Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Continuing the Windows 8 vision with Windows 8.1

blogs.windows.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 85 posts

Re: Continuing the Windows 8 vision with Windows 8.1

#41

Post by BruceIV »

potatolicious wrote: post #36
Tomdarkness wrote: post #18

For me, personally, none of these changes interest me, perhaps with the exception of IE11. I've had Windows 8 installed on my desktop PC since it came out as I took advantage of their cheap upgrade offer from Windows 7 (I'd not of paid full price for it). So here are my thoughts on the improvements in Windows 8.1 as someone who uses it on a desktop, with a keyboard and mouse. Personalization: The only time I ever see…

> "I don't get it, they seem to be ignoring their whole previous customer base; those who used Windows on their non-touch desktops and laptops." This is what frustrates me also. I've had Windows 8 installed since (almost) day one on my desktop. I also have a Surface (that hasn't been touched in months, oops). MS was accused for years of advertising Windows' touch capabilities without actually putting any real thought…

I believe that "magical incantation of mouse movements" is a right click. (Not claiming it's discoverable, just that it's not complicated.)

Re: Continuing the Windows 8 vision with Windows 8.1

#42

Post by alan_cx »

For what its worth....

Its my No3 son's 14th birthday and he has gathered enough money for a new PC. He wants a new one for school and games. He is not some geek programming whiz kid. He "uses" a computer, he "consumes" the internet. He is, in short, a mere kid user. He already owns a laptop with Windows 8.

The discussion on spec and costs comes round to the operating system. Exact quote: "I don't want windows 8, its a load of complete sh... crap. I'd rather have Windows 7".

Kinda took me by surprise. I assumed being a kid he'd like and want the newest, latest, whizzy thing. But no. Even a 14yo lad who is not a geek doesn't want Windows 8, even after using for many months.

I reckon that is pretty damning.

Re: Continuing the Windows 8 vision with Windows 8.1

#43

Post by BruceIV »

I've been using Windows 8 on my (multi-monitor) desktop for a few months now, and the feature I'm most excited about is the ability to launch Metro apps on both screens. There still aren't many good ones, but it's annoying when I want to play backgammon while watching Netflix. Hopefully they also make the Start screen dragable from screen to screen like all the Metro apps - it's an odd incongruity in their design.

Re: Continuing the Windows 8 vision with Windows 8.1

#45

Post by smrtinsert »

mscrivo wrote: post #5
daigoba66 wrote: post #2

This may be a bit facetious but it seems like Windows 8 might have been the biggest beta testing project ever. But on a serious note I'm glad they're focusing on improving usability.

I don't understand why people keeping getting up in arms about Windows releases, it's like they keep forgetting their M.O. Microsoft's releases have always been like this, release something that changes things drastically (either under the hood or visually), and often breaks things or makes people mad because they don't like change. Then spend an enormous amount of time refining it in a subsequent release until every…

Seriously. One of my first lessons from Microsoft was don't adopt within the first year.

Re: Continuing the Windows 8 vision with Windows 8.1

#46

Post by alan_cx »

drdaeman wrote: post #35
kimagure wrote: post #4

under the section "PC Settings" seems to a description for being able to actually use the settings screen in your start menu that will reflect between your start menu and desktop? i've been waiting for this... my start menu will be in japanese even though i set my default keyboard to english and try to set all the language settings to english, so that i'm stuck with a stupid half english/japanese environment. even no…

Why use something you hate? Are you forced to stick with Windows for some particular reason?

In my, and many cases, yes.

When an alternate OS runs all my tools and games, with 100% compatibility with my hardware, I'll give it a go.

Re: Continuing the Windows 8 vision with Windows 8.1

#47

Post by BCM43 »

alan_cx wrote: post #42

For what its worth.... Its my No3 son's 14th birthday and he has gathered enough money for a new PC. He wants a new one for school and games. He is not some geek programming whiz kid. He "uses" a computer, he "consumes" the internet. He is, in short, a mere kid user. He already owns a laptop with Windows 8. The discussion on spec and costs comes round to the operating system. Exact quote: "I don't want windows 8, its…

How much of that is him actually having tried it out and deciding that he does not like it, and how much is him having heard about windows 8, and deciding through that?

Re: Continuing the Windows 8 vision with Windows 8.1

#49

Post by talmand »

alan_cx wrote: post #42

For what its worth.... Its my No3 son's 14th birthday and he has gathered enough money for a new PC. He wants a new one for school and games. He is not some geek programming whiz kid. He "uses" a computer, he "consumes" the internet. He is, in short, a mere kid user. He already owns a laptop with Windows 8. The discussion on spec and costs comes round to the operating system. Exact quote: "I don't want windows 8, its…

Actually, people who desire the newest, latest, whizzy thing is a niche market. Most people simply want something that works.

Re: Continuing the Windows 8 vision with Windows 8.1

#50

Post by kabdib »

There's a lot of nice work under the hood in Win8. It's too bad the internal politics completely submerged it.

A simple "Sorry, we screwed up" would be nice to hear, rather than the "Advancing forward into the bright future, we added a Start Button^H^H^H^H^H^H Tip"

Let's put it another way: The moment that I hear the next version of Visual Studio /requires/ Win8 or its ilk to run, I'm looking hard at moving everything I do to Linux.

Post reply on HN