OT: Technology and Geek Stuff Thread

[Coop]

For someone who works in IT, that take is seriously skewed. They are OBVIOUSLY comparing the Metro interface to Win 7.

Compare desktop to desktop and get back to me. My PC needs much less rebooting than it did on Win 7.

Ok Deb - game on. What exactly does Windows 8 have that 7 does not?

[Coop]

and you are aware MS is considering giving away Windows 8? not being able to sell it is not good news.

[Topweasel]

Ok Deb - game on. What exactly does Windows 8 have that 7 does not?

Less hardware overhead, better security, less intrusive UAC, smoother search function, the ability to open cab files and ISO's natively, access to Windows store, Live account integration, working email client, working Bluetooth interface. List goes on.

Microsoft is contemplating giving it away has several reason. 1. To keep some of the inroads Linux and Mac OS has made in the market. 2. To push adoption to the newer OS to unify peoples experiences, the more people on XP, Vista, and 7 the harder that is. 3. Yeah sales haven't been great, though not horrible either, the more people that give windows 8 a serious try the more that will stick with it.

8 gets a bad rap because of the new interface, its actually pretty good if you haven't made up your mind about it. But 8 had all anti-MS people on it before the first preview. At this point I doubt they can reverse that damage. But if giving it away helps people transition to Win 9 with a little less built in opinions, it might be worth it for them. Remember 8 launched at $30, so they always intended for people to make a cheap transition. Windows is also the only consumer OS sold or sold at a significant price. Windows is better than Mac OS but not at 7x the price for just an upgrade.

[unknown lions fan]

My thing is, I could really like the Metro interface for my wife's use, because she only does a few things with her computer and she's really not a 'computer person.' So the simpler it is to look at pictures and video from our library, browse the web, read her e-books, and check her email (that's about the whole of it) the better it is for her.

But when I try to set up the metro image viewer, for example, it has something like three options to configure it.

And if I recall correctly, the "file browser" or whatever they call it couldn't even be configured to see the NAS - I think I had to download an "advanced file manager" from a third party to make it work.

[The Ken]

Metro UI sucks except for a on a phone or true tablet. very few souls enjoy it and with Ballmer gone the rumors of Windows 9 and the return of the start orb is back.

Metro is just fun to say that word to MS employee's since it is a banned word at MS, I have lot of talks with MS employee's and find numerous just to say it. I had a licensing guy pre-sales tech go "I get it and I hate it too alright".

[Topweasel]

Metro is banned because they named it modern before release. I people not using or liking Modern/windows store apps (Ulf's issue). I do. I like having dedicated web apps instead or having to go to the website. Hulu and Netflix are key ones. But the UI itself is just a more customizable and personal start menu, it also makes it so much quicker to get important ex-control panel options. That's the hate I don't get, and the search options from that screen are fantastic.

[Panoptes]

It's human nature to dislike change. Which differs from the urge for strange.

[DanO]

:-)

[The Ken]

Metro is banned because they named it modern before release. I people not using or liking Modern/windows store apps (Ulf's issue). I do. I like having dedicated web apps instead or having to go to the website. Hulu and Netflix are key ones. But the UI itself is just a more customizable and personal start menu, it also makes it so much quicker to get important ex-control panel options. That's the hate I don't get, and the search options from that screen are fantastic.

it looks like another K-MART OS ported from a Phone, very clunky but heck 80% of the OS install base was used too and fairly happy with a 20 year historical trend. Why not do something smart and introduce the only thing users didn't ask for "METRO".

Very few academic institutions, SMB and corporations are will to do the heavy uplift to move users to it, why. Training

Many states education boards are switching to Chromebooks for testing because the 8.1 interface is so clunky for kids to navigate.

In fact the phone adoption rate is so low it Verizon and ATT stores are upset they have to inventory them. And most agree, on a phone it is slick.

IF you don't like my thoughts try these:

http://www.informationweek.com/software/operating-systems/8-reasons-to-hate-windows-81/d/d-id/898905

[edindetroit]

Malwarebytes offers lifeline for XP users.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2110009/a-thin-lifeline-for-xp-users-new-malwarebytes-suite-will-support-the-older-os.html#tk.fb_pc

[Topweasel]

it looks like another K-MART OS ported from a Phone, very clunky but heck 80% of the OS install base was used too and fairly happy with a 20 year historical trend. Why not do something smart and introduce the only thing users didn't ask for "METRO".

