Windows 8

[Lantyssa]

For fuck's sake.  I run a business with people that are barely computer literate.  Windows 8 is like trying to get them to read Sanskrit.

I am computer literate and it has the same effect on me...

[Salamok]

For fuck's sake.  I run a business with people that are barely computer literate.  Windows 8 is like trying to get them to read Sanskrit.

I am computer literate and it has the same effect on me...

Same here but to be fair much of my angst was fueled by the fact that all of my time spent with windows 8 was time spent trying to make it look and feel just like windows 7.  I might have had a slightly better impression if I had spent that time getting rid of all the craplets loaded into metro that I had no use for and loading up other craplets that had some value to me.  But xbox gamer tag for hearts-freecell-minesweeper-solitair is still a fucking retarded thing to do.  Also, if I am on a desktop chances are I have a fuckton of shit open and being worked on, the whole phone centric focus on a single item at a time (ie no start bar) while excluding all else aspect of metro is shit for desktops.

[Chimpy]

Having to hit the stupid bottom right charm bullshit to log off on a server OS is frickin annoying. And the only keyboard shortcut opens the charms bar but you have to hit Tab like 12 times to get to the logoff button.

[Salamok]

Having to hit the stupid bottom right charm bullshit to lor OS is frickin noying. And the only keyboard shortcut opens the charms bar but you have to hit Tab like 12 times to get to the logoff button.

2012r2 fixed it so windows key + x menu has logoff and power options.

[Chimpy]

I tried windows key + every key on keyboard and did not find anything other than the charms one hmmm. Will have to re-investigate tomorrow (as I will be back to setting up 2012R2 boxes).

[NowhereMan]

Having bought a new laptop I got forced onto 8 and frankly the only difference in interaction for me has been the addition of a crap load of extra stuff to click through. 8.1 sought to make it more obvious how to get to the Metro screen so they've basically added the start menu button back in only now it takes you to the metro screen. Which isn't too bad once you get used to just typing the name of the program you want it but, compared to the start menu for traditional kb+m interface it just doesn't work as easily. If I still had an education email address I'd probably buy a copy of 7 but I don't want to pay full whack for it or put on an eyepatch so I'm stuck with metro on a non-tablet computer. It is not ideal.

[Fabricated]

If you want the start button back there's two solutions:

Classic Shell, which is free: http://www.classicshell.net/

And Start8 from Stardock which is like $5 and visually slicker: http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

[Salamok]

I went with Startmenu X, not sure I would recommend it though as it takes it 15 seconds or so on bootup to get around to swapping out the metro button for a start button.  Also, looks like Windows 8.2 is in the works, I wonder if they will try and charge for it:
http://m.windowsitpro.com/windows-81/microsoft-windows-big-changes-coming

[Ironwood]

This Internet Explorer App on Windows 8 is awful.  I'm using it right now.

It's awful.

[Yegolev]

Is that IE 11, or something else?

[HaemishM]

Yes, the IE App on 8 takes all the super-shittiness that is regular Internet Explorer and further shits it up.

[Hammond]

I tried windows key + every key on keyboard and did not find anything other than the charms one hmmm. Will have to re-investigate tomorrow (as I will be back to setting up 2012R2 boxes).

I assume you are talking remote desktop I just use ctrl+alt+end and sign off.

[Chimpy]

I tried windows key + every key on keyboard and did not find anything other than the charms one hmmm. Will have to re-investigate tomorrow (as I will be back to setting up 2012R2 boxes).

I assume you are talking remote desktop I just use ctrl+alt+end and sign off.

No, this was on the console of the physical boxes I built for our replacement Veeam infrastructure (you have to have 2012 on the Veeam servers to support file-level restores if you use de-dupe on the machines you are backing up).

[Hammond]

Sorry I assumed remote connection for the console  just do ctrl+alt+del and sign off its the same in the older OS's. I also just use windows key + q and avoid the abortion that is the start menu (that is the global search keyboard shortcut).

[Ironwood]

Is that IE 11, or something else?

I Genuinely don't know. 

"Did you find Hawkins ?"
"I can't tell."

[rk47]

Is that IE 11, or something else?

I Genuinely don't know. 

"Did you find Hawkins ?"
"I can't tell."

I don't see the problem...

[Ironwood]

That ain't it.

[Fabricated]

I still can't make myself believe that's a thing.

