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Windows 8 Pro upgrade to jump from $40 to $200 on Feb. 1

venturebeat.com

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Re: Windows 8 Pro upgrade to jump from $40 to $200 on Feb. 1

#21

Post by porter »

I set up Windows 8 for our grandma's new computer 2 nights ago. I run Ubuntu and OSX but also use Windows 7 on occasion. I've read all the bad reviews, but I was interested in actually trying it out for myself. The new UI is horrible. Some problems I encountered:

- IE hides the URL bar by default and makes you right click near the bottom of the browser to show it (this took me 5 min to figure out).

- We backed up all the email on Outlook Express from the old machine only to find that Windows 8 Mail couldn't import it.

- Windows would occasionally (not by my doing) switch back to the old style desktop mode. The old desktop mode was great at first, until I realized there wasn't a start button and I had to use both the new UI and the old desktop to get stuff done.

This is just a small sampling. To be fair I upgraded to the new Ubuntu layout a few months ago and found it to be almost as frustrating (almost). But then I switched to the old style desktop and everything was back to normal again. Bottom line? Grandma hates it and wants her old computer back.

Re: Windows 8 Pro upgrade to jump from $40 to $200 on Feb. 1

#22

Post by yuhong »

orionblastar wrote: post #10
dennmart wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While it's fine to not upgrade, especially if you already have a stable setup, not giving Windows 8 a chance based on YouTube reviews seems to be a bit unfair. Most conversations I've had with Windows users who I've spoken to that haven't moved to Windows 8 can be summed up like this: Me: Do you plan to upgrade to Windows 8? Them: No way. Windows 8 is horrible! Me: Oh, so when did you use it? Them: Not yet... I read…

I did a Windows 8 Beta Test and Windows 8 Developer test and had Windows 8 Enterprise RTM for a 90 day demo. It didn't seem to want to run half the software that worked with Windows 7, and the Windows Store didn't seem to have a lot of apps worth the purchase price. I've tried Windows 8 and I have family and friends who bought a Windows 8 Machine and now regret it. I think the youtube videos are based on that. Window…

>It didn't seem to want to run half the software that worked with Windows 7

What do you mean?

Re: Windows 8 Pro upgrade to jump from $40 to $200 on Feb. 1

#23

Post by Osmium »

mrng wrote: post #16
ghshephard wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quick question, without searching - what's the driving "Must Have" feature in Windows 8 for you? My OS X Lion System finally (finally!) stabilized around 10.7.5, stopped kernel panicking, beach balling, and just outright hanging. I'm going to wait at least a year from now on before upgrading my OS, and then, only if there is some "Must Have" feature in the new platform. I've got a Windows XP Desktop to the left of me…

> My OS X Lion System finally (finally!) stabilized > around 10.7.5, stopped kernel panicking, beach balling, > and just outright hanging. May I ask what you've been doing? Old Unix/NT guy here (Unix from 1988, NT from 1994), using OS X since 2008. Never had such a problem with my 17" MB Pro (early 2008)

Just wanted to second this. Regular kernel panics = something seriously wrong. Either a hardware fault, or a bad kext or something. If anyone reading this has problems with OS X and stability, try running this:

http://khiltd.com/software/consultants_canary

It'll give you a list of every "non-standard" thing you have installed (e.g. kernel extensions), and between that and log files, it might help pinpointing the issue.

Apologies for being off-topic, it just seemed to be perverse to me to avoid upgrading because for stability reasons, when the new version should generally be more stable not less.

Re: Windows 8 Pro upgrade to jump from $40 to $200 on Feb. 1

#24

Post by arde »

ghshephard wrote: post #11
diminoten wrote: post #3

Damn; to be fully honest, this may motivate me into upgrading, which I find to be an interesting reaction, given how I had, previously, no plans to upgrade. Obviously this is intentional, but I am just surprised by how effective it is on me.

Quick question, without searching - what's the driving "Must Have" feature in Windows 8 for you? My OS X Lion System finally (finally!) stabilized around 10.7.5, stopped kernel panicking, beach balling, and just outright hanging. I'm going to wait at least a year from now on before upgrading my OS, and then, only if there is some "Must Have" feature in the new platform. I've got a Windows XP Desktop to the left of me…

Windows 8's UI is noticeably faster than its predecessors.

And if you have a Windows 7-based tablet like I do, you'll appreciate the new touch UI because Windows 7's was not very good while Windows 8's is more reasonable.

Also, Windows 8 doesn't seem as half-baked as previous Windows versions did at the time they were released. Then must have improved their testing process because being a Windows 8 early adopter no longer feels like being a beta tester.

