Windows 10: Windows 8, 8.1 & 10 versus Windows 7

*Ditto, but we are a small minority

 

Groze, I am sure that tablet computers do possess some utility for pupils and/or students at schools. For serious work that needs to be undertaken in business and institutional environments, however, tablet computers are nowhere near as useful as desktop PCs and laptops. Personally, I find typing on tablets to be a painful experience. Give me a keyboard and mouse any day of the week! *Smile

CountMike, I understand where you're coming from. It does, indeed, make sense to create operating system uniformity across all hardware devices. My point is this. Microsoft appears to be prioritising the mobile user in terms of the design of its latest operating system products (with the exception of the Windows Server line). For example, Windows 8.0 with "Metro" (or "Start") and the removal of the Start Menu clearly indicates that it was designed for the tablet user, which greatly annoyed desktop PC and laptop enthusiasts (including myself), hence the reason why it was such a resounding commercial failure.

 

It did take some, maybe most users, some time to get used to new type of start and new approach to starting programs and get used to "Mobile look" and Apps. Consider also millions of people that are not used to smart phones and tablets. I didn't have a smart phone till a year ago and tiles in start menu didn't associate me with tablets or anything else. I also didn't use Start menu in W7 and long time in XP because of shear number of programs installed and was pretty hard to find anything thru old Start menu. All in all, Metro/Modern start didn't make me any problems, specially with 8.1.1 where I customized it to be very handy and fast to find programs. Looks of those tile notwithstanding, it was good for me.
In W 10, combination of tiles and Start menu is even better although I still stick to old habit of making folders on desktop with names according to type of program that has links in them. So now I have 5 places to start programs from, whatever I'm closest to.
Looking at all of that, that way, W8.1.1. and specially W 10 is much closer to desktop computer OS than to portable device OS.
Desktop (and laptop) OS with mobile part just starting to catch up functionally and looks wise.

 

Many think the start screen is more for tablets, but it works just as well with keyboard/mouse, I do agree that it annoyed a lot and was seen as a failure

Never been a big user of 7, but what is it that 7 can do that 8/10 cannot, what productivity software cannot be used?, what can a power user not do in 8/10?

Why do you feel that 8/10 are more for mobile/tablet people?

I am sitting here now using 8.1 on the desktop, apart from the start menu its virtually the same as any other version of windows

Just trying to understand why 8/10 get classed as mainly for tablet/mobile users as I don't see it

 

1. It's not.. Win10 is more of a Desktop OS that WIn8.1 was. You have a new start menu that is reminiscent of WIn7 and the start screen from Win8.1 is gone.

2. Adding a third party start menu also makes Win8.1 more geared toward the Desktop user than tablet.. ClassicShell and Start8 are two great examples.

Bottom line is Win7 was not the only OS that was aimed at Desktop users.

Jeff

 

Because of ugly (arguably) multi colored squares with ill defined icons in them. On a smaller, portable device, you can't see them in all their "glory" but on a big screen is different story, when couple of square inches of nondescript eyesore stares you in the eye. If MS made them look like proper icons, at least half of dissenters would not complain.

 

still doesn't make sense to me, win 8 is just as much a desktop os as 10 is or 7 is, it just has a different way to launch programmes

I have been in 8.1 on the desktop all day today (last 9 hours or so), not once have I seen the start screen or any metro apps

 

Windows 8, 8.1 and 10 do not have the pleasant visual aesthetics that Windows 7 clearly has. Aero Windows 7 style and the basic Windows 2000 theme would go a long way to remove the crtism. If you are staring at screens all day long you may as well have the screens displaying something nice. Nice menus and 3D visual cues. But Microsoft has decided 2 colour icons are in along with awful looking Windows and borders. Therefore until this changes many users including this one a staying on 7. The lack of media center does not help either.

 

I'm under impression that at least half W8/10 detractors never used it once they seen looks of Metro/ modern and labeled it "Finger using" OS while it's quite the opposite the case. Full blown desktop OS with elements to be used on smaller, portable devices.

 

That's what I am think, fully agree with last sentence

Win 8.1 with an added start menu if you want, seems fine to me if you don't like the start screen

 

This is the most true thing I've read in this topic. I have them dual booted together and 10 runs circles around 7, both in boot time and during general usage. Regardless of the new apps/features, the kernel itself in Windows 10 is far superior to that of 7, even on older hardware (Possibly in part due to slimming down the OS to run on mobile devices which don't have the juice of a desktop? *Tongue). At first I liked 7 better than 8 but after 8.1 I guess I'm used to both now and don't really have a preference, but the improvements that 10 brings over both ON THE SAME HARDWARE has me sold!

