Does anyone have any experience regarding the impact on the kinds of desktop software discussed here of a Windows 8 Pro upgrade (without a hardware upgrade, i.e. without a touch screen, using a traditional PC+2 monitors setup)?

At an initial and superficial look, all the features emphasised seem to be consumption-focused, rather than productivity-focused, so I'm not particularly compelled to consider an upgrade, unless for some counterintuitive reason my old PIM etc. software would work even better in Win8 than it currently does in Win7.

From what I see and based on direct experience, I would say that under the conditions you describe, there is no reason to move from Windows 7 to 8. There are many reasons not to, some of which may be read here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/25/technology/personaltech/microsofts-windows-revamped-and-split-in-2.html?ref=technology

Jon

Thanks Jon - I was almost tempted by the knock-down price of GBP24.99... That looks incredibly cheap (or desperate :) for a new operating system!

I would add that you should NEVER change your operating system during a mission critical period, especially when the new OS is still fairly new. Expect many glitches before the new Windows can be considered truly reliable. Don't forget that we here use quite a few very special programs. Windows 8 may well have been tested with mainstream software like MS Office but I doubt that there's any guarantee that e.g. Outline 4D will run without problems.

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

I would add that you should NEVER change your operating system during a mission
critical period, especially when the new OS is still fairly new.

Good point. In fact a lot of people seem to be complaining about productivity loss due to learning curve, which I don't have the time for.

Expect many glitches

before the new Windows can be considered truly reliable. Don't forget that we here use
quite a few very special programs. Windows 8 may well have been tested with mainstream
software like MS Office but I doubt that there's any guarantee that e.g. Outline 4D
will run without problems.

Yes, thanks, that's why I was asking. It's annoying enough to have the "User Account Control" message ("Do you want to allow etc.") in Win7 with Outline 4D and Maxthink...

Dottore (in spe).

I am absolutely with Alex. I do not see a reason (for you) to switch. You have no Windows tablet, nor a touch-enabled screen. So: What would a switch bring to you? I haven't heard of an outliner or text processing software that is available only on Windows 8.

CRIMPing only applies to outlining, info storage and writing software (or hardware) not to operating systems ;-)

Just my 5ct, Franz

Franz Grieser wrote:

CRIMPing only applies to outlining, info storage and writing
software (or hardware) not to operating systems ;-)

Franz - thanks for saving me from myself (and Steve Ballmer :)

Jon, thanks for the link to the NY Times article. It helped to convince me that I need to look for an alternative to Windows 8, as I have no intention to have to fight (once again) with my OS in order to be able to acceptably do tasks that I have now streamlined to a significant extent. I have done it 2-3 times in the past, from MS DOS to Windows 95 (I skipped Windows 3.1 which I found completely useless), then to Windows XP, and more recently to Windows 7. I managed to cheat my way through the last couple of transitions by maintaining the 'classic' Windows look and disabling all the (time- and resource-wasting) eye candy.

I intend to keep Windows 7 at least till the end of their support life (half of our office machines are still happily running Windows XP) but it seems clear to me that Microsoft development of its tools goes hand in hand with its obligating users to adapt to new GUIs --possibly quite intuitive for new users, but considerably disrupting to existing ones- within its constant pursuit of novelty. Think MS Office 2003 toolbars to 2007 ribbon etc.

It doesn't have to be this way. The option could be there to work with a 'classic' look for those who want it. But then one probably wouldn't feel the need to buy new hardware, would they?

On the occasion of the Windows 8 launch I revisited the world of Linux distributions and was very pleasantly surprised. I installed two different modern distributions (OpenSUSE and Voyager, based on XUbuntu) on two notebooks --a significantly older one and a completely new one- and both are working like charm. Installation was more streamlined than Windows, all hardware was identified including special keys, additional programs were installed with no issues etc.

The availability of different Linux distributions can be daunting, but it goes hand in hand with the versatility of the system: you can find distributions with the latest Linux kernel that can take advantage of the most recent hardware, and others than can run with the same kernel on 386s with 64 Mb RAM. And you can have a minimal desktop or the latest in animation effects if you want them.

The aim of my post isn't so much to promote Linux (though I feel fine doing it) but rather to support Franz's point: I'm a happy CRIMPer but, as far as the OS is concerned, I just want it to keep out of the way.

I still run XPSP3. WHy?

1. I had a free Vista offer, but by the time the discs arrived, Vista had had so much bad publicity, that there was no way I'd install it.
2. XP is compatible with GoBack, which has saved my hide many times. Norton chose not to update GoBack to run on newer versions of Windows.
3. Microsoft claims that newer versions of Windows will run older software using its compatibility mode. FALSE!
4. I almost wish I still was running Win 2000, so I could run ZipMagic.* The current owner of ZM could not get it to run properly with XP. Also running GrandView in 2000 was a breeze. Not so with XP.
5. New Nikon SLR cameras can use almost every Nikon camera lens ever made. Same with Pentax. Why does Microsoft force people to upgrade their apps or say goodbye to beloved ones?

*ZipMagic made zipped folders look and work EXACTLY like ordinary folders. No extracting or re-zipping needed. I really miss it.

Cassius wrote:

*ZipMagic made zipped folders look and work EXACTLY like
ordinary folders. No extracting or re-zipping needed. I really miss it.

Note sure if it's exactly the same functionality but DOpus can do something like that:
http://www.gpsoft.com.au/help/opus9/WordDocuments/zipfiles.htm

Dr Andus wrote:

Cassius wrote:
>*ZipMagic made zipped folders look and work EXACTLY like
>ordinary folders. No extracting or re-zipping needed. I really miss it.

Not sure if it's exactly the same functionality but DOpus can do something like
that:
http://www.gpsoft.com.au/help/opus9/WordDocuments/zipfiles.htm

==========
Thanks for the lead. DOpus looks a bit more complicated, but I'll check it out. ZipMagis worked by using a special device driver. From the ZipMagic 4 manual:

"When you install ZipMagic, ZipFolders is enabled, making any file with the
.zip extension show up as that yellow folder with the word “Zip” on it, .... This allows you to view all zipped files as Windows standard folders, with all of the accompanying capabilities such as drag & drop, move, copy, delete, rename, and more."

There was no noticeable slowdown, but I saved a lot of hard drive space. It's use was completely transparent.

-cassius

Thia article might be of interest:

10 reasons to choose Ubuntu 12.10 over Windows 8
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2013431/10-reasons-to-choose-ubuntu-12-10-over-windows-8.html?page=0

On my work machine, I dual-boot between Windows 7 & Linux Mint 14 Nadia (Cinnamon edition).
On my home machine, I triple boot between Windows 7, Windows 8, & Ubuntu 12.04LTS.

More and more I find that I'm turning to my Linux distros for the "fun" factor (some geekiness here ), but it's still 70/30 in favour of Windows use.

Just my two cents,
Glen