Windows 8.1 - Anyone suffer thru this ? LOL

And the sun is setting on Vista version 2, other wise known as the operating system that only a fanboy could love, Windows 8

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/windows-9-set-to-launch-on-september-30-95384657789.html

(I am a Microsoft fanboy, but not for the reasons you might think. Because of Bill Gates and his F-uped software I have made a good living for nearly 3 decades. God forbid that Microsoft ever truly gets their act together.)

 

I wonder why Microsoft has decided to add virtual desktops almost 30 years after everyone else has been doing it?

 

I just got a new touch screen all in one desktop pc,It came with Windows 8,I agree,it takes some getting used too! I am using internet explorer 11,I can't seem to find out how to install the Google search bar! I'm forced to use Bing!

 

UNder the hood, 8.x is actually a pretty decent OS. It's just the metro/start menu shit is all retarded.

If you're tech savvy enough to get around the limitations, it can be a fine gaming rig OS. I have one now that I built....8 cure unlocked and overclocked to the balls, SSD and tons of GPU and RAM, liquid cooled, the works. Once you get it set up, it's a breeze to use and reimage if need be.

But it's a home gaming rig. I've been in IT close to 20 years, and one of the things I'm really worried about in my current search for work is that I'll have to take a job using 8.x in a working environment, and that I'll die a little inside each day.

Linux is for work, for servers. Some geeks like me use it for workstations. But 7 is still the bee's knees for desktops and should stay for pert near as long as XP did. There's no inherent reason to go to 8 other than to give Microsoft money and make your life harder.

 

I love windows 8.1 and am looking forward to windows 9

 

Most users HATE windows 8 and 8.1. There is a free download called "Classic Shell" just google it and download it. It brings back our favorite start menu like xp or win 7. Super simple to use and you will love it. You can click on them damn apps also, anytime you like if you choose. Happy puting

 

Look, 8 and the debacle around it is what got Ballmer bounced and his entire team eventually canned.

There are SOME folks at MS that realize that, at the core, Microsoft has market dominance and more money than god for three reasons:

1.) Enterprise clients. Servers and workstations, meaning group policy, active directory, and control to admins

2.) OEM sales via mass marketing and deals with the manufacturers garunteeing driver support. Dell and HP, ATI and nVidia, EMC and Corsair, etc. You buy a box, there's a certain set of standards....you buy an off the shelf video card, download some drivers, and shit works. RAM from any manufacturer can be used to upgrade if you follow small guidelines (i.e. pin numbers, voltages, etc)

3.) Users that will use what is put in front of them, be productive both at home and at work, and when that one stops working, *they go buy another without question*.

8 and the UI being ported to 'all platforms' fucked up every one of these. The new management team has at least some idea that these three items need to be preserved *at all costs or Microsoft will fall*. That is not hyperbole.

If Threshold and the eventual 9 get back to these and essentially return to:

1.) A stable, fully controllable and customizable desktop client that admins and businesses can make do as they wish and secure, via group policy and AD and run in a domain environment.

2.) A couple of OEM type releases that are at different, simple price metrics (they failed badly at simple with vista and later) for end home users to also make and use.

3.) A UI *not designed to be on all things*. I cannot stress this enough.

To expand on 3...the UI cannot be all things on all devices because the environments are simple too disparate for our current programming languages to adapt to. A UI for a 4 by 3 touchscreen with tiles and gestures *will not work on three 29" HD screens four feet away from your fact with a mouse and keyboard period*.

Also, a normal UI for a 4 inch touchscreen is a horrible, terrible, and I mean dreadful UI for trying to manage a server farm that is currently running 100 virtualized servers included a primary and backup DAG that happen to be your enterprise email and messaging infrastructure because you're forcing all that into a shitty IE window that *in and of itself is a badly coded security threat*.

If they continue to try and unity-ize the UI, Microsoft will choose the path of destruction.

I'm pretty sure the current team is aware of this.

We'll see what the 'Threshold' beta 9 set looks like.

They must be aware that tablets, phones, and such are going to take SOME of the enterprise marketshare. They must also realize that to survive long term, they have to let go of some of that market share.

Going from 90% to 80% is simply a smaller mountain of gold upon which to rub your stockholders genitals. If you don't go to a smaller market share by returning to what works...you will lose much more than that 10% as you destroy yourself trying to be the end all, be all and self destruct. 8 showed them this. 9 will be their chance to show us if they learned.

