[OniBerry]

Not a fan of Windows 8, but I don't see WP8 and Windows 8 as the same experience. I just find the setup/ui/experience on the WP devices more intuitive than on a PC.

[Thunderbuck]

Not a fan of Windows 8, but I don't see WP8 and Windows 8 as the same experience. I just find the setup/ui/experience on the WP devices more intuitive than on a PC.

The point I was trying to make earlier wasn't so much comparing the user experience between Win8 and WP8, but suggesting that CONSUMERS are associating the two, whether fair or not, because of the Metro interface.

I've talked to many (many) people who have all stated variations on "I $%@# HATE those tiles...", and there's a chance that this sentiment is carrying over to how people are perceiving the phones.

Do I think it's fair? No. There are a few issues with Win8 as a PC OS, but they're all UI issues, not technical ones and in my experience it's been performing very, very well.

[collinc93]

Couldn't disagree with the OP more. I installed Windows 8 on my desktop and absolutely love it. Takes a few days to get use to it, but once you do, everything is easier and faster then Windows 7. The Touch-based UI works perfectly fine with keyboard and mouse, Naturally people hate change, of any kind, even if its for the better. This was the right move as most Desktops, laptops and all computing devices for that matter will ship with touch screens. You should of seen the uproar when we went from DOS > Windows. People swore up and down how stupid it was and DOS was what they would use forever.

MS has impressed me so much with their WP, Windows 8 and Surface. As well as their "big vision". Being Canadian, and a HUGE RIM fan from day 1, I have gone from being sad, to being mad at them. This company had everything going for it and it just threw it all away with laziness and absolutely awful leadership with no foresight. I have a Bold 9900 and Playbook 64GB and hate them both. I will be trading both in for the Lumia 920 and the Surface RT for the wife and Surface Pro for me. My wife already has the Lumia 900 and absolutely loves it. With everything Microsoft is doing, RIM has no chance stay relevant in this market. So long to a company I use to love.

....and you were doing so well...you could have been a contender and then you said RIM had no relevance. tsk tsk, you blew it

[djenkins6]

Nah, it's not about better/worse, it's just not suited for me and I really need to feel comfortable with the UI to be able to work.
I'm ok with W7 actually, but I'll need to change my laptot somewhen this year, and I'm just wondering if new interesting laptops under W7 will be available (and if Microsoft will continue to update W7).
P.S. As to my flop reference, I don't think it's about bashing, I think everybody heard about it (I actually didn't have anything against Vista at the time )

You can pick up windows 7 laptops cheap now as all the new ones are windows 8, I'm sure they'll support windows 7 for another couple of years, same as they support XP. But to reiterate, you are missing out on the better performance of windows 8, and I spend most of my time in the windows 8 desktop which is identical to the windows 7 desktop without the start button. To start up new programs just one hit of the windows button and click on program on the metro interface, or type the program name or part name and a list of matches is displayed to click on.

[SparkyBC]

Windows 8 metro is not even close to a desktop environment. It's far from productive and is far from being ready for prime time. To much flip flopping and is more for a touch screen only.

[Rickster1]

My mother summed up win8 to me. "where's solitaire? I can't find it". and neither could I. have to download it from the store. The tile interface is ok but really is just an extra layer on top of desktop. Reminds me of "widgets". For the average user win8 is too complex. do a google search for e-mail set up..... many users find it impossible to even set up email if you don't want to go the way microsoft wants you to. I view win 8 as MS's way of trying to drive people into their ecosystem and in my view for most people, they will be forced into win 8 over time or they may go mac as the user interface on their iphone will be more appealing. I agree with the original poster, the biggest mistake since vista and maybe even bigger. MS has been and will continue to be a necessary evil for many as win 8 will be more confusing to the average user. Good luck MS!!!!

[magutwit]

You can pick up windows 7 laptops cheap now as all the new ones are windows 8, I'm sure they'll support windows 7 for another couple of years, same as they support XP.

That's exactly what I'm talking about : I don't want the rest of previously unsold laptops or some old models, normally I like to buy something new in terms of design and specs (especially if you're buying under the old os)

But to reiterate, you are missing out on the better performance of windows 8, and I spend most of my time in the windows 8 desktop which is identical to the windows 7 desktop without the start button. To start up new programs just one hit of the windows button and click on program on the metro interface, or type the program name or part name and a list of matches is displayed to click on.

