Corporations are particularly upset over this, because they (rightly) see huge employee retraining costs in their future. Quite frankly, I expect most corporate IT shops to take a pass on Windows 8 entirely for exactly this reason.
So what's an IT tech nerd to do? How to square the circle of a locked in, fascist OS redesign with the need to provide the familiar to the poor users? Open Source to the rescue:
Windows 8 users need not do without a Start button, thanks to an open source application titled Classic Shell that can banish the Interface Formerly Known As Metro (TIFKAM).The irony of Microsoft being saved from the consequences of their arrogant mistake by the Open Source community is about as delicious as anything that I've been seen in ages. It would be like the Tea Party pulling Obama's fat out of the fire of Obamacare.
El Reg's antipodean lab installed Classic Shell on a Windows 8 RTM virtual machine running under Oracle VirtualBox on Mac OS 10.7.4. We can report that the application installed without a hint of trouble, and as soon as we clicked in its shell-like Start button we were offered a nice set of options to arranged Windows 8 so that it resembled versions of Windows past.
We live in a strange world, likely one stranger than we can possibly imagine.
It's not going to affect me for at least a few years. At work in Major Aerospace Company's SE Branch, we haven't even left XP Pro, yet. The last hurdle (allegedly) was it took months to make our remote meeting applications work with WebEx.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, we might move over to Win 7 after they introduce Win 8. OTOH, I think we didn't move to XP until Win 98 was taken off support.
At home, I went over to Win 7 last November, when I had a problem with a PC and couldn't buy one with XP installed anymore.
I imagine the new interface's retraining requirements aren't just an unhappy side effect. Microsoft's OS sales have been lackluster for a long time. Making a little scratch by selling more training is a logical way to try to make up the difference.
ReplyDelete"The irony of Microsoft being saved from the consequences of their arrogant mistake by the Open Source community is about as delicious as anything that I've been seen in ages."
ReplyDeleteIndeed.
Mama Gaea must have been hitting the uisgebagh pretty hard of late.
We are just beginning to migrate to Windows 7 at work.
ReplyDeleteAround the time windows 9 comes out, we might take a sideways glance at Win 8.
If you build it, they won't necessarily come.
I had to buy a new laptop yesterday, was 'offered' a free upgrade to WIN 8, told them not no but HELL no... Not going to be a beta tester for MS...
ReplyDeleteWe're pretty solid on WindowsXPPro at both of the companies we provide IT for, with a scattering of Win7 machines. The trucking company, oddly enough, has more 7 systems than the international corp. I have nothing against 7, still like XP on all of my admin consoles, and may pick up 8 for home when it becomes available for online purchase in October ($40 for the Pro version? I can handle that. And go back to XP if it sucks the big hairy one.)
ReplyDeleteI just ordered a new laptop, actually 2 because I made a screw up on the first order. It was too late to cancel so when that one arrives, it goes back right away for a full refund. The second one has already shipped too and should arrive shortly after the first one.
ReplyDeleteThe good news seems to be that the one I will be keeping comes with Windows 7 Ultimate. As was explained to me, the processor I ordered works better running Windows 7 Ultimate than Home Premium or Professional. I had no clue so I went with the suggestion.
I am happy that I apparently will not need to learn a whole new operating system but then I am guessing that Windows 7 Ultimate will not be too different from the Home Premium version. Windows 8 sounds like it would be a royal pain in the arse.
All the best,
Glenn B
Win XP still here running processes. I will VM them until the cows come home.
ReplyDeleteAs an admin we're just starting to roll out 7 and I have to say that while I've prefer it to XP from a user standpoint, I've had nothing but headaches with it from an administration standpoint, especially with Windows Deployment Services and Microsoft's activation program.
ReplyDeleteThe new Start screen tiles are NOT teh suck on a desktop. I've been using it for months. Once you've got tons of programs installed, since the Start menu won't grow, you have to hunt around on the menu--or pin stuff to the taskbar anyway (or desktop shortcuts.)
ReplyDeleteEvery time Microsoft changes things this comes out. "Vista sucks!" "XP Sucks!" "Windows Me sucks!" "Windows 95 sucks!" etc.
@Dave H
ReplyDeleteThe entire revenue stream for MSLearning (the org that owns training and certification) is below the threshhold for materiality in the books. It's a rounding error.
Nope this is just pure bonehead marketing.
But Vista did suck, from many accounts I have seen. From what I have seen of Windows 8, it looks to suck too. And even if it does work on the desktop, it's still going to involve a huge learning curve. And more than a few people on these computers can't even count the lights on their modems, so draw your own conclusions.
ReplyDelete