I see no use for Metro

MS is talking about a common user interface.

I can not see why a phone should be like a tablet or a desktop. they are used for totally different tasks.
Should we also have the same user interface in a shovel, saw, car and screwdriver ?
I think most of us who work with the devices are rather angry because of this Metro. It is just useless.

Another thing is that any time MS gives out a new OS, we got to throw out old devices. It would not matter, if we talk about mice and cheap printers,.
It does matter, when we have to throw out laboratory equipement, which costs millions. It matters even we have to throw out special scanners, drawing boards and cameras.
Even buildinng backup systems and distributed disk systems is a che'allenge, if even the backup/restore doesn't work from one to another version of MS OS. A backup made with WinXP sp2 backup can not be read with WinXp sp3 restore

I have made a decision some years ago: all the devices and programs for the scientific work I will build in Linux. It is much easier to write software for a system, which doesn't change every two or thee years and ruin all what you have done

It seems that MSWindows is buil for those, who don't produce anything themselves. Who only listen to music, play games and watch videos.

I'm not sure what I think of it either. I'd given it a good shot, open minded, really just tried to like it, but I can't say I do.

Well Apple does it w/ ios for the pad and phone, yet no one complains Odd how that works, eh?

As for Metro, it's great on a tablet - specifically Surface RT - and I don't see why that design would be any less on a phone. Sounds to me you're complaining about the desktop version, which I agree it doesn't have much use in the big picture of productivity work on a desktop. However, if you don't like it go download Start Menu 8 on Cnet for free. Works great, boots to the desktop and you can customize the icon.

Beyond Metro, Win8 is a solid OS and I've yet find any hardware that doesn't work with it that didn't work on 7 or Vista.
Just my .02, but claiming to have to "throw out millions of dollars" of specialized lab equipment seems a bit extreme and highly exaggerated. Maybe you should have tested the OS before committing your lab to it. Sounds like you didn't do your due diligence and just want to whine.

But that's ok, because that's all most ppl want to do rather than trying to find resolutions.

please tell me what positive Metro gives us in a desktop.
Please tell us what extra value Metro gives to office or laboratory work.

Then tell me what it gives in a phone. About every time I start an app, I swipe left and select it from the alfabet order list. I have rather many apps in my Nokia 620 and it is easier to remember their name than some icon. in many cases the icons are so similar that it is hard to tell one from another.

Millions in laboratory tools is no joke. Take a gas chromatogram, $1.5M, SEM about $800.000, DCR spectrometer about $1M. In a cheaper scale 40x40" digital board abt $10k, microscope camera $10k etc. CNC lathe $100k.
I have built electronics to clue different devices to PC.
You say we should hane tested the OS more thoroughly. I see that you have no idea what you are talking about. Ask your dad.

Let me tell:
- most of the apparatus come with programs that are written to certain OS. The device drivers come as binaries and you have no source code to make modifications.
- We are using about all the OS there is and many language versions of them. We spend hundreds of hours every year testing programs and trying to make them work in office and laboratory, globally.

I have been working so long with various laboratory tools, that I know what happends, when MS updates or upgrades their programs. I know what happends when a new and great connector or bus appears in the backplane of a pc.

Metro isn't for lab work, that's what the desktop is for. Metro's use if for using apps and consuming media. If doing work is what you need then the desktop is still there. On my laptop at work I rarely ever use metro. On my tablet I only use metro. It really matters what your situation is.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mistofeles

You say we should hane tested the OS more thoroughly. I see that you have no idea what you are talking about. Ask your dad.

I have been working so long with various laboratory tools, that I know what happends, when MS updates or upgrades their programs. I know what happends when a new and great connector or bus appears in the backplane of a pc.

---

Right, and who was it who forced you to upgrade to Win8? Maybe you should take it up w/ them. Just a thought.

I have a touchscreen laptop and I love Metro. I think it's a personal preference. I like that I don't HAVE to use it if I don't want to.

It is good to have the choice :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Phases

It is good to have the choice :)

---

Amen...

Jury is still out for me personally

Well make up your mind, fool!

The computers don't live forever. Sometimes we got to buy new ones.
I'm forced to buy ones with Win8, because there is very few possibilities to get a PC without Win 8. MS has tied the big companies with such deals that they must sell the computers with the lisence.

I have tried to downgrade computers to WinXP, but in many cases there is no XP drivers for the mainboards. And in any case there will be no help with WinXP after 2014 and we can not allow WinXP to our network after that.

So, if we want to use our computers in the network, they got to be upgraded to Win 8.

Still, in most cases the device drivers for our lab hardware and software do not work with Win 8.

So, when we build devices or write serious software, we are using Linux.

Java and interpreted languages like Perl, Forth or Python give you some possibilities, because you have libraries for both Linux and Win. and of couse you can use FreeBasic, C or similar, for which there is a compiler for both. Still there is endless problems with the libraries. And you got to rebuild the binary for every new version of Win.

You can still buy Windows 7 on Amazon. If it's that much of an issue just do that. I think there are plenty of drivers available for Windows 8 if you know what you're doing. I upgraded a laptop that was several years old with no issues.