

Windows 8 may drive me to Linux - pwg
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/121015-windows-8-may-drive-me-to-linux?print

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nemo1618
Windows 8 is attracting a lot of vitriol, but personally I'm quite impressed
just by how...well..."classy" it feels in comparison to XP or even 7. It seems
like Microsoft is taking a page from Apple's book of good design.

What Windows 8 needs now is a killer Metro app (sorry for the buzzword). So
far the available apps have been pretty neat, if a little unintuitive. A must-
have app that also showed off all the advantages of Metro and served a useful
purpose would probably erase a lot of the Windows 8 hatred, and spurn more
Metro app creation to boot.

~~~
tikhonj
Apple does not have a monopoly on good design!

Also, if anything, Metro is farther away from OS X than Windows 7--the whole
design is less like anything physical (Apple loves this, but Aero glass is
also like this). The whole design aesthetic is what they call "authentically
digital" and I like it quite a bit more than Apple's skeuomorphic (what random
words I've learned on HN...) tendencies.

Overall, I'm actually really happy with Metro styling. I'm also happy with the
related design of WP 7 and the Zune software before it. Plenty of color, no
rounded corners, fewer gradients and generally simpler, more minimalist design
is what I like the most about it. In some ways, it's not dissimilar to the
design of HN, which I also like.

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notatoad
so as i understand it, all the windows users are going to switch to linux
because they hate change, and all the linux users are going to switch to
windows because they hate change. okay then.

if people want to keep using XP because that's what they're used to, they
should just keep using XP. if people want to keep using gnome 2.x, they should
keep using gnome 2.x. software changes. all these new user interfaces that the
OS manufacturers are experimenting with to stay relevant in the iPad age are
interesting and will surely evolve into something useful, even if they do
currently have some major flaws. i wish people would just give them a chance.

~~~
russfrank
"... all the linux users are going to switch to windows because they hate
change."

Where the hell did you get this from? Made me lol.

~~~
notatoad
it seems to be a common part of the unity haters' rants lately.

~~~
nilved
there's more to linux than ubuntu with unity

~~~
notatoad
yeah, but the people who write blog entries 'threatening' to switch all tend
to be using unity or gnome-shell, or else threatening to switch to one of
those two.

~~~
michaelcampbell
But to Windows? Can you point out a few of these; I've yet to see one.

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xspence
I, myself am an Apple-nerd - I've been with Apple ever since the Newton came
out. I see in the case of OS manufactures (e.g. Apple, Microsoft, Canonical,
etc), that moving towards a unified mobile platform is crucial when we all
seem to live more mobile based than desk based. It seems to be the way the
markets are shifting. Just as Apple has shown that they will (read: might) not
be bringing people back for another OSX release in 11.x, and moving towards a
more iOS-based system, I think it's safe to assume that Microsoft is following
the same trend. In the case of the Xbox 360, the box-like interface has proven
somewhat popular. Although users have been forced to play along with the Xbox
version, the Windows 7 Phone has been a big success for Microsoft.

I'm not a fan of this mobile transition, because it means that many of the
desktop experiences I have may not exist on mobile platforms for a while.
However, on the flip side, the mobile/desktop similarities and integration
might prove worthy to the mass majority of not-so-tech savvy users out there
in the market.

I found that after a while of using Mac OSX 10.7.x on my MacBook Pro, that the
only thing I needed was Logic Pro. So I stuck it on an old '09 Mac Pro and
soon after installed Debian on my MacBook Pro.

Looking back, I can attest that this has been one of the best decisions,
though tech-savvy-ness is required to get it working and working with it. I
don't know why I didn't switch earlier.

If you're looking into a more smooth transition or fun-flavored OS, Ubuntu
works a bit better.

~~~
steele
bleh, Ubuntu is going down a similar direction with it's massive flyout menu.
I can't use it without xmonad.

~~~
matzahboy
Unity sucks... just use XUbuntu (which gives you XFCE). XFCE is fantastic.

~~~
niels_olson
>XFCE is fantastic

I use a small pile of operating systems every day, including Ubuntu Studio,
which is now on XFCE, as my garage "juke box". Your statement doesn't jive
with my experience. Is there a great youtube video, list of metrics, or
something that shows great XFCE usage habits or at least what they're
measuring to claim success at?

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krisrm
I can see why the whole Metro UI thing is gonna make a bunch of long-time
Windows users sad. Microsoft knew that.However, I feel like they're solving
much bigger problems with Metro - namely, the huge gap that currently sits
between tablet/phone sized devices and desktops. It seems like this is going
to be the first proper attempt at bridging that gap: a minimum screen
resolution, sensible asset scaling for high dpi devices, good strategies for
handling different resolutions, and technologies that are architecture-
agnostic. Google and Apple don't seem anywhere close, yet; Google's ChromeOS
was kind of a flop (though I guess we have docked mode to look forward to in
new versions of Android), and Apple seems to be more busy with the iPad and
making sure nobody ever uses a mouse again.

~~~
justncase80
Agreed. It's the innovators dilemma. At some point you have to break away from
what your users say they want, innovate and give them what they don't even
know they need yet. Or your disruptive competition will slowly bleed you dry.

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andrewroycarter
I actually like what windows 7 did and think 8 will be a great step forward as
well.

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holri
For power users who want control over their computer (which the OP seems to
want) Linux has been definitly the better choice than any windows version for
years.

Commercial OS's are driving away from working to entertainment environments
because there is the growth. The market for selling new working environments
is saturated. But that does not mean that this market is dead or is going to
die, since there are always going to be productive people. It is a big mistake
to ignore this huge market.

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dazbradbury
It has taken 10 years and counting for large numbers of people and
organisations to upgrade O/S from Windows XP. It may take a further 10 for
people to upgrade from Windows 7, at which point, windows 8 style interfaces
may be the norm for the devices we use.

So unless there are direct problems in Windows 7 you want solving, or features
you want implementing (which an application doesn't solve), who cares that
it's available now?

~~~
sad_panda
I think you're only seeing the world through a enterprise licensing lens. Win7
won't be on store shelves after 8 comes out.

~~~
replax
If you don't mind me asking, where did you get that information from?

You could buy XP licences well after Win7 launched and you still can (although
primarily intended for use with the XP mode in Win7).

You were also still able to purchase Win2k licences after Vista launched...

Furthermore, I do not think that it would have much to do with viewing it
through the enterprise lens as there still are many private people running
outdated OS'es by choice.

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decklin
Previous discussion: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3667797>

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majmun
maybe you should switch to ReactOS <http://www.reactos.org/en/index.html>
(when support for vista or win7 expires)

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javert
_They want their interface and their way of working to be completely under
their control. Which, until now, it always has been._

Not really, that's a lot of what attracted me to Linux. I don't understand why
MS _still_ gives users _so little_ control of the window manager. (FYI, I use
awesome wm under Arch Linux.)

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mukaiji
"I extolled the virtues of Vista" #FacePalm.

