Okay. So I've been using Windows 8 nearly every working day for the past year. I'm a programmer, multi-monitor user, and a "power-user". And how do I use Windows 8? Pretty much exactly as I used Windows 7. I've never used a "metro" app outside of playing with a few on day one. The learning curve was insignificant given my many years of experience using all sorts of different computers and operating systems.
So am I less productive now using Windows 8 than I was using Windows 7? Not at all. However I'm also no more productive than I was. Which is disappointing in way: many of the previous OS revisions have seen huge gains in usability and productivity (2000 -> XP -> Vista -> 7). But not this one.
But even though the changes in Windows 8 haven't affected my day-to-day productivity, there are plenty of annoyances that I've learned to live with. Such as:
- Start menu search is nearly unusable in Windows 8 despite the "improvements" in 8.1.
- Metro UI "leaks" in some places such as Outlook notifications, and the Open With -> Other dialog. Though that open-with dialog gets worse in every Windows revision.
- Before 8.1 the charms bar and hot-corners sometimes got in the way.
Edit, more comments:
So why upgrade? It's probably safe to say that being on the most up-to-date stable version of any OS is ideal for any number of reasons ranging from security, platform features, and general "future-proofing" of the software you use.
As a multi monitor user doesn't Win8 provide a much better experience over Win7? Not saying this alone is worth an upgrade, but IIRC it's definitely better in a "would make you more productive" way
One great feature of it is that it puts a start bar on every monitor (not just your primary monitor) which makes switching between programs much easier. For some reason though they decided not to put the task area (which has the clock, etc.) on each start bar though, only the primary monitor.
Not really. There are features like having the taskbar visible on all screens, if you enable it. There are very minor improvements such as a 4px vertical "line" in each corner which helps you move the mouse to a corner adjacent to another screen without accidentally overshooting. But nothing major in my experience.
So am I less productive now using Windows 8 than I was using Windows 7? Not at all. However I'm also no more productive than I was. Which is disappointing in way: many of the previous OS revisions have seen huge gains in usability and productivity (2000 -> XP -> Vista -> 7). But not this one.
But even though the changes in Windows 8 haven't affected my day-to-day productivity, there are plenty of annoyances that I've learned to live with. Such as:
- Start menu search is nearly unusable in Windows 8 despite the "improvements" in 8.1.
- Metro UI "leaks" in some places such as Outlook notifications, and the Open With -> Other dialog. Though that open-with dialog gets worse in every Windows revision.
- Before 8.1 the charms bar and hot-corners sometimes got in the way.
Edit, more comments:
So why upgrade? It's probably safe to say that being on the most up-to-date stable version of any OS is ideal for any number of reasons ranging from security, platform features, and general "future-proofing" of the software you use.