Microsoft

finchy

Does anyone in that company know how to design some nice, simple, intuitive software? How the hell do they survive? :evil: :evil: :evil:

pinno

Oh no Finchy, not another Microsoft thread. We all know MS software is pants.

Windows 8 is sheer hell.

finchy

I've not seen any Microsoft threads. I thought I was the first person ever to complain.

Bought a new computer today. Not happy. Not happy at all.

pinno

johnfinch wrote:

I've not seen any Microsoft threads. I thought I was the first person ever to complain.
Bought a new computer today. Not happy. Not happy at all.

Don't tell me it has Windows 8 on it?

RDW

They used to have a better idea, back when they actually tested things properly on real people first. Back when Windows 95 was being designed, someone had the bright idea that it should come with two different interfaces, the familiar desktop and a second UI (the 'beginner shell') featuring large tiles. They abandoned it because the tiled interface was "not at all like the programs users would run (word processors, spreadsheets, etc.). As a result, users had to learn two ways of interacting with the computer, which was confusing." A lesson that seems to have been lost on the Windows 8 designers...

http://www.sigchi.org/chi96/proceedings ... ds_txt.htm

finchy

pinarello001 wrote:

johnfinch wrote:

I've not seen any Microsoft threads. I thought I was the first person ever to complain.
Bought a new computer today. Not happy. Not happy at all.

Don't tell me it has Windows 8 on it?

Yes. I've aged 5 years today.

RDW

pinarello001 wrote:

Don't tell me it has Windows 8 on it?

If it does, you can restore sanity by installing Classic Start Menu from Classic Shell, which gives you (obviously) a Start menu, lets you boot straight to the Desktop, and can disable the annoying 'hot corners'. Then it's just a matter of setting your file associations so that Windows doesn't jump to Metro whenver you open a pdf or a jpeg.

http://www.classicshell.net/
http://winsupersite.com/article/windows ... ons-144102

It's also worth doing the Windows 8.1 upgrade before you do anything else.

finchy

RDW wrote:

pinarello001 wrote:

Don't tell me it has Windows 8 on it?

If it does, you can restore sanity by installing Classic Start Menu from Classic Shell, which gives you (obviously) a Start menu, lets you boot straight to the Desktop, and can disable the annoying 'hot corners'. Then it's just a matter of setting your file associations so that Windows doesn't jump to Metro whenver you open a pdf or a jpeg.

http://www.classicshell.net/
http://winsupersite.com/article/windows ... ons-144102

It's also worth doing the Windows 8.1 upgrade before you do anything else.

Thanks for that. I'll give it a go.

pinno

johnfinch wrote:

pinarello001 wrote:

johnfinch wrote:

I've not seen any Microsoft threads. I thought I was the first person ever to complain.
Bought a new computer today. Not happy. Not happy at all.

Don't tell me it has Windows 8 on it?

Yes. I've aged 5 years today.

We got an HP laptop with a zillion Gig hard drive and formula turbo RAM, bollox, bollox and in the 8 months we have had it, it has crashed twice and needed completely re-formatting. The updates take forever and can't be by-passed (unless someone knows different).
I really hope you have back up discs. The first thing we did was create back up discs.

southdownswolf

The new version of Windows is due out next April, I shall wait until then.

98SE - Yes
ME - No
XP - Yes
Vista - No
7 - Yes
8 - NO
9(Threshold) - Yes
...............

nathancom

Windows 8 is usable once you change all the desktop properties that you can reach via the taskbar. The performance of the OS is great but a one size fits all design method was terrible. I am amazed they released in this state.

Velonutter

For my sins I used to own a number of computer companies, I can remember very clearly when DOS 5.0, 6.0, 6.1 and finally 6.2 came out and that was heralded as a revolution.

I was on the beta for Windows 95 and can remember the launch through all of our Stores with people queuing up to buy the retail copy at midnight on launch day! :shock:

I used/supplied/supported most of the MS Windows Operating systems, I am not pro MS and really love the Apple OS and GUI, however from Windows 7 which I found to be exceptionally stable, I was loathe to change to Windows 8, but felt I need to give it a go, what an absolute delight it has proven to be, it is so stable that after 12 months and not one crash or lockup despite having the computers on for 18 hours a day that I find myself not wanting to go back.

Like me anyone who initially doesn't like W8 needs to give it a go and take their thinking outside of the box, yes you do have to do things slightly different, but it is so fast and effortless and the boot up time is seconds not minutes.

Before SR1 I did have a few issues that were very frustrating and MS should have resolved before release, however since SR1 I have really quite content.

You also need to bear in mind that for an office based system using proprietary hardware that this makes the system far more reliable, perhaps using less well known hardware does make the systems more unreliable.

jordan_217

Luckily enough MS have produced a patch to help you out:

http://www.ubuntu.com/download

nathancom

Velonutter wrote:

For my sins I used to own a number of computer companies, I can remember very clearly when DOS 5.0, 6.0, 6.1 and finally 6.2 came out and that was heralded as a revolution.

I was on the beta for Windows 95 and can remember the launch through all of our Stores with people queuing up to buy the retail copy at midnight on launch day! :shock:

I used/supplied/supported most of the MS Windows Operating systems, I am not pro MS and really love the Apple OS and GUI, however from Windows 7 which I found to be exceptionally stable, I was loathe to change to Windows 8, but felt I need to give it a go, what an absolute delight it has proven to be, it is so stable that after 12 months and not one crash or lockup despite having the computers on for 18 hours a day that I find myself not wanting to go back.

Like me anyone who initially doesn't like W8 needs to give it a go and take their thinking outside of the box, yes you do have to do things slightly different, but it is so fast and effortless and the boot up time is seconds not minutes.

