Brad Wardell's Kotaku Article On Windows 8

And here's Gabe Newell flaming Win8 for angling in on HIS business model. http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/07/steams-newell-windows-8-catastrophe-driving-valve-to-embrace-linux/

Yes, but I caught up with it and found the read quite interesting... not just for Brad's thoughts, but also the comments below.   While a couple of advocates kept espousing the virtues of Win 8, the majority did not/do not like it, citing the Metro UI as being the primary reason.  I do not like it and prefer not to have to deal with it at all, and Stardock's Start8 enables that, but in the absence of the traditional start menu, I still find the OS is usable only when I have Winstep Xtreme installed to provide those familiar options.

I will upgrade to Win 8 to take advantage of its improved muti-core support, but only because of the 40 buck upgrade deal [wouldn't pay MS' usual new OS asking price for Win 8] and that Metro can be disabled.  While there are some improvements over Win 7, I don't think Win 8 is worth the standard asking price, primarily because of the issues Brad raises and that it won't work as I would need right out of the box.  It would certainly require adjustments and 3rd party software to make it conform to my needs, thus requiring the heavily discounted price of $39.95 to make it value for money.

I'm steering clear of it. My experience with Win 8 preview was less than pleasing because the damn thing refused to install. No biggie though.

Brad's said the same in several interviews and in Forum posts, so I don't think I missed anything new. 

On a separate level, he's absolutely right. The problem I see is that MS is going to have to separate PC and Tablet OS species, which is something they show no signs (yet) of doing.

Maybe Stardock's biggest contribution will be "decider" software: Software that will make W8 "decide" to go the more traditional route allowing apps to run in a usable non-full screen mode (or a usable one) or in the traditional window, with a menu bar, etc.

That would be a wonderful contribution.

someone can tell me different, but i dont think linux is user friendly enough to pose a threat to windows/mac.

its like untranslated books, you know they're better than their counterparts but is it worth the effort for the general consumer

I doubt anyone can tell you [or anyone else] different....;)

Except maybe those propeller-hat vendors....;)

I'll avoid it just because its the next in the "tick" line.

ME was horrible. (Tick)

XP was good. (Tock)

Vista was horrible. (Tick)

7 was good. (Tock)

8 (I will avoid until this can be detirmined to not follow the preceding example)

sorry, stepped away from my computer and replied to the wrong tab in my browser!

The best sales tool MS could have come up with to sell Windows 7.............Windows 8 

Many of us running Win7 have used both previous OS's and know what a major improvement Windows 7 is, and are happy with how it works. I for one am not going to shell out money for features and functions I have no desire to use or need third party apps to get rid of.

 If they were giving Win 8 away, I'd still buy 7 to put on a new rig.

Windows 8 will make Vista look like a smashing sales success.

 I predict the huge glut of unsold OEM's furnished with Win 8 will be dirt cheap as they desperately try to unload unsold stock to make room for Windows 9 rigs.  Maybe by then I'll need a new laptop.

Uvah, me old matey, I had the same issue with the Consumer Preview [wouldn't install correctly] but the Release Preview installed without a hitch.  The only thing I had to do was make Win 7 the default OS, because with Win 8 on a dual boot system, it will revert back to the boot menu when selecting Win 7 to load, thus prolonging the boot time.  Once I made Win 7 the default OS my boot times went back to the 25 - 28 seconds and all was good.

As for the Metro debacle, well you don't see that with the updated version of Stardock's Start8, and with Winstep Xtreme installed you can remain indefinitely in the desktop without having to revert to Metro to access your programs, etc.  It's just like working with Win 7 only faster.  Yes, faster!  I haven't spent a great deal of time in Win 8 as yet, but my experience so far [running the two on the same hardware to get a fair comparison] is that it is a meaner, leaner and faster OS than Win 7.

Okay, so Win 8 doesn't retain the start button and start menu, and that's a pain in the arse, but Winstep Xtreme addresses that issue and there are free 3rd party apps like Vistart that replace the traditional button and menu that we became accustomed to in Vista and Win 7.  Yes, it says that Vistart is to give the feel of the Vista start menu in XP, but it works perfectly well in Win 8.

So, despite my earlier reservations, Win 8 can be made to operate like a regular desktop OS, and at 40 bucks its a bit hard to pass it up when there are several advantages over Win 7... eg, native ISO support, new and improved search functions.

While the negative commentors are front and center on pretty much every Windows release, the other guys (like me) get really tired of responding.

Yes, I obviously advocate Win8, but I don't want to go into every comment thread in existence and tell people I love it.  (I'll save that for this forum )

Yeah, I know what you mean.  I had no issues with Vista and found it to be a quite useable OS, but there were always detractors who thought I was mad and had lost my senses.  For mine, it was a better OS than XP and certainly much nicer to look at, so when Win 7 came out I was already familiar and accustomed to its use.

I will admit that I didn't like it to begin with and was probably never going to buy it, but I've found it also to be a useable OS with Start8 and Winstep Xtreme installed.  I really disliked Metro as the start page, and that you'd have to return to it often to access other items in the absence of the start button/menu, but now that I never have to deal with it and can use Win 8 as I do Win 7, I quite like it and will definitely update for $40 when it is released.

Thanks for doing this interview, Brad.  Windows 8 will be the first MS OS I do not buy at launch in 15 + years.  Why?  For the reasons you list.  Hopefully some of the high paid jackasses at M$ will eventually get a clue.  I wish they got the simple understanding that they had a one time - people using a tablet are not the same audience as those using a desktop.  you'd think that would be understandable.  Hopefully folks show this with their money and the jackasses that came up with this will lose their insulated jobs.  IMO - this is the next windows me.  Looking forward to windows 9 and I will likely pass on this completely.  Thanks for doing a good job with Win 7, though. 

I'm becoming convinced that the entire reason people are railing against Win8 is disruption.  It's the first Windows release that disrupts the twenty year way of doing things.

It makes sense that developers would hate that since they worked well with the old way, and some endusers love it because it'll force devs to start looking at better tools for programs or be left behind.

Obviously there are other things, but that just occurred to me yesterday.

Anyway I'm off.

Me too... got a feeling it was something I ate.

pshaw you know you've been off your whole life like most of us

Yeah, but certain foods tend to make me more 'off'

i completely fail to understand why they don't simply leave both options around....

I find a little odd how somehow you know that 100% of the reason that 100% of the people who are complaining about Windows 8 is what you think it is.  How often does 100% of ANY population EVER agree on one thing or do a particular thing for the same reason?  None, unless your population is very small.  The truth is, Microsoft has provided a massive virtually compulsory change to Windows without much warning or discussion, and it is a FACT that this level of change will cause pretty emotional reactions in a lot of people (including you, I might add).

I know everything, dear.  I inherited that from my father.  ;)

Also I have no idea what you're going on about.

And people who think they know everything annoy the shite out of those of us who do, don't they?

Between us my dad and I knew everything, and when I couldn't answer a question I'd send 'em to him and visa versa.

Sadly, when he passed on I only knew half of what I used to.

His attitude pissed me off, though that was hardly the only reason.

At any rate, back on topic...ish...