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How to Survive the Windows 8 transition without experiencing chest pains

Ole Juul said:
I think that's usual these days. However, it's starting to go too far in that MS is trying to push a product for which there was no demand to begin with. They have to create an artificial one.
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Caluser2000 said:
We may well even find MS will even have to extend XP support due to Corporate pressure.
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That would be sweet...but I'm not going to hold my breath. That would be a pretty massive admission of failure on their part, I don't think it would happen unless basically the entire business world threatened to jump ship to ReactOS or something...
 
It's amazing of how long MS has kept support for XP going. They kept pulling the plug for it, one service pack at a time, but enough people are still using XP, so that has put pressure on Microsoft to keep holding onto the support for it. XP has been surpassed by three Windows versions now, so I don't think it has that long to go.
 
VintageComputerman said:
I didn't read through this entire thread so I don't know if it had been posted, but the guy who was in charge of developing Windows 8 has been fired, lol.

I'm reading a lot of negative stuff on Windows 8 all over the net. Lot of people are taking new systems with the new OS, wiping them clean and reloading 7. Corporate is not even considering taking a look at it from what I read. Very little business revenue from corporate upgrades from the look of it. It will effect Microsoft's bottom line.
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Heh, wonder if the team leaders sarched the terms, "Windows 8 awful" and based their decision on that. It wouldn't take too long to find an answer. ;)

The months before and a few weeks after Windows 8 came out was all about skepticism of the new OS. I'll admit that I don't dislike it as much as I did before now that I played with it at Sam's. It is more driven twoards tablet devices, but still retains a familiar desktop that us home users can work with. If I were to receive a computer with Windows 8, I would downgrade to Windows 7. Windows 7 is seemingly still too new to be put out of use.
 
DOS lives on!! said:
Heh, wonder if the team leaders sarched the terms, "Windows 8 awful" and based their decision on that. It wouldn't take too long to find an answer. ;)

The months before and a few weeks after Windows 8 came out was all about skepticism of the new OS. I'll admit that I don't dislike it as much as I did before now that I played with it at Sam's. It is more driven twoards tablet devices, but still retains a familiar desktop that us home users can work with. If I were to receive a computer with Windows 8, I would downgrade to Windows 7. Windows 7 is seemingly still too new to be put out of use.
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Hi DOS: I wouldn't down grade if I were you. I agree, the W8 desktop/Metro is a little wonky, but you can modify it and get it to work the way you want it with a little work. What no one seems to be talking about is the guts (code) in this thing. It executes real fast on boot-up, less than half the time W7 used to take on my machine. Gaming seems to be going okay and I've yet to have a system crash. Besides, the price was right at the time.
 
Agent Orange said:
What no one seems to be talking about is the guts (code) in this thing. It executes real fast on boot-up, less than half the time W7 used to take on my machine. Gaming seems to be going okay and I've yet to have a system crash. Besides, the price was right at the time.
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I mentioned all of the above - in kind've a round about way :)

I actually splurged this Black Friday.. bought my first new computer case in 8 years, first new desktop computer guts in 5-6 years, and am after a cheap M$ OS that's not Vista (I own 2 Vista Business copies and have never installed them).. So enter Windows 8! I'll be putting that on my new build, and possibly even a second copy onto my old Pentium-D i945 system, which will be going to my parents, upgrading their existing P4 system. Although I'm wrestling with that one a bit - they're used to WinXP, and Win8, even with Start8 installed, will be a challenge for them. Pro for Win8 would be that once they learn it, it'll be the OS that'll last (for sure) for the next 3-5 years. Pro for XP would be familiarity, and at least a year before I have to do Win8 anyway! Decisions, decisions....
 
Chuck(G) said:
Fortunately, there's a fix for that--it's called "anti-virus software", which will slow the boot on any system. :)
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Windows Defender anti-virus is enabled by default and Windows 8 still has very fast boot-up times. Third party anti-virus software slows things down considerably and some just does not seem to work well with Windows 8.
 
krebizfan said:
Windows Defender anti-virus is enabled by default and Windows 8 still has very fast boot-up times. Third party anti-virus software slows things down considerably and some just does not seem to work well with Windows 8.
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Yeah, I saw that, but if WD (probably repackaged Security Essentials) is so good, why do I see ads for McAfee and Trend Micro's products alongside ads for Windows 8? That's had me puzzled for some time..
 
IMHO the merits of the latest OS are of marginal relevance to its penetration. So long as MS has OEMs locked in, they can sell whatever they like as the default on new hardware. They have no serious competition for the mass market. I would estimate <5% of users buy new hardware to get a new OS, or upgrade their OS just for the thrill of it.

Microsoft's real problem is that the PC hardware upgrade cycle is slowing down as it shows less and less cost-benefit, so their OEM lock-in is not worth what it was. They are now trying to muscle in to the closed ecology market pioneered by Apple, linking OS to proprietary hardware and revenue-earning services.

It's a paradox that the open source alternative - the Linux desktop - is crippled as a competitor by its own virtues. The open development and uncontrolled innovation of that model ensures that no distribution can gain a predictable long-term market position. OEMs and bulk system admins are put off by the constant upgrading and flavour-of-the-month distro-hopping that characterises the Linux world. Apple is snug in its own market niche, so who's going to challenge Microsoft for the desktop?

I'm remembering that my first copy of CP/M 2.2 cost me more, inflation-adjusted, than Windows 8 and Office Professional combined would cost today.

Rick
 
Windows 7 will become the new Windows XP. Although I think Microsoft should rename Windows XP, Windows Classic and offer an annual support plan cheaply for users like $4.99 per seat per year, or something along those lines.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Fortunately, there's a fix for that--it's called "anti-virus software", which will slow the boot on any system. :)
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You are right about that. I don't spend anything on antivirus software. If it isn't free, I don't bother with it. The new W8 has a revamped Windows Defender and it now runs in the background as well as updating itself without any prodding on my part. I do take the time to run Superantispyware manually as I do Malwarebytes. I just might go ahead and purchase the two because as of today, I'm adding a 2T Barracuda for master system backup duties.
 
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Hi
I like Win8 so far. If there was one thing I would change though is it would have an option to boot directly to the desktop and have an old school Win2K theme. The start button was sort of nice and I have no use for Metro. However, I will put up with the GUI nonsense if to have a more robust and secure OS.

There is no doubt in my mind that Win8 is much more secure than WinXP and even Win7. I replaced all of my remaining WinXP and Win7 PCs with Win8 purely for security improvements. What I could transition to Linux I have already done for the same reason.

Thanks!

Andrew Lynch
 
Have you found many keyboard shortcuts? Without the Windows start menu what's the windows key do? Does windows+r still open a nice quick run prompt? Is there still a command prompt?
 
Start menu opes the Start Screen. Super+R opens run and they left command prompt in, there's some things you just can't do with Poweshell.
 
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