Yes they did. MS saw drops on all the platforms that Windows was attached to. The made Windows fit into the platforms that they were struggling in, while really not changing as much as people imply, the platforms that they were strong in.

Very few academic institutions, SMB and corporations are will to do the heavy uplift to move users to it, why. Training

That's always the case. Honestly Windows 8 isn't setup for decent multi user support. It was always a consumer OS and MS isn't trying push it on business's and never really wanted to. Windows 8.2 might take care of that as the "Business" OS from what I hear, but the whole idea at that point is to make it easier to gut the live stuff from it. They will still in '15 release a Windows 9 with some variation or shift on Modern.

Many states education boards are switching to Chromebooks for testing because the 8.1 interface is so clunky for kids to navigate.

It's a silly move and its easy to see why you can point fingers at windows 8, but their are several business reasons. No OS licenses, very low hardware requirements, very low cost for solution, Easier to manage, even more Cloud and web support (not the less that most complainers want from windows). Besides logically Windows 8 is easier to learn for someone just starting to use the computer than Windows 7 and previous.

In fact the phone adoption rate is so low it Verizon and ATT stores are upset they have to inventory them. And most agree, on a phone it is slick.

It's a slow adoption rate and who knows if it will ever grow. It also needs better phones. I like the styling but they need more than just Nokia selling them. But this doesn't have anything to do with Windows 8 unless people are really really really against Modern, which is silly because it's Modern that makes Windows phone so much better than the other 2 big solutions. Proving the point that most of the hate around 8 is the idea of Modern and not always the execution. Admitting 8 needed a lot of the small touches 8.1 brought to smooth the edges.

IF you don't like my thoughts try these:

http://www.informationweek.com/softw.../d/d-id/898905

Wanted to read it for you but I stopped right off the bat. Its obvious that its just web flame bate from the word go (or in this case Just). This is a problem with all these stupid wars. The idea that a company listening to the users and including features that they wanted or requested, whether large or small, is some kind of conceit that they screwed up is a very twisted outlook. I don't like supporting MS. I actually hated MS as this big huge company that beat up the little guys. May be this is their comeupance for their earlier misdeeds. But the amount of miss information and hyperbole used to start these viral frenzies is way out of line.

[nhwbrooklyn]

If chromebooks had a fully functional adobe creative suite working for it I'd probably have already switched to that OS.

[Fraquar]

I wouldn't mind Windows 8 if the Metro interface was an "opt in" instead of shove down my throat configuration. Don't want it, never needed it, and the first task upon installing the OS was to make it disappear as much as possible. Like anything Microsoft though, it's still taking up resources whether you use it or not.

Looking forward to Nuhi coming back from his Microsoft stint and getting back to creating a pre-install configuration utility for Windows 8 like nLite was for XP, get rid of a lot of the bloat before it ever touches your hard drive.

[Topweasel]

I wouldn't mind Windows 8 if the Metro interface was an "opt in" instead of shove down my throat configuration. Don't want it, never needed it, and the first task upon installing the OS was to make it disappear as much as possible. Like anything Microsoft though, it's still taking up resources whether you use it or not.

Looking forward to Nuhi coming back from his Microsoft stint and getting back to creating a pre-install configuration utility for Windows 8 like nLite was for XP, get rid of a lot of the bloat before it ever touches your hard drive.

Again with the miss information, not your fault, but Windows 8 outside the drive storage part (which isn't much more than a clean Win 7 install) requires much much less system resources and example memory. Win 7 on a clean install with no software installed uses approx 1.5-1.7 GB of memory. Windows 8 500MB. It's why Windows RT can just be a recompile of Windows 8 for ARM. The UI is actually extremely efficient, and Aero, with the Start menu, multitask bar, and charm bar uses less CPU/Mem/Video resources than just Aero running on Windows 7.

[Topweasel]

If chromebooks had a fully functional adobe creative suite working for it I'd probably have already switched to that OS.

That would A.) Be pointless. B.) Won't happen. C.) You would hate it.