Windows 8 thoughts.......

I'm sure everyone will go off on Windows 8 and I haven't realliy played with it much, but is it that bad that everyone will still pay more for Windows 7? I've read some reviews that said 8 is almost unusable and absolutely terrible but no one really goes into detail. Does anyone have it and like it?

I use it, I've had no problems with it. I use a start button replacement (classic shell).

I've been using it since late 2012, now have two machines running 8.1. I prefer it to 7 and find the start screen, organized to my liking, far more useful than the old start menu. I don't miss having a start menu at all and don't use 3rd party software to restore the "functionality."

I should note one machine (the one I've had the longest) is a traditional keyboard and mouse desktop workstation, no touch pads or touch screens. The other one I have is a Surface Pro.

I still have both W7 and W8.1 in the house. I really have no preference between the two. Both are stable, no compatibility issues, no crashes, they just work. Switching between them is trivial. Not sure why all the W8 hate.

There's a thread that's been active here and that has a lot of info:

https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1384051

I know nothing about Win 8 aside from what I've read, and I really have nothing against it for itself. However, I'm buying a new desktop system in a couple of weeks, and I'm getting it with Win 7, solely because I still have a couple of applications (old games, one, Links 2003, was a 2002 release and has been patched by user mods up through Win 7) I run and all the information I've found says they won't run on Win 8. These old games help me pass the dead of winter, so I don't really want to give them up.

I also don't see that I'm paying any more for Win 7.

Preeb wrote in post #17015495
I know nothing about Win 8 aside from what I've read, and I really have nothing against it for itself. However, I'm buying a new desktop system in a couple of weeks, and I'm getting it with Win 7, solely because I still have a couple of applications (old games, one, Links 2003, was a 2002 release and has been patched by user mods up through Win 7) I run and all the information I've found says they won't run on Win 8. These old games help me pass the dead of winter, so I don't really want to give them up.

I also don't see that I'm paying any more for Win 7.

True. The prices i see up in Canada are comparable, and then (as many do), paying for a 3rd party Start menu app on top (another ~$5).

Windows 8.1 with classic shell is as good as W7, with a few technical advantages. No problems with it at all.

prefer 8.1 to 7
8.1 is solid and stable

Agreed. Was a typical "I will never change" person before I switched. hated windows 8 but win 8.1 with "Start Menu 8". Is very good. Works like 7 (no metro screen) is faster and more stable.

tim wrote in post #17015692
Windows 8.1 with classic shell is as good as W7, with a few technical advantages. No problems with it at all.

This.

Desktop screen almost identical to Win 7 but with performance upgrades "under the hood"

Windows 8.1 is an excellent OS after spending $3 for StartIsBack+: http://startisback.com​/

Win 8 is a better OS than Win 7 except for the desktop background image which will look over saturated on a wide gamut monitor calibrated to full gamut since MS decided to make it very difficult to use anything but an sRGB image. Select an aRGB image and it's retagged as sRGB. A pretty minor nit.

For anything important Win 8 is an upgrade over Win 7.

Just last week I got a new laptop so I've just used Win 8.1 for the first time and I've had no problem at all yet, to the point I'm not sure what all the fuss has been about?

I quite like the new start screen, I deleted most of the tiles off it and just put the ones for the programs I use up there. To be fair it does seem a bit "bolted on" to the old style desktop but other than that, all the normal stuff like connecting to the network and sharing etc have been hassle free.

SO it sounds like you can run 8.1 in kind of an old school "classic shell" then that is similar to windows 7?

Canon_Shoe wrote in post #17018636
SO it sounds like you can run 8.1 in kind of an old school "classic shell" then that is similar to windows 7?

Yes, with 8.1, you can set it up to boot to the desktop first. If you right click on the Windows icon at the lower left of the task bar, you can quickly access a menu for 'control panel, printers and other devices, shut down, sleep, etc'. When on the desktop view, there is a shortcut on the taskbar to Windows Explorer to access folders and files just like Windows 7 too. Left clicking on the Windows icon toggles between the desktop view and the 'metro' view of tiles. You can also access programs by either adding the shortcut icons to the desktop or pin the tile from the metro screen to the taskbar if you want to stay in the desktop view.

I recently bought a Surface Pro 3 and it's been my first experience with Win 8.1. So far, I'm very pleased with it, especially in performance. The Surface boots up and shuts down very quickly.