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  3. Windows 8.1... really???

Windows 8.1... really???

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  • M Offline
    M Offline
    Michael Bergman
    wrote on last edited by
    #1

    I had heard that Window 8.1 is to 8.0 what Windows 7 was to Vista. I took that as a sign of encouragement so I installed Windows 8.1 on a virtual machine to check it out before replacing my Windows 7 OS and, yes, it is indeed marginally better than Windows 8.0. However, the whole "app" interface looks like a throwback to when microprocessors were not capable of preemptive multitasking. Now, I understand that such an interface is a good fit for a portable device where the screen is limited. But for a home computer with two monitors and no touch screen, it is a pain to work with. So the question I have is: what am I missing here? Seriously, is there anyone out there using 8.1 on a desktop who really likes it, and why? What are its benefits. Otherwise, I am more than likely to go with Windows Server 2012. Thanks.

    m.bergman

    For Bruce Schneier, quanta only have one state : afraid.

    To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered. -- Voltaire

    In most cases the only difference between disappointment and depression is your level of commitment. -- Marc Maron

    I am not a chatbot

    Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK N OriginalGriffO N P 7 Replies Last reply
    0
    • M Michael Bergman

      I had heard that Window 8.1 is to 8.0 what Windows 7 was to Vista. I took that as a sign of encouragement so I installed Windows 8.1 on a virtual machine to check it out before replacing my Windows 7 OS and, yes, it is indeed marginally better than Windows 8.0. However, the whole "app" interface looks like a throwback to when microprocessors were not capable of preemptive multitasking. Now, I understand that such an interface is a good fit for a portable device where the screen is limited. But for a home computer with two monitors and no touch screen, it is a pain to work with. So the question I have is: what am I missing here? Seriously, is there anyone out there using 8.1 on a desktop who really likes it, and why? What are its benefits. Otherwise, I am more than likely to go with Windows Server 2012. Thanks.

      m.bergman

      For Bruce Schneier, quanta only have one state : afraid.

      To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered. -- Voltaire

      In most cases the only difference between disappointment and depression is your level of commitment. -- Marc Maron

      I am not a chatbot

      Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Offline
      Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Offline
      Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter
      wrote on last edited by
      #2

      You are missing nothing - you have Windows 7!!!

      I'm not questioning your powers of observation; I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is. (V)

      "It never ceases to amaze me that a spacecraft launched in 1977 can be fixed remotely from Earth." ― Brian Cox

      1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • M Michael Bergman

        I had heard that Window 8.1 is to 8.0 what Windows 7 was to Vista. I took that as a sign of encouragement so I installed Windows 8.1 on a virtual machine to check it out before replacing my Windows 7 OS and, yes, it is indeed marginally better than Windows 8.0. However, the whole "app" interface looks like a throwback to when microprocessors were not capable of preemptive multitasking. Now, I understand that such an interface is a good fit for a portable device where the screen is limited. But for a home computer with two monitors and no touch screen, it is a pain to work with. So the question I have is: what am I missing here? Seriously, is there anyone out there using 8.1 on a desktop who really likes it, and why? What are its benefits. Otherwise, I am more than likely to go with Windows Server 2012. Thanks.

        m.bergman

        For Bruce Schneier, quanta only have one state : afraid.

        To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered. -- Voltaire

        In most cases the only difference between disappointment and depression is your level of commitment. -- Marc Maron

        I am not a chatbot

        N Offline
        N Offline
        Nicholas Marty
        wrote on last edited by
        #3

        Windows Server has the same "Start Screen" menu as Windows 8. So you're not likely to get happy with that either :laugh:

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • M Michael Bergman

          I had heard that Window 8.1 is to 8.0 what Windows 7 was to Vista. I took that as a sign of encouragement so I installed Windows 8.1 on a virtual machine to check it out before replacing my Windows 7 OS and, yes, it is indeed marginally better than Windows 8.0. However, the whole "app" interface looks like a throwback to when microprocessors were not capable of preemptive multitasking. Now, I understand that such an interface is a good fit for a portable device where the screen is limited. But for a home computer with two monitors and no touch screen, it is a pain to work with. So the question I have is: what am I missing here? Seriously, is there anyone out there using 8.1 on a desktop who really likes it, and why? What are its benefits. Otherwise, I am more than likely to go with Windows Server 2012. Thanks.

          m.bergman

          For Bruce Schneier, quanta only have one state : afraid.

