davefoc
Philosopher
I've had a cold the last couple of days that was bad enough that I didn't go to work (which is costly since I work for myself) but I was feeling better tonight and I thought I'd have a go at getting my parents' windows 8 laptop running with the library cataloging software.
I spent most of the time trying to familiarize myself with Windows 8 at even a primitive level. I just had a minor breakthrough. I figured out how to close a metro/modern screen the right way. I had been using alt-F4. How nice, I had actually guessed something like that but until I did it more precisely it didn't work. And I guess you can do the same thing using the mouse? Not sure how doable that is with a touch pad mouse, but the whole thing seemed on the stupid side for a desktop machine so I moved on.
I had been giving myself little challenges to test what I was learning. I found the metro calculator. Very nice on a smart phone but beyond stupid on a laptop. Maybe I need to download a calculator? No, I find out that Windows 8 comes with the old style calculator. I decide to try my miscellaneous new Windows 8 skills to see if I can find it on my own. Wail. I just installed Classic shell. Let's see how well that works. Whoa, there it is. It's the first thing that has worked painlessly for me. Wow this classic shell thing is a really good idea.
I decide to see if I can power down the computer with the classic shell. Wow, right there where it belongs the power down options.
My impression right now is that navigating around Windows 8 isn't all that difficult. The major annoyance is the requirement to learn new ways to do things less efficiently. I think right now, that for somebody who just wants to get up and running quickly and who doesn't have a tutor sitting next to you the best way to go is to learn a few keyboard commands, alt F4, Winlogo E,F and X seemed most useful to me. But then just install classic shell.
I spent most of the time trying to familiarize myself with Windows 8 at even a primitive level. I just had a minor breakthrough. I figured out how to close a metro/modern screen the right way. I had been using alt-F4. How nice, I had actually guessed something like that but until I did it more precisely it didn't work. And I guess you can do the same thing using the mouse? Not sure how doable that is with a touch pad mouse, but the whole thing seemed on the stupid side for a desktop machine so I moved on.
I had been giving myself little challenges to test what I was learning. I found the metro calculator. Very nice on a smart phone but beyond stupid on a laptop. Maybe I need to download a calculator? No, I find out that Windows 8 comes with the old style calculator. I decide to try my miscellaneous new Windows 8 skills to see if I can find it on my own. Wail. I just installed Classic shell. Let's see how well that works. Whoa, there it is. It's the first thing that has worked painlessly for me. Wow this classic shell thing is a really good idea.
I decide to see if I can power down the computer with the classic shell. Wow, right there where it belongs the power down options.
My impression right now is that navigating around Windows 8 isn't all that difficult. The major annoyance is the requirement to learn new ways to do things less efficiently. I think right now, that for somebody who just wants to get up and running quickly and who doesn't have a tutor sitting next to you the best way to go is to learn a few keyboard commands, alt F4, Winlogo E,F and X seemed most useful to me. But then just install classic shell.
