Originally posted by Ividnaelax I think Windows 8 will be the new Windows ME. I have not tried Windows 8, nor do I want to use it on any system that I have. I have seen screen shots and advertisements of the new OS and I think it will piss a lot of us old school Windows users off.
Am I the only person in the world that liked Windows ME?
Me was the most buggy product I had ever seen Microsoft come out with.
At the time I was working for a drug chain any time we got a new PC in we formatted it to 98 Until the boss made the decision to go with XP only after 98 was discontinued and we could not get the licensing any more.
Honestly I don't know anybody who left ME installed more than a week.
Originally posted by IvidnaelaxI think Windows 8 will be the new Windows ME. I have not tried Windows 8, nor do I want to use it on any system that I have. I have seen screen shots and advertisements of the new OS and I think it will piss a lot of us old school Windows users off.
Am I the only person in the world that liked Windows ME?
Very likely.
There was nothing really wrong with it for me, though it was buggy for some at launch. It's just one of those versions people saw no point in switching to. Windows 8 is very likely that for some people. I'm interested to see what comes from the Windows 8 app store to enhance the experience. I'm also looking at doing a little development for it.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
I would argue, that as far as just plain old Operating Systems go, that Unix (and all it's variations) have handily won. It's not just AT&T Unix (which I guess now belongs to Novell), or Linux, or OS X, it's the culmination of all of these.
The fact that it did go open all those years ago. Now, people are using it without even realizing it's underneath powering everything. Nearly ~every~ NAS I've seen in the last 5 years has used some form of Linux on a SOC. Nearly ~every~ smartphone is running some variation of Unix (Android is Linux based, iOS is Mach Unix based). I can't count how many routers and other network devices are either directly or indirectly Unix-powered. Going past that, we see every-day devices like Blu-Ray players, incredible devices like Rasberry Pi, and the vast bulk of network server systems.
Unix/Linux may not have won on the desktop, but I'd argue they have handily won the fight that mattered. So in reality, I would call it a Post-PC world. Everyone uses computers in so many different ways that couldn't have even been imagined back in the 1980's, when we saw our first versions of Windows come out. Microsoft has long been the king of the desktop (and hence, the PC), but that hasn't been the fight that really mattered all along. To borrow (and bend) a SPJ metaphor - that's like being the king of the semi-trucks; sure it's important if you need to drive a truck, but in a world where the vast majority of vehicles aren't freight-hauling trucks, it's not quite as significant.
It doesn't matter if you call it Post-PC or Plus-PC, or whatever. People use desktop PC's in much the same manner they have for the past few decades - data entry, work, some entertainment & media consumption, but it hasn't overtaken or killed any of the previous industries (except possibly the print industry, but I don't know that the PC alone necessarily did that as much as the Internet did with all the various devices that can connect). The PC still exists, and will continue to exist, because it's very hard to replace a sit-down (or semi-mobile in the case of a laptop) workstation, where you can do data entry (writing a book, coding a program, updating a spreadsheet, entering items into a database, etc), or need to do lots of various generic tasks - all of which a PC will continue to excel at. But we've seen other devices come in and fill various niches, some take away from the PC, some compliment the PC, others do things that a PC could never do (for various reasons). The PC will chug along just fine, just like trucks are still out on the road - they serve an important function that you just can't quite perform the same with a bicycle or a Prius.
Originally posted by IvidnaelaxI think Windows 8 will be the new Windows ME. I have not tried Windows 8, nor do I want to use it on any system that I have. I have seen screen shots and advertisements of the new OS and I think it will piss a lot of us old school Windows users off.
Am I the only person in the world that liked Windows ME?
Very likely.
There was nothing really wrong with it for me, though it was buggy for some at launch. It's just one of those versions people saw no point in switching to. Windows 8 is very likely that for some people. I'm interested to see what comes from the Windows 8 app store to enhance the experience. I'm also looking at doing a little development for it.
