Upgrading To Windows 8 - Is It Worth It?

My best advice would be to walk into an electronics store and try it for yourself. Not a lot of people like change while some accept it and there's obvious bias flying around (Ex.: OSX fans claiming OSX is infinitely better than Windows.)

I have laptops with both 7 and 8 and the experience is pretty much the same for me. Anything I need I pin to the start screen be it folders, programs, etc. Search is pretty much the same except (some reviews claim) it's more accurate. Productivity is the same as it largely feels the same.

Windows 7 is already perfect imo and there's no reason to upgrade. I honestly have win8 only because my gt70 came with it. I decided to keep it because I took a liking to it (and the boot times are awesome.)

I would say don't get it until you are forced to. The System is weird until you get used to it and it doesn't make anything really faster or slower.. I can see it uses in tablets but in the pc its not really a big deal

Ninite is a very useful site, downloads and installs or updates the programs automatically, doesn't install toolbars, and will automatically detect which version it needs to install.

If only it had Daemon Tools lite, I wouldn't need to go to another site for any software I typically use.

it is a good idea to use msconfig to disable some of the start with windows features though.


Oh another note: win8 and UAC: if you disable it, you can't use metro apps. (my friend told me this and said "silly Microsoft, you thought I wanted to use Metro apps"

I forgot to mention you can mount images w/o third party tools.


The UAC is probably tied to the user confirmation giving an app permission to certain personal data, like you would see on iOS and Android.

This reminds me of the internet explorer joke. "Windows is best used to download and install Ubuntu!"

If you think you can get used to a more hotkey styled experience, it's 110% worth it.

It runs smoother, faster, but more importantly, after the 3-5 day learning curve, you can do everything in Win8 much, much faster htan you can in windows 7.

What you don't get is that start menu isn't a windows feature anymore. They said "welp, that lasted a long time, but we've got something better; no more start menu." So no, you don't need 3rd party software to use a basic Windows feature -- you need 3r party software to use an outdated Windows feature.

MDI's are inefficient. That's why cell phones don't use them so heavily anymore.

lol "better" is very subjective, and yeah: you still need a third party app to use a basic windows feature.

I know you have this great love for Windows 8 and you feel like white-knighting for it, but it's a sad joke.

I have been meaning to reinstall it on something to give that a whirl, to see the compatibility/functionality as I'll give it an honest chance, but I'm very skeptic.

Like Windows has had compressed files support for some time, but I still use 7zip.

I just find the UAC thing funny, as most disable it, I'm one of the few I know who actually use it...

I've been running 8 on my primary home PC to give it a fair shake, and it really isn't that bad. The only thing I've had issues with relative to 7 was actually FFXI+Windower, and even that was pretty trivial.

Some of the additions are pretty nice, and stuff like the contents of the menu that comes up when you right click the Start screen popup seems like they know their audience (somewhat).
Main thing I dislike is simply the lack of options. Can't choose to use the old Start menu if you happened to like it, or Aero, or even change the damn system fonts without visiting regedit...but the multi-monitor integration, task manager, copy dialogue, etc is welcome.

Don't do it! Worst decision I have ever made in my entire life. The amount of compatibility issues is just ridiculously insane!

like Scragg said: classic shell, ninite.com

makes it tolerable.

I've done a fair amount of reading on it, and the compatibility issues just are astounding. Personally I use Windows because it works for most things, when I can't run the basic things I want to run, I'll just use Linux.

Jet, if I'm white-knighting Windows 8 (and that's hysterical, since I'm primarily an OSX fan...), then you're just drinking the haterade.

What basic windows feature is missing on windows 8? I dare beg ask.

I already told you, and that's just more laughable...

and I'm far from drinking the haterade, I gave it an honest shot, and am willing to give it another.

ITT Jet uses Linux, which probably has Gnome interface or Unity, and laughs at OSX, which Gnome and Unity derived from.

Tell me, Jet, because clearly I'm HELP I AM TRAPPED IN 2006 PLEASE SEND A TIME MACHINE: what windows feature is missing on Windows 8?

actually I mostly use Windows, I'm in the transition process, and I don't recall which desktop environment I installed, I typically ssh in.

Working with getting used to the gui later, and I'll have to try out a few.

I already told you...

Haven't needed Classic shell, honestly would defeat the point somewhat (I work in IT as well, and don't want to be lost when I inevitably need to work on 8/Server 2012).

It's pretty much the same workflow as 7 90% of the time, since I tend to pin things to the taskbar. Again, I haven't seen much that actually breaks, relative to 7 x64.