          To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered. -- Voltaire

          In most cases the only difference between disappointment and depression is your level of commitment. -- Marc Maron

          I am not a chatbot

          OriginalGriffO Offline
          OriginalGriffO Offline
          OriginalGriff
          wrote on last edited by
          #4

          981 people disagree with you[^] I'm not one of them.

          Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952) Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)

          "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
          "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

          K Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK 2 Replies Last reply
          0
          • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

            981 people disagree with you[^] I'm not one of them.

            Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952) Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)

            K Offline
            K Offline
            Karen Mitchelle
            wrote on last edited by
            #5

            No! It's 986! :sigh: I'm not one of them too..

            Don't mind those people who say you're not HOT. At least you know you're COOL. I'm not afraid of falling, I'm afraid of the sudden stop at the end of the fall! - Richard Andrew x64

            1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

              981 people disagree with you[^] I'm not one of them.

              Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952) Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)

              Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Offline
              Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Offline
              Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter
              wrote on last edited by
              #6

              I think it's better not to reveal the result of that poll...It can shade us in the wrong color... :-D

              I'm not questioning your powers of observation; I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is. (V)

              "It never ceases to amaze me that a spacecraft launched in 1977 can be fixed remotely from Earth." ― Brian Cox

              1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • M Michael Bergman

                I had heard that Window 8.1 is to 8.0 what Windows 7 was to Vista. I took that as a sign of encouragement so I installed Windows 8.1 on a virtual machine to check it out before replacing my Windows 7 OS and, yes, it is indeed marginally better than Windows 8.0. However, the whole "app" interface looks like a throwback to when microprocessors were not capable of preemptive multitasking. Now, I understand that such an interface is a good fit for a portable device where the screen is limited. But for a home computer with two monitors and no touch screen, it is a pain to work with. So the question I have is: what am I missing here? Seriously, is there anyone out there using 8.1 on a desktop who really likes it, and why? What are its benefits. Otherwise, I am more than likely to go with Windows Server 2012. Thanks.

                m.bergman

                For Bruce Schneier, quanta only have one state : afraid.

                To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered. -- Voltaire

                In most cases the only difference between disappointment and depression is your level of commitment. -- Marc Maron

                I am not a chatbot

                N Offline
                N Offline
                Nagy Vilmos
                wrote on last edited by
                #7

                It's fine. No better, no worse than other OS's. I liked 7 and 8, Vista sucked and XP was hard to let go of. But 8.1 is good and I find it hard to see the problems people claim.

                J 1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • N Nagy Vilmos

                  It's fine. No better, no worse than other OS's. I liked 7 and 8, Vista sucked and XP was hard to let go of. But 8.1 is good and I find it hard to see the problems people claim.

                  J Offline
                  J Offline
                  JimmyRopes
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #8

                  Nagy Vilmos wrote:

                  [Windows] 8.1 is good and I find it hard to see the problems people claim.

                  Me too. At first it was strange and I had to think of how do I do this and that, but I quickly got over that. I used to keep using old desktop applications because they were familiar, but lately have been replacing them with metro1 applications as my preference. I think that most people are uncomfortable with change. The 'who moved my cheese syndrome' and need to be forced to adopt anything new; to wit Windows XP. It didn't help that the next version was Vista which put the resistant to change folks in epileptic seizures, but there was nothing wrong with Windows 7. So why the resistance to changing from XP? Windows 8/8.1 has gotten them twitching again. It will take dropping support for Windows 7 before they will have to upgrade and then in due time when there is another paradigm shift they will be lamenting 'why doesn't it work like Windows 8'. 1 - I know I am not supposed to say metro but it sounds better than modern.

