Windows 8

[claidheamhmor]

I bought the online upgrade to Windows 8 yesterday; only $40. Of course, I first did an image backup of my C: drive; after the Windows 8 Preview debacle, I wanted to be able to restore my system easily to Windows 7.

After the download, I saved the install as an ISO file, extracted it, and ran setup. It did the upgrade from Windows 7 quite well, but I did have a few snags after that, and it took a System Restore and some fiddling to get the system booting again. That may have had something to do with some software I'd just installed.

So far...ho hum. The new Modern UI is a bit odd, and I don't see a benefit yet. The loss of the Start button is an irritation. Otherwise, it's much that same. I guess I'll see how it goes.

Comments

[filialucis]

Is there a way to get rid of the UI that looks like it was designed for a smartphone?

And what exactly is the reasoning behind that, anyway, on a desktop PC? Aside from the reasoning (if it can be called that) that seems to have driven the Office redesign, which appears to have been "Now that everyone's learned how to work efficiently with the old Office interface, let's mess with everyone's heads by BREAKING it!"

[claidheamhmor]

There are apps that let you add a start button and bypass the Modern screen - Classic Shell looks the best so far - but there are places you have to deal with it. I'm still struggling to find compelling reasons to upgrade to Win8.

I think the reasoning is driven purely by the mobile interface. On a desktop computer, the Modern UI is too big, jarring, and clumsy. Maybe for very inexperienced, single-app-at-a-time users, it might be usable. Thankfully, the standard Desktop interface remains very much the same as Win7. Explorer has Office 2010-style toolbars, and they seem much nicer.

[filialucis]

Hurm. Same old same old, then. I guess I'll treat Win8 the way I treated Vista... ignore it and wait for the next version after it.

Is there a trend emerging where Microsoft caters to the Very Inexperienced™ segment at the expense of alienating more efficient users? I've started doing my spreadsheets in Open Office because the new Excel grates on my nerves, and the only reason I'm putting up with the bloody stupid inflated-with-a-bicycle-pump Office toolbars is that I can't avoid using Word for work purposes. If I could, I'd never spend another cent on MS Office because the OO interface is so much more congenial.

[claidheamhmor]

It's not just Microsoft. For years, it seems obvious that in software, easy sells (look at Apple!). Those of use who do know how to use the technical bit of software are a small minority, and sometimes we get left by the wayside.

I've never liked Word much; where functionality is concerned, it's always been worse that competitors like WordPerfect, but it was easier to use. Excel, by contrast, has been Microsoft's killer app (well, OK, that and Outlook). It's easy to use, and it's a monstrously powerful application.