More Than 3 Out of 4 Enthusiasts Reject Windows 8

[Dallas 7]

What does "MS come to their senses" mean to you?

I've given this a lot of thought and the only way out I see with the company collapsing over its abandon of the perfect desktop experience (their greatest strength) is to immediately give UPgrade rights to Win7 to all OEMs who were ill-advisedly forced to sell Win8 on new PC's which aren't selling as a result.

The OEM's can dole out these Upgrades to their service centers and even the retailers. Today the Geek Squad in my Best Buy told me the machines sitting untouched will start selling again if they could put Win7 on them overnight. Let Win8 ship with touchscreens only. If users want it on their desktop offer 8 Downgrade rights with new Win7 PC purchases as should have been done to begin with.

Include Win8 graphical explorer and some other improvements in Win7 SP2 that don't at all interfere with the best Desktop experience ever. And keep the ugly off of elegant Win7.

Your way or the highway is about to end up roadkill on the highway. The stock market is starting to downgrade the company, which didn't even happen with the Vista debacle which was bad enough. Win7 saved you then, and the best OS ever will save you now.

Brilliant post Greg! In fact if they added those improvements to W7 and gave it a new name and market it that way, they might stir up even more interest. Either way new 7 or SP2, it would be a vast improvement over the present quagmire.

If they believe "8" is the answer to their mobile units, go for it.
Meanwhile, the new "7" would be off to the races again!
Also, I really agree with your statement "And keep the ugly off of elegant Win7"!!

 

[whs]

What does "MS come to their senses" mean to you?

My solution would be to install the Metro UI when they sense a touch enabled screen and a 'traditional' UI when there is no touch enabled device. They can make the distinction bewteen HDDs and SSDs during the installation, so that should be easy.

The big argument that is usually brought forward against that solution is more cost in maintenence - and that is true. But that is a relatively small cost and only for the UI layer and not for the whole system.

In my 35 years of operating system development we have done these things several times. And it was never the end of the world despite all the neh sayers at the outset.

If they did that, they would have a lot of happy campers in the 1 Billion users of desktops and it does not break the bank. In fact it would probably generate more revenue and profit.

 

[gregrocker]

There doesn't need to be a new Win7. It is the most wildly popular OS ever and the nearly-unanimous choice of business migrating from XPired. It hasn't even begun to show its age so to rush its shelf life is a fool's errand by those who never even took the time to appreciate and know its place, the best OS ever and one of the greatest achievements in tech history.

Call me a fan boy if you want. We are it's guardians here.

 

[whs]

I agree, but there are some useful improvements in Windows 8 that would do well if applied to Windows 7 SP2 - or whatever you want to call it. I am not against progress, I just want an OS that is suitable for my desktops.

 

[Dallas 7]

...I just don't get how some can legitimately criticize something they've not used.

By reading reviews (actual reviews, not just complaints) and watching demos.

I read review all the time, doesn't mean call crap because they say so. Yes, reading review can reveal a lot of things, but I always take reviews with a grain of salt, even if I agree. And I never ever rely on one source. I guess this is where having an open mind comes in.

That's me though

Lady Fitzgerald didn't rely on just one source either, her word "Reviews" was plural.
Seems to me the party lacking the "open mind" is Microsoft.
All we want is choices and options like we've always had until W8.
What's wrong with that?

 

[sygnus21]

I agree, but there are some useful improvements in Windows 8 that would do well if applied to Windows 7 SP2 - or whatever you want to call it. I am not against progress, I just want an OS that is suitable for my desktops.

Agree.

 

[Berkey]

I agree, but there are some useful improvements in Windows 8 that would do well if applied to Windows 7 SP2 - or whatever you want to call it. I am not against progress, I just want an OS that is suitable for my desktops.

Second. This should have been the route from the get go

 

[Dallas 7]

I agree, but there are some useful improvements in Windows 8 that would do well if applied to Windows 7 SP2 - or whatever you want to call it. I am not against progress, I just want an OS that is suitable for my desktops.

Agree.

Second. This should have been the route from the get go

Third!
Agreed, and that's all we wanted from the get go.
All M$ has to do is get off their arrogant, dead rear ends and do it right!

 

[x BlueRobot]

It's shame to see Microsoft after all their successes with releases of operating systems and software, come down to it's own market being divided with Windows 7 and Windows 8.

 

[jimbo45]

It's shame to see Microsoft after all their successes with releases of operating systems and software, come down to it's own market being divided with Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Hi there
since Ms aren't "Officially" selling W7 anymore it's not actually splitting their market.

However with the newer larger smart phones coming on to the market place you can see how ridiculous the "Tiles" on the Android system itself is and consequently the W8 start screen too.

As an experiment if you have an Android smart phone -- download and install say 30 - 40 Free apps and try and use them. The whole experience now from being relatively simple becomes a complicated mess -- endless scrolling to find an app that you've forgotten the name of and no way to sort or rename them in any meaningful or convenient manner.

