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Joined: Jun 08 2010 Location: Termina Field Posts: 1541

GPFontaine wrote:

Windows "Classic" is based off an OS environment that was delivered over 15 years ago. I didn't XP's bubbly look when it first came out, however at a certain point, however it is always going to be personal preference regarding how something looks. Personally, I like Aero better than the Windows 8 flat look. I'm sure I'll get over it.

I should also note that I also hate the appearance of Aero, too. Not just the compositor that powers it. All my Windows 7 computers and virtual machines have the theme set to Windows Classic (and font smoothing turned off). I actually like the flatter desktop theme Windows 8 has, and would like to see it ported to Windows 7 somehow.

GPFontaine wrote:

If you aren't concerned with DPI and you only dislike ClearType, I am betting that you really just don't like the Windows Presentation Foundation. .NET apps aren't your thing. I can only suggest that you forgive the OS for this and instead focus on the fact that 99% of app developers think you are wrong since they could opt to not use .NET for their programs.

I have never really cared about stuff relating to software development on the Windows platform.

GPFontaine wrote:

I'll have to take your word for it. I stopped running personal Windows servers a while back since it is easier and cheaper to have other people run them for me. I have actually let go of a large amount of infrastructure in order to regain time. I consider it a plus since the Cloud is essentially gobbling up most server related offerings.

If you want to do more than take my word for it, I can provide you with a server to test this out with, just tell me if you are interested and I will PM you the details. I will say that I tested the WebDAV setup of the server in question, and I can connect to it from an file transfer application on my Mac (Transmit by Panic Inc.), and the Finder's "Connect to server..." option. Trying to connect using the "Map network drive" function of Windows Explorer gives me a connection error when I don't modify the checkboxes, and gives me a bunch of auth dialogs before the connection error if I check the "use a password to connect" checkbox.

GPFontaine wrote:

Windows 8 wasn't designed for your netbook. Like I said, if you have less than 4-8GB of RAM, go get an upgrade or a new computer. Also, betting that you could do something more efficiently with Linux is a waste of breath since, from my experience, most Linux users are computer experts and not typical users. The average person simply couldn't install Debian. More importantly, the average person wouldn't want to.

I was kind of just thinking of myself and my own abilities when I mentioned the Debian thing. However, I am sure anyone with decent computer knowledge could install something like Ubuntu or Linux Mint, which, in my experience are quite easy to install, especially if you are doing single boot, which would most likely be the case with a netbook; using the hard drive of the Acer netbook as an example, there is just no way you could comfortably share 150GB towards two operating systems. On the topic of upgrading, if it were my main machine, which it thankfully isn't, I would be very willing to upgrade. However, since I already have other much more powerful machines (I should consider upgrading my iMac from 3GB of RAM to 4GB or 6GB, though), it isn't worth it, and I just keep it around as an emergency machine if my Dell notebook fails in a way which requires a repair that will force it out of my hands for some time.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

Well, I have been using this thing for a few weeks and I have a few additional bits of feedback.

1. Driver support is good for the most part, but some hardware, such as NVIDIA graphics cards, really has a hard time on the new platform. I am hopeful that there will be fast fixes for the hiccups that include random reboots.

2. I am still fuming about not being able to search Outlook from the Start Screen regular search box. It is the one feature I keep trying to use and have no workaround for other than to use Outlooks search feature.

This week I have a meeting with MS. I plan to explain these frustrations and see if there are any workarounds.

Also worth noting. Last week Office 2013 came out for RTM. I installed and have begun to look at it. It is freaky. So... white. It is outlined the same way as Office 2010, but the graphical shift to simplicity and white makes it feel like a flat sheet of paper. More on that change when I have some time to test next week.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

I was just thinking...

Most consistant Apple users listen to Apple. They buy whatever is new and rarely question the technical details.

Most consistant Microsoft users listen to their technically aware friends and family. They delay purchases until someone says "its safe, you can do this now" or "yeah, they finally fixed ME with XP or Vista with 7".