The fact that Win2k came out right before WinME, that it worked very well, and that ME had a very buggy launch. As long as you didn't have application compatibility issues with 2k, there was no reason to go to ME. Most people just thought of 2k as the "Professional" edition, and it really was just a continuation of NT, but then ME rolled out as the consumer product. 2k was full NT kernal, ME still had a lot of the 95/98 16/32-bit kernel mashup in it.
That, and the fact that XP shipped like a year later, it was short lived and seemed to serve no purpose. 2K was the successor to 98/NT4 for most people out in the business/enterprise world, and XP was right on it's heels. Really, the only thing that ME brought to the table was native USB support.
If it hadn't been so buggy at launch (Win98 was fairly stable, Win2k we still have some servers running on at work), it may have had a chance, or at least seen in a more positive light.
Depending on how fast Win9 comes out, you may be right about Win8 being the next WinME... although I doubt it. Win8 is largely based on the very stable Win7 core (with a few tweaks). The UI is the major difference, so I would be surprised if Win8 ends up being as buggy as WinME was, or as hard to support as Vista was (with all it's missing device drivers). It may very well be comparable though on the basis of the very severe UI changes alone - a lot of people bemoaned XP's (by Metro's standards) tame UI changes to the classic Win95/98/2k/ME theme, and that those changes were enough to delay XP's adoption for a long time - although they didn't stop the eventual onslaught of adoption and it's continued perseverance. Maybe we will see something similar with Win8. Hard to say this early on.
I dont think this hybrid tablet-desktop OS is "where the wind is blowing". It just shows that Microsoft is out of touch as Apple was smart enough to realise that tablets/phones and desktops are vastly different animals and why they didnt bridge their desktop OS with their phone/tablet one. It is like trying to mimic driving a car like a motorcycle, sorry it cannot be done. They are too different.
Originally posted by Yamota I dont think this hybrid tablet-desktop OS is "where the wind is blowing". It just shows that Microsoft is out of touch as Apple was smart enough to realise that tablets/phones and desktops are vastly different animals and why they didnt bridge their desktop OS with their phone/tablet one. It is like trying to mimic driving a car like a motorcycle, sorry it cannot be done. They are too different.
still waiting on this interactive desktop experience
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
Let me preface this by: I like Windows 7. A lot. In fact, I like it almost as much as I like OS X.
Hipsters and senior citizens like OSX, which are you? Seriously though that has got to be the most braindead stripped down OS i've ever used, we have in on our work computers and its nothing but a hassel. We are constantly having to load up Windows or Linux VMs to get around its limitations. Apple does mobile well, because mobile is best simple... but it sucks at desktops.
Anyway itt took me 15-30 minutes to acclimate to Windows 8's control scheme and layout and after that it was absolutely fine, it's actually improved on many fronts. Stability is rock solid, I haven't had a single issue w/ software, and the customization levels are outstanding.
I was excited when we first learned that Windows 8 was doing away with the Start Menu as the intended hub of the Windows environment, since I used the Start Menu rather little in XP, much less in Vista, and have never once clicked ‘All Programs’ in Windows 7. I've never liked the Start Menu and find my navigation much faster without it. Especially in Windows 7 where I can just press the Windows key, twitch out a few characters from the software's name and have it open in a tiny fraction of the time it would take me to hunt it down in the Start Menu.
I have yet to actually try Windows 8, though. Might do so this weekend.
Favorites: EQ, EVE | Playing: None. Mostly VR and strategy | Anticipating: CU, Pantheon
It actually is not hard to make any monitor a touch screen. They have a sensor you can attach to your screen that detects if your finger crosses a certain point and treats it as a click on the screen at that point. Its also a little useful since if you are careful you will not smudge the screen. With current touch screens, capacitive touch is not important so a simple touching/not touching system works.
You have to remember that they are not expecting people to just use a keyboard and mouse with their PC anymore. They are hoping for a game they also use Kinect for the PC to handle things like video-conferencing, voice chat, and gesture/voice commands. Even though a keyboard is fast, saying something can be faster in a couple cases and can improve work flow.
