for the pure desktop (classic) experience, what advantages does 8 offer over 7?
Windows 8
- Thread starter nobulltiger
- Start date
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Personally, I wouldn't consider upgrading from 7 to 8.1 on an existing machine. If you get a new PC, laptop or tablet, sure, (well you probably don't have a choice). And if you do get a new PC or laptop, make sure it has touch capability.
don't think i'll be using touch screen anytime soon on a desktop.
touching screens is very labor intensive for many tasks. touch screen will no doubt grow to some degree on the desktop but eye tracking will be the real nail in the coffin for the mouse.... and touch screens.
- May 12, 2011
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PDF's are my main gripe. Is there anyway on a laptop they can be on the bottom toolbar instead of taking up the whole screen meaning I have to swipe to close? Would make it so much easier to flick between things and not have to open it all over again, would seriously improve my efficiency.
There's a couple of options in the preferences, not sure whether they're available in the reader or only the full version of Acrobat.
Edit -> Preferences -> Page Display, 'Page Layout' and 'Zoom' options
Edit -> Preferences -> Documents, 'Restore last view settings when reopening documents' option
Edit -> Preferences -> Full Screen might also be useful.
I mean in terms of the Microsoft Reader that's built into Windows 8, Adobe displays them in the "old standard" view by default. I've just had a bit of a look but can't find anything to change the behaviour of any of the "Modern UI Applications".
Nothing says "we ****ed up" like two service packs in the space of three months. Windows 7 has still only had the one (unspectacular) SP in 4.5 years.
LukasTheGreat
Brownlow Medallist
Touch screens should stick to phones, I couldn't imagine the horror that would be /is a touchscreen laptop.
It's not that bad. You don't have to use it.
LukasTheGreat
Brownlow Medallist
Didn't they have touch screen computers in Avatar? There's the future right there!
Re service packs, I'm not sure what MS are doing. Point releases, service packs, R2 versions, it's all a bit clumsy. Why not just stick with point releases? I'm probably wrong but I'm wondering whether MS are doing away with service packs. Release cycles are getting shorter, they want to get people used to upgrading more frequently, and in business, make sure customers feel they're getting value for money for software assurance.
Re service packs, I'm not sure what MS are doing. Point releases, service packs, R2 versions, it's all a bit clumsy. Why not just stick with point releases? I'm probably wrong but I'm wondering whether MS are doing away with service packs. Release cycles are getting shorter, they want to get people used to upgrading more frequently, and in business, make sure customers feel they're getting value for money for software assurance.
Metro in alot of cases is just frustrating. It's clean and I can see where they're going. But what's the point of live tiles if a news app for example is updating with me with the latest news but then when I click the tile I can't find the story that is mentioned anywhere. And why can't I change the 5 photos that are flipping through my photos tile that haven't changed for the last month. It's just too restrictive, applesque, and frustrating.
That's why I don't sign in with my Microsoft account.
I don't have Win 8 myself, but I was setting up a laptop for my uncle. I couldn't believe that I was unable to log in to Skype (Metro) using a Skype account!!! You have to use a Live account, how ridiculous! So of course I installed Skype for Desktop.
- Mar 25, 2003
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Gonna buy a secondary laptop as it's time for a new one after 3 years.
Has anyone had any stories with dual booting into linux? Good/Bad?
There are plenty of tutorials out there and it shouldn't be a problem but just wanna get more personal stories of here if there are any. All the problems seem to surround the UEFI Secure Boot System.
If it all falls to s**t I will just buy a new empty hard drive and not bother with windows on it. I Have windows 7 on my main laptop but it's more a desktop replacement laptop rather than a portable one.
Has anyone had any stories with dual booting into linux? Good/Bad?
There are plenty of tutorials out there and it shouldn't be a problem but just wanna get more personal stories of here if there are any. All the problems seem to surround the UEFI Secure Boot System.
If it all falls to s**t I will just buy a new empty hard drive and not bother with windows on it. I Have windows 7 on my main laptop but it's more a desktop replacement laptop rather than a portable one.
Dramoth
Premium Platinum
I have good old MS trying to get me to upgrade to Windows 8.1... didnt they get my memo stating that I think that Windows 8 on a touchscreenless laptop or desktop with the TIFKAM interface is the biggest mistake those arselickers in the OS division have ever made.
I mean, how hard is it to write a block of code in the bootloader for the kernal that can detect whether or not the device has a touchscreen and load the appropriate version of the desktop for the device.
But no... those tossers at Microsoft think that they really know what everyone wants and have crippled the desktop by removing the start button and giving us TIFKAM... whether we want it or not.
