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Are you going to wait for Windows 9?
dr_andus:
Here's another interpretation of MS's strategy with Win8 from El Reg:
The strategic thinking goes like this: Microsoft needs brute force to coerce a touch-based "ecosystem" into existence, and it's using Windows as the battering ram. Microsoft fears that if it loses "touch" to the iPad and iPhone and Android, then it loses its place in the consumer space altogether. These tablets are increasingly capable of content creation, it notes. And because of this, Microsoft is going to force-feed Windows 8 to millions of PC users on non-touch devices, for whom Metro is nothing but a hindrance, in the hope that the market provides content and applications "designed for Metro".
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If Metro 8 is not decoupled from the central non-touch Windows UX, then enterprises will simply shun the upgrade. They don't have the budgets to retrain their staff. In the days when you were moving thousands of people from DOS to Windows, you could argue for a bigger training budget. But the cost/benefit advantage just isn't there in Windows 8. Microsoft doesn't have the power to move its market in the way Apple can – the market would prefer to shun the upgrade, as it did with Vista.
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Perhaps Microsoft has justified this with the thought that the mere $4.74bn in quarterly revenues that the Windows division brings in is fairly inelastic – it won't vary much whether Windows is a hit or a flop - and that OEMs have to keep building and buying PCs. So it must have also reckoned that it can afford to take a hit in the short term to preserve Microsoft's relevance in the long term. Perhaps this isn't so crazy. Microsoft's Entertainment division (led by Xbox) now makes almost as much money as Windows.
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rgdot:
If you are going to cede to Apple as the innovator successful then MS has little or no choice. The problem though is this ... making out the computer user to be some homogenous group. Someone who is sitting behind a desk using (never mind developing) the next version of Autodesk software has little in common with someone churning out 100 instagram pics a day.
J-Mac:
I must say that trying to wade into Windows 8 blindly is not fun! Frustrated me to no end!
I purchased Lenovo laptops for both of my daughters for Christmas, and yesterday I was at one's house for dinner and decided to install a wireless router for her so she could use the laptop anywhere on her property. Also, my granddaughter has a new iPod and couldn't connect it to the web so it also made her very happy. Setup of the router was a breeze; I used the Linksys WRT54GL that I had "retired" recently at my house. Easy peasy. Then I fired up the new laptop to connect it wirelessly. Ha! So where the hell are the connection/network settings? Looked all around the stupid damn interface... Settings screen has a "WiFi" menu item. But only two items within: Airplane mode on or off, and Connect wirelessly - on or off. That's it. Doesn’t take you anywhere else. The damn machine wanted to keep sending me back to "Personalize your system", but personalization is not permitted until Windows is activated. Windows Activation section can't connect because IT IS NOT CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET!!! Where the hell are the connection settings?!
Took quite some time to find another pop-out menu along the right side - wiggling the mouse all up and down that side would occasionally cause it to appear. I finally clicked on an image of what looked like battery level bars - of course they were actually signal strength bars - and that allowed me to select a network, etc. So I got it done but I was mightily pissed off by the time I did. There is a manual, naturally, and I am one of the idiots that usually read manuals front to back religiously. But the manual was still sealed and looked to be one of those "Overview"-type manuals - probably need to download the read manual online. And my daughter had a lot of other people coming over for dinner so I had to get finished fast. I thought it would take a couple minutes, what with as many wireless connections I've done by now - I am a really old fart, after all! But without the manual it ain't an easy task to find even the necessary settings to setup the doggone machine.
I am now going to look for some full retail Windows 7 licenses to buy up a handful of them. Hopefully I won't have to mess with another Windows 8 OS for a long time. Hate it!
Jim
f0dder:
Took quite some time to find another pop-out menu along the right side - wiggling the mouse all up and down that side would occasionally cause it to appear. I finally clicked on an image of what looked like battery level bars - of course they were actually signal strength bars - and that allowed me to select a network, etc.-J-Mac (January 02, 2013, 11:47 PM)
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It's looked like that since Win7 - and is a pretty standard icon on phones as well :)
Anyway... one tap of the 'Windows' key, type "net", click settings, see "Network and Sharing Center" - that should take you to something familiar. Figuring that out took me all but a few minutes without RTFM'ing on a fresh Win8 install. And after a minute googling "Windows 8 hotkeys" or "Windows 8 shortcuts", you'll see that Win+Q will take you directly to "search apps" and Win+W takes you directly to "search settings" (you can obviously only do the google search if you have another device available, or after setting up networking, though.
It really isn't all that bad.
J-Mac:
Each search I tried brought me an error page because of no connection. Same with the "Help" search. I think they all default to online searches anymore.
I would guess that the machine you searches on was already connected?
Jim
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