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

I agree with dullonien. My only complaint so far, (and hopefully fixed), is that if you click on an already open program, it won't open a new instance as it would on the old start menu, but just bring it on focus. This comes to be annoying when opening Command prompt, or notepad, or calculator. It's not a killer, but it would be nice to have that back.

Another problem, but not due to Microsoft, is that the Metro start screen, you want to side scroll to navigate, with your mouse. Perfect.. and it works.. but if you have a Logitech mouse, with the driver installed (setPoint), then it stop working, because of this issue: http://pretentiousname.com/setpoint_hwheel/index.html
Logitech makes sucky drivers, that we all know.. never really bothered me, until Windows 8.
Hopefully they'll fix it, but I highly doubt it.

Another problem that I think people have with Metro, is that the default layout sucks.. liek really. Not even a folder is pinned to it. So it makes accessing Document, Downloads and so on, a real pain. But once you fix the layout like I did:

It becomes much better.

Also the first tile, (in my case desktop) is the one will execute by default if you hit Enter. So hitting that key will get me to the desktop.

 

Here's my startscreen. Not as many icons as you GoodBytes.



Have you used the Metro Remote Desktop App GoodBytes? I manage my media server through it on an almost daily basis, and I find it very good. Already completely stable.

 

Yes, and I don't like it, as I can't copy and paste text between remote desktop and my desktop. Also I can't transfer files, and I can't multi-task with it. So I pinned the Windows 7 one that does all this (it was in the System32 folder).

 

I think this time is critical for Microsoft and the changes that they're making now will decide how successful Windows 8 is. I used the developer preview for a while and frankly I thought it was crap.

However, I've been running the Consumer Preview for a wee while and from today I'm going to start using it as my main OS. Some of the new features look really interesting, especially the new file copy system, the new task manager and the upcoming improved support for multiple monitors.

I'm still undecided about the Start screen. I like how fast the search is and how I can group my apps together in categories, but a little more customisation for that would be nice (custom wallpapers would be really cool) and certain things could be more obvious (I don't like Charms for instance).

I think Windows 8 could be really good, but Microsoft are treading a fine line between making an OS that will be cool for most people (albeit different to what we are used to) and making a tablet OS and trying to shoehorn it into PCs. The removal of Aero sounds like the latter, but we'll see...just my two cents.

 

I can copy and paste text between my desktop and the remote desktop app. Doing it right now in fact. Can't transfer files though.

 

I guess an update has arrived which allowed you to do this. So that's nice.. but yea, files is a must. In any case, the old one is still there so I am happy.

 

Yup, I agree. It was total crap, I removed it after testing my software on it.
Then again, the goal of this version was to give the tools dev's they need to get started on a Metro apps, and not using it as an OS.

 

have to agree it's metrosexual.. but you know you'll be using it come retail- so better get used to it

 

I just think there's nothing particularly wrong with Windows 7 because its a well targeted OS, on desktops and laptops it does its job really well. Personally don't see the need for a notification centre or all the faf they put in some mobile OS's. They need to remember that they need to build an OS for people to write programs as well as to run them. Would you write apps on Android or Windows Mobile? Nope. Wouldn't on Win 8 (Tablet) either.

 

But all that 'faff' means a lot more to almost everyone else than writing programs. You're talking from an enthusiast point of view who uses his pc for very different things than 99% of Windows users if you're talking about coding programs etc. I know you want an OS designed especially for your own needs, but you're not going to get that from MS, and understandably so.

That ability hasn't been stripped. MS aren't forcing you to only use Metro apps for everything. The Windows 95/98/XP/Vista/7 desktop experience is still there, but with what MS believe to be improvements, and I agree. Surely almost everyone will find a notification centre of sorts useful? Everyone needs to check their e-mail, their facebook/twitter/linkedin accounts if they have them, weather, calendars etc., so being able to do this in one place makes sense, no? I'd much prefer this than having to open numerous programs/web pages only to find there's nothing new.

There were a hell of a lot of people that said the same about sticking with XP when Vista and even 7 came out, but I always found the step-down to XP from Vista (especially post SP1) and 7 to be huge. Windows 7 is a great OS, but there's plenty of room for improvement, and Windows 8 appears to provide a few of these.

Power users might not find the Metro side of things all that alluring, but the general public who are more comfortable on their phones than their pc's will find them familiar and intuitive. At the same time, features that the general public won't care about (multi monitor improvements, improvements in the file system, overhauled task manager, etc.etc) are there for the more enthusiast users.

I'm not saying Windows 8 will be amazing, but I like what I see so far. It might be a little like Vista, in that the next version will be the one to really put a polish on the newer features. But I never fully understood the slating Vista received. Much of it was misinformation or a lack of understanding (Vista's memory usage), and some of it was teething problems, or simply a lack of willingness to change from the industry 'professionals'.

 

What is this Win 8 (Tablet) you speak of?