As red+black has said, if you have windows 7, stick with it... but I disagree that Windows 8 isnt another Vista... as an IT professional, I can quite categorically state that it is another vista (and windows 2000 and ME) because it is designed exclusively for touchscreen devices and doesnt take into consideration that most people are still faffing about with the old non-touchscreen stuff.
I am seriously considering going back to Windows 7 soon (if it keeps bugging me to 'upgrade' to Windows 81 whether I want to or not) or kicking Windows to the curb for good and permanently moving to Linux (especially now that Steam is getting the developers and games workshops they market for to make linux ports of their games).
I mean, how hard is it to write a block of code in the bootloader for the kernal that can detect whether or not the device has a touchscreen and load the appropriate version of the desktop for the device.
But no... those tossers at Microsoft think that they really know what everyone wants and have crippled the desktop by removing the start button and giving us TIFKAM... whether we want it or not.
As red+black has said, if you have windows 7, stick with it... but I disagree that Windows 8 isnt another Vista... as an IT professional, I can quite categorically state that it is another vista (and windows 2000 and ME) because it is designed exclusively for touchscreen devices and doesnt take into consideration that most people are still faffing about with the old non-touchscreen stuff.
I am seriously considering going back to Windows 7 soon (if it keeps bugging me to 'upgrade' to Windows 81 whether I want to or not) or kicking Windows to the curb for good and permanently moving to Linux (especially now that Steam is getting the developers and games workshops they market for to make linux ports of their games).
Dramoth
Premium Platinum
Point releases are good... I prefer to see point releases in software.
MS have said that they are going to be killing service packs going forward. In the future when they want to release an update to an OS, you are going to have to do the whole Windows 8.1 thing and download a copy for each machine. What I am wondering is how this is going to affect WSUS (Windows Server Update Service) and their distribution of patches and service packs.
Microsoft demanding that organisations have to download 1 copy per device is a joke. Windows 8.1 is a 3.5Gb download. If a company has 100 desktops, thats 350Gb of data download which would pretty much burn a companies monthly allowance. Pushing 8.1 to a WSUS server would be a single download/multi install operation. But MS dont care about this... 1 computer = 1 version of Windows.
lemon chicken
Cancelled
Old computer died on NY day so bought a new one a couple of days ago. What a total piece of s**t, given up on the app screen and just go straight to desktop. What happened to media player? that music player on the green screen is un-useable.
They should have called it 'Window' 8, not Windows, as single apps seem to take up the whole window when they are running. Maybe this can be changed, but I always thought the whole point of Windows was that you could multitask.
More seriously, they really should have built two OS - one for tablets, the other for desktop PCs. Instead, we have this hybrid piece of crap. I've not found the Metro interface to be at all useful for work requiring a keyboard and mouse (i.e. 99.99% of the work I do on my desktop) - all Metro does is appear from time to time when I don't really want it to (e.g. if I hit the Start button, do a search, accidentally click on the side or corner of the screen, or open a file that, unbeknownst to me, is associated with an app instead of a desktop program). Usually at that point, I panic momentarily before looking around for an 'X' to get rid of this thing that has suddenly taken control of my entire screen. Eventually I remember that alt-F4 does the trick.
If I could have my way, I'd remove Metro and keep everything else. Apparently the OS itself is quite an improvement over 7, but the UI sucks balls.
Maybe I am old-fashioned but I don't think tablets will ever replace desktops entirely. Sure, they have replaced many of the functions that desktops have previously performed, because they do these things better. But I can't see myself, or anyone else really, comfortably writing reports or working with spreadsheets or multimedia on a touchscreen based system anytime soon. (A tablet with a keyboard is just another laptop.)
More seriously, they really should have built two OS - one for tablets, the other for desktop PCs. Instead, we have this hybrid piece of crap. I've not found the Metro interface to be at all useful for work requiring a keyboard and mouse (i.e. 99.99% of the work I do on my desktop) - all Metro does is appear from time to time when I don't really want it to (e.g. if I hit the Start button, do a search, accidentally click on the side or corner of the screen, or open a file that, unbeknownst to me, is associated with an app instead of a desktop program). Usually at that point, I panic momentarily before looking around for an 'X' to get rid of this thing that has suddenly taken control of my entire screen. Eventually I remember that alt-F4 does the trick.
If I could have my way, I'd remove Metro and keep everything else. Apparently the OS itself is quite an improvement over 7, but the UI sucks balls.
Maybe I am old-fashioned but I don't think tablets will ever replace desktops entirely. Sure, they have replaced many of the functions that desktops have previously performed, because they do these things better. But I can't see myself, or anyone else really, comfortably writing reports or working with spreadsheets or multimedia on a touchscreen based system anytime soon. (A tablet with a keyboard is just another laptop.)
