Windows 8 is not good for...

FrostyJack · 11-04-2013 10:09PM

Seachmall wrote: »

I don't really get this. The vast majority of people use their computer for writing documents, email, and browsing the web. All of these can be done out of the box with Ubuntu or Mint. I know people like the familiar, which makes sense, but even when I mention Linux to my friends they're just dead set against it.

Can you play Battlefield etc on Ubuntu? If you are just using it for reading emails, watching movies, coding Ubuntu is fine, but you cannot use Windows based programs, Windows is the middle ground for everything. Windows 7 is just about Goldielocks. I haven't used 8 enough to say it is better, but it does have potential.

11-04-2013 10:10PM

Zascar wrote: »

I was very very skeptical, I was buying a new PC and really really really did not want Windows 8 on it, that metro swypy menu thing is horrible, however, when I found out you can get a program that brings back the normal Start menu, only a better one - it totally changed things

Download www.pokki.com and you never have to use that crappy metro thing again. After that, I realised the other parts of Windows 8 are actually brilliant and its my favourite one so far. That's coming form a die hard XP fan.

PC Shipments are down not because of Windows 8, but because the groth of the pc market is over. Mobile is everything now.

iobit also has a version called startmenu8 which you can download for free on cnet.com. Stardock also have a version for $4.99.

seanm92 · 11-04-2013 10:10PM

Antar Bolaeisk wrote: »

Or, you know, you could install a decent .pdf reader.

Whatever about the new Metro start screen being great in Windows 8 the metro apps are a pain in the bum and best avoided.

Tbh that thought never crossed my mind until now, which just about sums up my knowledge of computers :pac:

Antar Bolaeisk · 11-04-2013 10:14PM

johnmcdnl wrote: »

Start8 and you get all the speed benefits of Windows 8 without the crap metro ****, best of both worlds

brenbrady wrote: »

iobit also has a version called startmenu8 which you can download for free on cnet.com. Stardock also have a version for $4.99.

Why are you doing this crazy thing? Yes the metro apps are terrible but the start screen is actually kinda useful, not that you need to really use it at all anyway, winkey + first few letter of what you're looking for + enter and you're done. The start menu has been redundant since Vista once they introduced the search box.

I hate having to use XP nowadays as I'm forced to resort to the old way of drilling down through menus.

FrostyJack · 11-04-2013 10:17PM

Antar Bolaeisk wrote: »

I hate having to use XP nowadays as I'm forced to resort to the old way of drilling down through menus.

That is why Xp is the worst thing ever created. That and having to manually install drivers, bsod and lock ups. Vista had it's issues which 7 just about fixed. I still have to use Xp in work sometimes and it makes me :mad:

gurramok · 11-04-2013 10:18PM

Karsini wrote: »

If you disable secure boot but leave UEFI booting enabled then Windows 8 still runs, just with secure boot off.

That solution didn't work on my sisters brand new laptop. Endless Googling only offered the alternative of wiping the pre-installed Win8 in order to install win7 for dual booting, she opted to keep Win8 as the shop(major store) refused to supply a backup copy of Win8.

11-04-2013 10:19PM

FrostyJack wrote: »

That is why Xp is the worst thing ever created. That and having to manually install drivers, bsod and lock ups. Vista had it's issues which 7 just about fixed. I still have to use Xp in work sometimes and it makes me :mad:

Blue screens in XP are not normal. If you said Windows 95 or 98 I'd agree with you but not XP.

Antar Bolaeisk · 11-04-2013 10:21PM

FrostyJack wrote: »

That is why Xp is the worst thing ever created. That and having to manually install drivers, bsod and lock ups. Vista had it's issues which 7 just about fixed. I still have to use Xp in work sometimes and it makes me :mad:

Lucky for you Microsoft will be discontinuing support for Windows XP this time next year. I'm sure that will convince your company, and many others, to finally give it up and thus boost computer sales.

Yeah, right.

Ruu · 11-04-2013 10:23PM

Does it have Hotdog Stand theme? If not then don't want to know!

FrostyJack · 11-04-2013 10:38PM

Karsini wrote: »

Blue screens in XP are not normal. If you said Windows 95 or 98 I'd agree with you but not XP.

Rarely had it with 98 ME, 95 yes. I had several decent spec rigs in Xp (and used friends) and they all had bsod and constant lockups. Nightmare. Even Word used to bring it down. Drives me mad to have people say Xp was great and Vista was a joke. Maybe some people were lucky.

