I hate Windows 8... absolutely hate it.

[boomerang]

Whatever floats you're boat.

It's a pretty short learning curve to it, I like it better myself.

Couldn't agree more. I put together a new desktop for my wife who absolutely does not like things to change. She gets all anxious and kind of worked up about it. She loves 8 and is doing things with it I never in a million years figured she'd do. She went from Vista to 8.

 

[xSauronx]

Couldn't agree more. I put together a new desktop for my wife who absolutely does not like things to change. She gets all anxious and kind of worked up about it. She loves 8 and is doing things with it I never in a million years figured she'd do. She went from Vista to 8.

id never go back to 7. there are a few things about 8 that i still dont care for when changing settings or something, but for day to day use i like it much more than 7. thats on a desktop, or a laptop.

i hate it on a tablet. it is just ok on a tablet, but tablet mode IE and chrome i do not care for. also, the app store is still lacking. hope the unified apps with windows 10 makes these things better.

i will admit that windows 8 as it shipped was crap. 8.1 Update 1 is good, and if it had shipped that way i dont think it would have gotten the flak it has over the UI

 

[frowertr]

As others have said, you need to add a program to get the start menu back. Once you do that it is basically just like Win 7. I use http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

 

[ch33zw1z]

windows key + x works for me.

I recently worked with an 8.1 machine, seemed more "desktop-e" than "tablet-e"

 

[mohit9206]

As others have said, you need to add a program to get the start menu back. Once you do that it is basically just like Win 7. I use http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

Or you know.. just use Windows 7?

 

[SearchMaster]

I've never used Win8.1 but 8.0 was so bad I won't be going back to that well (been on a Mac for about 3 years).

We bought a new computer for my neighbor's birthday a couple of years ago and it came with 8.0. It took me about two weeks to get the damned email set up (not continuous of course but an hour here or there). I ended up having to install a certificate from her email host, not something that a 70+ year old lady would have ever been capable of doing herself, and not something that Windows told you to do. I had to sift through pages and pages of Google articles to find this nugget of info. It pissed me off endlessly that I would move the cursor a bit and shit would just pop up. I know it was designed for tablets but as a desktop O/S, it is absolutely horrible IMHO.

And yes, the "well if you install a bunch of other shit it becomes tolerable" posts really reiterate the point. If you have to install stuff to make it look and work like Win7 so it's usable, then Win7 must be better right?

 

[olds]

I can't even tell I am using Windows 8.
http://www.stardock.com/products/start8

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Yeah, Windows 8 is almost unbelievably annoying. There is nothing Apple could have done to encourage the adoption of OS X that could have been as effective as Windows 8.

 

[Vdubchaos]

After ALL these years and so much knowledge out there people still purchase and install latest microsoft OS?

To top things off this is a PC forum too...hehe

We all know that almost every other version sucks and to never get a new one until it's proven.

Win 7 was great, so chances are high that next one will be ok.

Even then, I will wait......let others get frustrated and experiance....and pay.

To be honest, I have 0 need for new OS anyways....heck if I was to downgrade to XP Pro I would be just fine!

 

[Capt Caveman]

Well that's surprising, but my point still stands, one should not have to install 3rd party stuff just to get use out of an OS. It can really be hit and miss as to what to even trust.

You don't install anything on your smart phone to improve the OS?

 

[thecoolnessrune]

As I've said before, I've had absolutely 0 issues with Windows 8, and 8.1. Also no issues with Windows 10 related to the GUI (though several bugs as is the nature of working out the issues of a beta test).

I am not conceited enough to believe my grasp of the Operating System is due to any amazing intelligence on my part, so I mostly just chalk it up to sucking it up and actually giving a new OS a chance.

I love Windows 8. It works just as well for me in my uses as Windows 7, with major improvements made to the Storage Engine as well as a better USB stack. Combine that with faster boot times, and proper handling of UEFI, and I just don't understand the griping, especially since 5 minutes in google can get them their precious start menu back.

So you don't get (or don't want to get) the new GUI. That's fine, work around it. It doesn't change the fact that Windows 8 under the hood is an improvement in every meaningful metric to Windows 7.

I swear we do this every single time. Everything, everywhere always has its odd bit folks who make a big fuss about every single new release of software, cars, or televisions. It's odd to me how people can become so fixated on one thing without considering the whole.

I'm chalking it up to being the same group who griped about UAC when it started being implemented.

 

[SunnyD]

what's this start menu everybody talks about?

cmd.exe is where it's at!

 

[The Day Dreamer]

8.1 was a big relief after 8's nightmare. Everything become touch friendly. MS woke up finally and thus Windows 10, the saviour of MS is out(Technical preview for now).

Windows 10 is so much better and have borrowed various productivity friendly features like Multiple Panes, etc. Will explore it more in coming days.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

what's this start menu everybody talks about?

cmd.exe is where it's at!

I press the Windows key, type the first 3 letters of what I want to do, press Enter, and move on with my life.

 

[RossMAN]

I can't even tell I am using Windows 8.
http://www.stardock.com/products/start8

If you vouch for it, I might give it a shot. Thanks old man.

