Software UI Replaces Blocky Interface in Windows 8

[AndrewJacksonZA]

[citation][nom]Stefan Grigo[/nom]And i did try out win8 , its horrible , slower than win7 , not really confusing , just slower.[/citation]Interesting. What hardware did you try it on (e.g. CPU and gfx card)? Did you try 32bit or 64bit? Was it slower booting up, using applications or switching between applications? I'm curious because literally everyone else I've spoken has said that Win8 is faster.

 

[Guest]

17 years ago: MY PROGRAM MANAGER, WHY DID THEY CHANGE YOU, SCREW THE START MENU

Today: MY START MENU, WHY DID THEY CHANGE YOU, SCREW THE START SCREEN

 

[TomsSound]

I'd have to agree with caedenv. The jump from Windows 3.1 to Win95 was a much bigger jump than going from Win7 or even Xp to Windows 8.
Everyone was confused when Win95 came on the scene. It took a lot of getting used to.
By everyone.

To say the Win3.1 to 95 wasn't a big deal is just plain wrong.

 

[mcd023]

I don't see why businesses would be so afraid to switch to windows 8. Some disadvantages are:
1) Tell the person that programs can be pinned and launched from the start screen icon or by typing or you will have it pinned to the desktop and have to click a the desktop icon.
2) You will have to pay for the licenses

Advantages:
2) boot times are much quicker
3) new tracking and usage options (though there are 3rd party applications that may already be used)
4) reduced power consumption (big deal if you have enough computers that you worry about the electric bill if people don't turn them off)

Any other thoughts? tbh, I don't feel that too much has changed. Yes, there's (not) Metro, but the old stuff is still there and still compatible

 

[ram1009]

I remember reading an article here on Tom's saying that Microsoft had removed all the code from W8 that would allow third parties to do this. So how did this happen?

 

[Learn_w_Graffix]

[citation][nom]eiskrystal[/nom]Another way to avoid the interface is to not install Windows 8 in the first place. Sorry AndrewMD but i am still on XP for my home computer and vista for my laptop. It will be a few years yet before I intend to either support or regularly use a new OS.I will let the noobs buy their spanky new software and beta test all those bugs out of it first.[/citation]
If you think about it, "A Priori Trolls" could be the name of a rock band...

 

[garrick]

I wonder if Microsoft will eventually block this software through future patches citing security concerns.

 

[rebel1280]

[citation][nom]mcd023[/nom]I don't see why businesses would be so afraid to switch to windows 8. Some disadvantages are: 1) Tell the person that programs can be pinned and launched from the start screen icon or by typing or you will have it pinned to the desktop and have to click a the desktop icon.2) You will have to pay for the licensesAdvantages:2) boot times are much quicker3) new tracking and usage options (though there are 3rd party applications that may already be used)4) reduced power consumption (big deal if you have enough computers that you worry about the electric bill if people don't turn them off)Any other thoughts? tbh, I don't feel that too much has changed. Yes, there's (not) Metro, but the old stuff is still there and still compatible[/citation]
All great advantages but businesses wont change over due to one thing: having to deal with poor user experience. I know this isn't a very valid baseline but when i installed the latest W8 release on my laptop i gave it to my brother to test. He loved it actually, but when i asked what he thought about using for work, he laughed and said no way. This is a tablet OS that is manageable on a desktop but definitely not for a work environment. An OS that just manages to be an OS is a poor OS. We are a 24/7 shop so start up and shutdown = irrelevant. We have updates planned (as any good company) and restarts times are a no issue. Worried about power? Go with terminal servers and get yourself some wyse dumb terminals and call it a day. For any reason anyone can throw to go for W8 i can (as well as any IT manager) can give you 2-3 not to.

 

[rebel1280]

To my above comment, that is only regarding desktop OS not the server OS, which again, is fantastic.

 

[coreym72]

I don't see an issue doing a right click within non-metro-name to display all the installed applications. I can also delete two directories "c:\program files\windowsapps" and the current user profile data under AppData\Local to rid most of non-metro-name bulky icons. However, I do like the PDF viewer as it is one less required install on the machine build.

 

[omnimodis78]

[citation][nom]caedenv[/nom]...Yes, win8 is VERY different from win7. Yes, it will cause some confusion issues for users...[/citation]
I don't think W8 is "VERY" different from 7 at all, actually. Read on. I've been using W8 (RTM, Pro x64) for a few days, and the more I use it, the more I see that in-fact it's not the big-bad-wolf that most people make it out to be, and I don't think it will fail the way Vista did. However, the more I use it the more baffled I get over the Metro UI. Microsoft did not deploy this idea appropriately because it unilaterally decided that desktop users must get used to Metro regardless of how illogical it truly is to force them to use it. W8 could have been fantastic, a gem, but this Metro nonsense is definitely the sour grape, and I wholeheartedly believe that it will come back and bite MS's rear. I said this before and I will continue to say it: why Microsoft did not give us the choice during the initial installation to specify the 'primary' use of the OS (desktop or portable), thus tuning the OS to the user's environment, is beyond me. But, again, once the Metro cr*p becomes a non-issue to the user, you do really that W8 is not that different than W7.

