What is your opinion of the new Windows 8?

[SpAc3man]

Well I cannot claim to have true knowledge of it, because Ive not ran the release build yet. However having the developers preview roughly a year ago resulted in me uninstalling it in VERY short order.

All I can see out of it from what I saw, was the latest incarnation of Microsoft forcibly trying to tell us how to use a PC and where to put things so that they are organized.

With all the strides Linux makes now, I wish to hell they would pick up a thing or two from Linux, or hell, even mac and quit trying to control peoples use. Allow them to use it freely how THEY see fit. Not how you want them to.

But honestly for me personally. I have ZERO interest in touch enabled windows OS, and once you remove the "metro" trash and get it out of the way, its really just windows 7 jury rigged to be as counter intuitive as Vista.

Just my 2 copper

The Dev Preview was really really terribad. Final version is so much better for using on a desktop. It is just really nice to use. I have found with using the final version from early September that I don't use the Metro apps that much. The only ones I use all the time are the Email app, IM+, Wikipedia and the app for my local news paper. The last two because it is so much nicer to read than in a browser. Windows 8 is designed so if you don't want to use Metro apps you don't need to. The desktop still has everything you need.

 

[Yopaz]

I like it a little, but it's not amazing. It's Windows 7 with some added features and no start menu. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I hate it, sometimes it's OK. Don't see the hate for it though.

 

[SpAc3man]

snip

Dude, thanks for that list, it'll help a lot. I'm not fond of 8 just because it is so different from 7 and tablet oriented. The only thing that's really bugging me is the number of updates it's been doing lately. Something like three in the last day or so. I also have no use for the live tiles or %95 of the apps and it just get in the way

You will find that Microsoft usually release a lot of updates on the second Tuesday of each month and then sometimes two weeks after that if there is something critical. There will be a lot for the next few months as compatibility issues caused by sloppy third party developers gets fixed by Microsoft and as security risks get fixed.
As I said in a post above it is very easy to not use Metro apps ever. They don't add any functionality that isn't available on the desktop. I only use some of them because they are nice for displaying and reading lots of text or can be docked next to a desktop session and kept out of the way of whatever I'm doing in the case of the messenger I use.

 

[hazabaza1]

Never really liked the look of it.
Plus I've gotten so used to 7 so I think I'd prefer keeping it.

 

[Snotnarok]

It's the exact same thing with a full screen start bar and everyone is overreacting like nuts over nothing.

 

[Vhite]

Never tried it. I would if I ever bought a tablet but I already have a smartphone and notebook so it would be just waste of money.

 

[Rastrelly]

Sittin' on it right now. Not that bad. Some stuff was changes, especially Start Menu (dat awful Metro UI), but overall it works fast and has few to 0 compatibility issues. Not that crap but could be better.

 

[Bvenged]

I'm setting up servers on Windows Server 2013 right now (essentially the same UI), and I don't like it either.

Windows 8 is a much better OS than previous iterations. HOWEVER, I am not a fan of it as it's too - what's the word? - Apple. the GUI is too Apple and not nitty-gritty enough. The classic windows formula has been tampered with and that just doesn't slide well with me (as a consumer).

 

[votemarvel]

Schizophrenic is the best word for it in my experience.

Things are split up between the desktop and Metro versions of the control panel. Programs launched from the Metro start screen kick you back to the desktop before opening.

It also seems odd that with the push for touch-screen that simple tasks are quicker to pull off with keyboard shortcuts, some listed above by SpAc3man.

Windows 8 is an odd one. I don't hate it but at the same time I don't really see the point of it for keyboard and mouse users.

 

[SD-Fiend]

I basically have no idea what i'm doing.
Can anyone tell me if moving an image in a file freely is a setting or something? In vista I could do that but it seems that I cannot in windows 8.

 

[Souplex]

Your image fails, as it calls Windows 7 good.
I have taken dumps that were better than Windows 7. They ran smoother, they ran faster, they crashed less often, and their interface was less crappy.
I have yet to try Windows 8, but based on the direction Microsoft has been going since Bill left, I'm stuck waiting for the google OS to come out and gain some traction.

