What Do "Normal" People Think Of Windows 8?

Rusty4560 said:
Why is everyone sooo scared of change. The new UI isn't that much different. I'm loving windows 8.
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not scared of change.
i just dont want such a crappy UI and i dont really want to deal with the inevitable support questions that im going to have which can basically be boiled down to "how the hell do i do this?"
 
mknlb50 said:
Welp, looks like I'm buying Mac computers for my parents' next upgrade. Thanks for making my decision easier for me, M$.
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Welp, enjoy training your parents on how to use a Mac then, because it is definitely different from windows. *Hint: there is no start menu there either. :rolleyes:
 
harbingerofdoom said:
not scared of change.
i just dont want such a crappy UI and i dont really want to deal with the inevitable support questions that im going to have which can basically be boiled down to "how the hell do i do this?"
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You mean like I am sure you have gotten with all versions of windows? Oh well, have fun dealing with the change. :D
 
Hey lets show windows 8 on an old non touch enabled device and see what people think!

How do I shut it down? You don't need to. Close the GD lid and let it sleep.
 
ManofGod said:
Welp, enjoy training your parents on how to use a Mac then, because it is definitely different from windows. *Hint: there is no start menu there either. :rolleyes:
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They don't really use the start button on their Windows 7 machines either. I just like how Apple put the App Store and its quick-launch App interface as "apps" that you open instead of having MS forcing you to use their quick-launch App interface as soon as you start the computer.

Not to mention all the benefits of owning all the other Apple products which you could take advantage of iCloud very easily.

MS has a long road ahead of them.
 
TechLarry said:
And who, exactly, decided for 80 million PC users that this is what was best for them?
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Money decided what's best for you. Remember the whole focus on Windows 8 is the app store, which makes money for Microsoft. Who declares the PC era is dead are the same people who thought PC gaming died, and are probably paid to spread these idiotic rumors.

Be careful of idiots in large numbers. Just cause it's a democracy doesn't make it right. Do you still want to use a PC, and will continue to do so for many years to come? If so then don't pay too much attention to all this. Probably the most important thing to get from all this is that Microsoft is fucking up, and might give Linux the opportunity to rise up. The world will be better off when our OS isn't made from a company that has conflicting interests with its customers.
 
Parja said:
Sad world we live in that you would have to learn something new to be able to do basic tasks in a new version of an operating system.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," comes to mind. Microsoft should be building on the success of Windows 7 and further enhancing the user experience, not reinventing the wheel.
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Couldn't have said it better myself, and the myriad snide comments from many people in this thread, deriding people who don't magically know where all functions have been moved to, are nauseating.

And yes...I'm an IT consultant who has many hilarious stories of numbnuts end users who make inane observations. However, the elitist attitude of some towards anyone who doesn't automatically know everything about new technology that they do is incredibly tiresome.
 
Stiletto said:
Couldn't have said it better myself, and the myriad snide comments from many people in this thread, deriding people who don't magically know where all functions have been moved to, are nauseating.

And yes...I'm an IT consultant who has many hilarious stories of numbnuts end users who make inane observations. However, the elitist attitude of some towards anyone who doesn't automatically know everything about new technology that they do is incredibly tiresome.
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I cannot speak for anyone but myself but I never was taking the stance that you should know where everything is. I find myself finding out where things are moved to as I need to do the task. The point is that the world is moving to touch screen and MS is trying to get you used to that now rather than later. I think the main point is that everyone is afraid of change much like going from command prompt to gui.
The overall experience has not changed a lot and there are a lot of pros to the OS. The general public barely knows how to use windows as is. I don't think this will be that much different.
 
Rusty4560 said:
I cannot speak for anyone but myself but I never was taking the stance that you should know where everything is. I find myself finding out where things are moved to as I need to do the task. The point is that the world is moving to touch screen and MS is trying to get you used to that now rather than later. I think the main point is that everyone is afraid of change much like going from command prompt to gui.
The overall experience has not changed a lot and there are a lot of pros to the OS. The general public barely knows how to use windows as is. I don't think this will be that much different.
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I understand that, but in the vast majority of homes and businesses, laptops and desktops are still the primary devices that your average person is going to continue to come into regular contact with. Metro should be included, but not as the default interface. It should be something that people can experiment with if they choose, but they should be able to comfortably use their applications with no headaches out of the box.

