More Than 3 Out of 4 Enthusiasts Reject Windows 8

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Here is an idea
Virgin Linux
are you listening Richard Branson. Everything you touch seems to turn to gold. He currently has ~400 operations as I understand. He blasted his way successfully into the Australian aviation market when everyone else failed.

If he could make it compatible with M$ programs, I would be all over it like stink on skunk! No rush; I'll give him to January, 2020.

 

[jimbo45]

Here is an idea
Virgin Linux
are you listening Richard Branson. Everything you touch seems to turn to gold. He currently has ~400 operations as I understand. He blasted his way successfully into the Australian aviation market when everyone else failed.

If he could make it compatible with M$ programs, I would be all over it like stink on skunk! No rush; I'll give him to January, 2020.

Hi there
Be careful what you wish for -- I can quote TWO big businesses where "The boy didn't come good" -- Virgin Trains in the UK and the Virgin Media ISP / Broadband. People seem to have huge issues with both these services -- just recently when I had arrived from overseas at Manchester airport I had to go to London by train - so guess what I saw at Manchester Piccadilly main train station on the Virgin Trains Intercity section. It was a holiday weekend so of course many more people were travelling than usual so this is what we got :

"Due to Improvements your service will be drastically reduced" -- Thanks Richard -- Standing room only on a 320 KM train trip which took nearly 4 hrs instead of just over two with no bar / refreshment services either.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[PaulGo]

Microsoft could make one big move to salvage Windows 8. Whether it will have the courage to do it remains a question

...While it's rumored that the Blue update will reinstate the much-missed Start menu and allow users to boot into the Desktop mode, it's highly unlikely Microsoft will do the one thing that would best fix Windows 8: separate the desktop and tablet versions. That would require a surgery equivalent of separating conjoined twins, but it would have a powerful effect on both Microsoft's upstart tablet business and its traditional desktop base.

The one thing that could save Windows 8 | Microsoft - CNET News

 

[gregrocker]

Finally the verdict of business (53% of the market) gets aired where all can read it. I've been saying this for months. After a huge scare campaign in which they were threatened with BIOS infections if they didn't rush into Win8 Secure Boot, business replied almost unanimously by going with Win7 in the final migration from XP.

This when added to the consumer slump in PC sales, horrible feedback for Win8 from consumers, long return lines at Best Buy from users who never asked for a phone app on their new PC, means the handwriting is on the wall. Either read it or suffer ignominy worse than Vista - which itself was saved by Win7 advancements. Win7 will also save the day here, if they will let it.

First they need to finally recognize what they accomplished with Win7 - a perfect desktop experience - and celebrate it rather than try to smother it in its crib. Put it back on new PC's and let them sell again. Reintroduce Win8 for touchscreens - features like Live Tiles which are a competitive advantage vs. Ipad.

 

[HammerHead]

Is There Something Here?

Is there something here for MS to learn? Public relations or the lack thereof can be damning.

The Pentium Chip Story: A Learning Experience by Vince Emery

 

[SIW2]

"Windows 8 on the desktop will not take off until the Metro 'toy' interface becomes an option as provided by the superb 'Classic Shell' software (or gets ditched altogether). Corporates [sic] do not want to pay the MASSIVE bill for retraining users to use something, which basically is rubbish."

It's not getting any better for MS.

From Paulgo's link

The one thing that could save Windows 8 | Microsoft - CNET News

 

[mjf]

If Branson can send Joe Blow into sub orbit he could form Virgin Linux and I bet the big players would come on board.
Don't view this as some anti MS comment - I like W7 and provide advice like the rest of us for free. There is just an obvious business opportunity here and I just also like business "stuff" as well.

 

[Night Hawk]

"Windows 8 on the desktop will not take off until the Metro 'toy' interface becomes an option as provided by the superb 'Classic Shell' software (or gets ditched altogether). Corporates [sic] do not want to pay the MASSIVE bill for retraining users to use something, which basically is rubbish."

It's not getting any better for MS.

From Paulgo's link

The one thing that could save Windows 8 | Microsoft - CNET News

A slippery slope headed downhill is how to look at how things are going! When you take a look at MS trends of getting away from Fat to NTFS especially after ME flopped and XP was rushed out to take it's place loaded with bugs and limitations until all three SPs were out. Then you take the initial bad rep for Vista since MS made another big goober of "understating" the actual minimum system requirements for the larger OS which was the main problem for the otherwise more secure and definitely more stable then XP version.

