Windows 8 Uptake Falls Behind Windows Vista Pace

[somebodyspecial]

Business wasn't likely to use Windows 8 regardless of the UI. Most of our clients have only just been migrating to Windows 7 slowly over the last year. The few that are still on XP are still there for software compatibility reasons and not because they don't like Metro. That sounds like a personal problem to me. Your ineptness with a interface technology that has been around for more then a decade isn't Microsoft's fault. Also, keyboard shortcuts. One simple one will solve all your "problems". Winkey. Try changing the mouse acceleration from the Start menu in Windows 7... Go on. Also, while you're at it, try browsing the file system from the start menu as well, I think you'll have the same problem. So once again we have someone offering a critique of a product they clearly don't understand... Sounds like Tom's Hardware in a nutshell. Metro isn't an OS. Metro is a touch optimized (Touch optimized because that's what people want, in case you haven't noticed what people are buying these days) launcher that works across all platforms and interface methods to give a unified "feel" to all platforms. Of course you can't do all those things from Metro, it's not SUPPOSED to do any of that. You use metro to launch apps, just like the start menu. If you want to get into the guts of your machine, you use Control Panel, just like you did in every single version of Windows ever.

Umm...Win7, right click start, OPEN WINDOWS EXPLORER.

Respectfully, your critique of the critique sucks when you don't know how to use the previous OS but complain about the person saying they like said previous OS. Win8 hasn't been around for a decade and it's failure is microsofts fault.

You're right about metro though, it isn't an OS. The problem is they're selling it as such and it's blocking us from USING the OS. All of the guts used to be available via the start menu (flyout or as a link, take your pick - much more customizable and EASY to use). My admin tools, control panel, network etc all on the start menu. Why you would make something so useful and easy to use forcefully disappear is just dumb. All of the things I just mentioned are not easily accessible and certainly not with ONE click.

This is in effect, shooting all my tires and telling me - "look man, you just need the rims, it doesn't matter that rims get you there slower, you'll like them eventually - you can't have your tires back"...That's not going to blow over very well, and business as I've said before, will never buy win8. Even technical people have no idea how to use this OS for a while, and users are just dumbfounded. That costs extensive amounts of cash to already (in this economy) struggling businesses. It's a no brainer to pass on this OS or get fired for deploying it About all you can say about this os is it boots and shuts down faster...LOL. I do that once every month or so and only out of old habits or updates requiring it. So these features mean nothing. Heck on an SSD I boot in seconds anyway so again, means nothing. Anyone not running on SSD and thinking about win8 would be much wiser to spend on an Crucial M4/Samsung 830 etc for $80 and laugh about how much their CURRENT OS is faster IN EVERYTHING! All day long, not just a boot or shutdown...LOL. Win8 is a waste of money compared to a 128GB SSD as your boot drive (for all those actually thinking boot/shutdown matters...which is already a joke).

To get this OS to work, bring back start, allow me to customize at the very least EVERYTHING I would be able to on win7. The OS should be a step forward, not a removal of stuff that works. Let me turn on Metro if I want to, or revert to old style if desired. Gutting the start menu was a step backwards. Add all the crap you want, just don't take away the stuff that makes me productive.

Have you ever heard of the KISS principle? If you ignore the KISS principle you will fail with the majority of the public and business.

 

[phump]

All of the guts used to be available via the start menu. My admin tools, control panel, network etc all on the start menu.

You can add those to the Start Screen if you like. But there's a faster way to do it. Hit Win + X and a menu appears from the bottom left (same location as the start screen) which appears like a right click menu. The options are:

Programs & Features
Power Options
Event Viewer
System
Device Manager
Disk Management
Computer Management
Command Prompt
Command Prompt (Administrator)
Task Manager
Control Panel
File Explorer
Search
Run
Desktop

Somebody special, you can access any of those with 3 keypresses, while looking at the lower left of the screen (or with your eyes closed). Is that not simple enough for you?

 

[somebodyspecial]

Fact: Windows 8 has overtaken Linux already. I don't see everyone calling Linux a failure, even though it clearly is! Metro is here to stay, deal with it, you will see more of it in Windows 9 or whatever comes next. Hopefully the desktop is finally abolished outright by then, and note the creator of Metro has been promoted in Microsoft. God Bless Windows 8, a real operating system for all true patriots!

