p.3 #2 · Anyone else really hate the Windows 8 interface?
RustyBug wrote:
So much for intuitive ... sounds like the need for more research, setup and modification.
BTW ... +1 @ Windows button on keyboard
Top Gear ... it's a riot.
Everything requires a tweak, the camera menu, the lights...and yeah windows 8 was a big change compared to all the previous windows...well except windows 3.11 to windows 95. There are bound to be frustrations...but it's not all bad.
i love windows 8 on the tablet and laptops. different logins for kids so they are not messing up settings and the kids love the touch screen.
hardware companies are hating it more now because..wait ..what...hmm..the keyboard and mouse may go away...crap!
p.3 #4 · Anyone else really hate the Windows 8 interface?
Thanks for the tips Sunny, will definitely be telling "charms" that I don't find them charming.
Top Gear? Now there's a brilliant idea, I'd love to watch Jeremy Clarkson reviewing Windows 8!
I think touchscreens are great for phones, or for forex dealers frantically stabbing at their systems to get that deal asap, but for doing a difficult selection in Photoshop on a PC? I have short stubby fingers, I'm going to have to zoom in to 500% to do any work if I can't use a mouse! I know a mouse isn't sexy but it is 1) cheap 2) precise and 3) proven technology.
Seriously, there should have been 2 OS, one for phones/tablets with touch screens, and another for PCs with mice. I don't know anyone with a touchscreen PC, and predictions about future IT trends are very commonly incorrect.
p.3 #6 · Anyone else really hate the Windows 8 interface?
Interesting video. He's basically doing low difficulty editing with a wacom. I have no beef with wacoms, but what's that got to do with Metro?
p.s I appreciate he isn't actually using a Wacom, but he isn't doing anything that a decent laptop and Wacom couldn't. Looks cool though. Bit more compact too, but hardly a major advance, or am I missing the point? Its been known!
p.3 #7 · Anyone else really hate the Windows 8 interface?
David Baldwin wrote:
Interesting video. He's basically doing low difficulty editing with a wacom. I have no beef with wacoms, but what's that got to do with Metro?
p.s I appreciate he isn't actually using a Wacom, but he isn't doing anything that a decent laptop and Wacom couldn't. Looks cool though. Bit more compact too, but hardly a major advance, or am I missing the point? Its been known!
he is using windows 8 Pro surfact tablet with touch screen ..the great thing about the surface is the flip/flap is a keyboard so its great when you're on the road, and you can totally sync your windows 8 pc to the surface pro (apps, catalogs etc)
p.3 #8 · Anyone else really hate the Windows 8 interface?
David Baldwin wrote:
p.s I appreciate he isn't actually using a Wacom, but he isn't doing anything that a decent laptop and Wacom couldn't. Looks cool though. Bit more compact too, but hardly a major advance, or am I missing the point? Its been known!
The Surface hardware is Wacom technology, but the only way to do anything close to what he is doing is with a Cintiq, which costs the same as the Surface Pro, and also weighs more. If you're using an external tablet (Cintiq, Intuos, Bamboo), you not only lose the direct connection between your work surface and work product, but you also add an additional component to your bag that adds weight, draws battery life, and takes up additional space on a crowded table at a cafe. The lightest Cintiq tablet weighs 5lbs and requires its own power source, while the Intuos weighs a little over a pound. My current mobile setup (MacBook Air with a small Intuos5) is usable for this work, but nowhere near as convenient as a Surface.
As a caveat, the current Surface Pro drivers do not support the pen's pressure sensitivity in Photoshop or Corel Painter. This is an annoying snag that I hope will be fixed soon. Once it is, I plan to get myself a Surface, Metro notwithstanding.
p.3 #9 · Anyone else really hate the Windows 8 interface?
Ok, I've managed to disable "charms", hide the Metro "interface", suppress the corner hotspots, boot straight to desktop and have a comforting familiar Windows start button on my desktop.
Windows 8 is Windows Classic again, and as a result I am calming down.
In the unlikely event that someone from Microsoft reads this post may I humbly suggest the following? When setting up a new Windows 8 machine the user should see a new choice screen, saying something like "Do you wish to use Metro and a touch screen? If so click HERE" and "Do you wish to use a mouse, keyboard, start button and desktop? If so click HERE". The resulting installation would thus be tailored to the user and would avoid pointlessly irritating your repeat customers.
If Microsoft did that then IMHO 99.99% of the bitching about Win 8 would stop. What a palaver. Seems that I am not the first to make this journey of discovery:
p.3 #10 · Anyone else really hate the Windows 8 interface?
Glad to hear you've gotten some increased comfort level with Win 8.
The link to the article is a good one that articulated many things I wasn't able to remember or properly express. It reminded me of all the reasons why I kicked Win 8 to the curb ... just in case I was to begin thinking I really should give it another go.
The point @ the "flat" icons ... I didn't like Apple's flat icons, way back when, still don't. The confusing, no information window tiles, the hidden functions, etc. For me, it goes way beyond just learning some new keystrokes and adding a start button ... it required me to chase navigation information, rather than bring it to me, as the article nicely points out.
Tablet users may rejoice ... but no Win 8 for me on a workstation, thanks.
p.3 #11 · Anyone else really hate the Windows 8 interface?