What does all that sum up? Win 7 solves many a problem! The first "works out of the box" OS MS comes out with becomes an instant success story with "everyone" wanting it! Did MS learn from the 7 success story? Most other companies would want to follow up on that and build it even better to keep the pace going! MS looked the other way however and simply got too busy pushing Surface and now even smaller tablets to compete with the Fruit long time rivel as well as the recently new Google-litis Androidisms.

If some song writer came along he or she would probably work up some interesting lyrics about MS without it being a difficult task! "Flopppp Cityyyy... oh dear M$$$$ you have now reached Flop Cityyyyy being rejected by you peers! daa daaa dat taaaa Flop City...." :sarc:

 

[Indianatone]

Here is an idea
Virgin Linux
are you listening Richard Branson. Everything you touch seems to turn to gold. He currently has ~400 operations as I understand. He blasted his way successfully into the Australian aviation market when everyone else failed.

If he could make it compatible with M$ programs, I would be all over it like stink on skunk! No rush; I'll give him to January, 2020.

Hi there
Be careful what you wish for -- I can quote TWO big businesses where "The boy didn't come good" -- Virgin Trains in the UK and the Virgin Media ISP / Broadband. People seem to have huge issues with both these services -- just recently when I had arrived from overseas at Manchester airport I had to go to London by train - so guess what I saw at Manchester Piccadilly main train station on the Virgin Trains Intercity section. It was a holiday weekend so of course many more people were travelling than usual so this is what we got :

"Due to Improvements your service will be drastically reduced" -- Thanks Richard -- Standing room only on a 320 KM train trip which took nearly 4 hrs instead of just over two with no bar / refreshment services either.

Cheers
jimbo

The issue you had was not with the train service but caused by the tracks being repaired over a long holiday weekend when major engineering works are often scheduled. Worst time to travel by train as that is when the major work is done over a holiday.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Corrupting Influence

Another related issue is software and websites adopting the awful W8-style graphics.

The latest Foxit Reader installs with W8-style graphics and the awful Ribbon layout by default.

​

At least there is a "Classic" theme.

​

Here's how you restore the "Classic" view.

​

There were a few angry people on ghacks.net.
Foxit Reader 6.0 introduces new Ribbon Toolbar -

 

[Indianatone]

Another related issue is software and websites adopting the awful W8-style graphics.

The latest Foxit Reader installs with W8-style graphics and the awful Ribbon layout by default.

View attachment 268126​

At least there is a "Classic" theme.

View attachment 268127​

Here's how you restore the "Classic" view.

View attachment 268128
​

There were a few angry people on ghacks.net.
Foxit Reader 6.0 introduces new Ribbon Toolbar -

I had exactly that issue when the program updated, took me a while to sort that out the first time. There are many websites adopting the awful less is more 8 styles. I did not spend all I did on a PC and high speed internet so I could go back to 1996 dial up style graphics. Who in their right minds thinks these anemic graphics look good? A disabled individual would not be able to read this nor be able to switch back to normal mode. Foxit reader FAIL.

 

[Night Hawk]

Hindsight seems to be a virtue apparently! :sarc: "hey lets make it all look like the latest.." flop that is! "Flop City Redding here we come!" It's great for the new tablets to browse while the average desktop user now has to scratch their heads and wonder about where all this going. The redesign is keeping Surface in mind there! "gee it looks great on Surface Tablet!" daaaa....

 

[PaulGo]

Windows 8: 5 Hopeful Signs



Research firm Forrester says IT isn't interested in Windows 8, and that the platform's success relies on consumers and BYOD. Given that consumers aren't exactly embracing the new OS, Win8's prospects are easy to dismiss -- so much so that Frank X. Shaw, Redmond's VP of corporate communications, recently felt compelled to reprimand the media for its emphatically bleak appraisal of his company's plight.





...But It All Hinges On Usability
As Windows 8's defenders point out, the OS is usable -- as long as you endure a short learning curve. The problem is, many users gave Metro only a brief look and dismissed Win8 without a second thought. To a certain segment of users, a tablet that can access x86 apps is a dream come true. But iPads satisfy most people's most common needs, and when they require something heavier, most of them still have a computer. Windows 8's merits, for many of these users, did not make learning the new OS worthwhile.
To be fair, some of this adoption hesitancy has to do with cost, and Microsoft and its partners are about to address that. But it's clear, fair or not, that the UI hurdle needs to be removed. That doesn't mean Redmond should kill Metro, but it means the devices need to be engaging as soon as users pick them up.
The extent to which Microsoft understands this is unclear. On the one hand, Windows CMO and CFO Tami Reller has conceded that the "learning curve" imposed by the new Live Tiles UI is "real and needs to be addressed."

