Windows 8

[xcellerate]

First off, I've only been using windows 8 for about 8 hours now so my experiences are limited, I'll probably continue with it later this evening on my laptop. However so far my experiences of it have been gut wrenching, I won't say I hate everything about the new Metro interface but in 8 hours I still can't name a single thing about it that isn't absolute shit.

So I'm hoping I'm just missing how I'm supposed to be using Metro and some people here can can tell me about their wonderful experiences with Metro. Maybe they could even list off specific features they find to be better designed, more intuitive, or faster compared to windows 7.

 

[ríomhaire]

I've not heard a single good thing about 8. It seems like it's the new Vista.

 

[Shem]

And if it is the new Vista, I give it permission to jump off a cliff.

 

[Chris D]

I've been using Windows 8 as my primary OS for about a month. Initially with the Developer Preview and now with the Consumer Preview.

I have to admit, there isn't a whole lot that is going to make people want to upgrade. But it isn't a bad OS. It's not a Vista. It seems as good if not better in terms of performance compared to Windows 7.

The metro interface is going to be a difficult one to swallow for a lot of users. Your Start Menu is now the Metro interface. The moment you log in, you are taken into the Metro interface.

In the Metro interface you have access to a number of Metro apps. These are all a bit more like mobile apps than full blown desktop apps and they all run directly in the metro interface.

From the metro start menu you can click on Desktop where the experience gets much more familiar. Just as I do with Windows 7 I keep most of my apps either on the desktop or pinned to the taskbar. So in actual fact I often never need to go back to the Metro interface at all.

There's no longer a Start button instead if you hover over where the start button used to be you can click here to go back to the Metro menu.

This is fully customisable. I can remove any metro apps that I don't need/use and I can access shortcuts to desktop apps which you install appear on the far right too - much like they would do in your normal start menu. I can also move my desktop app shortcuts to wherever I like in the Metro menu.

Overall, this is the same Windows we've always known, with a replacement start menu and some new mobile style apps.

People will find it difficult to adjust to the new concepts but I'm sure they will. And of course, this is all gearing up towards hardware which could well rival iPad. I should be getting a Windows tablet soon and once I have I'll let you know how I get on.

 

[ríomhaire]

So basically, every time you turn on your computer you get taken to Metro, immediately swap over to the one that's just like Windows 7 (and they don't give you an option to boot straight to that?) and you never go back to the Metro interface unless you really need to? Sounds like they're trying to force an interface on you that you don't want and you have to work around it rather than work with it.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

.... :v ?

 

[Chris D]

This is going to be the major problem. People resistant to change, even if it could be a positive experience.

Remember, the Metro interface is basically your Start Menu.

I don't know about you, but on Windows 7 the first thing I do after logging in is I launch an app. I guess usually Chrome. Well I can still do that.

The Metro interface loads and all I need to do is click the Chrome shortcut in the Metro interface and then Metro closes down and Chrome launches.

We're also underestimating the fact that actually there could very well be some useful apps launched for Metro. In some cases you might actually find you won't necessarily always want to launch to your desktop, and even if you do you still can start doing whatever you need to be doing just as easily.

Probably opening a can of worms here too, but the traditional Windows Explorer has been redesigned with the ribbon interface. The same interface you get in Office. Some love it, some hate it. I think it's great.

 

[Chris D]

.... :v ?

That's a really useful contribution, thanks.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

I guess what I have to say is this: It feels like Windows 8 is just a marketing pull and isn't hugely useful for us folk using the standard PC setup. It's designed to make workflow faster and increase the fun factor and approachability of All-in-One PCs, tablets and Windows Phones. They've got quite the giant to compete with in the form of Apple and Windows has never been "touch" friendly, in the literal sense.

No need to upgrade unless they cap DirectX on us again like a bunch of slimy assbutts.

 

[Chris D]

It's definitely not going to be like Vista to 7 or XP to 7.

I think most people saw the upgrade as pretty necessary. From XP because it was becoming dated and from Vista because it was crap.

But the big difference is here, I genuinely feel that 8 is not going to be crap, although it may take longer to catch on.

I recommend to everyone to at least try it, even if just in a VM.

 

[xcellerate]

See I've felt that Metro is slower to do whatever tasks I want to do.

If I try and search for something like 'users' in metro then nothing comes up...because the default search category is apps and 'users' aren't in apps they're in settings. So I have to go click on 'settings' and then 'users' appears! Now I launch users and instead of taking me to my normal control panel explorer window with the users category selected...it's opens another metro panel with users in it.

Microsoft didn't even consider people who multitask. The control panel window used to be like 640x480 so I could do other stuff while having the control panel window open. But if I want to add a user in metro I have to occupy 1920x1080 pixels, MY ENTIRE SCREEN, to do this simple task. Why on earth would I ever want that?

What I haven't been able to find built into win8 is a way to disable metro forever and permanently. I don't want anything to ever open anything related to metro on my computer. But so far the only things I've found have been third party apps.

 

[Krynn72]

From everything I've heard and seen, it seems like Win8 is just an operating system whose purpose is to push tablet computers into the mainstream. A Tablet computer with Win8 sounds great. A Desktop computer doesnt.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Those stupid AIOs too... and their phones.

 

[xcellerate]

So yesterday I saw there was a registry hack to disable metro but I didn't want to do it then because I wanted to use windows 8 the way the developers had wanted me to. Today though, I felt like I would do the hack and see if it made win8 more bearable. However, and this is hysterical I think, Microsoft released a patch that removed the registry value you need to change to disable metro. Meaning you can't disable the metro ui....

So microsoft sees a bunch of people are disabling metro because they hate it and their solution is to force people to use something they hate enough to edit the registry for. That's really brilliant microsoft, fantastic job really listening to what your customers want and forcing the exact opposite upon them.

 

[ríomhaire]

Clearly they've been taking inspiration from Gearbox!

 

[Chris D]

There's going to be mass hysteria over this metro interface, just as there was over the Ribbon interface in Office. Microsoft of course are going to be reluctant to officially support two interfaces, but I still stand by my posts yesterday.

xcellerate, Microsoft very much so thought of people who multitask, that's why the very actions you described to add users is still available as a classic Control Panel item. I haven't yet found anything I can't do the old fashioned way. Aside from the Start Menu of course

Give it time, I was reluctant at first but now I'm getting on ok. I'm not going to say I prefer it. But I am going to say it's worth giving it more time.

 

[xcellerate]

I know I'm getting angry/offensive/defensive and I'm sorry, but it's just that I'm so confused. In two days I can't find a single good thing to say about Metro, but I can list out a number of features that don't make any sense.

And you're right , I've been using the classic control panel instead of metro for as much as I can. It's just really telling that it's more efficient to go out of my way and pin the classic control panel to the start bar so I can use the win 7 interface to perform a task instead of using the metro interface.

I liked 98, I liked XP, I liked vista, and I liked 7 almost immediately, for the most part I enjoy change (I still defend the ribbon interface as a great change). However whenever I try and calm myself down I just think about how everything is full screen wasted space little rectangles and go into a rage again, metro is just an utter waste of space! Everything it does could be done not-full screen! Every single change to windows should be made with the intention of allowing the user to do something faster and better, and so far nobody has been able to list out the ways in which metro does that.