The other thing I see this OS attempting is to tie all these technologies into a simple user interface to not overwhelm users or make them get adjusted to 3 different interfaces like they do now. However, I find the attempt not so successful due to the incompatibility between Windows 8, Windows RT, and Windows Phone 8. They require 3 seperate environments where they could have only needed to make 2. This overcomplicates full support for developers across all 3 platforms. I can see in future iterations of Windows they may tie these 3 environments closer together.
On Windows 8 and Windows RT, I think this could be a positive move as businesses do not need a robust computer. Windows RT also offers stiffer competition in the CPU space where it currently is only Intel, AMD, and VIA. However, if you are in IT this could be a nightmare. Like people asking why their ARM cannot play Skyrim.
The thing I really want to see is Windows go into car infotainment. After using Windows Phone 7 for so long, I would like it to be on a 10" touchscreen dash. Right now my touchscreen dash uses Windows CE 5.0, and the Windows CE 7 component only recently came out.
Originally posted by Ridelynn Let me preface this by: I like Windows 7. A lot. In fact, I like it almost as much as I like OS X.
Hipsters and senior citizens like OSX, which are you? Seriously though that has got to be the most braindead stripped down OS i've ever used, we have in on our work computers and its nothing but a hassel. We are constantly having to load up Windows or Linux VMs to get around its limitations. Apple does mobile well, because mobile is best simple... but it sucks at desktops.
Anyway itt took me 15-30 minutes to acclimate to Windows 8's control scheme and layout and after that it was absolutely fine, it's actually improved on many fronts. Stability is rock solid, I haven't had a single issue w/ software, and the customization levels are outstanding.
It's a nice GUI on top of Mach. I guess if you can't figure out Mach it would be difficult, but many of the tools underneath are the same or very similar open source tools you have on Linux (apache, postgre, mysql, php, OpenLDAP, BIND, postfix, dovecot, VNC, etc etc etc). I don't think of myself as a hipster, and I can't draw social security yet, so sorry to not fit into your stereotype. The reason I like OS X so much is because there's a unix underpinning, and it's nice to be able to drop down and get something done (especially little things like ssh or rsync) that are just totally missing on a stock Windows install (sure, they exist third party, but working on client machines I don't always have access to a full suite of third party tools). Maybe if I knew PowerShell as well I wouldn't feel that way, but the fact that 95% of what works on Linux works also on OS X Terminal, makes it very handy for me.
Congratulations on picking up Win8 in 15-30 minutes.
Originally posted by Yamota I dont think this hybrid tablet-desktop OS is "where the wind is blowing". It just shows that Microsoft is out of touch as Apple was smart enough to realise that tablets/phones and desktops are vastly different animals and why they didnt bridge their desktop OS with their phone/tablet one. It is like trying to mimic driving a car like a motorcycle, sorry it cannot be done. They are too different.
still waiting on this interactive desktop experience
Back on topic... had a hell of a time upgrading to 8 from 7. Instalation stalled at the same spot (device driver load at the point where it asks you to pick a color--USB mouse and KB dead) and then it reverted to 7... finally tracked it down to the Cyborg MMO-7 devices...uninstalled them and update completed, then reinstalled them and all is well. Performance-wise it seems identical to 7. the interface does take some getting used... I miss the "X" to close windows, alt-f4 is a poor replacement. Luckily 7 is just lurking there at the bottom left corner.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
It's the every-other-version of Windows, near as I can tell.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
I think Windows 8 looks stylish. No Windows operating system has been brave enough to try to define a style in the way Windows 8 has. In fact, I think that out of any OS release Windows 8 is the most focused on how it looks. And I think that the simplicity of it will mean that in a years time we'll probably all be using it. Pricing it at the point they have means that a huge number of people will be buying it because it's cheap. And again.... we will all be doing that as well. Eventually we may come to realise precisely why Windows 8 is Microsoft's best OS... because I think it probably is the best OS they've ever made. I also think it will age well.
