Windows 8

[Cheshire Cat]

Has anyone had experience of Windows 8 ? I'm thinking of buying a new laptop but they all seem to be Windows 8. Is it easy to get used to or worth avoiding?
Any opinions please?

[Anne in Carlisle]

I know nothing! (still on XP) but thought this would give you food for thought.........

A friend of my daughter's who works in computing is moving from Apple Mac to Windows 8. He describes it as "An exciting development" and the "Apple haven't done much updating for a long time"

Anne

[TrevorFranklin]

It's like everything new, you either love it or hate it.
I find it to be a good system for tablets, as the system is geared for touch screens using icons and finger dragging.
For a main PC or laptop, I found, when evaluating it, that I was so used to the way I did things in Windows 7 that the way it worked was a real chore when trying to do things the way I was used to, but then again, this was the same when migrating from XP to Win7.

I call it the Marmite operating system


The best thing you can do is go to a computer shop, play with the system for a little while and see how you feel about it, but ultimately Microsoft are again locking new purchasers into an operating system that may or may not be taken up by the main stream of commercial users when later upgrading their systems.
With so many new browsers, we need developers of new easy to use operating systems to fight Microsoft and Apple

[Cheshire Cat]

I know nothing! (still on XP) but thought this would give you food for thought.........

A friend of my daughter's who works in computing is moving from Apple Mac to Windows 8. He describes it as "An exciting development" and the "Apple haven't done much updating for a long time"

Anne

Thank you Anne. Sounds encouraging.

[Cheshire Cat]

Hi Trevor Thank you for your advice. It sounds like you need to get used to it first but I suppose, like anything, once you've mastered it, it will become second nature.

[Elaine ..Spain]

Hate to say this Joy, but the Apple users that I know would be very reluctant to move to a Windows operating system.
Windows 8 was, I believe, designed for the "Windows" tablet market, with the interface primarily being designed for touch screen use.
I belong to the local computer club and very few of the experts have many positive things to say about Windows 8.
Problem is of course that new machines are being sold with Windows 8 installed - as you say, it's just a matter of getting used to something new/different.

[Cheshire Cat]

Hello Elaine Not too happy about touch screen, its fine on my mobile but not sure about on my lappy. I think I read somewhere that Windows give an option of switching to back to what we're more familiar with, so maybe would be the best of both worlds. It does look though that I haven't got much option as all the ones I'm looking at have Windows 8.

[Elaine ..Spain]

Although it is designed with "touch screen" it can still be used with mouse/keypad etc.
I think it's like all things new, why move on to something different when we are happy with what we are using - unfortunately when it comes to computers we don't seem to have much choice when we purchase something new.
Am dreading the day when OH has to get a new computer .. he is still happily plodding along with XP.

[TrevorFranklin]

You may find this interesting if you do get one and want to know how to do things you previously found easy in Windows 7
(or even XP )

http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57544323-285/five-least-intuitive-things-about-windows-8/

[Cheshire Cat]

Thank you Trevor, that looks very interesting.

[Cheshire Cat]

I've got my new laptop today and I'm pleased to say, so far so good. I'm not finding it as scary as I thought I would. Once I downloaded Google Chrome, which I am used to, I feel very much "at home".!
I've still to explore all the apps on the start up screen but I do like the weather one which tells you exactly what's doing outside the door!!

The only strange thing that's different, but it might be the laptop itself, is that the words on this web site seem smaller than before. Any ideas how to increase the size please?

Looks like I've solved the font situation by switching to the larger one. Strange though as it was ok for me before. Looks "normal" now. !!!


Update - I've decided to return my laptop. I woke up worrying about the mouse pad!! It was a rougher texture to what I've been used to which meant the cursor was not as responsive as I'd have liked. I couldn't find anywhere to adjust it, only the size of it. As I enjoy playing games occasionally (humph!) it would have spoilt my fun as it needs to be quicker. I know it sounds trivial but I felt I couldn't have lived with it. Next time I will look closer at the mouse pad to see if it meets my requirements.!!