It's kind of like the electric car experiment. Might they be the future? Yes...but until charging stations are available as widely as gas stations, nobody should be pushing people to adopt technology that they're not ready for. The same goes for touch-screen devices. They're still new, and still incredibly imperfect. Far too many people in the tech community have no patience, and don't understand that change, especially with respect to major parts of our lifestyles, needs to be gradual. It's like mass ADHD.
 
Ashbringer said:
Money decided what's best for you. Remember the whole focus on Windows 8 is the app store, which makes money for Microsoft. Who declares the PC era is dead are the same people who thought PC gaming died, and are probably paid to spread these idiotic rumors.

Be careful of idiots in large numbers. Just cause it's a democracy doesn't make it right. Do you still want to use a PC, and will continue to do so for many years to come? If so then don't pay too much attention to all this. Probably the most important thing to get from all this is that Microsoft is fucking up, and might give Linux the opportunity to rise up. The world will be better off when our OS isn't made from a company that has conflicting interests with its customers.
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Linux on the desktop is its own worse enemy and will never take over on the "desktop". (Noticed I said desktop.) I have used linux on and off over the years and have become pretty good at it from a technical point.

That said, linux does not just work when it comes to the desktop. Also, support for it is terrible at best and the linux desktop infastructure is to fractured to ever be anything other than what it is on the desktop. Whether a person likes it or not, windows just works and does so quickly and consistently.
 
I do believe that when you start the device for the first time it should ask you if you would like the traditional start bar or the "metro" ui.

But in a work environment I know that I have to format the machine before I make the image anyway so I can just run the start button tweak and the users will be oblivious.

I can ask 90% of my users "What version of windows are you on?" and they will have no clue.
 
Stiletto said:
I understand that, but in the vast majority of homes and businesses, laptops and desktops are still the primary devices that your average person is going to continue to come into regular contact with. Metro should be included, but not as the default interface. It should be something that people can experiment with if they choose, but they should be able to comfortably use their applications with no headaches out of the box.

It's kind of like the electric car experiment. Might they be the future? Yes...but until charging stations are available as widely as gas stations, nobody should be pushing people to adopt technology that they're not ready for. The same goes for touch-screen devices. They're still new, and still incredibly imperfect. Far too many people in the tech community have no patience, and don't understand that change, especially with respect to major parts of our lifestyles, needs to be gradual. It's like mass ADHD.
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The problem with that sort of mindset is that to take advantage of the future, you need to do so now. If Microsoft were to wait until 10 years from now to implement what is going to be, then it would be too late then.
 
gunbust3r said:
Hey lets show windows 8 on an old non touch enabled device and see what people think!

How do I shut it down? You don't need to. Close the GD lid and let it sleep.
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Because everybody has a touch enabled desktop/laptop right? :rolleyes: I have a laptop and desktop and neither have touch screens and i don't intend to ever get one.
 
ManofGod said:
The problem with that sort of mindset is that to take advantage of the future, you need to do so now. If Microsoft were to wait until 10 years from now to implement what is going to be, then it would be too late then.
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Why would it be too late? Because some other company is going to implement that kind of technology in a more eased fashion, and by not intimidating new and unfamiliar users?

If so, that's not a fault on the part of users. That's a fault of Microsoft for not introducing the new interface in a more user-friendly way. Users have no responsibility to adjust at a certain rate. Businesses have total responsibility to offer their products in a way that will appeal to their customers.
 
To reiterate...the future will arrive, one way or another. Why must it be rushed? Why is everyone so anxious to move as quickly as possible to whatever new technological discovery? Is it a fear of mortality? An addiction to rapid technological progress? Neither is rational.
 
MS wants to get market share back from apple. It thinks that if it can innovate something revolutionary before apple then it will accomplish this.

