Windows 8 does not suck

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The general consensus on this site is that windows 8 sucks. I have no idea why people are saying this, if they themselves have not used windows 8 at all. I've been using windows 8 for over 5 months, and it has been the best OS experience i have had. Not only did i get it for a whopping $40, but it came with both 32bit and 64bit discs. 

Let me start off by saying that this OS is very feature rich, if you get past the METRO section, and find your way into the actual desktop, you will find that windows 8 is very well made. Yes, i know windows 8 does not have a start button, but that is something that can be easily fixed. "START8" is a program made specifically to add the start button to your taskbar, it can also disable the "charms" and boot straight to desktop. This program makes it run AND boot just like windows 7, you'll never have to see the METRO menu ever again.

Now that we've got our start button back, lets go over some of the features, that I've found helpful and already come pre-loaded with windows 8.

  • Fast boot - SSD's will boot in under 10 seconds
  • Very low system requirements, almost the same as windows7 (1.4 GHz cpu, 1-2GB ram, 16gb HD)
  • Store Spaces - lets you create a "pool" of HDD's, sort of like a RAID set up within windows!!
  • W-8 now has a "time machine" like set up, where you can bring back a file to before you deleted it all lol
  • Reinstall windows within windows, for that oh so fresh install 
  • Start search now categorized in METRO, just like windows 7.
  • Windos Live Sync, if you have two W-8 pc's, you can set them up the same way, without having to do it yourself.
  • Task Manager is amazing, not only can you edit the startup program there, but the performance tab is now greatly improved, showing CPU, HDD, Memory & Ethernet usage, awesome!!
  • Folder option now displayed like office, much easier to see everything in one go.
  • Run your updates at a certain time, such as 3am when you're sleeping, or while you're at work
  • hide files from recently used section
  • Windows Screen Shots!! NO MORE PAINT!! use the windows key+prnt screen and it saves to the pictures folder automatically
  • For you two monitor guys, with windows+page up, you can switch a program from screen to screen, good if you want to run another program on your main screen.
  • Cloud! for all you cloud lovers, Microsoft has now made a cloud service, thats where i keep all my homework lol, just in case.
  • Lastly, the most cool option of all, Windows To Go, run windows inside of a USB, yes, run windows on a USB, no install required, just boot from your usb, and its ready to use. Sadly its only on Windows Enterprise... hopefully it will be moved the other windows 8's in SP1 :(

As most of you might have noticed, i love windows 8, ive been using windows for over 18 years, since windows 95. The evolution of windows is amazing, now with windows 8, if really has modernized itself into a true modern day OS. People on the internet bashing Windows 8 will not help it grow, i know most people are talking about Linux, both Ubuntu and Mint, and other distributions. But windows is truely required to run MOST games and even office. I have 3 different computer, My gaming rig with W-8, a Mac (yes a mac with OS Lion) and a Linux beater, all of them i am very familiar with, and love them all. 

I play EVERY SINGLE game that comes out, even the most recent ones, and i have had NO ISSUES, playing any game, so if someone tells you that a certain game is not windows 8 friendly, its probably a lie or an assumption. Here are a few games i play : Assasins Creed3, Black Ops 2, Bio Shock, Black Mesa, L4D, TF2, Portal 1&2, GTA4, Crysis, Dead Space,Rage, Metro 2033. I have ZERO issues with any game :)

Hopefully giving you guys all this information, makes you aware that Windows 8 is a great option when building a pc, not only is it feature rich, but if you're not ready to commit to the METRO, you can run 3rd party programs to make it a more traditional windows. The best part, is that you can probably walk over to your local Pc store, and pick it up dirt cheap, because no one wants it.

thank you for taking the time to read my post, and hopefully you find it informative and helpful.

Link to "Start 8"

http://www.stardock.com/products/Start8/

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Well.. food for thought at any rate. I'll be building my new rig in the next month or so, and I was gonna stick with 7. But I'll do some more research snd consider going with 8.

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a lot of the dislike comes from windows trying to lock down the windows enviroment and the whole metro thing makes people dislike it strongly.

