





Windows 7 Start Button



Sources: CNBeta, NeoWin

Comments     Threshold


Another vote No on Win8
By m51 on 12/30/2012 7:33:56 PM , Rating: 3
I've installed Win8 on 2 desktop systems at home so far. The fast boot is nice, but the metro interface is annoying. Not in of itself but the fact that the system switches between two different UI. I have no use for metro on a desktop machine, but I'm constantly dropped in and out of it which disrupts my chain of thought on the tasks I'm actually trying to do. I must admit I find it very annoying. I find I'm spending mental effort trying to figure out how to do what I want to do, how to get out of some metro program I'm dropped into etc. It's just needlessly disruptive mentally.
The lack of a start button is also annoying since you are forced to wait for the system to respond to pop up the charms bar and then find the button that wasn't visible before etc. It was much faster and easier with a start button because timing was dependent on My mouse clicks on objects that were already on screen. Another mentally disruptive aspect. It's like I'm constantly being forced to watch an ad for Microsofts touch interface. I have other things to do.

After several weeks of Win8 I have gone back to Win7, there is no compelling feature in Win8 that out weighs the increased awkwardness of the Win8 interface for a desktop machine. At least Win8 was relatively cheap to try.

I understand MS is desperate to be a part of the tablet trend that is sidelining Windows, but to do it at the inconvenience of it's existing desktop users isn't winning it any friends.

RE: Another vote No on Win8
By nikon133 on 12/31/2012 3:36:49 AM , Rating: 2
Yeah, there's that. Switching between Modern and Desktop is a bit jarring. I personally don't have problem with that, but I can see people not liking it. Since I don't, I like additional functionality of Start screen over Start menu. I'm using Hotmail (and SkyDrive) as it syncs well over iPhone, Transformer and my Windows PCs... so I like capability to see if there are new emails, calendar events etc. on Mail/Calendar tiles before opening Outlook. Start Screen is also more customizable than Win 7 Start menu. Outside of that, majority of my apps are desktop apps, so I'm spending most of time on desktop anyway. Only Modern apps I'm using are small info apps like NZ Herald etc., which I check on occasion.

I'm working for small IT company and we have moved majority of our desktops and laptops to 8, on voluntary base; Windows 8 was made available to staff, but not required. Most moved, and majority is happy with it. Minority share your feeling about Start screen, but can live with it. All that said, I have no illusions that 8 would be as well accepted among our customers, most of which we have managed to move to 7 within last two years. Some are still longing for XP and Office 2003. Everyday users don't like changes which in understandable - computer is just a tool they use to do their job, and less changes they have to learn and adapt to, less problems they have in doing their actual jobs. We have a few Win 8 machines among small users (retail purchases), but not more than that.

