What do you think about Windows 8

[Longsok]

I have to say, if you keep an open mind about it and don't go into it thinking "This sucks", it is not that bad. I kind of wish I had more control over the metro screen, for example making a custom tile for KSP with the title screen, but other than that, not so much. I have barely touched the windows apps though, like xbox music, games, and store. Microsoft should not head toward a more Apple-like experience. You do need a touch screen laptop for 8, and I think they should require it. The only problem I have is with some of Microsoft's apps, like Mail, which takes forever to load, and News, which doesn't have half the articles it displays in the Metro screen.

[Nuke]

and you'd be wrong. But don't worry, you're in very good company, the company of all the other millions who've no idea what sits under the hood of a complex piece of software.

code reuse is the cornerstone of the modern software design. you might redo a couple subsystems, you might do a new system, and you might deprecate another system. you never start a new codebase from scratch.

[Joshington]

My brother got me it for my birthday so I installed it just to see how it worked. It isn't as bad as everyone says, but I do find all the new apps are pretty much worthless to me because I do everything on the desktop. They can also become a problem, like when opening pictures, it switches to the app, which is a waste of time for me. Also, no way to save it and use it as my desktop wallpaper(at least that I have found).

[jwenting]

code reuse is the cornerstone of the modern software design. you might redo a couple subsystems, you might do a new system, and you might deprecate another system. you never start a new codebase from scratch.

that depends on what you want to do, how much of the old you can reuse.

Win8 is far more than just another user interface on top of XP, Vista, or even Win7, as a lot of pundits proclaim.

You may well start another codebase from scratch if that's what's needed, and likely rewrite your old codebase over the course of a few releases.

Like I'm doing now, rewriting an entire multi million line application originally written in a language/environment no longer supported by its vendors into another language/environment that does have continuing support.

And yes, that is a complete rewrite, at the same time taking the opportunity to move over to a more modern architecture that makes the whole thing easier to maintain.

Sometimes you just have to for business reasons like this.

Other project I worked on a few years ago, similar size (millions of lines) we were running up against the wall of time. Maintenance was starting to take more time than was available, making it impossible to implement new functionality, because the system had over the 30 years of its existence grown so complex that nobody any longer understood large parts of it.

Serious studies were underway to rewrite the entire thing, start from scratch, using more modern, more modular, architecture and tooling so we could not just replace that behemoth with something easier to maintain but at the same time get rid of the 15-25 year old computers it was running on that it was starting ever harder to get replacement parts for, let alone trained operators.

[hugix]

The problem with win8 (and the IT sector in general) is that developers don't think about the long run. The entire sector has become a gimmick of itself. Microsoft has a very hard time keeping track of what they want to build. Vista was a result of this (It had to have everything before the deadline came in). I have seen my teachers and fellow students use win8 and it seems really devious. I have yet to use it myself for longer than 10 minutes but it feels forced. I'm used to my keyboard and sometimes my mouse to control the computer, and I liked that very much.

There are very few operating systems that make me smile. OSX treats me like a little child. Windows has no vision for the long run. The user OS feels forced and weird. They did the same in Office with that ribbon system and I still hate that. And Linux, I love technicians but the community has become very hostile the last few years. I cancelled my Linux magazine subscription because it was only comparisons between how software works on different systems without telling me what the software does.

[Nuke]

that depends on what you want to do, how much of the old you can reuse.

Win8 is far more than just another user interface on top of XP, Vista, or even Win7, as a lot of pundits proclaim.

You may well start another codebase from scratch if that's what's needed, and likely rewrite your old codebase over the course of a few releases.

Like I'm doing now, rewriting an entire multi million line application originally written in a language/environment no longer supported by its vendors into another language/environment that does have continuing support.

And yes, that is a complete rewrite, at the same time taking the opportunity to move over to a more modern architecture that makes the whole thing easier to maintain.

Sometimes you just have to for business reasons like this.

Other project I worked on a few years ago, similar size (millions of lines) we were running up against the wall of time. Maintenance was starting to take more time than was available, making it impossible to implement new functionality, because the system had over the 30 years of its existence grown so complex that nobody any longer understood large parts of it.

Serious studies were underway to rewrite the entire thing, start from scratch, using more modern, more modular, architecture and tooling so we could not just replace that behemoth with something easier to maintain but at the same time get rid of the 15-25 year old computers it was running on that it was starting ever harder to get replacement parts for, let alone trained operators.

thing with windows is that there is a new version every few years. this is not really big of a time frame in which to do an overhaul (especially not the time between 7 and 8). so the ms approach seems to be more iterative. its a rapidly evolving codebase, so it is constantly being maintained and does not easily lend its self to disrepair. i can understand if you have a project where you are going from c to c++ (ive contributed to such a codebase) and changing compilers you better have a nuclear warhead in your programmers arsenal. i doubt windows 8 fell into that kinda category.

