Windows 8 Usability beyond novelty for work

[W_L]

I read up on windows 8 and have been thinking about taking the plunge for months now. However, this youtube video both disturbs and amuses me:

 

 

I have a tablet and love it, it's a Asus Transformer Prime, which is kind of a netbook/tablet combo with the keyboard. I can type from it and use it on trips, so I am happy with the touch/standard hybrid interface based on android.

 

However, Windows 8 variant of laptops that I have played with now seem a little weird to me. The touch interface is nice, but nothing new to me. Little things like excel and word don't seem as usable as they used to be. It makes me wonder about the usability of the windows 8 OS and how it compares to Windows 7 or my Android OS systems.

 

Is it wrong to prefer usability for PC's and fun for tablets?

 

I sort of understand the youtube reviewer's frustrations and think he might be right about Windows 8 being the wrong product for the wrong demographic. Not to mention that Microsoft killed Windows 7 in order to get windows 8 launched. In terms of business OS, Windows 7 was and still is superior in many regards to Windows 8.

[Menace]

What's even more annoying is Window 8 on a desktop or laptop. It just makes everything so freaken confusing and inconvenience to me

[colinian]

I have Windows 8 Pro on my laptop which doesn't have a touch screen – I can't afford a new laptop, starving student and all that. However, I run Windows 8 primarily in desktop mode and it's significantly faster and more responsive than it was under Windows 7 Pro. I did buy a Logitech Wireless rechargeable Touchpad T650 and it works okay for those times when I use Windows 8 with the Modern interface.

 

Colin :icon_geek:

[JamesSavik]

I don't want it. It's ugly and its mother dressed it funny.

[rec]

For about $4.50 U.S., you can get a program from Stardock called Start8 that effectively returns the Windows 7 interface (including jump lists) and hides Windows 8 unless you want to use it. Apparently there is some freeware that does the same thing.

[Myr]

Well, since I'm the local tech geek king...

I have Windows 8 Pro on my laptop, desktop and backup laptop.  I also have a Surface RT (the only touch device). 

On Surface, I'm in the new interface constantly.  on the laptop and desktop, I almost never use it.

Windows 8 is noticably faster on all machines.

 

For those that poo poo the Surface RT.  It's a perfect device for consumption and has handy content creation option when in a crunch.  In fact, It works perfectly on the site for stuff.  And unlike, say the iPad, the editor actually works with it on the site...

 

IE10 also happens to be a really good browser.  It's fast, responsive and standards compliant.  It's a shame it took MS so long to get there.  But better late than never I guess.

 

I will say after using the Surface for a little while, I have a tendency to poke at my laptop screen now...

[Myr]

PS, the video maker is completely clueless.

[Former Member]

I will say after using the Surface for a little while, I have a tendency to poke at my laptop screen now...

 

I know it's OT: Are you sure the surface is the reason for that?

 

I wanted to upgrade my netbook from Windows 7 to Windows 8 but the screen resolution was too low to udate it. I guess I just have to get a new desktop

[W_L]

Lets tech out

 

I've been wondering why can't my droid tablet edit stuff on GA ?

 

Windows 7 at the moment seems easier to work with, but maybe office 13 will change my mind.

[Gene Splicer PHD]

I'm running Win8 on a 5 year old laptop. It's made a big difference in speed. I am missing graphics drivers, which means Win8 is attempting to use a default driver that crashes and reloads the GUI every once in a while.

 

I don't use the "modern" interface, I have Start8 installed, which puts my desktop right where it should be - the first thing I see when I start the machine is the desktop.

 

There are annoyances in Win8 vs 7 that I don't like (the search capability no longer searches everything at once - I have to tell it to look for an app or a file, etc, I don't like the way network connections are handled (it pops up the silliest sidebar, blah blah blah). 

 

Office 2013 is okay.It's not as good as 2010. I don't like having "skydrive" as my default save location, Outlook is noticeably slower and buggier - it crashes often, and I don't like the way the programs look. The "flat" look is fine for a browser and some OS elements, but it just looks bad in Office - it's like they went too far with the new design. I don't like one-note always popping up the "sidenote" app - I don't use it, I don't want it, and any time I open onenote - there it is again.

