Windows By The Numbers

I have tried win 8.1 as a desktop user and I can see no benefit to me to upgrade from 7. Not that I find anything particularly wrong with 8.1 its just I don't see any tangible benefits as all of the "features" I either don't notice or never use, plus I don't care for the interface and color scheme (no windows classic theme :(, I have used classic since XP and now it is gone). Now if I had a laptop, maybe.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Because Win 7 is such a jarring, jerky non smooth experience...:rolleyes:

I really hate it when people make exaggerated or ill informed statements like that. None bother for a second to compare apples to apples in which a clean win 7 install is nearly indistinguishable from a clean win 8 install on like hardware.
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I really hate it when people's reading comprehension can't discern an opinion from no exaggerated or ill informed statements. Tell me about his hardware on his three computers. Tell me how his experience between Windows 7 and 8 is. Please tell me.

Please tell me how Windows 8 installed on my machine in 11 minutes and Windows 7 previously took over an hour. Please tell me how I find Windows 8 to improve my user experience on a daily basis over my Windows XP and Windows 7 machines?

I'll tell you. I upgraded all 6 of my home computers to Windows 8 because of my initial experience with Windows 8. I use it on a daily basis for my photo editing rig, I use it on my HTPC, and my gaming machines, I use it because I like it and it gets the job done. I don't need to use Metro because my machines stay in desktop mode 99% of the time and desktop mode is the same as all the previous iterations of Windows. But Metro grows on you and especially in 8.1 it is very very easy to customize if you so desire to use it. If not Win-D and stay in desktop mode or spend a minute writing a reg-edit so it boots straight to desktop if pressing a button is too much work for you.

Oh no no start menu! I haven't used a start menu in over a decade. Since XP and the ability to customize the desktop interface I've ditched the start menu and pinned all my programs to rocketdock or used windows blind to clean up my desktop and improve efficiency when looking for programs. However if you need one Win-Q and there ya go. A full fledged start menu. Need something more specific, type a letter or two and it brings up your program. It is generally a click or two faster than Windows 7.

Sorry you can't accept the fact that some people actually do enjoy Windows 8. If I didn't need a new license or could have found a copy of Windows 7 locally I would never have got Windows 8. Reading the forums I thought I was in for a world of hurt. Within a month I had switched all my home PCs to Windows 8 because I enjoyed the experience. If you don't need to switch OS then why would you? But if you need a new OS and don't mind spending 30 minutes to an hour learning Windows 8 it is a damn fine OS that improves on Windows 7 in many areas. Not enough to justify a full switch if one isn't needed, but more than enough to warrant trying it out if needed. Is it different? Hell yes. Is it so different that you can't learn it? Hell no. Linux and OSX are on orders of magnitude harder to learn than Windows 8.
 
Ever since MS has bought the skype, the international calls have been unreliable. Cut off occurs on regular basis. If there is another alternative, I will make a switch.
 
I don't care for Win8.
I've got it on a laptop.
I installed classic shell.
It looks enough like 7 and XP, but I'm having problems with it "forgetting" my wifi password if I sit idle for a time (not touching the keyboard or mouse). It really kills trying to watch Red Vs Blue or longer Youtube videos, and as far as streaming HBO Go and Netflix on it? Not going to happen. Yet my Windows 7 pc, Vista laptop and 5 different Android devices running 2.2-4.1 have no problems.
So Considering I can't stand the default interface, I hate the fact I have to set up a MS account for every user on the pc, and I'm experiencing some rare glitch no one has an idea how to fix (tried different drivers) I'm not too thrilled with it.
If I had to turn my Windows 7/ Ubuntu desktop off I'm sure I'd appreciate 8 more, if I had a touch interface I'm sure 8 would feel better. But I don't, so I HATE it as a desktop keyboard/ mouse OS.
But to each his own.
 
Numbers ..........................numbers...............................

I want to see the actual average price per unit/license sold for WIN8. With all of the different OEM costs, promotions, give aways, edu discounts etc, I am really curious as to how much Microsoft is making specifically on WIN8.

Yes, I realize WIN8 is a loss leader for Microsoft.
 
Flyboat said:
Ever since MS has bought the skype, the international calls have been unreliable. Cut off occurs on regular basis. If there is another alternative, I will make a switch.
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Don't get me started on Skype

I just LOVE calls now, where I have all my people on screen nice and easy to navigate with, and then suddenly a ad pops up that takes up 95% of the screens real estate and turns the icons so small you need a microscope to see!
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Because Win 7 is such a jarring, jerky non smooth experience...:rolleyes:
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It could be, a fresh install of any OS generally provides a noticable improvement in performance. Many people just forget that if they had fresh installed XP or 7, it'd likely be damn fast too.

