yup agree about the upgrading issue, but another issue is "form factor"... monitor, pc, full sized keyboard and a mouse (and printer(s)). though i've been keen to a Levono or iMac alike setup form factor before (monitor and PC in one housing) but havent figured out how to carry the keyboard and mouse along in one bag for portability reason, no market providing me that setup yet afaik.
To me, using a proper keyboard with a laptop is the way to go, and I would use a tablet the same way.
Seeing the way Microsoft is going with Office (renting instead of selling) made me even happier to have switched to LibreOffice.OpenOffice/LibreOffice is fine if your requirements are low (i.e. the occasional letter, simple spreadsheets), but it's still so far behind even a ten year old MS Office 2003 that it's not even funny.
The keyboard is literally my most important criterion when I choose a laptop. If I can even imagine a very grumpy-mood version of myself having the slightest complaint, whine or worry about the keyboard, I do not buy the laptop.
I have a mac that sits in the closet.
one feature of the "crappy new piece of crap metro garbage disgusting interface" is the search function, just start typing and whatever you're looking for comes up, if you can get past the "ugly disgustingly huge moronic icons" that also pop up:
My hobby used to be PCs and upgrading them for fun. But as you said, it got unexciting because the machines are so capable it fell out of interest for me. I have an Athlon 6 core main PC I built probably 3 years ago and there is simply no reason to upgrade it.
So I moved on to model railroading ...
When I got my dell laptop, I got a slightly oversized bag, and I always carry around a Bluetooth Dell (Logitech) keyboard and mouse. The bag has to be at least 44cm (17") wide. I have hardly used the laptop keyboard - perhaps I might need to use it once a month. The Dell Bluetooth keyboard and mouse actually works - unlike many other brands.
To me, using a proper keyboard with a laptop is the way to go, and I would use a tablet the same way.
Probably the same reason why the first thing they do on a new Windows XP installation is to restore the bland Windows 95 menu and color scheme.
I do that because it works better. I install classic shell on Win7 because it works better.
You whine on about people not being prepared to learn a new user interface
while the whole point of the start screen shit in Win8 (and why it can't be removed and the start menu is gone) is to force a new user interface on its captive desktop market so those people don't have to learn a new interface to use Microsoft's phones and fondleslabs.
Microsoft same old same old, fuck what customers want we will use whatever leverage we have to make them buy what we have to sell.
Face it you took (the interface formally known as) Metro up the arse and are telling us you like how it feels.
Because from an ergonomical point of view it's inferior to any modern UI.
No, the reason of this 'start screen shit' is to bring the UI into the 21st century and adapt to the way people are starting to use computers. Being stuck in the past you may have not realized it but the standard Windows desktop is crap when using on touchscreens (I know, I have used it). The new Metro GUI works with both touch devices and mouse/keyboard. It's certainly not perfect but it's a first step into the right direction.
As I said, I'm using Windows 8 for quite a while, and having to go back to Windows 7 or even XP (shudder!) just shows me how much better Windows 8 is. I'm not a fan of Metro, really not, but I don't let the fact that my Start menu is now full screen and that I have to move the mouse into the lower left corner instead of clicking on a button get in the way of benefitting from the many advances that are in Windows 8.
Again, it's perfectly fine to stay with your old OS. But it looks silly when someone complains that a new OS version doesn't cater for the people that are stuck in their old ways because they are too unflexible to change.
My advice: don't throw out your old computers. Upgrade if you want, but keep the old machines in a cupboard or whatever.
No, the reason of this 'start screen shit' is to bring the UI into the 21st century and adapt to the way people are starting to use computers. Being stuck in the past you may have not realized it but the standard Windows desktop is crap when using on touchscreens (I know, I have used it). The new Metro GUI works with both touch devices and mouse/keyboard. It's certainly not perfect but it's a first step into the right direction.
Since when was a Start button used for stopping the computer a good design idea anyway?
It looks sillier when someone thinks needless breaking changes are good. We are "too unflexible to change" because these changes impact productivity. Maybe if you're an employee who wants to get paid more for doing less so these changes slowing you down can help...
Since when was a Start button used for stopping the computer a good design idea anyway?Since the usability tests MS did on the Win95 shell showed that's where people looked for the shutdown option
... there are several third party applications that can "restore" the start button and menu structure, you can boot directly to the desktop and never even use the start "screen"
huge inefficient grid of giant tiles on the screen
huge inefficient grid of giant tiles on the screenjust in case you havent noticed, FWIW... go to bottom right, there is minus sign. click that, the giant tiles will go tiny, but i'm not sure though how it works for hundreds of tiles since i'm not thinking to install all the softwares in it (just enough for the wifey to be happy) and tapping anywhere once will bring back to giant tiles. the bad thing is the minus sign is at the very edge of the screen even my small finger cannot reach, only by mouse. M$ should be smart enough to not to do that in the first place if "touch" is in their right mind.