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How does Microsoft capture part of the mobile market without everyone saying that there are too many versions of Windows and there should only be one?
Again, I have never owned a touchscreen and Windows 8 & 8.1 have worked marvelously for me since the Windows 8 beta. The big secret: use the traditional Windows desktop that comes with Windows 8, you just press the windows key to switch to it, and you're off and running with you standard keyboard and mouse. It functions just like windows 7. If you want to start a program and don't have an icon for it, you press the windows key, start typing the name of the program, and press enter to start it. Back to the Windows 7 experience.
Interesting now how Windows 10 is right around the corner, and this thread has some of the nicest things to say about Windows 8. People always seem to be OK with the previous version.
Remember when windows 7 came out and all of a sudden everybody was in love with Vista, after YEARS of ripping it apart? Human nature.
hatfok
King Yiddum's Castle
Pegasus Galaxy
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You had me at hollandaise!
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Kyle Moyer wrote: Windows ME was back to ramen.
Windows ME was stale overcooked ramen and someone forgot to include the flavor packet.
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Linux is a Michelin-starred all-you-can-eat buffet.
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I had it at home, didn't hate it once 8.1 came out as you could boot into desktop mode.
The start menu didn't bother me as I usually pin frequent used items to the task bar.
I can't see an advantage for it to be used into a corporate environment to be honest. At work were waiting for Windows 10 as were on XP due to legacy software that were rewriting at the moment from Access 2000
Every day, thousands of innocent plants are killed by vegetarians.
Help end the violence EAT BACON
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For me, it's a matter of not being able to really get there. I am on a service pack on Windows 8.0, as an upgrade from Windows 7. After three several hour attempts to upgrade to Windows 8.1, it fails with an esoteric blue screen crash, and takes a few more hours to roll itself back.
I loathe Windows 8.0, primarily for its flakiness and app incompatibility, but I cannot move the box forwards or backwards without wiping it. I'll use Windows as required at work, but this box killer, plus Dell laptops now shipping with Ubuntu, means I'll never personally buy a Windows device again. {end mini-rant}
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One thing I have to agree with is that YES - - - EVERY time I try to upgrade a version of Windows it goes horribly wrong. Then spend hours trying to fix itself. I always end up wiping the drive and installing from scratch. Doesn't matter if it's my gaming rig, gaming laptop, regular laptop, wife's or kid's machines, the upgrade nor the recovery have ever worked for me.
hatfok
King Yiddum's Castle
Pegasus Galaxy
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The app and driver incompatibility in regards to Vista comes down to vendor laziness, no different to how it was in Vista. Vista came out, vendors scrambled to catch up. The only real thing to blame there is the length of time before it was released, vendors got lazy, thought Vista was just vapour ware that would never get released then BOOM! everyone has to scramble to catch up. You use Dell machines? Well there's your problem. They are notoriously flaky, have had numerous issues with some variant of malware being cooked into their firmware, some 95% of machines requiring after market hardware maintenance etc. There is a very big reason why Michael Dell bought out the public shares and made the company private again.
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We use both in our household. I use 8.1 with a boot directly into the 7 style desktop. From my perspective, there is not much difference. I'm happy with either, but maybe it just takes little to keep me happy. 
BTW: I never experienced problems with any of the updates.
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Well, you are a genius!!! I spend most of my life when windows 8 came out explaining and re-explaining to everyone I know that you do not need a touchscreen to use windows 8. Finally some people are intelligent enough to see that! Cheers!
hatfok
King Yiddum's Castle
Pegasus Galaxy
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Two MAJOR issues:
Usability!
Win 8 is a totally different paradigm that Win 7. For a laptop and the Windows Phone the Tiles were cute, but for a Corporate environment, no one really wants to work like that.
Security!
Win 8 has gone completely overboard with security. As a developer your app can only write to it's own folder or the cloud... so I can't build an app that write app that write to another app's folder.. something I've done in the past.
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
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Kevin Marois wrote: As a developer your app can only write to it's own folder or the cloud...
Only if you're writing a don't-call-it-Metro "app". If you write a proper application, you can still do all the same stuff you could do in 7.
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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Oh good Lord - see the previous post --> "boot directly into the 7 style desktop. From my perspective, there is not much difference. I'm happy with either"
I thought this was over. 
hatfok
King Yiddum's Castle
Pegasus Galaxy
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The corporate environment is full of dashboards, Metro apps born for that. It is full with restrictions (or downtime for removing viruses), too.
