Windows 8 Madness | Hacker News Reader

Windows 8 Madness

point7.wordpress.com

12 pointsdilipray21 comments

Love every idea for 15 minutes. Ok, We’ve finally lost it.

TL;DR; Ubuntu user refuses to use Windows' 8 Desktop Mode on his PC with large monitor, then uses WordPress's admin interface and complains that it's middle column resizes to fill screen, because Metro mode is full screen. Decides failure is not his own, but is rather Microsoft's.

It occurs to me that I don’t even know how to find a command prompt in this environment.

The author was able to install Ubuntu and use its package manager to find utilities, but was not able to hit the start key on Windows and type "Command".

There's a follow up post too, where he complains that installing Eclipse is... well, exactly the same as installing it on every other version of Windows. His major complaint seems to be that the Store does not contain Metro versions of everything an Android developer needs.

http://point7.wordpress.com/2012/11/04/ermahgerd-jerver/

Well, one is always able to find faults with something if that is what he/she desire..

"where he complains that installing Eclipse is... well, exactly the same as installing it on every other version of Windows"

Let me look at my watch... it's 2012. That, there that you wrote right there, is exactly my complaint.

(and yes my imaginary watch only has the year on it. Man they go by fast these days!)

but was not able to hit the start key on Windows and type "Command".

herp derp, ya got me.

Biggest problem for me with win8 is the lack of start menu. There is a reason start menu is so popular. it lets user launch an application without having to context switch - example: launch a calculator or notepad while doing something else. The new start screen forces user to context switch by showing a completely different view just to launch an application. Who ever designed this must be a big fan of UAC screen which forces a similar switch when set to prompt.

Has anyone tried the Start Menu replacement from Stardock [1]? I don't have Windows 8, but this is such a frequent complaint and I'm wondering if their version will be a good enough fix.

(I have no affliation with Stardock)

[1] http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/features.asp

I purchased it. Once you install it, you wont see Metro apps at all unless you launch them on purpose. You can also get Classic Shell, which is an open source start menu repalcement.

http://classicshell.sourceforge.net

Just tried it out, seems like it works fine. It brings back all the Windows 7 start menu functionality.

I have tried it and also Classic Shell which is mentioned in another comment. Both work pretty well, however I prefer Classic Shell due to better configurability. Not sure if Start8 has been updated since I tried it though.

For notepad and calculator, you can do Win+r then "notepad" or "calc".

For applications not the path, I find the metro experience is essentially the same as having a start menu. Hit Windows, type application name, find it from the search results and hit enter.

You could always use AutoHotkey to set up shortcuts for launching different apps. There's a great Lifehacker howto post on the subject I'd link you to, but their regular site's down right now thanks to Sandy.

If you are using Windows 8 on a Desktop / Laptop, why do you want to shy away from the Desktop. Use the metro chrome if you are happy with it. Else, use the desktop chrome on desktop.

I think it's because Metro punches you in the face regularly when you are a desktop user if you like it or not (which I don't).

I rather liked Windows the way it was. Things were in the right place. I'm a luddite though - running classic theme in Windows 7 (and I still use Excel 97).

The usability of desktop mode Windows 8 is actually worse than Windows 7.

Because you have to shy away from the desktop to launch anything. "Metro" is the new start menu.

Unless, of course, you pin your most used applications to the taskbar or create a shortcut on the desktop. Honestly, it is pretty easy to avoid the metro screen if you really want to. In any given day, I may see the metro screen 2-3 times the entire day, on average, all because I setup my machine to work the way it is most productive for me.

Well, the reason I was being, honestly, a douche about using Metro, is that this is the future direction of Windows. I don't expect their roadmap has a desktop appearing at all in Windows 10. Maybe not even in Windows 9. It's a transitional thing.

Sooo he wanted to write about Windows 8 but didn't really had anything to say.

Derp!

Another classic rant of Windows 8. The desktop mode is there FOR SOMETHING!

If you think Windows 7 sucks, then yes, Windows 8 will suck for you as well, else, there is should be no problem using it.

I'm a fan of Win 7 in fact. If there were no Ubuntu, I'd be using it (I've been dual booting it since it first came out).

I see a lot of people saying "Hey, Win 8 is fine, just use desktop, here's a start menu replacement, bleh bleh bleh". That's missing the point. If all goes according to plan, the desktop is doomed and Metro is the future. Microsoft's only got it there because Windows is still in transition. So I'm trying to use Windows 8 in as Windows 8 a way as possible, not like Win 7's little bitch.

So far it seems that's a doomed experiment. For dev I'm going to have to go full desktop, oldschool. Of course.

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