Uninstall the version of skype you're using, then go here to get the version designed for desktop:
http://www.skype.com/en/download-skype/skype-for-windows/
Open the Default Programs folder and click "set your default programs". Scroll down till you see Windows Media Player and click on it. Click "set this program as default". Do the same for Windows Photo Viewer.
I will have to try that.
And this is the real point.
I expect a new OS to work "out of the box" exactly like my old OS. I expect everything in the same place as it was before. I expect ALL the software I have on my current OS to transfer seamlessly to the new OS and work exactly the same way as it did before. I don't expect to have to search for common items or run the mouse up against the corner of a screen to find stuff that used to be plain sight.
I can see changing stuff that wasn't optimal before. But Microsoft changed the stuff that worked, was intuitive and replaced it all with things that were more complicated.
It's like upgrading to a new HD TV receiver (take your pick if it is for cable or a dish service) and finding out they got rid of the "guide" feature and replaced it with a voice command system that requires you to know exactly what channel to turn it to while not knowing what channel number it is (because that was changed too).
Then you have to go on the internet to order up some add on feature that emulates the old "guide" so you can just watch TV like you used to.
I do wonder how the release of Windows 95 (which of course introduced the start menu as well as lots of others standard bits of Windows) would have looked if 3.11 had the numbers of people using it at home that XP did, and the web widely available and used for them to vent on.
Windows 95 made sense. It was intuitive. Sure it was different but everyone I knew immediately understood the differences and agreed they made the entire thing easier to use. That was a huge success for that very reason. The only people I ever encountered that preferred Windows 3 were hard core old school who still ran most things out of DOS.
I expect some changes of course, but I expect it to be just like buying a new car. I have owned several successive models of Subaru, beginning with a Leone and currently with the Legacy Grand Wagon. The later models all have nice extras like ride-height, suspension stiffness, traction control, and electrically adjustable seats, that the earlier models didn't have. However, they all have one thing in common. The steering wheel is right in front of the driver, and the pedals on the floor are clutch on the left, brake in the middle and accelerator on the right.
For me this new OS is like buying the new car because your old one just won't run anymore, hearing how awesome the start up time and power of the new car is then realizing they now have the steering wheel on the door which can only be operated by your left hand while you look out the window, the ignition switch is a touchscreen that requires you to "unlock" it first. There seems to be no gear switch until someone points out that you now operate that with your left foot where the brakes used to be and the brakes are now on voice command.
Oh and there is no switch for the headlights or wiper blades. That is entirely automatic though the dealer can have "manual" switches installed for an extra fee.
You realize Travis' problem with Windows 8 was that he accidentally downloaded the wrong version of skype and that he hadn't changed his default music player, right...? Those problems can be fixed within a couple minutes and they aren't interface problems.
Which is itself somewhat stressful.
And how is it this happened? I opened my browser, went to the Skype page, it said "this is the version you need for Windows 8" and I installed it. Only to then realize it doesn't do anything that Skype used to do and require switching screens to do anything.
That is just dumb.
Hell I wouldn't have known there was a different version for Win7 if not for people telling me.
And why did he download the "wrong version"?
Exactly.
The same reason that full screen apps were set as default for media files. Because someone (or multiple someones) at Microsoft is very stupid. I made the exact same mistake Travis did with Skype. It was a little annoying, but it was an easy problem to fix.
Travis' troubles with his new computer are the result of very dumb mistakes by MS, but they aren't problems with the OS itself.
Whatever it was it pisses me off.
We don't have to guess. I remember the migration between these two OS's as I was a PC nerd back when it came out. I knew people who lost their **** about the changes.
Hell, I knew people who lost their **** about the relatively minor interface changes between Windows 98 and XP since 98 was what most people were using before upgrading. There were people, not just average computer users mind you, but writers for computer magazines who were claiming that XP was incredibly awful and people should stay with 98 or 2000.
Now people in that same industry, some of them the exact same people, are freaking out over the changes in win8
and telling people to stay with older OS's. Some of them are even pining for the good old days when XP was the standard because it was such an awesome OS. Did these people just forget what the wrote 10-12 years ago? Maybe they are right and this OS series will cost Microsoft market domination, but if they are right I won't believe for a second it's because they are good at their job It'll be because they say the same things every time an OS comes out
I remember people loving XP right out of the box. It actually fixed the issues of ME and was a remarkably stable system that hardly ever blue screened.
Let me put it this way, I recently bought a new car, a Mazda6. I love it.
When reading some Win8 reviews I feel like I'm reading a review of the Mazda6 and people are complaining about how hard it is to get in to the driver seat ... because they're trying to do it by climbing through the boot.
I'm like - What? Why? Why on earth don't you just open the door?
I think it is more like my example above where you get in the new car and find out that Mazda has changed everything to make it non-intuitive and harder to use and you can't figure out why. Why move the steering wheel? Why hide the ignition switch? Why do away with foot activated brakes?
