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

Greetings!

I was already out of college in 98, Nexxo. My most used compression method was ARJ in DOS, used it a lot more last century than I used ZIP this century.
And no, compressing and emailing arent really what I consider basic functions of an OS. Handy to have built in but not basic functions (I use 7zip and Thunderbird anyway).

Wonder why...
You ever drove a 80s Seat Ibiza with buttons for everything instead of the "little sticks" left and right of the steering wheel?

I cant ignore Metro, at least not by any Microsoftian way, would still have to deal with StartScreen and Charms.

What would change to hybrid users, like yourself, if Microsoft offered an option to disable Metro and another option to put StartMenu back? The hybrid devices would stop working?
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You're confusing the comparison. The UI of a car isn't the steering wheel or pedals, or the wheels etc, it's the position of the buttons on the dash, it's the design on the dials etc. Many cars have moved from analogue to digital for example.

Imo the wheels and similar are comparable to the Windows kernel, the pedals and steeling wheel comparable to the actual input devices, i.e. keyboard and mouse etc.

 

I think analogies should be banned. Everywhere on the internet.

 

Haha, you may be right.

 

But what would we post?!

Oh, wait. Porn of course.

 

So you do use third-party add-ons! There, isn't so hard to add a Start Menu one, isn't it?

I stand corrected regarding your age. Most people here are in their mid- to late twenties/early thirties. I did not see Windows 1.0 until I was already a man.

The point is: the joystick worked better than the steering wheel. But people struggled to cope with the change.

Once boot to desktop is added, you can ignore the Start Screen. I believe you are already able to ignore the Charms as well, invoking their functions in more conventional ways.

But you already can put it back. Just because it isn't a Microsoft product but a third-party one, it suddenly stops being functional?

 

I've seen many changes in the computer world, which probably explains my ability to learn new ways to do things when windows changes, when't I was a lad, computer studies where done on bbc micro's and were reserved for those willing to do rsa typing, which in the mid '80s lads didn't do.

I did(and still do) have keen interest in computers, booking the commodore vic 20 in the school library as often as I could, and eventually persuading mum and dad to get a vic 20 for home.

analogies are good when used correctly, like comparing different prices of computers to different prices to cars you can pay x for a (old) mini or y for a Ferrari.

 

Ah I see what you mean about the search function. I partly agree, it would be nice to have everything in one place, but tbh the way the metro UI is, if they did this I suspect that results would become vastly too cluttered. As an example, when I want to run VLC i just hit the letter V and it's the second result. Nice and fast. If I had the 23,000 files along with the results it would become a bit more fiddley

Not that I use the Metro search for files at all, I use the File Explorer search for that.

I didnt know that about the search and 8.1 until I saw this today.


It instantly made me sad about the search. My only hope is that the little drop down menu above the search box that says everywhere, can me set to say Local and remembers my preference. Failing that, that the web crap isn't too intrusive.

 

I remember laying my hands on a VIC20 in an electronics shop for the first time. I had come home.

At school we had three (count 'em) second-hand CBM 4096's, later supplemented by three PET 8096's.

My first computer was a C64. I modded it within a year. Kernel switches, parallel floppy drive conversion, special reset switches and CPU status indicator. Later came an Amiga 500, an Amiga 2000 and then a PC: Intel P90 by DAN Computers (Windows 3.11, then Windows 95). Then the first self-built PII-266 (Windows 98SE). Then my current rig, a liquid cooled dual Opteron 250 (Vista, Windows 8).

You have to have used Windows 95 before its IE4 service pack to realise how unfinished it was, and yet how much of an improvement over Windows 3.11. Windows 8 is the same way.

 

I'm sure there will be a local filter, but results are also clearly separated so it shouldn't be too cluttering.

 

Why, he shows searching for an App after the unified search bit. It showed App first.

 

It would actually increase the attractiveness of desktop W8, too. I like the idea of having a portable device that I can easily tinker with through my desktop; I was promised this with Android, but they lied, neglecting to mention the huge nightmarish hacker adventure that is S-OFFing, unlocking, rooting and customizing an Android device. It's pretty much like modding Linux, except instead of a powerful computer with loads of documentation and community support there's a handheld device with no documentation and thin community support.

Being able to easily modify and interact with a tablet from my PC via USB or wifi is the only thing that could make a tablet seriously appealing to me. I hate having to install proprietary software and learn new methodologies to get them to talk to each other.

 

It's typical of Microsoft: create a good product and then hamstring it at the last moment with some stupid limitation. The problem is that Microsoft products are built by engineers and programmers, but finalised by business suits.

 

Despite this, though, you said you were pleased with your Surface RT overall and recommended it as a device. What sold it for you?