I am going to probably be buying two new gaming computers (for me and the wife) in the next year. So I will most likely be jumping in also. Probably going to be getting two windows phones too, and maybe a tablet/laptop towards the end of next year (aug/septish). I think keeping everything on the same platform will be the easiest thing to do...
Instead of say using a android/iOS, and W8 for 3 devices.
People have said that W8 uses less resources, and things perform better on it, so give us a update on how it is, once you get into it a little longer.
I do not see how a OS that supposedly has less system strain could be bad for a gamer? I mean if I am clicking a icon, or a tile....I am in my game, and wouldn't know which windows is behind it, while I am playing.
Nothing annoys me more than 'people' who think they have indepth knowlage of something when all they know is some marketing buzzword tripe that they have swallowed and now proceed to regurgitate in an effort to make themselves look cool.
It is these people who we have to thank for things going backwards, idiots that buy insane amounts of inane overpriced inferior crap.
Welcome to everything having an inferior input like a touch screen/motion controls and WoW Clones being spewed for yet another decade.
Honestly, now, I can pretty easily say that I've adjusted to Win8. But probably not how Microsoft wanted me to.
First off, I largely have been able to ignore Metro/Modern/whatever. I have not used any of the various hacks/utilities to boot straight to the desktop - but after booting, that's usually what I end up doing - going right to the desktop, where I have set shortcuts for my most used programs. I also made "Tiles" for them (for the sake of figuring out how to do it), but I rarely do anything from the new Start screen if I don't have to.
I still have a general dislike for Metro apps. The full screen still looks poor to me on a computer monitor, I have a difficult time finding the UI elements. For instance, I still can't find "Print" in the email client, although Ctrl-P will bring it up - I doubt having keyboard shortcuts was the way they intended a touchscreen based program to function. I can't decide if not having the ability to quit a Metro app (at least via the GUI - sure you can kill it from the Task Manager, or Alt-F4 it) is a feature (because most tablets/phones don't "quit" processes, they just sleep merrily in the background and don't really consume any resources, and the same occurs in Win8 for the most part) or just lazy. If I can avoid using a program that uses the new interface, I avoid it. Fortunately, I haven't found anything that requires it yet.
i did a little browsing of the Windows Store - nothing caught my eye. Mostly the same junk I see in the iOS App Store, only it's for Windows... yay for more Angry Birds, and do I really need a dedicated Netflix app when it runs fine in my web browser.
A good tip for Shutdown. This I have found useful: http://blog.laptopmag.com/how-to-shutdown-windows-8-in-just-one-click Alternatively, you could also go into Energy Management and set your computer to "Shutdown" or "Sleep" when you push the power button - making your hardware perform the same function.
All in all, I use Win8 almost identically to the way I used 7, and I'm either ignoring or actively working around most of the "new" UI elements.
I went out and purchased the Windows 8 pro version .. and then hummed and hawwed over if to install or not to install (then I did that with Windows 7, vista and XP.. after being burned by ME). The key thing to remember if you are one of those still on teh fence ... It is new and different. It does take some getting used to .. and you may have to find a new way of doing something you used to do.
If it helps the "Start Window" is just like your start button.. but a LOT bigger. If you go into your apps .. it is like clicking all programs .. with bigger icons.
I can see why microsoft did all this, a merge between Tablets and PC's ... finding a program on your tablet and pc are done the same way. (provided both are on the pc and tablet)
Overall it took a bit of learning to get used to it ... but yes it is faster I went from 45 seconds from power button to desktop. to now 35 seconds and if I had a newer bios board I could drop that a bit more. As well I have recorded an increase in frame rate in games on average of about 3%.
But in the end it is still personal choice and you have to do what is right for you and what you like, and if nothing else you can always reinstall windows 7
Oh and for the Turkey annalogy .... I got windows 8 after thanksgiving ... It is in early October in Canada.
Originally posted by Arcondo87 all you need to know about Windows 8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0fsyb-ttcwPersonally i will buy Windows 8 just so i can run it over with my car....
