OS and Software > Microsoft Help > [WIN8] Biggest reinvention ever?

[WIN8] Biggest reinvention ever?

I am seriously thinking about a Surface Pro with Win 8 Pro (NOT the current Surface model with Win RT. Just to limited) and will find Win 8 acceptable on that platform. No need or want for Win Phone, have Android, and no need or want thatOS on my desktop/notebook computers (No touch screens on those).

It is the Biggest Mistake Ever for the desktop computer. Fine for other devices but not for the computers we now have.
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Shooter Ready--Stand By BEEP ********

Maybe, but perhaps the desktop computer is dying and Microsoft is positioning itself for future viability?

I heard the desktop-is-over view being mentioned on NPR this morning, as a teaser for an upcoming program, so it appears to be a view that has entered popular culture. (Didn't [yet] hear the actual radio program, nor even know what it was).

I'm expressing no opinion on this, though I recognize that I'm a dinosaur by preferring desktop machines. mrs. (acting) dave has recently expressed a desire that her next machine be powerful and portable, replacing her current desktop + netbook combo, and she's not a particularly bleeding-edge computer user.

It took me many years to notice that minicomputers were over, too. Who needed a PC when they could have a VAX?

"But the changes to the UI will take a long time for consumers and businesses to adapt to"
A longer time for those who refuse to make an effort to accept change.

reply to dave

I'm not the bulk of the market.

The market has shown a strong tendency to move from 'desktop' to 'notebook'.

The market has already decided, for example, that it definitely prefers 'tablet' to 'netbook'.

I think the better way to look at it is that the vast majority of users (the civilians, not us programmers) didn't really want a computer, they wanted a communications device. Accidentally, the communication mechanisms were part of a thing called a 'computer', so that's what they bought. But it's not what they really wanted, it's what they got sold.

I'm not yet sure where this leaves office applications. It seems to me that actual keyboards are essential, mouse not so much.

Ever noticed how naive users tend to like to open up windows full-screen? Maybe they like a one-thing-at-a-time model even if I don't.

reply to mozerd
I'm with dave - consume the internet=99.9% of computer users.

The keyboard falling will be the biggest technological advance for decades in my opinion.

Indeed,…

There are a lot of people who are barely computer literate and who don’t want or really care about the use of computers. They only want to be able to do some of the things a computer allows them to do and if they can do it without a traditional computer they will.

reply to OZO

said by OZO:

said by dave:

Maybe, but perhaps the desktop computer is dying and Microsoft is positioning itself for future viability?

May be it is ... but only in the eyes of the beholder (MS in this case). Do you think a tablet with tiles and apps, occupying whole screen, is better to do your job (programming) than current multi-windows environment, where you can change size and positions of all windows on the screen(s) to organize your work, type your input with good ol' keyboard and point precisely on a position in the screen without using your fingers? Make me laugh and tell me that you think so

And there is a lot of other uses of desktops in business (and home) environments that need that old UI. Moving desktop OS to a tablet paradigm is not revolutionary in any way. It's rather a step back, it's an oversimplification of UI, tossing away best ideas and approaches in UI, that were accumulated during the past decade (or even more). The classic windows UI does the job and does it efficiently (if it's not, usually it's because you don't know how to make so with the offered toolkit)... The new push is to move that environment back into oversimplified paradigm.

To me it looks like MS voluntarily wants to yield its dominance on desktop software market to other OS's. Fortunately we have other (and multiple) choices now...

Not to mention the New Windows UI (AKA Metro) is actually one of the few interfaces that will run on tablet devices that actually has a multitask (more then one app on the screen at a time) option. So for example, iOS doesn’t have anything like “snap”,….......yet.

reply to mozerd
Hey I agree. Win 7 x64 Ultimate allows for easy multi-tasking, several windows. Not sure yet is the Win 8 Pro desktop allows that or just a side by side app selection? Or is that just under Modern/Metro side?
Might try W8 some weekend if can run multi apps w/ resized windows under desktop side like W7.

reply to mozerd
I agree getting people to learn how to use windows 8 is going to be tough. People are so used to windows although I guess we went through the same thing going from windows 3.1 to windows 95.

reply to Octavean
"There are a lot of people who are barely computer literate and who don’t want or really care about the use of computers. They only want to be able to do some of the things a computer allows them to do and if they can do it without a traditional computer they will. "

How True. Sad to say, the biggest demographic in the retail computer market is not an intelligent, technically savvy (or business savvy) individual looking for a serious tool. Instead, it is a conglomeration of tweeting twits, facebook narcissists, and pr0n downloaders. For them, Windows 8, and Apple's IOSification of their computing platforms, are just what the dimwits ordered.

reply to dave
It does seems many non-computer literate users tend to maximize instead of resizing windows, and as I've stated before Microsoft could have too easily allowed metro applications to run windowed, however didn't. Even Windows media center can run windowed in previous versions, but when you have large high resolution monitors running them fullscreen for something simple like a media application is just ludicrous.

They clearly are pandering to the crowd who want a devices to tweet, and facebook with. The people saying the desktop is dead never consider business, and those who need more than end consumer devices, the kind of people who think they can do everything they need to do on that expensive smartphone in their pocket which actually cost around $600 retail where the costs got buried into their rate plans, however the sucker didn't realize they buried $400 of that into the cost of their rate plan. Then they replace it every two years. The kind of people who whine saying paying $400 for a computer is too much, but are too ignorant to realize they are paying $600 every two years for a smartphone, and this is besides the overpriced, along with low capped wireless carrier data plans.
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I distrust those people who know so well what god wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires- Susan B. Anthony
Yesterday we obeyed kings, and bent out necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to the truth- Kahlil G.

I'm not convinced that selling what the market apparently prefers to buy counts as "pandering".

Even if I'm on the wrong side of the deal.

reply to OZO

Re: [WIN8] Biggest reinvention ever?

reply to RazzyW8
Yeah, I don't get these clueless comments either. People opining on things of which they have no idea.

My wife use W8 with no problem and she's been exposed to it for only a day.

This may be difficult for OZO to understand, but I'm going to lay out the highly complex steps my wife takes to use Win8 for her internet browsing from when the screen is blanked.

1. Hit ESC to show the login screen and type in password
2. Click on the Dektop box (if it wasn't already in Desktop).
3. Proceed as normal.

It's a tough procedure for which there will likely be endless tech support and calls required, since only one or two are so incredibly sophisticated enough to understand the complexity of Win 8. No doubt this is a calamity in the works. But I'm sure in the end that we'll all pull through just fine.

That being said, it gets really tough when she needs to use Word. I'll continue the tutorial from where I left off.

1. Hit the Windows button to bring up the Start page.
2. Click on the Word tile.
3. Proceed as normal.

Mind boggling stuff.
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I guess we'll have to sue Mother Nature now for voter suppression. Vote Romney/Ryan 2012 and end the stupidity.

It kind of proves a point when you say your wife can do this and you're speaking on her behalf. That is exactly the point being made here by some. Everything about W8 user-interface is over-simplified.

My opinion comes from running RC on a primary partition for two months.

SD