More Than 3 Out of 4 Enthusiasts Reject Windows 8

Night Hawk said:

I know don't you just miss all those old Classic(drab) Legacy themes? ......

Finally an OS that came to the rescue was 7 yet lacking the Classsic Windows themes option.

Well, I had another crack at that W7 machine, what is sorely lacking is that traditionally the appearance tab in the display box has the drop-downs;
Item
Colour Scheme
Font.
W7 is lacking the 'Color scheme' drop-down, but still allows the tedious process of DIY, NH, the stock schemes were usually my starting point to some pleasing desktops [well, my preferences].
I never had ANY BSODs but I'm guessing you've never used 2000 Pro. As its' name implies it was the one OS aimed at the professional user. I take it you've never experienced W2kP? It is stable and bullet proof compared to XP, which received the improvements that were to go into 2000 but then some a-hole came up with that activation nonsense.
Rather than repeat, allow me to point towards the posts of one of my *ahem* gurus:
Firefox 13+ in Windows 2000 • mozillaZine Forums
Plus his response (which mirrors my own) to being queried about using 2000.
Firefox 13+ in Windows 2000 • mozillaZine Forums
OR just scroll to, then past, "freibooter" 's post at the same page.
Most of all, I detest activation but I also detest disk-based OSs...they're too vulnerable (see my subsequent reaction to the youngster who posted about moving on to the more 'secure' W8.1) If it had survived, I'd still be an Atari user.....OS in ROM, buy the machine, get the OS,and in the case of socketed chips, the upgrades never cost more than 50 bucks discount, 70 tops. Plus, the 32-bit Motorola CPUs were way ahead of their time. There was a whole debate that Atari should have gone open architecture, they and Digital Research concentrating on just the OS, imagine a Gigabyte or Biostar or Asus mobo with a place to install Atari TOS ROMs? ...with corresponding BIOS? Though I don't wish to re-visit that right now.

The other shortcoming is the present W7 explorer but I didn't spend sufficient time with it last night, however, I have the free utility Explorer++ [desk and portable] waiting in the wings for the new build and in the case of the portable version, I'm using it now.
Finally [again] I like the classic look.

It is a growing market. MS will have a smaller percentage of a bigger cake.

There will be lots more money squeezed out of the hapless punters via subscription services.

mjf said:

SIW2,
you highlight that the software business; OS through to applications are in a high state of flux. I wouldn't want to be an MS executive at this stage unless I had a good severance package in place.

Gary said:

Well, I had another crack at that Windows 7 machine, what is sorely lacking is that traditionally the appearance tab in the display box has the drop-downs;
Item
Colour Scheme
Font.

Lone Browncoat.

You must be using some st grange version of Windows 7 , I have all of those things.

Well, it was the "Enterprise" version at the new Target Store under construction, does the "E" version,
have some of the fluff trimmed off for efficiency? The themes window did seem sparse.

Gary said:

I have Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit. I cannot speak about any E version. You can install third party themes.

I saw that but as I was wiring, I didn't have admin access, some features may have been locked out, I won't know now until I get my own install disk going on the new build.

The end user is interested in applications and an Operating System that facilitates those applications. Applications fall into two broad categories IMO: Business (Corporate through to home business) and home entertainment / hobbies. IMO MS can maintain its OS dominance provided it recognizes that this is its core competency. Software/IT is a tough business which increases to be outsourced to who can provide "services" at a much lower cost.

IMO relevant applications and good customer service is where the money is. How you segment your market in terms of applications depends upon your core capabilities and your organizational strategic plan.

PS: I still think Windows 7 is a decent OS.

Scoop said:

Lady Fitzgerald said:

I was actually impressed with some of the improvements but they are too little too late. The UI is still too clunky for desktops. Even though one can now list all their programs, it's still harder to read than the simple lists available in Win7 and earlier. The search feature, even though it is much better than Win 7's, is clunkier than menus and not of much use if you can't remember what it is you are looking for, something easy to have happen if one has a lot of files. When I built my present desktop back in February, I bought two retail copies of Win 7 Ultimate and one of Home Premium. Had Win 8 started out with what it will have now, I might have considered it instead but, after that initial disaster, I've made the commitment to stay with Win 7 until its last dying gasp, same as I decided to stay with XP when Vista was thrust upon us. For the same reason, I upgraded to Office 2010 from 2007 to ensure I would have an office suite that would be usable through the lifespan of Win 7. I don't really care now how good Win 8 may become because I'm not wasting time and money replacing an OS, software, and hardware that are presently meeting my desktop needs.

Same here, declined Vista & stayed with XP until I bought a custom-built PC with 7.

I'm still running Office '03 since it's all I need but I know the support will expire next year at the same time as XP.

I'm not sure if I'd be more vulnerable if I kept running Office '03 after next April.

Lady Fitzgerald said:

Strange. I never had problems with XP.

