63 replies to this topic

[Merc14]

I run a small computer business on the side (one man operation) and have to keep up with the latest so I loaded Windows 8 on my Laptop to get to know it.  I was absolutely sure I would hate it but damn, I am really liking this OS.  Smooth, fast, solid, secure and a huge up side to build on with tablets, phones and computers living together.  What do you folks think?

[Knight Of Shadows]

i'd like to know more about it too .. upsides , downsides ? perfomance ? system requirements to run " smoothly " ?

[MissMelsWell]

It's so weird, this is the first MS OS which I HAVEN'T had in my hands at bare minimum a year before release. I haven't even seen it yet much less used it!

I worked for MIcrosoft on the Windows team on and off for 20+ years. It's rather surreal. From friends who have it.. they love it, but that's all I know.

[Merc14]

Knight Of Shadows, on 16 November 2012 - 04:51 AM, said:

i'd like to know more about it too .. upsides , downsides ? perfomance ? system requirements to run " smoothly " ?

I don't want to sell it but I do like it.  I am sure there will be a lot of hate because there are some changes that are glaring until you understand them  The big thing is the start orb is now the start desktop but the Windows 7 desktop is just one click away.    Anyways, let me try and answer your questions.

-Up sides are a lot faster, a lot more secure at the kernel level, much more integrated with other systems through the cloud and a huge up side with tablets and phones running Win 8.  Everything will work in sync as you move form device to device and the interface will be the same with the ability to go to a Windows desktop in a second on a big rig computer.  Less of a drain on the system, faster boot times, faster launch times and a very solid environement. ALso, you can reinstall teh system with a click and no disk.

- Down side is it boots up as an alien desktop that looks like  big tablet.  One click and you are at your Win 7 Desktop but the change can be jarring.  You have to learn this OS but after a couple of hours you love the speed and don't care about he changes.

- System requirements are less than Windows 7 and certainly less than Vista because they have stripped out extraneous style for speed.  I think that is what the consumer wants so good move.  If you run Vista or 7, your performance, with the same hardware, will increase noticeably.  If you are worried post your specs and I will let you know if you should move up.  There are no driver issues that I have seen and it is even easier of an install then 7.  I haven't tried it but supposedly you can transition from Vista or 7 and not lose anything.  Just takes awhile.  I like fresh installs and no a tweak that you can use to

  $40 for Win 8 Pro is AWESOME.  

Bottom-line: I am not a fanboi of windows but I deal with it daily in my side business so I need to understand each OS and have to make recommendations to customers who trust my word.  I did heavily recommend Windows 7 as it is a great OS with a shallow learning curve.  I am hesitant to recommend Windows 8 because, at first glance, it is a HUGE change from the old Windows.  It really isn't because the start menu has moved from the orb to a desktop like display but that can flip many users out.

As far as being a stable and fast OS that installs easily and pretty much does everything for you, it is the best OS MS has ever put out.  If you are willing to take a few minutes to understand the changes it gets fun.  A lot of my customers can't, so??? Of course many really don't understand XP..

[_Only]

When did this happen? This is first I've heard of this existing.

[Merc14]

MissMelsWell, on 16 November 2012 - 05:33 AM, said:

It's so weird, this is the first MS OS which I HAVEN'T had in my hands at bare minimum a year before release. I haven't even seen it yet much less used it!

I worked for MIcrosoft on the Windows team on and off for 20+ years. It's rather surreal. From friends who have it.. they love it, but that's all I know.

I avoided it as well and was really ready to call son of Vista.  Or Windows Me, God forbid.  LOL.  I was wrong.  It needs some tweaks for the desktop environment but what OS doesn't and there is nothing glaring other than the loss of the Start orb.  Mcuh faster and smoother on the same hardware, solid, easy to install and secure with kernel changes and MSE baked in (such as it is) . No brainer if you can accept the tablet face with the desktop a click away.

[Merc14]

_Only, on 16 November 2012 - 05:40 AM, said:

When did this happen? This is first I've heard of this existing.

10/28/12 I think.  Maybe the 26th.  Anyways, you can download and install Win 8 Pro for $39.99 until January 31st, 2013. Personally, I download the memory stick install and use that and then download the ISO image for installs in the future.  I haven't done the in-place install but reports are it works fine but takes hours.  I do fresh installs and use a reg tweak to get it activated if needed, 6 installs on fresh gear and had to use the tweak once so....

[MissMelsWell]

Merc14, on 16 November 2012 - 05:43 AM, said:

I avoided it as well and was really ready to call son of Vista.  Or Windows Me, God forbid.  LOL.  I was wrong.  It needs some tweaks for the desktop environment but what OS doesn't and there is nothing glaring other than the loss of the Start orb.  Mcuh faster and smoother on the same hardware, solid, easy to install and secure with kernel changes and MSE baked in (such as it is) . No brainer if you can accept the tablet face with the desktop a click away.

The last MS OS I worked on was Windows 7 but I left the company before RTM... Vista went out too early and Microsoft knew it, but we couldn't hold the OEM's off any longer... it was a bad situation all the way around. Windows 7 is what Vista was suppose to be. Vista was a brutal and disappointing forced release by everyone but Microsoft. And that's the truth. We didn't want it to go out. And if Microsoft wants to come sue me for saying that, so be it.

Edited by MissMelsWell, 16 November 2012 - 05:50 AM.

