Early look at Windows 8 baffles consumers

[a1ien]

The very bad news for M$ is that most major news outlets are carrying this headline, "Early look at Windows 8 baffles consumers".

It's some dumb story and there's no proof but it's sullying Windows 8's reputation. It's really unfair IMO considering the article does not even include a survey, just a few interviews. It's almost libel.

<shameless plug> Windows 8 sucks! </shameless plug>

[Wyn6]

Well, I'm eager to participate in this discussion. I don't think this has ever come up before. This whole Windows 8 good, Windows 8 bad thing. Never read anything like it here or elsewhere on the internets. ;')

[+Warwagon MVC]

I disagree. The live tiles on the screen really make the world of difference. It's not just some static launcher, it aggregates all the information useful to you in one spot, eliminating the need to go out and get it.

So you are saying it's useful to fill your entire screen so you can see a title which show you how a number representing how many new messages you have? That compared to what I am using now, which is trillian running on my far right monitor, and when ever I get an email an alert appears in the bottom next to my clock "as I'm WORKING" showing me the subject and who it's from all the while not halting my productivity.

[Max Norris]

So you are saying it's useful to fill your entire screen so you can see a title which show you how many messages you have. That compared to what I am using now, which is trillian running on my far right monitor, and when ever I get an email an alert appears in the bottom next to my clock "as I'm WORKING" thus I can see if I have new emails without disrupting my productivity.

That's just one possible source. Live tiles can show data for pretty much anything that anyone feels like creating, whereas your one icon still only shows mail, and using system resources while its doing it. Just for example, mine's pulling mail, news, weather, Tweets, instant messages, automated build notifications, notifications from other various servers, and a few other things, almost all of which isn't running resident in the background. Some of them will send notifications to the desktop if its important enough.. also not disrupting my productivity. I don't need to see the start screen at all for those... the important stuff shows a notification (even mail.. no start screen or productivity loss), the "minor/misc" stuff I can see when I feel like it.

[ThePitt]

ha! 8 yrs old and my first was command line Unix!!!! take that!!!!!

and here you are, using windows 8 :laugh:

[Dot Matrix]

So you are saying it's useful to fill your entire screen so you can see a title which show you how a number representing how many new messages you have? That compared to what I am using now, which is trillian running on my far right monitor, and when ever I get an email an alert appears in the bottom next to my clock "as I'm WORKING" showing me the subject and who it's from all the while not halting my productivity.

I've offloaded my e-mailing to my phone, so I almost never have an e-mail client running. So, yes, for me, it is. Mail's live tile is almost never functional, because of that, but the others - Weather, Calendar, News, and Sports are great to have because I can see what's going on without the need to go hunt for it. That's something Trillian can't provide.

[remixedcat]

and here you are, using windows 8 :laugh:

server 2012 to be precise.... LOL

[Matthew_Thepc]

"I am very worried that Microsoft may be about to shoot itself in the foot spectacularly," said. Michael Mace, the CEO of Silicon Valley software startup Cera Technology and a former Apple employee. Windows 8 is so different, he said, that many Windows users who aren't technophiles will feel lost, he said.

Good job to the author for including that this guy worked for Apple; he's probably still got stock and doesn't want to see it go down any

as for the rest of the post, I think the big questions is whether Microsoft Store employees will be trained enough by the time it comes out to give users a good tutorial when they go to buy their new laptop/tablet/hybrid.

[+Warwagon MVC]

The reason I bought a new 128 SSD for windows 8 is so if I still can't stand it after a month, I can put the old SSD back in and be back in business.

[Hum]

^ That's one major thing I do not like, when a new O/S comes out -- buying a bunch of expensive hardware.

[libertas83]

To the guys screaming "get off my lawn", when you taught yourselves how to use a computer, did you have multiple PCs with different operating systems? Did you care what OS you we're running as long as you could play games, paint or use other entertainment based software? I know I didn't. Why would an average child give a rats ass about a new OS when he can do all the stuff he needs in the old OS without having to learn a new interface..

Kids learned quickly how to use new Nintendos, Segas, PlayStations, Xboxes, phones, Gameboys and any other kind of crazy interface just to play games. I think they will do fine with Windows 8.

[ToneKnee]

^ That's one major thing I do not like, when a new O/S comes out -- buying a bunch of expensive hardware.

Who made you go out and buy expensive hardware? Also, who forced you to upgrade?

[Dot Matrix]

^ That's one major thing I do not like, when a new O/S comes out -- buying a bunch of expensive hardware.

Where is Windows 8 forcing you to buy new hardware?