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2012/11/13/microsoft-sinofsky-fired-windows-8/1702511/
Not sure what info you have, but the guy that had win8 as his baby has been fired. This was HIS OS. He doesn't work for MS now. Fired after 15days...LOL.

Metro isn't here to stay. They can put back the start menu and just as easily give you a way to disable metro and boot to desktop. IT can be done and is the only way to salvage this mess of an OS and IT nightmare (were anyone foolish enough to deploy this heaping pile of dung)...

I'm pretty sure this is what the firing was about. They now have a way to put it back without losing quite as much face... "It was all that dorks fault & we fired him - everything will be back to normal soon people"...Watch for that to come out of their mouths in the next 6 months.

From the article above:
"Arguably the boldest change Sinofsky insisted on was to cut off Windows users cold turkey from the familiar Start Menu interface."
Yeah, that gets you fired. The same will happen to any IT manager rolling this OS out. Once the calls start coming in by the thousands he'll get axed like Sinofsky This OS will cause the REAL work in an IT dept to come to a screeching halt. It would take months if not a year to get back to normal and that's just not good business. It's possible I'm being generous here also with the time table, as some people just seem to keep needing hand holding forever. I started to get adjusted after a few weeks but I was slower and clicking more than ever before to get the same crap done. I multiplied this by 1000 in my head and said no freaking way in IT. I'd be answering phone calls all day on the OS instead of fixing stuff. You may have all day to waste at home learning this, but I don't have all day to teach 1000-10000 people how to use it.

What does patriotism have to do with the OS I use? This is what I'd call an Obama OS. Waste tons of resources on useless crap (batteries, solar etc, which we all knew would be made cheaper in china 2yrs before you did it), when we could just DRILL for oil and start charging $1 a gallon for gas saving americans TONS of cash. Check out the unemployment in OIL towns. It's at like 3% or less and their states are in no danger of going bankrupt like CA etc... Obamanomics don't work in business, and microsoft just tried obamanomics. Spending more on advertising Win8 (20bil? so far) won't help a turd not smell like well...a turd...LOL. Spending more on solar/batteries won't stop china from producing them cheaper either...ROFL.

Unfortunately it's not quite as easy to fire obama. There are too many feeding from the tit so to speak - which gets you reelected but bankrupts the country doing it. In the next 4 years he'll have spent more money than ALL presidents combined (he's not far from it now, only a few more trillion to go). You can't spend your way out of your visa bill. You have to pay it off. You can't tell people to love your product just because either. You have to give them what they want or need or it will fail. Microsoft only learns this after a failure. They only give you what you want after forcing you to have what they want doesn't work. Much like the govt. Revolution anyone? They won't stop taking your money or your rights until you fight for them. I fear we're nearing that again. Why MS never learns from the public's rebellions is beyond me (me, vista, win8 etc).

 

[phump]

Somebodyspecial, I'd like to see you respond to my point above, but I do agree that this would be hard to implement in a business setting. Mostly because XP is still too hard for some people after 12 years!

 

[merandos]

I think windows 7 still has the attention of the majority of internet users, also gamers....

 

[cookoy]

one of the keys to win7 success was MS solicited what its customers wanted or needed and MS listened and catered to them. With win8 MS offered what it thinks customers wanted or needed and then make sure customers get them, take it or leave it.

 

[smfrazz]

[citation][nom]CrArC[/nom]I called it at the very beginning: businesses would run from Windows 8 as the cost of retraining is far, far too high. Consumer uptake is not exactly surprising either but I have a feeling that also has quite a bit to do with the general home computer market, which is sluggish anyway.My personal experience of Win 8 so far is that it's quite irritating on a laptop. I'd describe it as a claustrophobic sensation of being strangled or restrained by the new interface and the way it interacts with the traditional desktop environment. It almost feels as if I have to make excessive use of the mousepad as well, which of course isn't brilliant as mousepads are crappy human interface devices.What surprises me most is of how little use the new interface seems to be. It doesn't appear to... well, to 'do' anything. I can't configure my entire system through it (try changing the mouse acceleration/scroll speed via Metro... go on). I can't explore files and folders through it - at least, I've not seen a file browser in there so far. I have to search for things if it isn't clear they are immediately navigable (at least search works well). It seems it's only useful as a pretty window from which to launch the occasional app.Bizarre. It's just really bizarre. At least the novelty is entertaining.[/citation]

You either haven't really used it as you claim or you're a tech moron. You haven't bothered to see there is a Desktop mode...and with that the same UI as Windows 7 though an improved file Explorer. Did you even bother to "search" for files or apps or even notice the search feature is context sensitive based on the Modern UI app running or none at all? Hate all you want...you are still clueless.