[Yegolev]

I suppose at this point, IE versions are just front ends and modules to a common .NET application.

[Salamok]

I knew .Net was the root of all evil.

[Numtini]

My favorite new development of the last few weeks has been the IE only website that isn't compatible with IE 11.

On Windows 8 in general, I just don't trust it. It seems that every time I get to a point where I think it is going to do what I want, I run into another thing it won't do or that requires a workaround or something. I've also run into a bug where I set up a new machine and it didn't give the account I set up (the only one on it) admin rights.

[MahrinSkel]

My favorite new development of the last few weeks has been the IE only website that isn't compatible with IE 11.

On Windows 8 in general, I just don't trust it. It seems that every time I get to a point where I think it is going to do what I want, I run into another thing it won't do or that requires a workaround or something. I've also run into a bug where I set up a new machine and it didn't give the account I set up (the only one on it) admin rights.

That started with Vista.  There should be an invisible admin account you can only access from Safe Mode, you have to use that to give the user account Admin.

--Dave

[Numtini]

That started with Vista.  There should be an invisible admin account you can only access from Safe Mode, you have to use that to give the user account Admin.

--Dave

.

Yeah done that a hundred times, but not on Windows 8.

[Fordel]

I still can't make myself believe that's a thing.

Wait, it's real? I thought that was just rk47 playing with photoshop.

[calapine]

Some new details about the future of Windows:

• New version will be released around April 2015.
• Old-school startmenu will return with full functionality.
• Metro-Apps will be useable while on the Desktop. No forced return to fullscreen Metro.
  
• Will be called Windows 9 to gain some distance from the poisoned No. 8 brand

In other words a 180° turn. This reminds me strongly of the X-Box "Alway On" fiasco. First try to force through changes for sake of it, despite customer outcries. Then, AFTER the damage has been done revert to the previous implementation anyway.

I still find it hard to understand why companies can be so incompetent. There are literally thousands of people just working on improving a product, they pay huge salaries and can afford to hire the best of the best, do market research, etc etc. And still make mistakes which should be obvious to some random dude grabbed of the street. I mean I could have told them "Don't make such a radical break in the UI without a strong need. There is literally no downside in retaining full desktop functionality." And I wouldn't even have charged much for that! *sigh*

Sorry for the bad grammar in this post...just thinking about this idiocy upsets me.

Edit: Stuff like this makes me miss OS/2 Warp. I feel the OS market really could need some competition. I wonder, as thought experiment, how the X-Box would look like if there never were any Sony and Nintendo consoles and X-Box had 95% market share with no alternative around....

[Chimpy]

Microsoft is not going to reveal plans until BUILD in April so any "features" listed are probably just wishlists from the people who started the rumors about the features. The 8.1 release was supposed to bring back a "fully functional" start menu too and it just gave us a windows button.

[Miasma]

I still find it hard to understand why companies can be so incompetent.

Arrogance, marketing making design decisions and echo chambers would be my guess.

[Rendakor]

Maybe Microsoft really likes the "Every other version" rule.

[01101010]

Maybe Microsoft really likes the "Every other version" rule.

That will be broken really quickly if they keep pushing new shit every year and calling it Windows (n+1). I am fairly happy with 7 as is work... though some of the research sites I work with are going to 8 and hating it.

[Lantyssa]

Making us go to Windows 8 would have killed our business faster than my bosses.

I can get around in it, especially after adding Classic Shell, but just about everyone in the company would have been rendered functionally useless.  Instead of just like half of them that it is now.

[Salamok]

Will be called Windows 9 to gain some distance from the poisoned No. 8 brand

You mean so they can charge you for it.  It worries me that the latest top dog for Windows came from their mobile division even though he seems to be a major factor in pushing for the Windows 9 sanity check features.

[01101010]

Will be called Windows 9 to gain some distance from the poisoned No. 8 brand

You mean so they can charge you for it.  It worries me that the latest top dog for Windows came from their mobile division even though he seems to be a major factor in pushing for the Windows 9 sanity check features.

Seems to fit with the hardware push going to a mobile platform rather than desktop workstations. Could backfire though...

[Fabricated]

At this point I think Microsoft needs to take a do-over.

[Numtini]

I recently saw an article that laptops with touch screens are trending cheaper than the ones without and the first thing that came to mind was that the non-touch probably have Windows 7.

[Reg]

Is there a definite date for when Windows 7 isn't going to be available anymore?