MarketWatch Slams Windows 8, Calls it Unmitigated Disaster

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[citation][nom]airborne11b[/nomWindows 8 does everything windows 7 does, and more, with a smaller footprint.[/citation]
Will it:

1. Allow me to use my computer without retraining (x10,000 for an enterprise?). These comments make it sound like a lot of functionality is hidden (not exposed anywhere visible on the screen), which means it will have to be trained / learned somewhere other than by interacting with the computer itself. Ie core functions that exist only in invisible corner swipes, no on screen element to close a window, etc, etc.

2. Allow me to use my desktop without having to think of it as a tablet? Yes, I understand there is an optional desktop mode you can force yourself into (for one use at a time?), but it sounds like you will be forced through the tablet UI every time you want to launch an application and for some system support functions that exist only in the Metro vs classic UIs (ie the welcome screen that does not even let you log in until you've performed a tablet swipe to reveal the login box.)

3. Allow me to keep using the start menu that I've already organized the way I like for all my all applications and documents to be readily available

4. Allow me to avoid "featured content" ( = advertisements) that are displayed as the first choice for some categories (ie videos) that I have to navigate around and not have to use extra clicks to reach my own content.

As a non-user I don't know, but if all the reviews and discussion I see keep containing these points I may never know, because it sounds like Win8 will contain all these disadvantages and more, along with no new compelling desktop benefits, and MS is doing nothing effective to combat it.

At a bare minimum, when you hear a company is going out of its way to remove a registry hack that allowed you to more easily work the way you are used to, you have to assume there's a good chance the now mandatory "upgrades" are more for the company's benefit than for yours (ie the advertising.)
 
I want a WP8 and a win8 tablet, but ill probably keep win7 on my gaming desktop until win9.

I personally felt vista was an improvement over XP, but im a power pc user, and my system was more then capable of handling the vista OS when it came out.

I think the only people who disliked windows vista had a slow pc and vista only made it worst.
 
"soulless Metro interface" kkkkkkkkk
I don't think Win8 wil 100% fail!
Lot of ppl won't buy linux based PCs and Notebooks and install other windows7 themselves... and Metro looks great on all-in-one and mobile devices, so, my guess, it will fail on the PC land, I don't think much ppl will upgrade from Win7... I will, but for "FREE" and only after some third-part software get rid of the metro and give me start button! ;p
Anyways, I think Win8 will not fail as much as Vista.
 
I wish they'd give use multiple desktops instead.
During the day the 'work' desktop, evening the Media desktop; bit daker and Media related icons and shortcuts instead of Spreadshets etc.
and for the weekend the 'Games' desktop. again with it's own icon layout.
and while we are at it, a Kids desktop with their fav kiddi game shortcuts and last but not least....
Grandma's desktop for when she visits.
High contrast, larger fonts and icons etc.
and an instant switch/jump between the various desktops of course.

I know, there are window blinds and other 3rd party.... but original OS supported could be better integrated of course.


 
[citation][nom]zcpro[/nom]Please see the following videos and explain to us how you’ll help these people.http://youtu.be/gIq_wl-KBjkhttp://youtu.be/v4boTbv9_nUhttp://youtu.be/oyc1RVCXvAkAlso, Maximumpc has nailed it perfectly. See the article below:http://www.maximumpc.com/article/f [...] indows_841[/citation]
You mean the video where a kid figured it out in 5 minutes? Or the one where the old guy started to like it after being shown how to use it? Yes it needs a tutorial and make the effort to learn and adjust but how many adults do you know barely know how to use their PC to begin with? All they need is a tutorial video and they would be set, and like all other windows, it will have one at retail launch...if anyone bothers to watch it.
 
