Windows 8 forum: windows 8 arrives

The laptop I use is my employers, and I'm not allowed to upgrade. And since the company is still in the transition from XP to Windows 7 I don't expect it to have Windows 8 ever.

My Windows 7 desktop doesn't have a touchscreen (neither has that laptop, by the way), and for all I read a touch screen really is necessary to enjoy Windows 8. Moreover, moving my hand from mouse to keyboard and vice versa is a one foot horizontal movement, while moving it to the screen is a one to two feet vertical movement (with the upper part of the screen located far above my shoulder height), which is clumsy and probably leads to a quite new variant of RSI in the shoulder. No thanks.
I expect this desktop to stay functional like this till far in the Windows 9 era, maybe even until Windows 10 arrives.

My XP desktop is not used much and works fine. SInce there never was a need to upgrade it to Windows 7, there surely isn't a need to upgrade it to Windows 8.

Smartphones and tablets can't be upgraded. If I buy one, I'll have to choose between Apple, Google or Microsoft software. Not relevant at the moment.

Kees

We won't do that. The office will get a few machines with 8 ready to run but upgrading is not something we do a lot for all the reasons you find in these forums.
Bob

I went from W2K Pro SP4 rollup 1*, fully configurable in the desktop UI, to W7HPx64 with Aero Glass and very little configuration possible.

I have a desktop box, and my eyes cannot handle Microsoft's glaring white backgrounds. In W2K it was a snap to set those to a light parchment, pale yellow with a hint of green, very restful. In W7, I had to disable Aero and revert to Classic to get the same functionality -- the next tweak will be the classic hierarchical Start Menu .

However, W8(all versions) does not have the Classic Desktop, and no part of the Aero/Metro UI can be tweaked to give me parchment on system app (Explorer, Control Panel, Notepad etc) backgrounds. Will we see this in SP1? Does the USA have a Monarchy as Head of State?

So, while I will take up Bill's $40 offer, I won't be installing it until somebody can develop a decent desktop UI tweak. I am eligible for the $14 upgrade offer, but, well, it is only an upgrade .

_______________________________
*The best OS Microsoft ever produced!

Gordon.

its time that Microsoft gave pc gamers an os just for us you know there are loads of pc gamers out there , what about win 8 for gamers . toap

I love the operation of my W7 computers, and not sure if I want to move to W8 since it seems to be radically different that W7 and might take quite a bit of tweaking. I am happy with my two W7 computers, and can't imagine that there would be enough of an improvement to upgrade. I will sit down with one of them at the Microsoft Store in Scottsdale, AZ and see if I like the operation of it. I might just wait for Windows 9 if and when it makes the scene. I enjoyed the updates from XP to Vista and then W7. They all operated similarly and the learning curve on them was easy enough. I don't need my computer to look like a Tablet. When I buy a Tablet which will likely be one with Android on it, I will be glad to use that too. I have tried Android by putting it on a Netbook that originally had W7 on it and ran like a snail. With Android 4.0.3 cobbled on it, it worked quickly and was a job to use. I gave it away to a friend since I have two W7 computers and I wanted to get a full fledged Android system. Will look at the Nexus 10 that may be introduced on October 29th. Rumors are that it has 2 gig of ram on it, and if there is a 32 gig version, might just buy that one. I think that the reason the people like the i Pads and the Android Tablets is that the operating system is much simpler than W7 or W8. The former O/Ss are made for individuals while Windows 7 and 8 are made to be used in a corporate network and is complicated due to this requirement. i OS 6 and Android are not particularly made for corporations, so they are not required to have the constraints that Windows computers do.

Straight to Linux Last version of Kubuntu.Done with Microsoft and all the Hassles associated with Viruses,Blue screens,Mal-ware attacks and platforms for Hackers.So good luck and congratulations to all those following the hype.

A warning to those who might be considering what I was - DON'T DO IT. To get the $40.00 version requires a download from Micro$oft. At least that's what it looks like at the beginning. As I progressed through the steps, it became obvious to me that this is not a "download now, burn to DVD, install later thing". This is a "download and upgrade/install now thing". My plans had been to at some time in the future clean off a drive in my desktop, unplug all other drives, install Win8 on the clean drive, then unplug it and store until needed. But only after unplugging all other drives again. The experience I had with the demo version on my laptop has me very gun-shy about this OS.
Additionally, as I went through the steps to get the $40.00 version, Micro$oft loaded something called a "download adviser". This program scanned my system and told me what will and won't work with Win8. A nice touch. Also a nice way to sell software. Turns out Micro$oft Office 2003 (which I use quite frequently) won't run under Win8. Quite a few other programs were on the "won't run, need paid upgrade" list, most are MUCH newer than my Office Suite (I don't just upgrade for fun, if it works - why change it?). This $40.00 bargain(?) would have become at least a $600.00 mistake if I had continued.
The more I'm around Micro$oft, the more attractive Linux becomes!

I'll just toss this out there that the old Mail API may be gone in 8.

I refuse to open Pandora's box. The only new thing about this OS is that it's for the birds. (Twitter and all other social apps.) If you look closely under the hood, you will see this is another repackaging to keep up with new hardware. (Touchscreens this time.) The problem with phones has always been the screens aren't big enough. So instead of making the phones able to plug into a computer screen, let's repackage our old workhorse so it's not compatible with anything so everybody has to buy "apps" from our new "app" store.(Just like Apple!) This is what Microsoft has done since Windows 95. By trying to be everything to everybody, the Microsoft OS has become more bloated with each successive version. Windows 8 has become so bloated that Microsoft doesn't want you to turn the machine off, because nobody will wait that long for a system to boot up. Does anyone remember MS DOS? That is the engine that runs all Windows, no matter which version you have. (MS DOS 7.0) So why should this version be any different? If you have the very latest hardware and aren't interested in anything except social media, then this is the OS for you. If you are a gamer, or actually want to do something productive, you don't need to spend a bunch of cash for "apps" that might or might not work. Just remember the old adage "If you need an app, it's a piece of crap."

thanks for all your replies

i want to upgrade it. i like its interface, beautiful.