I think a pretty strong consensus has formed in the industry that Windows 8 is more of a pickles and ice cream mash-up than it is chocolate and peanut butter. Even long-time pundits and MS supporters like Paul Thurrott have a hard time promoting Win8.
For me, Win8 was a do-or-die move on MS's part. MS was seeing much of its casual user base move to tablets and cell phones on IOS and Android. The company had to do something so they decided to try a strategy that would force existing Windows users to begin to use MS's own version of a tablet OS. I think this could have worked if MS would have put less emphasis on the "force" and more emphasis on using Windows on a tablet but it may have missed its opportunity now. Too little too late.
As I see it, there are 3 ways to evaluate Win8:
As a stand-alone tablet
Here, MS was definitely too little, too late. MS has a few nice and somewhat innovative concepts mixed with some very confusing usability. It could be improved over time but I think, like Windows Phone, it may be too late.
As an improved version of Windows 7
Here MS did OK but not much more than that. Some performance and security improvements were made but it is hard to charge much for that.
A tablet (or convertible PC/tablet) that allows you to do Windows stuff
Here is where I think MS had the biggest opportunity but turns out to be Win8's biggest failure. Win8 doesn't really help you use Windows apps in a tablet mode at all. As soon as you begin to use Win8 in desktop mode on a high-resolution "pro" Surface tablet or convertible, the touch becomes useless since the screen elements are too small to be touchable. If they had concentrated more on how to transition existing Win apps to touch first, and THEN worked on some lighter/friendlier touch interface options they might have had a chance to stem the tide of Windows users buying tablets. As it is though, a Windows user still needs two devices (PC and tablet) if they want Windows functionality and touch portability and there is still no compelling reason to select MS for the tablet/portability solution.
p.3 #12 · Anyone else really hate the Windows 8 interface?
David Baldwin wrote:
Ok, I've managed to disable "charms", hide the Metro "interface", suppress the corner hotspots, boot straight to desktop and have a comforting familiar Windows start button on my desktop.
Windows 8 is Windows Classic again, and as a result I am calming down.
In the unlikely event that someone from Microsoft reads this post may I humbly suggest the following? When setting up a new Windows 8 machine the user should see a new choice screen, saying something like "Do you wish to use Metro and a touch screen? If so click HERE" and "Do you wish to use a mouse, keyboard, start button and desktop? If so click HERE". The resulting installation would thus be tailored to the user and would avoid pointlessly irritating your repeat customers.
If Microsoft did that then IMHO 99.99% of the bitching about Win 8 would stop. What a palaver. Seems that I am not the first to make this journey of discovery:
My brother and sister-in-law are considering a computer for email and photo sharing. However, I will not have them buy a computer and then tell them I know nothing about making it work. Wonder if they could buy a new system with Win 7?
p.3 #13 · Anyone else really hate the Windows 8 interface?
I tried windows 8 in my Studio and found almost nothing worked reliably with it so I dumped it and went back to Windows 7. All is working just fine now.
p.3 #15 · Anyone else really hate the Windows 8 interface?
Well I had to buy a new laptop, mine died a horrible death. I got a HP DV-7 Envy. Nice machine except for win 8. I went and bought an OEM win 7 but I haven't swapped over yet as I'm beginning to master win 8 and as long as my legacy apps work on it I might not roll back to win 7. I loved how 7 ran and was very stable. I have a desktop running it and a Mac mini running the latest osx. I wanted a mbp but the same equipment in Mac was 3-4x what I paid for the hp. Intel i7 @3.4, 8gb Ram, 1 tab HDD, 17" screen, beats audio, BluRay DVD burner, wifi, Bluetooth. I just wish you could buy the hardware and put any OS on it like windows, Linux, Mac OS I think they need to develope a version that will run on the same hardware as everyone else. I would drop ms in a heart beat if I could install Mac OS on my current hardware. It can be a pain from time to time but it is so much better than Microsoft. I already install iTunes, safari and any other apple app that will run. The only macos app that I hate is their mail program.
p.3 #16 · Anyone else really hate the Windows 8 interface?
Yes, it's a poor design for desktop. People want fine control of a mouse when for desktop work and holding your arms out and and up to a big screen is a pain (and when you hook into your HDTV it becomes beyond absurd). And do people really want to get touch screens and smear all over their new NEC PA Touch or Eizo Touch screen? Desktops are for doing stuff that doesn't work well on tablets and one part of the reason is for the DIFFERENT interface. I think Apple has it right this time with keeping the desktop and tablet UI separate.
p.3 #18 · Anyone else really hate the Windows 8 interface?
davenfl wrote:
Clearly Microsoft's greatest failure to date. It's UI is an insane mess. The correct and easiest route is to install something like the START8 add-one to bring back a Windows 7 like desktop, or, get your PC from one of the many custom build houses which are not obligated by Microsoft to use Windows 8 and can give you a Windows 7 machine right from the get go.
Dave
I don't think they can ever top windows Me. Never!
... it's a riot. 
? Desktops are for doing stuff that doesn't work well on tablets and one part of the reason is for the DIFFERENT interface. I think Apple has it right this time with keeping the desktop and tablet UI separate.