Windows 8

[Hammond]

One of my co-workers bought a surface pro and brought it in. It's pretty neat until you look at the price and realize you could've just bought an equivalent or better ultrabook.

I have specific requirements, and they included a Wacom active digitizer. No Ultrabooks with that. :)

Here's my blog post on why I picked the Samsung Smart PC Pro instead of the Surface Pro: http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/03/19/windows-8-tablet-part-one/

Nice choice with the Smart PC Pro we got a few here at work and they are WAAAY better than the Surface Pro. We got the A2 version and have been pretty happy with them. They are more for light laptop work and heavy art drawing (2 of the 3 users are mechanical engineers / managers). We had one keyboard that was "loose" which is a physical connection issue. We ahem adjusted the dock with a few well placed bends (metal latch was not closing completely) and the problem went away.

I am really curious what the next generation will look like. I am really hoping they up the resolution on these tablets.

[Phred]

ModernMix. Runs Metro apps in a window. Also lets you actually exit them, even while in Metro.

Holy Crap? Microsoft considers a full screen app an improvement? And they made this to sell to people who might have 30in monitors? WTF? Way to innovate, Microsoft.

(Do they still use that claim? Innovation? Or were they told to cease and desist with the court order?)

[Raph]

Nice choice with the Smart PC Pro we got a few here at work and they are WAAAY better than the Surface Pro. We got the A2 version and have been pretty happy with them.

I am really curious what the next generation will look like. I am really hoping they up the resolution on these tablets.

Mine's the A02 as well. Though there really don't seem to be any spec differences between A01, 02, and 03 in the US.

Apparently, Haswell isn't going to be a radical change. 10-20% battery boost maybe, marginal CPU increase...

Why do you want more resolution at 11.6 inches? It's already impossible to see when running at standard scaling, and Windows has TERRIBLE high dpi scaling. See the follow-up post I did: http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/03/20/windows-8-tablet-part-two/

[Hammond]

Sorry not resolution I meant DPI (got in a rush when I posted that)

And as far as Haswell goes yea I am thinking the next few generations will all be about power savings.

[Numtini]

I picked up a new ultrabook for work (Acer S3 -- very slick and close to an equal of the MacBook Air) and unfortunately it came with Windows 8, so I've been trying to make do, just to learn if I could cope. I still hate it. But I was flipping back to the start screen then opening up the all programs part because I was looking for, i think it was the control panel? And I had this distant memory. I started out as a Mac user and way back I think this was system 6.5 or earlier, the absolute "must have" add on for the OS was something that let you put all your programs in cascading folders from the Apple menu instead of having to dig through folders for them.

And apparently the start button is coming back, but all it will do is take you to the metro ui, which is an improvement, but not by much.

[Raph]

I'm telling you, Start8 or Classic Shell or the like.

That said, if you can get used to swipe-in-from-right, I actually really like that method of getting to settings, search, control panel, power, etc. Search there is contextual, and more easily filterable, too.

I rarely use swipe from left (app switch) just like I rarely use the equivalent on iOS (multi-finger side swipe). Alt-TAB is still nicer on desktop.

[Phred]

I'm telling you, Start8 or Classic Shell or the like.

Ya classic shell if fantastic. I even use it on 7 just to get back the up one folder button that seems to have been innovated away.

[KallDrexx]

I'm telling you, Start8 or Classic Shell or the like.

Ya classic shell if fantastic. I even use it on 7 just to get back the up one folder button that seems to have been innovated away.

What?  I have no shell add-ons and my file explorer in Windows 8 has a up one folder button.

[Phred]

I'm telling you, Start8 or Classic Shell or the like.

Ya classic shell if fantastic. I even use it on 7 just to get back the up one folder button that seems to have been innovated away.

What?  I have no shell add-ons and my file explorer in Windows 8 has a up one folder button.

Odd my windows 7 had none. It uses breadcrumb file links. You did see the 7 in the sentence you quoted right?

[Morfiend]

I'm telling you, Start8 or Classic Shell or the like.

This. Totally ignore the ModernUI and its a fine OS. Really though there is no reason to upgrade past 7. I would hate it if I had to work on it. Luckily I use a MacBook Pro as a client to connect to all my company's Centos servers.

[Chimpy]

Odd my windows 7 had none. It uses breadcrumb file links. You did see the 7 in the sentence you quoted right?

That is not odd. Windows 7 does not have the up one level button in windows explorer. Personally I never use it so I didn't notice its lack until I got stuck with a machine running classic shell when I started at my current job.

[Phred]

Odd my windows 7 had none. It uses breadcrumb file links. You did see the 7 in the sentence you quoted right?

That is not odd. Windows 7 does not have the up one level button in windows explorer. Personally I never use it so I didn't notice its lack until I got stuck with a machine running classic shell when I started at my current job.

