Microsoft: First Release of Windows 8.1 Will Be in June

[JMcEntegart]

Public preview is just around the corner.

Microsoft: First Release of Windows 8.1 Will Be in June : Read more

 

[Aoyagi]

Start button isn't the important thing, Start menu is. And no, it is extremely unlikely MS will do any good, they will just continue in ruining their reputation. Also Tom's seems to be uncomfortably pro-Win8.

 

[blurr91]

Can I have the old Windows Start Menu back?

 

[gorlacon]

Also Tom's seems to be uncomfortably pro-Win8.

Shills, shills everywhere.. (Or at least, there is certainly a huge change in opinion, and only, it seems, on reports specifically dealing with Windows 8).

 

[ssdpro]

The article is rather neutral in my opinion. It is just reporting the facts. It notes "Though Reller said Microsoft is taking customer feedback into account, we still don't have any final word on whether the Start button has found its way back into the mix after being dropped in Windows 8." That is a major obstacle (other than reduced storage performance and functionality) prevent widespread migration to Win8.
Windows 8 has a 3.1% Market Share as of April 4th. Six months after release Windows 7 had 10.4%, Vista had 5.2%.

 

[zenmonk9003]

I don't know why there is all this hate of Windows 8. It is a solid and good OS. Yes it is a little different when starting up and shutting down but it makes a lot of sense too. So instead of clicking the START button to get to the calculator I click in the lower left corner and go to the START screen and click it there, it's faster than going to the button, clicking on ACCESORIES or whatever and then clicking on it there. Turning it off and reseting is different because now you just go to the lower right or upper right corner and click SETTINGS to do it now. It's not that big of a deal at all, some of you might even remember going from 8-track to cassette, to MP3 or from records to compact dscs.

 

[southernshark]

I don't know why there is all this hate of Windows 8.

The problem is multi-fold. People on the one hand, hate that MS took our choice away. I think that is what annoys most power users. If MS had given us the option of one or the other, then there would be no anger over this issue. On the other hand, traditional MS fans hate the fact that MS is alienating the 80 percent of casual users who are lost in W8. I have a friend is not good with computers and she described W8 as a "place you go full of squares that you can't get out of.".. .... sadly that is how many casual users see it and it confirms to them, in their minds, that they should have bought an Apple product. To suggest that this opinion is not real is to ignore hard consumer data which shows computer sales down significantly. Either way MS has made a dumb decision which has alienated its customer base and which has significantly hurt the PC industry. MS needs to admit the error and fix it ASAP.

 

[danwat1234]

Can I have the old Windows Start Menu back?

Yes you can. Use Start8 or RetroUI
Wait, what do you mean by old? XP style? 98 style? Probably not but I'm not saying it's impossible. Maybe a deluxe Stardock product can do that

 

[computerguy72]

There is not one positive or negative comment in this article. To call them 'pro-win8' citing this article as evidence says more about ***you than Tom's.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

is it going to be less sh!t.? or more of the same sh!t? Please give me the option of a windows 7 style UI, I will not buy it otherwise. My dad bought win8 for use on his touch screen, its useless as you have to touch right to the edges of the screen for some functions and the bezel is in the way. So you need a frameless touch screen to even be able to use it properly, and it was supposedly designed with touch screens in mind.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

If they made an option to have the start screen/menu appear like the WiFi menu (isn't that a hideous example of mixing UI concepts? Click one icon, desktop style. Click the next; BLOCKS), as a sidebar, I would consider that a step forwards.
But to those who say that the start screen is great and everybody else just has to "get used to it", remember this: CHOICE is =).
Best thing I've heard anyone not on a forum say about 8 is that "under-the-hood improvements are worth it, but the UI is stupid", or something along those lines. And I suspect a lot of the under-the-hood bit came from the SSHD he installed it on...

 

[diddo]

"I don't know why there is all this hate of Windows 8."
Because promotes so inv/pervasively a Windows 1 GUI with built in adware and severe sandboxing limitations, saying it is the future in any technical and commercial event, removing developers' ability to chose the distribution channel/model they prefer as it was in Win32 (I say WAS because it is MS itself stressing the fact RT is meant to supersede Win32, saying the desktop and its software is just another tile, and calling it legacy all the way).
MS, if you have guts do a little test: do the opposite and bury Metro under the desktop and let who really wants to use it to fire its link on the desktop.

 

[godfather666]

I don't care about the start menu itself. I only used it for searches, which I can do just as easily with a start screen.
BUT, I do care a lot about going back to the desktop when I press the start button while viewing the start screen, and about booting straight to the desktop.

EDIT: Oh, and yes shutting down and rebooting needs to be made much faster.

 

[nivek999]

I don't get it, after using windows 8 for months its really not that bad. It's better then windows 7. You can search in the metro interface, just type! You can shut down by pressing alt f4 on the desktop! Navigating to and from metro is one freaking button on the desktop or the keyboard. If you hate windows 8 because of these things why not go ask your IT guy for help so he can laugh at you later?

 

[Rune Olsen]

I don't really care if there is a start button or not. Used to Cisco and remembering commands. What i do mislike with win 8 is the "metro shell" applications that i feel are not being terminated when apps launch in the background.
I do want a clear and precise task manager except from the pre-buildt one. I probably make no sense Except from that i have tested Win 8 since first RC on one of my laptops. I find memory handling and efficiency quite good when put side to side with a win 7 x64 system
Maybe it's just me beeing to demanding, i do desire structure. Especially if i have to roll this out to tons of users that will make my day hell

 

[zenmonk9003]

I don't know why there is all this hate of Windows 8.

The problem is multi-fold. People on the one hand, hate that MS took our choice away. I think that is what annoys most power users. If MS had given us the option of one or the other, then there would be no anger over this issue. On the other hand, traditional MS fans hate the fact that MS is alienating the 80 percent of casual users who are lost in W8. I have a friend is not good with computers and she described W8 as a "place you go full of squares that you can't get out of.".. .... sadly that is how many casual users see it and it confirms to them, in their minds, that they should have bought an Apple product. To suggest that this opinion is not real is to ignore hard consumer data which shows computer sales down significantly. Either way MS has made a dumb decision which has alienated its customer base and which has significantly hurt the PC industry. MS needs to admit the error and fix it ASAP.

Well I may be a minority but I think Win8 is awesome and has a lot of features that would appeal to the casual user in my humble opinion. I think it was time for a change and in the end once you get over the initial learning curve (maybe watch the demo when installing it or something) then it becomes very easy to use and becomes an enjoyment. Win8 does things Win7 or earlier version just don't do. Using a mouse and keyboard is no problem at all.

I've been using computers since the early 80's and I have seen many changes and used many different systems as a 'USER' and even did some programing on my Commodore 128. Maybe I know more than the average user but I don't really think so. The media is what killed it if you ask me and you didn't so whatever. I like it and I guess in the end that is all that really matters.

 

[Neuspeed]

Can't teach an old dog new tricks