Windows 8 sold over 200 million licenses.

[TheProfosist]

Looks like the uninformed windows 8 haters are out in full force again.

[NInety]

8.1 for BF4 Optimization... that's pretty much the only reason I put Win8.1 in my builds.

[Misanthrope]

Oh, I get it, you don't know how to use windows 8. If you ever have to involuntarily look at the metro UI then you're doing it wrong.

 

So then I'm not the one doing it wrong, Microsoft is since they coded it to look that way and be used that way

[/discussion]

[Rassilon]

So then I'm not the one doing it wrong, Microsoft is since they coded it to look that way and be used that way

[/discussion]

That's not how you use tags, and you're saying that people shouldn't ever change anything about an operating system and the GUI is all that an operating system is.

[Misanthrope]

That's not how you use tags

 

It is when you're being a smartass. And if you like OSes that are very customizable take a look at these screens:

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

Meh, still waiting a bit more until all the drivers are 100% compatible with 8/8.1 and no performance loss and maybe a decent amount of performance gain would be nice. 

Fast boot better performance in many thing, Dx11.1/11.2 just a all around better experience 

[Guest]

 I'm sorry I didn't realize you owned a tablet. Oh...you mean easier for a PC? Yeah well I guess that's kind of the point, it should be easy even if it's butt-ugly, inconvenient and generally annoying and stupid looking.

But hey people like modern art and morbidly obese women and self mutilation and so on, who am I to judge your taste (excluding this bit of sarcasm of course)

um it's better for a desktop, get classic shell or startisback and your set 

[Guest]

are they including copies of windows 8 on tablets and or phones?

no only x86 windows 

[Misanthrope]

um it's better for a desktop, get classic shell or startisback and your set 

 

No, I shouldn't have to get anything to get a usable system. It's a matter of principle, not convenience.

[Guest]

No, I shouldn't have to get anything to get a usable system. It's a matter of principle, not convenience.

Windows 7 required fixes just to make a amd chip usable, you are part of the freaking LTT forum you should always want better, this is the tech community. You should be striving for the best you can do with what you have, be it installing a custom rom on your phone, modding your wii, installing your first linux distro, if you don't see the fun in new things and making it your own then maybe this place isn't for you.

[deathjester]

Looks like the uninformed windows 8 haters are out in full force again.

 

Everyone should buy win 8.1 over 7, on a new build for DirectX (even though it is a dick move from MS, and they did the same thing with Vista).

 

That said? I have zero reason to upgrade. Only one game runs faster (BF4) and it was minimal. Other games run worse on it (again minimal). Work stuff runs the same speed. Unparking cores gives you 8.1 performance in everything but a new DirectX game (and there is only one atm and Mantle runs it better if you have a ATI card). 

 

Multitasking and program incompatibility are why many people like me aren't using it. It is a new OS and all new OS's have incompatibility problems, so this doesn't mean the OS is bad, it just means it's new and has growing pains.

 

That said? Certain people on this forum try WAY too hard to sell this OS and I feel like I am on IGN when I see posts by them. The OS offering me nothing as far as performance and the only improvement (that I could give a damn about) being faster boot, added to the fact Windows 9 is coming? Makes it a complete waste of money for me to upgrade to.

 

Add to that? The other people in my house hate it (they tried the trial on the othe rcomputer) and I just use Mac OS for their internet, light gaming machine. Mac OS was $19.99 at the Mac Store, has a gui they like and a app store that doesn't suck. It took me 20 seconds to teach them to use Mac OS from Win 7. I do not have or want to spend the time, getting them to like Win 8, like MS wants me to do.

 

Now if you want to call peoples wives and kids uninformed, haters, and not techno savvy all because the VAST MAJORITY OF THE WORLD does not like the new format? You go right ahead. Computers for some people are just going on the internet, making a few home movies, using skype. Those people aren't morons because they don't want to learn to use a new OS. Those people could be mechanics, doctors, writers, artists and they excel at other areas then computers. 

 

Windows obviously knows people hate the OS, because they are changing 8 and 9 will probably have multiple install options, that takes out crap people never wanted in the first place. So obviously Windows gave into the "haters".

