Another last ditch effort by Microsoft

[StarFoxfan-FUR_ever]

Big news for Microsoft. They will be reinstating the Start button into Windows version 8.1

 

As reported by CNBC: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100844998

 

Basically, Microsoft is responding to huge drops in PC purchases, which according to estimates by IDC, will be about "8 percent this year, worse than its previous forecast of a 1 percent dip."

 

Microsoft tries to defend their position according to article: "From its perspective, the tuneup underscores Microsoft's evolution into a more nimble company capable of moving quickly to respond to customer feedback while also rolling out more innovations for a myriad of Windows devices—smartphones, tablets or PC's"

 

Now where have we seen this before? I feel like i'm going through deja vu

 

The only part of the article that shows an ounce of intelligence from those at Microsoft comes from, surprisingly enough, CEO Steve Ballmer.

 

"

The big news came from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in his keynote address: The return of the "start" button! This was one of users' biggest gripes about Windows 8. Plus, the start screen has been tweaked so users can see many apps at a glance.

 

Ballmer said the update was a bit of a mea culpa that they "pushed too boldly with Windows 8."

"

 

I'll just leave it at that. Clearly this was another huge mistake that could have been avoided altogether had Microsoft thought of the customers first instead of forcing tablets on people. Everyone can commence their ranting right now.

[ballisticwaffles]

This cannot possible fix Windows 8. I have been running that inane and incomprehensible sack of crap for a good two months now, and not a single feature on it to i enjoy. In fact, my computer was nearly rendered a brick by the horrible job they did turning this Smartphone OS into a desktop PC.

 

I cant even search anything on my computer, because that useful and handy search function has been turned into a "find an app" program. The app store is BUILT INTO THE COMPUTER and as a result i cant go five seconds without accidentally moving the entire desktop screen. Watching a gif has turned into the "WAIT FOR THE APP TO LOAD" game, and OH boy is it painful.

 

t has become increasingly apparent that microsoft has not a single idea what customers like. From the inane DRM of the Xboned, to Windows 8, which needs no nickname as Windows 8 is enough to render any Mac or Linux user unconscious from laughing too hard, What we are in the process of is watching the death twitches of Microsoft, and oh boy must we suffer as a result.

[Snys93]

When Microsoft makes software, can it not be such a piece of sh*t that you have to fix?

[CrypticQuery]

Microsoft has become to arrogant and headstrong recently, it seems.  Has the mantra become "Give consumers what they're begging NOT to have"?

[LoneWolf]

 

You know, honestly, Windows 8 has been just fine for me. I really don't mind how it works at all. Only tweaks I'd do would be more control over customization of the start screen and perhaps fixing the issue with VSync in games, but otherwise it's just fine. And you know that when 8.1/Blue launches it's going to be even more broken than Vista was to start.

 

microsoft really stop

[Hidi]

I still don't see why they had to discontinue Windows 7 so soon. It was, what....Two years after it being released that they pulled the plug and said,

"Hey guys, we've got this totally new idea for Windows that's called total assimilation and integration!"

While I thought integrating tablet and desktop systems was dumb, what I'm getting at was, they had just put out Windows 7 and it was doing quite well because they were able to take Vista and do it right.

Why? Well who knows! It seems like an odd business plan to me to put out a product that was meant to be bought up and liked then immediately pull it back and insist on an idea that people aren't even sure they like!

Heck, I still see businesses and public services still using XP because they didn't have the time to go out and get a decently-priced licence on Windows 7.

 

I'll still say, I thought Windows XP was the best system Microsoft ever put out. Plain and simple, you could do practically whatever the heck you wanted to with it. The long, and continuing run it is clearly a sign that Microsoft isn't doing much better, or maybe they just ran out of ideas. (Hint: Linux and need I say, Mac?)

 

Not sure how many people did what I did, but I had been looking into a new laptop when they put out the consumer preview of Windows 8. After trying it out, I wasn't a fan of the UI, so what I ended up doing was timing the purchase of my laptop so I could get the last line of laptops with 'dem Windows 7 on it.

Naturally, it was a pain to get around all the "ERMAHGERD UPGRADES TO TEH WINDOWS 8!" stuff (Not that my laptop now is doing much better....inconsistentwificonnection,glitchyAsusdrivers,brokenpowerlight,broken.dlls).

But I got what I knew I'd be content with and that was that. No point going into a product I had been questioning the likeness of it personally, and that was too new to have a solid look at.

[amazinglife]

While it is nice that Windows is "attempting" to give people what they want, I still have no interest in getting Windows 8 even if a start button was added. My aunt currently runs Windows 8 on her laptop, but it just looks very confusing, and not very appealing to me. She still does not even know how to fully use it. xD

I am currently running 7 on my Laptop, and Vista on my Desktop (which I have personally had no issues with), so unless Windows desided to force everyone to switch to 8, I think ill just stick with these for now. :-P

[DZComposer]

Windows 8 is great under-the-hood. The Metro UI sucks, but once you put that in it's own little box it's one of the best OSes Microsoft has made from a performance standpoint.