 

Must have missed that. I still reserve judgement until I see it in action

 

I so agree. I think it is what block Microsoft from being even more huge successful. Microsoft has the best in the industry... they don't hire just anyone. Its like Google. Everyone applies to them, getting to the second interview, is a a big challenge by-itself. I know, 'cause I did it.. I was able to reach the second level interview though

 

Surface keyboard will get an update that adds keys to the current layout.



Surface blog: http://blog.surface.com/b/surface/a...ok-2013-rt-coming-to-surface-rt-and-more.aspx

 

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I own a Motion Computing LE1600, bought used from eBay back in 2004 or so. This was well before the iPad. I bought it at the time because I wanted a PDA with email that could also function as a note taking device (OneNote with handwriting recognition = cheesecake) and had Office (as in: fully compatible with Office on work PCs) capabilities. A web browser was a bonus. Games were not a consideration. For me it was very much a work device.

I needed a PDA because I worked across four hospitals with a secretary in a fifth, and I needed her to be able to access my calendar at all times, and for me to access it no matter what desk I was sitting at, or what ward I was on, in whatever hospital. A paper diary was not going to cut it. Because I moved around a lot and my secretary was in a place I rarely visited, a lot of communication needed to happen by email (phone leaves no trail you can refer back to). Because of the nomadic nature of my work I could not always access a PC, so it helped to have Office on a mobile device. And of course I needed a notepad for all sorts of reasons, and access to a lot of documents, but again, I had no office where I could store them. They all needed to be on the device in .pdf or .doc form, where they took up no physical space but were always accessible.

Why not a laptop? Because in meetings, or for that matter while seeing clients, it is awkward to sit hunched over a keyboard. So I sacrificed that functionality as less important than the notepad function.

The LE1600 was well-built; toughened Wacom digitiser screen surrounded by a magnesium chassis and a fibreglass-reinforced plastic shell. It came with spring-loaded stylus dock, fingerprint reader, USB port, network port and all the WiFi and Bluetooth you'd expect. It came with a dock that had an additional USB port, network port and charging socket. It also came with a (costly) secondary battery, a huge flat slab that covered the back of the device and added a pound to its 1kg weight, but gave it a solid six to seven hour battery life --if you were careful.

But it had an old Pentium 4 mobile which meant that it was fairly slow --and booted slowly, and got hot very easily (play a video and it would overheat) and playing a game would drain the battery at an alarming rate. Windows XP Tablet Edition was not terribly practical and I had to add in a Samurize config, Yahoo Widgets Informer, RocketDock and an add-on that would show Outlook calendar appointments on the desktop. It was a bit clunky.



Now I realise that I was trying to create what has become an almost standard desktop for smartphones and tablets everywhere --before they ever existed.

Eventually the huge slab battery failed, reducing its operational life to three hours tops. I kind of gave up on it when I got an iPhone that at least covered my PDA requirements.

Then the Surface RT came along. It was as if Microsoft had read my mind: a light-weight, all-day battery life tablet that has the required PDA functions, OneNote and Office. It has cloud storage so I can keep my documents synced on my home PC, work PC and my tablet. It has USB. It even has a kickstand and screen cover that doubles as keyboard, so I could have both options. It has a GUI perfect for a touch screen. It shows all information I want, at a glance, on the home screen (live tiles). It is fast. It never gets hot. It never runs flat, and if it does, it charges back to full in two hours. It is instant on, instant off. And when it is off, it still receives emails and it updates itself. It is all the good things of the LE1600, and none of the bad things.

Sure: it does not have many apps, but I don't need many apps. It does not have many games (although it is an oft overlooked fact that the Tegra 3 kicks the Atom Clover Trail's ass in 3D performance), but I never bought it to play games. The desktop is locked, but besides Office I do not need to run much on desktop (although the jailbreak that allows me to run stuff like Audacity is a bonus). For me it is primarily a work device: PDA (calendar, email, web) and Office first, other applications second, games are a nice optional extra but not essential.

And because the web browser runs Flash, I can use web-based apps like Pixlr Photo Editor where I cannot run Paint.net (--yet; it's being ported to .Net 4.5 and then I can).

There are many people who think like me: who need a work device that offers email, calendar, web and Office, that is light and compact, lasts all day and boots up instantly. They don't really need or want anything else. And with Outlook coming to RT, it's going to be perfect for those needs.

 

Greetings!

I shouldnt need to install a basic OS UI feaure as a proper Start. It is in absolutely no way, shape of form remotely compared to compression or emailing software.

But if it worked better why not force people to it? That behaviour is only reserved to Microsoft?

I can? Where to search? Where to use the "most used" feature that I rely heavily in XP and W7?

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