Win 8 first impression
 

Well I'm running the Win8 preview on an old lappytop here and let me just say...

fucking thing sucks



That is my first impression. Of course things could change.

A good friend of mine--I've known him for 20 years and trust his judgment more than almost anyone I can think of--this guy is currently a developer for Windows phone apps (I know...). Well anyway he went to a conference in Florida and apparently 'drank the Windows 8 kool-aid'

He is goddang obsessed with it and oh goodness gracious it is / will be the greatest thing that ever happened.

Of course. Win8 is Microsoft hoping that their concept of how tablets and phones should operate succeeds, and so they are now demanding that you use it with a mouse. If you are one of the 2% of phone owners rocking a Windows Phone, Win8 will be just what you like. And if you're not:

Is everyone comfortable with how you've launched programs since 1995? You hit the Start button and a list of programs came up. If the one you wanted wasn't on the list, you just asked for the bigger list, and selected it from that. Been like that for 17 years now.

Well it's changing. There's nothing wrong with it, but that method isn't good for people trying to use it with their finger. So now, you will be forced to launch things using the tablet interface... with your mouse.

You say you have a big 24" monitor? You say they're getting really cheap now? Enh. Hope you like big 3" buttons to press to get your email, just so we can have the same interface work on a 5" screen.

Fucking thing sucks. Office users are going to shit themselves when told they have to use this. You heard it here first.

I will not shit myself.

Ya gonna shit somebody else?

possibly

Yes, well Microsoft also changed the very familiar Office user interface with that ribbon stuff, which I still don't care for.

I read the title as, windows 8 [part] one

How come Microsoft keeps reinventing the wheel?

Why not just stick with 7, say, and make it WORK!??? Fix the stupid security holes for once without installing more than they fixed? Make a Firewall worthy of the name! Make it so that Flash doesn't crash every ten minutes. Organize things so that normal, non-geek users can find and USE the utilities that make Windows worth having? Write an actually useful email program!

New ain't necessarily better!

Just my opinion, of course.

Are we using Firefox 12 by any chance? I just updated to FF 12, and ever since, I get the "Adobe Flash Player has crashed..." message. Often. Never seen that message before FF 12.

Me too!

What's all that about?
I hope they fix it soon! I send in crash reports every time, which is every few minutes.

I was hoping Win8 would give users the option to revert the screen back to a desktop. But it seems that's not the case... yet. Guess I'll have to do with Win7 what I did with WinXP... use it until they just don't support it anymore.

I have XP on my desktop, Vista on my laptop and Win 7 on my gaming PC, I'll be Buggered if I'm going to start to work out how to tackle another OS.
Oh and my phone is Android, my head is now at burstin' point
:thepain:

I use xp in a virtual on win7. They still send xp updates.

Support for XP Service Pack 2 ended two years ago. That's what I had. XP with Service Pack 3 is still on though.

Right now XP only gets monthly security updates. XP turns completely into a pumpkin in April 2014.

We have netbooks to thank for XP even still existing don't we?


ETA: Pop's little Acer netbook is running WinXP Home 5.1.2600 SP3 Build 2600. I update it semi-regularly, but more than once a month.

There are more than just security updates looks like to me. But I may not be understanding the full extent of "security updates".

Follow-up from my friend, the Windows kool-aid guy. What you've said is what everybody thinks, but this is not true.

How can that be? Easily. Windows 8 runs with a "tablet" interface. OR a normal "desktop" interface. It does both. You can switch, at will. It's easy.

What is wrong with this picture?
Microsoft is doing a horrible job of message control. All they show people is the "tablet" interface, they aren't telling us you don't have to use it!



Bonus cool thing that Win8 does? You can install it on a 32gb flash drive. Stick that flash drive in any Win7 PC, and boot into Win8.

It is TOTALLY true. Stop listening to your guy. He is telling you, you don't have to DEVELOP for one interface or the other. But you have to USE both.

The Start button in the "desktop" interface has been replaced with a context switch that pops you into the "tablet" interface. You cannot avoid it. You are forced into it. You have to use the tablet interface with your mouse. All Control Panel items are in the tablet interface...

And it blows. There is mandatory horizontal scrolling... great for tablets, shitty for desktops and mice. And particularly shitty for laptops and touchpads. Fucking Christ.

Ah great, it's caught up to Linux of ten years ago.

So boot it, give it a try, and come running back here screaming. I double dawg dare ya.