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What is the general reaction to Windows 8?

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viciouskillersquirrel

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I was a my mum's house last night for dinner when she showed me her new laptop she got one of my cousins to help her pick out. He studies IT and led her in the right direction inasfar as value for money and specs go. I was impressed.

But then I turned it on, it booted up Windows 8 and I was suddenly a lot less impressed.

Now I don't follow the development of OSs anymore and haven't for a number of years. Being or becoming a power user has become much less important to me over the years as my life has changed, so I have had very little exposure to what Windows 8 brings to the table. Thus my first reaction was that of surprise. The main widget page looks slick and modern.

But then everything else is awful if you're not using a touch interface.

Seriously, who thought it was a good idea to make that main widget page the front screen for computers without a touchscreen? Why are basic functions like shutdown or settings so obfuscated?

I only had a little while with it, but what is the general consensus regarding W8? Is it seen as a revolution in UI design that I'm just going to have to adjust to? Or is it another off-year flop like ME/Vista? If I were to build a new PC within the next year or two, would I be better off going back to W7?
 
I just bought a Laptop that came with Windows 8 installed. (All of the laptops in stock had Windows 8, so I didn't have choice).

I didn't like the interface, so I installed ClassicShell.
 
I have been using it for a couple weeks.

My personal opinion: If you have a touch screen/pad its fine. However, if you already have Windows 7 on a traditional PC there is NO compelling reason to upgrade. Just wait till your next PC....

Thats my impression anyways.
 
The only thing that is horrible is all apps. No organization at all.

If you install enterprise suites, it expands to a dozen screens in width with meaningless file names.

And also, I hate the charms bar on the right on desktop. Shows up all of the time when I'm trying to use desktop UI. I wish I could disable it from mouse gesture but instead require hotkeys.

Other than that it has several improvements over 7, but not essential improvements. If you're using XP or Vista, upgrade is a no brainer.
 
I hate metro, the lack of a start menu, and how moving my cursor to the right of the screen to close programs now causes a useless menu to pop up. I think it is Microsoft's worst OS.
 
I work tech support for multiple ISPs.

The calls I've gotten have ranged from negative to extremely frustrated. I've had multiple people says they are considering taking their computer to a shop to downgrade to 7. I haven't heard one positive comment on Windows 8.
 
I don't know about the general response but personally I consider a usability disaster. No idea what Microsoft were thinking when they attempted to meld two disparate interfaces.
 
I upgraded to Windows 8 cause it was only $15 with some promotion and I still kind of regret it.

Maybe they'll get it right with Windows 9.
 
I think removing the start menu was a bad idea, because it seems like (not) Metro -- although a tablet interface -- is ironically a bit of a power user feature on the Desktop, because people need to know where to put the mouse or which key combinations to use. And without that, they're pretty much left in confusion.

It's not really hard to get used to it, but is it worth it? That's debatable.
 
FelixOrion said:
"mehhhhhhhhhhh"

"i don't know how to use this"

"how do I search?"

"where is my start menu?"
Click to expand...

Search with the big search button. Access the start menu with the Windows keyboard button, by clicking the bottom left corner, or clicking the big start button.
 
I havent had problems using it after the first day or so of relearning were things like the sleep/shut down menu are.

The start screen stuff has been ok but I spend 95% of my PC time in Chrome, Word or Steam so I never really use it that much.


I kind of like the change for changes sake but I get why people would hate it.
 
I don't think most people are going to care about it until they get a new computer and are forced to use it. Then they might be confused for a while and hate it but won't bother doing anything about it.
 
Sean said:
I upgraded to Windows 8 cause it was only $15 with some promotion and I still kind of regret it.

Maybe they'll get it right with Windows 9.
Click to expand...


From what we know of the next big update, it will further integrate the desktop with the new UI and add stuff like extra small tiles, not revert to the old start menu.
 
"It's very different from Windows 8, but as soon as I figured out that the desktop mode is basically Windows 7 minus the Start menu, I didn't care about it. I downloaded this program to replace the Start menu. I just go straight into desktop mode. Plus it boots faster than Windows 7!"

The only somewhat compelling reason for most people to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8 is the shorter boot time. Other than that, most people just use the desktop mode on Windows 8, which is, like I "quoted" above, basically Windows 7.
 
I have installed it on Thursday on my laptop (still keeping Windows 7 on the desktop) and I have to say that I like it. It's not for everyone, of course, and forcing everybody to use this new Start menu is probably one of the worst choices ever. But after using it for a few days I actually started getting used to it.
 
Suairyu said:
Everything is accessible from the keyboard, as it should be on a desktop UI.

It's the best UI Microsoft has ever put out for desktop power users.
Click to expand...

First response got it right. Once you wrap your head around it, it's much faster to do things in Win8. That and applications and processes seem to run faster as well. People would much rather drag their mouse pointer around the old Start menu and gobs of subfolders than learn a new way of doing something.
 
I think it's okay. I have it installed on a laptop and have Win7 Ultimate on my desktop.

It's faster than 7. It feels like an umbrella OS to cover different segments, desktops and tablets. Navigation would probably be quicker with a touch interface.

I don't think the reaction is anywhere as bad as Windows Vista, but it does seem to be lukewarm. Thankfully, they lowered the cost of upgrades (until recently).
 
It is fast. I just got a windows 8 tablet in addition to my windoes 8 desktop, strange to say that I enjoyed using it as a dekstop more than as a tablet. It is such an half assed tablet.
 