I'm not a Microsoft lover, not by a long stretch, but for Windows users this is an offer too good to pass.

Re: Windows 8 Pro upgrade to jump from $40 to $200 on Feb. 1

#25

Post by sixothree »

I am running Windows 8 on my home desktop. I'm really surprised at how unstable it is. Sometimes after entering my password I am presented with a black screen, sometimes I am presented with the desktop but with nothing pinned to taskbar and windows key and corners do nothing. Sometimes I when I shut down it just sits at desktop.

This is a machine that had no such problems with Windows 7. I've uninstalled virtually every program that could possibly cause the problems I experience. The only thing left to uninstall is Windows 8. I will not miss it.

Re: Windows 8 Pro upgrade to jump from $40 to $200 on Feb. 1

#26

Post by jwoah12 »

orionblastar wrote: post #10
dennmart wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While it's fine to not upgrade, especially if you already have a stable setup, not giving Windows 8 a chance based on YouTube reviews seems to be a bit unfair. Most conversations I've had with Windows users who I've spoken to that haven't moved to Windows 8 can be summed up like this: Me: Do you plan to upgrade to Windows 8? Them: No way. Windows 8 is horrible! Me: Oh, so when did you use it? Them: Not yet... I read…

I did a Windows 8 Beta Test and Windows 8 Developer test and had Windows 8 Enterprise RTM for a 90 day demo. It didn't seem to want to run half the software that worked with Windows 7, and the Windows Store didn't seem to have a lot of apps worth the purchase price. I've tried Windows 8 and I have family and friends who bought a Windows 8 Machine and now regret it. I think the youtube videos are based on that. Window…

Anyone else had problems running Windows 7 apps on Windows 8? I thought it was supposed to be almost completely backwards compatible?

Re: Windows 8 Pro upgrade to jump from $40 to $200 on Feb. 1

#27

Post by wildranter »

orionblastar wrote: post #12
wildranter wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Failure? I can't see they failing in the long run. They have a monopoly in mind share and bundles with virtually all new laptops (apart from Macs and some Ubuntu machines). They took this route with Xbox and all went well in the end. Secret, keep iterating the damn product.

The XBox 360 still sucks and has the red ring of death problem, and if bumped some models even scratch the disk in the drive ruining it. The XBox is a success because of exclusive video game titles on it. Plus gamers have to keep getting their XBox repaired or replaced to keep playing games. Some stupid Internet advice tell people to reset the XBox when it has a red ring of death by throwing a towel or blanket over i…

Platform lock is a very efficient way of achieving a profitable business. I imagine they have some experience with this model.

Re: Windows 8 Pro upgrade to jump from $40 to $200 on Feb. 1

#28

Post by jere »

iy56 wrote: post #14
jere wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there something really wrong with that? I won't spend $10 to go see a movie with bad reviews. Why would I want to spend $40 and quite a bit of time and effort on an OS that most people think is bad?

Basing your movie opinions on random youtube videos would be equally foolish. The reviews of professional critics are somewhat different.

Ok. I wasn't sure if the original complaint was because they were random youtube videos or simply reviews. Several professionals have criticized Windows 8 harshly: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/windows-8-disappointing-usab...

Re: Windows 8 Pro upgrade to jump from $40 to $200 on Feb. 1

#29

Post by arde »

Jam0864 wrote: post #18
orionblastar wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The XBox 360 still sucks and has the red ring of death problem, and if bumped some models even scratch the disk in the drive ruining it. The XBox is a success because of exclusive video game titles on it. Plus gamers have to keep getting their XBox repaired or replaced to keep playing games. Some stupid Internet advice tell people to reset the XBox when it has a red ring of death by throwing a towel or blanket over i…

The heat causes the brittle solder joints to crack; applying more heat melts the solder and "reflows" it. This is a common fix for PC video cards too.

More easily said than done, though.

Re: Windows 8 Pro upgrade to jump from $40 to $200 on Feb. 1

#30

Post by sliverstorm »

sixothree wrote: post #25

I am running Windows 8 on my home desktop. I'm really surprised at how unstable it is. Sometimes after entering my password I am presented with a black screen, sometimes I am presented with the desktop but with nothing pinned to taskbar and windows key and corners do nothing. Sometimes I when I shut down it just sits at desktop. This is a machine that had no such problems with Windows 7. I've uninstalled virtually ev…

You might want to try reinstalling. There's an option to expedite the process in the Metro menus, same place as where you set the timezone. I was having strange crashes, and a reset seems to have fixed the problem. I suspect it was an issue with the drivers I chose to install; this time I let it use all the default drivers provided through Windows Update, plus the driver package for my video card, and the crashing seems to have vanished.
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