OT -- Windows 8

Brought home a new laptop today with Windows 8 installed. First impression : they let a few nutjobs take over the design of this OS when the A-team wa s out to lunch. Nothing is intuitive. Simple things, like moving a file f rom one folder to another, require one to use Explorer. Even "my computer" no longer resides on the desktop. There are two interfaces -- the tiles v ersion and one that kinda mimics the familiar XP version. The former is loa ded with a lot of junk.

It's going to take me hours to get this machine set up -- hours that I coul d spend more enjoyably in the shop.

BTW, this is being written on my old machine, which needs to be returned to my employer come retirement date (May 3).

Larry

Reply to
Gramp's shop
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they let a few nutjobs take over the design of this OS when the A-team was out to lunch. Nothing is intuitive. Simple things, like moving a file from one folder to another, require one to use Explorer. Even "my computer" no longer resides on the desktop. There are two interfaces -- the tiles version and one that kinda mimics the familiar XP version. The former is loaded with a lot of junk.

spend more enjoyably in the shop.

employer come retirement date (May 3).

Download and install this, bring back the start menu and more, many ways to tweak it to your liking.

Reply to
FrozenNorth

Whoops, forgot the link, here it is:

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Totally safe, using for a couple months now.

Reply to
FrozenNorth

This sounds like a very good time to dump the windows OS and install Linux. A far better OS.

Paul

Reply to
PHT

they let a few nutjobs take over the design of this OS when the A-team was out to lunch. Nothing is intuitive. Simple things, like moving a file from one folder to another, require one to use Explorer. Even "my computer" no longer resides on the desktop. There are two interfaces -- the tiles version and one that kinda mimics the familiar XP version. The former is loaded with a lot of junk.

spend more enjoyably in the shop.

employer come retirement date (May 3).

I appreciate your sharing your experience as I have been looking at laptops. Windows7 is superior to the new one, huh? Does yours have a touch screen?

Bill

Reply to
Bill

Which is unfortunately far behind as a consumer product...

Reply to
Richard

Can you run SketchUp on it?

Reply to
Bill

What is your latest experience and with linux and what distribution are you basing this on?

As a "user" rather than a "consumer", I have had a very good experience with linux for the last 18 years.

Reply to
Doug Winterburn

I have a friend that is the head IT engineer for a school system here. We get together and test out bourbons and smoke cigars and talk things over in general.

He assured me at our last outing that I needed to buy myself a copy of Windows 7 and put it aside for later use. He snarled and bristled for a half hour about all the things that were wrong with Win 8, and assured me it was as bad as the change to Vista from XP, and probably even worse.

According to his opinion, 8 was designed to be compatible with the Windows Phone and its upcoming OS, not for desktops or laptops.

Yet another misfire from the good folks at Microsoft.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

Bill ...

I bought a Lenovo with 4gb ram and a 500gb HD. $350 from Best Buy. No touch screen. Like the computer but (H)8 Windows 8.

Lrry

Reply to
Gramp's shop

This sounds like a very good time to dump the windows OS and install Linux. A far better OS. =================================================================== Here that all the time. Go Linux. Go Mac. Compatibility is a problem. Stick with Windows if you need to communicate with most of the world.

Reply to
CW

screen. Like the computer but (H)8 Windows 8.

It sounds like you did real well! I was mainly looking for something to attach to a big screen tv, so I have been looking at those with HD,

1080P (1920x1080)--matching the TV. Most (all?) of the candidates seem to have "4000HD" (integrated) graphics. Has anyone tried streaming video from web pages this way with success in the way of video quality? I have a hunch it will be hit and miss. I doubt Roy Underhill's show is recorded (at PBS) in HD, for instance, but I'm assuming a laptop as described would give the best possible configuration. I'll be sure to try to avoid Windows8until I hear kinder words said about it! I was mildly enthusiastic aboutthe touchscreen concept, but now I think I'll sit on thesideline and hear more what those on the front line have to report. :)

Bill

Reply to
Bill

On Sat, 09 Mar 2013 01:26:22 -0500, Bill

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Reply to
Dave

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Thank you. I have this one on my Amazon "wish list":

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Reply to
Bill

Yes.

As chance would have it I installed Sketchup 8 (free version) just yesterday on my 64 bit laptop running Ubuntu 12.10. I can't say that I put it through all its paces as of yet but I've yet to find anything that is broken with it.

You do have to run it under Wine (a windows compatibility layer), so performance probably takes a hit, but its OK for my simple needs.

A tiny bit of Linux knowledge is needed (how to do things in a terminal window, for example) to install it.

For what it's worth, I was also successful in getting emachineshop to run as well as Google Earth.

Reply to
Frank Stutzman

they let a few nutjobs take over the design of this OS when the A-team was out to lunch. Nothing is intuitive. Simple things, like moving a file from one folder to another, require one to use Explorer. Even "my computer" no longer resides on the desktop. There are two interfaces -- the tiles version and one that kinda mimics the familiar XP version. The former is loaded with a lot of junk.

spend more enjoyably in the shop.

employer come retirement date (May 3).

Visit:

alt.comp.os.windows-8

for the inevitable questions about this strange and wonderful O_0 new M$ offering. They are clearly catering to the can't be bothered to orally communicate (or even look where they are going) smart phone crowd.

There are a number of add-ons to make it act like Win7, but if you came from XP, woe to you! Abandon all hope as you are now a neophyte all over again. If you choose door #1 and go for one of the add-ons you may also need to visit:

alt.windows7.general

Good luck and have fun!

John

Reply to
John

I use Opensuse. I have been using Suse for something like 20 years. I have have never had problems that I have seen about Windows. Linux does have a program that will run Windows programs.

Paul

Reply to
PHT

Which is one of the primary reasons I run Linux (PCLinuxOS to be exact). The other reason is the simple fact that it is totally free AND I can check ou the OS before I install it.

Deb

Reply to
Dr. Deb

The only reason to buy W8 is if you have a touch screen. Right now your best bet is to find a unit sitting on the shelf with W7. I got an email from Acer yesterday and they still have a couple to sell in their clearance page.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

The good, the bad, and some ugly...

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I think it has come a long way, but still required considerable knowledge and patience to install and run.

Maybe some day?

Reply to
Richard

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