What problem does Windows 8 solve?

Summary: Windows 8 is intended to be Microsoft’s platform that does everything for everyone. The problem is it doesn’t solve anyone’s problems, so who will need it?

As Microsoft gets Windows 8 ready for the Consumer Preview coming shortly I am spending a lot of time thinking about the next OS from Redmond. There is a lot to consider given its multiple personalities. It’s a desktop OS, mobile OS, tablet OS, and touch OS all rolled into one. Rather, all rolled into multiple SKUs depending on the hardware involved. I admit to feeling more uneasy about Windows 8 the more I consider what problem(s) it intends to address. Fact is I just don’t see any.

Source

A Guy

 

[Vince53]

What problem does Windows 8 solve?

It is designed for touchscreen computers, which are the wave of the future.

It makes it easier to synchronize all your mobile devices with your computer.

 

[mart4494]

I assume you are not over 90 years old. And if you are a bit younger, like me, it should be fun to learn new things. Although I do not agree with every gizmo they put into Windows 8, it is fun to explore.

No problems with the learning curve and yes it can be fun provided there are benefits at the end of the rainbow. To finish up simply doing with the PC what I'm err... doing now without those benefits then the fun tends to go out of it. Just my $0.02 worth.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
slightly OT but look at the share price history for MSFT -- Sure if W8 works it will be good for Shareholders.

Actually I hope the extra income etc can steer MS into supplying Office into a better system equipped to handle Multi media and PLEASE MS fix the one really HIDEOUS product in the Office line -- Ms ACCESS -- this isn't even a TOY database system.

Just look at what MySQL can do as a FREE DB system -- and your professional DB server is good too so why is ACCESS like a pile of back end of dog.

I'd like also to directly and easily handle Multi Media files in Spreadsheet cells directly to (I know you can link to "MIME" type objects but integrating say Music tracks, albums etc into something like EXCEL which is well known save the horrendous problems you have when storing this stuff with "proprietary" data bases even if the application is free.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[area 66]

.... Ms ACCESS -- this isn't even a TOY database system.

Dam right here..... they include it in their most expensive version of Office, who want to pay more for Access ?

 

[BarnabasSackett]

It is designed for touchscreen computers, which are the wave of the future.

They've been saying that for 20 years. Only on Star Trek have touchscreens replaced keyboards.

It makes it easier to synchronize all your mobile devices with your computer.

Most people don't know that they can synchronize their notebook and desktop computer, how many users are going to fuss with syncing their phones too?

 

[BarnabasSackett]

Actually I hope the extra income etc can steer MS into supplying Office into a better system equipped to handle Multi media and PLEASE MS fix the one really HIDEOUS product in the Office line -- Ms ACCESS -- this isn't even a TOY database system.

10+ reasons why IT pros hate Microsoft Access (but really shouldn't) | TechRepublic

 

[jimbo45]

I remember a Operating System named Windows X.

Wasn't that X Windows?

Right X Windows

Hi there
actually back in the days of the early PC Bell Labs ( AT & T) were developing a Window type GUI for their UNIX system. (An INCREDIBLY ROBUST and almost unhackable system still in use on corporate servers today).

Had Unix ever been released cheaply the whole history of the PC would have been different -- X-Windows was simply the GUI server on top of the Unix kernel.

Bell Labs kept the price so humungously high that people tried to "imitate" the UNIX OS-- hence Linux came into existence. The GUI of most Linux systems was initially known as the X-Server which would then load the GUI. Big difference between Linux and Windows is that the X-server is just a SERVER and the user can choose any GUI he likes so long as the API follows what the X-server wants.


Because UNIX was so robust LINUX was developed -- the UNIX os was far far too expensive to run on consumer grade PC's - had Bell Lab's pricing been better Windows as we know it probably wouldn't exist nor would even Apple. !!

All History now -- but just answering your post on X-Windows.

cheers
jimbo

 

[whs]

I assume you are not over 90 years old. And if you are a bit younger, like me, it should be fun to learn new things. Although I do not agree with every gizmo they put into Windows 8, it is fun to explore.

No problems with the learning curve and yes it can be fun provided there are benefits at the end of the rainbow. To finish up simply doing with the PC what I'm err... doing now without those benefits then the fun tends to go out of it. Just my $0.02 worth.

I don't know. I have a more academic view towards learning. I have been studying a lot of things during my long life that seemed of no use at first, but then one day that knowledge came in handy. If you are young, you should be very inquisitive and learn as much as you can.

An example of a completely useless study I once made was about the influence of the gothic language (the language the Wisogoths spoke around 500 AD) on the Catalan (the language that is now spoken in Catolonia - area of Barcelona). That served no purpose at all, but it was fun.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
at my school we did Latin (was a Catholic Jesuit School and at that time Mass - the main Catholic Sunday service was conducted in Latin -- in any Country).

I'm not sorry to have studied this then although at the time I thought what a waste of time -- but these days it's actually incredibly useful -- it's the basis of Grammar and Syntax as well as the vocabulary of so many modern languages today .

You never know when a bit of what you at one time thought was totally useless comes in handy in the most unexpected places.

Incidentally those who hate the idea of education just remember

"The Price of a decent Education is Expensive --but the price of Ignorance is ASTRONOMICAL" -

- as I can testify easily when I see relatively uneducated people getting "suckered" in by all sorts of payday loan companies offering to them what seems reasonable -- several hundred dollars to tide them over until the next paycheck arrives ---

I ask them to look at the Interest they are paying and when I calculate it for them -- often as high as 2500% (yes no typo !!!!!) and it's all legal they realize they've been taken in and finally start complaining -- these companies were booted out of the USA by the way but they can advertise on UK satellite TV -- Wonga for a start -- sponsors of Blackpool FC to give themselves a "little bit of respectability" when preying on the ignorant.