11-04-2013 10:40PM

FrostyJack wrote: »

Rarely had it with 98 ME, 95 yes. I had several decent spec rigs in Xp (and used friends) and they all had bsod and constant lockups. Nightmare. Even Word used to bring it down. Drives me mad to have people say Xp was great and Vista was a joke. Maybe some people were lucky.

The only time I had stability issues with XP was when I was doing custom builds without doing my homework first. Any brand name machine I've gotten with XP installed (and later builds when I got more experience) was rock solid.

If Word was enough to crash the OS then something was seriously wrong and it wasn't XP. Possibly RAM or PSU.

Peregrine · 11-04-2013 10:43PM

FrostyJack wrote: »

That is why Xp is the worst thing ever created. That and having to manually install drivers, bsod and lock ups. Vista had it's issues which 7 just about fixed. I still have to use Xp in work sometimes and it makes me :mad:

You take that back..:mad:

Windows 8 without Metro > Windows 7 > Windows XP > Everything else > Windows Vista.

Dual booting Ubuntu on Windows 8 is a bitch with Secure boot but luckily there's a way around it

Seachmall · 11-04-2013 10:52PM

FrostyJack wrote: »

Can you play Battlefield etc on Ubuntu?

Most people don't play Battlefield and most people don't need Windows specific software.

If you do either of those things then Windows is obviously the best choice, but most people, or at least most people I know, don't.

FrostyJack · 11-04-2013 10:53PM

Karsini wrote: »

If Word was enough to crash the OS then something was seriously wrong and it wasn't XP. Possibly RAM or PSU.

I had variable systems, all were in the higher end of spec, all were on latest service pack. Maybe I was just jinxed.

Nimrod 7 wrote:

Windows 8 without Metro > Windows 7 > Windows XP > Everything else > Windows Vista.

Dual booting Ubuntu on Windows 8 is a bitch with Secure boot but luckily there's a way around it

Bar taking up half the HDD Vista was a dream compare to the previous versions, maybe at a professional level, Vista was inferior, that was not my experince. Dual boot on Win 7 is the perfect combination.

johnmcdnl · 11-04-2013 11:01PM

Antar Bolaeisk wrote: »

Why are you doing this crazy thing? Yes the metro apps are terrible but the start screen is actually kinda useful, not that you need to really use it at all anyway, winkey + first few letter of what you're looking for + enter and you're done. The start menu has been redundant since Vista once they introduced the search box.

I hate having to use XP nowadays as I'm forced to resort to the old way of drilling down through menus.

The start screen is ridiculously ugly in my book, also new start screen can't do anything the old one doesn't do already, and finally its much nicer when you search for something in the old start menu as it shows settings as well as programs without having to click on the tabs in metro start to choose whether your searching for programs, settings or files

Antar Bolaeisk · 11-04-2013 11:15PM

FrostyJack wrote: »

Bar taking up half the HDD Vista was a dream compare to the previous versions, maybe at a professional level, Vista was inferior, that was not my experince. Dual boot on Win 7 is the perfect combination.

Vista caught a lot of flak as it was released on inferior hardware. It was actually a rather decent OS, at least the x64 version was, but many people's memories of it were that of an incredibly slow and ugly looking OS. These people were generally trying to run it on hardware that I wouldn't even run XP on.

The funny thing is that 7 is pretty much a re-skinned Vista (with some refinements that do improve performance a bit), however, with the release of Windows 7 hardware had started to catch up which, coupled with the performance tweaks, led to a much better reception.

Dravokivich · 11-04-2013 11:17PM

Antar Bolaeisk wrote: »

Lucky for you Microsoft will be discontinuing support for Windows XP this time next year. I'm sure that will convince your company, and many others, to finally give it up and thus boost computer sales.

Yeah, right.

There can be products in use, that mean its not feasible to upgrade the OS. Particularly in a corp environment. One I used to provide support for was still using NT4 upto 4/5 years ago. Even then migrating to XP, with compatability issues for their software. But couldn't get pc's or hardware for pc's to run NT4 anymore.

11-04-2013 11:24PM

Antar Bolaeisk wrote: »

Vista caught a lot of flak as it was released on inferior hardware. It was actually a rather decent OS, at least the x64 version was, but many people's memories of it were that of an incredibly slow and ugly looking OS. These people were generally trying to run it on hardware that I wouldn't even run XP on.

The funny thing is that 7 is pretty much a re-skinned Vista (with some refinements that do improve performance a bit), however, with the release of Windows 7 hardware had started to catch up which, coupled with the performance tweaks, led to a much better reception.

The amount of machines that were released with 1GB of RAM on Vista was horrendous. There were even some with 512MB which was completely insane.

