Windows 8.1

[arrowghost]

Well, folks, you heard it. Windows 8.1 is closing to release in a few more month. So I want to hear your comments regarding the latest OS itself.

I got my pros and cons below :

The pros, the resource usage is now lesser, new DirectX 11.2 to take advantage of Tiled Resources (will be released after Win 8.1 is released for full public use). Startup speed is faster than on Windows 7.

The cons, bleh, I hate Metro and with a poorly made Start Button when Microsoft only reverse 50% of the damage since Windows 8 itself. BUT I'm glad there's StartIsBack, Start8, Classic Shell, etc.. in order to bring back the Start Button we know and love.

Overall, yes, there's a lot of potential but you need to work out some annoyances first if you want it to be like the next proper successor to Windows 7. Software compatibility is alright as I know most of them already be able to adapt to the latest OS.

[P51Mustang]

I think I'll stick with Windows 7 for now. Maybe Windows 9 will be better, maybe not.

[Lux]

Still sticking with 7. It seems more stable. Maybe seven to ten years from now when I need a new computer, I get the upgrade, providing it's not bad.

[arrowghost]

I've been told that Windows 8 was like Vista 2.0, but it's already patched up well when they did with 8.1, I'm looking forward to it but only with the modifications like I mentioned. I want to know, if you say it's about stability, what seems to be the problem you know in 8 or 8.1 so far? No need to be offended, we're just sharing here.

As for me, I don't need to worry about it since I'll be using only the desktop, never on the Metro.

[Valianca]

7 is fine, nuff said.

Screw Metro.

[arrowghost]

WHOW! Many people knows that, 8.1 may have Metro but there's always the Start menu alternatives so that you don't have to touch Metro again.

StartisBack, Start8, Classic Shell, etc..

[Rosewind]

That seems to be the Microsoft trend. Every other OS release is good.

[Needlemouse]

It's like the Star Trek films.

[Bright Glow]

I plan to upgrade my win 7 to 8.1.

[Hippo]

tbh, i dont want the start menu. Once I figured out win8 configuration and style, I fell in love with the interface, not to mention the lightning fast start-up speed. I still don't like Metro, but i never really have to use it. And with 8.1, i don't know that I want the old start menu back. If I get it back, I don't think I'll ever use it.

People who don't like windows 8, im convinced haven't given it a good enough chance. Once I found out that all you have to do is type the program you want to get to its application icon, all of my dislikes about the OS went out the window (no pun intended). The worst thing about win8 imo, is the power settings. But once you figure out how to get to that menu, you never have to find it again.

EDIT: yeah look at previews, the start menu button on the desktop serves the same purpose as the windows key that is integrated left of the space bar on most computers optimized for windows. Seems pretty useless to me, and in all honesty, I will be laughing a little if that really makes the difference for people to stop hating on win8.

[arrowghost]

Get used to it is not for everybody, as for me, use the Start Menu alternatives so that it can be like Windows 7 version 2.0. Like people once said, you cannot be forced to adapt with Metro, sooner or later, there will be alternatives so that people can get what they wanted. After all, if the Start Menu isn't broken, don't fix it. But in that case, MS fixed it in Win 8, but then it still doesn't reverse it in 8.1 when they only reverse back the problem by only 50%, hence the Classic Shell, StartisBack, etc.. they 100% reverse the problem.

When it comes to charms and such, yes, there will be some other new annoyances, but over time, I'll get to fix them until they'll finally get over it. After all, we're not always adapted to learn new tricks. This is just like how the phrase, which I call that not true, it's "You can't teach an old dog new tricks."

Lastly, speaking of people hating Win 8 and even 8.1, I gotta say, they just didn't look for proper alternatives, if their main culprit is always hating Metro and don't have a proper Start button, they'll be wrong, I was one of them too. And then wolla, we got StartisBack and all the other alternatives ready for download, right?

[Halide]

alternatives are already out there. $5 gets you Start8, which puts the start menu back and shoves the horrible 'flick' UI on the back burner, so people with proper desktops and laptops don't have to put up with clunky and finicky tablet-focused UI.

Frankly, being an owner of everything from XP to 8, I'd say 7 is still by far the most viable option, and 8 should definitely be avoided if possible. That said, 8.1 puts a start BUTTON back, and from the beta that start BUTTON just takes you to the start screen, rather than giving you the start menu back. It's a lie, really.