That is actually a really good video to watch. It points out a lot of the shortcomings as well as a lot of the nice new things (even though the overall tone of the video is negative).
Personally i will buy Windows 8 just so i can run it over with my car....
Wow, people are so dramatic with change, but thanks for the video it gives me an idea of the big picture. I like the new look, and really it would take little time to clean it up and make it your own. Basically for that dirt cheap upgrade you get touch capabilities and better connectivity between your win based tablets and phones. For you keyboard dinosaurs it would take just as little time to change up the ui for that also. You buy any new tech these days get it home it always takes some sort of setup.
For me I see this as an option to replace my notebook with a tablet pc with win8 and since I'm about due for a new phone it all makes sense to do that also. For my desktop gaming rig can't see how it would benefit me right off. I usually wait for hardware to catch up but watching that video gives me the itch to check it out sooner.
Windows 8 is the ugliest, most unintuitive OS I have ever used. It even feels clunky with a mouse and keyboard, which means Microsoft probably designed it for touch first, and the desktop as an afterthought.
Maybe Microsoft will pull its head out of the proverbial backside for Windows 9.
Once alternate/retro UI is introduced in so called 8.5 all will be good. Windows 8 isn't meant for power users atm on pcs but more a work flow option to laptops and mobiles.
Once enterprise editions come out to complete the seemless work flow from pc through smallest devices it will most likely be the best OS option out there ... even the haters may have to admit it. Bit of a wait and see though.
Comments
Me was the most buggy product I had ever seen Microsoft come out with.
At the time I was working for a drug chain any time we got a new PC in we formatted it to 98 Until the boss made the decision to go with XP only after 98 was discontinued and we could not get the licensing any more.
Honestly I don't know anybody who left ME installed more than a week.
There was nothing really wrong with it for me, though it was buggy for some at launch. It's just one of those versions people saw no point in switching to. Windows 8 is very likely that for some people. I'm interested to see what comes from the Windows 8 app store to enhance the experience. I'm also looking at doing a little development for it.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
I would argue, that as far as just plain old Operating Systems go, that Unix (and all it's variations) have handily won. It's not just AT&T Unix (which I guess now belongs to Novell), or Linux, or OS X, it's the culmination of all of these.
The fact that it did go open all those years ago. Now, people are using it without even realizing it's underneath powering everything. Nearly ~every~ NAS I've seen in the last 5 years has used some form of Linux on a SOC. Nearly ~every~ smartphone is running some variation of Unix (Android is Linux based, iOS is Mach Unix based). I can't count how many routers and other network devices are either directly or indirectly Unix-powered. Going past that, we see every-day devices like Blu-Ray players, incredible devices like Rasberry Pi, and the vast bulk of network server systems.
Unix/Linux may not have won on the desktop, but I'd argue they have handily won the fight that mattered. So in reality, I would call it a Post-PC world. Everyone uses computers in so many different ways that couldn't have even been imagined back in the 1980's, when we saw our first versions of Windows come out. Microsoft has long been the king of the desktop (and hence, the PC), but that hasn't been the fight that really mattered all along. To borrow (and bend) a SPJ metaphor - that's like being the king of the semi-trucks; sure it's important if you need to drive a truck, but in a world where the vast majority of vehicles aren't freight-hauling trucks, it's not quite as significant.
It doesn't matter if you call it Post-PC or Plus-PC, or whatever. People use desktop PC's in much the same manner they have for the past few decades - data entry, work, some entertainment & media consumption, but it hasn't overtaken or killed any of the previous industries (except possibly the print industry, but I don't know that the PC alone necessarily did that as much as the Internet did with all the various devices that can connect). The PC still exists, and will continue to exist, because it's very hard to replace a sit-down (or semi-mobile in the case of a laptop) workstation, where you can do data entry (writing a book, coding a program, updating a spreadsheet, entering items into a database, etc), or need to do lots of various generic tasks - all of which a PC will continue to excel at. But we've seen other devices come in and fill various niches, some take away from the PC, some compliment the PC, others do things that a PC could never do (for various reasons). The PC will chug along just fine, just like trucks are still out on the road - they serve an important function that you just can't quite perform the same with a bicycle or a Prius.
