lukemcd :
I don't understand how the "benefits" of the start menu over the start screen are anything other than arbitrary preference and previous training.On the matter of Linux comparisons... ~~ but until then Linux is and will be inferior to Windows guaranteed, and will be at about parity when those arrive.
First, learn how to properly quote and edit and FIX your post - then people may believe you have the ability to support your point.
Tomshardware has a thingy called a TEXT EDITOR for posting. Allows you to do all kinds of things,
including fixing your screw ups. Please do so.
Back to your response: Start Screen offers no benefits over a Start menu. On a tablet/phone - it's a launch screen. Which is needed when you have a small screen. For desktops with 20~32" displays - its crap. A lost of wasted space, it takes focus off what is on the desktop. When I say Start Screen, I mean the whole Metro experience. Imagine a novice trying to follow onscreen help guide that requires the use of the Start screen - the guide is gone. But overall, the human eyes scan a menu in a 6" x 4" area a lot faster than a WHOLE SCREEN! The tiles in Metro are generally ugly, taking up tons of space, no custom colors, etc. The live-tiles are also useless if you're NOT on the start screen. In the normal desktop, the system-tray has notifications that are always visible.. time, status, pop-ups. Now, I offered a solution BEFORE Win8 was farted out its ass onto the public. Use the left side of the screen as a Metro/Start launcher. 2 col. format (like WP7) in which case, the LIVE tiles would have been useful! Then the mouse wheel would make sense with the movement on the screen. Then launch all METRO-APPS into windows like any normal program. Wow, that would have made sense. WE DON'T NEED A FULL SCREEN CALCULATOR!
Other idiotic things, the "start" button was always there in Win8, it was a tiny hidden dot on the corner - great. What fracken idiot came up with that? As we see, they made it normal size in 8.1 and it does the same thing in 8.0... goes to the Start Screen, in which MS called it a day and everyone loved it!! er, no... MS missed the point, because they are stupid and Win8.x market share shrank in Dec 2013. The next update for Win8 has some moronic name like DTRG, rather than 8.2. Maybe its code... but simply calling it 8.2 would be logical. Its how other companies denote differences in products.
Yes, all OSes can have issues. As we see in the server market - Linux is far more stable than Windows will ever be.
lukemcd :
And LOL about the "barely use a computer comment." Yeah sure, but you just said your wife does fine with Mint. HMMMMMMMMMMMM...... HMMMMMMMMMMM.....And that last paragraph. Wait, isn't it the desktop that the "typical idiot" would be getting with Linux or Windows 7?Ultimately, your claims against Windows 8 are riddled with contradictions and it's "informed" opinions like yours that are holding Windows 8 back, not its actual merits.
Somehow your brain connected two parts of a long comment together which had little to do with each other? When I talked about my wife, it was in reference than even a novice CAN use Linux desktop... I stuck it on her notebook (after I murdered Win8) and spent a few minutes setting up the WiFi and making sure the programs were installed that she needed (Browsers, Open Office, etc). Since Metro isn't compatible with Windows (Metro doesn't have ANY windows as it is) - might as well go Linux and done with MS's games.
The 2nd part you put together has to do with "novice" people in general. IF THEY have to use a desktop computer, they - they'll go by whatever training they retain. For many of us techie types, we can learn and use all kinds of normal functions that novices think are Advance... no matter how many times we show them. yeah, CTRL-V, CTRL-X, CTRL-S, etc are advance to many people. I've shown several over and over and over again.
Windows 8 has no visual clues to its function. Windows 8's changes didn't do anything for the better. But
I DO GET what Microsoft was trying to do. Trying to save their asses. But their culture and lack of talent prevents that.
When I first saw Windows 8 preview, I thought "GREAT! WP7's Metro is a fine UI. It'll make PCs easier to use for idiots and novices and it'll help grow their phone market because of familiar UI design" I posted those thoughts on THIS website myself. I THOUGHT Win8 was going to be kick ass. Then in April of 2012, I downloaded and installed the Win8 preview before RTM. It installed fast, it booted so fast on my core2 notebook. The tiles coming out looked cool. And then... I used it. After 15 minutes... I knew Windows 8 was crap. I used it some more... and two hours later, I installed LinuxMINT for the first time. I haven't touched Linux in over 11 years. A few weeks later, I reinstalled Win8 and kept it there until it was going to expire in a few weeks. Murdered it, installed the latest LinuxMint... which runs smoother than Win8. And unlike Windows8, LinuxMINT didn't have the same learning curve... it was enough like Windows that its menus, settings, etc made sense.
Sad thing is... Windows 8.0 release is even uglier than Win8 preview. The desktop UI still had some 3D to it, it was cleaner than Win7 without being the ugly flat crap that is Win8. The kind of ugly 4~16 color desktop I grew up with in the 80s. Yeah, the task manger is awesome, the file-copy window is slick, Explorer is improved, reboot times is faster. Other than that, it offers NOTHING over Windows 7. Not a damn thing... unless you are using a Windows tablet... for which, they tend to still need a keyboard.
When someone designs a "touch UI" that requires a new Microsoft keyboard to "get the most out of Windows 8", you have a problem.
Last part: I held Windows 8 back? Really? You are saying that *I* have cost Microsoft millions of dollars? That *I* have made hundreds of thousands of people NOT buy a Windows 8 PC? Wow, I should be making a lot more money. Actually, I have and do tell people to try out Windows 8. Nobody I know personally, LOVES it... some just live with it, others have replaced it. You see, when a PC from Lenovo Thinkpad and these HP "PRO" computers are shipped out with Windows7, MS still counts them as Windows 8 sales. They sell bulk licence with downgrade rights. Hence, many of these systems include the Win8 image/disc anyway. Windows 8 market share is weak all over the world... not by 5%, but by around 30%. As stated, most people never LIKED Windows... it was a standard. That why you have people who LOVE Macintosh and LOVE Amiga. That cannot be said about MS-DOS or Windows 1.0~XP. I think Windows 7 is the first time I LIKED using Windows. For most people, a smart phone or tablet will do everything they need and it doesn't need to say "Microsoft" to sell. That is why MS controls about 20% of the OS market and Android is about 60%. That is huge... and yes, Mobile devices DO count since they are REPLACING the standard desktop/notebook.
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