[arrowghost]

I notice that too when I'm so anticipated for 8.1's Start Button to work and return back to normal, but nope, SLAP! It's a mini start screen for freakin' sake, DARNIT! Once it was supposed to be from half-baked to fully-baked, but then, 8.1 is still not even close to become a fully-baked product.

Anyway, the alternatives maybe paid, but you can always do it the scurvy dogs way (I don't want to say that specific word), once installed, we're home-free to have a better and lovable Windows . And don't forget, 8.1 can boot to desktop, when we had 8 that time, some of the alternatives were in beta form, which they include "boot to desktop" mode but the Metro still came out, even for a millisecond, which is something we all don't like it too of course, but I'm glad today's versions on those alternatives are all clean and good to go for consumer use. All it takes is we must bear with Metro first, later then we add our alternative Start Menu and remove the other annoyances and then, done!

Don't forget, Halide, I too hate Win 8 the most, until when I found out on those alternatives, I can finally give it a chance and not to mention it is faster to boot and other benefits. The only thing will worry more is on the games we install, but I'm confident it's going to be ok, we've been there before when we had XP, after 7 came out, can our games run on Win 7 itself? That's the question we always ask.

[Parker_Izing]

WHOW! Many people knows that, 8.1 may have Metro but there's always the Start menu alternatives so that you don't have to touch Metro again.

StartisBack, Start8, Classic Shell, etc..

Duh, Windows 8 = Windows 7 + Metro if you aren't going to use it, why bother?

[LemonyPony]

I'm really thinking of upgrading, I heard it was much faster than 7. I think they should have made two versions of 8, desktop and tablet.

[Autumn]

Duh, Windows 8 = Windows 7 + Metro if you aren't going to use it, why bother?

Like most of the above, this statement is also based on pure ignorance.

8 isn't just 7. It's lighter, more stable and quicker and as for the additional features (little things like the new Task Manager and proper multi-monitor support finally) have made 7 Good to REALLY good.

All a start menu is, is an App list, essentially. So much tidier than folder after folder with text files and uninstalls (which you were always better off removing via C/Panel > Prog & features).

As for 'Metro' (what actual users and Microsoft call the Start Screen and not to be confused with Windows RT on it's own) is like an added bonus. Get to use all the new RT apps.

Mine: Nicely decorated with all my installed Steam games lined up with their appropriate images. It's great! So much better than Win 95 era start menu.

Not sure why people miss the start menu at all. Is it the habit of clicking the bottom left of your screen? ...well, that's how you get the start screen anyway.

Is it the Categorisation of the start menu you miss? ...well, click the '-' in the bottom right and you can create sections and give them names to categorise all your stuff. Simple.

Is it because you don't have to 'Start' to 'Quit' now? ... It's the same amount of clicks to shut down in Win8. Settings > Power > Shutdown. It's not rocket surgery.

I think as a general rule, anyone that refers to the Start Screen as 'Metro' and is complaining about Windows 8 simply doesn't know what they're talking about since they clearly haven't used it as their main OS.

[Autumn]

I'm really thinking of upgrading, I heard it was much faster than 7. I think they should have made two versions of 8, desktop and tablet.

They did... Windows 8 is for desktop, Windows RT for tablets.

[Halide]

Windows RT isn't necessarily for tablets, but for ARM processors. The UIs remain largely the same, but RT has far fewer background processes and is not capable of running most windows binaries.

For that matter, 8 isn't necessarily lighter-weight than 7, at least not as far as the 64 bit edition is concerned - due to the nature of the livetiles on the start screen, it actually uses more system resources at times just to keep the multitude of livetiles updated. It does usually boot faster due to the fact that windows 8 creates hidden partitions on the hard drive for booting, which will always remain at 0% fragmentation due to being inaccessable to the user (unlike 7, which leaves all system files on the C drive, where fragmentation is possible and in some cases likely during updates). That said, windows 8 can also be really frustrating to get off of a computer once it's installed, and retrograding from windows 8 to windows 7 on some laptops is actually really difficult.

There is no good reason to spend the $120 to swap from 7 to 8. 8 is not a notably superior operating system in comparison to 7. That said though, it's still better than vista, so if you've got a computer with vista on it, getting the upgrade package to move from vista to 8 wouldn't be a bad idea.