 

[Guest]

Only percentages no numbers, i think the amount of copies sold are more or less the same.
And it's new so off-course there are not that many copies sold, give it some time.

 

[smfrazz]

[citation][nom]jblank[/nom]Did you ever stop to think that maybe people don't want to have to go through hoops to just get a start button? If you'd get out of attack dog mode, and read what people are saying in here, you'd see that people are mainly upset that we don't have a CHOICE in Windows 8, that it forces us to do much stuff to undo the things that really shouldn't be on your typical desktop PC to begin with. If we have issues with that, what do you think about Joe Consumer out there? Is it any wonder Windows 8 is failing? I mean, there literally is no reason to go from 7 to 8, unless you just have to have the "new thing".[/citation]


Wow such an aversion to change. So I guess we should just use the same things over and over again without moving forward at least in the attempt to improve usability or to provide some freshness that allows for better touch interaction. Even IBM is saying touch is where computing is going. Samsung is releasing regular touch monitors at CES. I use Windows 8 on a traditional ThinkPad laptop with no touch and I don't go into the Modern UI except to use those apps I particularly like to use since they are fresh and truly full screen. Plus they are great in dual monitor mode. I guess you are an iOS/OSX lover that espouses the great innovation in OS's that have the same UI for years and years on end.

 

[smfrazz]

[citation][nom]somebodyspecial[/nom]Umm...Win7, right click start, OPEN WINDOWS EXPLORER.Respectfully, your critique of the critique sucks when you don't know how to use the previous OS but complain about the person saying they like said previous OS. Win8 hasn't been around for a decade and it's failure is microsofts fault.You're right about metro though, it isn't an OS. The problem is they're selling it as such and it's blocking us from USING the OS. All of the guts used to be available via the start menu (flyout or as a link, take your pick - much more customizable and EASY to use). My admin tools, control panel, network etc all on the start menu. Why you would make something so useful and easy to use forcefully disappear is just dumb. All of the things I just mentioned are not easily accessible and certainly not with ONE click.This is in effect, shooting all my tires and telling me - "look man, you just need the rims, it doesn't matter that rims get you there slower, you'll like them eventually - you can't have your tires back"...That's not going to blow over very well, and business as I've said before, will never buy win8. Even technical people have no idea how to use this OS for a while, and users are just dumbfounded. That costs extensive amounts of cash to already (in this economy) struggling businesses. It's a no brainer to pass on this OS or get fired for deploying it About all you can say about this os is it boots and shuts down faster...LOL. I do that once every month or so and only out of old habits or updates requiring it. So these features mean nothing. Heck on an SSD I boot in seconds anyway so again, means nothing. Anyone not running on SSD and thinking about win8 would be much wiser to spend on an Crucial M4/Samsung 830 etc for $80 and laugh about how much their CURRENT OS is faster IN EVERYTHING! All day long, not just a boot or shutdown...LOL. Win8 is a waste of money compared to a 128GB SSD as your boot drive (for all those actually thinking boot/shutdown matters...which is already a joke).To get this OS to work, bring back start, allow me to customize at the very least EVERYTHING I would be able to on win7. The OS should be a step forward, not a removal of stuff that works. Let me turn on Metro if I want to, or revert to old style if desired. Gutting the start menu was a step backwards. Add all the crap you want, just don't take away the stuff that makes me productive.Have you ever heard of the KISS principle? If you ignore the KISS principle you will fail with the majority of the public and business.[/citation]

Most of you that are complaining would no matter what. I remember reading plenty of people saying how complicated using Windows was in comparison to "other" OS's. Yet know I see how people like yourself are claiming WIndows 8 (which has simplified the UI) is harder to use.

