How do you choose

Tonny

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First I think Windows 8 is just great.

Having said this I am also a little confused. Windos 8 have a number of applications built in, People, Mail, Photo, Skydrive.

So now I got my pictures, but cannot edit and adjust them, so getting Live Essentials and Photo Gallery. So why do I now need two photo applications?

Along comes also Live Mail, so now I have MS Outlook (Hotmail), Live Mail and Windows 8 Mail, all givin access to my mails, different ways, different functionality, so what to use?

Skydrive, gives you acccess to your files (did I say I am a great fan of skydrive), but you cannot edit access and control (or at least I cant), so then you access Skydrive via Outlook Mail, so why do I need Windows 8 Skydrive?

So who do I know, People, is great, but then again I have Messenger as part of Essential, which is maybe even greater, or something I am just missing?

I think it is sometimes difficult to find what it best as one has some functions, another some other, but still I need multiple tools, so has MS managed to integrate it all in Windows 8 when I still need Outlook and Essentials, or can someone maybe give som good advise on how to use these tools in an effective way,,
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
For my Email I use only Outlook, I don't like the idea to have only a cloud copy of important stuff ( I get access to my Hotmail, Google Apps email and my office 365 email as well as my internal Exchange servers from it ) . For my photo, I use Photoshop elements, I don't need the full power of Photoshop. I will say just find the apps you like most and use this one, you can adjust files extensions to open the apps you like.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 enterprise x64
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Pc-Quebec / Area 66
    CPU
    i7-3960X Extreme Edition
    Motherboard
    Rampage IV Extreme
    Memory
    Gskill 4x4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    4 x HD 7970
    Sound Card
    onboard
    Screen Resolution
    2560*1600
    Hard Drives
    C:\Intel series 520 SSD , 250 GB
    D:\ WD 750 black with Intel 40gb SSD cache Intel RST
    E:\ WD 2TB Black
    PSU
    Corsair AX 1200
    Case
    TT Mozart TX
    Cooling
    Water Cooled
    Keyboard
    Logitech G-15
    Other Info
    Windows 8 VM is install on his own SSD.
Windows 8 is still a first generation OS. hopefully they don't take too long in completing it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus Tansformer Book Flip TP500LN
    CPU
    Intel i5-4210U
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 SDRAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce GT 840M
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15" Touchscreen
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Hard Drives
    1TB Hybrid
    Mouse
    Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000
Hello there!

The Photos app after being updated allows for cropping and rotating like Windows Photo Viewer did before. It's not meant to be an editing tool.

I personally use Outlook 2013 for my mail client. I have all the Windows apps installed, but those are there as backup and give me calendar reminders if I'm offline. I also use the Messaging app, or at least trying to. I say this because I haven't gotten it to work flawlessly since the Consumer Preview way back earlier this year. I don't use the Windows Mail app, just preference.

The SkyDrive app is there primarily for touch users. SkyDrive on the Desktop is there to give you better management of files and folders, as well as being able to quickly get access to recent files. So for example, you're away from your home PC and editing a document on say, your Windows Phone. Get home, realize you need to do a few revisions, open SkyDrive on the Desktop, and open the document you need.

Basically, Windows 8 lets you pick your poison. If you're on the Desktop a lot, use the Desktop apps like Outlook and Essentials. If you like using the metro apps, you can do that too. If you don't, just uninstall them and call it a minute. You can use both if you want to.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS
    CPU
    AMD FX 8320
    Motherboard
    Crosshair V Formula-Z
    Memory
    16 gig DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS R9 270
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Seagate Barracuda (starting to hate Seagate)
    x2 3 TB Toshibas
    Windows 8.1 is installed on a SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB
    PSU
    OCZ 500 watt
    Case
    A current work in progres as I'll be building the physical case myself. It shall be fantastic.
    Cooling
    Arctic Cooler with 3 heatpipes
    Keyboard
    Logitech K750 wireless solar powered keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Touch Mouse
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, but I might go back on KIS 2014
Windows 8 is not better than windows 7
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro 64 Bit
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Chalet
    CPU
    Intel Core2Duo E5700
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvdia GT 610 2GB
First I think Windows 8 is just great.

Having said this I am also a little confused. Windos 8 have a number of applications built in, People, Mail, Photo, Skydrive.

So now I got my pictures, but cannot edit and adjust them, so getting Live Essentials and Photo Gallery. So why do I now need two photo applications?

Along comes also Live Mail, so now I have MS Outlook (Hotmail), Live Mail and Windows 8 Mail, all givin access to my mails, different ways, different functionality, so what to use?

Skydrive, gives you acccess to your files (did I say I am a great fan of skydrive), but you cannot edit access and control (or at least I cant), so then you access Skydrive via Outlook Mail, so why do I need Windows 8 Skydrive?

So who do I know, People, is great, but then again I have Messenger as part of Essential, which is maybe even greater, or something I am just missing?

I think it is sometimes difficult to find what it best as one has some functions, another some other, but still I need multiple tools, so has MS managed to integrate it all in Windows 8 when I still need Outlook and Essentials, or can someone maybe give som good advise on how to use these tools in an effective way,,

Personally, I use Adobe Photoshop to edit photos. But Photo Gallery is pretty awesome for cataloging your picture collection with facial recognition and especially for panorama shots. You can take a series of pictures and use panorama to blend them together into a seamless pic. It's actually my favorite app for panoramas. The facial recognition isn't as good as Picasa. However, a huge reason why I switched from Picasa to Photo Gallery is I had spent a ton of time with facial recognition in Picasa and building a huge database. Then I lost my database and all my work was for naught (I didn't make a backup). But Photo Gallery doesn't depend on a single database. It tags the metadata of the picture. So if your database gets blown out, it's far easier to get things up and running again. Its editing tools are simple and easy and they're free.

The Windows 8 photo app is okay. Its main benefit is it combines your local pictures with your facebook pics, flickr pics, and skydrive pics in one location. I do prefer to see my facebook and flicker photos in this app. But otherwise, it's a pretty sparse program in terms of features. Heck, I still use Windows Photo Viewer to quickly open a picture.

The thing about Skydrive in Windows 8 is the nice integration with the Microsoft apps and the third party apps. Here's an example I made with PicTRO which is a third-party app that pulls pics from deviantART:

[video=youtube;ns_UBe35qik]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns_UBe35qik[/video]

I'm not a fan of the new mail app at all.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
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