[Hippo]

Generally, I never like to upgrade OS's on computers anyway, mostly because my computers tend to be middle-tier laptops. Its much less of a headache to just roll with whatever OS you have. Vista got a lot of whiners because people who had computers optimized for XP were trying to get the new look and features. But because Vista ran more RAM than XP, people saw it as a complete fail. My first computer I bought with my own money had Vista, and I never had an issue with it. I never understood why people were so bent out of shape when it was in its prime.

I have lots of friends who are all XP or bust. It never made any sense to me because it always seemed like they discredited future OS's for what it fails to do that XP exceeds in, but fail to recognize that greater gain in usability that newer OS has. I don't like XP because every computer I've used that has it runs slow and is extremely clunky in terms of interface. Vista was more secure, but slow. 7 was a little faster, uses less RAM, and is way more secure. And 8 has been the most secure for me so far, lightning fast startup (cold start and awake from sleep is like the same time), and interface that takes a little getting used to, but is better in the longer run. Seriously, I can do things on my Win8 computer faster than I can on my Win7 computer. Probably my favorite thing about Win8 is its resource allocation with power management, RAM, hard drive formatting, and overall performance. In essence, the hardware will last longer running Windows 8 than it will Windows 7, simply because its not wearing your machine out as much,and that is something that everyday computer geeks need to understand while they complain about the interface. Being 'forced' to learn a new UI is not the way I see it. Its more of a correction to allow you to more efficiently use your computer. Or you can refuse that and keep doing it the old way, its up to you.

[arrowghost]

Autumn, thank you for defending my statement. I will plan to use it but only when I go get myself a new Win 8.1 ROM, I don't want Win 8 and then upgrade, I want to take a shortcut via 8.1 instead, and I'm sure the scurvy dogs outside can compile them all ready for me to use. After all, most of my manufacturers, they usually don't provide the Windows CD for no reason if I make a purchase from there, so I'm glad I bought my desktop from a shop instead, customizing with parts I choose whatever I want while the Windows, which I have no choice to go get it from the other way instead as one disk cost around a few hundred dollars in my currency, since they use CDs, I prefer to use USBs instead for installation. USB is less prone to over-the-time self damages, it means by like CDs can suffer CRC errors. And best of all, it's faster to install than on conventional CDs, if put into a USB 3 port and install via USB 3 itself, maybe it'll install super fast than its predecessor?

By the way, I'm still running Win 7, I would have gone to 8 but I don't have an installation USB ready and not to mention 8.1 is still yet to release, so I'll just wait, prepare the USB and then wait till Win 7 needs a reformat, no need for immediate upgrade.

[Autumn]

Also to note... All games and drivers etc that worked on 7 will and do work on 8.

If you're looking for win 8 drivers but cant find, just use win 7 drivers. I've not come across anything that didn't work before 8.

[arrowghost]

I also have good confidence in that too as the OS's only major upgrade is other than the speed and its controversial Metro, but program compatibility wise is something I don't hear often. Well, other than some game developers like Valve said it's a disaster of some sort.

[Autumn]

I also have good confidence in that too as the OS's only major upgrade is other than the speed and its controversial Metro, but program compatibility wise is something I don't hear often. Well, other than some game developers like Valve said it's a disaster of some sort.

People like valve appeared to have paniced for no reason...

I run steam with over 200 games (http://steamcommunity.com/id/AutumnSounds/) ...Not come across one single problem.

Way too much jumping of sharks, scaremongering, and unfounded rumours.

Valve of course have shut their mouths about it since Win 8's launch.

Keep in mind, everyone, Windows 8 was launched a OVER YEAR AGO.... it's not some new-fangled space-age OS.

[FrankT]

I'm not going to bother with 8.1. It's just going to force the Metro system on me! How am I supposed to substitute StartIsBack over that?

[Mojo]

I am DELIGHTED that MS is at least trying to 'fix' Win 8. It's about time they responded to the terrible new OS package they unleashed on a unsuspecting public!

Now if they'd only fix IE 10. In case y'all haven't noticed, IE 10 does NOT properly interface with Canterlot.com. Found that out the hard way on two of my PC's that got automatically updated with it. I tried using Firefox when I log in here, but Firefox also doesn't interface 100% with this site. So I have to use a 'Restore point' backtrack on those two PCs to restore IE 9 so I can fully access Canterlot.com AND shut off the 'automatic updates' so IE 10 never returns.

Why is it that MS seems to be doing it's best to ANNOY it's loyal customers rather than actually attempting to meet their needs?

Oh well.....