What drove me away from it, though, was a hard drive failure. To get to the tools I needed to run to determine the failure was an epic pain in the ass. And the fact that the OS Kernel has to boot BEFORE the bootloader is fucking retarded.

In short, Windows 8 is actually pretty nice when you push Metro aside and everything works. It becomes a royal pain in the ass when it stops working and needs advanced recovery.

[Fana McCloud]

Windows 8 didn't bug me, and as for Waffles' gripe it DOES still have search you just have to use the bar on the side once you've started searching to choose what context it searches in (apps, files, or settings). While within an app you can also search inside it. So really I dunno what your problem is precisely with that.

 

Adding the Start button back is probably a good call though, because that was the first thing that confused me when I got my laptop. Luckily it came with a prominent "How To Use Windows 8" guide.

[Sarita]

Ninite added a feature so that you can add the start button back to Windows 8, I've had a start button since I got my new laptop with Windows 8 preinstalled. (And yes I do know that it is available outside Ninite, that's just my go-to for reinstalling all my stuff promptly). I quite like Windows 8, actually. Then again I never had a problem with Vista, either, so maybe I'm just retarded and don't know what I'm talking about.

[TrishaCat]

This is nice. I have a Windows 8 laptop and I miss the start button. I don't like having to exit my desktop or go into my folders just to find the hard drive to search the entire PC.

Windows 8 isn't so bad though. The desktop basically makes it seem like any other computer for the most part. I barely even bother with the tablet functionality of it.

[psy_commando]

I got windows 7 right now. But once support drops, I'm switching to Linux Mint http://www.linuxmint.com/

 

I'm really getting tired of MS's stupid crap. Especially the whole, "one install per motherboard" crap..(when you upgrade your mobo, your OS won't let you boot ! Isn't that fantastic and innovative ? )

[Hidi]

So basically if you choose to upgrade your motherboard but use the same hard drive, the system won't allow it? I thought initially it was going to be one install per hard drive. But yeah, either option is dumb.

[sroberson]

So basically if you choose to upgrade your motherboard but use the same hard drive, the system won't allow it? I thought initially it was going to be one install per hard drive. But yeah, either option is dumb.

 

I remember this being a concern when Windows 8 was first being talked about (and strangely some Linux people didn't seem to care) but I never ran into the problem of just installing it on any device I want.  It just now occurred to me how extreme of a decision this would be on Microsoft's part.  What about the offices that largely use Windows?  Lots of business use volume licenses to eliminate the headache.  I pray that they would not be so foolish....Then again I have been so disillusioned by Microsoft lately with everything that they have done (Windows 8, Office 2013, Exchange, etc) I wouldn't be surprised anymore.  I would up and abandon them for Linux but frankly I need Windows at work and I haven't decided if I want to start the "good fight" on my home computer.  

[psy_commando]

So basically if you choose to upgrade your motherboard but use the same hard drive, the system won't allow it? I thought initially it was going to be one install per hard drive. But yeah, either option is dumb.

Well, yeah its one install per hdd, but its also one install per mobo ever since windows vista.. Sometimes they let you get a new license number, I don't know if they still do though, or if they only did because it was a student version.

 

I remember this being a concern when Windows 8 was first being talked about (and strangely some Linux people didn't seem to care) but I never ran into the problem of just installing it on any device I want.  It just now occurred to me how extreme of a decision this would be on Microsoft's part.  What about the offices that largely use Windows?  Lots of business use volume licenses to eliminate the headache.  I pray that they would not be so foolish....Then again I have been so disillusioned by Microsoft lately with everything that they have done (Windows 8, Office 2013, Exchange, etc) I wouldn't be surprised anymore.  I would up and abandon them for Linux but frankly I need Windows at work and I haven't decided if I want to start the "good fight" on my home computer.  

Its extreme and its exactly for large enterprises that they did that, because more $.. 

Because, they came up with the concept that "a computer" is the motherboard, one license for one computer. And in turn they limit the ability to upgrade a computer..

However, its true that changing a motherboard is a pretty big change for most OS, since it often involve changing the processor. But still, after a re-install it shouldn't be a problem.

 

Personally, I'm going to do a very progressive and smooth change. By dual booting with linux on my comp for a while until I get comfortable with a distro.

[Scourge]

reinstating the Start button

 

 

OUR LORD AND SAVOIR HAS RETURNED, PRAISE THE ALMIGHTY START BUTTON AND ALL ITS SENSE-MAKING-NESS