Windows 8.1 a hero or a zero

AshleyPomeroy

penrhyn wrote: »

Just spent an hour or so upgrading.

Mine took slightly longer, but it was mostly spent downloading the upgrade - it seems to download a whole fresh copy of Windows 8 - than actually installing it. I wrote more thoroughly about it here:
http://women-and-dreams.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/windows-81-candy-and-currant-bun.html

The article has tonnes of Morrissey references, because 8.1 was released on the same day as Morrissey's autobiography. And, just like Morrissey, you either ignore Windows 8 or you absolutely loathe it.

I've only used it on a small netbook-style laptop (an old ThinkPad X61) and not on a major productivity machine. With Classic Shell it's actually quite nice, or at least fast, and in my opinion a lot of the rot set in with Windows Vista, e.g. the absolutely useless Windows search functionality, which was originally a Windows Vista thing. I feel no reason whatsoever to upgrade my desktop machine from Windows 7.

8.1 basically adds a spurious start button, mildly rejigs the app store that I never use, takes away the Windows Experience Index, and that's about it. At least it's free. But then again so is OSX Mavericks, and that's much more thorough. To be honest, Windows 8.1 should have been a 125mb patch that updated in ten minutes.

Oh, it improves multi-monitor support:


Desktop on the left, a Windows app on the right. But you have to wonder what the point is. In my opinion they should have kept the Windows Start Screen a mostly-tablet-only thing and perhaps designed the Surface Pro so that it can be used in conjunction with your Windows 8 desktop machine - in the example above it would be great if you could treat the Surface Pro as a second monitor, for example.

Lum

AshleyPomeroy wrote: »

in the example above it would be great if you could treat the Surface Pro as a second monitor, for example.

Look for a program called Synergy, that can do something kind of like that, but you can't drag windows between them.

grumpycrab

Whilst I'm sure 8.1 brings improvements to 8 I've found that the upgrade process itself is a reinstall of the operating system. What was wrong with the good old Service Pack mechanism?

Half my clients failed to upgrade and without an ISO meant having to redownload the 3.5GB (for EACH failed client). The failures (obscure codes 0xC1900101 0x30018) were fixed by disabling Start-up programs (suspected culprit was software from IOBIT but the MS compatibility checker didn't say anything).
EDIT: the TP-LINK wireless card appears to be disliked by 8.1 too (Atheros based)

That was a long day.

prowla

The 8.1 update is 3+ GB, so it's pretty much the whole OS (except the update took longer than a fresh install).

ThemeOne

It is possible to get an ISO of 8.1
http://www.neowin.net/news/here-is-how-to-get-the-windows-81-iso-and-create-a-usb-install-stick
... but it's a bit fiddly, and surely we shouldn't have to jump through so many hoops. Can't see why it couldn't have just been something you get via Windows Update, like any other update.

grumpycrab

ThemeOne wrote: »

It is possible to get an ISO of 8.1
http://www.neowin.net/news/here-is-how-to-get-the-windows-81-iso-and-create-a-usb-install-stick
... but it's a bit fiddly, and surely we shouldn't have to jump through so many hoops. Can't see why it couldn't have just been something you get via Windows Update, like any other update.

Didn't work for me. Upon running the ISO it asked for my W8 key - on 2 machines it said "not able to update using provided key". There may be work arounds I guess. But I've done all my upgrades now.

EDIT: 8 Pro UPGRADE is still available for a "reasonable" £55 - probably the cheapest route to get 8.1 Pro, despite the pain of the 8 -> 8.1 upgrade.
http://www.box.co.uk/Windows_8_Pro_Upgrade_3UR-00006_from_Any_1268069.html
(also available on Box Ebay Store)

Hydro1

During setup, I followed the helpful advice in this thread to register a Local account rather than a Microsoft account, and that seemed to work okay. But now trying to install any new apps, it seems that I have to register a Microsoft account. Is that definitely the case, or am I missing a method of by-passing that and continuing to use the Local account ? Any help appreciated.

grumpycrab

Yep, just like Apple and Google stores you need a MS account to access their store. Any old account (MS) will do, eg Hotmail, Live.co.uk etc

Jivesinger

grumpycrab wrote: »

EDIT: 8 Pro UPGRADE is still available for a "reasonable" £55 - probably the cheapest route to get 8.1 Pro, despite the pain of the 8 -> 8.1 upgrade.
http://www.box.co.uk/Windows_8_Pro_Upgrade_3UR-00006_from_Any_1268069.html
(also available on Box Ebay Store)

Just to repeat what I said on the other thread; if anyone does want to upgrade to Windows 8, (or use it as a cheap way into 8.1) do it now.

Amazon have just hiked their Windows 8 prices up from about £60 to over £100, and I guess the other retailers will follow suit before too long, so if you can grab it at £55, do it sooner rather than later.

matttye

Never used Windows 8 because it just looks so horrendous from all the pictures.

I'm sure it's great on a tablet, but it looks horrible for a desktop.

And a tech support nightmare. Two versions of many apps - 'modern' and desktop!