Windows 8 or 7. Which would you choose?

1492 wrote:
It was also reported recently that Microsoft may be bringing back the full start menu in WIN 8.2.

It's also rumored that MS may make it so Metro apps can be windowed with the ability to float and be positioned anywhere on the screen. I couldn't care less about the Start menu but would really like the ability to size and position Metro apps rather than just have the ability to show 2 in a split screen arrangement.

It was also reported recently that Microsoft may be bringing back the full start menu in WIN 8.2.

When I first got my Windows 8 Toshiba laptop, I absolutely hated it. Then I learned to use the Start page and now I love it. The 8.1 upgrade brings back some of the older Win 7 features.

JamesBr wrote:
I only go by what the domain admins are telling me they are dealing with. They agree that its more touch friendly then mouse/keyboard. That tells me tablet OS as I don't want to be touching my screens to do my work.

It's only "touch friendly" for the simplest of tasks such as tapping an icon to start a program. It's more difficult to use touch to accomplish anything slightly complex like cut & paste and multi-select. With a touch screen you need to swipe across the screen to scroll the Start screen left/right. I can scroll the Start screen with far less effort using the scroll wheel on my mouse. On the Lock screen, with touch, I need to swipe up with my finger whereas with a mouse I just need to click. To me, it's much easier to click a mouse button than to swipe up on the screen.

I only go by what the domain admins are telling me they are dealing with. They agree that its more touch friendly then mouse/keyboard. That tells me tablet OS as I don't want to be touching my screens to do my work.

It's funny about the start button. People complained about the button for years. Comedians made jokes about how stupid it was having to push start to get to off.
So MS takes it out and everybody crys bloody murder.

I've had a W8 notebook for about 6mos and I hate it. I like my W7 PC's much better. Most companies are indeed sticking with W7

JamesBr wrote:
Businesses do not run 8(8.1) due to stability and user learning curve. Plus its really a tablet OS they are trying to say is a great PC OS. However, when you have to load an app to get your desktop back, its clearly not a PC based OS. ...

The "tablet" part of the OS is OPTIONAL and accounts for maybe 5-10% of the total OS, the rest of the OS is definitely a desktop OS.

No apps need to be loaded to "get your desktop back" since the desktop was not removed, in Win 8 it requires a single mouse click or tap to get to the desktop, in Win 8.1 you can configure things to boot directly to the desktop.

What many install is a 3rd party program to restore the Start Menu since MS did remove that. I don't know why people are so hung up on the Start Menu and insist on adding 3rd party programs in order to get it back. Windows has quite a few alternatives to the Start Menu built-in so I don't find the need to restore it. In order to access your installed programs you could use desktop shortcuts, quicklaunch, pin to the taskbar, toolbars and the Start Screen. The Start Menu is simply redundant.

Businesses do not run 8(8.1) due to stability and user learning curve. Plus its really a tablet OS they are trying to say is a great PC OS. However, when you have to load an app to get your desktop back, its clearly not a PC based OS. I have played with them in the stores and seen our domain admins trying to see how to build a baseline users could easilly migrate over from Win7. I have a feeling that like Vista, Win8 will be a dud that the business world ignores until something more professional and less reliant on touch screens arrives.

99% of all problems with new OS comes from people updating old machines with the new.
If your new PC comes pre-loaded with the current OS. LEAVE IT ALONE.
Suck it up and learn the new.