Just bought a new laptop that comes with Windows 8.

And what a pile of complete and utter crud Windows 8 is. Seriously. It is so badly thought out it’s like it’s been done as a joke. Windows XP was pretty straightforward and intuitive but this new thing is nonsense. Someone at Microsoft wants taking out and shot.

This isn’t a question or anything like that, just a rant.

My dad’s just off the phone trying to get me to help him work his shiny new “windows 8”.

I’m Googling how to revert the theme back to Vista, or earlier.

You might have missed windows 7 which is actually pretty good.

There are many guides on the Internet that help you make windows 8 look like windows 7.
Do them.

Yea verily, for it is he who decreed that Windows 8 is good.

Check out the Independent today. All even numbered windows releases are crap.

Okay, just had a quick google and I see there are indeed various sites about converting back to 7. Ay recommendations for a safe and reliable one? Ta.

I’ve just bought a new laptop and actually had the option to go with 7 but thought no I’ll try 8 even though I’m sure I’ll hate it and end up going back to 7. Rather to my surprise I’ve found it better than expected and currently don’t have any plans to revert.

revert, revert, revert. etc.

I don’t know what this PC came with, I made it look like XP immediately.

Edit: In fact, as close to ’98 as possible. Custom coloured toolbars the lot.

Using Windows 7 here. It’s the best OS Microsoft have done IMO.

I had DOS open the other day, to open a .txt file, just to reminisce.

Start8 is what you need to make Windows 8 useable.

I have just spent the best part of three hours trying to install Windows 7 on a windows 8 laptop. PITA. 👿

I believe MS are hot on the case of making Windows 8 a bit more, well, Windows-like. So says my well-informed SO.

Could be you tech luddites just need to spend a little time getting used to it (and learning the touchpad shortcuts etc) instead of banging your rocks together and whinging about how it’s not what it used to be.

It’s not actually half bad at all after the learning curve, and speed wise it’s much better than 7.

I ‘ve had to use a Mac for the past 2 months at work.

I can’t work it. Intuitive my arse.

Someone said on the twitterer the other day “Windows 8, the new NT”

Ie:cack.

Or wait a little bit for windows Blue aka windows 8.1 aka oh shit we’ve done another Vista, oh sod it lets bring the start button and desktop mode back because a hell of a lot of people are hating this shit!

Metro on a phone yes
Metro on a tablet yes
Desktop/laptop IMHO no!

Lol at flaperon.

Didn’t you know? Everyone on stw works in the it industry.
We’re all experts and trust us, windows 8 is crap.

I dislike waiting for the Start screen to load, then clicking the program I want and being dumped into the dekstop which I then also have to wait for while it also loads.

And my PC hangs roughly every half hour for 5 mins each time while Windows laughably ‘updates’ itself (which it inevitably then fails to do).

And I even bothered to learn the shortcuts. But I still hate it. Much preferred my Win 7 installation which ran quicker and was MUCH more stable.

Hate Windows 8. Unstable, unusable piece of cack.

[/rant]

I quite like it to be honest. Like seven but with a massive, easier to use, easier to customise start menu.

Eight is fine once you get used to the bigger Start menu. Not had any problem with stability so far and it’s nice and zippy on my SSD laptop.

Would be even better with a touchscreen but mouse and the windows key works just fine for now 8)

biggest improvement i made with the SO’s laptop was turning off the track pad gestures, Trying to copy Apple and failing miserably!!!!

Tim Cook, chief executive of Apple, said Windows 8 would be like combining a toaster and a fridge – something that, while technically possible, was “probably not going to be pleasing to the user”.

😀

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/330c8b8e-b66b-11e2-93ba-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2ShUXABPh

Windows 7 on our lappy is ace, Windows 8 on work lappy is OK, but as above I disabled the trackpad gestures to help… It takes time, but it is growing on me.

I tried the Windows8 release client for a while before it was released. I didn’t find it too bad to be honest. I can see how it would work very well on tablets/touch screen PCs/phones etc. but for anyone who does more than basic tasks (web browsing etc) it just seems to get in the way on a ‘normal’ PC. I’ll be sticking with windows7 for the foreseeable future.

Mind if you want something really horrible to use, try Ubuntu’s head-up-display system.

I’ve got Windows 8 on my works laptop. It’s ok but can be frustrating at times.

The Mrs needed a new laptop to as old one is a bit slow (10years old) considered getting a cheap Win 8 laptop but thought better of it. In the end I bought a second hand MacBook Pro as that is more straight forward to use.

For the IT bods try using Windows Server 2012 via remote desktop. It has the same UI layout as Win 8. I had to Google how to find out where Internet Explorer is and how to log out. Using the charm action is difficult in a VM window and you can’t use the Windows Start key. Downgraded the server to Windows Sever 2008.

I was at a tech day at Microsoft central a little while ago to look at Windows Server 2012. Didn’t see the Metro interface once all day. Seems even the MS techs disable it.

What’s with all the fuss about missing a start button. You now have a massive, full screen sized start button. It really is not that hard to figure out. But then, judging by all the grief here, perhaps it is.

