4 ms·

To me the Start screen is just the start menu full-screen. I rarely see it except on boot up, then I goto my desktop and everything is right there as I left it

by pmarsh 14y ago

To me the Start screen is just the start menu full-screen. I rarely see it except on boot up, then I goto my desktop and everything is right there as I left it on windows 7. I could understand my folks being confused by it but the number of techies who have been grinding their teeth really has me puzzled. Am I alone on this?

corin_ 14y ago
No you're not. I had the "argh stupid new interface!" assumptions based purely on hearing other opinions, and I hadn't been bothered to really keep up with the details myself. Needed a new laptop the other day and while complaining to my MD about the hassle of downgrading to Win7 he pointed out that he's on 8 and is fine with it, and I respect his tech opinions, so just jumped in. I really don't get metro apps (is that what they're called?), maybe if I was on a tablet, but I'm not. Skype in particular was a pain in the ass, until I realised that I could just ignore the metro version and download a classic installer. Other than that, I actually prefer the start screen to the classic start menu, and... not much else has changed.
tomku 14y ago
No, I feel the same way. I've been using Win8 since release day, and I've had essentially no problems adjusting. My daily workflow is identical, and I haven't found myself fighting with the Start screen. I don't use the Metro apps constantly, but I use them often enough to keep 2-3 of them (weather, calendar, mail) pinned on the main part of my Start screen alongside the other apps I use frequently, but not often enough to justify a taskbar pin. In particular, I find it odd that people claim that Win8 is "dumbed down" or "power-user unfriendly". I've found the opposite to be true. The new Explorer UI has things like built-in "Powershell Here", and there's keyboard shortcuts for everything. The Win+X menu is something I constantly reach for whenever I'm on a Win7 box. Overall, I'm really pretty happy with it. It's not a massive improvement like some previous Windows releases were, but the comparisons to Vista or WinME are nonsense. It's a solid OS, and it really disappoints me that so many are eager to dismiss it for such silly reasons.
tartuffe78 14y ago
I felt similarly when I got Windows 8, it reminded me of Ubuntu's Unity new universal search UI (except faster) which I liked for its simplicity. But I installed Start8 just to try it out, and I do like it better. Its got the fast search of Windows 8, and I find it less distracting than the screen covering start menu.

by pmarsh 14y ago

corin_ 14y ago

No you're not. I had the "argh stupid new interface!" assumptions based purely on hearing other opinions, and I hadn't been bothered to really keep up with the details myself. Needed a new laptop the other day and while complaining to my MD about the hassle of downgrading to Win7 he pointed out that he's on 8 and is fine with it, and I respect his tech opinions, so just jumped in. I really don't get metro apps (is that what they're called?), maybe if I was on a tablet, but I'm not. Skype in particular was a pain in the ass, until I realised that I could just ignore the metro version and download a classic installer. Other than that, I actually prefer the start screen to the classic start menu, and... not much else has changed.

tomku 14y ago

No, I feel the same way. I've been using Win8 since release day, and I've had essentially no problems adjusting. My daily workflow is identical, and I haven't found myself fighting with the Start screen. I don't use the Metro apps constantly, but I use them often enough to keep 2-3 of them (weather, calendar, mail) pinned on the main part of my Start screen alongside the other apps I use frequently, but not often enough to justify a taskbar pin. In particular, I find it odd that people claim that Win8 is "dumbed down" or "power-user unfriendly". I've found the opposite to be true. The new Explorer UI has things like built-in "Powershell Here", and there's keyboard shortcuts for everything. The Win+X menu is something I constantly reach for whenever I'm on a Win7 box. Overall, I'm really pretty happy with it. It's not a massive improvement like some previous Windows releases were, but the comparisons to Vista or WinME are nonsense. It's a solid OS, and it really disappoints me that so many are eager to dismiss it for such silly reasons.

tartuffe78 14y ago

I felt similarly when I got Windows 8, it reminded me of Ubuntu's Unity new universal search UI (except faster) which I liked for its simplicity. But I installed Start8 just to try it out, and I do like it better. Its got the fast search of Windows 8, and I find it less distracting than the screen covering start menu.