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forgot to list my spec's for those interested.

intel i5 2400

msi- z77a-g43

12 gigs ddr3 1600

MSI - Nvidia 660 Ti

128gig SSD

1 TB storage drive

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Have a depressing chart showing OS  market share

 

2013-02-04T08-44-48_0.jpg772x627 84.4 KB

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It's kinda sad that Vista is still beating 8.

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not really. vista was ok 1s the service packs arrive. the same will likely be true for windows 8.

as for it not sucking. it really does. windows is by its very nature an open platform that offeres the greatest compatability of any current o.s. that is rite up to windows 8. for this version microsoft have thrown up a wall around metro and if you dont buy your apps through the metyro store you cant see them on the metro gui. its even more infested with drm and basically turns a usable machine into a security cordon.

no mate il quite happily stay with windows 7 till they release windows 9 or 10 maybe by then they will abandon the idea of turning the desktop pc into a mobile tablet and get back to what is important. an easy to use intuative filing system. frankly other than yellow icons windows 7 is pretty much the best o.s i have used in my 31 years of computing. windows 8 is the second worst. windows 2000 being the worst.

i will try windows 8 again when they release service pack 1 but for now i have had to many game incompatabilitys to be bothered about trying it any time befor that...

also a lot of them games you have listed as compatable are listed as having issues. on many sites.

just because they work for you on your config doesnt mean they work for me or the other guys on ours. which is pretty much the norm for windows. gta has sheering and texture pop issues ac3 has frame rate issues and stability issues. i could go on but i cant be bothered because it wont change your mind. 

if your happy then great, enjoy. just dont tell me that walking with a limp is fun when im used to running.

 

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They will not be releasing any Service Packs for 8 from what I've read.  They'll be transitioning straight to Windows Blue (I guess you could call it a free upgrade from 8 to the next generation of Windows OSes).  

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I got windows 8 for free from my school, Ill check it out and see how it is. Ill probably end up doing a dual boot of windows and ubuntu again soon.

I rarely ever use windows these days, I usually prefer linux with Uinity for everything except gaming.

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  My first experience with Windows after having a computer that was DOS based was Windows ME. You know the one that stood for Many Errors. They could service pack the hell out of it but no matter what they did it remained a piece of crap. The new commercial for Windows 8 shows the little girl painting pictures and showing daddy through Skype. I figured at least they got the demographics correct. Microsoft is all about making things pretty, not functional. Can you imagine a large corporation using Windows 8? This is Windows attempt to get into the ever growing phone and tablet market without any thought to the desktop users. Microsoft has always had a tendency to force people to purchase new hardware to accommodate their software. Windows Vista was a great example of this course of action. When a company starts off with a pretty picture that serves absolutely no function but to be moved so one can sign in tells me they are trying to dumb down the users. Just look at the add they had where they turned the woman’s house into a computer store because her computer was so out of date. It was a 4 year old tower. At the end of the commercial she stands there with a laptop saying she is a PC and is finally up to date. Oh please, don’t insult my intelligence and with Windows 8 I feel they are still trying to do the same thing. Thank you for listening to my rant for the day.   

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im no trying to convert anyone to Windows 8, im just saying its not as bad as people make it out to be.

Yes windows 7 is great, because its something we are used to.With "start 8" you will never have to see the METRO interface again. For $40-$50, windows 8 is a good alternative for people who dont want to spend $100+ on windows 7. keeping piracy down a little.

keep the comments coming guys, negative or positive. 

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I agree 100% with gtjc!

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I've been using Windows 8 for a while as well. I have no problems except I can't seem to get Chivarly to start. I don't mind metro or really anything else. I do like some of the changes such as file explorer and the task manager. Most people who are bashing it for metro just can't adapt to change. It's been about 20 some years since a real desktop change.

Didnt see a link to start 8 so here it is:

http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

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thank you for taking the time to reply, i have not had the preasure of working with PC's for 30 years, as i am not 30 years old, so i cannot comment on the good ol' days.

I ran windows XP all the way until windows 7, so i too know the "if it aint broke..." mantra for PC's.

