Elements with Windows 8

Mine is the full 8.1 Windows Nigel and not the RT version. I also use the tablet with a small USB mouse most of the time as I find touchscreens a pain.

As for the numbers commenting here, no it's not a massive sample but I would guess from the numbers that more people that have actually taken the time with it are happy with Windows 8 than not.

I think that's a major part of the problem - MicroSoft decided to go all out for the tablet/touch-screen/upgrading-from-a-smartphone end of the market and to hell with the laptop/desktop users. When you've got millions of comfortable users, throwing their comfort out of the window is a brave/stupid move.

This report on W8, from the early days, may be of interest/use.

I really tried to be positive after being so put off by initial reports ... I studied it and carefully set up the laptop ... But the reality as born out with actual practical use was that the early concerns were more than justified, and Microsoft was pig -headed to plough on regardless.

Steve, that report is excellent and details the problems so much better than I've been able to ... What a mess!!!

As I said in the work environment for me and my co-workers (just 300 of us) having to go to W7 has been little short of a nightmare. Personally I thought that W8 was hard going at first but downloading the classic shell has helped no end. At the end of the day it is down to individuals how they cope with it, obviously for some it is too much of a challenge

That's the whole point ... An OS should not be a Challenge!!! And you had to get a third party add on to make it good for you?? Out of interest, why did you decide to download Classic Shell?

Ultimately it is a brave move.
The world is moving on. Touch screens are becoming more and more the norm.

W10 will know whether it has a touch screen available or not,or if there is a mouse or pen attached, and will modify itself accordingly, including for hybrid tablet/laptops and the likes of the Lenovo Flex.
Maybe 8 was a step too far for many stick in the muds who expected just another mild change, taking up even more computing space and working even slower than the previous OS. That would have resulted in the usual complaints that it ain't XP blah blah blah.
But Microsoft bit the bullet - faced up to it's challengers and changed. The result is a fantastic stable OS which is fast and doesn't need the space it's predecessors did.


Oh and the reason for Windows 10 not Windows 9 is to avoid any associations with the terrible Win95.

When in doubt, insult the users. Always works well.
The fact is, they went for revolution, not evolution. Possibly a good move for them - it will get the next generation of users on board. But the older users in positions of authority, may have been dithering over a move to unix/linus and stop dithering.
And maybe to associate it with OS-X?

I have heard from MS people that it is 10 to avoid association/confusion with 95. Nothing at all to do with OS-X - the majority of users wouldn't even connect X with 10 any way.

I am not young, His Nibs even older yet we both moved successfully to W8, then 8.1 and will move to W10 too when the time comes.
I wasn't insulting the users, nor was Microsoft. Revolution is needed on occasion to clear out the old and bring in the new. They maintain the old Operating systems for a very long time. Some were total cr*p, so too slow to be believed. Time for a new take on things.
Viva La Revolution!

Imagine if cameras never evolved

Don't get me started!!!

None of the previous Windows OS were slow..... It was the hardware that was slow
If you put 32 bit Windows NT on modern hardware everyone would complain
that it was too fast.... at 8 MB total it would load in about 2 secs.

My main reason for liking XP Pro is that the best filemanager ever made plus
FM stepup runs well on it. It runs on W7, but confirm copy doesn't work the
same as it doesn't work with Explorer. So you accidentally move
files to where they don't belong.

Windows File Manager available free from.......

http://people.ee.ethz.ch/~davidsch/vistafm/

http://www.brydon.net/winfile/default.asp

Try opening about 50 network drives in Explorer

--

For a laugh, I once put Dos 3, Windows3.1 and Word 2 on a 500MHz Pentium based machine. Start-up times were, as you'd expect, ridiculously fast - Word started in about 3 seconds!

If they'd just fixed any outstanding bugs in 7, done all the tuning they did for 8 (which I will admit was/is impressive) and maybe given a choice of front-end...

Makes perfect sense Steve ... Instead they've alienated a large proportion of the user base. I too find these ' stuck in the mud ' references insulting, and it makes huge assumptions about the people referred to. Is the same argument going to be used on those who want to remain with a DSLR and not change to mirrorless?

It's the ' if it ain't broke' principle. Of course I appreciate the need to make touchscreen operation easier, but it should have been possible to incorporate a touchscreen mode without messing up where you find everything and other ease of use factors. Anyway, all of the problems I am concerned about, which are well documented in that linked report, would not be any better even if I was touching the screen. They are fundamental design and interface issues.

What's been said about Windows 10 sounds hopeful ... Just have to wait

My reference to stick in the muds was not aimed at anyone on the forum. I was referring to people in general who will not embrace new unfamiliar things.

I did not intend to cause offence and I am sorry some of you have taken it so personally.

I am now withdrawing from this thread.

Ah, don't do that! I wasn't particularly offended - I've been accused of that too many times to take much offense.

I just get a bit peeved when it is assumed that my reasons for rejecting 8 are simple resistance to change, rather than the fact that I actually did try it for a while and found it lacking.