[citation][nom]brucek2[/nom][citation][nom]airborne11b[/nomWindows 8 does everything windows 7 does, and more, with a smaller footprint.[/citation]Will it:1. Allow me to use my computer without retraining (x10,000 for an enterprise?). These comments make it sound like a lot of functionality is hidden (not exposed anywhere visible on the screen), which means it will have to be trained / learned somewhere other than by interacting with the computer itself. Ie core functions that exist only in invisible corner swipes, no on screen element to close a window, etc, etc.2. Allow me to use my desktop without having to think of it as a tablet? Yes, I understand there is an optional desktop mode you can force yourself into (for one use at a time?), but it sounds like you will be forced through the tablet UI every time you want to launch an application and for some system support functions that exist only in the Metro vs classic UIs (ie the welcome screen that does not even let you log in until you've performed a tablet swipe to reveal the login box.)3. Allow me to keep using the start menu that I've already organized the way I like for all my all applications and documents to be readily available4. Allow me to avoid "featured content" ( = advertisements) that are displayed as the first choice for some categories (ie videos) that I have to navigate around and not have to use extra clicks to reach my own content.As a non-user I don't know, but if all the reviews and discussion I see keep containing these points I may never know, because it sounds like Win8 will contain all these disadvantages and more, along with no new compelling desktop benefits, and MS is doing nothing effective to combat it.At a bare minimum, when you hear a company is going out of its way to remove a registry hack that allowed you to more easily work the way you are used to, you have to assume there's a good chance the now mandatory "upgrades" are more for the company's benefit than for yours (ie the advertising.)[/citation]
you press the windows button and just type what your looking for and its there, you could send a memo to all your employees and your training is done. Its faster than you think it is to find things on 8. Faster you find things the better for a company. Also you can just hit enter and you dont need to do a swipe at all to get to the log in screen. Also to avoid 'ads' just use media player like everyone normally does. Lastly try it, make an effort to learn first since it has no tutorial, and have an informed opinion
 
[citation][nom]eddieroolz[/nom]Some big, angry words there. But you still have the original, Windows 7-like UI. I don't understand why he thinks Metro is the only thing now.[/citation]
"like" is not the same as "same". Win8 desktop mode has some nice improvements over 7, its the ties to Metro that ruins it. You HAVE to use metro to use the desktop... you have to use the desktop to use metro. Its two completely different interfaces that have NO BUSINESS being together on the same platform.

You can DL the preview version of Win8 from Microsoft. give them a bogus or real email password, copy the key they give you and DL. Toss in an old 80~250GB HD and install.

[citation][nom]NewbieTechGodII[/nom]I, for one, am eagerly awaiting for WP8 to arrive at Verizon. I would already be on the WP platform, I do applaud them for simplifying and unifying the GUI across multiple platforms. I also don't get the criticism that MS gets about pushing a touch interface on the desktop...last time I checked, Win8 still has a Desktop mode and both the Metro and Desktop modes work just fine with a keyboard and mouse[/citation]

I love the metro UI running on my Android phone, I want a Lumina phone - the 800, not the monster size 900... but it needs a bit more than my Android-clone version has. User color customization & tile rotation. My contract is up... looks like I'll get another Android.

The Desktop mode in Win8 is broken. There SHOULDN'T be modes in an OS... its confusing. Its going back and forth IN A BAD way. I remember the Amiga days, we have a Multi-tasking OS, but had to BOOT into games to play them (piracy and to give FULL resources to the game)... then reboot back to desktop.

I love Win7, first version of Windows since my experience with 3.1 and up. Its not perfect and Win8 desktop fixes some of the issues I have with Win7.

The problems of Win8 destroy any good that comes with it.

I'd rather use Vista than use Win8.... and I *HATE* vista... and I'd go back to WinXP before using vista.
 
[citation][nom]brucek2[/nom]As a non-user I don't know, but if all the reviews and discussion I see keep containing these points I may never know, because it sounds like Win8 will contain all these disadvantages and more, along with no new compelling desktop benefits, and MS is doing nothing effective to combat it. [/citation]
Please, just download the preview yourself... give it a spin. Don't take just my word or anyone elses.

I was a wait-and-see for Win8 metro. I finally gave it a try as I need to know how to plan for future purchases, etc. Its like with Vista, I bought extra WinXP licenses to use.

Metro is slick, it looks nice... not good for a desktop. There are more gestures and mouse clicks requires to get the job done (not good). Things are HIDDEN that you are supposed to "know" about. Who the hell is supposed to know a plain box does XYZ?

Its just constant back and forth with Win8, its waiting for APPS to load from Metro that would normally be fast on the desktop.

On my Win8 test PC (Win8 runs smooth on a 6yr old AMD PC with 1GB) - the user experience isn't poor because of OLD hardware - everything is running smooth. Its just a pain to use. I will toss in another HD and do a clean install of MintLinux... it looks attractive.

 
Am I the only one excited about Windows 8 and the Metro UI?!

The reason I am EXCITED for Metro is because my computer is hooked up to my tv and trying to control the computer from the couch with the magnifying lens is a real pain in the ass. The Metro UI doesn't just work better for small displays such as phones and tables but large displays as well such as tvs. When I want to get on my computer and use it I can switch back to the regular desktop whats wrong with that?