 

[AndrewMD]

All things considered, having been in the industry since the 3.11 days, Microsoft has to shake it up a bit to offer excitement for their main product. Currently Apple is being ridiculed for not changing or updating the iOS on iPhone/iPad/iPod (personally don't see a problem). It seems that Microsoft sees the desktop world fading into more a tablet style world.

But more than that, Microsoft sees that consumers want simple designs. Power users (which make up a small group) are not their target.

 

[JimmiG]

MS have really helped to create a market for UI replacements. I think it's going to become quite big.

Enthusiasts who build their own PCs will just keep using Win7, but those who buy pre-built Windows 8 machines won't know how to upgrade to Windows 7. It will be much easier for them to just install a small piece of software and get the old UI (or even something better) back.

 

[cookoy]

i kind of agree with AndrewMD that we so called "techie" should know something about the new Win8 GUI no matter how we feel about it coz there will be a lot of Win8 installations out there. If we're able to cope with Win3.1->Win95, Win2K->XP, XP->Vista then Win8 is just another learning phase. Is Win8 the best MS can throw at us to make our lives miserable? No way.

 

[jackbling]

[citation][nom]JimmiG[/nom]MS have really helped to create a market for UI replacements. I think it's going to become quite big.Enthusiasts who build their own PCs will just keep using Win7, but those who buy pre-built Windows 8 machines won't know how to upgrade to Windows 7. It will be much easier for them to just install a small piece of software and get the old UI (or even something better) back.[/citation]

An enthusiast will take the better performer. You still have instant search on metro; if you were using the start button for anything else, you are doing it wrong.

 

[emjayy]

Microsoft doesn't design their OS or their OS updates to support interface hacks from third parties. Use at your own risk. And if the company producing this software eventually goes bankcrupt, then what?

Personally, I won't be 'upgrading' to this version of Windows for the foreseeable future. I don't use Windows for its interface (and I cringe at the sight of that blocky 'Toys R Us' Win8 interface, by the way) so I'm not going to buy Windows merely because of an interface change. I use it offline to run a handful of software that is coded to use the Windows APIs from XP. When the software is running, it's that third party interface that I spend time interacting with, not the Windows interface. The version of Windows interface, whether it be XP, Vista, 7 or 8, running in the background of my application interfaces is inconsequential.

 

[headscratcher]

I hear you can still use a DOS interface if you type CMD at the run prompt too.

 

[atippey]

Just wait until this stuff (or its ilk) is licensed and branded by all major OEMs. I believe I read about an AIO Asus with some bas­tardized "Start Menu" UI last month. Soon enough, you'll be seeing start menu replacements bundled along with Dell Dock and HP Advisor in the OEMs' next generation of "valued-adding" bloatware. Enjoy!

 

[Guest]

AndrewJacksonZA:

"With regards to speed, Win8 feels much, much, MUCH smoother than 7 on m Core2Duo E6750 with 4GB of DDR2 RAM. Everything feels a whole bunch snappier and the boot and shutdown times are GREAT! Startup was about 2min37sec, now it's 34sec."

\begin rant

My "8 mhz" Mac Plus boots up in about 30 seconds, so whats your point? Don't you find it rather sad that now-a-days you build a computer just to be able to run an OS? Something that's only purpose is to interface the user with the computers hardware?. Let me know when an OS takes up only a few kb - mb's of RAM and the rest of the systems resources are devoted to the the part that is actually supposed to do most of the work, the applications(and games!).

You "kids" should take a few notes from the following article:
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Clive-Sinclair-ZX80-PC-Annoying,9763.html

I miss the Xerox Star, I really miss my NBI ubang, and I weep for the future generations of computer geeks/nerds. At least I still have all my old Mac's. Nothing beats the feeling of a 68040 running Mac OS 7.

\end rant

 

[Christopher1]

[citation][nom]jamessneed[/nom]Why MS did not build this option into Windows 8 baffles me. I have a feeling most businesses wont use this tool because they will not be using Windows 8. Most large businesses are just now migrating to Windows 7, Windows 8 will be the new Vista to bushiness.[/citation]

I don't know..... 48% increases in some benchmarks on my 4 year old machine after installing Windows 8 on a machine where Windows 7 was the order of the day?

More than enough to make me switch.

Really, there isn't any 'relearning' to do. Metro (or whatever they call it now) is just a full-screen Start Menu with some added functionality.

You can still use all of your Windows 7 applications that weren't designed for Metro in Windows 8, it just will send you to the Desktop to use them.