Can a power user eventually grow to love Windows 8?
Can a power user ever go back to that craptastic dinosaur known as Windows 7 after experiencing the awesomeness of 8.1?
And that's actually me being serious.
You do realize that there have been HUGE improvements in 8 targeted right at power users, right?
Like the vastly improved file manager. Most things take far fewer clicks.
Like the Power User menu.
Like how device manager can now show non-present devices without having to manually go setting environment variables.
The only Windows 7 "feature" that's missing from 8.1 is the Start Menu, and frankly, I prefer the Start Screen over that. Because it's better for power users. I can pin a whole screenful of program shortcuts to the SS. With the Start Menu, I'm limited by the vertical space and only a select number of programs that I use can be pinned--the rest requires typing on the keyboard or menu-digging. With 8, with everything that I can pin, everything I use is just
there. I still type-to-launch if my hand is already on the keyboard, but if my hand is on the mouse, I appreciate being able to launch something without moving back to the keyboard or menu-digging.
SMB has been much improved in 8 (e.g., operations that don't need to cross the network no longer do), which is good for power users like me with over half a dozen machines on a gigabit network and a file server.
Remote desktop has been much improved in 8--you don't lose Aero and you lossy compression can kick in to maintain responsiveness. Another big plus for power users who have lots of machines that they use.
I absolutely hated how they butchered the file manager in Vista and as a result, I stayed with XP and vowed that it would have to be pried from my cold, dead hands. 7 didn't really improve the situation, and 8 is the first time they rolled back all those anti-poweruser changes that they made in Vista. You know what killed XP for me? It wasn't 7. It was 8.
And yes, 8 does require a bit more work out-of-the-box, like unpinning all those junk Metro apps that I never use and setting the default file associations to desktop apps (though U1 made that automatic). But if you are truly a power user as you so claim, toggling a few settings shouldn't be a problem.
I can access advanced controls easier in 8.
I can manage files muuuuch easier in 8.
Managing/using multiple machines is easier in 8.
Multi-monitor support has been much improved in 8.
I can even launch programs faster and easier than 8.
Explain to me again, how exactly is 8/8.1
worse for power users? Name me
one, just
one thing that 7 does that makes life easier for power users.