 

[Vdubchaos]

8.1 was a big relief after 8's nightmare. Everything become touch friendly. MS woke up finally and thus Windows 10, the saviour of MS is out(Technical preview for now).

Windows 10 is so much better and have borrowed various productivity friendly features like Multiple Panes, etc. Will explore it more in coming days.

MS jumped on touch/tablet band wagon........simple as that.

Since the wheels have fallen off the wagon, it's back to square one.

 

[Capt Caveman]

If you vouch for it, I might give it a shot. Thanks old man.

Rossman, with 8.1 and one of several add-ons, I use Start Menu 8. It's no different and better than Win 7.

Funny thing is everyone of these folks have added an app to their smart phone to customize their OS.

I have use a Dell E7440 at work with Win7 and own a Dell E7440 at home with Win 8.1, same thing.

 

[yuchai]

It's fine not to like Windows 8, but LOL for thinking that trying Linux will solve your problems. Just go back to Win 7 (or whatever you were using before).

 

[darkswordsman17]

It will never cease to amaze me how stupid allegedly intelligent and tech oriented people can be. Reminds me of the people still bitching about Firefox just changing the numbering of their update system (even though it made no real difference compared to how they actually update things). Win8 wasn't perfect (far from it in fact it was basically a beta OS with 8.1 being the real release), but they had to get it out so that people would actually know that Microsoft was really going to change things. Not surprising that there's some learning curve, but goddamn if you're struggling that much with it then it is you that's the problem. I also love the people that bitch about Win8 yet they had no problem learning iOS and/or Android, both of which are orders of magnitude bigger shifts in changing use (and both of which still have massive issues with shit that Windows was able to do fine 20 years ago).

RedSquirrel, do you ever listen to yourself? Your arguments and comments on a wide variety of subjects show a near total and complete lack of knowing what you're talking about.

 

[TheSlamma]

8.1 was a big relief after 8's nightmare. Everything become touch friendly. MS woke up finally and thus Windows 10, the saviour of MS is out(Technical preview for now).

Windows 10 is so much better and have borrowed various productivity friendly features like Multiple Panes, etc. Will explore it more in coming days.

They still have a boatload of work to do.

Settings vs Control panel is just one example.

but it's leagues a head of Windows 8/8.1. Metro and Charms are just plain stupid. And anyone with Server 2012 should be given a free upgrade to the next server version given how poorly remote administration is on that crap interface. I always have to fight to get the charms to come up when remoted in from a smartphone. It's so much nicer when I have to go into a 2008R2 machine.

 

[darkswordsman17]

MS jumped on touch/tablet band wagon........simple as that.

Since the wheels have fallen off the wagon, it's back to square one.

Square one, are you joking? Have you seen anything about Win10? It's a lot better (largely thanks to Microsoft putting a lot of work into making it reactive to your use, and bolstering mouse and keyboard beyond what even older Windows offered), but it's absolutely built on Win8 in basically every way, including the interface.

And like others have pointed out, it's not like it's difficult to make Win8 look and function like older Windows.

Rossman, with 8.1 and one of several add-ons, I use Start Menu 8. It's no different and better than Win 7.

Funny thing is everyone of these folks have added an app to their smart phone to customize their OS.

I have use a Dell E7440 at work with Win7 and own a Dell E7440 at home with Win 8.1, same thing.

Yeah, I just laugh at people that complain so much about Win8 but then defend Android. Talk about an OS needing tons of extra 3rd party support to be useful. Granted that's better than iOS where you're limited in how much you can even compensate for the shortcomings.

Even more hilarious is how total and complete **** Android was, and how it's had more overhaul of the UI and other changes that make even less sense than Win8's interface, yet there's people that have been defending it the whole time. And some of them have claimed Win8 is the worst OS ever. Compare the changes to Windows and Android in the same timespan and seriously try to argue that Windows is so horrible.

It's fine not to like Windows 8, but LOL for thinking that trying Linux will solve your problems. Just go back to Win 7 (or whatever you were using before).

This. Unless you're going to use a highly tailored version like SteamOS to do essentially one task, Linux will require far more learning than going from Win7 to Win8. Actually even then it'll require about the same amount of learning.

 

[AdamK47]

I love Windows 8.1... absolutely love it.

 

[Jaskalas]

Worst part is I actually paid for this worthless OS. NEVER AGAIN!!!

Good thing the upgrade to Windows 10 is free. You can stick to your word and solve the problem that is 8.

 

[dullard]

Windows 8 is annoying, but those annoyances are generally easy to get rid of. And it does have some nice benefits (such as automatically sorting photos by date taken, regardless of the folder they are stored in).

What is unforgivable is that Microsoft wants you to pay ~$100 for Media Center in Windows 8. I ordered an HTPC when Microsoft was offering a $10 Media Center purchase (and free upgrade to Windows 8 Pro). The HTPC arrived 1 day after that deal expired, so no Media Center for me. It is cheaper for me to buy Windows 7 with a free Media Center than to simply add Media Center to Windows 8.

 

[jhbball]

Learn to use the windows key, and type the program/thing you want to do. It's faster than clicking things on the start menu.