 

This laptop is joined to a domain, to my server. The domain does not like Windows 8 and Windows 8 hates the domain. There's no simple way to deploy apps to it - you have to use the app store, which is a terrible idea for a work environment. Having my live.com ID tied to the laptop has caused unending problems with the domain, because it means I can't be signed on to both at the same time - it's one or the other, and that's very bad when I need to access domain assets and need to hit skydrive - it just dies dramatically when that happens. So I end up signing out of the domain most of the time. I am left to conclude that Windows 8 is not ready for a corporate environment, and when my customers get PCs with Windows 8 on them, I'm downgrading the license to Windows 7 right away.

 

IE-10 isn't fully baked, yet, it's compatibility with older sites is broken. it simply won't work with older/corporate web apps (like Microsoft Dynamics CRM or some web consoles that I use frequently). And it crashes, usually because of add ons that continually re-enable themselves indiscriminately.

 

Here's my point: Windows 8 is very much a "1.0" release. It needs a service pack or two to fix some of the issues. And until it's got some maturity, I can't and won't recommend it to anyone. Aside from the UI issues, it's just not done yet.

Edited February 16, 2013 by Gene Splicer PHD

[Myr]

Well, upgrade to Windows Server 2012!  That works with Windows 8 great. 

IE-10 is exactly what it should be. Standards compliant.  Now, all the crap MS made over the years for their non-standard browsers needs to be updated.

Set up a Virtual machine in Hypervisor and browse the old crap that way.

[hh5]

I got win8 on an old dell core duo about 8 years old ... doing daily automated jobs for my brother

 

Its bearable but its not fast ... I could have stayed with Win7 setup but since win8 didn't reject I kept on with it

 

Its nice to have the search function on the new interface but it stinks that I can't right click to pin it to the start menu or the desktop

its tiring to search for the item every time 

 

I played with preview office 2013 ... i didn't like what they did with excel ... i don't know if you can revert the interface back to 2010 look

they fucked it up ... I'm surprised MS pushing such a clumsy interface on all users ... it will make them wanna stay on the older versions

[Rilbur]

Wow, bitter much?  It sounds like having windows come pre-installed on new machines is half the problem -- because the tutorials that are supposed to help new users learn things things like bringing up the charms bar are, from what I've read, on the install screens.  So no install screen, no tutorial to the new UI.

 

That said, it's worth noting that some of what he's complaining about stems from the attempts of windows to expand user functionality.  The new start screen is designed to let apps display info without having to open them up.  Want to check the weather?  One press of the windows key brings up the start screen, where you can see that it's expected to rain today, and you can see your latest twits, facebook junk, and maybe some of your mail.

 

It's not perfect, yet, but it's an effort to take their OS in a new, more user-friendly approach.

 

Windows 8 is Windows Vista 2.0: it'll be good, eventually, but people need to get used to the ideas involved.  (And MS needs to patch the heck out of it).

 

Windows 9 will probably be based on a similar system, but it'll be polished to the point where it's much more usable.

 

Oh: and big reason I want to upgrade?  Improved multi-monitor support!

[wildone]

I'm not claiming to be an expert in the least.

 

My newest desktop has Windows 8 and I've had it for 3 months now. I'm mixed on my reaction to it. Since I run dual monitors I don't have the ability to 'slide' items and it appears the mouse doesn't replace a finger. I really miss the Start button. I found the added search in the start menu in Vista was very simple to use. Now the charms bar I search something and sometimes I have to search in File, Apps, Settings.

 

One short cut for easy access that I learned to access a lot of information (Programs and Features, Power Options, Event Viewer, System, Device Manager, Disk Management, Computer Management, Command Prompt, Command Prompt (Admin), Task Manager, Control Panel, File Explorer, Search, Run, Desktop) are all easily accessible by moving the pointer off the bottom left corner of the screen and right clicking. This has made some aspects of Windows 8 a bit more bearable now

[Arpeggio]

I miss the Start button too.

[rec]

I miss the Start button too.

 

As noted earlier, the start button can be resurrected at low or no cost. I've tried and like the low cost Start8 program.

[Gene Splicer PHD]

Well, upgrade to Windows Server 2012!  That works with Windows 8 great. 

