Windows 8 for people who hate the Metro UI

mart44

ChiefGrasscutter wrote: »

People seem to be forgetting that in the real world computers are used to DO things.

So if they are running top end stuff like photoshop CS series, CAD systems, publishing and the more specialist corporate stuff companies do not want their staff to have to spend their time learning changed things which hinder their work flow.
Spending time having to learn new ways of managing the operating system may be 'fun' for the home user but it is very annoying for the business user.

Mind you, the same applies to some of these high end specialist programs. You have got several workstations running them and the vendor announces that they are withdrawing support for the earlier version before date X: the typical corporate user response is one of total fury.

I use the CorelDraw Suite. Also Xara Photo & Graphics Designer and RealDraw Pro. All fairly similar in demands to Photoshop perhaps. All that has to be done is to click on a tile/shortcut for the program to start and run just as it did on the previous OS. I can't see why it wouldn't be just as easy with something like Photoshop.

As said, people seem to be forgetting that in the real world computers are used to DO things. Arguments about the UI aside, Windows 8 will do things OK. I don't think there's a lot to learn in order to run programs on it.

prowla

mart44 wrote: »

As said, people seem to be forgetting that in the real world computers are used to DO things. Arguments about the UI aside, Windows 8 will do things OK. I don't think there's a lot to learn in order to run programs on it.

It's the glue that holds things together and defines the environment in which you run the apps, and it doesn't do it as well as the previous release (and probably the one before that).

Blackjack_Davy

Lum wrote: »

No, I am fed up of people advising people to waste money on an older product by fearmongering about change

Thats a strawman argument. People don't like it because it's a retrograde step on a Desktop PC. No-one except luddites have a problem with change for the better, but change for the sake of change is pointless, change for the worse is frankly dumb.

And it boots a few seconds faster because it uses hibernation by default. Well woo-hoo. I already have an SSD so booting is quick anyway, but I can gain an extra 5 seconds of my day on the one boot up of my PC per day, I must rush out and buy it!

Having to install all these 3rd party software just to regain something of the functionality of Windows 7 is the most absurd part of it all since theres clearly a demand for them. And whats to stop Microsoft from deciding it doesn't like these in future and releases patches to block or counter these? More to the point whats the odds of Windows 9 removing the Desktop mode altogether? Likelyhood is that MS will introduce a walled in garden for it's app store in the same mode as Apple, buy from us or not at all. Want a 3rd party piece of software? Buy it from the App store. Computers are becoming an appliance like any other. It's the death of open platform.

mart44

prowla wrote: »

It's the glue that holds things together and defines the environment in which you run the apps, and it doesn't do it as well as the previous release (and probably the one before that).

I find it does.

Lum

Blackjack_Davy wrote: »

Thats a strawman argument. People don't like it because it's a retrograde step on a Desktop PC. No-one except luddites have a problem with change for the better, but change for the sake of change is pointless, change for the worse is frankly dumb.

I have never claimed that that metro was a change for the better. Surely the fact that I posted this thread is an admission that this is not the case.

Fact is Windows 8 is (for a few days at least) significantly cheaper, and fixable with one third party app and a bunch of tweaks. There are also going to be people who have bought a new PC with windows 8 home edition, come home and gone "!!!!!! is this crap?"

And it boots a few seconds faster because it uses hibernation by default. Well woo-hoo. I already have an SSD so booting is quick anyway, but I can gain an extra 5 seconds of my day on the one boot up of my PC per day, I must rush out and buy it!

That's not strictly true. It only hibernates the kernel, not the entire OS, so it skips detecting all your hardware at every boot. The OS still gets a fresh start.

I too have an SSD, I gain about 20-30 seconds depending on the machine in question. The combination of Win8 + SSD is particularly wonderful on my HTPC.

More to the point whats the odds of Windows 9 removing the Desktop mode altogether? Likelyhood is that MS will introduce a walled in garden for it's app store in the same mode as Apple, buy from us or not at all. Want a 3rd party piece of software? Buy it from the App store. Computers are becoming an appliance like any other. It's the death of open platform.

