windows 8

so this past weekend i was looking at a new laptop since my old one's all paid off and the wife uses it more than i do, and i went into bestbuy with 0 knowledge that a new windows system had been dropped. im looking at all these laptops, and the main thing that kept going through my head was "god, i really hate this screen layout." is anyone else not feeling the new O/S? i see they're trying to make it more streamline and behave more like touchscreen devices so the average user has an easier time, but if my pc isnt a touchscreen, what's the point? as someone who normally buys a desktop part by part and makes a nice hybrid that whats what i need for the apps i use daily, windows 8 gave me the initial feeling that its pushing away from being modder friendly and more to "im so easy and simple to use; buy me! your daughter can use me like a painter's easel! (reference latest commercial here)"

what's everyone else's opinion that's had a look, or actually piddled around with it for a while to see how it works? is it really better? does it run faster/smoother? what's the loadup time like? is it difficult to get your programs and peripherals to work on it? is there a classic menu interface at all or is everything done by those little blocks on the screen?

i miss my command line.

I haven't used it too much, but it doesnt do too much that 7 doesnt do already.

but thats been the story since windows xp hit. its just an operating system that runs your programs... Now with micro-purchases for "apps" like angry birds.

I applaud Microsoft for understanding that the pc is just a portal to the web for 95% of people. people want porn, pictures, video, and chat/mail. the vast majority of people care note how these are supplied to them. but easy is the key to it all. I'm actually sad to think that the majority of computer users in the next 20 years are going to know less than i or most people of my generation. the systems are so slick that you don't have to know how to use it all. you just poke at it and it does what you want... namely supply porn.

That being said, if your buying a computer for personal use, i would never suggest getting anything but the most recent version of the operating system. that's just shooting yourself in the foot for support down the road. and truly, it will run everything you need it to.... unless what you need is a dos based 3dfx emulator so you can run diablo2 in lovely 800x600.

I have my old win95 machine for such things. TIE vs X wing FTW!!!

Windows 8 is to Windows 7 as Windows 3.1 is to MS-DOS 3.6

The interface is more than a facade, and what you actually do to run "Windows 7" programs is shell out to windows. What they've created is an apple like "App Store" with much slicker and easier to use development tools. You're starting to see benefits to this already. Today, you can download the Global TV App and stream Global to your computer, for free.

Windows 8 is the future of computing.

So ios and android are the future, and win8 is Microsoft's version? got it.

and... meh.

I'm going to give it a couple years to see. Win 7 runs and does everything i want it to do today and i don't need a hardware upgrade on anything to justify the change. For tablets and lappy's with touch screens, i can definitely see the pull. but i want my pc to be a personal computer. not a media interface.

on a professional tangent - i work in the automotive industry, and its going to take several years for all my suppliers to get on the "app" bandwagon. i've already gotten 5-6 emails letting us know that windows 8 is not supported until further notice. companies like GM, Ford, Perkins, Cummins. etc. most of those guys are just getting through the QA process of approving windows 7 applications, haha.

you know, that's exactly it mike; i 'have' an ipad. i got my touch screen interface right there. i want my laptop/pc to be for work and research. and that's always been how the 2 main platforms have been defined; if you want to do work/business, go windows. if you wanna play around, go mac. it seems like windows is trying to jump on the bandwagon with windows 8 because they know apple intends to accelerate their release schedules on everything. before year's end, there will be a new ipad 4 that'll make the recently (6 months perhaps?) released ipad 3 look like crap, and the preview of the ipad 5 will be sent out. which is annoying, because as they release newer models, they drop all tech/app support for the previous models; ipad 1 stopped getting any support at all once the ipad 3 was released. so it makes me wonder if when the 4 drops, will my series 2 stop getting support and firmware updates altogether as well?

i understand pushing for new software and better tech, but forcing customers to buy not only new O/S but new hardware to run it on altogether just because you wont support the older stuff is pushing it. honestly, why cant i have windows 7 with a new software upgrade that makes it run more efficient and use less battery power like windows 8 claims, minus having to use 20GB for the O/S to install (when most laptops that are currently being released with it only come with the option of a 650GB drive btw) knowing how much memory windows chews up for itself and doesnt tell you where it goes (install windows 7 on a 750GB drive, and you will only see at best, 700GB for you own use for example), i wonder how much of that 650GB drive the laptops come with are going to actually have available for use?

they should just make it run better and stop wasting time changing the bloody GUI every edition, its not necessary. we were quite fine with win 95-XP all looking the same, and then they started tweaking it from vista onwards.

after poking around today online into it some more, i think i'll just wait for now for the stores to realize like they did when vista and win 7 came out, to just give customers the option of buying the same laptop with win xp/vista/win7/win8 so you have your choice on the O/S

I'll just throw Linux out there for Shizz n Giggles

They did take a step back with windows 7... Its remarkably similar to xp.

Our company (federated coop) is still exclusvely on windows xp. Theres the odd laptop now flipping over to 7.. But we definitly dont move fast.on these things..

yea, i've noticed alot of the bigger companies, especially those that use their own specialized software to do their work orders, etc, or have older, reliable scanners, printers, and other peripherals tend to stick to XP and win 2000. simple reason being that windows decided to refuse to keep any kind of backwards compatibility for the stuff these companies use. oops. so now companies that probably would've dropped close to $100,000+ for the new O/S editions wont do so cause their tech division tested it out on a pc and found their hardware wont work on the new O/S. backwards compatibility is crucial for the windows platform if they dont want to lose money/customers.

System Commander wrote:They did take a step back with windows 7... Its remarkably similar to xp.

Our company (federated coop) is still exclusvely on windows xp. Theres the odd laptop now flipping over to 7.. But we definitly dont move fast.on these things..

Christ robyn, your lucky you got windows xp. Fed coop was one of my main clients when i was in sales. one time i asked my buyer for a print out of locations that sold our product. it took him three weeks to get it and i swear it was printed off on a dot matrix printer.

Engineering LOVES XP. It just worked, its easy to organize on and everyone knows how to use it.

They just updated half our machines to 7 last year. You could hear the bitching 3 floors away. "I CAN'T OPEN MY GODDAMN EMAIL PETER!!!!!"

Hehe.. What dept. was the buyer from.. Hardware/general merchandise?

Well.. Up until our old ceo passed away about 6 years ago.. We were still using chairs/desks/phones/walls .. You names it a smattering of various decades. There were smoke stains in the ceiling still from when you could smoke at your desk.

Co-op has now entered the 1990's !

Garth is my buyer. Petroleum guys have a price out on my head, (we sell fuel additives) so i cant go on certain floors of the office.

Hes still my buyer sort of. I'm in transition out of sales at the moment, but I'm still the principal contact for Fed. work the spring and fall buymarts, etc.

Oh yeah.. Garth is on the same floor as me.. Just across the way. Im over in the food department.