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Does Anyone Really Care About the Start Menu?

pallentx

New Member
My God you pro-Windows 8 people are becoming as big of snobs as Apple fanboys. I just bought a SurfacePro because everyone said that Win8 was a decent tablet OS, better than it is a desktop OS. Well I keep a keyboard attached all the time and do everything possible to stay out of that design Hell that is Modern UI. Yes I installed a Windows 7 type start menu ASAP also. Just to prove Win8 is a fail MicroCenter in Denver can't keep Windows7 discs in stock and Windows 8 discs are always available. Sounds like people are voting with their wallets here.
Oh time will tell by who much iOS and Linux use goes up this year.

lol. Well, all I can say is that I bought the iPad when it first came out, then upgraded to the iPad2 when it came out. When I got my Surface RT I haven't looked back. A GUI that can do more and works on a tablet AND a desktop works best for me. Now, when I first installed it on my desktop at home, I was like "what the hell have I done!" But 3 days later, I was like "this is sweet!". Now, when I'm at work on Windows 7, I'm wishing I was running 8.
 

mitchellvii

Well-Known Member
Just spent 2.5 hours fixing a neighbor's non-touch Win 8 laptop. What a pain in the butt. You can't get to a lot of stuff without arcane keystrokes and cursor positioning over invisible places. Had figure out how to stick desktop, control panel and other tiles to the start screen by keyboard just to do the task. The inactive cr&pware credit card seeking antivirus and backup software HP installed inactivated his WiFi when it uninstalled. You can't start Windows Defender by typing it at the start screen, and it isn't obvious in control panel. Same thing with system restore. Without touch Win 8 is way too schizophrenic and non hierarchical, so yes, a start button is needed.

MS fell into the classic developer's trap designing Windows 8. Because they had spent so much time with it and designed it themselves, to them it seemed intuitive. But they forgot the #1 rule of development - design for the dumbest guy in the room. That's why Apple's UI was so successful - any idiot could pick it up and basically figure it out. Of course this left more technically adept users frustrated because the whole thing is so black box and inflexible.

The moment a new and inexperienced user feels confusion with an OS they mentally shut down. Unlike most of us here that have the skillset to figure it out, the average user has neither the skills nor the desire. You have to leave a trail of breadcrumbs - ok this leads to this leads to this... Windows 8 was so full of quantum leaps and dead ends people got ferklempt. The moment they say, "I don't get this," you've lost them. Hopefully, some changes MS is making in Windows 8.1, like adding a Start Button and using the same wallpaper on the Start Page as on the Desktop will avoid that WTF moment for new and unskilled users. Whoever it was at MS that thought users would get "hovering over blank areas to make important stuff happen" was an idiot.
 
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tonyz3

New Member
My God you pro-Windows 8 people are becoming as big of snobs as Apple fanboys. I just bought a SurfacePro because everyone said that Win8 was a decent tablet OS, better than it is a desktop OS. Well I keep a keyboard attached all the time and do everything possible to stay out of that design Hell that is Modern UI. Yes I installed a Windows 7 type start menu ASAP also. Just to prove Win8 is a fail MicroCenter in Denver can't keep Windows7 discs in stock and Windows 8 discs are always available. Sounds like people are voting with their wallets here.
Oh time will tell by who much iOS and Linux use goes up this year.
Seems like you are in the wrong place than..... thCA5KQWPW.jpg
 

mitchellvii

Well-Known Member
So many trolls these days. What to do with so many of them? BURN THEM!!!


Just because someone disagrees with your point of view doesn't make them a troll. Rather than view their comments as an attack view them as information. Yes, there are users who are quite unhappy with Windows 8 in its current form. This is an undeniable fact and one of the major reasons MS is coming out with 8.1 despite eating crow for dinner and humble pie for dessert.
 

tonyz3

New Member
based on his comments--- my Grandpa would say " whats good for the goose is good for the gander"
 

DOS

Active Member
I think there are a lot of valid points here regarding the learning curve for Windows 8. Microsoft did change a major function of the standard GUI environment, that being; see it, grab it. (i.e. point and click, see and touch).

However, with that said, the pessimists toward Windows 8 are missing one important fact; Microsoft owns 90% of the PC Market (Read that again, 90%, just to make sure it sinks in). Microsoft will continue to adjust, as they are with Windows 8.1. But don’t be fooled, the Hybrid System is here, and the only OS to handle it is Windows.

You either get on board, or be left adrift on a Carnival Cruise. Don’t believe me? FlashBack! What killed DOS?

Well, that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong... :)
 

N.G.

Member
Dos, Don't think so. I live in a nice beach retirement/second home community and the anti W8 sentiment is growing. Three business owners working from home dislike it (one is paying MS for small business services and seriously pi$$ed -everything worked before being sold W8 and the service. Among the retirees, nobody but me (only SP) likes it. Cost of the SP not a Big issue here but size of the screen is to old eyes. We will see with 8.1, but I would not be surprised to see new pc buying stop, and people going Macs and ipads. Got a lot of newly retired professionals who used PCs all their lives getting irritated -they are complaining to their kids, many of whom are leaning apple anyway. We'd ALL rather spend the $2-4k to upgrade the household, on a cruise. p.s. Next cruise 10 day British isles in September - NOT Costa or Carnival.
 

mitchellvii

Well-Known Member
I think there are a lot of valid points here regarding the learning curve for Windows 8. Microsoft did change a major function of the standard GUI environment, that being; see it, grab it. (i.e. point and click, see and touch).

However, with that said, the pessimists toward Windows 8 are missing one important fact; Microsoft owns 90% of the PC Market (Read that again, 90%, just to make sure it sinks in). Microsoft will continue to adjust, as they are with Windows 8.1. But don’t be fooled, the Hybrid System is here, and the only OS to handle it is Windows.

You either get on board, or be left adrift on a Carnival Cruise. Don’t believe me? FlashBack! What killed DOS?

Well, that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong... :)

The relationship between Microsoft and the Consumer is more symbiotic than that. Neither is in a position to tell the other to go **** themselves. Nevertheless, while the consumer has no choice but to eventually accept what Microsoft gives them, they can hold off for years - evidence the companies still using Windows XP. If Microsoft wants to gain market share in the tablet and hybrid space NOW they must be flexible and LISTEN.

Anyway, the point is moot as it appears MS has eaten their crow burger with Windows 8.1.

5792288335_0988c845b5_z.jpg
 
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