If Windows 9 removes desktop mode altogether and introduces a walled garden, then I'll be sat here smug that I have the latest and greatest OS that doesn't pull that crap, and so can keep going for as long as possible before it drops out of support.

prowla

Lum wrote: »

Fact is Windows 8 is (for a few days at least) significantly cheaper, and fixable with one third party app and a bunch of tweaks. There are also going to be people who have bought a new PC with windows 8 home edition, come home and gone "!!!!!! is this crap?"

It is not all fixable:

1. They removed the translucent borders, rounded corners, resizable borders & buttons, & other eye-candy, thereby making it uglier. Is there anything to fix that?
2. The different UI models they have bodged together use different font sizes, icon styles, and behaviours. is there anything to make them consistent?

Lum wrote: »

If Windows 9 removes desktop mode altogether and introduces a walled garden, then I'll be sat here smug that I have the latest and greatest OS that doesn't pull that crap, and so can keep going for as long as possible before it drops out of support.

But they already pulled some of that crap with Windows 8, so the actual last one is Windows 7. If they don't fix things (or take it further in that direction) with Windows 9, then I'll be on Linux and running the required apps in VMs.

prowla

Blackjack_Davy wrote: »

Thats a strawman argument. People don't like it because it's a retrograde step on a Desktop PC. No-one except luddites have a problem with change for the better, but change for the sake of change is pointless, change for the worse is frankly dumb.

And it boots a few seconds faster because it uses hibernation by default. Well woo-hoo. I already have an SSD so booting is quick anyway, but I can gain an extra 5 seconds of my day on the one boot up of my PC per day, I must rush out and buy it!

Having to install all these 3rd party software just to regain something of the functionality of Windows 7 is the most absurd part of it all since theres clearly a demand for them. And whats to stop Microsoft from deciding it doesn't like these in future and releases patches to block or counter these? More to the point whats the odds of Windows 9 removing the Desktop mode altogether? Likelyhood is that MS will introduce a walled in garden for it's app store in the same mode as Apple, buy from us or not at all. Want a 3rd party piece of software? Buy it from the App store. Computers are becoming an appliance like any other. It's the death of open platform.

I agree.

And in fact Windows updates may revert some of the 3rd party add-on functionality, meaning that it might need to be re-applied afterwards. So then you'll be into maintaining your tweaked environment. Is that progress?

Actually, regarding the last bit, I think that the closing down of Windows may be a boost to Linux (and/or whatever else may come along). I really think that Ubuntu is now a fully viable primary desktop platform. If Microsoft want to shut up shop, then that's their choice, but nobody is forced to use their product.

Lum

prowla wrote: »

It is not all fixable:

1. They removed the translucent borders, rounded corners, resizable borders & buttons, & other eye-candy, thereby making it uglier. Is there anything to fix that?

Just a third party hack, same as was the case if you wanted custom themes in 7, Vista or XP. You'll need UxStyle and then a custom theme. There's even some on that site to make it look like the XP Luna, Royale or Zune theme.

The different UI models they have bodged together use different font sizes, icon styles, and behaviours. is there anything to make them consistent?

I don't see any of the metro stuff any more, so this one doesn't bother me.

But they already pulled some of that crap with Windows 8, so the actual last one is Windows 7. If they don't fix things (or take it further in that direction) with Windows 9, then I'll be on Linux and running the required apps in VMs.

Windows 8 still lets me install anything I want, they just added a new, entirely optional app store that I ignore. It is in no way a walled garden. At the moment the only mainstream OS that does that is Apple iOS, though it looks like they're trying to push it that way in OS/X too.

Lucero_2

It pains me to say it, as I was massively unimpressed with W8 when at BETA, but it is a superior OS. It will take some time for corporate integration but for home users (especially power home users or those with many PCs at home) it's much more feature rich than W7.

spud17

Lucero wrote: »

It pains me to say it, as I was massively unimpressed with W8 when at BETA, but it is a superior OS. It will take some time for corporate integration but for home users (especially power home users or those with many PCs at home) it's much more feature rich than W7.

Not having a go, but the fact that it is 'feature rich' is of no interest to the vast majority of users, even those with many devices in their homes.
Heck, the majority of users struggle to tell me which OS they're using.

Yes, I've played with the Beta, but will probably stick with Win7.