 

Just mean that win 8 is shaped a lot more like a tablet OS than a proper one

 

But it's not though.... The entire guts of Windows 8 is still as it was in Windows 7. There's no missing desktop features (other than the start menu, which I've already mentioned). There is one tiny bit that's based around how it functions on tablets, and even then it's perfectly usable on a desktop computer with keyboard and mouse, and as I mentioned in another post actually adds functionality.

I understand that Metro apps might not be to your taste. I hate the experience of the Metro IE with keyboard and mouse, but the original IE is still available, as is the ability to install Firefox, Chrome or Opera etc. Some simple functions such as e-mail, weather and the such lend themselves very well to the simplicity of the metro interface (although the current apps need improving). But still, there is nothing forcing anyone to use them, with desktop equivalents readily available.

I'm sure there will also be an option for windows to start straight into the desktop environment, instead of opening the startscreen on startup in the final version as well.

Out of interest, what do you think of the other changes in Windows 8 (ignoring Metro and the startscreen). What about the visual changes to the desktop environment? The multi monitor improvements, and all the other improvements mentioned earlier in this thread?

 

I agree. My opinion is that the metro interface is more suited to touch screen devices that mouse. I honestly think that the next step with highend laptops will be touch screens. I know some touch screen latops exist but my guess is that they could make their way into ultrabooks by 2013.

I'm from the "if it ain't broke don't fix it " school of thought. I'm not saying metro shouldn't be there in windows 8 but I think users should be given a choice between a layout they're used to and one that looks like a windows phone. There's no harm in giving people a choice.

TL;DR metro is suited better suited to touch screen which may soon be a feature on high end laptops

 

One thing that bugs me, is that a lot of people say that touch screen on laptop is stupid. I agree... but I don't think it's the way forward. The way forward is convertible tablet PC's. They never took off due to their small size of 11-12 inch, which meant super low specs to produce low heat due to a lack of size for cooling, especially back then, and because it had to be light (which wasn't really) for portability. And battery life sucked. It took the Dell Latitude X2 and X3 to make these system at a starting point to be interested, with a good input system.. but the price tag X( Wow... 3k.

What I want to see, and ready to buy is a 14inch convertible tablet... I mean a full 14inch laptop, complete with discrete AMD/Nvidia GPU, descent CPU, and good battery life (7h+) If my 14inch laptop has 11h with an Nvidia Quadro inside when on Win8... I think 7h would be perfectly possible for a convertible version


Honestly I would love this. You get to use the touch screen with Win8 Metro environment, switch to "work mode" if you will, and you have a laptop... and seeing how ultra books are so thin and have OK battery life... imagine those (with a descent resolution, and Nvidia or AMD GPU), convertible! That would rock! And you all know it would be 100$ possible, with a price tag of 1500-1700$ US/Canadian, which is a very good price for this kind of system.

 

But where would we be if that was the attitude? I'm sure there were plenty of people who said exactly the same about MS DOS, Windows 3.1 and all subsequent versions of windows (Windows ME and Vista aside maybe).

One piece of software that appears to have taken that standpoint is iTunes, and it's complete garbage in comparison to its rivals (especially on the pc). The same old brushed metal look that's been there since what, 2004-5?

Where would the innovation be if everyone thought the same? Windows 7 is probably the best OS Microsoft has made to date, but it's far from perfect. Windows 8 is an attempt to fix those, whilst adding something a little different to unify the different market sectors (desktop, laptop, tablet and phone).

I'm not entirely sure what people want MS to do with Windows? Just brush their hands together and say, there we go, we're done, time to close shop and continue shipping Win7 for eternity? I for one am glad that they're at least trying something different. We've had the same desktop interface for 17 years now (very little has changed since 95), I believe there's a better interface out there waiting to be designed. Backwards compatibility limits MS's freedom here quite a bit, an example of which can be seen in the blog post GoodBytes linked to earlier, but at least Metro is something new.

 

people seem to be forgetting that the current version of windows 8 is an unfinished preview, all the apps are unfinished previews, so some funtionality isn't yet working, i actually like the new remote desktop, yes it has flaws, but it's unfinished.

i find the start screen quite good, easy to use, but can also spend all day on the desktop, without even using the start screen(pin things to taskbar helps)

 

Well of course, I know that. I am the one that say to not judge anything until final release (or at least the last release candidate).
I was just explaining why I pinned the classic one.

 

well least jobs won't be around to make those commercials.. I really liked vista, but I know a lot of the lufagus didn't.. even hardcore guys remember were stubborn to switch because nvidia drivers were causing so much problems on the 64 bit version..

hope this is a smoother launch for them.. vista got a really bad rap.. mainly from people who didn't even run it- but they got brainwashed like usual and going off flashbacks to huangs work.. anyone remember ntune back then xD

 

nTunes is still there.. just renamed to Nvidia System Tools.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia-system-tools-6.08-driver.html

I use it. On the GPU side it's the exact same thing as MSI Afterburner, RivaTuner, and EVGA precision, just no voltage control. All of these software are just a layout. They all use NvAPI (Nvidia driver API code). So all the software are identical, and perform the same.

If you know C++, you can implement yourself:
http://developer.nvidia.com/nvapi