This will be Microsofts biggest ever flop, far bigger than Vista.

[jebuchanan]

I am a firm believer Win8 will be like Vista and Win7 will remain in use for quite a while yet.
I also agree people may read left to right but they also read top down. scrolling left to right does not make it easier. The scroll wheel was well designed to work the way people do read.

Long live Windows 7

 

[area 66]

This video show how Microsoft is stupid, that will be a totally different experience if the old man have a start menu pointing to the start page.

 

[PaulGo]

My son came over with his Mac laptop running the latest Mac OS - it looked beautiful and it was very intuitive. It was not a clone of their notebook system. Microsoft should not be giving us a one size fits all OS.

 

[tcman50]

The title of this thread is incorrect, the biggest flop ever will be the Miami Heat!

 

[SIW2]

The video is Hilarious, but true.

There may well be a significant number of people who look elsewhere for their next system .

Apple will be looking forward to it. Steve Jobs is not around to see it, unfortunately.


If the final of Win8 is similar to this - Apple would do well to show that video as a commercial.



I have mixed feelings about this.

I am a windows user - I have invested a lot of time trying to find out a bit about it - I have invested a lot of time trying to help out on Windows Forums - I have often defended Windows ( I am in a sea of Apple users ).

It is like MS is my football team and I am an avid supporter.

I don't want the team to do anything stupid.

However - if they lose a lot of customers - it is their own fault - they deserve it.

 

[acr731]

I WAS that man the first time I installed the DP, but not so much with the CP. I am the main IT support person for my family, mine as well as for my wife and her side. I shudder to think how much more time I would be having to spend with them if I were to dump Win8 onto their machines.

Win8 is going to end up being like Vista with me; I skipped it entirely.

 

[Mike Lonewolf]

HEY! HEY! Lets not start anything like this. Microsoft will beat out other competition. WE as end-users of their latest Operating System, need to suck it up, and relearn JUST like we had to do when the change over from 3.1 to 95. This is no different
than that. SURE users will need to get a grip on the Metro interface, but to me that is nothing new there. And if you REALLY need a menu like front-end, it is there, just move your mouse to the top of the metro screen, and left-click it. SEE?? There you go.

 

[acr731]

However - if they lose a lot of customers - it is their own fault - they deserve it.

Vista was the impetus behind an entire Apple advertising campaign. Win8 will be the next one.

 

[acr731]

HEY! HEY! Lets not start anything like this. Microsoft will beat out other competition. WE as end-users of their latest Operating System, need to suck it up, and relearn JUST like we had to do when the change over from 3.1 to 95. This is no different
than that. SURE users will need to get a grip on the Metro interface, but to me that is nothing new there. And if you REALLY need a menu like front-end, it is there, just move your mouse to the top of the metro screen, and left-click it. SEE?? There you go.

Answer one question, if you can... what was the total number of PC owners / users back in 1995 compared to now?

My point in asking this is that back in 1995, the change from Win 3.1 to 95 didn't affect a large number of users; it was probably very minimal compared to 2012. Now, 17 years later, this change is going to affect practically the entire planet. This could end up being a very massive mistake on Microsoft's part.

Of course, it could also have the reverse effect since so many people are used to how their smart phone operates and like the simplicity. On the flip side, people may not want their desktop PC to be like their phone (I'm in this group).

 

[Mike Lonewolf]

acr731 Look at it this way, convergence has always been the better solution. NOW saying IF you PC, and phone had the SAME operating system. wouldn't day to day convergence between the two be more time saving, as opposed to going from one location to another? I'll use calendar in this example. NOW you're in Los Angles, and your PC is in your office on the east coast, NOW you don't have a way to locally get in front of your PC there to look at your calendar, BUT your phone can SYNC it and you can see your calendar of events for the day. NOW wouldn't that save you a whole lot of downtime, saying if it wasn't possible in doing so?

 

[area 66]

..... NOW you don't have a way to locally get in front of your PC there to look at your calendar, BUT your phone can SYNC it and you can see your calendar of events for the day. NOW wouldn't that save you a whole lot of downtime, saying if it wasn't possible in doing so?

Like if you need the actual Windows 8 crap metro start page in the desktop to do so.... Microsoft needs to present something friendlier for common users and more configurable for more advances users.
Why Microsoft can’t understand it will make it easier to put a start icon in the desktop to link to this start page. That’s totally unacceptable.

 

[acr731]

NOW you're in Los Angles, and your PC is in your office on the east coast, NOW you don't have a way to locally get in front of your PC there to look at your calendar, BUT your phone can SYNC it and you can see your calendar of events for the day. NOW wouldn't that save you a whole lot of downtime, saying if it wasn't possible in doing so?

Lets see this work when your PC on the east coast has BSOD'd due to a Windows update. (and no, I'm not an Apple user)

What does this have to do with the number of PC users from 1995 compared to 2012?

Like I said, this could end up being a good thing for MS, but it could easily go the other way. The learning curve from WinXP to Win7 wasn't that great. Win7 to Win8 is going to be a nightmare.

