Was Windows 8 a Mistake? Microsoft Seems to Think So

[gladson1976]

Was Windows 8 a Mistake? Microsoft Seems to Think So

Microsoft showed off the future of Windows this week at its 2014 Build developer conference, and it looks pretty retro. In fact, it looks a lot like Windows 7.

During a tease of some possible new features in a future update, Microsoft's executive vice-president of operating systems Terry Myerson revealed a tool that users will recognize from previous versions of Windows: a Start menu.

Source...

 

[Computer0304]

Hope they add this soon. This is the one of my big reasons why I didn't want to update to Win8, and so it is for many others.

 

[ninetailz]

IF they remove the UI and adds the Start's Menu + Button i might use win 8 again
Btw for the VN sake i am keeping win 7 :3

 

[Jonguy30]

Is Microsoft coming back to their senses now? It's nice they're resurrecting the start menu. I hope it's a real one this time and not a fake start button.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
It's the same type of question as "Is the Pope Catholic".

Windows 8 Technologically might be considered some sort of progress but in any realistic terms the answer to your question must be a RESOUNDING YES -- a total Marketing DISASTER.

Windows 8.1 repairs the damage a little -- Not everybody is "Tablet-centric" - and even if they do graduate to more powerful mobile devices people will STILL want to connect keyboards / mice / externals cards etc to them and perform "Classical computing tasks".

OK when actually on a train now most people seem to use tablets rather than laptops --but you still see some laptop users. The tablet users are generally watching movies . social media "chatting"or surfing the net -- those devices fine for that purpose but totally unsuited for what one might call "real computing" -- and once you attach a keyboard and mouse to a tablet it essentially IS a PC and needs a PC operating system.

So in short the answer is a RESOUNDING YES

Cheers
jimbo

 

[alphanumeric]

I think 8.0 should have been the Preview and 8.1 the actual final official release. I wasn't happy with 8.0 but I do like what they did in 8.1. The just released Update made it even better IMHO. I'm not sure I'd use the Start Menu as shown above. I'll reserve judgment until I can actually get a hands on. I do use the Start Screen, and don't use any third party programs to resurrect the old Start Menu. I don't miss it at all. YMMV.

 

[MrWhoopee]

This is great news for me! I feel like a total incompetent when I sit down in front of a client's Win 8 machine. So many of my moves are unconscious at this point that I keep finding myself in places I never intended to go and then it takes several steps to get out. I've just received an End of Life extension!

Just goes to show that Microsoft does listen.....when it affects the bottom line.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there

With boot directly to desktop (default in 8.1 update 1, in base 8.1 you have to configure it) and using a custom toolbar I just load a file (My progs) which generates a cascading menu to as many levels or as few as you like -- you don't need any 3rd party apps - and if you restore your system / re-install it you simply create a custom toolbar again with the "My progs" file.

I don't need the full blown W7 type of menu but it's still nice to have a 100% customable user menu -- screenshot enc

I wouldn't use the original menu again - but I do like toolbars.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Stephanie]

Thank you gladson1976 the start menu with text and tiles looks very good, maybe some at M$ are in touch with reality

 

[Wenda]

Here's a pic of my Win 8 CP running the same toolbar/menu setup as Jimbo demonstrated above.

It works in both Win 8 and Win 8.1 so if you don't like Metro, and don't want a 3rd-party start menu, this is a great alternative. And it's already in there, so all you need do is enable it.

And, as shown, you can easily pin Metro apps to it if desired, as well as 'desktop' programs.

To enable it: Right-click on the taskbar (unlock it first) then select Toolbars>New. Now drill down through C:>ProgramData>Microsoft>Windows>Start Menu. Highlight (but do not open) the Programs folder, then click Select. Go back to the taskbar and move the launcher to where you want it, then re-lock the taskbar.

Simple!

You now have a fast, simple fly-out Start menu. Enjoy!

Wenda.

 

[3Colors]

As I said once, the windows 8 interface may have been in the taskbar from the start. But it looks good on the start bar (but somewhat overdone/overloaded).

 

[alphanumeric]

I have no idea what you just said?

 

[Britton30]

I have no idea what you just said?

I liked this from the quoted article.

