Windows 8.1

[Steve Clarkson]

Good news for all you Windows 8 users.......just read that Windows 8.1 will be coming out soon (end of the summer maybe) and it will be free to upgrade. I recently bought a new laptop and had to pay extra for Windows 7...LOL!

[Bill Cunningham]

Ahhh the initial "Bug Shoot" must be over..And they 'should' upgrade for free, seeing the people they collected from did the majority of the bug shooting so they could get to 8.1
I never buy the first release of anything..

[Anthony Scira]

Never understood all the hate for Win 8. It is basically Win 7 with some upgrades. Been pretty flawless for me.

[Tim Bateson]

WARNING - do NOT read if you are under the allusion that Win 8 is the the best thing since sliced bread... This is only 1 man's opinion (shared by millions)...

I beg to differ, Win 8 has stripped all Win7 functionality. If it's there, good luck trying to find it. I bought a new laptop,then sold it a few weeks later for a welcomed loss. I now refuse to use that horrible excuse for an operating system. Even my "high tech" son tried and would not use it. Took 2-4 times longer to navigate that mess. Touch technology is great, but touch technology on a traditional non-touch device is silly. PC sales are at an all-time low due to this mistake.

Win 8.1 may help, but I bet behind closed doors Microsoft is kicking themselves in the A... like they did with that "fantastic" OS called Vista. lol This OS isn't going away, but Win 9.0 is very likely to be a better hybrid of 7/8

BTW: My new shop i7 Quad PC arrives today pre-loaded with Win 7 Pro. First non-laptop I've owned in 15 years.

[Mike Null]

My PC guru says it's actually pretty good and that you can set it up with the old familiar desk top, etc. My pc's are all aging and i know it won't be long before I'm in the market.

[Martin Boekers]

I think the "upgrade" restores some of the versatility of 7, like the "Start Button"

[Jason Roehl]

The only people I've heard who LIKE Win8 are the ones who go elbows-deep into every software package they use, and rebuild their PCs once a year, reformatting their hard drive on a weekly basis.

Win7 was a huge improvement over Vista out-of-the-box, with no real major adjustments needed to preserve familiar user interface features. That cannot be said of Win8. The Metro interface, while great for touchscreens, is a boondoggle for regular PCs and laptops. Yes, it can be shut off and the familiar desktop accessed, but it's NOT the same desktop, just a shadow of its former self that kind of looks like what Windows users have used for the last 17+ years. You can get away with moving a few of the features around, but move too many, and you will alienate your user base.

I just put together a PC for my church's A/V table--ordered with a brand-new copy of Win7Pro. This is after I got my kids a laptop with Win8 for Christmas.

[john banks]

I setup a cheap laptop for a friend moving his files we had parked on my network after his old desktop failed, deleting the cr##ware etc. It had Windows 8 and was indeed a nightmare. Then I got an XPS18 with a touch screen and it is fantastic as a touch screen OS, I now prefer it to iOS and Android, as well as Windows 7. On a non touch screen I would now welcome Windows 8 but would use an open source free utility which I cannot recall the name of which is a bit like start 8, but I deleted it from the XPS18 as I don't need it.

[Dan Hintz]

I'm with Tim... I'm a power user, so to speak, and I abhor Win8. The loss of direct user functionality out of the box is astounding.

[Darius Ferlas]

I can get by through Win8 but I don't have the time to help 50 users find items they need within the OS.
Win 8 is great behind the scenes. The problem are the scenes.

['Jacques Malan']

I'm a reasonably competent PC user and I've high hopes for the upgrade, because so far I've been unable to use it for anything but internet surfing. I've not even been able to skype to work, I have to use google to look for how to do basic stuff. Apparently the best selling Apps for windows 8 is how to get the start button back. The only reason I am still coping is because my old XP pc is still working.

[Walt Langhans]

I'm with Tim... I'm a power user, so to speak, and I abhor Win8. The loss of direct user functionality out of the box is astounding.

Yup agree 100%

[Anthony Scira]

I don't know I have all my tiles set up. And when I login to any of my computers it automatically loads all my preferences. I guess it may take a little getting used to but I have all the live tiles set to where I can see any email, social networking, weather and a quick link to my frequently used programs. If something updates one click and you are there. If you want a program not on the list you just type the name and a list of programs comes up and you just click to start it. With an SSD my machine boots in about 13 seconds. And it is an older i5 processor.

And with this version I did something I usually never do. I upgraded Win 7 to Win 8 without reformatting the drives doing a clean install. Pretty painless and have not had a problem.

And using the Surface Pro looks like a GREAT thing for us using Corel. Looks like it is pretty much one of those Wacom Drawing Tablets for half the price.

Everything just seems to work well. And no I am not a paid Microsoft shill :P

http://www.penny-arcade.com/2013/02/...ms-surface-pro

[Tim Bateson]

Win8 does start faster, but that's mainly due to the fact that windows no longer shuts down. The "shutdown" command puts it in sleep or hibernate mode. You can actually shut it off, but it takes a few extra steps to do so.

The SSD puts the start-up on steroids.

[Dennis Watson]

What with the tiles? Reminds me of the 80's in the 8 bit dos days.