I'm not saying it's a correct approach but I do believe that is what MS is trying to do.
 
kingius said:
Have you noticed that people who do not like the interface speak about the interface, but those who take the opposite view do not speak about the interface, but instead about woolly concepts like 'change'?
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I talk about the interface in very extacting terms across multiple form factors and input methods. Again, for all of the talk that Windows 8 isn't well suited for keyboard and mouse operation I do that all of the time without issue running the same desktop programs I always have and it flows for me on the desktop.

I can understand wanting to keep the old UI and having a switch. But for the bulk of things that most people do, even desktop productivity stuff, the old UI isn't really more efficient overall I think, but it is more familiar.
 
ekuest said:
this is a commercial for something that changes the UI drastically. obviously they will pick clips that make the UI look bad. watching this is like watching msnbc: it will make you less informed.
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Fixed it for you! :)
 
heatlesssun said:
The basic UI in Windows is as old as today's high school seniors. Just think of all of the stuff that people have had to adapt to and deal with since 1995. Cell phones, smart phones, social media, laptops, mp3 players, even the Internet was unfamiliar territory to most people in 1995. Life is FULL of change, millions of people have learned and adapted to things they never even dreamed would exist.

The truth is when it comes to technology people are constantly dealing with new things and while some people don't ever get it an large number do.
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The basic paddle for a canoe is older than anyone alive. Just think of all the stuff that people have had to deal with and adapt to in the last few hundred/thousand years. Pontoon boats, steam powered boats, nuclear powered aircraft carriers, even jet skis!

This isn't a change that makes the desktop computing experience better, more productive or easier. This is change for change's sake. So Microsoft will have something "new" to shill to customers who already have an OS that's more or less perfectly fine how it is.

It's going to waste a metric assload of PRODUCTIVITY TIME in favor of retraining time. All for an utterly pointless, sloppy, unnecessary new UI decision.

This is the "designed by mental defectives for mental defectives".
 
heatlesssun said:
Put it on new touch capable hardware with a few minutes of instruction and I bet you have more happy people with it than you think. But really, the key is just a little time explaining a few things. I've done this with three people now and it just isn't nearly a difficult transition I think that many are making it out to be. If you just throw it front of people expecting it to work just like Windows 7 well of course that won't understand it.
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You know what?

FUCK touch-capable hardware. The majority of my clients are office-productivity types. Not just Word or Excel, but CRM, ERP, CAD/CAM, and the whole nine yards.

For them, touch capability offers JACK SHIT. So why the fuck am I going to tell my clients to go out and spend thousands of dollars on touch-capable hardware when the stuff they're running is ALREADY overkill performance-wise?

If you're so in love with your little "media consumption" devices that's fine. But for all the people who actually PRODUCE things, touch-style interfaces like Windows 8's are just an enormous hassle and a joke that represent a massive loss of productivity (and therefore, revenue).

So please stop pretending that this is all pointless hype from people who are "afraid of change". It's disingenuous.
 
heatlesssun said:
So what single general purpose OS can do all of the things and run on all of the form factors that Windows 8 can?
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I honestly only really care about one form factor. Maybe two.

Standard desktop
Standard laptop

Anything else is utterly meaningless to myself and my clients.
 
Chas said:
I honestly only really care about one form factor. Maybe two.

Standard desktop
Standard laptop

Anything else is utterly meaningless to myself and my clients.
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I would tend to agree, though I have found that the most irritating people who try to break this mold are executives, who at first get themselves a tablet or ultralight or smartphone or whatever, think it's great. They then refuse to spend the extra money to outfit the rest of the company with this equipment, so that it's limited to the elites within their circle. They then also refuse to spend the extra money to hire programmers to make their in-house software work with these devices(and in some cases it simply cannot be done), but complain that they still have to go back to their old hardware to use vital software packages.

It is the epitome of "OOO! SHINEY! WANT! What? Cost money? No. Y u no work like I want?"

Or, as a co-worker once put it, if you can't give them what they want, give them what they ask for.
 