Edited August 20, 2013 by Nuke

[Designer225]

I have not yet switched to Windows 8, but I'm beginning to like Windows 8. (Somewhat 3 miles from my home is there a Windows store, as well as an Apple store. I went to Windows store and tried Windows 8 there.)

[pxi]

My major gripe with 8 is the way they integrated the charms bar swipe on touchpads. Whenever I actually want to access it, it works about 50% of the time. When I just want to move the mouse pointer to the left, it works about 90% of the time.

Eventually the feature provoked so much consistant swearing I had to disable it. As for metro, well Microsoft seem to love change for changes sake.

My other bone of contention is how with every iteration, the operating system gives the user less and less feedback. Now I get that this is to avoid overwhelming less experienced users, but it's an issue when you actually want to resolve a problem. It's frankly unacceptable for an operating system to ever pop up a message that says 'doing some things'. Yes, it actually displayed that during the install.

[SpaceHole]

It is as if MS is trying to become the most consumer-unfriendly company there is.

Windows 8 was awful and stupid it was even worse than their first obvious mistake:

- First they tried to get Desktop OS to phones (it was akward but it had some nice features)

- Now they tried to get Tablet OS to Desktop and failed again

Is it really that hard to realize that each plattform needs a different interface? Obviously for MS it is. I look forward to the downfall of MS for its big-headed new course. They seem to think that they are in a position to dicate the market and i hope it will go on like now with their XboxOne and Windows 8.

If you want to see the next huge flop of MS just google for windows 10 it will be a Cloud-OS - yeah why wouldnt i want to give MS all my private data on their server ...

I still use Windows right now but i will switch as soon as there are viable other options. Which will be pretty soon since MS is doing their best to loose marketshare and make other OS more interresting for developers.

[Fleb]

Win8 has way too many coloured squares everywhere for me. Being colourblind, I prefer to have a minimal desktop, with a black background and grey UI.

[Diche Bach]

If I find I am ever forced to adopt a touchscreen technology for my home PC, I will quite frankly, sell it all, and move to Alaska to become a fur trapper, living with my papillon far from the electrical grid.

I really dislike the incarnations of touch screen technology that I have so far experienced, and the fact that I have been using a keyboard and mouse for 25 some odd years makes me quite loathe to adopt some gimmicky crap that might only work as well as what already works just fine.

[Eric S]

My view of Win 8 is rather colored by the fact that my girlfriend's Win8 laptop refuses to turn it's WiFi on. Yes, it knows it's there, it just refuses to use it. The switch to turn the Wi-Fi on is there, but greyed out. They've done such a good job at making the basic functionality available that I can't find the non-basic tools I need to dig into this problem.

If I set that aside, it really comes down to the fact that Win8 is optimized for touch screens, which aren't exactly common or affordable on the desktop at this time, and even if they were, using a vertically mounted touchscreen for any significant length of time is an ergonomic nightmare.

Yes, moving Win8 to be optimized for touchscreens may seem like a brilliant idea in the future, since desktop/laptop computer sales are being cannibalized by tablet sales at this time, but right now this feels like a real "New Coke" move, telling your existing customer base to take a hike because you're chasing the market you don't have rather than keeping the one you've got.

[SpaceHole]

If I find I am ever forced to adopt a touchscreen technology for my home PC, I will quite frankly, sell it all, and move to Alaska to become a fur trapper, living with my papillon far from the electrical grid.

I really dislike the incarnations of touch screen technology that I have so far experienced, and the fact that I have been using a keyboard and mouse for 25 some odd years makes me quite loathe to adopt some gimmicky crap that might only work as well as what already works just fine.

Well its not just you and no one will adapt to touch-screen only ever when it comes to working on your pc or surfing. Just try to hold your hands streight in front of you for a while - either human physique changes to adapt to touch-screens by getting unproportionally big arms or it just wont be the "future".

Also touch can never compare to the speed and precision of a mouse so its not suited for lots of tasks in the first place.

Also there was the MS idea to have your Display laying in front of you but i doubt that that is very good for your neck.

Yet the future is now a revolutionary company has already figured out the best possible interface for everyone:

If youre still into keyboards your backwards. Dont live in the past join the innovation.