 

[Megacherv]

Been using Win8 on desktop since February, never had any issues, find it fairly intuitive. Have tested RT on tablets at dev sessions and I think it's the smoothest tablet OS out there, haven't properly tried a Pro tablet yet.

 

[ejb626]

I strongly dislike the new start screen, right now I'm running ClassicShell which gives me an old start menu otherwise this would be completely intolerable. In an attempt to tap into the tablet market Microsoft have made something that works horribly on desktops and laptops. Case in point without ClassicShell it would take me 9 or so clicks to fucking turn off my computer, when on Windows 7 it takes one. Know where they put the shut down option? Settings. Settings for Christ's sake! That's just one thing wrong with this stupid touchscreen oriented start screen. Other than that though, I don't mind it, now that I've completely eliminated the start screen it's not bad.

 

[WoW Killer]

What was so great about 98? I think that was by far my worst ever experience with a Microsoft product. ME was probably even less stable, but at least I didn't use that for very long. There's a whole era of PC gaming that was basically me running desperately between save points hoping to make some kind of progress before I crashed. I've been reluctant to give up XP because it's the first one I used that actually worked. Making the switch to Windows 8 in a few days, but I've been using it on a laptop on and off.

The app screen thing isn't all that bad when you think about it. It's just a replacement for the start menu, and I don't think I ever used the start menu for anything. What bugs me is that they put that as like the 'default' screen and then the desktop is an application within that, rather than the other way round. It doesn't make a great deal of difference, but it's one extra click on startup and the alt-tabbing is ass-backwards. No opinions other than that. It seems to work, which is a plus, but I'll have to see when I install it on my desktop.

 

[TheNewGuy]

Hmm...I haven't tried it yet but from what people here are saying about it I guess I'll wait for the next version to come around before upgrading.

 

[SpAc3man]

I strongly dislike the new start screen, right now I'm running ClassicShell which gives me an old start menu otherwise this would be completely intolerable. In an attempt to tap into the tablet market Microsoft have made something that works horribly on desktops and laptops. Case in point without ClassicShell it would take me 9 or so clicks to fucking turn off my computer, when on Windows 7 it takes one. Know where they put the shut down option? Settings. Settings for Christ's sake! That's just one thing wrong with this stupid touchscreen oriented start screen. Other than that though, I don't mind it, now that I've completely eliminated the start screen it's not bad.

Serious? Are you that hopeless? NINE clicks? I count three. Settings, power options, shutdown. It can even be done with no clicks if you hit alt-F4 then hit enter. Stop making crap up.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

I kind of resent the insistent pushing towards "Tablets are the future!". I like my mouse and keyboard just fine, thanks, and will not be permanently switching to Windows 8.

Yep this is my stance on the issue. In the rush to change everything to tablets and touch control everyone seems to be forgetting that the traditional controls work better.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

I doubt I'm ever going to touch it.

Work has flat out stated that it isn't going to be installed anywhere (to the point where they haven't even bought a copy for testing) and I'm not interested in using a tablet or a Windows Phone.

From what I have seen, it would be a ok tablet OS and a crappy desktop one.

 

[ejb626]

I strongly dislike the new start screen, right now I'm running ClassicShell which gives me an old start menu otherwise this would be completely intolerable. In an attempt to tap into the tablet market Microsoft have made something that works horribly on desktops and laptops. Case in point without ClassicShell it would take me 9 or so clicks to fucking turn off my computer, when on Windows 7 it takes one. Know where they put the shut down option? Settings. Settings for Christ's sake! That's just one thing wrong with this stupid touchscreen oriented start screen. Other than that though, I don't mind it, now that I've completely eliminated the start screen it's not bad.

Serious? Are you that hopeless? NINE clicks? I count three. Settings, power options, shutdown. It can even be done with no clicks if you hit alt-F4 then hit enter. Stop making crap up.

Would you still agree that settings is a shitty place to put the shutdown option? It's a basic PC function, not a setting. Also I was obviously exaggerating a little. That new start screen is crap IMO, and I don't feel like dealing with it.