Windows is also long overdue for the multi-monitor support. I rely on UltraMon at the moment so having it built into windows will be nice.
 
[citation][nom]airborne11b[/nom]Incorrect. Windows 8 does everything windows 7 does, and more, with a smaller footprint. Your example is flawed.[/citation]
Does it run a multiple window interfaced development environment like .net while playing a movie in one window and letting me browse the web in another - all while letting me position these windows to the exact size and placement on my monitor that I want?
 
[citation][nom]koga73[/nom]Am I the only one excited about Windows 8 and the Metro UI?!The reason I am EXCITED for Metro is because my computer is hooked up to my tv and trying to control the computer from the couch with the magnifying lens is a real pain in the ass. The Metro UI doesn't just work better for small displays such as phones and tables but large displays as well such as tvs. When I want to get on my computer and use it I can switch back to the regular desktop whats wrong with that?Windows is also long overdue for the multi-monitor support. I rely on UltraMon at the moment so having it built into windows will be nice.[/citation]

I wouldn't say I am excited, but I am liking what I see so far. It's really going to be up to developers to really harness Metro properly. If not, there's always the desktop.
 
[citation][nom]deck[/nom]Sounds like you have never used linux before. None of the distros I have used force anything, I can install any Window Manager / Desktop Environment I want.[/citation]

Yes I have, I use linux all the time - Scientific Linux at the moment. Most distress now start you off with one of the new fangled awful UIs - Gnome 3 or Unity etc. I don't use Linux for fun but for CUDA development and code testing that later gets submitted to a few clusters. When I install Linux, I want it to be ready to work with immediately and not have to spend ages getting window managers switched etc so that it is in a usable state. I'd never use Linux as a full time OS, I value my time too much!
 
Microsoft throughout the years.

DOS, 3.1, NT, 95, NT 4.0, BOB, 98, 98 SE, 2000, ME, XP, Vista, 7, 8

(Or in admin speak)
Simple & good, Good, Meh’, Bad, Better, Horrid, Meh’, Better, Great, Horrid, Good (not till after SP2), Bad, Good, Absolute Unmitigated Garbage!

(BTW, windows BOB was a version of win: 95, NT, and a short run on 98)
 
[citation][nom]NewbieTechGodII[/nom]I wouldn't say I am excited, but I am liking what I see so far. It's really going to be up to developers to really harness Metro properly. If not, there's always the desktop.[/citation]
If the OS is broken, the developers won't be able to do much. Mixing two UI on an OS is STUPID. Metro can't operate on its own = fail. Win8 Desktop is non-functional without Metro = FAIL. This a FUBAR.

If Metro was the boot up UI with a fall back to a fully functional Win8 Desktop - that would be ONE thing. What you "see" is not the same as what you "use"... try it out yourself, throw it onto a spare HD and use it.

koga73: if you want to use your computer from the couch, just use Media center... Since HDTVs and LCD monitors are all the same 1080 low-res crap, there shouldn't be an issue with usage.

Windows8 will not drive me to Linux/Mac in the short term... Windows7 runs fine and will work for the next 8+ years.

Metro Rape : Help the victims today.
 
Easy fix for Windows8 before release: Return the Start Menu, more POWER user options for Explorer (option to turn off ribbon), make Metro a launcher for Metro Apps. Maybe, have it a user option to go FULL screen which would be GOOD for Media-Center PCs. You can make these changes over a weekend. You will lose a little bit of face, but *WE* will forgive you.

I would have made Metro a side-window (mouse scroll up & down would move metro up & down) with the same res as a phone (480 pixels across). Metro Apps would be pop-up Windows on top of the desktop. Simple as that.

Swiping to log-in? On Win7, you simply start typing in your password (since MS is soooo big on "just start typing" - you'd think they would have done it on the log-on screen). Sign of stupidity on their part.
 
Damn, a lot of you on here are complete IDIOTS...I am really surprised you know how to even wipe your own butts.

1. Last time I checked, there is a tile called DESKTOP right there in the Metro Start screen...PRESS THE DAMNED THING and you'll never have to see Metro until your next boot! The only time I even see or use Metro is when I want to play around with some of the apps.

2. The Ribbon (which I personally love), can be MINIMIZED and you won't even know it was there!

3. You don't need to swipe or drag anything in order to revel the log-in screen...just hit any button and the damned thing will lift! Bonus point- instead of using your Windows Account ID, use a 4-digit PIN.