Edited August 29, 2013 by SpaceHole

[gloowa]

In a way though, the fact that Windows 8 is an epic fail might actually be a good thing as it will surely encourage more people to try Linux.

Not with epic fail that (in my opinion) Gnome 3 is.

[Nuke]

i didnt like touchscreens back in the 80s, and i still dont like them. i can type over 100 wpm on my keyboard, but it took me about 5 minutes to type in my wifi key on a visitor's portable touchscreen device. my sister even gave me a tablet device that i played around with, but i ended up giving it back to her because i hated the damn thing. i started my computing experience with dos, and so when i got my first windows machine i had to learn to mouse, and that took me a day before i was proficient in its use. two weeks with a touch screen and i was still fumbling and hitting the wrong thing. they try to fix the clumsiness of the interface with auto correct, but that just makes things worse. i prefer having a screen that people get yelled at for touching.

[Kerbface]

I don't want a lot out of an operating system. I want it to be easy to use, unintrusive, clear, compatible with the programs I want to run, not buggy, and fast. Windows 7 was all of these except fast and bug free. I am glad that Windows 8 is faster. I have not used it enough to determine if it is buggy. But I can't stand the interface changes. They do not make anything easier and as has been mentioned many times before are clearly touchscreen focused. Not clear, not intuitive or unintrusive, not user friendly. Fortunately I've heard that many of these problems can be fixed with a traditional interface addon so when I get a new computer I'll get that.

[SpaceHole]

i didnt like touchscreens back in the 80s, and i still dont like them. i can type over 100 wpm on my keyboard, but it took me about 5 minutes to type in my wifi key on a visitor's portable touchscreen device. my sister even gave me a tablet device that i played around with, but i ended up giving it back to her because i hated the damn thing. i started my computing experience with dos, and so when i got my first windows machine i had to learn to mouse, and that took me a day before i was proficient in its use. two weeks with a touch screen and i was still fumbling and hitting the wrong thing. they try to fix the clumsiness of the interface with auto correct, but that just makes things worse. i prefer having a screen that people get yelled at for touching.

Yeah i will never get tablets either.

- most of the time for mobile tasks like reading news i use my smartphone which can do anything a tablet do on a smaller scale

- when i want to do something productive i obviously move to the PC

- when i want to read an ebook i buy a real ebook reader that wont strain my eyes

- when i went to university it would have been a nice tool to watch presentations and scripts yet the ebook-reader argument still is valid not to mention that i prefer to have things in paper

The question is what is the purpose of touchscreen-tablets besides beeing some sort of toy? From my point of view Smartphones actually deny every single useful aspect they have.

So from my personal point of view it seems that people that have a touchpad either use it as a toy or just to brag with it.

(it might could be useful if it was also some kind of universal remote for your apartment but thats not an argument since imlementing something like this will get pretty expensive)

[leopardenthusiast]

Personally, I think Metro would be better if it was part of your desktop background. I'm going to stick with Windows 7 until I upgrade too much for my current installation to work, then I'll go sit in a corner and cry.

[pxi]

Personally, I think Metro would be better if it was part of your desktop background.

Arguably yes, but they kind of tried that years ago with Active Desktop. It was horrible.

[baracksimposter]

Personally i like my Win8 desktop, no touch screen interface for me, just a windows button replacement.

everything else that Win7 does i feel like Win8 does better IMO

[Brabbit1987]

Windows 8 was actually a complete rewrite of the coding. It runs a lot better then any version of windows. All major tweaks you could ever do in past versions are already done by default.

Getting rid of metro and replacing with a windows 7 start button isn't all that hard. It would only require a simple google search.

In all honesty, I am surprised that anyone would out right say windows 8 is crap, when it clearly isn't. Anyone who says that, really isn't very smart. One can complain about the metro interface, but that is about it.

[Nuke]

i very much doubt they rewrote the whole thing from scratch.

[SpaceSphereOfDeath]

I'm speaking as a win7 user right now, but I have a laptop with win8 on it, and to be honest it's not as bad as I would thought it would be, it took me a while to work out why there wasn't a start button, but I quickly grew fond of it.

That being said though, the new logo

WHY?!

[Brabbit1987]

i very much doubt they rewrote the whole thing from scratch.

Well when I mean a complete rewrite, I simply mean they changed a major portion of the base coding. I read about it early on in it's development stages. It was the first time in a while that they actually went through all the base coding for the OS instead of slapping crap on top of it.

I can't find anything on google about it anymore. It's probably there, I just don't know how you would search for something like that with out getting a ton of irrelevant links. -.-

I know they considered windows 8, a complete redo of windows itself.