No, but I don't doubt, that it may be better for someone, but as it was said, it's very different. I don't find it difficult to get how it works or whatever, I just find that its use is not pleasant for me. And I need my use to be pleasant

[12Danny123]

My mother summed up win8 to me. "where's solitaire? I can't find it". and neither could I. have to download it from the store. The tile interface is ok but really is just an extra layer on top of desktop. Reminds me of "widgets". For the average user win8 is too complex. do a google search for e-mail set up..... many users find it impossible to even set up email if you don't want to go the way microsoft wants you to. I view win 8 as MS's way of trying to drive people into their ecosystem and in my view for most people, they will be forced into win 8 over time or they may go mac as the user interface on their iphone will be more appealing. I agree with the original poster, the biggest mistake since vista and maybe even bigger. MS has been and will continue to be a necessary evil for many as win 8 will be more confusing to the average user. Good luck MS!!!!

really???. My little brother. He's only 7 can use windows 8 perfectly fine. Adults are so dumb these days

[magutwit]

really???. My little brother. He's only 7 can use windows 8 perfectly fine. Adults are so dumb these days

What's the point of being rude?

Anyway, all surveys show that the greatest majority of high tech users (computers, tablets, smartphones, etc.) are not technophiles and that their average competence is about surfing the net.
It's of Microsoft fault if they don't want to take it into consideration (I mean it's funny, but it is SO true, if they put the Solitaire somewhere in the centre from the very beginning ))

P.S. Once I have even seen computers on the TV shopping-channels. I don't know what kind of OS it is, but it looks like a normal laptop with only 6 big icons on it or so (internet, mail, photos, videos, write a document, web cam). ))))

[georg22]

I talked to a lot of PC users too, and most of them told me, that they dont like the Metro-UI from a design perspective. Everything is flat and unicolored, simple shapes, controls like buttons are simple rectangles - everything looks more like a prototype than a finished product - and gets boring after a while.
Others (few) really love the minimalistic design.
And here is the problem. A popular OS should be designed to meet the taste of the huge majority.
I would switch to another OS if i could, but i have some very expensive software for windows only. But others will leave windows in favour of iOS or even Ubuntu for sure. So i think the the Metro-UI was one of the biggest mistakes of MS ever.

[Alex_Hong]

i think one of the reasons that W8 is not that well received is because most of us are too used to the "Desktop" view. Secondly, W8 hasn't exactly been around that long. I think if you're talking about a kid's first experience with a computer, and he starts by using W8. Once he gets used to the gestures, and OS, ask him to use a traditional desktop, and I think you'll have the same response we have. Other than that, I don't think its that bad, if you've seen reviews of some tech bloggers, you'll hear that they are starting to 'get' the W8 UX.

Personally i have a few gripes.
- W8 was meant more as a touchscreen device where gesture made sense. Using a mouse or trackpad to move from one side of the screen over to another takes a longer time than to just move my finger over.
- Some people like to have many windows open at the same time. Like when people with big screens, and would like to open lots of windows at the same time to view at multiple things. Like for example, I could be browsing the web on one window, doing photoshop on a couple of others, and perhaps playing a video on the back (just listening and glancing over at times). While the W8 UI allows multiple windows, it's not to the extend of a traditional desktop. However, I have to admit that perhaps a small percentage of people really needs all these. Like when I'm not working on something, I Just have like 1 or 2 windows opened, I may have more apps running, but i may not be using them all at the same time. The gestures to switch apps works pretty well on W8 imo.

So, i think its just a matter of preferences. Its especially hard to change the entire user paradigm of something that most of the world is familiar with already. I really do respect MS for having the guts to do so. I think lets give W8 a year or 2, see how well people receive it then. Most people still don't have a desktop/laptop with touchscreen.

Then onto WP8. Personally I've used WP7.5/7.8 for a couple of months. Personally, I like it, but I can't live with it. When it was announced I caught the live stream of the event. I think it looks really pretty and is really easy to use. But i think its still lacking in certain ways, and those are the things I can't live with. The more I used it, the novelty sort of wears off. Things like notification centre (even though it is rumoured to be out soon), certain quirks that exist when navigating around the phone, etc. I expected most them to be fixed with WP8, but it wasn't. No doubt that MS would eventually fix it though, as perseverance is one their traits. Just look at the XBox. However, as pretty i think the home screen is, it still isn't enough to make me live with its shortcomings. The lack of certain apps, and the lacking in the features in some apps certainly didn't help. Personally, it's not for me, but I can imagine as one's first smartphone, it will be plenty good. First time smartphone buyers should be pretty contented with its offerings. Also, my needs from a mobile devices are unique, and different people have different needs. I have no doubt that WP8 will appeal to a lot of people as well. From what I can see, WP platform already have a decent amount of fans, and I have no doubt that this number will grow even greater. I really do love its home screen's customisable tiles.