Now onto games, i havent had issues with either GTA4, or AC3, but then again I am running a 660 Ti lol, a little over kill. Correct, not every set up is the same, so what may work for me, will not work for others, and so on, this may also apply to running 64 bit, and some games are having trouble running 64 bit even in 7.

im not asking you to change my mind, i have MULTIPLE OS's at my disposal, Linux mint, OS X, Windows 7 and Windows 8. Im just here to inform the people about windows 8, not convert, please keep comments like that to yourself

Also, keep in mind, some Manufactures have not released support drivers for Windows 8, some old hardware may not even support 8, ever.My current set up is actually pretty new, most of the boxes actually said, "WINDOWS 8 READY", so i cannot comment on other people's hardware, as that is another variable.

As with any new OS, hardware will not be supported, Patches will not be realsed until SP1 to hopefully supress some of the on-going grumbling going on.

thank you for taking the time to comment, highly appreciated.

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You are completely missing the point. Everyone agrees that performance wise Windows 8 is better than Windows 7. Most people who are against Windows 8 (me included) do not agree with a direction of business model Microsoft is heading with its OS. Windows 8 is a significant step toward iOS and OS X style closed and tightly controlled environment. No one wants Microsoft version of Apple product. The metro interface is criticized because it is completely unnecessary on desktops and laptops, and was included as a part of Windows 8 only to force users into Microsoft's new business model.

Edit: just noticed that witteknokkels already expressed the same opinion, sorry for repetition.

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I'm not disagreeing with Microsoft being "closed and tightly controlled", but since when is there an option in Windows? There is always only one version just new features or limited features. In Linux you can do whatever you want, and there is also lots of choices on what you want to install. With Microsoft, they have always been more closed. Besides, they aren't blocking 3rd party programs to change the start menu the way they want it to. Besides, the desktop has been the same since 1995. Change is nice, but from what I see and hear, it's not very well accepted when it comes to anything technological.

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Actually my comment was addressed to the author of the blog, but nevermind.

"I'm not disagreeing with Microsoft being "closed and tightly controlled", but since when is there an option in Windows? There is always only one version just new features or limited features." I do not I think understand what you wanted to point out here.

"In Linux you can do whatever you want, and there is also lots of choices on what you want to install." I argued that Windows is moving toward MAC style OS. But you bring up Linux in this. I guess you wanted to say that Linux is even more open than Windows and Mac (and no one argues with you on that). But still how it is related to my argument? I am relating Windows 8 to Mac OS, not Linux.

"Change is nice, but from what I see and hear, it's not very well accepted when it comes to anything technological." A pointless argument in line of "You can't accept change bla bla bla, you old dushbag". When it comes to a technology, one does not make change for the sake of change itself. Change should only be made when it results in functional and perfomance improvements. We are talking about technology here, not some aesthetical design or politics. If you like change so much then you might as well go around and replace all wheels in cars with squares. There is a reason circular design of wheels have not changed for centuries.

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time for me to tear everytihg you said appart.... dont take offence, not a personal attack, i just want to debunk any questions people might have and clear up everything....

so first off, i want to say that i have used windows 8. and programmed a windows 8 app (at a microsoft talk, with microsoft people there to answer questions, which i assumed would have made it an esier process). it was not fun.

 

now heres the issue with windows 8... its been designed for tablets, with the desktop user as an afterthought. the windows kernel itsself has not been updated much, and it is getting messy. the windows store is a terrible idea, and currently it doesnt even have a search feature.

microsoft needs to rebuild most of the underlying system. if not redesign windows from the ground up

 

  • Fast boot - SSD's will boot in under 10 seconds

>yes. i googled windows 7 ssd boot time and it seems that 9-11 seconds is the norm. so not all that big of a difference. disabling bios splash screen would speed up my boot time more than switching to windows 8.

  • Very low system requirements, almost the same as windows7 (1.4 GHz cpu, 1-2GB ram, 16gb HD)

> look at the screen shot you posted... 1.7 gigs of ram used, with 63 running processes, and it doesnt look like much is running.

  • Store Spaces - lets you create a "pool" of HDD's, sort of like a RAID set up within windows!!

>your just making logical volumes across multiple discs. you will still need to do a hardware level raid to gain performance increase.