The fact that Win2k came out right before WinME, that it worked very well, and that ME had a very buggy launch. As long as you didn't have application compatibility issues with 2k, there was no reason to go to ME. Most people just thought of 2k as the "Professional" edition, and it really was just a continuation of NT, but then ME rolled out as the consumer product. 2k was full NT kernal, ME still had a lot of the 95/98 16/32-bit kernel mashup in it.
That, and the fact that XP shipped like a year later, it was short lived and seemed to serve no purpose. 2K was the successor to 98/NT4 for most people out in the business/enterprise world, and XP was right on it's heels. Really, the only thing that ME brought to the table was native USB support.
If it hadn't been so buggy at launch (Win98 was fairly stable, Win2k we still have some servers running on at work), it may have had a chance, or at least seen in a more positive light.
Depending on how fast Win9 comes out, you may be right about Win8 being the next WinME... although I doubt it. Win8 is largely based on the very stable Win7 core (with a few tweaks). The UI is the major difference, so I would be surprised if Win8 ends up being as buggy as WinME was, or as hard to support as Vista was (with all it's missing device drivers). It may very well be comparable though on the basis of the very severe UI changes alone - a lot of people bemoaned XP's (by Metro's standards) tame UI changes to the classic Win95/98/2k/ME theme, and that those changes were enough to delay XP's adoption for a long time - although they didn't stop the eventual onslaught of adoption and it's continued perseverance. Maybe we will see something similar with Win8. Hard to say this early on.
My gaming blog
still waiting on this interactive desktop experience
http://www.geeksofdoom.com/2010/06/02/is-the-minority-report-computer-technology-five-years-away/
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
Hipsters and senior citizens like OSX, which are you? Seriously though that has got to be the most braindead stripped down OS i've ever used, we have in on our work computers and its nothing but a hassel. We are constantly having to load up Windows or Linux VMs to get around its limitations. Apple does mobile well, because mobile is best simple... but it sucks at desktops.
Anyway itt took me 15-30 minutes to acclimate to Windows 8's control scheme and layout and after that it was absolutely fine, it's actually improved on many fronts. Stability is rock solid, I haven't had a single issue w/ software, and the customization levels are outstanding.
I was excited when we first learned that Windows 8 was doing away with the Start Menu as the intended hub of the Windows environment, since I used the Start Menu rather little in XP, much less in Vista, and have never once clicked ‘All Programs’ in Windows 7. I've never liked the Start Menu and find my navigation much faster without it. Especially in Windows 7 where I can just press the Windows key, twitch out a few characters from the software's name and have it open in a tiny fraction of the time it would take me to hunt it down in the Start Menu.
I have yet to actually try Windows 8, though. Might do so this weekend.
It actually is not hard to make any monitor a touch screen. They have a sensor you can attach to your screen that detects if your finger crosses a certain point and treats it as a click on the screen at that point. Its also a little useful since if you are careful you will not smudge the screen. With current touch screens, capacitive touch is not important so a simple touching/not touching system works.
You have to remember that they are not expecting people to just use a keyboard and mouse with their PC anymore. They are hoping for a game they also use Kinect for the PC to handle things like video-conferencing, voice chat, and gesture/voice commands. Even though a keyboard is fast, saying something can be faster in a couple cases and can improve work flow.
The other thing I see this OS attempting is to tie all these technologies into a simple user interface to not overwhelm users or make them get adjusted to 3 different interfaces like they do now. However, I find the attempt not so successful due to the incompatibility between Windows 8, Windows RT, and Windows Phone 8. They require 3 seperate environments where they could have only needed to make 2. This overcomplicates full support for developers across all 3 platforms. I can see in future iterations of Windows they may tie these 3 environments closer together.