I'm not on about FFXI specifically, the amount of compatibility issues I have with other programs and games is just a killer for me.

This pretty much sums it up, Windows 8 rocks with a touch screen. And about FFXI, I installed it with windower working without any problems, fresh install of 8 though.

Speaks volumes in and of itself.

I get Windows 8 for free through the Technet subscription that my company pays for. Like everyone else I work with I installed it into a VM and played around with it. And like everyone else I work with, after awhile I just decided it brought no new capabilities while requiring additional investment to make it anywhere near useful.

Windows 8 is just an updated Windows 7 kernel with a new UI stapled on top of it. Functionally it's pretty much the same in the background with only minor compatibility issues. The key difference lies with it's "new UI. What MS did was create a single UI for all it's platforms even if it wasn't optimal for that particular platform. They did it to unify the "user experience" in the hopes that people using one product of theirs would feel comfortable using other products. That doesn't work so well on vastly different platforms, desktop vs tablet for example.

The killer for me was the "whole screen" programs menu, I absolutely HATED that they forced it to be that big. No new functionality + minor annoyances (or major depending) = negative product impact. It's summed up in the line people keep saying.

"You can do everything in Windows 8 that you could in Windows 7 after you get used to it".

I'm expected to put work and effort into something to do exactly what I'm already doing.

Lets not get into OS wars though, none of you are running a "real mans" OS.

I don't know why anyone would white knight anything on a computer, I run Windows XP, 7, 8, OSX SL,ML, Linux FC,UB... Why limit yourselves? Or *** like little girls about which OS is better? ;)

Oh, and you can run FFXI+Windower on all of em :P

BSD?

BSD is just another linux 'flavor' derived from Unix, I can't realistically install every linux distribution out there now can I?

Darwin which boots OSX is made of BSD fwiw.

I wouldn't really call BSD linux, and I know what derives from it.

ok wise guy, a *unix* variant.

I use Windows 8 full time since retail release, i got a full version of Pro edition and not the upgrade and got myself a free media center key (you where able to get it for free for a limited time.you have to buy it now).

i personally love windows 8, i have it on my PC, laptop, tablet and i have a Windows 8 mobile phone and any documents pictures etc are easy synced to all devices and its fast when doing it.

Scrag forgot to mention, or prob not noticed, but Windows 8 is better on the resource management and handles system resources much better than Windows 7.

Metro start Screen
as many people said you have to get used to it and i agree. alot complain that there is no shutdown/restart/etc on the metro screen but with the yse of OlbyTiles (free program) you can add it and also make custom tiles

Default Look


Custom Tiles


Metro Apps
one thing about the metro aps is that if you switch to another, for example, switch from mail to Chrome (metro mode) then the mail app will use 0 of the system resources. this is nice for windows 8 tablets and laptops running on battery.

Taking Screenshots
another handy shortcut is WinKey+Print Screen will screen shot your screen and save it to your "my pictures" folder, its how i took these screenshots

Start Menu
as for the start menu you can get it back, Stardock Start8 is by far the best program around that does it.

Games/Software/Drivers Compatibility
gaming wise i find windows 8 slightly better when running games. i have never had any compatibility issues with software or drivers, my sound card is still using W7 drivers as there is no W8 divers for it yet.

Fresh Reinstalling
one of the best features in W8 beside the fast boot times and better resource management is, if you have to reinstall fresh W8 then you can do it with out a DVD or USB as it can install it without but you have to install it first to be able to do that. i tested it and it works propely, it reinstalled my PC back to a fresh install.

Networking
i have also found that the networking in improved a lot in windows 8, in windows 7 i had alot of problems with accessing other PC's/Servers on my network but never had a problem on windows 8.

with media center in windows 7 i had problem with it when connecting to it with my xbox, it would timeout/crash/lag badly. again i never have problems on Windows 8.

i run a private cloud server, mail server as well and data storage server (all servers running server 2012) on my network and find it really easy to sync all my PCs/windows8 phone/tablet/laptops to it without any 3rd party software like google drive, dropbox, skydrive, box.com . and i can do it anywhere no matter where i am as long as i have internet of course

Recomendations
if your sesitive to change then you best waiting, if you dont mind change i would suggest to try it out some time


or go to destop and have your icons on the desktop, alternativly you can use Olbytiles to add a tile to open "My Computer"

Kind of funny how people say, "If you want it just DL this simple program." Well...just use Windows 7 if that's the case lmao.