The Tablet Dilemma

Did it have to be this way? Why didn't Microsoft just launch Modern/Metro as a tablet-only OS, and leave the desktop well enough alone?
As a counterexample, Apple never tried to unite a tablet and desktop interface. CEO Tim Cook even famously compared the hybrid devices that resulted from such a pairing to "refrigerator-toasters." Some UI elements from iOS have made their way into OS X, but the iPad a decidedly different ecosystem from the Mac and OS X. This approach has worked out pretty well.

 

[Computer0304]

I have no idea what you just said?

I liked this from the quoted article.

The Tablet Dilemma

Did it have to be this way? Why didn't Microsoft just launch Modern/Metro as a tablet-only OS, and leave the desktop well enough alone?
As a counterexample, Apple never tried to unite a tablet and desktop interface. CEO Tim Cook even famously compared the hybrid devices that resulted from such a pairing to "refrigerator-toasters." Some UI elements from iOS have made their way into OS X, but the iPad a decidedly different ecosystem from the Mac and OS X. This approach has worked out pretty well.

I completely agree with you.

 

[3Colors]

Windows designer explains why Windows 8 is such a mess



...Jacob Miller, who recently took to Reddit to explain why Microsoft made a lot of the design choices it did with Windows 8, including the original decision to make the Metro UI the default boot-up screen. What emerges is a portrait of a company trying its best to please two different audiences by trying to make two completely different operating systems and stapling them together.

Windows 8 design criticism from Microsoft UX designer | BGR

Clearly they have to innovate in performance, programs, colors, etc. But placing the classic desktop as a second option was not a good idea.
In addition, no all have touch screen monitors. So a percentage of people will not see the need to buy that interface.
That menu of windows 8 looks interesting, but(those functions) could have been added in W7 taskbar.

That's what I said

 

[King Arthur]

Here's a pic of my Win 8 CP running the same toolbar/menu setup as Jimbo demonstrated above.

I have a similar thing going in my Windows 7 and Windows XP machines as well.

 

[zap9x]

i like the idea of that new start menu , i dont really like windows 8 mostly because it'd take me around 3 or 4 sec to shut the PC down , while with windows 7 its just one move .... and i had no idea how to make things work on the background , like when i open weather , or bing or something , it will just get me to a waiting screen , and because of my super-slow internet connection i need to wait ages for it to show up , if i go to desktop screen or start screen it will just stop , which i find totally stupid -.-

 

[Burgurne]

Yes. Windows 8 is a mistake. I was fouled by it, and I bought an Windows 8 Pro, and has been running windows 8, windows 8.1 and latest windows 8.1.1. Saturday I had it! Out with windows 8.1.1 and back in with my good old Windows 7 Ultimate x64. Uhmmm it was allmost the same feeling you have when comming home to your parents for Christmas.

Besides "feelings" and "look of GUI" I can add, that I had 3 problems with windows 8 right from start and until I went back to windows 7.

USB 3. First terrible performance allmost like USB2, windows 8.1 did take some care of that for the build-in USB3 in Intels chipset, but my USB3 hub (build in in my cabinet), did not work. Solved by forcing windows 7 drivers in windows 8, which was quite a challenge the first time, and it ruined my option to do a "refresh" inside windows 8.1

Most games build with DirectX 9.0c and older runs very poorly in Windows 8, 8.1 and 8.1.1 compared to windows 7. Dx11 games are about the same in win8 and 7.

It is allmost impossible to find an .ISO with windows 8.1 and totally impossible to find an .ISO with windows 8.1.1, so a clean install is pretty much not a possibility. As I'm danish, I of course wants a danish .ISO. But no. MS does not allow us to download an .ISO. They want us to install windows 8, make all the updates, then make a "Microsoft account" to allowing access to Windows Store, where you then can upgrade to Windows 8.1, then do a lot of updates again, and then update to windows 8.1.1 (the last is a MUST, recording to MS, as future security-updates require windows 8.1.1 to be installed). Not much "clean install" there :-(

With that said, installing windows 7 SP1 from scratch is also a timeconsuming job. Why the .uc. don't Microsoft release a SP2? 12 minutes to install Windows 7 x64 SP1 from an USB-stick, but 5,5 HOURS to do the aftercomming updates!!

But after all I am now happy being back in windows 7, but I really hope, that it will take a loooong time before I have to install windows 7 from scratch again.

 

[lehnerus2000]

I have a similar thing going in my Windows 7 and Windows XP machines as well.

Nanami Madobe ... nice.