Ya so they put it back in in 8? I was used to it after 10?+ years of XP. I'd prefer just having a .. directory entry but no dice there either. Anyway I like classic shell cause it puts it back and if it makes 8 work like 7 I say more power to it.

[Trippy]

Windows 8: Beautiful and Fast

[luckton]

Windows 8: Beautiful and Fast

Best comment from that vid:

Windows 8 is like hitting your face against the table?

 

[Lantyssa]

It is!

I can say that it is fast, but it takes work to get the interface usable.

[Pennilenko]

Ive been using 8 since i last posted in this thread and i honestly feel that i was being way to dramatic about the interface. Its kind of grown on me a great deal.

[Phred]

Windows 8: Beautiful and Fast

Best comment from that vid:

Windows 8 is like hitting your face against the table?

 

That was the first thing that occurred to me after watching it too.

[Ironwood]

Ive been using 8 since i last posted in this thread and i honestly feel that i was being way to dramatic about the interface. Its kind of grown on me a great deal.

You can get used to anything.

[Engels]

I've been trying to use Windows 8 as a desktop environment at work, but after 2-4 days I switch back to Linux, utterly exhausted by the extra fuss 8 puts me through. Yes, you read that right, I switch back to Linux as an easier work environment rather than have to fuss about interminably with Windows 8.

Thankfully, I'm only beholden to a few 'windows only' products I can easily remote desktop to from Linux. I don't have to use Excel or Word with any regularity, so I am by no means the norm. However, there are entire schools of education within my university that have adopted Windows 8 but with the Classic Shell third party software integrated into their image, along with the elimination of the Metro start up screen in order to go straight to desktop. I'm not talking about esoteric departments let loose to do what they will, I'm talking about the staff/faculty work environments of the entire School of Business for example, as managed by their IT department. And not just one or two departments, but several. From some reports, its because they do not have the man hours or will to train staff in the vagaries of Metro's interface and need them to get to work.

[Fabricated]

Again, the university I work at has decided to completely skip Windows 8. You won't find a supported machine running it, and we downgrade laptops we buy to 7 before giving them to users.

[Numtini]

I got a laptop and I really did try to live with it, but it was just beyond agonizing. Having to windows key, right click at the bottom of metro to get all apps, then find the thing I wanted in a long disordered muddle just kept getting in the way. Things like the control panel, the calculator. The things you just get used to having a click away.

I threw on start menu 8, which was free, and it really is fine as long as you get rid of metro. OTOH I'm not sure what new features it actually has other than that.

[Chimpy]

The only two features of Win 8 that would even make me think about installing it on something are having Hyper-V included in the desktop OS and the ability to install the Win 8 Remote Administration Toolkit if I was managing a Server 2012 Hyper-V environment.

But we are a VMware shop, and I can install VMware workstation on my desktop at work if I need to sandbox something.

[luckton]

I  the new Win8 Task Manager.  If I could import that into Win7...

[Engels]

I  the new Win8 Task Manager.  If I could import that into Win7...

Yep, that is one cool feature of WIn 8, along with the built in disk image mounter. Does it justify switching? Unfortunately, not for me.

[Phred]

I  the new Win8 Task Manager.  If I could import that into Win7...

Yep, that is one cool feature of WIn 8, along with the built in disk image mounter. Does it justify switching? Unfortunately, not for me.

Has anyone but me discovered System Explorer? It's a drop in replacement for task manager www.systemexplorer.net

[Yegolev]

Has anyone but me discovered System Explorer? It's a drop in replacement for task manager www.systemexplorer.net

I'm still using Sysinternals procexp.exe and sometimes Win7's Resource Monitor.

[Raph]

Win8 DOES have way better touch and pen handling. But that only matters to tablety people. And there's a pile of legacy apps (like, ALL of them) that don't use it :(

[shiznitz]

My 10 year old wants a laptop for his 11th birthday so my parents put their hand up to get it for him.  I sent them to Dell for the ease of it.  So I am going to inflict Win8 on someone who hasn't ever really used a PC for more than web stuff. 

[Hammond]

Make sure you film your son the first time he uses it 

[shiznitz]

Make sure you film your son the first time he uses it 

That is a fantastic idea.  Really.  I will film him opening the thing and turning it on and just ignore his questions, warning him first that I am going to do this of course.

[luckton]

Was confirmed today that Win8.1 (AKA Windows Blue, AKA "MIRACLE PATCH 5000") will be free for all current Win8 customers.

[Engels]

Hah, well, 10 points to hufflepuff then.

[Ingmar]

...

Was someone under the impression they were going to start charging for service packs? Not gonna happen.

[ghost]

I believe that it was rumored that they were going to charge for it. 

[luckton]

...

Was someone under the impression they were going to start charging for service packs? Not gonna happen.

8.1 wasn't considered a service pack.  It was considered a whole new product.