 

[fdegrove]

Hi,

acr731 Look at it this way, convergence has always been the better solution. NOW saying IF you PC, and phone had the SAME operating system. wouldn't day to day convergence between the two be more time saving, as opposed to going from one location to another? I'll use calendar in this example. NOW you're in Los Angles, and your PC is in your office on the east coast, NOW you don't have a way to locally get in front of your PC there to look at your calendar, BUT your phone can SYNC it and you can see your calendar of events for the day. NOW wouldn't that save you a whole lot of downtime, saying if it wasn't possible in doing so?

What makes you think that for two apps to talk to each other they both need to look the same?

Sorry to say so but 90% of all the apps that come preloaded with W8 belong on either a tablet or a phone or both but no one's waiting for his desltop to look and act as if it were a tablet or are they?

Offering a desktop interface that comes with the same restrictions of a tiny little screen is going backwards, not forwards IMHO.

Cheers,

 

[Mike Lonewolf]

Actually it only took the majority of this forum less than a month to learn how the metro menu works, as well as the work around we have discovered. Also there is a start button available for Windows 8 call Vistart. You can download it here. ViStart Free Download

But for the most part, we want to use the new Metro interface, I, myself am a power user, and this has been a total joy for me.

 

[Dave76]

Just my 2 cents:


I'm reading all these complaints about how difficult it is to find something, or how something works on Windows 8 CP. "I am an experienced Windows veteran since version XXX and I can not find this and can not do that", that seems to be a common nominator.

OK. I am an experienced Windows user, since absolute beginning of Windows. When I first saw Win 8 CP it was clear it is so different than previous versions that even experienced users might need to consult manuals and other written instructions.

I did so. And now I have absolutely no problems to navigate deeper and deeper on Win 8 CP, find what I need. The point is we should forget now the fact we are "experts" and start instead reading manuals. I know it's cool to brag that "only n00bs read manuals, I do not need them for I am a pro", but it's wrong attitude.

Control Panel cannot be found:BS! Can not hibernate: BS! Can not change this or that: BS!

Stop complaining. Read.

- Windows 8 Consumer Preview
- Windows 8 Consumer Preview Guide (pdf)

Kari

+1


It's not that difficult, you can easily set it up to not use the Metro start screen more than once a day, for those that don't like it.
If it was Win7 SP3, then there would be just as many discussing why they don't like it and won't use it.
Change is inevitable, but it doesn't mean you have to, many used XP for 10 years or more.
Life goes on.

 

[whs]

you can easily set it up to not use the Metro start screen more than once a day

You can also set it up so that you hardly ever use the desktop - at least for the majority of the users. Geeks may still want the desktop.

 

[Calico]

you can easily set it up to not use the Metro start screen more than once a day

...Geeks may still want the desktop.

Or maybe 'normal' users who wish to have more than two applications running simultaneously.

 

[area 66]

you can easily set it up to not use the Metro start screen more than once a day

You can also set it up so that you hardly ever use the desktop - at least for the majority of the users. Geeks may still want the desktop.

Wow let me guess; you never work in an office ? If you launch Word, it go to the desktop, of course offices workers are a minority. always the same "as long as it's good for me"

 

[SIW2]

I keep trying to like it.

I boot in full of hope that there will be a revelation.

I can still only stand it in small doses.

 

[Colonel Travis]

There is a reason why Microsoft decided on a Start Screen so people can ACTUALLY get rid of their crap, and not let it bloat up one way or another.

Huh? You can have as much or as little clutter in the Start Menu as you like. Same with Metro. The difference is that Metro is always in your face (unless you somehow turn it off) and the Start Menu isn't.

People have been scrolling up and down because that's how it's always been. And people really don't read up and down, they read left to right or right to left depending on the language.

Where did I say people read up and down? That's not what I said at all. What I mentioned was the horizontal/vertical ratio of words on a page. Same principle applies to words on a screen, because it's a design principle that's been in effect since human beings have been writing. Stuff that lasts that long doesn't happen "just because." Read some typography books, study layout design. If you can't do that, at least read this dumb Wikipedia page. What I just typed doesn't mean there are no other forms anyone can follow, you must always go by set rules, blah, blah, blah. It's easier to read a horizontal license plate than a vertical one. I prefer a widescreen movie to one with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. I prefer a widescreen monitor. But it's not easier to read a paragraph that's wider than it is longer, which is why computer screens scroll up and down. I don't find it more efficient finding icons in a wide field that scrolls off the screen L-R, unless - like I already said - you're using a phone or tablet, which needs that kind of scrolling, and even when I do scroll I am always thinking - I wish I had a bigger damn screen.

If left to the devices of said power users, we'd still be using the classic design of Windows that Microsoft gladly left a good decade ago I'd bet.

No we wouldn't because it's never happened in the history of operating systems. An OS is a tool but it's not a tool like a hammer. Would you change the design of a hammer? No, because it does (more or less) one thing. An OS not only does a gazillion things, it does a gazillion things in the electronic world, which is always evolving, which means the OS must evolve with it.

C'mon, you're not putting as much thought into this stuff as you think.