The Mafia wouldn't charge that much !!!!

Cheers
jimbo

 

[whs]

When I went to school, 3 languages were compulsary. English, French and Latin in my case. And since our high school goes for 9 years, I enjoyed Latin for 7 years. It was tough at the time, but turned out to be extremely useful during my life. Latin based languages like Italian, Roumanian or Spanish were a lot easier to understand than if you had no notion of Latin.

And the "Price of education" in some countries is a real disgrace. Education must be free, as it is in many European countries. In fact, in Germany, you even get an education allowance (for post high school studies) if you come from a middle to low income family. That amounts to appr. $1000/month.

 

[Vince53]

For the record, the computers on Star Trek are voice-controlled. But that's the wave of the distant future.

 

[stefalopod]

So, I definitely don't know how the back end stuff works. I installed windows 8 as the only OS on my tablet out of a spirit of adventure and risktaking, but I don't know how to read my on crash dump. So as a fairly non-techie risk taker type, I've got to tell you guys that you're overlooking the bright flashy colors -- which is what people like my mom are into.

For the average consumer, it really doesn't matter how well the OS works, it matters how pretty it is. For most people, aero was the big advantage in Win 7 over vista. These people have some brand of dime-a-dozen smart phone and are accustomed to flicking screens back and forth with active app taking up the whole window. Take away their screen flicking and they'll feel like they're back in the stone age. That's why you see 65 year old women with Ipads instead of sporting netbooks.

Then there are the (choose your flavor) Linux users who are sick of having to run dual boot to do anything and of having to fight like dogs to find freaking drivers. They'll try win 8 just because it's so much less resource intensive that Win 7, and they won't have much trouble figuring out the controls because all they have to do is watch a couple youtube videos.

As for reaching across your desk to tap a touch screen, I hazard a guess that most of the personal use pcs that are operating in the world are already notebooks and netbooks. Your average pc user at home doesn't build an oil-cooled pc and then post on the OS forums. They just buy what's in the store, with whatever OS it has preloaded. Thus mass market Windows 8 penetration begins.

And Win 8 is fast, and it is flashy. Win 8 permits something that Win 7 never could have: it could win back some apple users to pc. That's the problem that Windows 8 solves.

 

[Mike Lonewolf]

I never did get that whole aero thing, seems to myself it was a waste of precious processor cycles, and memory.

 

[stefalopod]

I never did get that whole aero thing, seems to myself it was a waste of precious processor cycles, and memory.

Here here!
It was kind of pretty, but it really played havoc with my machine

 

[area 66]

...... Latin based languages like Italian, Roumanian or Spanish were a lot easier to understand than if you had no notion of Latin.

And the "Price of education" in some countries is a real disgrace. Education must be free, as it is in many European countries. In fact, in Germany, you even get an education allowance (for post high school studies) if you come from a middle to low income family. That amounts to appr. $1000/month.

Well, French is also base on Latin and some Greek too, I study both at high school, I will not say I enjoy them, but at least I don't need a dictionary to know the signification of a word. French is way more hard to learn then Spanish and Italian, It's my natural language, I learn it for 18 years at school and I still have problem with it, too much exception. In Canada we have free school, hospital and other thing, but in our case or Europe, it's not free at all, they get it from the income taxes of peoples who work. As an example my dad was giving half of his salary in income taxes, since I own a business I always find way to pass my house expense on it.

 

[whs]

...... Latin based languages like Italian, Roumanian or Spanish were a lot easier to understand than if you had no notion of Latin.

And the "Price of education" in some countries is a real disgrace. Education must be free, as it is in many European countries. In fact, in Germany, you even get an education allowance (for post high school studies) if you come from a middle to low income family. That amounts to appr. $1000/month.

Well, French is also base on Latin and some Greek too, I study both at high school, I will not say I enjoy them, but at least I don't need a dictionary to know the signification of a word. French is way more hard to learn then Spanish and Italian, It's my natural language, I learn it for 18 years at school and I still have problem with it, too much exception. In Canada we have free school, hospital and other thing, but in our case or Europe, it's not free at all, they get it from the income taxes of peoples who work. As an example my dad was giving half of his salary in income taxes, since I own a business I always find way to pass my house expense on it.

Yeah, of course French too. But since that is quasi my second mother language, I need no 'latin assistance' in that.

Of course, all 'free' services are paid from taxes. But I had the pleasure to live and work in many countries and found that the sum of all taxes you pay is approximately the same in every country. Some have more direct taxes, others have more indirect taxes.

But I rather have my goverment spend the money on education and other useful services than the military and the secret services. Those are utterly useless - as we have seen.

 

[area 66]

But I rather have my goverment spend the money on education and other useful services than the military and the secret services. Those are utterly useless - as we have seen.

ya Agree, I don't know why Canada have submarine, like if they gone stop the US and Russian to go under the ice in the North. Now they will get new planes, defend the territory, we never have anyone who invade us.

 

[Mike Lonewolf]

Bad news about that Area66, JUST recently on Fox news network, they say Mexico is planning an invasion on Canada.
And going to force ALL the Canadians to play soccer, and melt all the ice hockey rinks. PLUS on top of that, they will
force you to eat tacos and burritos!

 

[Vince53]

I'm a retired American who lives happily in Mexico. I saw a tee shirt that said:

Hey Gringo!
Be all you can be!
Ride with Pancho Villa and join the revolution!

 

[chev65]

The differences I saw weren't something that an update would normally be able to fix.

I did notice that home networking has gotten more confusing with the past few versions but if they really wanted to do it, it could have been an update. It is amazing what sort of patching you can do if you put your mind to it.

I respectfully disagree because there are some major changes to the UI in the Windows 8 Network options.