 

I've been using win 8.1 for about four months now, and I really like it... I like the fresh interface (a mix of the old and the new)... I like how I can split the screen putting my desktop on one side, and an app or two on the other... switching between desktop, start screen, etc. is easy, and I like the apps screen (better than the old winxp style "start" button thing where you had to navigate through a bunch of menus...)

boots fast, ...the computer is very stable, ..I generally just put it into "sleep" whenever I'm not using it...

..not sure what all the hate is on win 8.1... do folks even bother to learn about its strengths, or just jump the shark on a rant?...

 

The strengths are there. Not arguing that.

The out of the box, no choice, "because fuck you that's why" UI of 8 at release is why all the hate.

8.1 even without a single line of external code is a very, very different animal.

 

bldegle- I have respect for you, so this is not an argument or personal attack, ok:

I know this will sound like a smart ass comment, but welcome to the new world where touch screens are starting to become the norm. Since Windows 8 IS after all an app-based system, it boots to *gasp* the app location startup! Windows desktop is considered an App, so it gets its own large icon at the start up. Everything else is, as designed, an app-type system. You mention an "extra step" to get to the desktop. OK, fine, but how about starting off Word? Excel? Powerpoint? Any other program? On your traditional "desktop" you would either have an icon on the desktop and have to click it, or you would have to go "Start-Programs-ProgramName" With 8.0/8.1 you simply click the app and it starts. So really, to start a program, the desktop version takes more steps to get a program running, or the same amount of time if you happen to have an icon on your desktop. As for your browser getting all freaky, have you absolutely pointed the issue to the operating system, or are you just blaming the OS because it didn't do it in Windows 7? Sound to me like a sticky key maybe on the keyboard, or a problem with the browser itself.

Again, maybe I am just the lucky one, but I have two different computers running 8.1 and have had none of the problems with either computer, or any of the multitude of programs I use that you have mentioned. Not to mention my boot up time is twice as fast as it EVER was with Windows 7, and I don't have the system crashes that I had with 7. Looks like we actually have opposite problems, because for me Windows 7 was buggy as all hell and gave me nothing but trouble.

I do like that split screen option. Have you ran multiple monitors yet? I love how with Windows 8 I can run dual monitors, and when I power one off, the system automatically reverts to a single screen, and when I power up the second monitor, it detects and automatically takes me back into dual screen mode! Windows 7 you would have to go into the video adapter settings and force it back into single, then back into dual monitor mode, sometimes having to reboot the computer for it to work right.

 

But god help you if you wanted the systray clock and date display on both monitors.

 

Considering I can just look at the other monitor if I want to know the date and time, not an issue?

 

*shrug*

Mayhap not for you.

In my case, several games that I play on occasion are full-screen not very friendly to clicking out. SW:ToR for instance. I hate playing windowed.

Anyhow, I wanted the clock and date on both, so when I played these, I could still see the time.

Well, guess what? You can't. I had to make my secondary monitor my 'main' so the clock and systray are there. Otherwise, no time.

 

Ba da Bing Ba da boom

This is completely on the mark. It is sooo easy for the one techy user to say "Oh Windows 8 is great." Yeah say that same thing to a non-techy, 60 year old, stressed out executive, and keep your job. Go ahead, I'll wait. . . . . How did that work out for you? Not so well huh?

Business is not in the mood, ever, to make change for change sake. Going to windows 8 has a huge training expense and no business case to justify the expense. I cannot in good conscience push my 35,000 users to windows 8, why would I do that? With the scuttle butt of Ballmer getting canned because of it pretty much makes the case that Windows 8 is a full on fail.

Like it if you want, but your 1 copy isn't going to tip the scales compared to all of the corporate users like me that ain't going there no way, no how.

 

I'm not saying that Windows 8 is the savior of all systems. What I AM saying is that compared to Windows 7, it is not as bad as people make it out to be. Are you saying that your company has never dealt with a program change and had to do major training? you think you are having issues with THAT, try working in the automotive field with 2 dozen major manufacturers with an equal number of different computer systems, and new designs every year, then try and keep up training with THAT. Want to talk nightmare, THAT is where it is at.

But getting back to the original point discussed, I am pointing out that Windows 8 is not as bad as it is being said to be, when compared to Windows 7, which is what the thread was oriented around.

 

I'd say you need to put the words CAN, and SOME in there a couple of times.

i.e. 8/8.x CAN be superior to 7, in SOME cases, for SOME users.

 

This restores the interface to resemble earlier versions of Windows. You can even have the Windows 2000 look if preferred (I do): http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/gallery.html

 

i'm just using a single monitor thus far, ...the split-screen functionality works so well for me that I don't see the need to go multi-monitor and take up more desk space...

 

Uhm, you know you can have this in 7 too, right?

 

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows-8/fl/boot-to-desktop-windows-8.htm