                  **_Once you lose your pride the rest is easy.

                  I would agree with you but then we both would be wrong._**
                  The report of my death was an exaggeration - Mark Twain Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
                  I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes

                  B 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • M Michael Bergman

                    I had heard that Window 8.1 is to 8.0 what Windows 7 was to Vista. I took that as a sign of encouragement so I installed Windows 8.1 on a virtual machine to check it out before replacing my Windows 7 OS and, yes, it is indeed marginally better than Windows 8.0. However, the whole "app" interface looks like a throwback to when microprocessors were not capable of preemptive multitasking. Now, I understand that such an interface is a good fit for a portable device where the screen is limited. But for a home computer with two monitors and no touch screen, it is a pain to work with. So the question I have is: what am I missing here? Seriously, is there anyone out there using 8.1 on a desktop who really likes it, and why? What are its benefits. Otherwise, I am more than likely to go with Windows Server 2012. Thanks.

                    m.bergman

                    For Bruce Schneier, quanta only have one state : afraid.

                    To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered. -- Voltaire

                    In most cases the only difference between disappointment and depression is your level of commitment. -- Marc Maron

                    I am not a chatbot

                    P Offline
                    P Offline
                    peterchen
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #9

                    *sigh* Use the tiles as a full screen start menu. Reconfigure images and pdf's to open in a dekstop app. If you still suffer from tile allergy, install a "classic" start menu. -- OR -- Never again complain about all those stupid, backward and narrow-minded users who complain about the changes you made.

                    ORDER BY what user wants

                    D 1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • M Michael Bergman

                      I had heard that Window 8.1 is to 8.0 what Windows 7 was to Vista. I took that as a sign of encouragement so I installed Windows 8.1 on a virtual machine to check it out before replacing my Windows 7 OS and, yes, it is indeed marginally better than Windows 8.0. However, the whole "app" interface looks like a throwback to when microprocessors were not capable of preemptive multitasking. Now, I understand that such an interface is a good fit for a portable device where the screen is limited. But for a home computer with two monitors and no touch screen, it is a pain to work with. So the question I have is: what am I missing here? Seriously, is there anyone out there using 8.1 on a desktop who really likes it, and why? What are its benefits. Otherwise, I am more than likely to go with Windows Server 2012. Thanks.

                      m.bergman

                      For Bruce Schneier, quanta only have one state : afraid.

                      To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered. -- Voltaire

                      In most cases the only difference between disappointment and depression is your level of commitment. -- Marc Maron

                      I am not a chatbot

                      J Offline
                      J Offline
                      Johnny J
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #10

                      I liked Windows 7 and would have preferred that MS had continued in that direction. But if you HAVE to use Windows 8, then "yes" - Windows 8.1 is better than Windows 8. Marginally perhaps, but still so much that I would say: Don't install Windows 8, but if you must, use Windows 8.1

                      Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
                      Anonymous
                      -----
                      The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
                      Winston Churchill, 1944
                      -----
                      I'd just like a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
                      Me, all the time

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • P peterchen

                        *sigh* Use the tiles as a full screen start menu. Reconfigure images and pdf's to open in a dekstop app. If you still suffer from tile allergy, install a "classic" start menu. -- OR -- Never again complain about all those stupid, backward and narrow-minded users who complain about the changes you made.

                        ORDER BY what user wants

                        D Offline
                        D Offline
                        dandy72
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #11

                        Agreed completely. Some things took some getting used to, but overall, it hasn't taken me any longer than I needed when switching from any prior OS to the next version (has there ever been two consecutive versions of Windows where MS hasn't shuffled things around just for the sake of it?)... I use 8.1 every day, but frankly, I never see any of the much-maligned Metro crap as I'm always in the desktop environment. In other words, just because Metro is there doesn't mean anyone has to use it. I use 8.1 just like I've been using previous versions of Windows.

