Windows 8 proving less popular than Vista • Hacker News Board

Re: Windows 8 proving less popular than Vista

#71

Post by malbs » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 4:11 AM UTC

Bought a Samsung 840 Pro SSD drive just after xmas. I decided that given I was going to do a fresh install of Windows, it may as well be Windows 8. Bought upgrade for $39, downloaded iso, created a USB boot disk...

Thought I would format the drive before install, so booted up BartPE to format/partition the SSD (single primary 100%, 1024 block size), then rebooted to install Windows 8. Wouldn't activate due to it apparently not being an upgrade on an existing installation (woops!). Turns out I just needed to create a [N]:\Windows folder on one of the other disk drives before I installed. Anyways, had to reinstall it again..

At first I suffered revulsion, I mean, 17 years of muscle memory moving mouse to start button does not die easily. I was almost tempted to wipe it and re-install Windows 7.

As I have started modifying/customising the o/s, I'm beginning to like it more. I vaguely remember hating Windows 7 when I first upgraded from XP (I never bought vista)

Ctrl+Esc serves as a nice way to swap between metro/classic. It just sucks that there was less integration between Metro and desktop apps - they could have done something to make it more seamless surely?

Even though Windows 8 has only been out a couples of months, there are a fair few patches necessary

Re: Windows 8 proving less popular than Vista

#72

Post by atesti » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 2:42 PM UTC

rprasad wrote: post #59

mtgx wrote: post #8

Microsoft made a mistake trying to force a made-for-touch interface on PC users, and in the end the strategy is not that different than forcing a PC interface on a touch device. It may actually be worse, because at least in that case you would be familiar with the interface, so at least it would have that advantage. I think this video explains most of the problems with Windows 8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTYet-…

I see Windows 8, like Vista before it, as the trial run for the OS that Microsoft intends to sell to enterprises. Work out the UI kinks, etc., and have a battle-tested version 2 they can ship to businesses with long-term support. It also probably helps that by the time Windows 9 is released, people will have adjusted to the new Metro (Civic?) interface and so the leap won't be as big for businesses looking to upgrade…

The problems with Vista are in no way comparable with the problems in Windows 8. Microsoft did only kill minor great features with Vista (like Shell column handlers, e.h. revision number with TortoiseSvn) but not big important things like the start menu.

I wonder if Microsoft really brings the start menu back in windows 9. If not I'm out

Re: Windows 8 proving less popular than Vista

#73

Post by aioprisan » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 2:43 PM UTC

officemonkey wrote: post #46

neovive wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft likely anticipated weaker demand for Win8 which is why they are focusing their promotions on the consumer market at this point. Once they work out the issues they will repackage a new version for enterprises running Win7. Microsoft knows that the consumer desktop market is dwindling and that competing with Apple and Samsung in the consumer mobile space isn't viable at this point. However, the enterprise des…

I know my IT guy would rather replace our BlackBerries with something designed to work well with Outlook. Using Good on the iPhone just does not cut it.

what exactly is there not working well with Outlook in the regular Mail client on the iPhone?

Re: Windows 8 proving less popular than Vista

#74

Post by illuminate » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 5:37 PM UTC

malbs wrote: post #71

Bought a Samsung 840 Pro SSD drive just after xmas. I decided that given I was going to do a fresh install of Windows, it may as well be Windows 8. Bought upgrade for $39, downloaded iso, created a USB boot disk... Thought I would format the drive before install, so booted up BartPE to format/partition the SSD (single primary 100%, 1024 block size), then rebooted to install Windows 8. Wouldn't activate due to it appa…

"Ctrl+Esc serves as a nice way to swap between metro/classic"

The Windows key does that as well.

Re: Windows 8 proving less popular than Vista

#75

Post by officemonkey » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 5:54 PM UTC

aioprisan wrote: post #73

officemonkey wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know my IT guy would rather replace our BlackBerries with something designed to work well with Outlook. Using Good on the iPhone just does not cut it.

what exactly is there not working well with Outlook in the regular Mail client on the iPhone?

For security reasons, we can not access our email without a VPN connection.

Re: Windows 8 proving less popular than Vista

#76

Post by aioprisan » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 6:43 PM UTC

officemonkey wrote: post #75

aioprisan wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what exactly is there not working well with Outlook in the regular Mail client on the iPhone?

For security reasons, we can not access our email without a VPN connection.

you can set traffic to go through VPN on your iPhone

Re: Windows 8 proving less popular than Vista

#77

Post by officemonkey » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 7:16 PM UTC

aioprisan wrote: post #76

officemonkey wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For security reasons, we can not access our email without a VPN connection.

you can set traffic to go through VPN on your iPhone

I invite you to explain that to my IT office. They seldom listen to good ideas.

Re: Windows 8 proving less popular than Vista

#78

Post by dhughes » Sat, Jan 05, 2013, 6:44 PM UTC

microtonal wrote: post #19

dhughes wrote: post #3

Windows 8 is and I supposed designed for tablets but not specifically for tablets which is what I think is wrong, I'm sure everyone thinks that. I'm curious to see how many people got tablets over the holidays and if Windows 8 use increases some. Windows 8 is so different than the previous versions of Windows it's quite obvious people are out of their comfort zone. But I think it's good to see some attempts at change…

I find it quite a leap there's no way my elderly relatives could figure it out, they have trouble even with Windows 7/Vista/XP. Metro is actually pretty simple on a touch device. I've seen iOS users figuring out the interface in no time. I think Microsoft's real problem is that for most people tablets are a different device category than laptops or desktops, so the choice for Windows is not automatic. Evenmore, most…

Any relative of mine uses old hardware most of the time it's something I have given away, I doubt anyone has any hardware newer than 2008, most of it is ten years old.

Only recently my Aunt went from dial-up AOL to fiber Internet but her CRT monitor is so fuzzy I can barely read it. She uses Word Perfect and barely uses the 20GB hard drive she has.

She's the most tech knowledgeable of my relatives too she worked in a government office for decades but even Win 7 would be confusing.

But she said may soon splurge and buy a new PC but by that time it will all be Win8 so I am dreading that day, I read you can downgrade Win8 to be like Win7 I may look into that more.