Windows 8 - any views?

[gurnemanz]

Our main computer with XP has just finally died, having been revived several times over the years. It was ten years old and did good service. I have a laptop with Windows 7 and better half has an ipad, so replacement might not be necessary. New PCs now come with Windows 8 which has had a mixed reception and seems to be geared to touchscreen, which doesn't appeal to me in a PC. Does anyone have Windows 8 and is it worth getting?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Every new version of Windows is slated by lots of people, including the very successful XP. But they do seem to be churning out new version with annoying regularity at the moment - Vista, 7, 8...

[JFLL]

Windows 8 ... seems to be geared to touchscreen, which doesn't appeal to me in a PC.

What does 'geared to' mean exactly, gurnemanz? Does it mean you have to prod about with your fingers like an infant poking at a picture-book? If so, giving up XP when my 10-year-old desktop dies will be even more traumatic. than when I had to buy a laptop with Vista.

[gurnemanz]

What does 'geared to' mean exactly, gurnemanz? Does it mean you have to prod about with your fingers like an infant poking at a picture-book? If so, giving up XP when my 10-year-old desktop dies will be even more traumatic. than when I had to buy a laptop with Vista.

Just enquiring ... I have read that it has something called "tiles" that seem to be better suited to finger prodding than other means of user interface.

[johnb]

Windows 8 'family' of operating systems seems to have been targeted at tablet users and is designed to be used with touch screens. You can use the mouse but there have been reports that the user interface can be confusing.

All bricks and mortar PC outlets (such as PC World, etc) will only stock Windows 8 PCs. However, if you are willing to buy a more business orientated PC, and to buy online, you should easily be able to buy one running Windows 7. (This was always the case with Windows Vista - the people frequenting the likes of PCWorld had no option but to buy Vista but the vast majority of businesses still continued to buy Windows XP, at least until the advent of Windows 7.)

Incidentally, when a friend of mine was looking round to buy a Windows 8 PC (in spite of my questioning) a couple of months ago he was told that there were, at that time, very few screens that were suitable for the touch screen facilities of Windows 8 !!!

In general, my own inclination would be to wait at the very least for 6 months after the launch of a new OS, preferably a year, before taking the plunge. As for Windows 8, as things stand I will almost certainly buy a Windows 7 PC if I need a new computer in the next couple of years.

[Bryn]

I got a Windows 8 HP laptop about a month ago. Its main attraction was that it was slim, fairly robust and had a decent battery charge life (no optical drive though). It has not as yet become my main machine and I am only on the initial stages of the learning curve for Windows 8. It seems that lots of 'legacy' software will only run from the Widows 8 desktop option, not via the tiled route. Navigation with the touch-pad (the laptop does not have a touch-screen) seems reasonable enough, but the GUI is just do different in concept from earlier versions of Windows. I suppose will eventually get to grips with it. For the moment I am still using an acer 64 bit Window 7 laptop as my workhorse, and using an older acer running XP SP3 for most audio editing since the 64 bit Windows 7 machine does not like Sound Forge 5 one little bit. It crashes the moment I try to open a file in it. This does not happen in a 32 bit Windows 7 machine I sometimes use.

[JFLL]

Thanks, johnb and bryn, that's very useful information. It sounds as though it mught be worth going for a machine with Windows 7 while they're still around. (I'm also slightly worried about being able to run some very old but very good database software called FoxPro -- v.2.6, early 1990s vintage! -- which I had a bit of trouble getting to work with Vista but got there eventually.)

[Don Petter]

Thanks, johnb and bryn, that's very useful information. It sounds as though it mught be worth going for a machine with Windows 7 while they're still around. (I'm also slightly worried about being able to run some very old but very good database software called FoxPro -- v.2.6, early 1990s vintage! -- which I had a bit of trouble getting to work with Vista but got there eventually.)

FoxPro takes me back! I had my record index using it, and once wrote a complete triple currency accounting package with it for my employer of the time. It's still on my PC, and I've just run it up to see the version, which is 2.0! It was an excellent product - very straightforward to use by modern standards.

[johnb]

By the way, Windows 7 is very easy to use if you are used to XP (or Vista).

Also, there is a utility to restore the Start button to Windows 8 which costs $4.99. I came across this utility when it was mentioned in a review of Windows 8, suggesting that it made the new OS more user friendly but I have no personal experience of it - so anyone interested should do their own research.

http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

[johnb]

It sounds as though it mught be worth going for a machine with Windows 7 while they're still around. (I'm also slightly worried about being able to run some very old but very good database software called FoxPro -- v.2.6, early 1990s vintage! -- which I had a bit of trouble getting to work with Vista but got there eventually.)

I don't know how long business Windows 7 PCs will be easily available - this will presumably depend on the demand. What I do know is that business orientated Windows XP PCs (or PCs that came with a "downgrade" disc) were available all through the Vista era because businesses were reluctant to move to Vista (indeed, at the start of last year around 40% of business PCs were still running XP). My guess is that Windows 8 will pose a major headache for businesses, on the other hand there might be pressure for them to move over to Windows 8 because of staff wanting to use the Microsoft tablets - so who knows what will happen.

[Bryn]

If one does opt for one of the limited number of Windows 7 PCs available, it might be worth getting a copy of the Window 8 upgrade pack before the price goes up (trebles?) at the end of the month.

[Beef Oven]

Wrong thread I know, but I couldn't find the itunes one.

Does anyone know how to revert from itunes 11 to itunes 10?

I managed it some time back by trial and error, but there's no way I can remember what I did.

[Pabmusic]

Wrong thread I know, but I couldn't find the itunes one.

Does anyone know how to revert from itunes 11 to itunes 10?

I managed it some time back by trial and error, but there's no way I can remember what I did.

This might help (assuming you use OS X):

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/audio/3415214/how-downgrade-itunes-11-itunes-10-in-mac-os-x/

[Beef Oven]

This might help (assuming you use OS X):

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/audi...0-in-mac-os-x/

Thanks Pab. I'm using Windows, and there is a link from your link to it

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

a friend of long standing and technically educated and computer proficient etc etc has recently installe Windows 8 on his HP laptop; in the process dropping all the proprietary HP software ... he is delighted with it and reports a substantial gain in laptop performance ...

try Ubuntu on old machines?