Added: and full with longing for full screen, single apps the users can't switch from.
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I haven't worked with win 8, but everytime I'm working on any of our servers I'm thinking up new cruel punishments for whoever it was that decided a tablet operating system was fitting for a server.
I'm not going into details as to why, as Griff has described it all quite well in another post.
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It actually works well with future MS tech, I cite hololens. Think about it, tapping a virtual button makes sense, you don't even have to be at the machine except for hardware maintenace, just look at it, the "menu" buttons come up, you "tap" the one you want in the virtual space and the world is at your finger tips.
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I've got 8.1 on a tablet. It isn't as reliable as Android. But life is quieter than Android, which does sh!t through the eye of a needle updates everytime I switch on.
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I don't use Windows 8.0 or 8.1, and have never made the switch to it. I have no doubt there are improvements from Windows 7, but these were never really significant enough for me to "upgrade".
As a primarily desktop user, what really killed it for me is the UX. Although it may seem like a non-factor at first, it is actually a huge factor due to its significant changes from Win 7. What Win 8 tried to do was create an OS that fits all. This simply does not work, my desktop is not a tablet, my tablet is not a desktop.
The start screen while optimized for a touch system, is not intuitive for a non-touch screen. I certainly have no desire to touch my desktop monitor. When 99% of the time I spend would be in desktop mode, it makes no sense to exit desktop mode, open a start screen that blocks my whole view, just to open another app on the desktop mode. Then you have things like duplicated functional apps due to the newer metro store apps. Should I use IE in metro mode or use the desktop IE? The Metro UI is just sour icing on top that makes it worst. They brought the whole UI to Windows Server, and now it's easier to shut down the machine than to log off. The start screen is even more irrelevant on a server.
Can I get used to these changes? Yes I certainly can, but I am much more satisfied and happy with staying at Windows 7. Although... Win 10 might change my mind.
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Amen. Well said.
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
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Silvabolt wrote: This simply does not work, my desktop is not a tablet, my tablet is not a desktop.
^This.
One of the Windows 8 devices I have to use with my current contract is a Dell XPS - Windows 8.1, touchscreen (foldable so it can be used like a tablet).
Terrible as a laptop, terrible as a tablet, one of the worst machines I've ever used - Dell have outdone themselves with this baby 
And at over £1,000, was this supposed to compete with iPads, MacBooks, or what?
How do you know so much about swallows? Well, you have to know these things when you're a king, you know.
modified 31-Aug-21 21:01pm.
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The biggest pain for me is that half the configuration options that you could take care of with a few clicks in previous versions of Windows, you now either can't do them, or you have to dive into the registry to do them.
Example: The shortcuts/icons on my desktop were way too large, for my liking, so, as per Win 7, I resized them with the mouse wheel.
That left me with nicely sized icons -- about a mile apart.
The old options for setting icon spacing are gone (along with most of the other window/desktop customisation options), so I had to edit the registry -- to do something that should not require anything like such drastic action.
Grandma should be able to change that; it's not something exclusive for devs, and you don't want granny digging in the registry.
I've already had to dive into the registry more for this machine than I have with most of my other machines, which I used for considerably longer.
Network settings, thumbnail-cache settings, all manner of really basic and/or really necessary settings, all just gone, and regedit only.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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People try to hate new things and changes in the beginning... Then they accept them!
I have been using Windows 8.1 since the day it was released, always worked as a charm for me. If I have to hate it, I should be able to at least come up with a single critical point of view, which I can't find, other than it being a product that has to be bought; which people think is bad.
The sh*t I complain about
It's like there ain't a cloud in the sky and it's raining out - Eminem
~! Firewall !~
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Afzaal Ahmad Zeeshan wrote: People try to hate new things and changes in the beginning... Then they accept them!
Yup.
Windows Vista, OS/2, WebTV, the G4 Cube, Google Buzz, the Newton, Net PC, PCjr, and, of course, Clippy...
History is riddled with examples.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Clippy is called Cortana now, headline feature of W10, with jobs outside of Office. The name implies boobs so the reception from the average developers will be astonishing.
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Peter Adam wrote: headline feature of W10
I have yet to see a headline feature of W10 that inspires me to do more than look away with a "meh". This cortana is a feature that I won't even install, unless it does not give me the option to skip it.
nb. returning what they removed for w8 doesn't count as adding features, AFAIC.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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