[Lethanial]

Windows 8 is a pretty smooth running system. It's easy to control for someone that has been working with computers for a while. Downpoint to that is that i think its not really a good OS for the older generations. Theres alot of Alt-tabbing, Windows + C combination etc involved and i know from experience that older people have issues with that.

The metro system is controllable, though its possible to forget to close windows down all the way and some apps will keep on running in the background taking away CPU power.

[Knight Of Shadows]

Merc14, on 16 November 2012 - 05:34 AM, said:

I don't want to sell it but I do like it.  I am sure there will be a lot of hate because there are some changes that are glaring until you understand them  The big thing is the start orb is now the start desktop but the Windows 7 desktop is just one click away. Anyways, let me try and answer your questions.

-Up sides are a lot faster, a lot more secure at the kernel level, much more integrated with other systems through the cloud and a huge up side with tablets and phones running Win 8.  Everything will work in sync as you move form device to device and the interface will be the same with the ability to go to a Windows desktop in a second on a big rig computer.  Less of a drain on the system, faster boot times, faster launch times and a very solid environement. ALso, you can reinstall teh system with a click and no disk.

- Down side is it boots up as an alien desktop that looks like  big tablet.  One click and you are at your Win 7 Desktop but the change can be jarring.  You have to learn this OS but after a couple of hours you love the speed and don't care about he changes.

- System requirements are less than Windows 7 and certainly less than Vista because they have stripped out extraneous style for speed.  I think that is what the consumer wants so good move.  If you run Vista or 7, your performance, with the same hardware, will increase noticeably.  If you are worried post your specs and I will let you know if you should move up.  There are no driver issues that I have seen and it is even easier of an install then 7.  I haven't tried it but supposedly you can transition from Vista or 7 and not lose anything.  Just takes awhile.  I like fresh installs and no a tweak that you can use to

  $40 for Win 8 Pro is AWESOME.  

Bottom-line: I am not a fanboi of windows but I deal with it daily in my side business so I need to understand each OS and have to make recommendations to customers who trust my word.  I did heavily recommend Windows 7 as it is a great OS with a shallow learning curve.  I am hesitant to recommend Windows 8 because, at first glance, it is a HUGE change from the old Windows.  It really isn't because the start menu has moved from the orb to a desktop like display but that can flip many users out.

As far as being a stable and fast OS that installs easily and pretty much does everything for you, it is the best OS MS has ever put out.  If you are willing to take a few minutes to understand the changes it gets fun.  A lot of my customers can't, so??? Of course many really don't understand XP..

thanks that's helpfull .. i was .. still on xp for long long time i worked on both vista and seven
but i kinda of have a thing fo the old xp
however does programs that used to run on old windows have issues with the new one eight ?
and does the appearnce is appealing ? thanks mate

[Merc14]

Knight Of Shadows, on 16 November 2012 - 07:06 AM, said:

thanks that's helpfull .. i was .. still on xp for long long time i worked on both vista and seven
but i kinda of have a thing fo the old xp
however does programs that used to run on old windows have issues with the new one eight ?
and does the appearnce is appealing ? thanks mate

Most programs will run on 8 but I would research the important ones before switching.  The appearance is a matter of taste, I think it looks fine but remember there is a desktop and a start screen sooo.  XP was a great OS but it is old and cranky compared to the newer OSes (you'd have to run a 7 or 8 system to understand what I mean by that) and definitely less secure but it will be supported until 2014 so no rush if you are comfortable as Windows 9 will be coming about the time XP is officially end of life.

[Merc14]

Lethanial, on 16 November 2012 - 05:59 AM, said:

Windows 8 is a pretty smooth running system. It's easy to control for someone that has been working with computers for a while. Downpoint to that is that i think its not really a good OS for the older generations. Theres alot of Alt-tabbing, Windows + C combination etc involved and i know from experience that older people have issues with that.

The metro system is controllable, though its possible to forget to close windows down all the way and some apps will keep on running in the background taking away CPU power.

Concur 100% om the old folks giving up if faced with the new GUI.  I have been telling a lot of them that a tablet may be more appropriate for what they do.  My biggest problem is the older business customers running XP on really old machines that suddenly die.  SInce you can't buy XP retail any longer they want me to get it off ebay and install on new computers just so they don't have to change.

[Lethanial]

Merc14, on 16 November 2012 - 01:15 PM, said:

Concur 100% om the old folks giving up if faced with the new GUI.  I have been telling a lot of them that a tablet may be more appropriate for what they do.  My biggest problem is the older business customers running XP on really old machines that suddenly die.  SInce you can't buy XP retail any longer they want me to get it off ebay and install on new computers just so they don't have to change.

The buying of XP is not that much of a problem by itself. What causes a much greater risk is that Windows XP will stop being supported by Windows soon. From that comes the danger that new security threats will not be closed down anymore, bringing more danger to the "clue-less" PC users with for instance online banking.

[Merc14]

Has anyone here tried to "teach" a not so computer savvy person Windows 8 and if so how hard was it to get them from Xp to 8?

[WoIverine]

I tried it out for about an hour or so, then formatted and reinstalled the previous OS. I find Windows 8 entirely unusable, cumbersome, and the learning curve is too great for the ways in which I use my desktop pc. I will wait until Windows 9, then see what happens. I just don't have the time, or desire to relearn what I've already learned and I'm not old either, I'm actually a fairly tech savvy person as well.

Edited by WoIverine, 16 November 2012 - 04:20 PM.