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

still not available to partners, via maps pack, but I suppose could use TechNet version.

 

Tami Reller talks Windows 8.1 @ IDF



Apparently 8.1 has been downloaded by two million people.

 

It does rankle a bit that I'll want to be installing this: StartIsGone

It seems a little ridiculous that if they were going to u-turn they didn't at least add a toggle for people that though it was a good idea to get rid of it, as they clearly did until the public response.

 

Greetings!

 

Yup, a shocking sales success: 600,000 units sold over two years. What does that make the Surface RT then, with over a million devices sold in three months?

I think that we can leave the credibility of that article at that. Intel is not distancing itself from Windows; it is trying to muscle in on that sweet Android action that ARM has got going on there. Intel assumes.that it already has Windows in the bag. Perhaps Microsoft's decision to develop an ARM version was not such a bad idea.

 

about the start button to be gone, this is what exactly people said during the dev.. remove the Start button. And it was done. But I do agree it should have been an option.

 

Boas!

So should the StartMenu.

 

People didn't ask to remove the start button during 8's development, Microsoft made the decision based on the telemetry gathered by CEIP.

What with privacy concerns, people behind firewalls, people who disable it, how much of the user base is covered by CEIP is a total unknown. And just because something rarely gets used doesn't make it useless, you may not use the fog lights on a car for years but you wouldn't remove it.

 

No, because that would create support issues. Even the Start menu button... but at least it's easier to explain. It's either a hot corner button, or a physical button. Not a completely different interface.

 

Who wrote that the google laptop was a success lol, you need shooting.

macbook air has sold what 20-30mil units in the same time frame at tripple the price.

Hell the Surface rt and pro are more successful.

 

News and blog sites treat the Google Chrome Book as a success.
Because it doesn't have"Microsoft" name, so automatically it can't be bashed.

 

MS are reportedly working on Siri-like voice control for WP [and later Xbox and W8], rumoured to be called Cortana after the AI from Halo

source

 

Yeah, I squealed a little with excitement when I read that (is that wrong? ). Finally someone at Microsoft gets marketing.

Although, I also like the sound of a GlaDOS app...

 

Greetings!

Support issues?

 

Greetings!

PS:
Oh! 42 voters on the poll.
Large majority (85%+) likes W8. If only Microsoft had offered an option to run the StartMenu. This thread would have half the posts it has.

 

The option already exists. Any geek who cannot download and install a bit of freeware to get exactly what they want, does not deserve to get it.

 

Maybe after a time Microsoft will add there own start menu seeing as how everyone installed programs to deal with things lacking from previous version, things like handling .zip files, being able to mount .iso, making a system image, antivirus, etc, etc.

 

I'd be curious to know how many people actually tried Windows 8 before downloading a Start Menu replacement, and how many just installed one because their brother/wife/friend read on the internet that it's a must-have item.

A long time ago, when I was still relatively new to computers, I asked one of my geek friends to assist with some configuring of a Windows 98 install. Instead of just helping me do the one or two things I wanted, he proceeded to sit down at my machine and configure everything the way he insisted that I should have it, including deleting certain executables because "you're not allowed to have fdisk."

This is mostly how I view the whole Start Menu scenario. I read article after article from self-professed geek experts all insisting that the only way any person can possibly use Windows 8 is by installing a third party Start Button/Menu, when in my experience Windows 8 works perfectly fine out of the box.

I wonder if computers have become so easy to use, and their presence so ubiquitous, that it's become too easy to be a generic 'computer geek.' All it takes anymore being able to perform a half-decent Google search. Still, as simple as it's become, how can so many tech reviewers have got it so wrong?

 

Perhaps as many people as those who tried Windows Phone before ridiculing it.

I switched from an iPhone 4 (of many years) to a Lumia 920 recently. I cannot get over just how ergonomic, powerful and slick Windows Phone 8 is. Almost all actions take half the amount of steps they took on iOS. The interface feels more coherent and how things are laced together makes more sense. As a paradigm it is excellent.

Moreover, my wife, who has no love for smartphones, and didn't get on with my iPhone at all, only recently upgraded because her Motorola Razr was literally falling apart. She loves her HTC 8S. It is small, tactile, light (and yet has an amazing battery life) and she loves Windows Phone 8. That's right, I've never heard her wax lyrical over an OS. But she actually understands it, and loves it. That is an achievement for Microsoft in itself.

I think that more people would really like it if they only tried it. But it looks different from iOS and iOS clone Android, so there is a psychological hurdle to overcome. But those who in the interest of scientific enquiry have given it a shot, have been pleasantly surprised.

 

Greetings!

No most-used list, no global search, no direct to Desktop, forces to clean StartScreen from useless tiles each time a program is installed, the transition between Desktop and fullscreen Start is disruptive, ... all of these seem to have been addressed in W8.1.

Still missing the ability ro run apps inside windows in Desktop, the dual Control Panel, the wasted fullscreen for a simple search...