PC sales Suffer Biggest Slump in years

[kacir]

Originally Posted by BeccaPrice

Windows 8 doesn't let you have multiple windows open?

It is a little bit more complicated. Windows 8 is a very strange beast. They want to force everybody to use the new UI system. The new tablet UI system can only display one application fullscreen. It can also divide the screen into two parts (30/70%) and display an application on each of those. You also can't close an application (well, on a system with keyboard you press Alt+F4, but on a touch-only system you are stuck). Just start another one. They tell you not to worry, windows will unload the excessive applications when it runs out of memory.
At the same time they can't simply throw away the entire ecosystem of existing legacy Windows applications. So they let you use desktop applications just the way you have been using windows for the last 18 years.
In order to achieve that there are two distinct and separate versions of applications such as Internet Explorer. When you start the explorer for the first time it starts in a fullscreen "Metro" mode. You can "switch" it the the desktop mode where it behaves like a normal window. But this another version of Internet Explorer.
Some new applications do not have two versions - Metro and Desktop, so you are stuck in Metro interface with one fullscreen application. At this moment there are very few of those.

I have purchased notebook with Windows 8. There was no choice if I wanted to buy a heavily discounted notebook with desired parameters during Black Friday when I was visiting USA. After three weeks I have updated it to Mint Linux Nadia KDE edition and I am happy ;-)
I consider myself pretty flexible and I have no problem using exotic user interfaces, but I ditched Windows 8. I was planning to install it to a virtual machine but they have made this very complicated - the version that came with the notebook needs UEFI boot, it came without installation disks (just recovery partition) and it has serial number burnt in BIOS somewhere.

[QuantumIguana]

Originally Posted by jersysman

If that PC still works for you, then why bother upgrading? As long as your PC does everything you need it to do in a reasonable amount of time, then that is good enough.

I'd say that on my desktop at home, Vista doesn't annoy me sufficiently at this time to justify the expense of an upgrade.

[Dulin's Books]

Originally Posted by kacir

You also can't close an application (well, on a system with keyboard you press Alt+F4, but on a touch-only system you are stuck). Just start another one. They tell you not to worry, windows will unload the excessive applications when it runs out of memory.

that's not true. you can close modern ui applications with touch or mouse/keyboard. with touch you swipe from the top bezel to the bottom bezel sort of like throwing the app off the bottom of the display. there are other ways too including alt+f4 with the onscreen keyboard

[weatherwax]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Or, you could stick with your old pants, which are still in perfect condition....

Win8 is good for some and not good for others. I personally wouldn't want it on my work pc and home pc.

Sorry, did not want to imply that just because I like Windows 8, everbody else should also like it. But there is a difference between "it does not fit my needs" or even "some features are annoying me" and "it is a bad application".

[Teknikal]

Originally Posted by theinfamousj

I have two thoughts:

1/ Moore's Law is alive and well, but the technology to cool the amount of heat produced by the true top of line processors isn't there. My university department has a lab working on this problem and considers it a success when a computer takes a whopping 30 seconds before bursting into flame while running the true top of line processor. We are beyond air cooled, beyond water cooled, and into the world of nano-foams.

2/ I run Calibre on a netbook that has as much processing power as a standard tablet, and simple format conversions can - but not always - overwhelm the machine. Until tablets can run Calibre without a hiccup, there will always be a place in my house for a "real" computer, be it desktop or laptop.

Even my desktop system struggles with Calibre conversions sometimes as well, it seems to grab all the resources from the machine resulting in complete freezing for a while (sometimes so long I have to kill it from task manager), for this reason I only convert one or two books at a time.

I encode a lot of video, game and do other things on that machine Calibre is really the only program that handles things that badly I don't think it's fair to blame the netbook for that.

[twobob]

@dulin I was like.. I really don't see why he is so impassioned about windows 8?
It's obviously not that widely liked.

then I noticed: "Currently employed at Microsoft as a Product Advisor"

So.. err.. it's fair to say that this is not an "unbiased" opinion of Win8's virtues
In that case this will be my last post in this thread.

Life's too short to read propaganda. Even just one companies/persons.
Thanks for everyone elses time and thoughts. I valued them.

[theinfamousj]

Originally Posted by Teknikal

Even my desktop system struggles with Calibre conversions sometimes as well, it seems to grab all the resources from the machine resulting in complete freezing for a while (sometimes so long I have to kill it from task manager), for this reason I only convert one or two books at a time.

I encode a lot of video, game and do other things on that machine Calibre is really the only program that handles things that badly I don't think it's fair to blame the netbook for that.

My desktop doesn't struggle with Calibre, though maybe after reading your post I should add "yet". I frequently convert multiple books at once. Perhaps I have just been lucky.

[Teknikal]

Originally Posted by theinfamousj

My desktop doesn't struggle with Calibre, though maybe after reading your post I should add "yet". I frequently convert multiple books at once. Perhaps I have just been lucky.

Always seems kind of random when it does it to me and in those cases I had quite a lot of books converting at once although I suspect that maybe one book in the batch may be giving it problems somewhere.

I've a feeling it may be something to do with bulk converting I can't remember having problems when I use the convert individually option even on multiple selections but I usually keep the number pretty low just to be on the safe side.

