News Microsoft claims Windows 8 'most widely used' yet

From what I've heard and seen, I've never been less excited about changing my OS... Not that its ever an exciting prospect anyway.

I wish they'd stop pandering to the lowest common denominators of common sense and give us choices as to how we use our OS's..

 

The reason for so much interest and so many downloads is probably because people wanted to see just how bad the UI-formerly-known-as-Metro actually is.

I refused to even try it, but my dad said if he was going to slag it off or praise it then he had to of used it.

 

I'll be sticking with win 7, unfortunately I've had to recommend it to both my mother and a neighbor because they have both recently installed SSD's and the windows 8 upgrade will be the cheapest way for them to have a trash collection compatible OS.

 

I use windows 8 as my main os now, and have been since partners had access, it really isn't bad, it does take a little getting used too, but it's quicker boot time, the fact that everything that I have that worked on 7 works on 8 means I'm happy with it.

 

I was very excited to switch to 7, it's one of the most satisfying pieces of software I've ever used tbh.

 

Microsoft Bob got a mention, I'm happy with that.

 

After having installed W8 on my laptop I can see the appeal on a touch screen enabled device. But for mouse use, and especially with a nipple mouse it is a right pain to navigate to some menus.

 

You do have a choice. If you don't like it, don't use it.

 

he he, love the way they think, "more people have downloaded the test, so more people are going to buy it", nothing to do with more people wanting to try it before buying because the changes are so drastic.
I like the spin put on listening to feedback as well "feedback telemetry" not the actual feedback from users then? Just the automated feedback from the OS, lol.

 

I'm not sure why people that haven't tested the product say they won't try it/hate it. Seems rather premature. You don't need to use the Metro UI to gain the speed benefits that W8 offers. I've been trialling W8 for 2 weeks and the boot up and general speed of use is staggering (Vs Windows 7 and XP). Once the software was downloaded (with the W7 USB boot software) I had installed W8 within 10 minutes which was amazing (I was expecting a 30min-1hr slog)

I believe the only drawback is not having a tick box for start menu yes/no but apart from that I have found the software stable and fast and user friendly. The new menu layout makes things very easy for the general consumer. I will be surprised in a market where Tablet, Smart Phone and All in one PCs that it doesn't succeed.

Though I won't be upgrading from W7 due to the rock solid stability I was impressed by the OS and I do urge people to try it and not jump on the 'bash metro' band wagon otherwise you're no better than what people call 'iSheep'

 

For me it was going from XP Pro X64 to Vista, and actually getting driver support...

 

I have never had a issue with Vista or any Windows OS to be honest, but having tried Windows 8 on my dads pc I hated having to use the stupid interface.

I know there would be speed improvements on my boot time compared to Win 7 but my ssd's are fast enough.

I am happy with Win 7 and won't be changing unless MS decide to patch in the normal Start Menu, and I won't be recommending Win 8 to anyone simply because the people that ask me about stuff all prefer to use a mouse, instead of touch interfaces.

 

This.

My laptop lives in desktop mode; I just sleep and resume without ever seeing the start screen. I only see metro if I search for something, and it's actually a lot better for that than 7 was due to the category/app search features. The main benefits of 8 are the redesigned desktop window UI and the speed improvements.

 

Been using Windows 8 for a few months now, once you grasp the fact that the only thing has changed is the start menu ... it's nothing different from 7 for everyday use, i still spend 99% of my time on my desktop and never use any metro app.

Give it a good go, i'd say it's worth it.

 

I also don't understand why people think the "metro" interface is any worse than the start menu is in 7. Both are rubbish to navigate with a mouse, so you just type to search for what you want. Nothing new about it.

 

Here is my two pence, I will be avoiding upgrading to Windows 8 for as long as I can, since I consider Win7 to be just right, the hardware is setup for Win7. I dont want driver issues going from 7 to 8. I have thrown out so much hardware because it's no longer functioning with what ever version of the OS I have just upgraded to. I run OSX side by side with Win7, so what ever takes my fancy.

 

Looking forward to the official release of 8. The CP and RP were solid and only the tiniest of driver issues on my laptop (HDMI output had not sound) and the desktop had none.

Ignoring the massive boot speed increases, all applications I tried performed better, and the general desktop was noticeably snappier even just moving windows around.

From a nerdy point of view, the new task manager is fantastic, and combined with the improved performance, that's enough for a £25 upgrade for me
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/bits/2012/08/30/ms-win8-upgrade/

 

I wonder if these people hating the W8 Start screen would have been there during the W3.11->W95 UI change, then we would be reading about how bad the removal of Program Manager is...

 

I skipped both of those train-wrecks and held on with XP Pro 32 to x64 7 Pro, well worth it.