Windows Windows 8 Marmite thread... Because you either love it or hate it

Well yes, but since a desktop could run that stuff on the side why not. I might actually use metro stuff then. You wouldn't need to shell out for a tablet either, just a screen.

 

I think that you are not quite seeing it. Try it on a tablet.

My experience on the Surface is that Metro is a really good tablet interface. I find it smooth, capable, intuitive. Most of the time, I stay at this level.

But if I want to do some deeper hacking in the computer, or do some productivity, I fold out the keyboard and drop to desktop. There I control the tablet at the same level that I do my desktop PC. It's got a file explorer. It's got a full-on control panel. It's got a powershell and a CLI. It's got full Office, with OneNote. With handwriting recognition. It's a tablet and a notebook. Stay in the comfy, simple Metro environment, or dive into the desktop for some real hackage. It works.

The reason you are not seeing it is because you are using Windows 8 exclusively on a desktop, and therefore it is natural to dwell at desktop level and wonder what that Metro stuff is all about. But I am experiencing an OS on my tablet that mirrors the OS on my PC. I may use different parts of the OS more on different machines (Metro more on the tablet, desktop more on the PC), but I don't have to make awkward translations between different OS's with their different idiosyncrasies as I switch between machines. It looks the same, it works the same, they talk to each other in the same language. They use the same data in the same way. They use the same apps. If I change settings on one it gets carried over to the other.

 

Boo hoo, put W8 on my netbook Metro apps won't load if you have 1024x600, if only I had another 168 pixels. Still rest runs fine on a single core Atom, having broke my TF300T I wanted to see how it ran on this hardware to get a feel for how something like the ACER W510 might run on poor CPU, should be quite good, perhaps my next purchase as I can see how nice metro might be on a tablet.

 

Right, I've been away for a while, but it seems that people are falling in to two camps - Those who like it, and those who don't.

Personally, I've been using the OS since the DP in October 2011. It was a joy to use, and was far more responsive and felt more stable than the Windows 7 install provided to me by HP.

It did help that it had a touch device, but it made sense. As soon as September rolled around the corner (Dreamspark Premium access), I upgraded to RTM almost immediately. I had no regrets. Unfortunately, my touch digitiser for both pen and touch input died recently, so I found myself more limited to WHAT I could do with the device. I went back to 7 on my desktop and (because it was nuked already) stayed with 8 on my laptop because of the trackpad features out of the box making things (slightly) easier, and the Hybrid Boot is an amazing piece of engineering. Now, however, both are running 8 (thanks in part to the Windows Phone 8 SDK (I have ideas for a couple of things I want to write with the DirectX libraries that WP8 provides me and 7 doesn't,. Plus the simulator is far better, so I can test without much issue).

My current state of affairs had led me to install Fedora 17 in dual-boot. on my machines (because 18 - though due yesterday, was delayed). The reason I mention this is Fedora's default window manager is GNOME3. It's a VERY similar system. The app switcher in Windows 8 is like a workspace in GNOME 3, albeit a bit more limited in function. The action of typing to find an application is the natural way to look for an application in BOTH interfaces, and I'd argue that Windows does a better job, besides lacking desktop workspaces. Another similarity is the movement of the mouse in to a corner. This would also mean that I think that one of the few thigns Windows got wrong was removing the visual cues. besides notifications.

So, overall? I like where Windows 8 is going, it makes sense as an interface. People will stay hostile to it's nuances, but it's a well rounded OS, and well worth it's price.

 

Definitely. I wish I had some of the metro capabilities on my android tablet. Namely the application switching and the pull down to close. If I was spending real money on a tablet I definitely consider the RT. Can't justify the cost of a top end tablet though.

 

I am looking at Windows 8 from a primarily desktop PC point of view (not that that should really be a problem, since it is not an exclusively "touch" OS), but I have used Metro too, both on a media centre pc with a touch pad and a on a tablet (albeit not of my own).

I basically agree with what you say. It is the best of both worlds. A fully integrated desktop and tablet OS. The ideal.

I think the problem boils down to the fact that I personally find Metro (in and of itself) pretty weak as a tablet OS compared with the newest iteration of android. Add this to what imo is somewhat clunky integration between it and the desktop, and well, it's just frustrating.

I so want to love it but I just can't bring myself to because it just doesn't feel like it works as well as it could or should.

 

The price of the Surface is pretty much at the top end of what I was prepared to pay for it myself, but I have no other portable devices so it was worth it as a catch-all device.

Just give it some time to mature. I don't know if you remember Windows 95 --it was very basic before the IE4 upgrade pack came along a year later. It did not really hit its stride fully until Windows 98SE.

 

I do, and that is kinda what it reminds me of.
I'm not just modding it into Windows 7 because I do think it's better than that and worthwhile persevering with. It's just annoying having to wait for the potential I see to be realised.
Ah well, Windows Blue sounds promising and like it may not be a million miles away.

 

Greetings!

My comment applied to "sitting at a desk" not tablets.
But I have to say my dislike for "Metro at a desk" made me go Android on smartphone. I know it is not a very rational decison, but thats how it went. And they are cheaper and with more market alternatives.

 

No one ever accused you of being rational about this.

 

It wont let me install using any compatibility mode which is the problem

 

Greetings!

Includes OEM sales, hence the initial climb, and since OEMs complained of low sales, the final decline.

 

You may have to run the installation program as admin to specify compatibility mode.

 

Seems more like, it doesn't like the Windows 7 Driver, but the Windows Vista driver.

 

I had to use a Vista driver for the ATi Radeon 1650 on my old dual Opteron rig. I ran the installation program in Vista compatibility mode, automatic (rather than custom) install, and it worked out fine.

 

Who'da thunk it. Vista, driver and worked out fine all in the same (2) sentence(s)

 

Drivers are still hit or miss. Bought a DVB-T stick for testing purposes (if i can get the hungarian DVB-T signal), plugged it in, and had 2 BSOD in Windows 8 in 20 minutes. Removed it, no BSOD since.

 

After having fun trying to get a machine to even detect a pcie tv card I gave up and tried one of these which works perfectly with windows 8

 

Well, i just wanted to do a quick test, but as i said, it did BSOD my W8 system, so i plugged it to my Ubuntu system, which unfortunately needs a newer kernel to test out the DVB-T stick, so i got nothing for now.

But my point was that for some stuff even the Vista drivers work, and for some even the native W8 drivers crash the system.

 

To be fair that has happened to every windows os at some stage, there are so many different configurations, that there are no guarantees the every device will work with every pc