The Glade 4.0

Better results?

A more interesting homepage, for sure...mostly though, it's six of one, half-dozen of the other. The search results are marginally better. I like the new Outlook.com better than Gmail (aesthetically). The one place where Google feels demonstrably better than Bing is its image search, but that's it.

Yeah, but Bing has better video (porn) search.

I think Bing image search is a lot better than Google image. I have no evidence to support this since I only do random image searches for the funnies.

_________________

I think Bing's image search is more attractive, and for 90%+ of people gives better results. The way I search for images is a little off-kilter and Bing doesn't quite work that way. But for most, it's probably better.

I think the question might be, what does bing *not* do that google does do...

Just a guess?

What is, "Try to force you into a social network?"

_________________

Holy shitsnacks!

Gaming on Windows 8 vs Windows 7 according to Tom's Hardware

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/win ... ,3331.html

Installed 8 on my media box today. Metro looks nicer than a desktop for this purpose though I'm still learning my way around.

_________________
I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

how to close metro apps
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/14 ... martscreen

Some more tips and tricks
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/softwar ... ps-tricks/

This was also helpful for me
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/ ... eat-sheet/

Now that I know my way around, and the 'metro' way of doing some things, i find myself less frustrated with this as a desktop UI.

I agree, once you learn the shortcuts it's entirely usable. But doesn't it still just feel... unnecessary? I find myself thinking all the time (using it on my primary work laptop right now), "There used to be an easier way to do that." Even if my PC HAD a touch screen, if I still had a keyboard and mouse, I would use those and not have a dirty screen (not to mention how much wasted motion it would be to launch every app by reaching up to the screen). For a PC in the kitchen, loaded with recipes, that's JUST a touch screen? I can see it there. For a conventional PC? So unnecessary.

When I'm using the Metro UI on a desktop, I continuously find myself wishing I was on my Surface... The UI works great on a tablet, but as a desktop OS, I still feel like I have one hand tied behind my back (or something)...

I'm not sure if Microsoft really feels like Metro is the desktop OS of the future, or if they just don't give a crap about the future of desktop computers as we know them (keyboard/mouse controlled)...

I've pondered an all-in-one desktop. I played around with a couple of them in the Microsoft Store here in town. They look and feel great, but the problem I have is that I typically don't sit close enough to my monitor to comfortably use a touch screen, and I don't see that changing. My eyes just function better at that (24" plus) distance.

I have a co-worker who is nearly as fanatical about Microsoft products as some Apple nuts I know, and even he gave the Metro desktop a WTF (and he HAS an all-in-one).

To paraphrase his words..."They made everything that was great about Windows 7 and made it all harder to do".

Now that he understands the contextual search stuff, and how to get around, he likes it better, but...

He called me one night, trying to figure out how to 'manage' bookmarks in the Metro IE. I told him "you don't", to which he responded "DOUBLE YOU TEE EFF"...

There is no way to manage bookmarks within the Metro version of Internet Explorer. You have to use an external app like Xmarks (a cross platform bookmark sync app) to manage your bookmarks, and then launch the sites from within that app. There is no way to do it from within the Metro IE app. Xmarks is a great idea, but it's poorly implemented. I experimented with it syncing my Chrome bookmarks, and it seems like every time it syncs, it creates a copy of all of my bookmarks and syncs them back to Chrome. I now have four identical copies of all of my bookmarks in all of my Chrome browsers.. I'm probably doing something wrong, but I think that's the point. Google got bookmark sync'ing right. It's just so simple and effective the way Chrome does it. It doesn't need to be complicated... i just needs to be seamless and functional...

To me, this is a huge miss. The ability to manage your bookmarks is a fundamental part of the browser. Having to do it with a third party app just makes everything feel disconnected...

Perhaps they will address this in a future update.... one can only hope.

I love my Surface btw. I really didn't expect to, but I do. There are some annoying things (as mentioned above), but now that I know most of the short cuts to navigating, I find it generally an outstanding device that will only get better as RT and the app infrastructure mature.

"There used to be an easier way to do that."

Pretty similar takes there... I just feel like as a desktop OS on the most prevalent method of input in the world, it's a miss.

I kind of feel like Windows Vista again. They are trying to make too radical a change rather than phasing funcationality changes in incrementally and it is making people uncomfortable or worse leaving them feeling lost. Ultimately this is where things need to be a unified OS across your TV, Phone, Tablet, and PC (if you still use one) but they should have been more iterative and less drastic with the new stuff. They did a relatively decent job of transitioning Office to the task ribbon slowly, too bad they didn't take that lesson to heart.

_________________

The comparison to Vista seems to be apt:

http://www.kitguru.net/software/operating-systems/benjamin/windows-8-proving-less-popular-than-vista/

Less popular than Vista? They're losing the popularity contest to that kid that's eating all the paste and fingerpainting with dog poop.

How come in EVERY add I've seen for Win8 (on TV and on YT) its ALWAYS a touch screen/tablet device? Interesting point there I think...

_________________

I DON'T WANT TO RESTART NOW. LISTEN TO ME OS, I AM YOUR MASTER.

It's the little stuff like this that almost gets me, and it seems to be getting worse and worse with every version that rolls out. I'm an adult I can try my shoes, decide what files I want to download and even do without windows updates until my movie is over.

_________________
I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

But, until you restart your computer could be vulnerable to critical security threats (that it's totally been vulnerable to since the day you installed it!)!!!!!

This actually makes me happy, for a change. I had specific reasons for disliking what MS was doing and itturns out they are right. I am now 1 for eleventy billion...

Sent from my SpringBoard using Tapatalk 2

_________________
Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

I bought a new laptop at the beginning of December, and specifically avoided the Win 8 models in favor of Win 7. I saved about $300 doing that, too.

_________________
Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

I've been using Windows 8 on my laptop for about the last 4-5 months. If the screen were a touchscreen, it would be awesome. Without a touch screen I think Win8 is at a very distinct disadvantage.

_________________
The Dude abides.

Windows 8 RT has been "Jailbroken" so you can install desktop apps on it... Surface RT just got a lot more useful.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/10/wind ... reak-tool/

Opinions on this guy's assessment?

_________________

His assertions make sense. There are so many things that don't make sense about win 8. However I think "totally unusable" is a bit harsh. "Very steep learning curve" and "needs tweaking if you aren't using a touch screen" might be better."

Also I think it's not a user friendly interface but a luser friendly one. Grandma and granpa as he referred to dont need in the control panel or to be able to create a startup disc

_________________
I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"