Windows 8 - another MS disaster waiting to happen?

[lxskllr]

That truly has to be one of the most non accurate statement I've seen on this forum made by a senior member. Windows 2000 hardly holds any relevance. Even if W2K was never released, Win ME would still be deemed as a POS operating system that it was by people that are even half way tech savvy. There is no F'ing way that Win ME could be compared to Win 98 other than the fact it was built on the same platform (Win9.x family). It was nothing more than a dumbed down version of Win98 and I consider it as one of the worst scourge released in Microsoft's history.

It lost real time DOS, and some business-centric stuff. DOS was sacrificed for boot speed, and most people that used ME didn't need the enterprise features that were cut. If that was a POS, then so was XP Home. There might not have been much point in ME, but it wasn't the garbage internet lore would have you believe.

But once you get used to having a real package manager with everything installed and updated via 1 place it's hard to go back to Windows without wincing.

There's A LOT to be said for having a package manager. I never minded using the Windows method, but after being on Linux for awhile, the Windows way has become irritating. It's a joy being able to check updates from one location, and install software without scouring the web :^)

 

[Zargon]

Vista wasn't fine when it was first released - after a series of patches/upgrades it became a nice, stable O/S, but it wasn't fine upon launch, even on new machines.

In my experiences with Vista, most issues were 3rd party driver related.

MS's partners failed HARD with Vista driver support

But once you get used to having a real package manager with everything installed and updated via 1 place it's hard to go back to Windows without wincing. Having to use Google to find software, wonder if the binary is infected with something or bundled with some random toolbar on purpose, etc is just a huge PITA compared to Linux. Windows still doesn't do multiple desktops well and while the taskbar grouping helps, it's not nearly enough.

this is why I <3 ninite.

multiple desktops are OK, but I prefer multiple screens

 

[Nothinman]

this is why I <3 ninite.

multiple desktops are OK, but I prefer multiple screens

Things like Ninite and nPackd are ok, but they're not the same and you still end up with a lot of 3rd party software to manage outside of them. Core things like Windows, IE, etc can't be included in that so their usefulness is a lot lower without MS' buy-in.

I have multiple desktops and multiple monitors, but I prefer multiple desktops more. I group my tasks by desktop and have at least 8 going at once which is a lot more useful than multiple monitors, IMO.

 

[Zargon]

Things like Ninite and nPackd are ok, but they're not the same and you still end up with a lot of 3rd party software to manage outside of them. Core things like Windows, IE, etc can't be included in that so their usefulness is a lot lower without MS' buy-in.

I have multiple desktops and multiple monitors, but I prefer multiple desktops more. I group my tasks by desktop and have at least 8 going at once which is a lot more useful than multiple monitors, IMO.

havent seen npackd I'll check it out

with win update including their software like office, silverlight, .net, and IE, there isnt much I have to manage outside of ninite and windows update

honestly just that it takes care of the adobe products makes my life that much better

I can see why you do your desktops that way, I would probably run a secondary desktop if I could easily, on top of my triples at work/home

 

[Chiefcrowe]

Windows 8 will run on all Windows 7 PCs (and Vista PCs too)

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/windows-8-will-run-on-all-windows-7-pcs-and-vista-pcs-too/13628

this is promising...

 

[Maverick6969]

It lost real time DOS, and some business-centric stuff. DOS was sacrificed for boot speed, and most people that used ME didn't need the enterprise features that were cut. If that was a POS, then so was XP Home. There might not have been much point in ME, but it wasn't the garbage internet lore would have you believe.

Internet lore? What's that. I don't know such meanings. I ran win98 SE and back when ME was released, we bought a new Dell. There was no question in my mind about how much better Win98 ran versus the new Dell loaded w/ that abominable operating system. The two had roughly the same amount of RAM and yet the new Dell ran more sluggish and behaved worse. IIRC, I don't think ME even came with msconfig. I could only put up with it for a month before I wiped it and isntalled Win98 SE. As far as your comment here:

....If that was a POS, then so was XP Home.

That statement is so wrong I don't even know where to begin. It looks like you and I are of a different mindset so I will not even bother typing a response to convince or argue otherwise.

 

[Todd33]

Win 7 is great? Feel like a SP for Vista. I have four Win 7 machines at home, but one laptop is getting Ubuntu soon, Win 7 is just too bloated for it.

 

[Maverick6969]

Win 7 is great? Feel like a SP for Vista. I have four Win 7 machines at home, but one laptop is getting Ubuntu soon, Win 7 is just too bloated for it.

What are the system specs for that laptop?

Saying is Windows 7 is just a "service pack" for vista is wrong. Just wrong. Win 7 performs faster and boot time has also reduced. There's a lot of changes made 'under the hood' and you can Google til you eyeballs fall out on various articles written about it. The two may be similar in features, but there's no way the two can compare in terms of performance.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Windows 8 will run on all Windows 7 PCs (and Vista PCs too)

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/windows-8-will-run-on-all-windows-7-pcs-and-vista-pcs-too/13628

this is promising...

Just because it runs, does not mean it runs well with all your typical apps.

Windows Vista will run on a dual core machine with 1GB of ram, but it sure as hell does not run well once you start opening apps.

But we'll wait and see. If 8 is not more demanding than 7, then yes, it should run decently and at least by the time it's released hardware will have caught up to a point where the OS does not have such a large footprint. I hate microsoft's way of thinking in using every possible resource, just because they can. The OS should be thin, and allow for lot of room to use actual apps.

 

[Nothinman]

What are the system specs for that laptop?

Saying is Windows 7 is just a "service pack" for vista is wrong. Just wrong. Win 7 performs faster and boot time has also reduced. There's a lot of changes made 'under the hood' and you can Google til you eyeballs fall out on various articles written about it. The two may be similar in features, but there's no way the two can compare in terms of performance.

There is no doubt in my mind that Win7 is what Vista should've been at release or that MS could've included all of the improvements in Win7 in a Vista SP release. They just chose not to because they knew they could and probably partially to ditch the Vista name since it got so much shit in the beginning.

 

[Evadman]

I am perfectly happy on Windows ME. I don't know what the problem is.

 

[Todd33]

What are the system specs for that laptop?

Saying is Windows 7 is just a "service pack" for vista is wrong. Just wrong. Win 7 performs faster and boot time has also reduced. There's a lot of changes made 'under the hood' and you can Google til you eyeballs fall out on various articles written about it. The two may be similar in features, but there's no way the two can compare in terms of performance.

Vista was out for two years, they only killed the name because of bad PR and poor sales. Win 7 is Vista, of course they made improvements in two years, but they could have just as easily released Vista SP2 and SP3 and not resold us a "new" OS. Win XP was out officially for five years and had three service packs.

So they went from 5 years and 3 SPs to 2 years and 1 SP. How curious. I'm sure money and sales had nothing to do with it. I love the way MS can re-educate the masses and make billions in the process.

The laptop is a 1.6GHz single core with 1.5GB ram.

 

[HexiumVII]

I think with Win8, MS can finally nail the tablet market. I've been using tablets for years, and while they were pretty awesome, ipad makes it so easy. Win8 looks like Zune interface on top of Win7. I don't think anyone can beat that near term. With Sandy Bridge/Fusion graphics, it will be no problem either.