4. I have been running the CP since Day 3 as my SOLE OS on my MAIN MACHINE and have had ZERO PROBLEMS (other than doing a hack to get my webcam to work and for some reason, video in certain websites disappears when I scroll over it). Every GAME, APPLICATION, and piece of HARDWARE works FLAWLESSLY.

Seriously, to those of you who are bitching, STOP CALLING YOURSELVES POWER USERS...seriously, if it were up to morons like you, XP would have been the last OS MS ever released. And I clearly remember the bitching and howling that went on from idiots like you back then who lamented the loss of DOS and how your DOS-based games and apps weren't going to work, and then later when SP2 was released and more gnashing of teeth happened because MS 'broke' your poorly-coded apps because of the new security protections SP2 instigated.

You don't like it? Fine. Go away. You think you're so smart? Go code your own, perfect OS. But I doubt if most of the complainers on here could even write a simple 'Hello World' app, so...
 
I gotta agree. Very annoying I tried it for one day and went back to 7. I will buy a mac before I upgrade to 8.
 
I installed the CP, used it for about 10 days, 86'd it and went back to 7. Now I've just installed the RP in hopes that some things have changed. Nope. It's not that I have trouble using the metro ui, it's fairly easy actually, but it's ugly as hell - looks like my 5 year old designed it. Those big, ugly, disgustingly colored tiles are a strain on the retinas. I've never even held a "smart phone" in my hands so I have no experience in a phone O/S, but if I was faced with those tiles every time I turned my phone on I would start saving quarters to use in a pay phone.

I mostly use my computer for Office apps, mainly Access and Excel, so I really don't spend much time in Metro, thank God. I have no cloud presence whatsoever, so the majority of the "apps" are worthless to me. I don't want my crap wandering around in cyberspace, thank you; there's a reason hard drive mfg's make 2 & 3 terabyte hard drives.

I'm frustrated that I'm not seeing these 10 second boot times everyone is touting; it boots in the same time as 7 does. No, I don't have it installed on a SSD, but then neither do I have 7 on one. Oh well.

I guess I'm good with 7 for several more years, and I'm fine with that. I dread the thought of providing tech support for family members who buy a new computer, but I guess I can just give them MS's phone number.
 
Despite those here voicing their personal discomfort with criticism I think it 's valid that there be some criticism especially when an interface is so poorly designed. I routinuely use linux, OSX, and windows 8. I can use them all to do what I want but windows 8, which I've used for 2 months, takes more effort-keystrokes or trackpad use than OSX or linux. Linux has had it's problems too and perhaps that's because both linux and microsoft devs are obsessed with creating something cool but they aren't sure what they want it to be? I say maybe-I'm not a developer.
One thing I'm pretty sure of is that despite what you think about Apple if you give yourself a little time using either iOS or OSX you will proably come to the conclusion that Apple's interface for both handhelds and keyboard centric devices is very well thought out and furthermore was created by people with a grasp of what makes for an efficient-ease of use interface. Nothing about windows 8 gives me that feeling.
I'm not an Apple fanboy. My main computing device is a sony vaio that has on it, at this time, windows 8 and linux, but windows 8 is not going to stay on that computer. Specifically; I don't need or want a children's blocks frontend or start menu that takes even more time to navigate than microsoft's previous method. And I don't believe I need to disable or tweek parts of the OS in order for it to be usable. This is an evaluation period. That's when people get to make comments. My comment-summed up is that Microsoft devs need to put a lot more thought into their design. Either that or accept the rating already given by consumers for this interface that currently appears on windows phones and tablets.
 
Pretty scathing review. If Microsoft really did change that much in this OS to steer even desktop computing to a mobile/tablet interface and functionality, then they can look no further than themselves if Win 8 fails. Would it have been that difficult to have an option upon install that asks you what type of platform you're installing to, and then tailoring the experience accordingly?
 
Just a follow up on the comments I made at the end of June. It's more than 2 weeks later and I continued using win 8 for most of that time. I think calling it a disaster is really too kind. Windows 8 frequently loses interenet connection on resume; seach and control panel take more time to locate files and apps than with 7, when indeed it can find anything at all. Sometimes on rebooting from an update windows 8 can't even find itself.

Loving tributes from fanboys won't save this nightmare. If I didn't suspect that microsoft is seriously going to release this on us I would consider it one of the best practical jokes ever.
 
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