Agree with a couple of points ^^ that perhaps the “metro” style apps are not such a great experience on a desktop / laptop vs a touch screen tablet or phone but overall it’s reasonably responsive (at least as quick as 7) and I have found getting used to the Start screen doesn’t take very long.

And Cougar, I suspect it is because Server 2012 does not boot into the Start screen that you may not have seen much of it at the tech day. Starts up with the desktop and Server Manager.

Seems I learned a lot. (-: I really should take a proper look at it at some point.

I’m amazed at how many people don’t seem to be capable of understanding this. It really is so simple, at least it was when I tried it.

The icons are just bigger, and they are all across the screen instead of in the bottom right. Scary, I know.

Never under estimate the resistance to change in any work force would appear to be the lesson of this thread!

Persist with it. The more I use it the more I like it. At first it was like trying to cook in someone else’s kitchen but now I’ve found everything I realise that the layout works rather well.

The icons are just bigger, and they are all across the screen instead of in the bottom right. Scary, I know.

It’s wouldn’t be scary, if this were true….but I don’t think it is. For example, the Skype app that runs on the start screen does not have all the functionality (and forces you to use a MS account) of the proper Skype app which runs on the desktop, so you need two separate apps. Internet explorer run from the start menu looks and behaves differently to the IE installed on the traditional desktop. The settings appear to be done in two places, there is the old style control panel and a new settings app under the metro start screen, but this can only be used for a subset of what you use the old control panel for.

I’ve only played with it for an hour or so, but to me it does not seem like it’s properly integrated into the OS, it’s just a bolt on, but at the same time, it’s taken away some of the useful functions in Win 7.

Best case, MS have been very poor at getting across to users how to get started with Win 8. I like the look of the Metro interface, but it looks like they have only done half a job in integrating it with the OS.

The main thing that sent me back to Windows 7 was the lack of POP3 support in the email program that comes with Windows 8. I know there are work arounds, but why should I?

@Richmars – Probably easier to do the work around than regress, surely?

I got a cheap copy (£10) through work and upgraded my 5 year old Vista desktop with it, no more crashing, much faster, but I did install Classic Shell.

Only thing that doesn’t work so far is the crappy Garmin USB to Serial cable so it looks like I’ll be upgrading from my old Garmin Etrex H.

Given the Outlook/Mail habit of automatically binning important mail I didn’t even try the mail program. Thunderbird is free and works. Once installed you get a nice little icon on the start page (as with everything else you install).

molgrips – Member
I’m amazed at how many people don’t seem to be capable of understanding this. It really is so simple

This sounds like Microsoft. The real question is ‘why’? There’s a decades old convention that individuals and corporations have bought in to. Millions of hours of training and productivity have been invested in this. It’s a bit like changing the accepted conventions of the dash layout of a car just to appear fresh and funky.

There’s resistance because it’s change to a fundamental work tool for most of us. If it were ‘that simple’, there wouldn’t be such a kerfuffle would there?

I still don’t ‘get’ the changes to ribbon menus in Office with no option for a ‘classic’ view. Same sort of thing, buggeration for buggerations sake.

The main thing that sent me back to Windows 7 was the lack of POP3 support in the email program that comes with Windows 8. I know there are work arounds, but why should I?

I find that curious, given that Windows 7 doesn’t come with an email program at all.

Given the Outlook/Mail habit of automatically binning important mail I didn’t even try the mail program.

Again, I’ve used “Live Mail” since it was Internet Mail and News, and I’ve never had that happen to me.

I still don’t ‘get’ the changes to ribbon menus in Office with no option for a ‘classic’ view. Same sort of thing, buggeration for buggerations sake

I was exactly like you until I bothered to go through the tutorials that they provide. Now I find it much much better as everything has been moved into much more logical places or is hidden when I don’t need it which makes finding other stuff easier. As has been said already you need to invest a bit of time in learning but it is really worth the effort, you can get stuff done way faster

When I learned to drive I had to learn hand signals, some cars had the indicators on the dash in the middle, the radio was a long stretch and required turning a knob to find a channel, the dip switch was foot operated, the start button was on the floor, you had to get out of the car to adjust the wing mirror, the speedo was better placed for the passenger… . I’m happy they’ve improved the dash layout on cars and I’m happy with the new opening screen of W8.

The ‘old’ design of Office, wasn’t scalable, I think might be the problem. I’ve seen power users (ie, people who actually vaguely know how to use it) with so many toolbars displayed that their workspace is reduced to a postcard at the bottom of the screen.

Whilst the ribbon might not necessarily be ideal (I really don’t understand MS’s fascination with ever-bigger icons for a start), it’s a definite improvement on pre-2007 editions.

Trouble is, if you use win 8, Excel, Word, Access, PowerPoint, Visio, Project and Outlook, that’s a lot of productive time spent ‘making the effort’ whilst continuing to deliver the ‘real work’ already committed to.

Ribbons etc are great for mouse jockeys and occasional users, less so for those who’ve committed their experience to muscle memory.

I’m starting to sound like a luddite so I’m off to burn some witches for heresy 🙂