Windows 8.1: New Features, Same Problems

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With Windows 8.1 rolling out today, expect to see a lot of articles like this complaining about how this update doesn't make it Windows 9, it's an incremental upgrade, it's what Windows 8 should have been, Microsoft is ruining the industry, the OS is a total flop, every time you use 8.1 a kitten is killed, etc. etc. etc.. :rolleyes:

Windows 8.1 is an incremental upgrade to the operating system, which means it's not a major overhaul but a tweak of the prior version. However, Microsoft added some key features sorely lacking in Windows 8. That includes a new, modified Start button, as well as the opportunity to boot the PC directly to the old-style desktop mode.
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I started reading the article but then had to stop after a couple paragraphs. The article sounds like it was written by someone with a vendetta against Microsoft and Windows 8 in the first place.

Been using 8 and 8.1 for a while now and it's been a pleasurable experience on both my laptop and desktop and my Surface Pro tablet.

My only one gripe is that there's too much black spaces covering the screen when using the touchscreen keyboard. Way too much. Otherwise I'm overall pretty satisfied with Windows 8 and 8.1.
 
My biggest gripe was that it did very little to teach users about how the new interface worked (risking confusion with Mom, Dad, Grandma and Auntie Em).

They mostly fixed the "Throw off the pier" problem.
 
I really don't get where all the hate comes from. I had to get used to 8, but once I did, it really was almost no different than 7 for me and I spend most of my time on desktop apps, I don't really touch metro. Started using 8.1 since the preview was out and the improvements on it really made my craptacular Surface RT much more tolerable.
 
Two and ONLY two things left for me to gripe about:

1. advertisements in my paid operating system
2. please bring back the instant search functionality to the start menu. Win8 is a small step back, but a step back nonetheless.
 
I hate crybabies. "Back when I was a boy"... I remember the Windows 95 preview before the internet was widely available and you had to navigate the new OS without instructions and help. You actually had to explore and learn on your own. Learning Windows 8 in comparison is a piece of cake.

This is not an Apple product where it's Apple's way or the highway. This is a Microsoft product and you can customize it any way you want. If it takes more than an hour to setup your Windows 8 device to operate the way you want it to operate you might not be the tech you think your are...
 
thejokker said:
If it takes more than an hour to setup your Windows 8 device to operate the way you want it to operate you might not be the tech you think your are...
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Tell that to the people who already know they arent "techs".
 
Problem is too much change. People are used to the mouse/windows/desktop since ~20 some years ago of using the same thing. As far as GUI appearance, since after Windows 3.1, the OS has looked quite similar and differed appearance-wise by "themes" per say. And now in 8, things looked totally different. All of a sudden MS wants to prop up touch tiles and change the way the OS operates by user usage. It's kind of hard to push this much change to the majority of the market, when some are just getting acquainted with Windows XP/7 and others have been using the "same thing" for years. If anything, MS should have gradually changed the GUI and at least give options, or find a way to segregate the style of the OS.

But as of now, I don't really see a personal reason to switch to 8.1, when 7 has been working pretty well over the past few years.
 
jadams said:
Two and ONLY two things left for me to gripe about:

2. please bring back the instant search functionality to the start menu. Win8 is a small step back, but a step back nonetheless.
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Windows key + S, or just pressing start and typing what you are looking for doesn't have the functionality you want? For me, Win8 search functionality is far more useful than Win7 search ever was.
 
Steve said:
With Windows 8.1 rolling out today, expect to see a lot of articles like this complaining about how this update doesn't make it Windows 9, it's an incremental upgrade, it's what Windows 8 should have been, Microsoft is ruining the industry, the OS is a total flop, every time you use 8.1 a kitten is killed, etc. etc. etc.. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

It is funny that I knew it was a CNET article even before hovering/clicking the link.
 
jadams said:
Two and ONLY two things left for me to gripe about:

1. advertisements in my paid operating system
2. please bring back the instant search functionality to the start menu. Win8 is a small step back, but a step back nonetheless.
Click to expand...

there is ads in windows 8? whereabouts and whatabouts? Is this something that is displayed on the metro start screen (I installed Start8 about 1 day into my Windows 8 experience and then soon forgot it was a different OS)
 
Microsoft is ruining the industry and the Windows 8/8.1 are a total flop ;)

The Metro interface still sucks for desktop and remote usage. Think I'll still stick with Windows 7.
 
soooo , this isn 't like a service pack? and your files stay but you gotta reinstall everything? (like a restore?)
 
jadams said:
2. please bring back the instant search functionality to the start menu. Win8 is a small step back, but a step back nonetheless.
Click to expand...

Step 1: Press the windows key
Step 2: Start typing your search term.
Step 3: Search UI instantly appears and starts working.

This might sound familiar... because it's the same way you use start-search in Windows 7 :p
 
Windows 8 works fine for me and the customers I've rolled it out to. Nice and quick.

None of them have asked to go back to XP or Vista.

If they come to me with a decent machine with 7 on it I just tell them to leave it for now.

If a tech journalist can't get their head round using Windows 8 then it's a bad reflection on their intelligence and ability in my opinion.

But then again it's just another CNET click bait article. So easy to do.

Revenue is down so let's put up a Windows 8 is crap article.
 
lol, I just read Ars Technica's Windows 8.1 review. Peter Bright, who is glad that MS removed the Start menu and who actually likes the Metro interface, has a really hard time selling that turd as a desktop OS.