It's worth $30. Beyond that, not really. Some things are better, some things are unnecessarily different, some things are downright inconvenient.

In the end it's still Windows.
 
From what I've witnessed and read, the general reception to W8 has been overwhelmingly negative. Those who like it seem to be in the minority.

I've not yet found an IT deptartment that has anything positive to say about it. In a serious discussion with our head of IT last week, we decided that we'll only migrate to W8 if users become more accustomed to a touch UI. For now we're sticking to Win7.
 
Awful awful awful.

Windows 8 should have been a Windows 8.T (as in a touchscreen service pack, the basic engine underneath only with the metro UI interface and no desktop mode).

Windows 7 should have been given a service pack update to Windows 8.PC with all the basic changes (copy/paste, start up times etc) only same windows 7 style.

Then give people the option to install whatever service pack they want. Got a PC, no touchscreen? Just install 8.PC. Got a touchscreen laptop? Install them both and have a quick setting to switch between them. Got a tablet, only have 8.T on it.

How fucking hard would that have been microsoft?
 
Metro is essentially worthless, since it's horribly half baked, the source of most of my software problems and there's some decisions that basically strike me as changes for the sake of change (hiding log-off in Metro and hiding shut down options in the charms bar are two particularly notable examples of unnecessary changes). App selection isn't particularly great, and the concept of Metro apps basically don't work on laptops or desktops (with the notable exception of stuff like Netflix, where you're looking at a fullscreen mode for practically the entire time you'll use the website or app). If you've got Windows 7, don't bother upgrading.
 
I've been using it for few weeks. The UI takes some getting used to but I have no major issues with it. It's not vista bad. I wouldn't pay more then $40 bucks for it though.
 
Wafflecakes said:
I have been using it for a couple weeks.

My personal opinion: If you have a touch screen/pad its fine. However, if you already have Windows 7 on a traditional PC there is NO compelling reason to upgrade. Just wait till your next PC....

Thats my impression anyways.
Click to expand...

And this is pretty much the bottom line. The real issue is the availability of such hybrids, with even Microsoft's own Surface not being marketed properly.
 
Companies are way too obsessed with having a new hit product that they upgrade things that have nobody wants. Microsoft fell victim to that and released Windows 8 for desktops. If they want to shake up the market, perhaps they should do R&D into different types of markets, not one they're already doing a good job with.

That said, for touch screen devices it has its place.
 
Metro had potential, but they went too minimal with the design (can't tell buttons from labels, no fine control over split screen, etc.). They simply did not think out the usability of it outside of a couple situations. For the desktop, getting rid of the Start button and making people relearn simple tasks as if we don't have mice, that's just stupid. I'm sure Geek Squad calls will go up, so good for them.
 
I still don't get the fuss people are making about it... For a desktop user, Win8 is 95% similar to Win7, with some tweaking. Same windows, same software, same file browser, same taskbar...
The start menu/screen is an obvious change, but nothing hard to understand, everything is quite obvious (actually more intuitive with mouse/keyboard controls... it took me more time to understand the concept of swiping tiles up or down for editing them). The most unintuitive part would be all the hidden menus, especially the Charm bar. And keyboard shortcuts are indeed more useful for specific tasks than in Win7, if you really want to be faster. It takes small efforts to learn them, but then people had to learn win95 too.

The metro parts are an added bonus, you may or may not use them according to your tastes (on my non-tactile laptop, I mostly use the music and video apps for connectivity with the Xbox).
 
I really liked Windows 7.

I'm really really starting to hate Windows 8. I wish I never upgraded. Lot's of stuff simply doesn't work anymore. I can't get XBMC to run, or PowerDVD12. 3D vision is currently not working. I hate it. What a fuck up.
 
Win8 is awesome for a non power user like my self. Everything I need to access is right there when I boot up. Its fast and stable.

I upgraded my 60yr old parents to it from win7 they are having an easier with it all thanks to the huge colored tiles.
 
Sean said:
I upgraded to Windows 8 cause it was only $15 with some promotion and I still kind of regret it.

Maybe they'll get it right with Windows 9.
Click to expand...

Same here. After 1 month I can't stand it so I downloaded Classic shell. Much better now
 
I see Windows 8 as a transition OS. I'm excited about Windows 9 for that reason because Windows 8 has some really neat concepts, but it's just it for me.
 
This is the impression Win8 made on me after a day of use: BUY THIS! BUY THIS! BUY THIS! BUY THIS! BUY THIS! BUY THIS! BUY THIS! BUY THIS! BUY THIS!

Now that I think about it, it's really a great metaphor for a software company: there's all this great tech behind it, lots of cool little stuff, things that make general tasks better (love the new task manager, for example). And then there's this incredibly annoying marketing front end that constantly wants to sell you things you're not interested in, an account so it can track and collate everything you do. You know, everything the web is turning into now.

De La Soul made a song that describes the feeling I've had using Win8 for the past 2 or 3 weeks: De La Soul - Who Do You Worship https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jW8nijnQWw
 
cyberheater said:
I'm really really starting to hate Windows 8. I wish I never upgraded. Lot's of stuff simply doesn't work anymore. I can't get XBMC to run, or PowerDVD12. 3D vision is currently not working. I hate it. What a fuck up.
Click to expand...

Didn't the pre-install check warn you that those programs wouldn't work with win8 ? I thought it did a good job identifying which software would need an upgrade or wouldn't work at all on my PC.
 
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