[MorganX]

These kids are stupid.

Don't blame the kids. He probably put them in an app on the desktop and had them try to switch back and forth. That could be an issue for kids learning. The thing is kids won't need to got back and forth much, especially on tablets.

Windows 8 will do fine. It will annoy experienced users, but we'll get over it.

[Nothing Here]

My 10yr old figured Win8 out before I did. She showed Mom, then she showed me. Win8 is now a staple in our house. Only 1 pc doesn't have it, it has WinXP.

[firey]

Where is Windows 8 forcing you to buy new hardware?

My old desktop, which runs 7 no problem doesn't support virtualization. I can't install 8 on it. I have a touch screen hooked up to it (it's used as a media center), so I tried. But got errors when trying to install due to the missing CPU Support.

So if I really wanted/had to use 8.. I'd be forced to get new hardware.

That's where :)

Also, I booted into it at work a couple days ago. I was annoyed 5 mins in, when I went to launch windows update. I had to open the start screen, type windows update (which I get is no different then 7). It didn't show up, at which point I realized I had to then select what type of app it was, then from there I could open it, but was put into a full screen windows update. So while I was working in the desktop (installing some apps to ensure compatibility), I couldn't monitor the updates without going to the side, and clicking it.

I ended up getting the desktop one to launch.. I think by trying to change a setting...

Either way, just trying to do updates and control them was a pain as I couldn't keep doing what I was doing, I had to stop, switch to the full screen, switch back, then resume. No just bring to focus, click a button, click the title bar of the app I was on, and be back to work.

[Active.]

What's worse is the Metro metaphor -- the charms bar. Load up the Wikipedia app. Where's the search field? You have to move the mouse to the right edge (assuming you aren't multimonitor) and gesture down to bring up the charms bar. Then select search. Every. Single. Time.

Winkey+Q ?!

[fehu]

and I blame Obama for this!

[Ice_Blue]

That Roos guy must be related to Pirillo.

[farmeunit]

Winkey+Q ?!

There it is with the keyboard shortcuts. Fine for geeks, but MOST consumers know nothing about them, so that's not really a good answer.

[Active.]

There it is with the keyboard shortcuts. Fine for geeks, but MOST consumers know nothing about them, so that's not really a good answer.

Well. I'm not going to defend Windows 8 in that respect. It was just supposed to counter the argument that you would have to do that dance with the mouse "Every. Single. Time.". As you say, "geeks" certainly don't.

You have to hand it to Microsoft though. It was a pretty gutsy design decision to hide practically every UI widget.

And at least Search, Preferences etc. are now always in the same place, so you know where to look for them.

[Farstrider]

when I was 8, this is what computers looked like: http://www.old-compu...asp?st=1&y=1986

I could not really find one from when I was 8 so here is the closest one I could find.

NAME: DDP-516

MANUFACTURER: Honeywell

TYPE: Professional Computer

ORIGIN: U.S.A.

YEAR: 1966

SPEED: 1.1 Mhz

RAM: 32 Kb.

[Growled Member]

You have to hand it to Microsoft though. It was a pretty gutsy design decision to hide practically every UI widget.

Gutsy but stupid?

[Dot Matrix]

You have to hand it to Microsoft though. It was a pretty gutsy design decision to hide practically every UI widget.

And at least Search, Preferences etc. are now always in the same place, so you know where to look for them.

There's no denying it's a change, but like you said, they're in the same place, app to app. Once people learn that, they're set.

[Eric Veteran]

My old desktop, which runs 7 no problem doesn't support virtualization. I can't install 8 on it. I have a touch screen hooked up to it (it's used as a media center), so I tried. But got errors when trying to install due to the missing CPU Support.

So if I really wanted/had to use 8.. I'd be forced to get new hardware.

That's where :)

Also, I booted into it at work a couple days ago. I was annoyed 5 mins in, when I went to launch windows update. I had to open the start screen, type windows update (which I get is no different then 7). It didn't show up, at which point I realized I had to then select what type of app it was, then from there I could open it, but was put into a full screen windows update. So while I was working in the desktop (installing some apps to ensure compatibility), I couldn't monitor the updates without going to the side, and clicking it.

I ended up getting the desktop one to launch.. I think by trying to change a setting...

Either way, just trying to do updates and control them was a pain as I couldn't keep doing what I was doing, I had to stop, switch to the full screen, switch back, then resume. No just bring to focus, click a button, click the title bar of the app I was on, and be back to work.

You mean hardware virtualization? My PC still have an E7300 (C2D, no VT) and it runs everything from the DP up to RTM just fine.