 

That's quite an assumption! *Smile Although you obviously disagree, I believe that most people who have used both Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 would conclude that Metro was designed for touch screen devices. The reason I believe that Windows 8 and 8.1 are mobile orientated is because the Metro/Start interface is very similar to the "app" interface that you see on Apple iOS (iPad) and Android-based devices. Furthermore, there was a lot of speculation that Microsoft wanted to move away completely from the traditional Windows Desktop, which caused outrage amongst users. For what it's worth, I have Windows 8, 8.1 and 10 installed in a virtual environment (for the purpose of comparison); I possess good experience in all Windows operating system releases since Windows 3.1.

 

I just wanted to throw my two cents in on this topic. As I have 3 OS'es currently at home, I can tell you how I feel. I have my current (old) desktop (AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4Ghz) that is running an XP & Windows 7 dual boot, because I need to access XP for some x86 old applications that won't run in a x64 environment so I am keeping that as is. Personally I like those 2 operating systems because it had more of the desktop feel.

Then I have a mini book Acer Aspire E3-111-C32T 11.6" Intel N2830 (2.16GHz) 2GB 320GB HDD, with Windows 8.1. I notice the O/S is a little more snappy (8.1) even on this little guy but I had to install Start8 and 8 Gadget Pack to get the Win 7 feel to get rid of metro. I can't tell you how much the charms and metro interface bother me. I un-installed almost everything I could so which is good and otherwise it does the job.

As for 10 vs 7 in this whole thing, I forgot who posted but I agree with a comment made by a user that said Microsoft is going in the wrong direction. Yes they are. I personally believe they should rid the whole mobile, tablet markets because its an utter failure and concentrate on making operating systems for PC users. Apple iPhone and Androids (Samsung, HTC) dominate the phone market, these days no one wants a Windows Phone or a Blackberry, let alone a Nokia (if they make those anymore). If someone gets a tablet its usually an iPad or an Android device, even Chromebooks sell these days.

Microsoft messed up on Windows 8/8.1 but they are correcting that in Windows 10 with the return of the start menu and certain tweaks, however I personally am not fond of the Settings interface and all those built-in apps that we currently cannot uninstall (such as Xbox, music, etc, etc,). To me personally, this is BLOATWARE.

I will upgrade my factory reset my little guy and update 8.1 to Windows 10 but in hopes that I can remove all the things I don't need. I will switch off Cortana, do searches locally, keep only a local account, and hopefully it will allow me to remove all those applications I do not need such as XBOX, Music, and etc, I know they take up very little space but, personally its like doing a clean install of an O/S. Why do I want all these things there? I would personally remove STORE if I possibly could as it would be of no use to me.

I am certain I am not the only one who feels this way. I think Windows 10 is a step forward from 8.1 but I hope we will be able to customize it like we have in previous versions of Windows.

I will still continue to use my old desktop with XP/7 and I plan on building in the fall an i5 lga1150 computer and I will purchase an oem copy of 10 and use that as my main computer, making the switch after I play around with the release on my little notebook and customize it to my liking. *Smile

In the end, I like both Windows 7 and 10 (7 being my fav presently) but I hope that in the RTM of 10 we will be able to remove the things that for certain users are unnecessary.

Thanks if you read this novel *Smile

 

Mobile orientated doesn't mean it can't work on the desktop PC as well. I have no problem navigating Windows 8.1 and 10 with a keyboard and trackball. I can find things a lot faster than I can in Windows 7.

 

Windows 8/10 (haven't noticed performance improvments over 8 in the TP) are great but since MS is combining their ecosystem like Apple, then 8/10 inevitably have mobile-friendly aspects, which are pointless to most users. Plus, most people don't have Windows Phones, so they don't benefit from having Windows apps sync on multiple devices.

TLDR: Most people just want a simple desktop computer. Windows 7 provides that.

Settings is another example of MS still not understanding that they should appeal to the strengths of respective platforms, not make a "one-size-fits-all" that doesn't appeal the strengths of any platform. Windows 10 x86 should have Control Panel, while RT has Settings. Settings looks completely different from Explorer, task manager, even Edge using a dark theme.


ps: and the Xbox 1 is losing the console race ATM. Meaning that lots of people won't care about Windows 10's streaming features since they have a PS4. MS dropped the ball on that one.


BTW I fail to see Cortana's relevance on a desktop PC. Another feature that makes people on Windows 7 say "wut?"