IE-10 is exactly what it should be. Standards compliant.  Now, all the crap MS made over the years for their non-standard browsers needs to be updated.

Set up a Virtual machine in Hypervisor and browse the old crap that way.

 

I'd love to go to 2012, and I have it running in a sandbox domain on a VM (I'm a huge fan of hyper-v, and the 2012 implementation of it is pretty awesome) but my customers are pretty much old-school Server 2003/2008 shops. That limits my ability and means I have to find ways to work around the Windows 8 issues that arise because the domain level is lower than the client, and group policy issues and blah blah blah. There really does need to be backward compatibility with this stuff. Two of my customers are just now getting their XP machines off the domain, and rolling out Windows 7. They just don't stay current, these stodgy old law firms.

 

IE 10 suffers from one huge, gaping flaw: it's not user extensible. I can't write an addon for it without jumping through lots of hoops. Greasemonkey isn't compatible, you have to use workarounds like Trixie. Compatibility mode only works sometimes. 

 

Also, try getting your grandmother to understand the concept of spawning an IE 8 browser in a virtual instance. Users don't get the concept, and the process of spawning the browser is clunky, from an end user perspective (for example, try to save something in a virtual process to your C drive - it "looks different" and is therefore scary).

 

I could go on, and on...

[colinian]

I upgraded my i3 non-touch-screen Win7 laptop to Win 8 and added Stardock's Star8 add-in for the Start button. I did some tests to see how much slower/faster Win8 is vs Win7. I found Win8 faster for everything I tried (note: this wasn't a comprehensive test). One of the most impressive improvements is restarting after using Hibernate to shut down; it takes less than half as much time. I start up in the 'Modern' interface (ugh! what a stupid name, IMO -- what was wrong with 'Metro'?) Start screen where I have some tiles that show the weather and stock market info, sort of like widgets. Then I do most of my work in desktop mode. All of my software and drivers work except the Win8 version of the Kindle app (it has a major bug that limits the total size of downloaded books; it will be fixed Real Soon Now they say) but the Win7 version installed on the desktop works great as does the Cloud Reader, where by design the Win8 version only works on the Start screen.

 

I'm happy with Win8. I'll upgrade my desktop PCs when I'm finished with grad school after this semester (like my granddad says, "Don't tempt fate, she'll bite you in the ass").

 

Colin

Edited February 22, 2013 by colinian

[Myr]

The Company Metro threatened a lawsuit on MS...  Hence "modern"

 

I will say that my mother, who is completely tech clueless, is liking Windows 8 a lot.  She used to call me all the time to find things in Windows 7.  Now she is not only finding things in windows 8, she's helping my even more clueless father with his laptop!

 

So while Win 8 may not be overly appealing to 'those in the know', based on my very small sample size of clueless users, it seems better off...

[W_L]

Ill wait til summer and get a new pc with 8. My poor Sony viao is aging it way to the end

[hh5]

you can put your kindle app on compatibility mode win7 until a win8 updated app is available

 

I upgraded my i3 non-touch-screen Win7 laptop to Win 8 and added Stardock's Star8 add-in for the Start button. I did some tests to see how much slower/faster Win8 is vs Win7. I found Win8 faster for everything I tried (note: this wasn't a comprehensive test). One of the most impressive improvements is restarting after using Hibernate to shut down; it takes less than half as much time. I start up in the 'Modern' interface (ugh! what a stupid name, IMO -- what was wrong with 'Metro'?) Start screen where I have some tiles that show the weather and stock market info, sort of like widgets. Then I do most of my work in desktop mode. All of my software and drivers work except the Win8 version of the Kindle app (it has a major bug that limits the total size of downloaded books; it will be fixed Real Soon Now they say) but the Win7 version installed on the desktop works great as does the Cloud Reader, where by design the Win8 version only works on the Start screen.

 

I'm happy with Win8. I'll upgrade my desktop PCs when I'm finished with grad school after this semester (like my granddad says, "Don't tempt fate, she'll bite you in the ass").

 

Colin

[hh5]

 

 

Desktop diehards will find a present waiting for them in Windows 8.1, the impending upgrade colloquially dubbed “Windows Blue.” A wonderful, horrible, oh-so-teasing present.

 

The Start button is back—but the Start menu isn’t.