ManofGod said:
Linux on the desktop is its own worse enemy and will never take over on the "desktop". (Noticed I said desktop.) I have used linux on and off over the years and have become pretty good at it from a technical point.

That said, linux does not just work when it comes to the desktop. Also, support for it is terrible at best and the linux desktop infastructure is to fractured to ever be anything other than what it is on the desktop. Whether a person likes it or not, windows just works and does so quickly and consistently.
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Windows 8 works regardless of what people say, but that doesn't change the fact that Microsoft interests aren't for consumers. Think about how many areas Microsoft is involved in. Gaming, Office, server, tablets, phones, and soon an app store. I think there was another thread that someone asked why isn't Halo 3 and soon to be Halo 4 on Windows? Why is Windows 8 so bad for office work, but so great for tablets? Microsoft is a company which is conflicted, and is spreading itself out thin.

Linux is bad on the desktop, but that can be easily fixed. Nobody says you have to have Unity for a UI, or can only install applications from the app store. Linux doesn't have conflicting interests like Microsoft does.
 
Stiletto said:
To reiterate...the future will arrive, one way or another. Why must it be rushed? Why is everyone so anxious to move as quickly as possible to whatever new technological discovery? Is it a fear of mortality? An addiction to rapid technological progress? Neither is rational.
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Going ass backwards is not the future. Going full retard does not make a future. Fact is majority of people in the world are stupid, and companies are catering to more of them. Dumbing things down for them. Windows 8 is a dumb down. The interviews in the video shows just how stupid people really are, when people who are in the industry for so many years don't even recognize Windows 8.
 
I tried Windows 8 this week for a while just to give it a chance. I just hated every second of it. Keep trying, but my hate just grew and grew.
 
Rusty4560 said:
The point is that the world is moving to touch screen
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No. Several device markets are pushing touchscreens bigtime.

But "the world" isn't. That's just BS rhetoric.

Touchscreens have their place in certain niches.

But in other niches (such as the desktop productivity station/laptop), touch capability provides NO BENEFITS WHATSOEVER.

Moreover, trying to force these types of users into a paradigm centered on features they don't use isn't only pointless, it's counterproductive.
 
Chas said:
No. Several device markets are pushing touchscreens bigtime.

But "the world" isn't. That's just BS rhetoric.

Touchscreens have their place in certain niches.

But in other niches (such as the desktop productivity station/laptop), touch capability provides NO BENEFITS WHATSOEVER.

Moreover, trying to force these types of users into a paradigm centered on features they don't use isn't only pointless, it's counterproductive.
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In the next 10 years touchscreens will pass Keyboard and Mouse as the interface of choice for desktops. If I am wrong PM me and I will send you $10 via paypal.

Apple has patented a movable screen to pivot from upright to touchscreen in front of you in place of your keyboard. Think of any retail business. Touch screen interface at most if not all check outs. It's only a matter of time till they design something that replaces your keyboard in mouse in favor of a flat slate in front of you.

For gamers you will always have keyboard and mouse but that will become more of a niche and less of the norm.
 
Chas said:
This isn't a change that makes the desktop computing experience better, more productive or easier. This is change for change's sake.
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No, it's not change for the sake of change. It's change that aligns with the input types and form factors that many millions of people are now using daily that they did not use just three years ago when Windows 7 was released. Windows can either adapt to this change or become increasingly irrelevant.
 
Chas said:
I honestly only really care about one form factor. Maybe two.

Standard desktop
Standard laptop

Anything else is utterly meaningless to myself and my clients.
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And if you and your clients were all the people that Microsoft had to worry about then I guess that Windows 8 would have been designed differently.
 
If you think about a 6-10 inch "screen" in place of your keyboard that could become a keyboard and mouse layout, a writing pad, a layout of action buttons for a specific program. Then you look at a keyboard and mouse. If you take microsoft's Smart Glass concept then apply it to what they are trying to do with all their products, including Windows 8. Then you realize that this actually makes sense.

It isn't helping your productivity because you are sticking to what you know right now instead of looking at this like it could be a tool to benefit you.

Embrace change or have it run over you. Your choice
 
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