 

[super d spamalot]

[citation][nom]somebodyspecial[/nom]Umm...Win7, right click start, OPEN WINDOWS EXPLORER.Respectfully, your critique of the critique sucks when you don't know how to use the previous OS but complain about the person saying they like said previous OS. Win8 hasn't been around for a decade and it's failure is microsofts fault.You're right about metro though, it isn't an OS. The problem is they're selling it as such and it's blocking us from USING the OS. All of the guts used to be available via the start menu (flyout or as a link, take your pick - much more customizable and EASY to use). My admin tools, control panel, network etc all on the start menu. Why you would make something so useful and easy to use forcefully disappear is just dumb. All of the things I just mentioned are not easily accessible and certainly not with ONE click.This is in effect, shooting all my tires and telling me - "look man, you just need the rims, it doesn't matter that rims get you there slower, you'll like them eventually - you can't have your tires back"...That's not going to blow over very well, and business as I've said before, will never buy win8. Even technical people have no idea how to use this OS for a while, and users are just dumbfounded. That costs extensive amounts of cash to already (in this economy) struggling businesses. It's a no brainer to pass on this OS or get fired for deploying it About all you can say about this os is it boots and shuts down faster...LOL. I do that once every month or so and only out of old habits or updates requiring it. So these features mean nothing. Heck on an SSD I boot in seconds anyway so again, means nothing. Anyone not running on SSD and thinking about win8 would be much wiser to spend on an Crucial M4/Samsung 830 etc for $80 and laugh about how much their CURRENT OS is faster IN EVERYTHING! All day long, not just a boot or shutdown...LOL. Win8 is a waste of money compared to a 128GB SSD as your boot drive (for all those actually thinking boot/shutdown matters...which is already a joke).To get this OS to work, bring back start, allow me to customize at the very least EVERYTHING I would be able to on win7. The OS should be a step forward, not a removal of stuff that works. Let me turn on Metro if I want to, or revert to old style if desired. Gutting the start menu was a step backwards. Add all the crap you want, just don't take away the stuff that makes me productive.Have you ever heard of the KISS principle? If you ignore the KISS principle you will fail with the majority of the public and business.[/citation]

I know full well how to use the previous OS. Opening Windows Explorer from the Start menu is not the same as the start menu being able to browse the file system, which is what the poster I was replying to was asking for Metro to do. Windows Explorer is a separate application, opened from the launcher, which would be the start menu. In Windows 8 you can also open Windows Explorer from the launcher, which would be the Metro interface. Besides, if you're still using the mouse to open windows explorer, it's probably best that you don't comment on the usability of any version of Windows. Winkey+E. Been there since atleast Windows 2000, maybe earlier.

Metro doesn't block anyone who knows how to use a computer from accessing anything under the hood. It takes some time to setup, granted, but the reason the interface is dumb by default is because people are dumb by default. Once setup properly, Metro is a full screen start menu that is way more customizable and way more intuitive. I don't see why businesses wouldn't love this aspect of it. The OS is dumber by default, just like most employees. Metro is a godsend to any system admin who knows just how stupid users can be.

Anyway, it's pretty clear you've not actually used the OS if the only good thing you can say about is that it starts up and shuts down quickly. So go get an eval copy and use it for a month, THEN come back and tell us all how wrong we are.

 

[belardo]

Big time laughing... Monkey man and down should be fired from Microsoft. Anyone with half a brain would have KNOWN that Windows-8 Metro design was crap for a desktop computer!

And on top of that, they made the desktop on Win - butt UGLY flat 80's style garbage! (Win8 v8440 looks very good).

So lets see: Windows8 desktop OS = fail (worse than vista - as many of us PREDICTED) Win8 phones = fail... not seeing them fly off the shelves. Win8 tablets = who gives a rats ass.

 

[Guest]

The Modern UI is easy to use, assuming that you remember exactly what it is: a Start menu. Think about it: with a Start button, you have to take an extra step to get to any menu of applications. Usually, you have a secondary menu of lesser-used applications. This is stupid, period. Just because this is the way that you are currently used to doing things, doesn't mean that it's the best, or even the easiest. with the Modern UI interface, you can easily find any application that you need, quickly. With a minimal learning curve, you can move abut your computer more easily than ever could using the "traditional" Windows interface, simply because there are fewer steps to take. As far as the OS underneath the UI, it's windows 7, made better. Existing Windows applications, including games, open and are interacted with in the traditional Windows desktop. Modern UI applications, which take a bit of a learning curve, too, act differently than traditional apps, but they are typically easier and more straight-forward than a traditional application. While the inteface is undoubtedly a part of the issue, the bigger reason is that PC makers are taking longer to switch over from Windows 7 to Windows 8, as part of their manufacturing planning. Look at the numers in six months, once they've rolled out all of the new models in planning, and I believe that you'll see a much different picture.