I don't recall having many problems with XP either. It seemed to be a fairly stable OS but I'm not an advanced PC user, no gaming, etc. I'm a basic user, 'net, Office, and a few programs.



If I'm understanding this right, it's not good news for me as a "keyboard/shortcut" geek. It sounds like 8 is less "keyboard-shortcut" friendly but perhaps I have the wrong impression about that.


That's a good point. I never used Vista but hadn't considered this point. As a big 7 proponent, I'll Vista for that.



I'm also still running IE9 on my Desktop and I had 15 tabs opened a moment ago. I did that to test it after reading this post. I rarely have more than 4-5 tabs opened at the same time in IE9 .



I'd never have thought about this before Win 8, being a Win OS buyer since way back, but I may be forced to go this route if MS tries to accelerate a Win 7 phase-out with regards to support/security updates.

I don't require tablet technology for my lifestyle and don't forsee that on the horizon, having a Laptop for mobility when I travel. All of my data is in my hand, along with optical media capability.

Cloud strategy hasn't hooked me yet :). I guess if one doesn't have a reliable backup scheme for their Desktops or Laptops, I can see a Cloud setup being useful.



I've read this thought for years and I agree, arguably the "question of the home PC era". I wonder what a fly on the wall in top-level MS meetings would say to that question?

Night Hawk said:

It's marketing! Remember to look at what would be the want for apps on a tablet sometime to see where MS wants to take people! Oh gosh golly Windows 8.1 Blue unveiled, will it...??? Windows 8.1 unveiled: will it change your mind about Windows 8? | ZDNet Sorry no go here! 7 to stay for the time being at least! I run desktops not tablets.

jimbo45 said:

Hi there
What exactly am I missing --and I'm a lowly Engineer so the hotshots at Ms who actually DESIGN and WRITE windows should be able to understand far better than me.

A DESKTOP OS is totally different in operation and conception from a MOBILE PHONE / TABLET OS -- so why on earth have Ms apparently given up on the desktop - desktops (probably in the form of laptops) aren't going away any time soon - there are 100,000's of scenarios where a tablet or phone isn't suitable.

It's just SO obvious that I really fail to understand what exactly Ms's problem is. Make the OS capable in of running in TWO user selectable modes. Can't be that difficult - after all people have added 3rd party stuff like Start 8 etc.

I have to surmise that it's really case of egos and politics.

Let's hope somebody starts teaching "Real world situations" to these guys.

Cheers
jimbo

I've had discussions with some that are telling me "The Desktop/Laptop is going away. It's the Tablet/Cloud time in history now."

I'm not convinced of this though.

From what I found here as well as from others who even have done outside work for MS XP was a batched OS loaded with bugs from the start from a rush job to replace the ME flop. SP1 corrected the 137gb barrier issue but still was lacking in fixes as the same went for SP2 which did improve a few items. After 7 came along in beta and RC form MS finally release SP3 with over 1,000 long awaited fixes for the old version. daaaa... It bit too little too late!

What Vista did was bring in some much needed security as well as a stronger running OS with far less bugs. But the size of the OS was growing while MS was "understating" the actual minimum system requirements needed. That would be 2gb or more for the 32bit, 2.5gb or more for the 64bit side. Even XP was notibly running much smoother when 2gb was installed on a pc previously only running a pair of 512s! showing MS was letting the OEMs slide with only 512mb - 1gb on Vista machines? Customer Rejection immediately assuming OS was bad not realizing the MS understatement! Another ddaaaaa moment for MS there again.

Then we finally MS finally getting it together and pressuring the OEMs for a change to have driver support available for what? Windows 7! The first out of the box working OS for some years arrives! 7 is an instant success story and puts MS back on the map again! The crowds are elated and "everyone" wants to get their hands on "7"! One big notch for MS there!

So what happened? The party balloons are gone for sure with 8! People are scratching their hands wondering who the what happened to the Windows or what seems now to be "TABLET OS"?!?!?! MS abandoned the desktop success instead progressing forward with a winning formula to what? Tabletitis with euphoria of moblie grandeur of topping The Fruit company an Google -itis in mobile market?

The facts show that of all the "Fortune 500" companies the fruit company besides it's enourmous overcharging for IPxx or that has shot up the ladder in a rapid succession. MS is entering that game a bit too late and is now flondering resources on "Flop City"?! It simply doesn't work and won't work for most to begin with until MS finally has to get back to the basics and come up again with a working desktop strategy.

Tablets, IPxx(s), Smart whatever phones, etc. have their own place. They can be nice conveniences but are not suitable for any serious work. Anyone who thinks that's the way everything is going is off on a dillusion of moble-itis! Think you are going to take an engineer and tell that person they will now sit in front of a Tablet? to work on advanced designs? NO GO THERE!

How about the digital photographer or other professional occupations even educational? Not happening! The desktop platform would simply then need a new substitution for the Windows OS entirely if MS doesn't get back ontrack again!