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I have been looking at some of the advertising and reviews of Windows 8 and have been left wondering if it is really suitable for a pc and for the photographer in particular. Do we need or want a touch screen on a desk top computer or are they only really suitable for tablets and mobile phones. What are your views? What benefits do you see in Windows 8 for the photographer?
Personally none. I have recently upgraded Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Ultimate and think it is the best operating system Microsoft have produced. I am very surprised that they have chosen to replace it so quickly. Like you I reckon it has done so for the 'touch screen' brigade, which is not something most PC or laptop users are going to have.
Quote: I am very surprised that they have chosen to replace it so quickly.
Its 3 years old - that's not quick in the scheme of things.
I am currently using 8 and to be honest, unless you are a heavy user of the start menu then it is easily possible not to notice you are on 8.
Click the desktop button and you are back to a familiar Windows 7 type world, so if that is how you intend to use it then it is really not an exciting upgrade.
The start screen beats the pants off the old start menu once you get used to it, but most stuff I use is already pinned to the task bar.
The new "metro" style apps are incredibly good looking and slick, I have only had a bit of a play so far but they really seem to work well even without a touch screen.
If you think of it as Windows7 plus an optional tiled interface its not such a major jump as people make out.
Read all about it here in a recent thread on the same subject.
Agree with the above comments from lobsterboy. I've been using windows 8 through the trial period and its really simple to use, not as power/resource hungry as earlier windows versions.
Once you get past the initial GUI differences its actually a decent OS
There's a lot of touchscreen stuff and 'apps.' being pushed in that clip.
What I want know is; how easy is it to use and how well does it perform for those of us that don't have or want touchscreen and are happier using a mouse.
He does say the the traditional desktop's only a click away but if I have to click on a couple of icons to reach it, each time I close a window, I'm going to get fed up with it pretty quickly.
It is a new file system that will hopefully speed things up a bit as well!
Quote: I just can't see why I would need to upgrade from Win 7
Because sometime in the near future there will be an upgrade to your RAW processing software that will require Windows 8 
Adobe have done this with CS & Lightroom for both Microsoft & Apple operating systems !
Quote: What I want know is; how easy is it to use and how well does it perform for those of us that don't have or want touchscreen and are happier using a mouse.
He does say the the traditional desktop's only a click away but if I have to click on a couple of icons to reach it, each t[quote]
ime I close a window, I'm going to get fed up with it pretty quickly.
[/quote]
Machine starts up to a start screen - you click desktop and you are basically in Windows 7.
Apart from a slightly different look the only difference is the Start Menu:
Instead of clicking a button and getting a vertical list of stuff, you move to the bottom left corner of the screen & a full screen start menu appears which is completely configurable.
If you want to use it like Windows 7 that is the only real difference.
Having said that, the touch screen apps seem quite fun to play with too, but they are optional.
Quote: I've been reading all the hype and blurb and I just can't see why I would need to upgrade from Win 7
No real need to upgrade from 7 if you don't want to, except it is on special offer at the moment so might save you a few quid if you ever want to upgrade.
Quote: My understanding is that unless you have touch screen hardware and software that is designed for touch use then there's no advantage over Win 7.
According to the guy in the clip that cats alludes to, you can use it well enough with a mouse, although he does rather agree with your sentiments.
The advantage of this £25 deal for myself and other XP users is that we get to upgrade to the newest OS for very little money and if we don't like the "8" bit, it's possible to run it as "Win 7."
Sort of.
Quote: Because sometime in the near future there will be an upgrade to your RAW processing software that will require Windows 8
Only if I buy into Adobe's bloatware, which I won't......I much prefer to save my pennies for other things and use a mish mash of DPP and Corel software, works for me and costs me a fraction of the cost of Adobe's stuff with arguably as good results, but we won't go there eh?...
Ade
Quote: ........ but we won't go there eh?...
Ade
Why not?
Sounds fun!
.
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