Interesting debate between Ed Bott and S.J.V. Nichols

Great Debate: Is Windows 8 headed in the right direction? | ZDNet

 

[Britton30]

I still go with my original postition. I still don't want my PC screen to look like someone's cell phone. and the green color is horrid.

 

[Dave76]

You can change the background picture and color.

See Shawn's tut: Start and Logon Metro Screen - Change Background Color and Image

You can change the icons to any ones you will need or use, think of it as a gadget and frequently used program icon page.
I tend to stay on the conventional desktop mostly but, I'm finding uses for the Metro.

 

[Catswold]

Lebon14, I disagree. I don't think that Windows 8 is directed at businesses. Before Win 7, most businesses were scraping by on XP. XP met all of their needs and there was no reason to upgrade to Vista. Once Win 7 came out and proved itself to be a really good, stable platform, businesses started making the switch-over to it--to the point where there are more Win 7 machines than XP machines now.

It is unlikely that businesses would move to Win 8 after having gone to the expense of changing over to Win 7. I suspect that most businesses will give Windows 8 a pass and wait for the next evolution, so your concern over businesses and big enterprises ignoring Win 8 is moot.

For any businesses that might decide to go with Win 8, there won't be any need to rewrite programs which work on Win 7, because they will also work on 8.

As for touchscreens, there are a number of them available in flat-screen LCD monitors and with the introduction of a large scale operating system like Win 8, there will be a growing number and they will get cheaper and cheaper as sales rise.

Just my opinion. Cheers

 

[whs]

Catswold, Although we do not yet have the full story, I think you might be right. There is nothing yet I see in 8 that would make a business go thru the expense of switching and reeducating all their people. 8 will probably end up to be one of those interim systems like ME and Vista, But it is still fun for the enthusiast. On mobile devices, the story is probably different.

 

[Beta]

Lebon14, I disagree. I don't think that Windows 8 is directed at businesses. Before Win 7, most businesses were scraping by on XP. XP met all of their needs and there was no reason to upgrade to Vista. Once Win 7 came out and proved itself to be a really good, stable platform, businesses started making the switch-over to it--to the point where there are more Win 7 machines than XP machines now.

It is unlikely that businesses would move to Win 8 after having gone to the expense of changing over to Win 7. I suspect that most businesses will give Windows 8 a pass and wait for the next evolution, so your concern over businesses and big enterprises ignoring Win 8 is moot.

For any businesses that might decide to go with Win 8, there won't be any need to rewrite programs which work on Win 7, because they will also work on 8.

As for touchscreens, there are a number of them available in flat-screen LCD monitors and with the introduction of a large scale operating system like Win 8, there will be a growing number and they will get cheaper and cheaper as sales rise.

Just my opinion. Cheers

I disagree. In my company I work for once the software we use is supported in a new OS we switch over to it. Many software providers will not support what they call a legacy OS for tech support. So if we have a issue say with running the program on Windows 7 and 8 is now supported they will not give any tech support. Bear in mind we use high end engineering programs.

 

[Catswold]

Lebon14, I disagree. I don't think that Windows 8 is directed at businesses. Before Win 7, most businesses were scraping by on XP. XP met all of their needs and there was no reason to upgrade to Vista. Once Win 7 came out and proved itself to be a really good, stable platform, businesses started making the switch-over to it--to the point where there are more Win 7 machines than XP machines now.

It is unlikely that businesses would move to Win 8 after having gone to the expense of changing over to Win 7. I suspect that most businesses will give Windows 8 a pass and wait for the next evolution, so your concern over businesses and big enterprises ignoring Win 8 is moot.

For any businesses that might decide to go with Win 8, there won't be any need to rewrite programs which work on Win 7, because they will also work on 8.

As for touchscreens, there are a number of them available in flat-screen LCD monitors and with the introduction of a large scale operating system like Win 8, there will be a growing number and they will get cheaper and cheaper as sales rise.

Just my opinion. Cheers

I disagree. In my company I work for once the software we use is supported in a new OS we switch over to it. Many software providers will not support what they call a legacy OS for tech support. So if we have a issue say with running the program on Windows 7 and 8 is now supported they will not give any tech support. Bear in mind we use high end engineering programs.

I think a lot depends on the type of company you work for. If your work is on the cutting edge of technology, then you are probably correct, but if you work for a large corporation, they simply cannot afford to switch OSes with every evolutionary step. Remember that Win 7 is actually Win 6.1 and Win 8 will be Win 6.2 (Vista was Win 6.0) so backwards compatibility is there for virtually all programs. Also remember that we are still only on Win 7 SP1 and SP2 probably won't be released for another 6-9 months--about the same time as Win 8.

There will be very little advantage in switching from 7 to 8 for most conventional users. Without the "touch" features, Win 8 will probably be less efficient than Win 7. It appears that--at least for the pre-release version--Win 8 is handicapped for conventional keyboard/mouse users.

I have installed and used every Windows version produced since Windows 3.0--yes, including even Windows ME (what can I say, I'm a junkie)--but I am not certain I will go with Win 8. I will try it out, but until I can afford to buy large format touch screen monitors, it appears not to be worth moving.

Most corporations will not be willing to make that level of hardware change without substantial motivation--such as revolutionary software pertinent to their industry.

I hope the hardware folks get up to speed quickly with touch screen monitors cause I love them--I first used one on an old Honeywell plant operations control system back in 2002 .

As always, it will be fun to watch how the system deployment evolves over the next couple of years.

 

[Colonel Travis]

Windows 7 cheaper? Uhh Windows is not sold like a car it doesn't get cheaper when a new version comes out. The old version is no longer sold.

Wrong. It's called supply and demand. You can buy Vista and XP for less than 7. You can still buy Windows 95. You can buy 3.1.

Catswold is correct about not just the software change for businesses but the hardware. 8 is not for them, it's for consumers. MS has been saying this themselves. My wife works for a very large company. They're still on XP and Office 2003 because the cost to change everyone over then train them is staggering. If you're a nimble, small business you could make an OS change much easier.

 

[logicearth]

Wrong. It's called supply and demand. You can buy Vista and XP for less than 7. You can still buy Windows 95. You can buy 3.1.

Colonel...I'm sure you are smarter then this. Business buy their operating systems in bulk. Volume Licensing. Not old unsold warehouse retail boxes. Or pre-owned sold by owner deals.

 

[Colonel Travis]

Wrong. It's called supply and demand. You can buy Vista and XP for less than 7. You can still buy Windows 95. You can buy 3.1.

Colonel...I'm sure you are smarter then this. Business buy their operating systems in bulk. Volume Licensing. Not old unsold warehouse retail boxes. Or pre-owned sold by owner deals.

Gee, you mean Windows 95 might not be the best way to go for a company the size of Wal-Mart? The reason I listed those is because I can't send you a link with volume prices because such a link doesn't exist. Businesses negotiate with MS and the variables determining cost are infinite. Buying downgrade rights, for example, can definitely be the cheaper route for some. No way businesses are gonna flock to 8, MS will have options for them for a long time.