But anyway, I don't think we need another company to fail just so RIM/BB10 could be successful. I think both OS and company can be successful in their own rights. Smartphone adoption rate throughout the world is like what? around 50%? Maybe even lesser than that. I think there's still room for both the company to be successful.

Peace.

[kbz1960]

My take is the new start Page UI for win8 is a limited mobile OS that sucks on a desktop. However ignoring (one click to the desktop) and it's almost like the other versions. I don't want a mobile OS on my computer or laptop. I want full features with options and settings. The win8 start Page and apps give me neither.

[mrfreetruth]

PC sales plunge as Windows 8 flops: research firm | Toronto Star

Windows 8 is a total FLOP . It's funny how microsoft was trying to spread propaganda that sales were doing well but the reality it is a TOTAL FLOP. WP8 is also a total flop as i have yet to see one WP....NOT ONE...NOT EVEN ONE SIHGLE PHONE...NOT ONE. No one like MS.

[independentvolume]

PC sales plunge as Windows 8 flops: research firm | Toronto Star

Windows 8 is a total FLOP . It's funny how microsoft was trying to spread propaganda that sales were doing well but the reality it is a TOTAL FLOP. WP8 is also a total flop as i have yet to see one WP....NOT ONE...NOT EVEN ONE SIHGLE PHONE...NOT ONE. No one like MS.

[world traveler and former ceo]

Blackberry just needs to build out the ecosystem with more of the big apps and issue periodic software upgrades to add features and fix some bugs .. great base with qnx!!!

[absoultely]

I have windows 8 and at first had all the problems described above. Just turning it off required written instructions! But if you Google restore the start bar in windows 8 you will find plenty of free downloads that bypass the ridiculous metro interface and from then on the OS is excellent.

Posted via CB10

[pooger]

I've also never seen a windows phone either, but I'm also the only person I know that has a bb10 device.

Posted via CB10

[texazzpete]

PC sales plunge as Windows 8 flops: research firm | Toronto Star

Windows 8 is a total FLOP . It's funny how microsoft was trying to spread propaganda that sales were doing well but the reality it is a TOTAL FLOP. WP8 is also a total flop as i have yet to see one WP....NOT ONE...NOT EVEN ONE SIHGLE PHONE...NOT ONE. No one like MS.

You'd see more WP users if you'd just move out of that troll cave

[Sqoon]

I have installed a metro bypass, the problem is that it will occasionally appear depending on the app I open. This is super annoying as you immediately get shown ads from Microsoft on whatever app, game, or movie they happen to be promoting.
Honestly if I had an alternative pc gaming platform I wouldn't use windows at all.

Posted via CB10

[kbz1960]

I have win8 on my lappy and have installed start is back. I use nothing from the modern side at all, I ignore it. When I open something that defaults to the modern side I change the default to something that isn't.

[WhiteSpir1t]

You can't compare BB10 with Windows 8. Windows 8 is a PC, whereas BB10 is just a mobile OS.

Can you run Photoshop on your BB10? Nope. Only on Windows 8.

And I thought I was the only one who was lost :rolled eyes:

[angieberry10]

I've also never seen a windows phone either, but I'm also the only person I know that has a bb10 device.

Posted via CB10

lol, me too.
They will come...

[katiepea]

Would aweful not mean full of awe?

[Toodeurep]

Would aweful not mean full of awe?

Along with aweall, awesome and my personal fave...
foolcircle

[dannyd86]

The worst part is how they integrated the windows 8 layer. Which is a mobile OS. There's 2 apps for everything. And having to switch between the 2 drove me nuts in the start so I abandoned the windows 8 mobile layer on my desktop. I never use it. And I mean NEVER.

I have no loyalty to windows and don't even use any software. But my dell computer was dirt cheap. Maybe one day if I feel like spending necessary amounts of money ill buy a mac book. They do look fancy.

Microsoft definitely flopped. What'd they do? They saw mobile devices taking over the PC market share. So they decide to bring a mobile feel to desktop. Assuming it was the look and feel if the phones that made people use them. Wrong. They should have found a way to improve the desktop experience. Went head to head with mobile. Find a way to get people sitting at their desk. Not merge the two. If they ever remove the desktop experience their screwed.

Posted via CB10