Microsoft did nothing to capture the positive opinions of its technically savvy users, and ultimately their sales aren't doing great with Windows 8.

Posted: Dec 04 2012 09:47 am

With ME and Vista people begged MS to fix it, so they were thrilled when XP and 7 came out, and did just that.

7 is XP 2.0. Everyone is happy with it, and nobody asked for an upgrade, so nobody is in a hurry to go out and get one. XP had a usable life of almost a decade. I think most people are hoping the same for 7.

Joined: Apr 14 2006 Location: Lake Michigan Posts: 3332

Yeah, ideally, we'll continue to have 7 for desktops/laptops in the near future, and can use 8 for mobile devices. Although, I'm already seeing the ads for desktops with 8, and touchscreen monitors for them. Oy.

Posted: Dec 04 2012 03:45 pm

Yeah I'm at the point where I'm wanting to build a new desktop if I can get the money together. I'll be making sure it gets built before stores stop selling copies of 7, because I won't be ruining a perfectly good new computer with a shitty OS.

Anyone see the office supply stores are actually selling classes on how to even operate 8? That says a lot of good things about it, don't recall seeing TV ads for stuff like that when 7 came out.

Posted: Dec 04 2012 05:26 pm

My dad bought a new laptop for my sister for Christmas. It has Windows 8 pre-installed, because it's apparently now impossible to find one with Windows 7 anymore. I don't suppose it would be viable to try to find a standalone Windows 7 for it?

Posted: Dec 04 2012 07:25 pm

It's not impossible to find laptops and desktops that have Windows 7. I was just looking through the paper today and about half of the computers in the circulars had Windows 8 and the other half had Windows 7.

Posted: Dec 04 2012 11:10 pm

@om*d wrote:

It's not impossible to find laptops and desktops that have Windows 7. I was just looking through the paper today and about half of the computers in the circulars had Windows 8 and the other half had Windows 7.

The thing is that the ones with the "newest" hardware are more likely to have 8. Most people want the newest stuff, especially when it comes to laptops which are underpowered anyway, want to get the fastest one possible. Though "newest" is really stretching it with store bought PC hardware. Easier to reformat and put on 7 than it is to try to replace hardware, especially since you have to reformat anyway to get rid of all the bullshit that comes pre-installed on them.

Posted: Dec 05 2012 06:04 am

The-Excel wrote:

My dad bought a new laptop for my sister for Christmas. It has Windows 8 pre-installed, because it's apparently now impossible to find one with Windows 7 anymore. I don't suppose it would be viable to try to find a standalone Windows 7 for it?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006587%2050001149%2040000368&IsNodeId=1&Description=windows%207%20-8&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=100

Posted: Dec 05 2012 06:12 am

The-Excel wrote:

My dad bought a new laptop for my sister for Christmas. It has Windows 8 pre-installed, because it's apparently now impossible to find one with Windows 7 anymore. I don't suppose it would be viable to try to find a standalone Windows 7 for it?

I just got a laptop on a Black Friday deal with 8 on it. Honestly, unless you're extremely tech savvy and you just can't handle the whatever-it-is-that's-upsetting-the-tech-people about Windows 8, it's not worth the effort to go through, take out 8 and install 7. I think the new system is just fine. There are a few aspects of it that are a bit annoying, but most of them were easy enough to fix in the control panel.

I guess that, as someone who uses his computer constantly but doesn't do anything hugely complex on it, there's really nothing wrong with Win 8. I don't see what all the fuss is about. Sure, I preferred 7, but moving to 8 has caused me almost no headaches whatsoever.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

LOL, my boss tried to use Win 8 on an OS X VirtualBox deployment.

Hot corners are extremely hard to target and the mapping of the Command Key to the Windows key isn't spot on. It was entertaining to watch him try to open a command prompt.

Posted: Dec 05 2012 04:05 pm

I tried Windows 8 for 10 minutes. I get what they were going for, but they missed it by a mile. Even Microsoft knows this isn't going down as well as they thought it would.

That said, it really is nice with a touch screen display.