Windows 8.1 - Anyone running this?

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Apparently in general release.

 

My, my!  And they've done a fix for the Xbox interface.  How incestuous of them.

[AkemiAzula 280]

I'm still using 7. Wouldn't touch 8 with a ten foot cyberpole. Looks completely messed up and designed in the most counter-intuitive fashion possible. There was nothing wrong with the Windows 98 interface...

[Lot Creator 304]

Still using windows 7, I have even activated DreamScene. I don't think win 8 will have that with all their promises. Never going to change unless I am forced to do so.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

I won't use Windows 8 until I get a touch screen computer.

--Ocram

[MandelSoft 2,769]

I use Windows 8 because it was forced on my on purchase of both my PC and laptop. I'm not going to upgrade to 8.1 however, because there's no added value to in in the way I use my PC. Tried to install Linux Mint 15 on my laptop, but so far no luck because of the UEFI (take away UEFI out of the equation however, and installing Mint becomes a walk in the park).

 

I would trade in Windows 8 for Windows 7 any day...

[basty_goofy 24]

I enjoy both Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. The only problem with 8.1 is the start button.

They've added the start button in a misguided attempt to quell some criticism but now you have no option of disabling it. I had to install a small utility for this. I do this because I have the taskbar on the left side of the screen. And it looks and feels stupid to have a start button on the lower-left corner and the upper-left corner as well.

[MandelSoft 2,769]

Funny enough, I had the exact opposite problem: I missed a start button and a classic start menu, so I had to install a plugin to get that feature back (Pokki Start).

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

I haven't had a start button in years, and I don't miss it.

[Unduli 0]

I use 8.1 preview atm and quite fine with Modern UI (8.1 ie WP8 style)

 

Those who want classic start menu can also use Classic Shell, and I don't agree that you need touchscreen for W8.1, you can use it in "desktop mode" , just select "go to desktop when login" or so, disable unneeded corner options , install start menu app if you want et voila

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Operating systems by the way, are sacramental objects.  Each person chooses to belong to one camp or another.  I am agnostic at best when choosing an operating system.  I won't buy any machine that comes inextricably embedded with an O/S.

[Cyclone Boom 16,938]

No thanks, I'm still using Windows 7 for now. Win 8.1 is really just a "service pack", available as a free upgrade to existing Win 8 users. Apparently 8.1 does improve a few things, but is essentially the same kettle of fish.

The problem with newer versions of Windows is they're optimised for touch-based input. This is a very limited market, and many people just don't have the desire to change. I always think that a PC should remain a desktop experience -- mouse & keyboard included. Sure, Win 8 does have a desktop, but it takes some tweaks to get it back. As mentioned, even some third party tools are now necessary to return some functionality.

It's clear that Microsoft is aiming to phase out the desktop, with more focus on the "metro" style interface. Tiles instead of shortcuts, apps instead of software. Even a whole concoction of apps are now preinstalled with Windows, some even featuring adverts! It's all becoming like an oversized smartphone or tablet.

[GeometryMath Algebra 614]

Nope, still using Windows 7. I'm just too used to the Start Menu and Start button.

[__A 792]

I've used Windows 8 since the release preview and have since kept up to date with Windows 8.1 preview and I'm happy with the update. In fact I rarely have the need to open apps from the desktop and using the start screen/search option is just as easy.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

I think I've said several times before that an Operating System is like a religious artifact.  You either love it or hate it.  I try to stay neutral, but I haven't run windoze in more than 10 years now.

[blade2k5 1,523]

Still using XP and will continue to do so until it no longer works.  Windows 7 and 8 are for the birds and will never use them.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Still using XP and will continue to do so until it no longer works.  Windows 7 and 8 are for the birds and will never use them.

And that just about proves my point.  I abandoned Windows when I could no longer run XP because of obsolete gear.  Got a couple of more years out of the old box by switching to Linux.

[Cyclone Boom 16,938]

Still using XP and will continue to do so until it no longer works.  Windows 7 and 8 are for the birds and will never use them.

 

Do note that extended support for XP ends on April 8, 2014. After then, security updates will no longer be provided, possibly leaving many systems vulnerable.

It's a big dilemma, as numerous companies and public sector organisations still use XP; including schools, libraries, clinics and hospitals.

 

Product lifecycle

[blade2k5 1,523]

 

Still using XP and will continue to do so until it no longer works.  Windows 7 and 8 are for the birds and will never use them.

 

Do note that extended support for XP ends on April 8, 2014. After then, security updates will no longer be provided, possibly leaving many systems vulnerable.

It's a big dilemma, as numerous companies and public sector organisations still use XP; including schools, libraries, clinics and hospitals.

 

Product lifecycle

 

 

 

Do note that's something I already knew and could care less about.  I never installed the updates anyways, so it matters not.

[MandelSoft 2,769]

I think I've said several times before that an Operating System is like a religious artifact.  You either love it or hate it.  I try to stay neutral, but I haven't run windoze in more than 10 years now.

That's easy to talk for you, but many of us are forced to use some version of Windows by our employers. Fortunately, it's still Windows 7 mostly instead of 8...

[AkemiAzula 280]

There was nothing wrong with Windows 98. The interface was perfectly sensible and practical and intuitive, I had never used a computer before (aside from programs at school and museums) and I learnt to navigate 98 in minutes. The newer versions seem straying from the original way... And in Moose's analogy, are heretic versions, preaching a wrong shift from the true way Windows should be.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Corporate culture is free to choose its computer religion.  When you consider the amount of work that goes into supporting a corporate network, a licensed support system is needed.  Linux gets crowd support mostly, and probably is unacceptable to all but the bravest management.  Also, the server versions of most Linux distributions are not free, nor is the support.

 

However, the medical fraternity seems to be stuck to Apple.  This is due to the fact that Apple was first and best out the gate with the applications needed by that group.  Overall, Apple has some unique application niches in the business world and seem to be able to hang on to them.

 

I guess that my academic background in multiple operating systems has made a difference for me.  The last college I worked in used Microsoft exclusively in response to the preponderance of MS in the marketplace.  However, anyone dealing with big main frames are pretty much used to dealing with multiple O/S decors.  MS for work stations, but the terminal emulators are often of the main frame maker, quite often the International Brotherhood of Magicians.  One site I worked at on a contract used MS workstations with terminal services to both IBM and Honeywell networks.  You just had to choose which emulator to run when talking on the net.  Main frames sometimes insist on their particular decor for transaction processing systems, which is often a synchronous terminal (emulator).