 

Instead, clicking the old familar button will dump you into the modern UI Start screen. While the new feature is notable for adding a helpful visual cue to an operating system rife with hidden menus, it isn’t exactly what people begging for the return of the Start button were looking for.

 

 

MSFT isn't listening to customers needs

Edited May 30, 2013 by hh5

[Thorn Wilde]

The Windows OS's have been pretty much every other hit and miss for a while now. 98, good. ME, suck. XP, good. Vista, SUCK! 7, fantastic (even I like using Win7 and I've been a Mac-user for going on a decade)! 8, meh. Windows 9 (or whatever they're going to call it) should be awesome, if the pattern holds.

[Kenny Deheart]

I upgraded my i3 non-touch-screen Win7 laptop to Win 8 and added Stardock's Star8 add-in for the Start button. I did some tests to see how much slower/faster Win8 is vs Win7. I found Win8 faster for everything I tried (note: this wasn't a comprehensive test). One of the most impressive improvements is restarting after using Hibernate to shut down; it takes less than half as much time. I start up in the 'Modern' interface (ugh! what a stupid name, IMO -- what was wrong with 'Metro'?) Start screen where I have some tiles that show the weather and stock market info, sort of like widgets. Then I do most of my work in desktop mode. All of my software and drivers work except the Win8 version of the Kindle app (it has a major bug that limits the total size of downloaded books; it will be fixed Real Soon Now they say) but the Win7 version installed on the desktop works great as does the Cloud Reader, where by design the Win8 version only works on the Start screen.

 

I'm happy with Win8. I'll upgrade my desktop PCs when I'm finished with grad school after this semester (like my granddad says, "Don't tempt fate, she'll bite you in the ass").

 

Colin

There's the problem. You had to modify it. When you have to modify an os right from the beginning in order to make it useable, it is fail.

 

I have been fully switched over to a macbook pro for a year now with mac osx and I have to say that I prefer the mac osx over any type of windows. My roommate even have an Alienware with win 7 for gaming that neither one of us uses sitting in a corner gathering dust. My experience with my first mac osx was fully intuitive and usable right from boot up. The only thing that sucks is the fact that the only real mac antivirus/antimalware clam av is pretty much manual scan only and won't prevent infections, only clean them up afterwards, the few that can infect mac osx I mean.

 

And to set the record strait, I used to own a first generation iPad and find that the artifisial limitations that is imposed on the iOS turned it into an over expensive toy that I ended up hating before i sold it. Also my roomate bough a macbook air and had it fail twice in the first month before he exchanged it for a macbook pro also. So I an not an apple fanboy, I am a Macbook Pro osx only fan boy. I could care less about any iproducts or airbook products.

Edited May 31, 2013 by Kenny Deheart

[Thorn Wilde]

There's the problem. You had to modify it. When you have to modify an os right from the beginning in order to make it useable, it is fail.

 

I have been fully switched over to a macbook pro for a year now with mac osx and I have to say that I prefer the mac osx over any type of windows. My roommate even have an Alienware with win 7 for gaming that neither one of us uses sitting in a corner gathering dust. My experience with my first mac osx was fully intuitive and usable right from boot up. The only thing that sucks is the fact that the only real mac antivirus/antimalware clam av is pretty much manual scan only and won't prevent infections, only clean them up afterwards, the few that can infect mac osx I mean.

 

And to set the record strait, I used to own a first generation iPad and find that the artifisial limitations that is imposed on the iOS turned it into an over expensive toy that I ended up hating before i sold it. Also my roomate bough a macbook air and had it fail twice in the first month before he exchanged it for a macbook pro also. So I an not an apple fanboy, I am a Macbook Pro osx only fan boy. I could care less about any iproducts or airbook products.

 

My MacBook Air has never failed me. I've had it for nearly two years and it's my baby and I love it. I also love my MacBook Pro. I bought my first iBook when I was 16, and since then have had two MacBooks (hard-drive fails, both of them), one MacPro (had it for five years, then I moved and it stood gathering dust for a year and when I got home and turned it on the motherboard got fried, so, my own fault) and now these two laptops. I love MacOS. I have no desire for any other devices, though it's likely I'll get an iPhone when my old mobile dies, given that it'll be compatible with my calendar and address book and everything.