[flibberdipper]

I like Windows 8, and I don't like how slowly it's gaining popularity...

[Advent]

No, I shouldn't have to get anything to get a usable system. It's a matter of principle, not convenience.

So this is the first OS you have had to download ANYTHING for to get it to work properly? Hmmm.. what about all those Hotfixes, Service Packs and Patches for all the other flavors of Windows before Windows 8/8.1? Surely those flavors never experiences any kind of issues that the END USER had to fix on their own? Hmm.... Well, I've been using Windows since 3.1 and let me tell you that just simply isn't the case.

I guess you don't do overclocking either right? Because the manufacturer should have made the CPU clock @ "insert arbitrary number here".

Snarkyness aside, Windows 8/8.1 is very stable, uses less system resources than 7, has features and supported things that Windows 7 will never have (DX11/12 etc) and it runs faster.

People act as if Win 8/8.1 is the next ME or 98 or Vista.

So far the only gripe I've seen with the haters is "OMG NO START MENU!". So fix it? It is such a minor task to go to www.google.com type in StartMenu8, Classic Shell etc and install and run it and *PRESTO*, problem solved.

[deathjester]

So this is the first OS you have had to download ANYTHING for to get it to work properly? Hmmm.. what about all those Hotfixes, Service Packs and Patches for all the other flavors of Windows before Windows 8/8.1. Surely those flavors never experiences any kind of issues that the END USER had to fix on their own? Hmm.... Well I've been using Windows since 3.1 and let me tell you that just simply isn't the case.

I guess you don't do overclocking either right? Because the manufacturer should have made the CPU clock @ "insert arbitrary number here".

 

What he is probably trying to say is that it is absolutely stupid that say a gamer has to pay for Windows in the first place. 

 

What do they get? Notepad, a calculator,a crappy internet browser, a crappy movie maker and ms paint, far from the most secure OS, just so they can play games because of the DirectX monopoly, all while playing on an OS that is full of bloat?

 

Mobile, PS4, Linux, Steam OS all OpenGL.

 

http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/133824-valve-opengl-is-faster-than-directx-even-on-windows

 

If the DirectX monopoly dies, many people will have zero reason to run anything besides linux, or Mac OS if they want to go Hackintosh which costs a whole $19.99 and is leaps and bounds better for most users. Yes many people will still have to run Windows for some programs, but others will abandon it all together. I would keep a Win 7 partition for legacy support/games, but I wouldn't bother upgrading to a MS OS ever again.

 

The only reason I have Windows on my system atm is DirectX, and a few programs that require Windows, which is stupid to begin with anyways. The hell with MS and Direct X. 

 

MS is scum. From the article I linked. "Microsoft has relentlessly marketed DirectX, too — and who can forget the release of Windows Vista and Microsoft’s OpenGL smear campaign? Vista’s bundled version of OpenGL was completely crippled, forcing many devs to switch to DirectX.

Microsoft has good reason to hamper the progress of OpenGL, of course: While DirectX is proprietary and only runs on Windows, Xbox and Windows Phone, OpenGL is completely cross-platform. There are solid OpenGL implementations for Mac, Linux, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, and just about every modern smartphone (OpenGL ES). It obviously in Microsoft’s best interests to ensure that the best gaming experiences are exclusive to its platforms."

[SharKCS11]

I actually like the Windows 8 experience on an ultrabook, when it has a touch screen. It's been really well designed for that purpose. I just can't stand it on a desktop, because navigating it is kind of clunky with a mouse.

[Misanthrope]

Windows 7 required fixes just to make a amd chip usable, you are part of the freaking LTT forum you should always want better, this is the tech community. You should be striving for the best you can do with what you have, be it installing a custom rom on your phone, modding your wii, installing your first linux distro, if you don't see the fun in new things and making it your own then maybe this place isn't for you.

 

Well that's what I get for not reading the rules on how to be an elitist when I signed up, damn EULAs.

