A matter of "too little, too late" ?
Seems MS is waking up to the fact that Win 8 "sucks" and that the competition is fierce.
I think if they accomodate the people that don't like the start screen, they'll find it to be probably the most successful windows yet, especially if they can shirk its relation with "windows 8" by calling it windows blue.
I love windows 8, perhaps more than 7, and I think that its only major blockade is that desktop / laptop users feel alienated by the interface (though there are keyboard commands for most of the gestures)
The ability to go to the desktop at boot is still hard-coded into Windows 8. If they want to they could change it back, I'm just not sure if they will, it depends on how much they want money probably.
If they did allow users to boot straight to the desktop it could coincide nicely with the ''finish'' of XP support in less than a years time now (April 8 2014) Win, win alll round.
Like Winapp2.ini I also like Windows 8 a lot
They ought to bury it with Vista
A matter of "too little, too late" ?
Probably is.
I know people who've bought a new PC because they actually needed a new PC, and they ended up returning them solely because of the Win8 "experience." I've played around on it more than enough to dislike so much to completely avoid it.
With the stained name it has garnered in its short life they'll have to call it something entirely different than Win8, because there's plenty of people who won't bother with it instead they'll keep their old PCs running some older Windows build XP or whatever regardless of Microsoft's life cycle and panning/begging to buy an upgrade.
Count me as one them windows returners, actually a few people I provide support to. But I supported their request to exchange. They just couldn't comfortably unlearn win31 - win7 habits and conventions. Returning 8-based laptops and buying 7 was so much easier, and it eliminated the thorn. Keep in mind that playing around in the registry and changing hidden settings and messing with installing 3rd party start menu stuff is not really an option for some. Neither is waiting for microsoft to activate hidden code. Or waiting 6 months for updates that may or may not fix things.
And it's not just the start menu, it's the whole mess of 2 user interfaces on one device and going back and forth between them.
Say what you will, but windows blue it!
- WIndows Key Opens Start Menu/Screen
- Type name of Prgroam
- Select Program
- Launch
The ability to bypass the Start Screen and boot directly to the desktop
The return of the Start Menu
I think the boot to desktop is a false flag, I remember seeing some posts in one of the articles saying it was for kiosk mode.
The start screen is the start menu. The way i've been explaining it is; it's just like the menu but for the visually impaired.
I wonder if there would be as much uproar if they had moved the clock to the left hand corner
Keep in mind that playing around in the registry and changing hidden settings and messing with installing 3rd party start menu stuff is not really an option for some.
No need to do that really. All desktop stuff can be run from the start screen, and all things can be opened from the desktop (eg control panel, all progs, device manager etc, without installing any 3rd party software. You only have to tick an option that is available from a desktop right-click.
Here is one way here
http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=37281&st=40#entry229072
@ Hazelnut: "Win, win all round". . . ouch . . .
@ Keatah: "windows blue it". . . double ouch.
I think the microsoft marketing strategy of releasing a new OS every couple of years, with every other release as buggy as an ant hill, will be coming under intense review over at Redmond, if it isn't already.
Personally, I can just enjoy the ride (with timely reminders from Hazelnut that it can be fun), as I only deal with the computers owned by my family and a few friends.
But my heart goes out to the folks who depend on a windows computer as a tool for their occupation.
When my former employer went from word 97 to word 2003 (I think it was), document production virtually stopped (no pun intended) while employees tried to figure out how to put a picture into a document, access the databases, etc. Some employees never recovered from the trauma.
Multiply that learning curve by the total number of functions that microsoft can change in each new OS, and you get a sort of an idea of the real cost of a new OS. Even if it works superbly.
Did'ja ever think what might have happened if Ms had just incorporated all these "improvements" into win xp, and just kept selling that? After all, its still pretty much the same kernel, still NTFS format, no real deep changes.
I say bring on windows blue. I think calling it blue instead of 8 is enough for most people to give it a shot. "Shure windows 8 blows but windows blue? Its alright"
I actually like most of what they did with windows 8. The back/restore options are great and it was rock solid stable from the beginning. But that start menu is a terrible idea on a desktop and non touchscreen laptop. I think its fine if they want to have it as an option but it should have never been default on nontouch screen devices.
Now this may kill off "metro". The only reason MS made it default was to try and get people to use it. If no one cares anymore even less people are going to try it.(remember the whole point was to compete with the ipad)
Although intel just announced that we should see touch enabled atom (full windows 8) devices for under $300 soon. That could be huge, so who knows.
I say bring on windows blue. I think calling it blue instead of 8 is enough for most people to give it a shot. "Shure windows 8 blows but windows blue? Its alright"
See also: Windows Mojave
One thing I don't see too many people complain about with windows 8 is skydrive. I use skydrive all the time and its preinstalled on windows 8. But it doesn't actually download your files by default. You have to download the separate skydrive app to do that. Same thing goes with mail(it only syncs not download). Why do I need 4 apps when 2 should do.
I think the time is perfect to make the announcement that XP is returning. It's all in the name .. the same old reliable, workhorse without the niggles.
Just thinking out loud.
One thing I don't see too many people complain about with windows 8 is skydrive. I use skydrive all the time and its preinstalled on windows 8. But it doesn't actually download your files by default. You have to download the separate skydrive app to do that. Same thing goes with mail(it only syncs not download). Why do I need 4 apps when 2 should do.
That does seem pretty annoying. Perhaps it'll get reworked in a future update?
I could be happy with xp or 7 for years to come. Anything but that lousy 8 abomination
I think to win people like Keatah over, they need to turn the desktop mode into Windows 7.1 basically, which is fine in my opinion, since the startscreen really doesn't yield itself to desktop/laptops.
whatever the reason, whatever the outcome, we will all be forced to a new Windows OS eventually.
or to be more precise, we will be forced off our current one.
sad, simple, fact of life.
the lovers of Win7 and the die-hards of XP still have time on their side to skip Win8 and jump straight to Blue or even Win9.
no need to stress at this stage.
I think the time is perfect to make the announcement that XP is returning. It's all in the name .. the same old reliable, workhorse without the niggles.
The only thing I wish my XP system had was more hardware speed for example much faster encoding. As for security being lack luster which people have stated in various forums about XP I haven't noticed, but then again I have the system fortified and don't get malware infections, etc.
whatever the reason, whatever the outcome, we will all be forced to a new Windows OS eventually.
or to be more precise, we will be forced off our current one.
sad, simple, fact of life.
the lovers of Win7 and the die-hards of XP still have time on their side to skip Win8 and jump straight to Blue or even Win9.
no need to stress at this stage.
I am with you here. I am trying skipping W8 (as I did with Vista). I hope the outcome will be better for W8.1 (blue) or W9.
Perhaps I'll switch to Win 8 one day, perhaps I'll just go "Tablet".
A tablet is a logical next step in the evolution of computing. First we had a desktop and towers with a separate monitor, then we saw the birth of the laptop with a LCD or LED screen. And now the computer electronics are "hiding" under the screen. And we call that a "tablet".