On Windows 8 and Windows RT, I think this could be a positive move as businesses do not need a robust computer. Windows RT also offers stiffer competition in the CPU space where it currently is only Intel, AMD, and VIA. However, if you are in IT this could be a nightmare. Like people asking why their ARM cannot play Skyrim.
The thing I really want to see is Windows go into car infotainment. After using Windows Phone 7 for so long, I would like it to be on a 10" touchscreen dash. Right now my touchscreen dash uses Windows CE 5.0, and the Windows CE 7 component only recently came out.
It's a nice GUI on top of Mach. I guess if you can't figure out Mach it would be difficult, but many of the tools underneath are the same or very similar open source tools you have on Linux (apache, postgre, mysql, php, OpenLDAP, BIND, postfix, dovecot, VNC, etc etc etc). I don't think of myself as a hipster, and I can't draw social security yet, so sorry to not fit into your stereotype. The reason I like OS X so much is because there's a unix underpinning, and it's nice to be able to drop down and get something done (especially little things like ssh or rsync) that are just totally missing on a stock Windows install (sure, they exist third party, but working on client machines I don't always have access to a full suite of third party tools). Maybe if I knew PowerShell as well I wouldn't feel that way, but the fact that 95% of what works on Linux works also on OS X Terminal, makes it very handy for me.
Congratulations on picking up Win8 in 15-30 minutes.
Much closer than 5 years away... February 2013 in fact:
https://leapmotion.com/
Back on topic... had a hell of a time upgrading to 8 from 7. Instalation stalled at the same spot (device driver load at the point where it asks you to pick a color--USB mouse and KB dead) and then it reverted to 7... finally tracked it down to the Cyborg MMO-7 devices...uninstalled them and update completed, then reinstalled them and all is well. Performance-wise it seems identical to 7. the interface does take some getting used... I miss the "X" to close windows, alt-f4 is a poor replacement. Luckily 7 is just lurking there at the bottom left corner.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
I think Windows 8 looks stylish. No Windows operating system has been brave enough to try to define a style in the way Windows 8 has. In fact, I think that out of any OS release Windows 8 is the most focused on how it looks. And I think that the simplicity of it will mean that in a years time we'll probably all be using it. Pricing it at the point they have means that a huge number of people will be buying it because it's cheap. And again.... we will all be doing that as well. Eventually we may come to realise precisely why Windows 8 is Microsoft's best OS... because I think it probably is the best OS they've ever made. I also think it will age well.
Which means that the Turkey survived Thanksgiving.
I am going to probably be buying two new gaming computers (for me and the wife) in the next year. So I will most likely be jumping in also. Probably going to be getting two windows phones too, and maybe a tablet/laptop towards the end of next year (aug/septish). I think keeping everything on the same platform will be the easiest thing to do...
Instead of say using a android/iOS, and W8 for 3 devices.
People have said that W8 uses less resources, and things perform better on it, so give us a update on how it is, once you get into it a little longer.
I do not see how a OS that supposedly has less system strain could be bad for a gamer? I mean if I am clicking a icon, or a tile....I am in my game, and wouldn't know which windows is behind it, while I am playing.
all you need to know about Windows 8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0fsyb-ttcw
Personally i will buy Windows 8 just so i can run it over with my car....
"Post pc era", what complete and utter cancer.
Nothing annoys me more than 'people' who think they have indepth knowlage of something when all they know is some marketing buzzword tripe that they have swallowed and now proceed to regurgitate in an effort to make themselves look cool.
It is these people who we have to thank for things going backwards, idiots that buy insane amounts of inane overpriced inferior crap.
Welcome to everything having an inferior input like a touch screen/motion controls and WoW Clones being spewed for yet another decade.
It's been a bit over a week now.
Honestly, now, I can pretty easily say that I've adjusted to Win8. But probably not how Microsoft wanted me to.