One prop for Windows 8 though is that on modern motherboards it does make bootup a near instantaneous experience. I about crapped myself cold booting a new barebones haswell W8 system w/ a 256gb SSD... in fact, I challenge anyone to drop a log faster than it boots up.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Because Win 7 is such a jarring, jerky non smooth experience...:rolleyes:

I really hate it when people make exaggerated or ill informed statements like that. None bother for a second to compare apples to apples in which a clean win 7 install is nearly indistinguishable from a clean win 8 install on like hardware.
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Did you note the words.. "Felt for me" It was an opinion. it was never stated as fact.

I hate when people don't give merit to others opinions just because they are not their own.

Kids these days.
 
mgulbran said:
ObBsbjx.png
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The fact you had to draw a big red arrow kinda makes his point about MS intentionally not making it obvious that skipping a Microsoft account setup was optional.
 
DPI said:
The fact you had to draw a big red arrow kinda makes his point about MS intentionally not making it obvious that skipping a Microsoft account setup was optional.
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No, the red arrow was to make obvious what was already pretty freaking obvious. :rolleyes:
 
ManofGod said:
No, the red arrow was to make obvious what was already pretty freaking obvious. :rolleyes:
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Now its too hard to read what's on the 10 lines of text on the screen? There are a lot of advantages to using the Microsoft account which are stated on this screen.
 
heatlesssun said:
Now its too hard to read what's on the 10 lines of text on the screen? There are a lot of advantages to using the Microsoft account which are stated on this screen.
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You'd be surprised what people miss, especially average Joe (lord knows I still occasionally facepalm at the painfully obvious things some of my clientele miss :D) and especially when the only difference between the interactive text and non-interactive is that the interactive text is closer in color to the background color of the window :p
 
JayteeBates said:
250 million use skydrive? Thats interesting.
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That's also B.S.
250 million were given it for free with their email, Xbox Live, and Office 365 accounts (kinda like how Google claims millions of people actually use Google+).

How many actively and purposely use it regularly?
 
DPI said:
The fact you had to draw a big red arrow kinda makes his point about MS intentionally not making it obvious that skipping a Microsoft account setup was optional.
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Or maybe nobody reads anymore. :rolleyes:
 
Dont forget the wonderful "feature" of all your calls being logged and recorded just in case it's "relevant" to a FUTURE NSA investigation!
 
or maybe it just wasnt very obvious when you installed it! I got an ASUS laptop with Win8 installed, and when it asked me for my Microsoft login, it didn't make it sound like using a different login was possible at all. There was NOTHING indicating that I could skip this during the install.
 
Welcome to the uninformed world we live in today. Want to hide something. make someone SCROLL down to read it. Sure you put it there.. but it could be a giant blinking bold font and the majority of people will miss it. ESPECIALLY if the agree button is above it. Want to hide it with the agree button below it. Bury it in a wall of text. Pages to scroll by. Still have it be giant and bold. people will miss it and complain that it was hidden.

It was on the SAME PAGE. You didn't have to scroll. Because you were too lazy to actually look on the page for an alternative it is instantly evil blah blah blah.

Sigh....
 
Grimlaking said:
Welcome to the uninformed world we live in today. Want to hide something. make someone SCROLL down to read it. Sure you put it there.. but it could be a giant blinking bold font and the majority of people will miss it. ESPECIALLY if the agree button is above it. Want to hide it with the agree button below it. Bury it in a wall of text. Pages to scroll by. Still have it be giant and bold. people will miss it and complain that it was hidden.

It was on the SAME PAGE. You didn't have to scroll. Because you were too lazy to actually look on the page for an alternative it is instantly evil blah blah blah.

Sigh....
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Why do you think Google colors all of their ads certain colors? To trick people.
Why do they put many of the ads before the first organic and useful result. To trick people.
That entire screen was purposely laid out like that to trick people into signing up.

If you think for a second that Microsoft hasn't spent a truckfull of money figuring out how to decieve people with their interface designs (just like Google) then you need your head examined.
 
BryanSTG said:
If you think for a second that Microsoft hasn't spent a truckfull of money figuring out how to decieve people with their interface designs (just like Google) then you need your head examined.
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Or maybe they're thinking that the average person would like the benefits of the cloud integration and would prefer an automatic way of setting up apps, email, contacts, etc. like they get on their phone or tablet. Much is said about how back to the 80's the Modern UI and I find it interesting that people that say this seem to love back to the 80's local files and manual configuration and install processes.
 
heatlesssun said:
Or maybe they're thinking that the average person would like the benefits of the cloud integration and would prefer an automatic way of setting up apps, email, contacts, etc. like they get on their phone or tablet. Much is said about how back to the 80's the Modern UI and I find it interesting that people that say this seem to love back to the 80's local files and manual configuration and install processes.
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Microsoft might be less invasive than Google, but by trying to catch up with them and Apple in making a few quick dollars off the tablet fad through their own online software store that no one uses and building an advertising service, they're trying to dupe people into buying stuff they don't need. Its like the whole cloud thing that no one has yet to define, but everyone who doesn't understand technology likes to talk about as if its something new and amazing. Even average people know the difference and are making fun of the cloud. Haha!
 
heatlesssun said:
Or maybe they're thinking that the average person would like the benefits of the cloud integration and would prefer an automatic way of setting up apps, email, contacts, etc. like they get on their phone or tablet. Much is said about how back to the 80's the Modern UI and I find it interesting that people that say this seem to love back to the 80's local files and manual configuration and install processes.
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The average person might like the benefits of the cloud integration so why didn't Microsoft just ask the user AFTER everything is set up and ready to go if they would like these benefits?

