Windows 8 six months in: Thoughts from a power(less) user

Crave's Eric Mack has felt at home in Windows for decades. Now that his home has a fresh coat of paint, he's still not sure if it's an improvement.

Since then I've been courted by other colonial powers, but I was conditioned at a young age to the ways of Windows and -- no matter how it came to be this way -- it still feels like home. Now my home has just received a fresh coat of paint. And even if the painters did a shoddy job and painted over all the switches and outlets and left a mess on the hardwood floor, I'm willing to wait for them to come clean things up and get my home looking better than ever.

Windows 8 six months in: Thoughts from a power(less) user | Crave - CNET

 

[Ray8]

You completely miss the point.

 

[mdmd]

You completely miss the point.

What's your point?

 

[HippsieGypsie]

You completely miss the point.

I'm sure you'll follow with an explanation of how he missed it?

 

[Ray8]

I was talking about the fact that with all the experience and examples that abound now with the likes of Android tablets and how they work, why not provide similar, easy, access to all the device controls? Many people complain that device settings and the like are difficult to find in Windows 8, whether the same applies to Windows 7 is irrelevant, we are talking about a new OS, a new paradigm.

It should be easier to use, not more complex. And I'm not talking about tech savvy users, but those whose tech skills are very basic, if not non-existent. There should have been one single tile in the start screen that was for settings, just like in Android, and that took you to a page that revealed everything. Is that too difficult to imagine?

 

[mdmd]

Is that too difficult to imagine?

Ok. I apologize for stepping in. I don't know anything about Android.
Ok, I see... you were talking about the new paradigm and continuity between devices.
Well, I withdraw from this topic because I have no portables at all and have never used one.

There should have been one single tile in the start screen that was for settings

Probably not because Windows 8 is not a phone or tablet.

 

[mdmd]

Just so there's no confusion, my 50 pound cooler master Intel Asrock computer is not a phone or tablet.
Touch capability, but I don't need it. So I guess I don't need the features of a phone or tablet on my home system.

I have a touch device, however, a touchpad, and it is awesome. Prefer my massive Kensington trackball.

 

[Ray8]

Is that too difficult to imagine?

Ok. I apologize for stepping in. I don't know anything about Android.
Ok, I see... you were talking about the new paradigm and continuity between devices.
Well, I withdraw from this topic because I have no portables at all and have never used one.

There should have been one single tile in the start screen that was for settings

Probably not because Windows 8 is not a phone or tablet.

The thing is Microsoft is targeting tablets, phones etc, with apps and touch. My first experience with an Android tablet revealed how simple and well thought out access to settings was, as well as other things. The UI was pretty good to say the least and that reflected across the OS.

 

[mdmd]

As a side note, I see touch on a non-touch system, as an available option. It is not mandatory. It fits what new tech is for sale. Touch is ok, but I will not be needing to use it.

But then again, I prefer the touch UI for mouse and keyboard as it brings a different approach.
I am signing off to watch a movie. good night.
I still find it amazing that it's around high noon in Australia and after 10pm New York - Boston time.

 

[SIW2]

To continue wildly off topic, I have been looking at Unity - that is the ubuntu attempt at one size fits all (or none - depending on your point of view ).

I was surprised to find it is remarkably good at what it sets out to do. Not ideal for the advanced user - but that doesn't matter as they supply different UIs for advanced users.

For the average user or slightly beyond, it does the job fine even on a non touch desktop.

 

[Fredledingue]

new lines not showing

we're still doing that in the way of Windows 95 whereas you literally can hit the PHYSICAL power button on the PC to shut down or to sleep. After thinking about this, this is SO weird when this becomes about laptops, because they have the button right there under your face, yet it is never used other than to resume the PC from sleep or to turn it back on. There seems to be this rigid tradition with Windows that 8 has fleshed out. .... The observation I was making was that it's odd that something like shutting down Windows in 8 is so "difficult" when on modern mobile devices, there is no such thing in the UI. But when it's Windows and that's in the UI, it's a WHOLE debacle about something literally so trivial as hitting the physical power button.

I'ts a very interresting observation since it's often computer illiterates who are paranoiac about the shut-down button while this is a win95/98 legacy. When hit the physical button was a sin, redempted only by scanning the hard drive.

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Until Vista any PC had to go througha computering procedure before shuting down properly. XP even launched its unfamous endless updates. (it was the most absurd invention on XP: starting updates when you want to shut down the computer!)

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On 7, yes you can just sleep it, close the lad if you are on a laptop or hit the moon button on the keyboard if you are on a desktop.

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Yet, an On/off button (a circle with a little vertical bar) is missing on keyboards for desktop PCs. Or when it's there it has, at least in my case, the same effect as sleeping which is useless since there is the moon button just next. Maybe others have succesfuly turned off their PC with the keyboard's On/off button, but this feature should be generalized IMO.

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The physical button is often out of reach when located on a tower (In my case the tower is in another room, behind a wall).

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And this button has the advantage and the disadvantage of bypassing all software operations, turning the power off the MoBo directly. In such a case, you are not presented with an option to save unsaved work if any, even if the OS would handle cold shut down perfectly.

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The advanatage is that you can restart if the computer freezes. Had the physical button the same effect as the virtual shut down button, it would not allow to restart in case of serious trouble.

 

[XweAponX]

Just so there's no confusion, my 50 pound cooler master Intel Asrock computer is not a phone or tablet.
Touch capability, but I don't need it. So I guess I don't need the features of a phone or tablet on my home system.

I have a touch device, however, a touchpad, and it is awesome. Prefer my massive Kensington trackball.

I used to use one of those for playing certain games, hahaha. The one I had, had a footswitch I could use to fire and it was much faster than a mouseclick, I could kill people easier.



I think what was going on here in this thread was discussion by people who use both Devices AND PCs and have them interacting. Regardless of if you use Windows 8 the same way we use iOS or Droid, it is DESIGNED to act that way. Allegedly to be easier, but it in fact is not. And, when we are in the Desktop, which is where most of us here do our work, we kind of like things the way they were in Windows 7.

If Windows 7 had been as fast as Windows 8 has been (for me) - I never would have switched. I never use the Metro area at all - As far as I am concerned, it is NOT a useful area. I finally found a game that works great, Angry Birds. That is the ONLY useful thing and I now have about 100 Tiles/Apps. But as I mentioned it was MADE by a developer of Programs - Not by someone in their living room, making an app and selling it in the store just to make extra cash, cos they read a website that shows you how to make easy money-sucking ripoff apps. In fasct I believer 90% of the Metro Apps are made by people who are cranking them out by the hundreds just to try to make some money.

I see NO big name Metro Apps, nothing useful has been ported over yet. Even today, I installed Quicken Mobile into my iPhone. Where then is it for Windows 8? They have it for iOS and Droid, but not Windows 8.

I think pretty much, it is not that "the big app makers have not YET made Windows 8 versions of their apps" - I think, they do not WANT to.


Our problem with Windows 8 is this split-system, if you can tell me that you can do all of your major work using only Metro Apps, I would call you a liar flat out, cos it ain't possible at this point - And the design and use of the Metro side of Windows 8 removes the ability to do any fine manipulating. Unless maybe a Metro App is designed to be used with a Stylus, in that case, at some point, I can see AutoCAD and 3DSMAX ported over. But how will they work, and will it be a huge "need to totally re-learn an App that we spent 2 years in School to learn?" I for one, learned AutoCAD when it was a Dos program, it has stayed basically identical through all of it's windows versions, because that program can only be finely manipulated via the command line. I've done complex shapes using only the command line, only using the Trace function to digitise my drawings, I would have to go over it with the line commands to clean it up.