On 11/3/2013 4:16 PM, philo wrote:
On 11/03/2013 11:00 AM, Char Jackson wrote:

snip

The two most recent examples have been the blue screen with the banner
telling me I have to go to the app store to get 8.1, and just this
morning
when I needed to pair a Bluetooth device and the damn tiles came up.
Fortunately, both times I was alone and not with customers, but that's
obviously not always the case.

I really need to upgrade to Win 7, but I don't have a license and since
November of last year I've been averaging 80-90 billed hours per week,
so I
don't have a lot of time to build a system from scratch, install and
configure my apps, etc. Meanwhile, I stumble forward, knowing I need
to bite
the bullet sooner rather than later. I did buy a spare hard drive, so at
least the first step is complete.

Anyway, that's why I bristle a bit when people say to install their
favorite
app to make 8 look like 7. It's only true as long as you keep your
hands off
the mouse and keyboard. Once you actually *use* your PC, the
differences are
numerous and obvious. As I said above, Classic Shell and Start8 and their
cousins can't do anything about that and it's unfortunate.




My experience with Win8 is quite limited but I have not had complaints
from anyone who now used Classic Shell...
OTOH they are all home users and if they got an occasional glitch it
probably would not be as bad as someone who needed to give a presentation.

So far I have never given anyone a recommendation to go with Win8.
I tell them "Win7" if possible.


That said, my wife and I just came back from a business trip and I had
to put on a video presentation. Believe me I tested everything
thoroughly before I left town to make sure there would be no glitches.


Of course since I'm retired and do this voluntarily I have enough time
to test it first. If I was working as many hours as you I doubt I'd have
time.

Also: I brought a backup computer with me...just in case of problems.


So many of us have seen Youtube videos put on by IBM (OS/2) and
Microsoft where the CEO ends up with a crashed computer and looking
embarrassed. I always thought it odd with all they had at stake they did
not have a backup plan.




With OS/2 you did not need a backup plan it rarely had a problem.

When the computer duties were shared with a fellow employee, we had a
multiple computer, LAN net work in two separate buildings that ran day
in and day out with no problems.

One day some of our new engineers realized were running OS/2 and had a
fit because they consider it unreliable.

After we explained the system they had been using since they were hired,
and had been working reliably for years before they came, was OS/2; we
went ahead with our original plan.

The LAN lasted until the company was bought our and we switched to a
windows emulation on I believe a UNIX system