Now the whole Android experience changes from being a fairly simple and pleasant experience to a really unwieldy one with endless amounts of scrolling in order to find anything.

Just try it -- these Free apps can be uninstalled again very easily on android. The smaller the phone you have then the MORE complex handling apps becomes.

Now Ms will IMO have to change the whole start screen into something much more useable (as will Android itself).

I don't really miss the start menu -- I never used it much from XP onwards anyway - and on the whole I quite like using W8 -- it's the whole Start screen that I don't like - and I'm getting more and more frustrated with using apps on my mobile phone too because of the total lack of being able to organise them in any meaningful manner. I travel a LOT so I have quite a few travel apps from various countries such as Rail and Bus information from Germany, France, Holland Belgium and UK for example.

(And by the way Ms did have a few "Dogs" in the OS stakes such as Windows Millennium, Windows 95, and Windows VISTA (although that was due mainly to hardware limitations at the time of its release --It runs OK on modern hardware BTW).

Cheers
jimbo

 

[PaulGo]

Starting with Android OS 4.0 you can create folders on the start screen which you can name. Therefore it becomes very easy to organize your start screen apps. The whole idea of an OS is to make improvements to enhance the user experience not destroy it like Microsoft did.

 

[Indianatone]

I actually used Windows 8 preview for several months on a virtual machine and spent at least 30 to 40 hours trying to like it. I found the more I used it the less I liked it. The only way it was tolerable was to make it like Windows 7 and if I was going to do that then who needs it.

That was exactly my findings. It was also annoying and frustrating to use. I saw no point in it at all.

 

[whs]

As an experiment if you have an Android smart phone -- download and install say 30 - 40 Free apps and try and use them. The whole experience now from being relatively simple becomes a complicated mess -- endless scrolling to find an app that you've forgotten the name of and no way to sort or rename them in any meaningful or convenient manner.

This is not as difficult as it may appear. I 'hide' apps of the same nature behind one icon which expands when I tap on it. I have e.g. 5 browsers on my Nexus 7 and they are all in 1 icon. When I tab on the icon, a small box opens up and shows them individually. The same I have done for TV programs, my different navigation programs, etc. That keeps the desktop down to a manageable amount of clutter.

 

[jimbo45]

Starting with Android OS 4.0 you can create folders on the start screen which you can name. Therefore it becomes very easy to organize your start screen apps. The whole idea of an OS is to make improvements to enhance the user experience not destroy it like Microsoft did.

Hi there
Doesn't seem possible to rename / sort out the start screen on Samsung Galaxy IIIs phone -- you can do a little bit of fiddling with the Widgets folder but not a lot with Apps.

At least I can't find it. Phone running Android 4.1.

Might be possible on an Android tablet -- but seems overtly complex on a smart phone and it's beyond me.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[PaulGo]

I have the same phone. You just press an empty spot on the home screen an it brings up a menu with one option to create a folder that you can name.

 

[sygnus21]

Microsoft's Windows 8 approach: Bold, arrogant, or both?

Not sure if whs posted this here but it was posted over at eightforums by whs. I thought I’d repost the actual article here as it speaks to the pros and cons of Windows 8, its future, and why Microsoft needs the OS to succeed.

As I’ve been saying, the future is in Mobile computing, and Windows 8 aims to delve into that market.

The article: Microsoft's Windows 8 approach: Bold, arrogant, or both? | ZDNet. It really is a good read and gives a fair all around assessment.

Thanks whs

 

[SIW2]

Interesting you think it gives a fair all round assessment.

I would say not.

From reading that, would you say the writer is pro or anti ms?

 

[PaulGo]

The Znet article is a good article. The thing that disappoints me most is these improvements could have easily been put into a Windows 7 interface which would have been useable for a desktop environment.

Unfortunately for me I have gotten to the point that whenever I now look at a "Metro" screen either on a desktop or a smartphone I now have a very negative feeling towards that "Metro" look since it reminds me as to how Microsoft abandoned me. Microsoft could have easily integrated the start menu into Windows 8 to give users a choice of which interface works better for them and some customers may have found over time that the "Metro" interface coukld be useful in some instances. The dual interface could have even encouraged some customers to switch over to a touch screen. But Microsoft with its arrogance decided on the "I know what's best for Microsoft" approach for Windows 8.

 

[whs]

Ed Bott is a very respected IT journalist since many years. I read a lot of his articles (already years back) and he always displays a very factual, balanced opinion.

I don't think it is fair to try to classify him as pro or contra MS. He is positive about true good function and criticizes bummers. I think that's the way it should be.

 

[sygnus21]

Interesting you think it gives a fair all round assessment.

I would say not.

From reading that, would you say the writer is pro or anti ms?

I guess it depends on what your view is, and how you view the article. I think if you keep an open mind, than, yes, the article is very fair. He lists the pros and cons from user experience, gives a fair assessment of where Microsoft is going, and what they need to improve.

He's also speaking the truth, the future is mobile computing, and Microsoft did have the potential to be left behind.

What am I missing?