 

[belardo]

[citation][nom]somebodyspecial[/nom]What does patriotism have to do with the OS I use? This is what I'd call an Obama OS. Waste tons of resources on useless crap (batteries, solar etc, which we all knew would be made cheaper in china 2yrs before you did it), when we could just DRILL for oil and start charging $1 a gallon for gas saving americans TONS of cash. Check out the unemployment in OIL towns.[/citation] You had many through most of your post until you started retarded neo-con political crap which wasn't needed nor the same thing. And get your facts straight before re-posting right-wing crap.

A) Are you NUTZ? So what you are saying, let CHINA make everything for *US*, lets not build anything in the USA.... that's bullshit. We need jobs in the USA and to do that, we need companies making American-made stuff for Americans. So with you, its "let china make it with their slave labor".

B) About oil? Jobs, pollution, rights don't matter as long as you have your oil. Look up real facts....
(1) Oil production for the past 1~2 years is higher than it ever has been under GWBush (You know, the retard who started the Iraq war based on lies = $3Trillion debt and 4400+ dead Americans).
(2) Oil companies are the most profitable in the world.
(3) We made so much OIL - that *IT WAS / IS* being exported to other countries like CHINA.
(4) Oil is a commodity, its not local. Oil drilled here or there, doesn't effect pricing. (re-read #1 and #3) - we can double oil production, it still won't make it $1 a gallon.
(5) Oil company wants their profits, we are used to paying $3+ per gallon. Why would they want to lower the price? After all, this is capitalism at its best.
(6) Oil companies get their hand-outs in billions of tax breaks. How much did Exxon pay in taxes?
(7) Oil is NOT infinite. Its limited, we are RUNNING out of oil to drill. This is EASY to prove:

How *DO* we know that oil supplies are drying up in TWO words: OFFSHORE DRILLING

Why the hell would anyone spend about 5X time money to drill for oil in the ocean? As we already witness several times, blow-outs are difficult to cap and causes tons of damage. (Think that is free?)

Solar and Win power *IS* infinite / re-new-able. Are those HARD words to understand?! Once the wind-farm is built, it continues to work... just maintenance is required. Oil drilling requires contant searching and drilling. Coal mining requires constant mining.

When a windmill fails, it stops working until a tech replaces/repairs something. When a drill fails = fire, death and millions of gallons of oil everywhere.

Even the Saudi's are NOT THAT STUPID when it comes to oil/re-newable energy. They are building super-solar stations (its not like they have lots of farm-land) to then re-sell to Europe.

Yes Solar and Wind power is STILL new... but they don't create pollution, they are safer and will eventually become cheaper. Especially if every home had a solar/wind generator - even better.

So... stop thinking its 1950. We know more now than we did back then. There *IS NO FUTURE* in oil.

 

[belardo]

WHersh : so how easy is it to find printer settings?

Watch the youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0fsyb-ttcw so the "search" function by simply typing it in is NOT really working.

I'm building a new PC and the client is specifically NOT going with Windows8. Since HP and Dell are shoving Win8, going with a custom build by me is one of his options.

There *IS* nothing wrong with doing something better or improving the OS. The way metro is done on Windows8 is STUPID. The live-tiles are useless. What, you are in METRO launcher all day?

All they had to do was make a Metro STRIP along the left side that is ON by default on top of the normal Windows UI and when launching Metro Apps, they run in a normal WINDOW along with non-Metro windo apps.

 

[belardo]

I like this video as well http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfODwWeP9MI&feature=share&list=UUNovoA9w0KnxyDP5bGrOYzg

go to around 21min into the video about Searching and scrolling... its a Win8 survival guide on how to use and kinda enjoy Win8.

Yes, I have Win8 running on a test computer... I still can't use it. It sucks... it sucks... why bother? Metro sucks.

