Your desktop picture.

[Fuyuhotaru]

thats Millhiore Firriano Biscotti hime (no idea about spelling)

[chikorita157]

I cloned my Windows 7 VM and upgraded it to Windows 8... Also disabled the metro garbage I will never use and so far, it's faster than Windows 7 and uses 2 GB less.



If you want to do this, just search for Ex7forWin8... You need to copy some files from Windows 7 to make it work.

[Julio]

Wow, I didn't know people are doing that to Windows 8. Are you running Windows on a HDD or on a SSD?

[chikorita157]

Wow, I didn't know people are doing that to Windows 8. Are you running Windows on a HDD or on a SSD?

It's a virtual machine running on a portable hard drive... I rarely boot into Windows on my Bootcamp partition these days, except to run some Windows only programs required for college work.

[SakuraMaxX]

I should take some time to prettify my start menu.

[Scotty]

I see your Start screen and raise mine.

[SakuraMaxX]

Holy sweet Jesus that Miki column is awesome. Do you just have to add three photo tiles to do that? Gonna spend time today to make my start menu nice and neat like that.

[Scotty]

There's a handy app at the store that makes it a breeze to do such designs.

[chikorita157]

Since I got Dreamspark working, I managed to upgrade the home server I have to Windows Server 2012... Pain in the butt since I couldn't keep anything since what I was running before was in 32-bit... So, I had to start over, but kept some of the existing files.

But yes, I disabled the Metro junk on the GUI and restored the classic gui... I don't get why they need to put that tablet garbage on a server operating system. But in the future, I'm planning to set up storage spaces and probably run a Linux Server VM for testing in HyperV. First, I need more ram and hard drives.

[SakuraMaxX]

New Start menu isn't really tablet garbage.  Hell I find it easier to work with on a mouse as long as it has a scroll wheel.

[chikorita157]

New Start menu isn't really tablet garbage.  Hell I find it easier to work with on a mouse as long as it has a scroll wheel.

Whatever suits you don't bother me... However, intrusive interface is the ones I hate as you have to do more clicks just to do things. Sure there the new hotkeys, but do you expect the average joe to know them. Not only that, it takes more clicks just to do basic things as shutting down or restarting the computer without touching the power buttons. In Mac OS X, Ubuntu and Windows 7, it takes 2-3 clicks to shut down, put a computer to sleep or restart it. In Windows 8, it takes 5 clicks to shut it off. Not only that, an average user who has no idea where to shut down will get frustrated as the hot areas aren't clearly indicated.

Change is good when it's useful (such as the Ribbon UI as it makes previously hidden functions more accessible), but I think the whole forcing the Metro UI on non-touch screen desktops and laptops is change for the sake of it. Instead of forcing this onto everyone, Microsoft should give a choice to users on what UI they want to use and leave it at that. Heck, I don't see Apple forcing the launchpad (iOS Home screen) on Mac OS X users, its stupid. Even with the popularity of tablets, desktops and laptops aren't going away anytime soon. Not only that, some Modern UI apps are useless without adding a Microsoft Account (and some people might not want to create one just to read email) and they are striped down versions of the desktop counterparts such as the Mail and Calendar Apps.

Also, I am a long time user Windows user even though I switch to Mac OS X full time since 2006 and even upgraded to Vista when everyone complained about it. Windows 8 has a lot of great features, but the modern UI crap just kills it on the desktop (It probably will work well on tablets). Not only that businesses have no plan upgrading to Windows 8 and just recently, Microsoft fired the top guy, Steven Sinofsky. Clearly, forcing Modern UI with Windows 8 is a clear failure and there is no denying it as Microsoft might backtrack and restore the Start Menu from this disaster.

Aside from this, rant over...

[SakuraMaxX]

Shutting down the PC only requires three clicks.  The "Charms" menu really simplifies things and the search feature in it worked faster than Windows Vista/7's start menu search feature, making it overall an easier start menu to use.

1st click: Bring mouse to top-rght corner of screen and click the settings icon
2nd click: Press the Power button.
3rd click: Shut down, restart, etc.

Depending on how the start menu is configured in 7, it'll require 2 or 3 clicks but I don't see how one more mouse click could possibly be a catastrophic problem that could lead to the end of the world.  I'm still led to believe people just aren't open enough to trying new shit sometimes and will jump onto the bandwagon opposing it first.  I also know of companies who have been using Windows 2000 or even Vista for a long time despite Windows 7 being around for a good while.

[animagic4u]

My beloved Nexus 7 wallpaper. <3

[idolfanaticV1]

Depending on how the start menu is configured in 7, it'll require 2 or 3 clicks but I don't see how one more mouse click could possibly be a catastrophic problem that could lead to the end of the world.  I'm still led to believe people just aren't open enough to trying new shit sometimes and will jump onto the bandwagon first.  I also know of companies who have been using Windows 2000 or even Vista for a long time despite Windows 7 being around for a good while.

Tell me about it. In the Navy at least, our superiors feel the new designs are quote "
faddish" and refuse to move on from Windows XP Professional.

[Scotty]

[insert rant here]

Aside from this, rant over...

Amusing how you try to come off as a power user, and then dismiss hotkeys because 'the average joe won't know them'. Many Win8 complaints come from misinformed people who can't really grasp the big picture of what Win8 is to someone who is coming from Win7. All they see is 'tablet UI' and how many steps it takes to do basic actions. I can tell you right now that there's no extra steps to do anything you had to do before. Win8 isn't just 'Here's a new Start screen, deal.", it improves Windows Explorer. A lot.

I'm a big proponent of choice, and yeah, I don't agree with Microsoft's 'one size fits all' approach here, but Microsoft has indeed given users a lot of choice. Don't like the Modern UI? Okay, just hit the Windows key. Don't like the stripped-down calender app? Fine. Use the one on your Desktop. Don't want to make a Microsoft account? Great! Make a local one. You know, the type of account you could make years ago with no complaints whatsoever.

The business argument you bring up is weak too. Many businesses still use XP. Companies don't change to something new that quickly. Just look at the slow phasing out of Blackberry phones.

So. There you have it. You exaggerated how inconvenient it is to navigate 8, you want choice, and it was there the whole time, and businesses are slow with tech. Windows 8 is good.