Windows 8 downgrade

securityguy

The problem with "I'm not going to run release X, I can only cope with release X-1" is that, unless you're planning to die within five years, you are then stuck. And the gap from what you is "all you can cope with" and the then current release will widen, not narrow.

I had an acquaintance who, in her twenties, claimed that as she learnt to drive on an Austin Metro, she couldn't cope with other cars. Short of stockpiling Metros sufficient to last fifty years, just how did she plan to make that work?

If you don't like Windows 8, your long-term choices are using it, or moving to Linux/OSX/Solaris/whatever. Because if nothing else, the lack of availability of anything that will read current Office file formats, interface with current printers and drive current phones will eventually isolate you.
I don't use Windows, so I have no opinion about 8, but I recall precisely the same "I'm not moving" on the release of Windows from DOS advocates, Windows 95 from Windows 3 advocates, Windows XP from Windows 98 (in particular) users, SunOS4 from SunOS3 enthusiasts (who, ironically, later trumpeted their determination to stay with the wonderful SunOS4 upon the release of Solaris 2.0) and so on and so on. There's probably, stuck in some dusty cupboard somewhere, someone shouting they won't come out until VMS 4.6 is ported onto modern hardware.

Uxb

Well I look forward to your comments when Ford bring out a car with all the pedals swapped round and say that just because the "foot interface" is changed that no reason not to like the new model and hey - we all need change don't we, those who complain the accelerator pedal is where the brake used to be are just moaners.

Gloomendoom

RumRat wrote: »

That's not something that the average user would worry about. Agreed, it needs addressing in the upcoming updates, either 8.1.1 or 9(8.1.2?), for those that do, but it's not a deal breaker for most.

Agreed, but that is just one example of several niggling flaws (I'm finding more every day) that together make everyday use a series of annoying workarounds rather than a couple of clicks on an intuitive GUI.

I can't help feeling that Win8.x has been dumbed down just a bit too much. For many of us that need a computer to earn a living, it seems to have created some pretty fundamental barriers to productivity.

I've been using computers since the 1970's and seen operating systems and user interfaces improve at every update (even Vista had some nice features) but Win 8 is the first one that has made me consider downgrading. Admittedly, it's early days for me and I will give it another month or two to prove itself but, so far, its advantages are getting outweighed by the pile of disadvantages that is growing every day.

securityguy

Uxb wrote: »

Well I look forward to your comments when Ford bring out a car with all the pedals swapped round and say that just because the "foot interface" is changed that no reason not to like the new model and hey - we all need change don't we, those who complain the accelerator pedal is where the brake used to be are just moaners.

I didn't say you had to like it. I just said that, in reality, your choices are sharply limited. Cars have been sold with manual gear levers in the centre of the dashboard (2CV, Renault 4 and others). Cars have been sold with gear shifts on the steering column (Ford Zephyr), including in one case H-pattern four speed manuals (Saab 96). Learnt to drive on one of those (2CV and Renault 4 were the standard cheap run-about of the 1970s?) Tough: you can't buy a new car with the same gear interface, and most of the existing ones are either scrap iron or restoration jobs or expensive collectors' items (with all the usual hassles with soft valve seats, of course).

But in your example, if Ford did that, you'd have a choice: you'd either put up with it, run second-hand cars, or go to another car manufacturer and buy one of theirs that was more to your liking. You have precisely those choices with computers: put up with it, assume you can get by indefinitely without buying a new one, go to another manufacturer. If for some reason you can only buy Fords (or Windows), then you've got the first two choices. All I'm saying is that "assume you can get by indefinitely" is a particularly short-sighted strategy.

Mr_Toad

The cheapest way is to upgrade your parents!

All it takes is a little time and effort and they'll get the hang of it.

Bollotom

I have 8.1 and Classicshell and it's just as intuitive as any of the previous windows. Most people complain about the overall windows when what they mean is the GUI. Took me about a day to get to grips but then mucking around with computers is half the fun. Once everything is set up it's a doddle. :cool:

RumRat

I've nothing against the use of 'Classic Shell' but I don't understand people who install it on day one, never see the Modern UI and then start to crusade against W8.
There are plenty of tutorials on the web and YouTube and at the end of the day W8 is really easy to get around, some things are just in slightly different places.
I think most people I know use a hybrid and use the start screen when they want to use a W8 app for something or find something quickly and the desktop and desktop apps for other things.

Gloomendoom

Bollotom wrote: »

I have 8.1 and Classicshell and it's just as intuitive as any of the previous windows. Most people complain about the overall windows when what they mean is the GUI.

To most people, the GUI is Windows.

securityguy

Gloomendoom wrote: »

To most people, the GUI is Windows.

And as most people use the GUI for little more than starting a web browser and starting Office, I somewhat struggle to see why it's all such a big deal.

OnAndUp

What's GUI please? something obvious probably - but not to me!