 

[pjmelect]

The word is out, even my sister who has a laptop but does not know much about computers, thinks from what she has heard that Windows 8 is worse than Vista and should be avoided at all costs. This was not from my prompting but what she has heard on the street.
With word of mouth publicity like this Microsoft will have a hard job selling Windows 8 no matter how much they spend on advertising. Microsoft will need to make some radical changes to Windows 8 or suffer the consequences.

 

[computertech82]

to be blunt, i think win8 is WORSE then vista. Even the crappy menu on the right side will stop working at random times. I DO NOT WANT TO REMEMBERIZE BILLIONS OF KEYSTROKES. I don't need OR WANT a website on my desktop. I WANT to be able to use multiple programs AND be able to see them...AT THE SAME TIME. I also want to RESIZE the programs, so i can see other programs running at the same time.

 

[Guest]

METRO needs to be cut out of the windows OS before it metastasizes into a big BLUE blob of goo, hell bent on total control of the PC users computer! The best thing to do is to stick with windows 7, until the OEMs demand M$ give them the option of putting windows 7 on new computers before they go bankrupt, or just maybe that is M$ plan all along, Yes M$ kills the third party OEMs and then they have the PC world under M$ control! Thank goodness for Linux's 1 percent, beacuse were there is 1 percent there can be more percent, unless the government completely ignores the Linux secure bootloader monopolistic practices of M$!

 

[belardo]

The word is out, even my sister who has a laptop but does not know much about computers, thinks from what she has heard that Windows 8 is worse than Vista and should be avoided at all costs.

GOOD

Everyone one of us should do our best to cost Ballmer and MS billions! My win8 test system is about to be wiped and replaced with LinuxMINT.

 

[belardo]

A cool looking UI that is real, functional: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u5u5A8_SE0

Its like Ghost in the Shell... in many many ways.

 

[ojas]

On the contrary, Microsoft's Modern UI is merely an overlay that ties together the desktop, laptop, touch-focused tablets, Windows Phone 8 platform and gaming consoles. Underneath the modern exterior is mostly the same desktop consumers have grown to love over the years, hindered by the lack of a Start menu.

Ask your own Adam Overa, he'll tell you it's a replacement for the Explorer Shell, and i'l tell you that as well.

 

[diddo]

[citation][nom]thelick[/nom]Fact: Windows 8 has overtaken Linux already. I don't see everyone calling Linux a failure, even though it clearly is![/citation]
Fact 2: Linux does not get comes pre-installed on all PCs and was not promoted with a 1,5 billions $ campaign in 2012

Fact 3: Linux has over 50% market share on servers, and this means big bucks and high profits

Fact 4: Linux kernel is employed on Android smartphones and tablets, which are cannibalizing Wintel markets under any economic metric, and Windows 8 gave a big help to them (and iOS)!

Fact 5: Linux kernel is employed on the majority set top boxes, tv/smartTVs, routers and a lot of other hardware, which aggregated represents a market comparable in revenues with desktop PC marker.

Fact 6: Wintel market sharply accelerated its decline in the two months after W8 release, W8 failed to give traction and in fact is selling comparably twice worse than Vista at 1/5 of the price, half of Surface RT orders were cancelled by MS... I see a trend here.

Who is the big loser now?

 

[rolli59]

I beg to differ, if you have been under a rock all these years, you would know that yes it is being forced on people through support and application compatibility. You want to run the apps and programs you want, yet through artificial limitations, it is made "Newest OS only" compatible. thus forcing you to choose between not running your app or running the OS you can't stand.

There is no program I am currently running at home or business that I can not run on both windows 7 or XP. That includes cad/3d rendering, games and office programs, it is rather an issue with running some on them on 8 which is reverse to your statement.

 

[phump]

I WANT to be able to use multiple programs AND be able to see them...AT THE SAME TIME. I also want to RESIZE the programs, so i can see other programs running at the same time.

What are you talking about? Windows 8 functions like any other Windows. Alt Tab works. Minimize, maximize, and resize are still there. I have no clue what you are talking about. Yes there are some fullscreen apps in the Windows store, but what makes you think you have to buy them??

Another deluded Tom's viewer regurgitating complaints about an operating system he hasn't used...