Windows 8: 5 Hopeful Signs - Software - Windows 8 - Informationweek

 

[whs]

As Windows 8's defenders point out, the OS is usable -- as long as you endure a short learning curve. The problem is, many users gave Metro only a brief look and dismissed Win8 without a second thought

That is a lot of BS. I have used Windows 8 for more than a year and wrote made more than a dozen Windows 8 tutorials - but I still don't like it.

As long as they keep that touchscreen UI in it, I am not going to use it on my desktop. I use Linux Mint instead.

 

[Loki]

You ever wonder if the average MS employee was force to use Windows 8? Did MS upgrade all the Desktop PC's to Windows 8...

I almost got Windows 8 at the $40.00 price but changed my mind, why waste $40.00...

MS is scared of Windows 7 being another XP and users not upgrading... guess they're right.

I've been trying to get a friend to upgrade her PC from XP to Seven, she replied she heard Windows 8 s*cked and she is saving for a MAC (I'm still trying to get her to upgrade to Windows 7). Now I never told her 8 s*cked and I'm her tech person so she has heard this from causal users.

Way to go Microsoft... Guess you got it Right, Kill the Desktop.

 

[PaulGo]

Hey, Teflon Ballmer. Look, isn't it time? You know, time to quit?

Analysis Those who upgraded to Windows 8 aren't the only ones unhappy with the new touch-driven operating system - Wall Street is too. Just don't expect any of the criticism hurled at Steve "Teflon" Ballmer, Microsoft's shy and retiring boss, to stick.
The chief executive is under fire from money men who responded to tech reporters trolling the markets for blistering opinions on Microsoft's leadership, given that: PC sales are crashing; Windows Phone 8 smartmobes are in fourth place in the US mobile OS market; and Windows 8 Surface gadgets are barely on the worldwide tablet sales charts. The new touchscreen-friendly Windows has not been that well received, resulting the software giant undoing decisions made at the highest levels.

"Certainly investors think Ballmer's the wrong guy," Ed Maguire, an analyst at investment biz CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, told The Telegraph. "You could make the argument that he missed tablets and he missed smartphones, and that these are the two areas of technology that really count."

Hey, Teflon Ballmer. Look, isn't it time? You know, time to quit? ? The Register

 

[Night Hawk]

The one part of the title is off namely "touch screen OS"? It should be Touch&Swipe Tablet OS"! It's certainly not any desktop friendly touchscreen concept to begin with since the MS interest was for one thing only namely promotional for Surface figuring pc sales overall were slumping while tablets and smart phones was the market to push into!

 

[mjf]

As Windows 8's defenders point out, the OS is usable -- as long as you endure a short learning curve. The problem is, many users gave Metro only a brief look and dismissed Win8 without a second thought

That is a lot of BS. I have used Windows 8 for more than a year and wrote made more than a dozen Windows 8 tutorials - but I still don't like it.

As long as they keep that touchscreen UI in it, I am not going to use it on my desktop. I use Linux Mint instead.

I like a man who speaks his mind in our current "precious" world.

 

[jimbo45]

As Windows 8's defenders point out, the OS is usable -- as long as you endure a short learning curve. The problem is, many users gave Metro only a brief look and dismissed Win8 without a second thought

That is a lot of BS. I have used Windows 8 for more than a year and wrote made more than a dozen Windows 8 tutorials - but I still don't like it.

As long as they keep that touchscreen UI in it, I am not going to use it on my desktop. I use Linux Mint instead.

Hi there
Whether some people like the idea or not TOUCH screens are here to stay - and for SOME applications they are quite worth while.

Don't get me wrong - I wouldn't like to do a lot of very fine line drawing with my fingers or even something quite simple such as cutting and pasting large chunks of texts (for all the drawbacks people say a mouse has it's still by far the best tool for this purpose) There's plenty of applications where touch on something like a laptop (on a large desktop monitor it IS B/S I'll grant you) is quite convenient such as links in web browsers etc.

W7 had very poor support for touch enabled devices so I can't see what's wrong with Ms building it into the new OS.

I'll also bet if the GUI was changed to something more traditional for desktop users 99% of the complaints with W8 would disappear at a stroke.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[whs]

Hi there
Whether some people like the idea or not TOUCH screens are here to stay - and for SOME applications they are quite worth while.

I don't argue the value of touch and I use it all the time on my Android tablet. But I don't want to wrestle with a touchscreen UI on my desktops that have no touch enabled devices.