The setup process and UI is designed to trick the average user into thinking this is a requirement to sign in to their pc when in reality it has nothing to do with it.
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
Microsoft might be less invasive than Google, but by trying to catch up with them and Apple in making a few quick dollars off the tablet fad through their own online software store that no one uses and building an advertising service, they're trying to dupe people into buying stuff they don't need. Its like the whole cloud thing that no one has yet to define, but everyone who doesn't understand technology likes to talk about as if its something new and amazing. Even average people know the difference and are making fun of the cloud. Haha!
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I don't think you've setup a Windows 8.1 machine using a Microsoft account using an 8.1 machine linked to the same account. There's a ton of things that get synced and setup automatically that would take a normal user a lot of time or require the help of a more technically inclined person.
 
BryanSTG said:
The average person might like the benefits of the cloud integration so why didn't Microsoft just ask the user AFTER everything is set up and ready to go if they would like these benefits?
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Why not just asked them upfront before going through another setup process if it's what they want to do?

BryanSTG said:
The setup process and UI is designed to trick the average user into thinking this is a requirement to sign in to their pc when in reality it has nothing to do with it.
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And yet right there at the bottom there's the option to create a local account. So now if the options aren't in a certain order its a trick. But then if someone went through and setup the machine locally and then found out about the cloud stuff later they'd ask why they didn't see that in the first place. It's a no win argument. The options are there and clear.
 
How are people really going to argue about this? So what if the point is to try to get you to use a live account? Google wont even let you write a review or take a dump anymore if you don't sign up for google plus, cant even use a phone without a google account. MS actually gives you an option right on the same exact screen to go around it.
 
The options are not clear, it is hidden at the bottom in small blue font. "Sign in to your PC" is huge but you're not signing into your pc you're creating a Microsoft account.

The flow of operations for the average user is to:
first read the huge "Sign in to your PC" part
then enter their email address
then maybe keep reading about the advantages of the cloud
then maybe realize at the very end that the entire step is not needed and has nothing to do with the bold face title

That sounds like a trick to me.
 
BryanSTG said:
The options are not clear, it is hidden at the bottom in small blue font. "Sign in to your PC" is huge but you're not signing into your pc you're creating a Microsoft account.

The flow of operations for the average user is to:
first read the huge "Sign in to your PC" part
then enter their email address
then maybe keep reading about the advantages of the cloud
then maybe realize at the very end that the entire step is not needed and has nothing to do with the bold face title

That sounds like a trick to me.
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So what? They are calling out the option that they think will give you the best experience. That is pretty normal, if you don't like it use another OS from a company that doesn't try to trick you, oh wait there are none.
 
rudy said:
So what?
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My point is some of these numbers aren't the least bit accurate since many users were either given the product without asking for it or were tricked into signing up for it. For example, many people use hotmail/live/outlook and therefore have a SkyDrive but almost none of them signed up for it. Other companies require Facebook accounts and force their users to sign up and login with it to use a totally unrelated service.

These statistics are just like Facebook, Google+ and other market share statistics, they're completely inaccurate and these companies know it.
 
You probably were not given the choice to be a man or a woman does it mean that statistics that count you as such are not the least bit accurate?
 
BryanSTG said:
Or maybe Microsoft purposely hid it by placing it at the bottom and using small blue font.
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It's not hidden FFS. There's only 10 goddamn lines to read, and short ones at that. You're just looking for the dumbest reason to hate on Microsoft.
 
heatlesssun said:
Or maybe they're thinking that the average person would like the benefits of the cloud integration and would prefer an automatic way of setting up apps, email, contacts, etc. like they get on their phone or tablet. Much is said about how back to the 80's the Modern UI and I find it interesting that people that say this seem to love back to the 80's local files and manual configuration and install processes.
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Yes, be a good pleb now and hand all of your personal information over to the state.
 
damicatz said:
Yes, be a good pleb now and hand all of your personal information over to the state.
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The state already know where I live, how much I make, my employer and so forth, like anyone else that's living within the law. At any rate this is an option and it's apparent that some really don't care anymore about options than Microsoft.
 
I only bought Win8pro because it was only $30.00 or there about, at its current price there is no way I would buy it.
 
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