 

[bluepoodleguy]

When I upgraded to Win 8.1 from Win 8 and got my boot to the desktop back I became a happy geek. The problem is the obsession with "convergence". Covergence is fine for the underlying OS code to ease interoperabilitIy between different devices but not the UI. Touch screens and mouse/keyboard are different user enviroments. Win 8.1 boots faster than Win 7 and I have had no compatibility or stability problems. I've learned to get by without to start menu especially by learning short cuts like Winkey+X to bring up the power menu and Winkey+E to bring up Windows Explorer.Overall I prefer Win 8.1 to Win 7. Win 8-try it you might like it.

[Rassilon]

 

It is when you're being a smartass. And if you like OSes that are very customizable take a look at these screens:

 

 

I dual-booted Lubuntu with Windows 8 for six months. Linux is a bitchy server class operating system held together by elmers glue to the desktop. 

[Advent]

-snip- Once gaming is not DirectX people won't use Windows.

 

Where have I heard that fallacy before....

People will always use Windows. It isn't going away any time soon. Nor will Linus take over. I've used Linux for a very long time. People have been saying it is going to take over since it's been around. The problem with Linux is that it has a vastly smaller market share vs Windows and OSX. So vast is the gulf that it might as well not even be taken into consideration when discussing OS platforms other than the fact that Linux has its uses, as does all the other platforms.

 

[PillowSmoke]

 

Meh, still waiting a bit more until all the drivers are 100% compatible with 8/8.1

What drivers are you using that are not compatible?

and no performance loss and maybe a decent amount of performance gain would be nice. 

A SSD coupled with 8/8.1 has given me a HUGE performance boost. My system boots in 3 seconds and shuts down in 4-5. My games load in under 10 seconds. Care to clarify what "performance loss" you are getting?

 

 

Gpu drivers.

 

Gaming.

[Misanthrope]

So this is the first OS you have had to download ANYTHING for to get it to work properly?

 

There's a tremendous difference between bugs, performance issues, lack of drivers, things that you couldn't foresee and things that are intentionally obnoxious and annoying by design. It's like the difference between a fun yet tragically buggy game with show stopping issues and the newest Dungeon Keeper on android: one might not work due to incompetence, the other is designed to annoy the living fuck out of you.

[Misanthrope]

I dual-booted Lubuntu with Windows 8 for six months. Linux is a bitchy server class operating system held together by elmers glue to the desktop. 

 

Yes and it's stable as fuck, so much so that the better part of the web and the internet works on it. Although distros like Ubuntu (not Lubuntu) and Linux Mint have made efforts to make it more user friendly it's still for what you'd call power users, tinkerers, etc. The point here isn't that you should use Linux, the point is that if you truly liked a customizable OS you'd install Arch Linux or other barebones Linux distro.

So follow me here, by your rather colorful expressions on Linux I take it you consider it to be too barebones, too difficult for the average user. With me so far? Good. Now when you buy and use an OS like Windows or Apple (a consumer oriented one, not Windows server of course) it should be easy to use, easy to figure out and come with a pleasant user interface most people can grasp within minutes. If you spend more than 20 years training people how to use your OS and then you completely ditch the most fundamental pieces of it to accommodate users on a radically different interface like touch screens, then obviously people will not enjoy that since you shouldn't have fucking railroad them into a crappy user interface just to bring everything on an "ecosystem". 

I'll illustrate this even further: You likely either own or seen an android phone right? It's improved a lot and by now you know your way around it or have seen others use it, things make sense you touch things, you swipe things, etc. Now take that Android phone and use one of the dongles to hook it to an HDTV along with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse. I guarantee that it will feel stupid, unintuitive, ridiculous.

And if even none of that is enough to get through to you, perhaps you should have also paid attention to the fact that I just personally find it plain ugly. It is a fucking eyesore for me to loose most of my detail to bland, featureless huge fucking squares all across my nice screen. On a phone or a tablet, the thing is so small I would have trouble and have to squint to see all that detail but the reverse is true when you blow up that interface to a screen: it looks like ass. That's however my 100% personal and subjective opinion

[mr moose]

I can't believe people don't understand what DX is and why it exists.  All this BS about it being a monopoly and MS's way to control...  Bollocks...

 

 

Yes and it's stable as fuck, so much so that the better part of the web and the internet works on it.

