Posted on 02/06/2014 8:54:38 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Summary: Here I take a look at the Windows 8.1 Update 1 build that leaked onto the web earlier this month. I've made no bones about the fact that I have a strong dislike of Windows 8, so even I was quite surprised by the fact that I was pleased by what I saw.
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A few days ago a Windows 8.1 Update 1 internal build leaked onto the web, and given the fact that I'm really curious as to the direction in which Microsoft is planning to take Windows in, I decided to take a look. I've made no bones about the fact that I have a strong dislike of Windows 8, so even I was quite surprised by the fact that I was pleased by what I saw.
IMPORTANT: Everything here is based on a leaked build of Windows 8.1 Update 1, which means that it's not a beta, and not intended for public consumption. Also, we have to assume by the build date – 14th of January, 2014 – that quite a lot will have changed since, and that the final release might look different. The best we can get from this leaked build is a snapshot of where Microsoft is going. Windows 8.1 Update 1 is rumored to be set for official release in April.
Oh, and no, I won't tell you where to find the leaked build, so don't bother asking!
With that out of the way, let's take a look at some of the changes. And there are quite a few.
The first thing that struck me was that there were two new buttons positioned on the top-right of the Start screen. One opens the Search charm, and the other is a power button. Both of these are welcomed additions in my opinion
(Excerpt) Read more at zdnet.com ...
We had a teleconference this week where the presenter used their new Windows 8 laptop in a screen-sharing session via GoToMeeting.
Nothing says ‘professional’ like a Windows 8 tile to MSN reading ‘Inside Justin Beiber’s Marijuana-Fuelled Party Plane’ broadcast to the client’s executive staff.
Hey hey, ho ho, Metro interface has got to go.
I have a friend who has a Dell desktop with Windows 8.
It doesn’t have a touch screen and looks almost exactly like Windows 7.
I don’t know about the internal workings, but anyone who is using Windows 7 would feel right at home.
Hey, dude. Don’t be harshin’ the Beib. He’s an Obama choom bro.
Thank you Steve Jobs that I do not have to live in a Microsoft world!
Let the flaming begin ;- )
Microsoft blew it with Windows 8 by eliminating known ways of accomplishing single tasks. They need to return to their earlier programming style.
Win 8.1 working well with Start 8.
One question though, why does Win8.x take 10-15 seconds to see what’s in a directory?
Every version before just shows me the content, Win 8 tells me no files found with a little timer bar along the top of the screen and after awhile, my files show up.
Since I don’t see this as a common complaint I’m assuming I have something set up wrong. Don’t mean to hijack the thread but I got help on a similar thread with another Win 8 problem.
If you make a post that you assume will lead to “flaming” what does that make you?
I think that's very accurate. The article references the return of, of all things, a power button. Now, turning the computer off isn't exactly an exotic thing to have to do, and they buried it pretty well in 8.0. Either they were so intoxicated with the datapad/smart phone model of user interface that they were attempting to "train" their users to use old machines under a new methodology, or it was simply sloppy human engineering. At first I thought the former, now I suspect the latter is the case.
That's the sort of thing that comes out in focus group testing if your sample population is large enough to resemble the actual user base. For whatever reason, that one fell through the crack, and it must have been one very large crack. I could be entirely wrong about this but what it looks like to me is inadequate testing.
Starts with T and ends with L?
Very good point.
I read an interesting article in the WSJ yestereday that said that Microsoft's problem was its business model, which was always one of trying to destroy the competition (primarily by copying the product clumsily and trying to blow the competitor out of the water by the force of its large installed base, which theoretically will accept the MS copy instead of seeking the original).
I think there's some truth to that. MS is apparently very worried about Google now, which may indeed be starting towards a suite of apps that work with its essentially cloud-based system, so with Win 8, MS completely threw away what it had done well for years and tried to bring in a bunch of cloud stuff and shallow apps on a clunky, unready operating system.
I hope they improve, but many times in the past, MS has thrown away a good program (remember Front Page?) or removed its most important functionalities in an attempt to destroy a competitor. Not a good business model at all.
Yes I do. It was garbage.
There are numerous apps out there to disguise the POS Win8 GUI as a Win-7 lookalike, but at the end of the day, it’s just putting lipstick on a pig.
uhh... but they do have multiple ways of doing the same thing. There are keyboard shortcuts and mouse or touch options to accomplish tasks. I have Windows 8 on my non-touch Desktop and I can do anything I could do in Windows 7 as fast and as easy in Windows 8. I literally taught my mothers sewing circle everything they need to know about running their computer controlled sewing machines in 15 minutes.
If a bunch of 60+ year old blue haired ladies can learn Windows 8 in 15 minutes than anyone who is complaining is either stupid or lazy/stubborn/hard-headed.
Simple fix...download start8 from stardock. It’s just like windows 7 but better.
I have the same issue, but with only one of my folders. And if I copy that same folder to another Win 8.1 machine I do not have the issue opening the folder on the other machine. I don't know why the behavior would be different on different machines. Perhaps I need to compare the folder properties when I get a chance.
This.
I’ll wait until my Windows 7 wears out before I upgrade to Windows 8.
How is it a pig? Win8 is better in everyway over win7 as soon as you add start8 from stardock. And win7 is definitely not a pig.
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