[pl001]

When I first got my Surface RT, I really hated Windows 8. Setting up even moderately advanced features required many forum and Google searches, it just was not intuitive at all. But I stuck with it because I really liked the power and flexibility of the Surface.

Now that I've had it for a couple months I like it. 8/RT is not perfect but it functions great on a small mobile device and enabled my Surface to replace my laptop for mobile use. On a desktop? I'm not so sure. Metro with a mouse is usable but annoying. And being forced to a single source to buy new apps is not something most large businesses are going to want to do. There are some very deep flaws in Microsoft's logic right now, and they are being rather arrogant about it. You usually find more success giving people what they want instead of telling them what they want.

[taustin]

[QUOTE=pl001;2483194You usually find more success giving people what they want instead of telling them what they want.[/QUOTE]

You'd think that, yes. Apple seems to have done OK with that plan, though.

[sglinert]

I'm with you. I have small hands, so the Bluetooth keyboard that came with my adorable SharkSucker case is actually more efficient for me than my lovely Asus laptop. When I first got an iPad (to review for a magazine), I couldn't figure out what to do with it. Now it's practically grafted to my hand.

I do a lot of copy editing and writing, and I am sort of stunned that I prefer Pages to Word for the stuff I do most often. I found a little program that lets me use a large display with the iPad. I much prefer the iPad's mail to Outlook, and the Japanese dictionary I bought is far superior to anything I ever found for Windows. Another few bucks for a slick little program that lets me print to all the printers in the house, a dollar here and there for an assortment of other little utilities, and I don't miss my laptop very much.

That said, I still use my Asus for Calibre, book layout, and heavy graphics processing, but I am now using the iPad for everything else.

I spent some time playing with a few Windows 8 machines at Fry's...and I can't believe that I am the only one who finds the UI eyewateringly hideous. It's not modern, it's 1960s, complete with the same gruesome shade of avocado that you used to find in kitchen appliances. It looks like a 4-year-old colored in the blocks with a retro set of crayons. It's so ugly that I couldn't find it within myself to shell out the money for an otherwise stunning thin-and-light. I'll order it directly from the company with Windows 7 Pro.

Finally, I should add that my SharkSucker lets quickly me snap out the iPad itself every night so I can read using Marvin.

[Dulin's Books]

edit dup- to point- this is really annoying. im typing, theres a flash and my screen looks blank. i type everything out again hit post and find ive double posted somehow. something to do with this track pad. ever since i updated to windows 8 and had to get a new driver the thing is way oversensitive and it cant be adjusted like it could with the perfectly good win7 driver

[Dulin's Books]

Originally Posted by twobob

@dulin I was like.. I really don't see why he is so impassioned about windows 8?
It's obviously not that widely liked.

then I noticed: "Currently employed at Microsoft as a Product Advisor"

So.. err.. it's fair to say that this is not an "unbiased" opinion of Win8's virtues
In that case this will be my last post in this thread.

Life's too short to read propaganda. Even just one companies/persons.
Thanks for everyone elses time and thoughts. I valued them.

sorry you feel i am propagandizing. it is not my intent. I changed my sig way back in October when i accepted the job offer to make sure people didnt think i was hiding my affiliation.

anybody who has spent any time on this board in discussions with me would know that i choose to talk about and sell products I like. I dont pretend to like them because i sell them. The ereaders i sold i did so because I personally liked them. But I had no problem here or elsewhere to advise someone to get something else that would suit them better.

I decided to go work for Microsoft because I like the product, I was using Windows 8 for 7-8 months before starting with them. I still have no problem advising people on other products that may suit their wants/needs better.

Having said that I will continue to post corrections when incorrect statements are posted. Whether they are about Eink, ereaders from various companies, Android tablets,Apple products, MS products or services etc etc. And i will agree with people when they say things they find undesirable about a product when i actually agree with them as i did above/earlier. Be they about MS products or others.

Im sorry you dont want to be a part of those discussions

Originally Posted by pl001

And being forced to a single source to buy new apps is not something most large businesses are going to want to do.

Businesses are not forced to buy software from a single source with Windows 8. they can buy desktop style software direct fromt he developer or from any vendor they choose as they did before. Modern apps must be purchased/downloaded through the store BUT Businesses can if they want run sideload all the apps they want http://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/s...tore-apps.aspx

but i agree its not easy or cheap for smaller businesses to have sideloading ability for their Modern UI apps

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by Dulin's Books

I changed my sig way back in October when i accepted the job offer to make sure people didnt think i was hiding my affiliation.

No problem I can see.

I wish someone from Lab 126 (Amazon Kindle) and Nook would do the same.

Originally Posted by Dulin's Books

there was a shutdown bug when the logon is disabled. that bug has been gone since the release preview or before.

Then it probably has to do with my specific configuration, which includes dual-boot to Linux and SkipMetroSuiteUI to go straight to the desktop. However, I do need a shortcut (C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe /s /t 0) to power off from Windows.

[Dulin's Books]

i was just telling someone yesterday that when I sold Onyx and Pocketbook readers, on 3 occasions Lab126 bought readers from me. Im kinda proud they chose to buy from me, Im sure they heard about me from here.