Thread: Windows 8: Good or Bad?

Yes, I realize the article speaks to the Enterprise version. Nor would that or a server be of any interest to everyone. Point being voiced is that in designing & building Windows8 the goals of the Team addressed many things. One of the most major areas of attention being business focused.

Some seemed to think MS had created Win8 as 'Social Networking' toy & not for traditional PCs & laptops (both of which are HUGE in the work/biz community) or for serious corp settings. The reality is very much the antithesis of this.

People take things as confrontational ...cus things are described does not say anyone must run out & buy Win8 & everything before is rubbish. BUT, there is something, absolutely, fundamental that is, oft, being missed. It doesn't matter whether one uses Win8 or likes it or not... Point is what makes it whatever & why is that cool or is it cool?... The fact that certain design goals were met & what they were is, in & of itself what makes Windows8 have value.

These transcend any specific items, details, Features, good or bad, preferred or not. But, these Basics that may be surprisingly, ironically & unexpectedly missed are what make the OS shine.

>Has made itself appealing to enterprise environments
>Vast compatibility base, both hardware & software
>Be happy on various devices, past, present & future - this, including mobile devices & touch screens, as well as conventional desktop PCs & laptops
>Be fast
> Not be resource demanding
>Be enhanced & or improved in several technical areas such as boot time, networking, connectivity, CPU & RAM handling, hardware assets access, graphics & more.
> Have native security enabled by default.
> Allow (easy) 'Build you own APPs" (Windows Dev Center: Tools, samples and docs to build Windows apps)
> Have an 'eye' to the future of computing
> And More
Comparisons, aside, the mere fact that Win8 met its design goals makes it a sound, solid piece of work.

There is a fair bit, new or revamped, in Windows8 that is worthwhile & either better than before (it) or didn't, even, exist 'til, now. Other Windows have been or are good, in many ways... @ least, as good as those,Windows8 turns a significant & inevitable corner on the road of modern computing.

The tile 'Start' screen & skepticism should not cloud or mask all that makes it possible to see Win8 in a good light

And it remains that whether, subjectively, one likes it, choses to like it, uses it now or later, by choice or otherwise...

An OS that met its (lofty) design goals & JUST for that it ends up earning kudos.

Cheers,
Drew

Hi

I started with Windows 3.1, I reinstalled it so often, (it took a long time from floppy disks, 17 megabytes of disk space if I remember correctly and something like that many disks) that I finally installed it twice on the same hard drive partition.

Once in a Windows folder, and also in a Alt Windows folder.

The computer would boot to which ever one you pointed it too from the dos prompt.

This way when one of them would crash I'd boot into the other one, delete the first one, and then reinstall it in the same place again.

I went from that to Windows 95, only had to reinstall that once in a while, then to Windows 98, a big improvement, but still a lot of crashes.

I skipped Windows 2000 and waited until Windows XP, much better I almost never had to reinstall it and only had a few crashes.

Then to Window 7 skipping Vista.

The best OS so far.

Now to Windows 8.

I don't have any problem with 8, it runs fast, and is stable so far.
I don't see any real advantage over 7 except for a boost in performance but it doesn't have any thing unique from 7 except to start page.

Which people seem to either love or hate.
I can use it if I have to but I'd rather work from the desktop the way I've done since Windows XP.

In fact my desktop now, looks and works more like xp then is does anything else.

Mike

"They are trying to help everyone, and that's a damn good company, in my opinion."

On the heels of what Shane has said... Be it categorically true or not to whatever degree, I, too, grow weary of the MS sux rhetoric. Every time there's a new OS, we hear, this OS sux. If, something anyone or any group dislikes, didn't want changed, removed, added, moved... if some piece of hardware or software doesn't work on a new OS, it's the OS's fault or Microsoft's fault. AND it's always because Microsoft doesn't listen, doesn't care, just does whatever it pleases & public opinion, acceptance, excitement or enthusiasm be damned. Maybe, due to being a MS Partner & an IT Pro, that gives a certain perspective but, Shane is right. Think about it people... what bloody sense would it make for MS to take no heed to Users or not care what customers say or want?!! A company wants to make money, that's why people are in business. You don't do that well, if, you blindly, ignore those who pay your salaries & are your bread & butter. Anyway, the fact is the lengths to which MS goes to find out what the marketplace, it's partners & clients want & need or will support is huge. No, I am not going to try listing all the many methods employed to this end but, the resources devoted to the effort are vast, deep, many & intensely used. Anyone who thinks MS doesn't desire & solicit feedback AND react to it & tailor things accordingly, is dead wrong. For those that repeatedly find fault w/ Windows & what MS does, think globally ( amount of people, businesses, computers & usage) it boils down to, can't please everyone all the time OR if, you can do a better job, go nuts.

