Windoze 8

Mr Momo · Post by **Mr Momo** » Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:14 pm

Spent 6 hrs updating an old Win 7 PC then loading Win 8 Consumer Preview. Failed at the last hurdle

Wasted evening.

PC was an old Evesham I had updated last year, so it was up to the job. Glad I didn't do it on this machine.

Anyone got it going ?

Kelvin · Post by **Kelvin** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 10:36 am

Yep. It's a bit odd. It's like using a tablet OS on a desktop. Not played with it much however. I do have an old touchscreen laptop kicking about with a duff battery so might see if it runs on it and, if so, replace the battery.

Tommy Twist · Post by **Tommy Twist** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 12:12 pm

Why were you doing this, out of curiosity?

Kelvin · Post by **Kelvin** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 12:45 pm

Err out of curiosity

Tommy Twist · Post by **Tommy Twist** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 4:34 pm

The same kind of curiosity that drives cats to put their paws into beehives?

Genuine question though, I'm interested to know why someone would spend hours of their time installing Windows 8. Seen it running myself, had a quick play... thought that it was a backward-step in almost every regard but hey, that's JMO...

Kelvin · Post by **Kelvin** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 4:48 pm

Tommy Twist wrote:The same kind of curiosity that drives cats to put their paws into beehives?

Genuine question though, I'm interested to know why someone would spend hours of their time installing Windows 8. Seen it running myself, had a quick play... thought that it was a backward-step in almost every regard but hey, that's JMO...

Hardly hours and during most of the install time I was wasting my time doing something else.

I'm not too convinced myself yet. I think it might make more sense on the touchscreen laptop I have.

Tommy Twist · Post by **Tommy Twist** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 4:59 pm

Kelvin wrote:Hardly hours

I was referring to the OP's mention of "6 hrs"

Kelvin wrote: I'm not too convinced myself yet. I think it might make more sense on the touchscreen laptop I have.

Did you have specific problems in mind that you wanted the new OS to solve, or was it more a case of "fancy a change", "happy with my previous OS, but optimistic that MS will have come up with something that'll make me more productive, will be more fun, etc"?

Not trying to be funny – I actually have a long list of stuff I'd love to see in Windows, but instead MS keep fecking about with the GUI and designing pointless new icons... that's without even considering some of the baffling new 'features' of Windows 8 (and 7!)...

robin · Post by **robin** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 5:25 pm

It would be good if they could split the thing up a bit so that you could have the kernel and a shell, for example, without any of their nonsense on top at all. The best you can do is a sort of kiosk mode, but that doesn't really work. How many people have seen those pop-up balloons that come from the task bar (system tray) popping up over the top of systems that you would not expect to be running windows, for example (I'm thinking ticket machines, digital signage, ATMs, etc.). That's not to mention the more embarrassing "application error" or worse Blue Screen of Death that you see from time to time.

Linux has become similarly broken over recent years as people try to compete for the desktop market by producing windows-like desktop systems. At the end of the day, you can still install Linux without _any_ graphical stuff if you want and then run a pure full-screen graphical application without interference from desktop features. You can also choose whatever desktop you like (some with better integration than others, though).

The absolute best bet is to leave it all well alone until your hand is forced, though

Cheers,
Robin

tut · Post by **tut** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 5:42 pm

Go Apple.

Never thought that I would, but like Kelv, I always used to install the alphas and betas of programs that I used, especially Windows, just to try them out, and also to get to know them before I had to advise others. Only bought the MBA 11.6" Mac because of its construction, weight, looks etc, I is just a sucker for ali, and never even tried one, never mind Mac OS.

However my desktop never gets used anymore, partly because it is in the study, and this is on my lap. Would never go back to a mouse as the track pad is brilliant, there is nothing the OS does not do for me, I get five hours battery life, it is instantaneous on after it goes to sleep, and I am running Windows 7 alongside which I need for Quicken, which is just a swipe to change between the two.

However I do not need it for anything other than personal use, so different if you have a works machine. M/S Office 2011 appeared from somewhere, though I do not use it very often.

tut

Tommy Twist · Post by **Tommy Twist** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 9:16 pm

robin wrote: The absolute best bet is to leave it all well alone until your hand is forced, though

This is my experience too.

I don't really feel that Windows has offered any significant advances over previous versions since XP was released (or even W2K arguably). At that point they finally got the GUI more-or-less right (i.e. as good as the Apple OS in the most approximate terms), offered proper multi-threading, and decent plug'n'play too.

Haven't seen anything in Vista, W7 or W8 to convince me that any profound advances have been made... plenty of GUI snash though. Anyway, I'll still have to 'upgrade' at some point as XP support gradually diminishes...

Don't get me wrong, I love having a new tool that allows me to do something that I couldn't do yesterday, but with recent releases of Windows I don't seem to get any meaningful new features, but instead I have to spend time re-learning how to do all the things that I could do almost automatically with the previous version. Like a Tesco shelf re-shuffle. Frustrating.

Grumpy old(ish) Windows user.

Tommy Twist · Post by **Tommy Twist** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 9:19 pm

Just recalling the first time I used a Mac – now that was a real revelation, and probably the last time I was genuinely excited by a computer operating system! (though that CP/M was quite groovy up until then!).

Kelvin · Post by **Kelvin** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 9:45 pm

Raspberry Pi is the way ahead. Mine comes in April.

Tommy Twist · Post by **Tommy Twist** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 9:46 pm

Kelvin wrote:Raspberry Pi is the way ahead. Mine comes in April.

Now you're talking.

Kelvin · Post by **Kelvin** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 9:57 pm

Tommy Twist wrote:
Kelvin wrote:Raspberry Pi is the way ahead. Mine comes in April.
Now you're talking.

I thought you might be more keen on that.

Not quite sure what I'm going to do with it yet. I might rediscover programming. More likely I'll use it to run the home automation.

graeme · Post by **graeme** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 9:58 pm

How many SEers are waiting for a Raspberry Pi, and what projects do you have in mind?

Scottish Elises

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