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

I don't agree with most of your arguments, but that's cool and we can agree to disagree. But this just caught me. What were you using the screen for before when you were searching ? And how is it not equally much of a waste, or actually a lot more waste, to have only a tiny box with search results and a whole screen you are not looking at at all, over a whole screen with search results ?

 

Up to a point, its easier to absorb more information when its in a smaller area as you don't have to shift focus around the entire screen. Sort of why this thread doesn't span the full screen. Just a thin bar in the middle. Or the reply box isn't full screen.

Naturally if you make the box too small then it becomes difficult to absorb the same information.

 

Speak for yourself...



back on topic:

anyone know if/when windows *phone* 8.1 is due... or is that still anyone's guess?

 

I know it's entirely subjective, but I find those to be extremely minor complaints. I never noticed that the old Start Menu organized things by most used, and I believe other people have argued that the automatic sorting wasn't entirely reliable. As for kicking you directly to the desktop, that's a wash for me. When I start the computer I don't sit and stare at the desktop; I begin running applications. Whether I click an icon on the Quick Launch bar or click an icon on the Start Screen, the result is the same. Other people may disagree, and I believe Microsoft is addressing that in 8.1.

I disagree that this is a problem inherent to Windows 8. Windows versions from XP through 7 suffered the same problem, and software developers are to blame. I recall spending a lot of time organizing my Start Menu in Windows XP because it got unwieldy. Windows does not force the creation of useless shortcuts in the Start Menu/Screen; that is the fault of the people writing the application installers.

 

But when other people don't find those things to be minor complaints they seem to be told they are wrong

Very true, but this problem is exasperated by having a full screen start menu.

 

No, they are told their objections lack logic.

The Start Screen for instance is basically like a PC booting to desktop with the Start Menu already open to select your application --except that there is no wasted screen space (big empty desktop, tiny fiddly Start Menu in the bottom left corner), or like booting to desktop which has a grid of shortcut icons on it, except that the icons now can convey useful information at a glance.

How?

 

Who ever said subjectivity is logical ?

And now instead of having useless shortcuts in the Start Menu, hidden away in a corner.
We have these useless shortcuts filling up the entire Start Screen.

 

So all that vehement criticism of Windows 8 is basically because some people don't like the colour?

I disagree that useless shortcuts were hidden away in a corner. Every time I opened the Start Menu after an install, its organisation was disrupted by an array of new program groups or clusters of icons which I then had to manually delete. No multiple selection of icons possible, by the way. Nice and fiddly. And some overzealous programs also included a desktop shortcut and a taskbar icon, just to be inclusive.

I ran RocketDock until Windows 8, because I didn't like the Start Menu. I didn't keep going on about it; I just modded it. Now you can install Start8 or something like that, and get on with it also. It's not the end of the world.

 

Generalising much, colour who said anything about colour ?

You can disagree as much as you like but you opinion lacks logic, trying to say useless shortcuts were not hidden away in a corner when the start menu/button is about the size of a normal icon on the desktop. Versus having these shortcuts added to the main way of interacting with Windows 8 via the full screen start menu. Its more akin to having programs place every shortcut they create directly on the desktop.

And if enough people felt the same way as you about not liking the start menu, and installed something like RocketDock maybe Microsoft would have included it in future OS's, like they did with .zip files, being able to mount .iso, making a system image, antivirus, etc, etc.
Or maybe they couldn't because people would accuse them of being a Apple dock clone.

 

Windows 8: New survey sees declining consumer satisfaction with PCs
http://www.geekwire.com/2013/likes-windows-8-survey-shows-consumer-interest-pcs/

 

Greetings!

Its related to the absence of a global search and the way search results are shown.
You search something in W8, the results are shown at the far left of the screen, then you need to move the mouse to the far right to change the search to settings, files or apps, depending on what you are searching for, then you need to move the mouse to the far left to click on the desired search result. Makes no sense on larger screens. On smaller touch enabled screens, sure.

You and other people seem to never have learned how to use the StartMenu properly.

It is finally addressing this! Took them long enough.

With XP, sure it was messy, from Vista onwards, you just had to search, there was no need to organize it. It was not "in your face" like StartScreen is. An extended most-used list took care of the large majority of StartMenu visits and search took care of the rest.

It is. But one of the improvements in W8.1 is that the links\tiles from recently installed programs arent displayed in the StartScreen. Without being a Microsoft originated problem they are finally addressing it.

Useless if you boot to Desktop and have the shortcuts for the programs in the TaskBar. And do correct me if I am wrong but the Live Tiles only work for Metro apps, right?

You were fighting the StartMenu and not using its features.

It seems you didnt even learned how to use it properly.
You insisted on cleaning it when there was no need, you didnt use one of its most important features, the most-used, and you immediately installed a third-party tool to avoid it. You at least used the Search?

 

Oh dear, reading the forums your head must be going like its watching a tennis match.

Anyway even google have copped on to this idea. When I hit compose on gmail a window about 1/6th the size of the screen appears in the bottom right corner. There's no need for a mass of empty white space taking over the full screen

 

Not so. Just as the Start Menu is hidden until you summon it with the Start button, so is the Start Screen hidden until you summon it. Same difference.

Perhaps you and other people have just never learned to use Windows 8 properly.

You are fighting the Start Screen and not using its features.

Why should I learn to use the Start Menu "properly" when you argue that you shouldn't have to learn how to use the Start Screen and Charms properly?

That frustration you're now feeling? That is what we get when people criticise Windows 8 without trying it for more than five minutes.

At least I installed a third party tool and got on with it, instead of complaining loudly all the time. I had been using the Start Menu since 1995 so I think that when installed RocketDock around 2008, I kind of knew the relative merits of both.

 

The start screen isnt hidden until you summon it, the start screen is the default GUI for windows 8.

 

Because it's the first thing you see when you boot up? I think that you are attaching arbitrary meanings now.

 

Nope, but then I am capable of moving my eyes independently of my head...

 

Yes, because its the interface that it boots to. Unless you are going to seriously try arguing that the interface presented to the user when a device has started isn't the default interface.

Please explain how you think im attaching arbitrary meanings?, when it is a known fact that windows 8 boots to the start screen by default.

 

You attach the arbitrary meaning that the GUI you first see is the 'default' GUI. Perhaps I do not experience it that way because I have a Windows 8 desktop PC and a Windows RT tablet. On the desktop PC I am mostly in the desktop, and treat the Start Screen as a start menu. On the tablet I am mostly on the Start Screen, and treat it like the springboard on a smartphone (and on my HTPC I'm mostly in Media Center). Neither is the 'default'; it depends on the machine and the context in which I use it.

TL;DR: attaching the label 'default' to the Start Screen does not change its function, nor that of the desktop.

 

Your such a trooper nexxo!

 

At least I'm not wailing with despair because of a simple GUI change disrupting my browsing for porn "productivity". Oh, the humanity!