3 more years & we'll have a repeat performance... MS sux, this Windows9 sux & I'm running Windows8 'til all it's support is gone, damned MS can't make me change & I see no reason why I should, I like my Windows8. Oh, sigh, it's deja vu

Cheers,
Drew

There is no better company, no company that offers so much support, no company that offers so much personalization in an OS, no company dedicated to listening as much.

Apple is Apple, they don't care about people only money.

Linux is Linux, They try their best but no one wants to support them, I mean in terms of hardware and software developers. Although one good thing I do like about Linux is their creativity in making good desktop interfaces. They are beautiful, colorful, and very organized which makes it a shame they cant run windows hardware and software very good.

If Linux could better themselves and run hardware and softwares better, then it would be a different story for me. I probably would run Linux because of the so many Distro choices which give users more options to have a desktop to their liking. But for now that isn't the case, and Microsoft continues to dominate the PC world.

No matter how one looks at it! Win 7 still needs some fixes and a service pack that gives us: classic menu option and search filters; Will make Win 7 as successful as XP if not more. But MS decided to basically abandon improving Win 7 and has come up with a chimera called Win 8.

Win 8 will fail simply because us common plebs who do not have the time to spend hours just customising OS's now have to relearn a totally new UI that offers absolutely nothing superior to win 7.

I have yet to actually meet anyone face to face who has tried win 8 and likes it. Perhaps because everyone I know are PC users and none own tablets and their smart phones are God forbid iPHONES.

MS has gambled but will loose on this one! Perhaps a rude awakening is what they need in order to start listening to their customers instead of the MS Golden boys who I suspect all use iPHONES and never use a PC!

This time MS has given us a SQUARE wheel and is praising its capabilities of not needing a parking brake!

MS for the love of God just give us a service pack for 7 that gives us classic menu option and fixes the search filters. Is this too much to ask for?

As for win 8: Laughing baby - YouTube

It troubles me that incorrect information concerning windows 8 is being posted time and again.

Now if many of these claims on how it takes hours to set up, is bad for productivity and has a nasty, nasty page that everyone is scared of (metro)were true then I certainly wouldn't use it either..

I've been using this os for some time now and if it was really as bad as some would claim then I simply would not use it. It must be said that this is just 'my' opinion but I remember the bad old days of vista and this is light years from being anything like that.

Originally Posted by kemical

Now if many of these claims on how it takes hours to set up.

I hope your not talking about what said in a previous post, I was referring to windows 98 and windows 2000 also Xp too in some ways. They take much longer to set up then with newer versions of Windows. I think windows 8 is basically ready to go straight from the box.

I never said windows 8 was a bad system and I like using it just as much as anyone else.
Others I can not speak for, but as for myself I have always kept an open mind and am willing to try and learn new things. I didn't mean to repeat myself in any way, I just like talking to others about different Versions of Windows as I find it interesting to hear what other peoples intakes are on how they like using them. I like talking about different systems because I'm curious to see what works for others so maybe I can try them out too.

Hi

One last thought, from me.

In reality there is no reason to change the Windows UI at all for the PC.
At least until it all becomes voice operated.
As long as you use a mouse and keyboard, they could have stopped at Windows XP, and have a modified interface for the pads and phones.

What needs constant updating is the ability to accommodate faster and faster computers with more and more resources and larger and larger hard drives etc, and the ever moving goal of ultimate stability, none of this shows on the surface.

Things like DX and graphics are just going to keep advancing, but there is really no reason to change the UI unless it lets you do something you couldn't do before.

Widows 7 added Snap and some useful new innovations, but it also gave us a less convenient start menu.
You could have added the new abilities and left Windows 7 looking like Windows XP.

The only reason they change the UI is so that people will feel like they are getting something new, and the ability to make flashy advertising displaying it.

If Windows 7 had looked exactly like Windows XP then people would feel like they were getting cheated.

Your would see posts saying, "This is just the same old Windows with a new name!", so the interface get updated, and people like me change it back to the way it was. LOL

As long as they make it possible to modify it to work like XP, they won't get an argument from me.

The one thing that Microsoft has always been good about is making their Operating Systems so they can be modified to suit the user.

Since I got my iPad I know that Apple doesn't do that!

Mike