential to be great on tablets and smartphones; Metro is designed specifically for small-screen touch interfaces where everything need to be big with low information density to make up for the smaller screen and lack of precision that a finger brings along.

In general though? Lack of the start menu, cripplingly unintuitive interface, bad visual design (clear borders serve a legitimate purpose, none of this border-less and flat Metro philosophy!), and a closed system with Metro only allowing software installations through Windows Store (aka: Apple's iOS + App Store).

Overall: Potentially good, but as it stands I won't get Windows 8 even if Microsoft paid me to. My desktop isn't a tablet and any pros Windows 8 brings to the table doesn't merit the myriad of cons that it also brings along.

Wow, its like you read my mind! I like the tiny features they added in, hate the metro, hate the options taken away, hate the new store. Pretty much hate everything about except the taskmanager and little things like that. I don't know what they're thinking putting a tablet designed OS on every computer. I think you should at least be able to disable the Metro.

HoneycombAG said:

What's with all this HATE for Windows 8? It doesn't have to be a touch screen to use the new interface. I'm still using a plain ol' mouse just fine!

I will give credit where credit is due; as I've said I can see Metro being potentially great on touch interfaces and devices with smaller displays given its design philosophy of "bigger, low information density".

However, the problems with the interface's intuitiveness are also numerous and legitimate. Something that was already brought up was the needless complication of shutting Windows 8 down; I myself also had to actually Google how to shut Windows 8 down because none of the obvious avenues gave me the option, it was instead nested way down under Settings as I later found out. To contrast, why can't I just have a big "Shut Down" button somewhere directly on the Start Screen itself? The Start Menu has a Shut Down button on it, after all.

Another case was with the login screen I get upon boot up of Windows 8. During my very first stint with Windows 8, I was left with what was apparently a background picture with nowhere to type in my username or password or select my user account upon boot up. It was only after I'd accidentally dragged the background picture up that I realized I need to drag the background picture up completely before I'd get any input boxes for me to type in my user account details. I didn't get any visual cues to drag the background, mind you, let alone drag up.

I like to think I'm at least knowledgable with computers as I've used Windows since Windows 3.11, dabbled in Linux, and try to keep myself up-to-date on the workings of both software and hardware. When a person experienced with using computers subsequently has serious problems figuring out basic and fundamental stuff like this, there clearly is a problem with Metro's intuitiveness. If I am supposed to scroll or drag something whichever way I should be given clear cues to do so (Scroll bars? Flashing arrows?), and I definitely shouldn't need to use Google just so I can shut down Windows 8, for crying out loud!

I'm also not going into how the lack of any clear borders in Microsoft's new Metro philosophy makes everything look very disorganized and messy because that's another Pandora's Box unto itself.