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • M Michael Bergman

                          I had heard that Window 8.1 is to 8.0 what Windows 7 was to Vista. I took that as a sign of encouragement so I installed Windows 8.1 on a virtual machine to check it out before replacing my Windows 7 OS and, yes, it is indeed marginally better than Windows 8.0. However, the whole "app" interface looks like a throwback to when microprocessors were not capable of preemptive multitasking. Now, I understand that such an interface is a good fit for a portable device where the screen is limited. But for a home computer with two monitors and no touch screen, it is a pain to work with. So the question I have is: what am I missing here? Seriously, is there anyone out there using 8.1 on a desktop who really likes it, and why? What are its benefits. Otherwise, I am more than likely to go with Windows Server 2012. Thanks.

                          m.bergman

                          For Bruce Schneier, quanta only have one state : afraid.

                          To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered. -- Voltaire

                          In most cases the only difference between disappointment and depression is your level of commitment. -- Marc Maron

                          I am not a chatbot

                          B Offline
                          B Offline
                          BobJanova
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #12

                          I think 8.1 is better because they've fixed the desktop so it's actually usable again (without third party tools like Classic Shell), haven't they? The one-app-at-a-time Metro UI is just totally terrible for a computer environment, as it has been since 8.0, but if you boot to desktop you never have to see that (as long as you fix a few file extension associations that open up there like PDF ... grr).

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • J JimmyRopes

                            Nagy Vilmos wrote:

                            [Windows] 8.1 is good and I find it hard to see the problems people claim.

                            Me too. At first it was strange and I had to think of how do I do this and that, but I quickly got over that. I used to keep using old desktop applications because they were familiar, but lately have been replacing them with metro1 applications as my preference. I think that most people are uncomfortable with change. The 'who moved my cheese syndrome' and need to be forced to adopt anything new; to wit Windows XP. It didn't help that the next version was Vista which put the resistant to change folks in epileptic seizures, but there was nothing wrong with Windows 7. So why the resistance to changing from XP? Windows 8/8.1 has gotten them twitching again. It will take dropping support for Windows 7 before they will have to upgrade and then in due time when there is another paradigm shift they will be lamenting 'why doesn't it work like Windows 8'. 1 - I know I am not supposed to say metro but it sounds better than modern.

                            **_Once you lose your pride the rest is easy.

                            I would agree with you but then we both would be wrong._**
                            The report of my death was an exaggeration - Mark Twain Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
                            I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes

                            B Offline
                            B Offline
                            BobJanova
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #13

                            It is partly about change taking some getting used to. But going from a multi-window, multi-tasking environment like the desktop (which has been around since Win95 and even back then was an extension of the multi-window paradigm of Windows 3.0 and probably earlier) to a single-app-at-a-time model is not just change, it is regression, and objectively worse.

                            J 1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • B BobJanova

                              It is partly about change taking some getting used to. But going from a multi-window, multi-tasking environment like the desktop (which has been around since Win95 and even back then was an extension of the multi-window paradigm of Windows 3.0 and probably earlier) to a single-app-at-a-time model is not just change, it is regression, and objectively worse.

                              J Offline
                              J Offline
                              JimmyRopes
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #14

                              You can run 2 apps at a time if you split the screen. If you need more then you still have the desktop for other apps.

                              **_Once you lose your pride the rest is easy.

                              I would agree with you but then we both would be wrong._**
                              The report of my death was an exaggeration - Mark Twain Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
                              I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes

                              B 1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • J JimmyRopes

                                You can run 2 apps at a time if you split the screen. If you need more then you still have the desktop for other apps.

                                **_Once you lose your pride the rest is easy.

                                I would agree with you but then we both would be wrong._**
                                The report of my death was an exaggeration - Mark Twain Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
                                I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes

                                B Offline
                                B Offline
                                BobJanova
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #15

                                Yes, you still have the desktop, because the desktop is vastly superior and Microsoft realised they couldn't actually take it away. Two apps is marginally better than 1 but I (even when I'm not doing techie stuff) generally have about 20 windows open and I'm looking at at least 3 of them at any one time (e.g. browser, game, VOIP app).

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