 

Not really, it's more like 1/3rd linux, 1/3rd unix and 1/3rd windows. Right now there is no real majority os when it comes to servers.

[deathjester]

Where have I heard that fallacy before....

People will always use Windows. It isn't going away any time soon. Nor will Linus take over. I've used Linux for a very long time. People have been saying it is going to take over since it's been around. The problem with Linux is that it has a vastly smaller market share vs Windows and OSX. So vast is the gulf that it might as well not even be taken into consideration when discussing OS platforms other than the fact that Linux has its uses, as does all the other platforms.

 

 

I said it will be going away for ME, and I imagine many other gamers will do the same thing. The only reason I run Windows is games and their gun to the head, DirectX upgrades that cost 100 bucks when they use the same freakin kernel. 

 

Of course MS isn't going anywhere for most people and for most businesses (minus organizations that don't run it due to security flaws). Most people don't know how to install Mac OS on an Intel computer (and this is what I am starting to use more and more for everything not gaming) and most people just want what they will probably put in Win 9 and the next patch of Win 8. 

 

Hell most people can't install Linux. What is funny is people throw around "you don't like win 8 because you are tech savvy". It is the opposite. Many tech savvy people don't like MS AT ALL. We were there when both Apple and MS stole the Gui from Xerox. We were there when they sabotaged OpenGL on Vista with their first forced upgrade of Direct X. We run Windows because we are forced to run it for work/games.

 

Game dev is slower with multiple backends (when ports have to go to OpenGL on Playstation anyways), and I imagine the game devs hate it.

 

Steam OS has support from EVERYONE who matters as far as hardware. AMD, NVidia, Intel. The only company standing in the way of Steam OS is MS. They are HORRIBLE for gaming and cross platform. They always have been. 

 

There isn't one thing Windows does that I can't do in Mac OS or Linux besides games.  Windows took Launchpad and made the thing fullscreen, then made programs fullscreen. It is the dumbest @#%^ I have ever seen on a desktop. It makes sense on a mobile platform. I could care less if you can put it in the background. It shouldn't be in the background anyways. The last thing I need is more bloat, and a tweaked 7 has less bloat. Again "tech savvy" people hate it for a reason.

 

People want to act like MS and Apple were the only OS's ever that changed things. They forget about things like OS/2, Xerox PARC, DOS from a ton of companies, Mac OS being Unix based.

 

Again. To hell with Microsoft. They can't even make a secure OS, or a decent antivirus. The least they can do when charging you 100 bucks for an OEM is give you an antivirus worth a damn, instead of telling you... you should just buy another one, which leads to even more bloat.

 

http://lifehacker.com/microsoft-admits-that-third-party-antivirus-is-more-eff-1441135677

 

The only reason we run Windows at all instead of free OS's or a better OS, is MS screwing us over and making sure the OS get's exclusives, just like they do with their dumb console. 

[Misanthrope]

Where have I heard that fallacy before....

People will always use Windows. It isn't going away any time soon. Nor will Linus take over. I've used Linux for a very long time. People have been saying it is going to take over since it's been around. The problem with Linux is that it has a vastly smaller market share vs Windows and OSX. So vast is the gulf that it might as well not even be taken into consideration when discussing OS platforms other than the fact that Linux has its uses, as does all the other platforms.

 

 

Windows didn't get that user base on OS merits, it got it by undercutting other OSes making deals with hardware manufacturers to have it preloaded on all systems. It's the same as the debacle with Internet Explorer: if anybody used that piece of shit at all it was because it was preloaded on windows. As soon as people learned about alternatives it got lost in the shuffle and it's now laughing stock.

The same is true about the entire OS, it's just that it's a hell of a lot more difficult to build an entire OS and have enough money to basically force your way into the market making deals with hardware manufacturers.

Things are quickly changing though, Microsoft didn't move to mobile platforms fast enough and now both Apple and Google have much stronger footing on those markets, as more people being to ditch computers and laptops for smartphones and tablets, Windows becomes more and more irrelevant. It's only hope would be business users and enthusiast and guess what? Both have been waiting for alternatives for years, decades even. Your average consumer that just got whatever came with his computer? Yeah those will continue to use android and iOS since it comes with their tablet.