However, the improvements to Metro do sound significant for increasing usability and I probably wouldn't wipe Windows 8 off the 7-8" Windows tablet I plan on buying soon. If I were buying a larger convertable tablet, i.e. with a trackpad and keyboard available, I would probably still avoid Win8.x. My quotable endorsement: Metro is fine for toys and still unusable for productivity.
 
while it is better than 8, it still has a long way to go.

I use win 8.1 on a low power HTPC (need win 8 for netflix app, silverlight streaming sucks on a e-350) and my big gripes are:
1. Non-unified "running" apps. Before you had the taskbar and everything was there, now you have metro apps on the side bar, and desktop apps WITHIN the "desktop" instance on the side bar, so there is no quick way to go from start screen to an open MS word doc. It was so simple to hit the taskbar.
2.The "charms bar" which likes to show up whenever you are within a MILE of the right side of the screen, you know like when you are using a scroll bar.
3. over reliance on kb shortcuts. Again since I use this in a HTPC environment, with a dinivo mini, kb shortcuts are often a pain. When you think about-nontech users it is just crazy.
4.the haphazard nature of it all. You go to the left corner to get a menu to slide in from the left (running apps) but ANY part of the right side to get the "charms" bar, why not make them both corners? Why can't I RClick on the wifi status to get info like in W7?

Who would have thought you would have to tell MS to "desktop-ify" something to fix it?
 
daglesj said:
If a tech journalist can't get their head round using Windows 8 then it's a bad reflection on their intelligence and ability in my opinion.
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I think it is a bad reflection on the job MS did with making windows 8 intuitive and maintaining a "productive" environment.

Win 8 is not ALL bad, but it certainly leaves a lot to be desired.
 
All the stuff that folks moan about in Windows 8 is mostly the stuff those of us that like 8 just ignore or don't use.

I don't get why they can't just move into Desktop and stay there like most of us do.

It's like watching people punching themselves in the balls over and over. Bizarre.
 
gossipninja1 said:
I think it is a bad reflection on the job MS did with making windows 8 intuitive and maintaining a "productive" environment.

Win 8 is not ALL bad, but it certainly leaves a lot to be desired.
Click to expand...

It's not that difficult at all. I spend about 10 minutes with my customers going over the difference from XP to 8 and they get it. No tantrums or rage quits.

Usually just "Okay that makes sense! I'll get to know more the more I use it!"

Icheck up a few days later and they are fine.
 
Yawn, Win 8 to Win 8.1...nothing new here. Move along, if you got Win 7 great, if Win 8 great.
 
thejokker said:
I hate crybabies. "Back when I was a boy"... I remember the Windows 95 preview before the internet was widely available and you had to navigate the new OS without instructions and help. You actually had to explore and learn on your own. Learning Windows 8 in comparison is a piece of cake.
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I remember this too, specifically the move from 3.11 on my Packard Bell. But if Windows 8 is a piece of cake, it is a cake made mostly out of turds.

I'm running 8.1/8pro. It is pretty much a brilliant kernel covered in complete ass.

It's a weird day when most of the linux desktop environments are more functional and user friendly than Windows, but that's the world now.
 
daglesj said:
All the stuff that folks moan about in Windows 8 is mostly the stuff those of us that like 8 just ignore or don't use.

I don't get why they can't just move into Desktop and stay there like most of us do.

It's like watching people punching themselves in the balls over and over. Bizarre.
Click to expand...

You're not using the OS the way Microsoft has intended. You're working around their 'features'. That's perfectly fine though, but you won't understand the complaints if you are not willing to learn the new UI.

It's 'almost' like saying 'What's the big deal with WinME, i just go straight to command prompt and everything works the same as it always has..?"
 
kattana said:
http://www.classicshell.net/

works like a charm

:D
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thats basically what i do, after putting in start is back and restore aero glass i have no complaints and can actually enjoy some of the new features.

personally where i take issue is that I have to modify the operating system before it becomes usable in a production environment. my two largest gripes (losing glass, and the start menu) could have been easily retained, but were chosen to be dropped against the will of many customers. I get adapt or die I just feel they went about it the wrong way.

That said, you can see the promise of the OS, it's just hidden under a layer of issues and apple-esque behaviour
 
Azhar said:
I started reading the article but then had to stop after a couple paragraphs. The article sounds like it was written by someone with a vendetta against Microsoft and Windows 8 in the first place.
Click to expand...

That defines the vast majority of Windows 8 users. Nobody really honestly likes it.
 
daglesj said:
All the stuff that folks moan about in Windows 8 is mostly the stuff those of us that like 8 just ignore or don't use.

I don't get why they can't just move into Desktop and stay there like most of us do.

It's like watching people punching themselves in the balls over and over. Bizarre.
Click to expand...

Because they could have stayed with Windows 7 and not moved anything. That's the point. Windows 8 was intended to be completely different and tile-based. If you're using Windows 8 like you're using Windows 7, then you're not trying to learn anything, like those "folks who moan" are.
 
People are always going to complain. The biggest WTF I've seen so far is someone saying (paraphrasing) "Skydrive is the default save location? So I only have 7 gigs to store everything? Good thing I have my 2tb hard drive! Microsoft is so stupid!"

The other is people complaining about being forced to use the app store to update. They know good and well they would be screaming bloody murder if it was made available in windows update and they 'accidentally' install it and have to wait the hour for the install to take place.
 
I really don't get the hate for Win 8. I actually enjoy the live tile "Start Menu" and the Search functionality. Win 8 is Win 7 plus other stuff.

If you don't want to use the other stuff...don't?

But, please, stop scaring people off of upgrading to Win 8. I held off for a year and tolerated VISTA. I want those days back and I feel you Win 8 trolls owe that much to the community.
 
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