Before SR1 I did have a few issues that were very frustrating and MS should have resolved before release, however since SR1 I have really quite content.

You also need to bear in mind that for an office based system using proprietary hardware that this makes the system far more reliable, perhaps using less well known hardware does make the systems more unreliable.

I definitely agree that it is a very stable and high performance OS and a step up from Windows 7 in that regard. However, that is only half the picture as the UX is terrible for desktop users. No don't 9 will be great, just like 7 built on vista's foundation.

finchy

jordan_217 wrote:

Luckily enough MS have produced a patch to help you out:

http://www.ubuntu.com/download

Haha, thanks, I've already downloaded that for general use. Unfortunately I need to run Windows because I'm a translator and use specialist software which is only compatible with Microshit.

I think that I'll be losing a few hundred quid on the current job due to lower productivity. :evil: :evil: :evil:

finchy

Velonutter wrote:

For my sins I used to own a number of computer companies, I can remember very clearly when DOS 5.0, 6.0, 6.1 and finally 6.2 came out and that was heralded as a revolution.

I was on the beta for Windows 95 and can remember the launch through all of our Stores with people queuing up to buy the retail copy at midnight on launch day! :shock:

I used/supplied/supported most of the MS Windows Operating systems, I am not pro MS and really love the Apple OS and GUI, however from Windows 7 which I found to be exceptionally stable, I was loathe to change to Windows 8, but felt I need to give it a go, what an absolute delight it has proven to be, it is so stable that after 12 months and not one crash or lockup despite having the computers on for 18 hours a day that I find myself not wanting to go back.

Like me anyone who initially doesn't like W8 needs to give it a go and take their thinking outside of the box, yes you do have to do things slightly different, but it is so fast and effortless and the boot up time is seconds not minutes.

Before SR1 I did have a few issues that were very frustrating and MS should have resolved before release, however since SR1 I have really quite content.

You also need to bear in mind that for an office based system using proprietary hardware that this makes the system far more reliable, perhaps using less well known hardware does make the systems more unreliable.

I agree that it's fast. Why, though, could it not be fast and user friendly?

team47b

se é Systran isso também funciona no Linux

RDW

These days it takes longer for me to get Ubuntu working sensibly than it does Windows 8 - not a big fan of Unity, so end up installing this: http://mate-desktop.org/ . It would probably be easier to start with Mint.

Once Classic Start Menu is installed and the system is tweaked to ignore Metro, I slightly prefer 8 to 7. It seems perfectly stable since the 8.1 update (had a few issues with 8.0), it boots quickly, and a few things like the file copy dialogue and the Task Manager are noticeably improved. I'd hate to be stuck on a locked down out of the box Windows 8 installation, though - the jarring shifts between interfaces, misguided attempts to shove Metro down our throats, are very irritating.

capt_slog

I bought a new PC last weekend, and yes, it came with W8.

It's a bit of a shock at first and I'll admit I haven't found why the hell it has to look like that, but I'm pleased to find that it is fast and as said above, it loads like lightning. So far I've only used it from the 'desktop', I suppose if you have tablet or phone experience (apps) , then the transition comes easier. I had XP before.

BTW, if you're thinking of loading up 8.1, be warned that it takes ages to download, and longer to instal. I thought it would make the PC a bit more like I'm used to, but could hardly notice what was different.

pesky_jones

Think the problem may be that they have to update/change it otherwise users complain that it hasn't.

nathancom

I am not sure what the shelf life for an expensive desktop OS is anyway. With competition from Chrome OS, Steam OS and Linux, Windows is going to be squeezed into a corner in the next few years I think.

There was always a Windows tax on the price of a pc for years so I don't have much sympathy.

Mikey23

And 8.1 just stopped my internet. Took me ages to find out that my netgear wireless dongle driver needed to be updated. It could have told me that... But no it didn't. As previously said, took ages to download, ages to install and stiffed my machine. Not impressed

pinno

team47b wrote:

se é Systran isso também funciona no Linux

Good one T47b, 'bout time someone stuck an alternative in. You can even run MS OS and run Linux on top.

Anyway, this thread is getting far too techy. I am afraid that it's got to go off topic.

Isn't she gorgeous:

Stevo_666

pinarello001 wrote:

team47b wrote:

se é Systran isso também funciona no Linux

Good one T47b, 'bout time someone stuck an alternative in. You can even run MS OS and run Linux on top.

Anyway, this thread is getting far too techy. I am afraid that it's got to go off topic.

Isn't she gorgeous:

Campag? You just can't trust a company that can't even make mountain bike transmissions

pinno

Hello Stevo, the GF let you out to play for a little while before bedtime?

Why don't you buy a Fat Trike with geratric gearing?

Stevo_666

pinarello001 wrote:

Hello Stevo, the GF let you out to play for a little while before bedtime?

Why don't you buy a Fat Trike with geratric gearing?

I think you're getting me mixed up with The Womble...

I'm still agonising over what downhill bike to buy - decisions, decisions.

pinno

Stevo 666 wrote:

pinarello001 wrote:

Hello Stevo, the GF let you out to play for a little while before bedtime?

Why don't you buy a Fat Trike with geratric gearing?

I think you're getting me mixed up with The Womble...

I'm still agonising over what downhill bike to buy - decisions, decisions.

It would help if you actually knew what you wanted...

RDW

If you guys need some privacy, just pretend we're not here.

pinno

RDW wrote:

If you guys need some privacy, just pretend we're not here.

We reserve the right to go off topic. It is incumbent on the users of this forum to honour and obey that right.

RDW

pinarello001 wrote:

It would help if you actually knew what you wanted...

It's not so much the topic, as all the sexual tension.

Pross

I quite like Windows 8, it just takes getting used to doing things differently and then it's fine.