First off, I largely have been able to ignore Metro/Modern/whatever. I have not used any of the various hacks/utilities to boot straight to the desktop - but after booting, that's usually what I end up doing - going right to the desktop, where I have set shortcuts for my most used programs. I also made "Tiles" for them (for the sake of figuring out how to do it), but I rarely do anything from the new Start screen if I don't have to.
I still have a general dislike for Metro apps. The full screen still looks poor to me on a computer monitor, I have a difficult time finding the UI elements. For instance, I still can't find "Print" in the email client, although Ctrl-P will bring it up - I doubt having keyboard shortcuts was the way they intended a touchscreen based program to function. I can't decide if not having the ability to quit a Metro app (at least via the GUI - sure you can kill it from the Task Manager, or Alt-F4 it) is a feature (because most tablets/phones don't "quit" processes, they just sleep merrily in the background and don't really consume any resources, and the same occurs in Win8 for the most part) or just lazy. If I can avoid using a program that uses the new interface, I avoid it. Fortunately, I haven't found anything that requires it yet.
i did a little browsing of the Windows Store - nothing caught my eye. Mostly the same junk I see in the iOS App Store, only it's for Windows... yay for more Angry Birds, and do I really need a dedicated Netflix app when it runs fine in my web browser.
A good tip for Shutdown. This I have found useful:
http://blog.laptopmag.com/how-to-shutdown-windows-8-in-just-one-click
Alternatively, you could also go into Energy Management and set your computer to "Shutdown" or "Sleep" when you push the power button - making your hardware perform the same function.
All in all, I use Win8 almost identically to the way I used 7, and I'm either ignoring or actively working around most of the "new" UI elements.
I went out and purchased the Windows 8 pro version .. and then hummed and hawwed over if to install or not to install (then I did that with Windows 7, vista and XP.. after being burned by ME). The key thing to remember if you are one of those still on teh fence ... It is new and different. It does take some getting used to .. and you may have to find a new way of doing something you used to do.
If it helps the "Start Window" is just like your start button.. but a LOT bigger. If you go into your apps .. it is like clicking all programs .. with bigger icons.
I can see why microsoft did all this, a merge between Tablets and PC's ... finding a program on your tablet and pc are done the same way. (provided both are on the pc and tablet)
Overall it took a bit of learning to get used to it ... but yes it is faster I went from 45 seconds from power button to desktop. to now 35 seconds and if I had a newer bios board I could drop that a bit more. As well I have recorded an increase in frame rate in games on average of about 3%.
But in the end it is still personal choice and you have to do what is right for you and what you like, and if nothing else you can always reinstall windows 7
Oh and for the Turkey annalogy .... I got windows 8 after thanksgiving ... It is in early October in Canada.
That is actually a really good video to watch. It points out a lot of the shortcomings as well as a lot of the nice new things (even though the overall tone of the video is negative).
Wow, people are so dramatic with change, but thanks for the video it gives me an idea of the big picture. I like the new look, and really it would take little time to clean it up and make it your own. Basically for that dirt cheap upgrade you get touch capabilities and better connectivity between your win based tablets and phones. For you keyboard dinosaurs it would take just as little time to change up the ui for that also. You buy any new tech these days get it home it always takes some sort of setup.
For me I see this as an option to replace my notebook with a tablet pc with win8 and since I'm about due for a new phone it all makes sense to do that also. For my desktop gaming rig can't see how it would benefit me right off. I usually wait for hardware to catch up but watching that video gives me the itch to check it out sooner.
Windows 8 is the ugliest, most unintuitive OS I have ever used. It even feels clunky with a mouse and keyboard, which means Microsoft probably designed it for touch first, and the desktop as an afterthought.
Maybe Microsoft will pull its head out of the proverbial backside for Windows 9.
Once alternate/retro UI is introduced in so called 8.5 all will be good. Windows 8 isn't meant for power users atm on pcs but more a work flow option to laptops and mobiles.
Once enterprise editions come out to complete the seemless work flow from pc through smallest devices it will most likely be the best OS option out there ... even the haters may have to admit it. Bit of a wait and see though.
You stay sassy!