
Removing Windows 8 is better than... - diwank
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/121949-removing-windows-8-is-better-than
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prof_hobart
I've installed Windows 8 on a VM and played around with it for a couple of
hours, and I'm honestly wondering if I've missed an option somewhere - I
cannot believe that what I'm using is meant to be the next version of MS's
main desktop OS.

Just about every W8 program seems to want to run only as a single window full
screen app which seems to go against pretty much everything that window-based
OSs (certainly multi-tasking ones) were introduced to do. Even trying to
switch between multiple open browser sessions was horribly clunky, although at
least you do seem to be able to run IE on the old Windows desktop if you want
- an option that I couldn't find for most of the other apps.

I'm sure this may work great on a phone/tablet, but seems totally wrong on a
standard computer. Apple has had a go at fittin similar iOS features into
MacOS (tablet-style program launcher/full screen mode etc), but at the moment
they are thankfully entirely optional.With Windows 8, this looks to largely be
the only choice.

~~~
mauriciob
You should use the "old desktop" on a PC. Also, you can divide screen between
metro apps or between metro and desktop, and it's not that bad.

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brudgers
> _Let me tell you, that whole process was far and away the most invigorating
> and intensely satisfying experience I had all week_

For me, this puts the rant in the proper perspective. I recommend stepping
away from the computer and going on a date.

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tintin
Ranting about the Windows 8 Consumer Preview seems a bit unfair. It says
"Consumer" and "Preview". Both words indicating it is not for the more
advanced user.

At work we always use Windows Server Edition as workstation OS. I must say
that those Server Editions are very good.

So if you don't like the bling just don't use the Consumer Preview but install
a Server Edition instead.

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nhebb
_I pushed aside the psychological torture of opening program after program and
never closing one, despite knowing I would never come back to it._

Does this mean Windows 8 doesn't let you close programs? Have they abstracted
away a layer of resource management from the user to the OS?

~~~
justncase80
You can close them actually, but they basically hibernate so you can switch
back to them quickly. If you swipe from the left (or put your mouse in the
upper left corner) it will show a list of all the apps and you can pick one.
Or just swipe a couple of times to swap between them all. Also you can pull
one out and dock it to the left or right so you can have two apps running
simultaneously. You can right click or press and hold on the apps in the left
side list and a menu with the option to close them appears.

And actually if you pull the app off of the left and off the bottom edge it
will close it also. There are gestures and keyboard shortcuts for all of this.

But yes, the apps will actually be hibernated if they're in the background
long enough and they will also be closed completely if not switched to
eventually. There are api's for the apps to detect these switches and persist
state. And the process will be forcefully killed if the app takes to long
doing it.

~~~
nhebb
So it's TSR 2.0.

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funkah
I have trouble trusting this. Years ago everyone pissed and moaned about how
terrible Vista was, only to have 7 be received as The Messiah, even though it
was basically the same as Vista. I feel as though a narrative is being set up
where 8 will be the terrible horrible worst thing ever ever, and 8.1 will be
incredible genius by golly MS has done it again.