  • W-8 now has a "time machine" like set up, where you can bring back a file to before you deleted it all lol

>yeah, the recycle bin has been in windows since like... windows 95. if you delete a file once, realise you need it, then delete it again. the file deserved to be deleted as to teach you a lesson in common sense. furthermore, you can always do a low level recover on the hdd if it was freshly deleted. (look up recova)

  • Reinstall windows within windows, for that oh so fresh install

>by install windws within windows, do you mean running the windows install cd from inside windows? you could do that in 7.

if you mean doing a restore to the origional install state. you can do that in 7..

if you mean making a windows vm inside windows... why would you do that, your not cleaning anything up.

  • Start search now categorized in METRO, just like windows 7.

>what? windows 8 comes after windows 7... so if something in 8 is the same as in 7, why is it in this list?

  • Windos Live Sync, if you have two W-8 pc's, you can set them up the same way, without having to do it yourself.

if i had to set up 2 pc's exactly the same, i would use a disk image. if i needed to keep files in sync, i would use an ftp with an updating tool. if you mean installing multiple windows pc's at the same time in the same way, windows has a network install option. its been there since xp i believe.

  • Task Manager is amazing, not only can you edit the startup program there, but the performance tab is now greatly improved, showing CPU, HDD, Memory & Ethernet usage, awesome!!

>resource monitor. been there since vista. its that button thats on the performance tab of task manager.

  • Folder option now displayed like office, much easier to see everything in one go.

>i believe you are refering to the file bar. i dislike the new one... a lot.

  • Run your updates at a certain time, such as 3am when you're sleeping, or while you're at work

>http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Change-how-Windows-installs-or-notifies-you-about-updates (or, as i did... just disable the automatic update feature in regedit. so you have to manually hit install, no more posponing time)

  • hide files from recently used section

yet again. very vague. im assuming you mean in the start bar. been an option since 98 or xp... in the newer windows (vista and 7) you right click your start bar (not button) and it has all the options. first thing i do after install is use small icons so windows doesnt take up 100px for the bar. tell windows not to combine the little squares. that way i can see the names of my programs (this essentially makes my win7 have the vista system bar). then i disable the showing of recently used shit.

  • Windows Screen Shots!! NO MORE PAINT!! use the windows key+prnt screen and it saves to the pictures folder automatically

>sort of like the snipping tool?

  • For you two monitor guys, with windows+page up, you can switch a program from screen to screen, good if you want to run another program on your main screen.

>WOW! its like these already existed in windows 7 http://productivity.ben61a.com/windows/windows-7-shortcut-keys.php

  • Cloud! for all you cloud lovers, Microsoft has now made a cloud service, thats where i keep all my homework lol, just in case.

>god, i wish i could hit everyone who uses buzz words like cloud. skydrive is not windwos 8. my friends use it. i hate it. google also has a "cloud" service. dropbox is an amazing "cloud" service. i host a secure ftp on my virtual private server and i use that as "cloud" storage. its not new... the protocol for FTP was drafted 16 April 1971... which means cloud shit has been arround for twice as long as you have. if not more.

  • Lastly, the most cool option of all, Windows To Go, run windows inside of a USB, yes, run windows on a USB, no install required, just boot from your usb, and its ready to use. Sadly its only on Windows Enterprise... hopefully it will be moved the other windows 8's in SP1 :(

>well, i do agree with you here. this is a long needed feature. sadly it is only enterprise. i managed to hack windows 7 onto a portable hdd.... but it was a bunch of mounting the phdd during the install and making windows think it was the hard drive, then moving the bootloader onto a flashdrive, then setting up the bootloader to look for the hdd on a usb interface... it was very.... time consuming and confusing. not something most people could do. it also did not work on every computer...

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thank you for your input, keep them coming guys. Yes Linux is a great option for an OS, im actually running Mint 14 on my beater pc. Also yes, 8 is more OSX style to compete, AGAIN, I AM NOT TRYING TO CONVERT ANYONE, JUST TRYING TO EDUCATE PEOPLE ON THE 8 OS. Lets try to make this the end all be all info page for people trying to learn about windows 8. Still for $40 for a Windows OS is a great deal.

@ ztrain you must be a great hit at parties :)