"Windows 8 Survey: Half Who Have Tried the OS Wouldn't Recommend It"

fseal · 12 Mar 2012

snuffdaddy said:

If i ignored metro (believe me thats all i did) i felt i was downloading windows 7 sp2.
Underneath improvements where great, explorer update, iso & a doc reader built in, but it will not get the attention because of Metro.

I agree, most everything at the desktop level was pretty nice, I liked the UI improvements there, to task manager etc. We just need to be able to trade over to the normal start menu at the users choice and it'll be a nice Win7 upgrade.

gregrocker · 12 Mar 2012

We've been told for two years that Win8 feedback other than telemetry is not needed. So they may only be relying on that, which is fine since they now know that Firefox scripts hung when I tried without success to get directions on Google maps yesterday, or that others are uninstalling the trial apps in droves. Will they see the forest for the trees?

fseal · 12 Mar 2012

twhiting9275 said:

I can't say as I blame the 1/2 that wouldn't recommend it. Microsoft really screwed up on this on
We've been doing the same thing since the dawn of Windows, and now basically they're trying to say 'no, you're doing it wrong, do it another way'.

Sorry, Microsoft, you lose this one. Win Mobile sucks, and trying to force it on your customers will only cause them to just abandon your company.

I don;t think the Win Mobile UI "sucks" it's actually ok.

I think that Microsoft really DOES need something revolutionary for the revolutionary world of mobile computing in order to compete there. Right now they are not competing at all and have fallen woefully behind. So they need to do something drastic and awesome to come /racing/ out of the gate with and for that space Metro just might be it. (It'll be interesting to see how people use the metro UI in real applications instead of that horridly bland set of static "icons" they have been shipping out)

I just don't think that we need that revolution on the desktop. Or well maybe some kind of revolution but NOT THIS ONE

TanyaC · 12 Mar 2012

Despite Micro$ofts claims that they listen to their customers, I don't think they really do. They pretty much do things how they want and try to push the computer world in the direction that they want it to take, not what the people who actually use their products want.

Ok, maybe I'm being a bit harsh. They have "selective" hearing.

I centainly have no use for a lot of what Windows 7 has, and I certainly didn't want explorer to be so completely butchered and screwed up.

I installed the Windows 8 consumer preview, and ran it for a couple fo days. In the end it was so frustrating and I found myself trying to make it a useful desktop OS, and finding third party apps to put back what makes a useful OS (at least for the way we do things). In the end, I uninstalled it and realoaded windows 7 on my test machine.

I for one won't be planning to upgrade my 10 machines to windows 8 any time soon, if ever. This is one time I have actually not looked forward to a new windows release and have found myself experimenting with alternative OS's.

I think they've really lost the plot..

Just my 2 cents worth

gregrocker · 12 Mar 2012

Time to say it again just in case it needs to be said: Win7 is the best OS ever and may be one of the greatest achievements in tech history. I believe it saved the company from early Vista, whose own saving improvements came from Win7.

The improvements for the desktop experience in Win8 can be added in the next SP. Desktop users don't need buttons.

syost · 12 Mar 2012

gregrocker said:

I agree that this new hybridized Start Screen looks like buttons in search of a touchscreen, but they also seem to want to sell apps similar to how Apple does.

Why the apps would be so terrible is beyond me. A few extra features to customize or Close (Hello?

) the apps would have made them more palatable since the revolving-wall thing is decent. Isn't that exactly copied from Ipad, though?

1) The app store element should hardly surprise anyone. The have been saying that was the goal for two years. They are also sample apps for a beta OS.
2) Click on the app and drag it down to the bottom of the screen - it is then closed. It takes a minute of homework, or just watching the demo to figure that one out.
3) Try to do real multi-tasking on an iPad. It is not the same thing....

legacy7955 · 12 Mar 2012

I agree about MS not ACTUALLY listening to the customers.

Instead, like many big companies they have chosen to use consulting and marketing companies as go-betweens , and as usual these companies simply come back with the answer that the client wanted to hear.

I also get the feeling that a "dumbed down" metro GUI is part of a ploy to force the "cloud" on most users eventually. I for one will NEVER accept this nebulous, possibly dangerous phony "cloud" that the powers that be keep pushing.

Sorry but I agree with others here, I have no use for touching screens and smearing with icky fingers.

I'm kind of shocked that MS is not really concerned about the "enterprise" customers, they are simply NOT going to go for this Windows 8 as it is.

MS if you are listening, you need to make it a "one step" proposition to switch to the traditional desktop interface. This should be THE FIRST THING ASKED OF THE NEW USER when loading Win 8 for the first time.

On a lighter note, am I the only one that thinks of the spineless term "metrosexual" when they hear about the "metro" IU?.

lehnerus2000 · 12 Mar 2012

A comment I posted on ZDNet:

"I'm sure MS is "quaking in its boots" that they'll miss out on my $400, but if 100 million people (~10% of users) decide not to upgrade, that is a huge amount of lost revenue."

If the actual number of "non-upgraders" is closer to 50% ... you do the numbers.

legacy7955 said:

I agree about MS not ACTUALLY listening to the customers.

Instead, like many big companies they have chosen to use consulting and marketing companies as go-betweens , and as usual these companies simply come back with the answer that the client wanted to hear.
...
I'm kind of shocked that MS is not really concerned about the "enterprise" customers, they are simply NOT going to go for this Windows 8 as it is.

MS if you are listening, you need to make it a "one step" proposition to switch to the traditional desktop interface. This should be THE FIRST THING ASKED OF THE NEW USER when loading Win 8 for the first time.

I agree with you.

Many people have suggested that during installation, W8 needs to:

Auto-detect your hardware
Ask you what GUI you want

Coke Robot · 12 Mar 2012

I would recommend Windows 8, I actually have two of my close friends running the Consumer Preview on their laptops, and they're liking it.

Honestly, the great thing about Windows 8 to me is that it's not a minor evolution. It's not taking some features from previous versions and making them more refined and better, it's reimagining all of that. I would think if Windows 8 had a start menu, I would think it would be a MUCH harder sell to a consumer. It would be saying, "Hey, we have a newer and faster version of Windows than Windows 7, but it looks the same and acts the same and does the same thing as before, but faster!" To me, I would say posh to that. Windows 8 with Start Screen on the other hand says to a consumer, "Oh yeah, I'm friggin' different and can I do all things you know how to do, but faster, easier, Windows 8 style!" But that's just me.....

smarteyeball · 12 Mar 2012

I'm still ambivalent towards W8. I certainly don't love it, but I don't really hate it either.

However after being the driving force behind the 'family+friends' XP>Vista>Seven upgrades, as it stands I doubt I'm going to foist Eight on them.

Coke Robot said:

Honestly, the great thing about Windows 8 to me is that it's not a minor evolution.

I'm all for evolution, but as long as it's for the good. But overall W8 feels like a wrong direction for this evolution.

it's reimagining all of that.

lol, I hate that particular faecal PR Buzzword.

"Windows 8 Survey: Half Who Have Tried the OS Wouldn't Recommend It"

You do the numbers