Funnily enough, I always found 64-bit Vista to be much slower than the 32-bit version. The only time I got it running well was when I did a Sandy Bridge i5 build with a SSD and reused the customer's existing retail Vista licence.

FrostyJack · 11-04-2013 11:32PM

Seachmall wrote: »

Most people don't play Battlefield and most people don't need Windows specific software.

If you do either of those things then Windows is obviously the best choice, but most people, or at least most people I know, don't.

Yes but they may do in the future and you cannot go back (without buying windows obviously). It is hard enough to teach old/stupid people to use Windows, I would will pull out my hair showing them Ubuntu or the likes.

Seachmall · 11-04-2013 11:37PM

FrostyJack wrote: »

Yes but they may do in the future and you cannot go back (without buying windows obviously). It is hard enough to teach old/stupid people to use Windows, I would will pull out my hair showing them Ubuntu or the likes.

There are videos of old(er) people using different OSs on YouTube. Mac and *Nix ones tend to fair far better than Windows 8.

Which is odd, you'd expect Microsoft to have a crack UI design team. Although maybe it's expected with Windows 8.

Antar Bolaeisk · 11-04-2013 11:37PM

Dravokivich wrote: »

There can be products in use, that mean its not feasible to upgrade the OS. Particularly in a corp environment. One I used to provide support for was still using NT4 upto 4/5 years ago. Even then migrating to XP, with compatability issues for their software. But couldn't get pc's or hardware for pc's to run NT4 anymore.

There's always going to be some legacy software somewhere that requires an older OS. Bonus points if it's from a company that no longer exists, the installation media was used for tea coasters and the hardware is on it's last legs.

FrostyJack wrote: »

Yes but they may do in the future and you cannot go back (without buying windows obviously). It is hard enough to teach old/stupid people to use Windows, I would will pull out my hair showing them Ubuntu or the likes.

Speaking of horrible interfaces, I still haven't been able to get to grips with Unity. Thankfully, a decent interface is only an apt-get away.

11-04-2013 11:39PM

Antar Bolaeisk wrote: »

Speaking of horrible interfaces, I still haven't been able to get to grips with Unity. Thankfully, a decent interface is only an apt-get away.

I've never been a fan of Linux myself but that's a serious plus alright, not being tied down to a specific UI.

FrostyJack · 11-04-2013 11:45PM

Seachmall wrote: »

Which is odd, you'd expect Microsoft to have a crack UI design team. Although maybe it's expected with Windows 8.

They probably believe that people who were too old to have never used Win 95 are probably gone from this World, so everyone else is tech savy. It is painful to watch family members try to navigate tabs on a browers (closing them instead of minimising them

). Maybe Win 9 will be the answer

rainbow kirby · 12-04-2013 12:05AM

Antar Bolaeisk wrote: »

Speaking of horrible interfaces, I still haven't been able to get to grips with Unity. Thankfully, a decent interface is only an apt-get away.

Not a fan of Unity myself - have xfce on my work setup, keeping things pretty light.

yoyo · 12-04-2013 01:24AM

Seachmall wrote: »

Other OSs should made available when buying a new computer. Windows should be entirely optional.

I think the reason manufacturers don't provide alternatives is due to the money they make from the crapware that comes preinstalled on Windows computers

Nick

humbert · 12-04-2013 01:29AM

rainbow kirby wrote: »

Not a fan of Unity myself - have xfce on my work setup, keeping things pretty light.

Every time I try xfce I end up going back to fluxbox. Mainly because of the better keyboard support for moving windows between monitors.

Reamer Fanny · 12-04-2013 01:36AM

Steve O wrote: »

It is the worst OS I have ever had the displeasure to use. I would rather go back to Vista at this stage.

Vista are you for real?

Irish Guitarist · 12-04-2013 06:13AM

Using numbers as an OS name is a bit ridiculous really. Windows 7 and 8 are all well and good, but what are Microsoft going to do after Windows 94? They can't bring out Windows 95 again can they?

inforfun · 12-04-2013 08:19AM

Win7 > Good
Win Vista > Bad
Win XP > Good
Win ME > Bad
Win 98 > Good

See the trend?
I have made the decision a few OS ago to just skip every next version of Windows when i am running a good version.
So never got Vista but went from XP straight to 7

12-04-2013 10:39AM

inforfun wrote: »

Win7 > Good
Win Vista > Bad
Win XP > Good
Win ME > Bad
Win 98 > Good

See the trend?
I have made the decision a few OS ago to just skip every next version of Windows when i am running a good version.
So never got Vista but went from XP straight to 7

I always see this mentioned but where does Windows 2000 fit in?

Windows 8 is not good for...

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