Monday, October 29, 2012

More on Windows 8

I started messing with the Windows 8 machine again today, and a lot of the day was just gone...

First of all as Rick points out in his comment on yesterday's post, I used the word Mandatory when describing the Microsoft password.... And that is really not the case...  You can go in and set up a Local password..  Both when you are installing the software and afterward even if you already have set up a Microsoft password....

But!  By setting your machine up as a local machine you are giving up the sync qualities of being connected to Microsoft...  If you have several computers, and they are running W8 they will all be connected together under this one umbrella...  Of course this may be the same thing that folks are attacking Google for doing...  Big brother is watching you during your compute session...

Rick explains that he is using Google for his sync connectivity... And yes Google has the jump on brother MS in this regard...  But will they keep it once MS syncs right in the operating system....??  And MS is allowing 7 Gb of storage right from your Metro Interface page.....



Ah, the Metro interface page....  which effectively replaces the start button on your W7 desktop....  This will cause a bit of a panic for you as you start to use this system...  It is designed to be touched with your finger on a touch screen computer...  Or drug from side to side as there is more stuff available over on the right hand side...  But don't worry you can still use your mouse..

If you move your mouse down to the lower left corner, where the start button used to be an icon of your old desktop will appear, which if you click on it will bring up that desktop!!!  Yea!!  There's all my old stuff.....   But if you think about it, MS wants you to quit using that old desktop.... Its a crutch or throwback to the old familiar system....   Give it up...  Move on....!

Eventually we will all have new computers with touch screens, its just a matter of time....   These computers self destruct in about three years or so...  Will these new machines have a mouse....?   Nope...!

Charms Bar.....  Whas that?



See that black strip running down the right hand side of the screen?  Its the charms bar....  Evidently those icons on the bar are really charms...   To get them up on the screen you move your mouse to the right corner of the screen... Either top or bottom and the bar appears...

The bottom charm is a gear, that is the settings charm.  This is where your shut down icon lives.....   along with screen brightness and your wifi connection wizard.  Sound volume and keyboard options live here too...

The middle charm that looks like a window will revert you to the metro top screen from anywhere you happen to be... See they want you to give up your desktop... Its a secondary menu that isn't touch screen friendly...

And that top charm that looks like a magnifying glass is search.... Touching it...ooops clicking on it.... brings up the list of Apps since they are now no longer programs...  And sliding the screen to the left with your finger.....Uh,er,  clicking on the mouse slide bar at the bottom and sliding......... brings up every App...... er program that is on your computer....  even Control Panel and Printers and all that stuff you used to do with the start button....

It is my opinion,  that unless Microsoft gets with the program here and makes one platform that is touch screen friendly, they will be buried by Apple with their new products...  The iPhone and the iPad is already killing them and they are scrambling to catch up...  Google is killing them with sync and they are scrambling to catch up....  They must reposition themselves.... and rather quickly...  Or we will all be paying $1,700 - $2,700 for our computers that will not have any connectivity to anything that isn't sold at the Apple store...

So will you do it?  Knuckle  under and give in to this new system....  Of course you will...  Your new PC will come loaded with it...  Its only a matter of time before your new wiz bang program that you like so well will only run on W8 and so forth....  How many of you are still running Win2000 or Millenium...?  And as far as XP, it is now or very soon will be completely unsupported so WHEN it breaks, there will be nowhere to turn...

Break down and pay the $40 now while it is cheap.....    But with that said, I didn't download the second copy for my other laptop.........    uh practice what you preach.....

Retired Rod

3 comments:

  1. Well, no point in me trying to fool myself into thinking I need the latest greatest gadgets or upgrades. Easier for me to stick with what I am familiar with & understand for now. Our older XP laptop is about done so we will be in need of a new one shortly. It's the one Kelly uses & she is thinking she might prefer Win 7 instead of Win 8 by the looks of things. Guess we will have to think on that. Our new Lenova desktop computer a year ago is Win 7 & my Toshiba laptop is Win 7 also. Maybe better for us to stick with Win 7. We are familiar with it & it is working fine for us..........

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  2. Great post and info, Rod. You are a brave one wading into this minefield. Like you, I've upgraded to Windows 8, but also like you I've only upgraded one of my computers while leaving the other on Windows 7. Nothing like hedging our bets a little, right.

    I'll be posting some more schizophrenic thoughts on Windows 8 in my blog tomorrow as I sit on the fence while trying desperately to be seen as not sitting on the fence.

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