Windows 8 Adoption Poor

Orionaut · 20 Apr 2013 at 09:44

but I'm struggling to find a reason why someone would have both 7 and 8

Click to expand...

I have had issues with software that worked fine in 7 but not 8! Though I have solved it in other ways I can understand why somebody might want to use both!

Undesirable · 20 Apr 2013 at 12:11

Here's another bad thing I found out about Windows 8: it re-compresses desktop wallpaper to a crummy 200kb JPEG no matter what format you apply it in. Yet more proof that the the OS is designed for tablets without a care in the world for desktop users (as if we needed any more proof). There is a workaround if you copy and paste the higher quality images to the following location on your system drive:
'\Users\???\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Themes'
Replace the lower quality image with the higher quality one and rename the file to: 'TranscodedWallpaper' (remove the extension).
Now do the same in the location:
'\Users\???\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\CachedFiles' for the file 'CachedImage?.jpg' (make sure it has the same file name and extension '.jpg' no matter the format)

Once you log out then in again, you should end up with a wallpaper that's twice the quality (but STILL not the original file size) Possibly the only full workaround is to set file permissions on the cache files to stop them being automatically modified.

Arthur Hucksake · 20 Apr 2013 at 12:22

Undesirable said:
Here's another bad thing I found out about Windows 8: it re-compresses desktop wallpaper to a crummy 200kb JPEG no matter what format you apply it in. Yet more proof that the the OS is designed for tablets without a care in the world for desktop users (as if we needed any more proof). There is a workaround if you copy and paste the higher quality images to the following location on your system drive:
'\Users\???\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Themes'
Replace the lower quality image with the higher quality one and rename the file to: 'TranscodedWallpaper' (remove the extension).
Now do the same in the location:
'\Users\???\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\CachedFiles' for the file 'CachedImage?.jpg' (make sure it has the same file name and extension '.jpg' no matter the format)

Once you log out then in again, you should end up with a wallpaper that's twice the quality (but STILL not the original file size) Possibly the only full workaround is to set file permissions on the cache files to stop them being automatically modified.

That really bugs me. I've got lots of amazing hi def wallpapers that all look blurred.

james.miller · 20 Apr 2013 at 12:23

Undesirable said:
Here's another bad thing I found out about Windows 8: it re-compresses desktop wallpaper to a crummy 200kb JPEG no matter what format you apply it in. Yet more proof that the the OS is designed for tablets without a care in the world for desktop users (as if we needed any more proof). There is a workaround if you copy and paste the higher quality images to the following location on your system drive:
'\Users\???\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Themes'
Replace the lower quality image with the higher quality one and rename the file to: 'TranscodedWallpaper' (remove the extension).
Now do the same in the location:
'\Users\???\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\CachedFiles' for the file 'CachedImage?.jpg' (make sure it has the same file name and extension '.jpg' no matter the format)

Once you log out then in again, you should end up with a wallpaper that's twice the quality (but STILL not the original file size) Possibly the only full workaround is to set file permissions on the cache files to stop them being automatically modified.

that was (still is?) a problem in 7 as well. Don't let that stop your bashing though

http://social.technet.microsoft.com.../thread/0c02f2cb-39cd-4f2d-bd4e-154fd2165b69/

Undesirable · 20 Apr 2013 at 12:26

Yes, but there were easier workarounds in Windows 7, such as applying lossless wallpapers via the browser.

james.miller · 20 Apr 2013 at 12:56

Undesirable said:
Yes, but there were easier workarounds in Windows 7, such as applying lossless wallpapers via the browser.

using a PNG still works for windows 8. Its not a 1-1 copy of the original image but it works. I've just tested a high-res image and after converting it to png, applying via explorer and rebooting, my TranscodedWallpaper file is 11mb. The cached file is smaller at 4mb I can't see any obvious compression artifacts as you would expect at that filesize.

Fillado · 20 Apr 2013 at 13:13

More excellent news!

http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/maybe-they-should-just-call-it-windows-78

Mary Jo Foley has reported on Microsoft’s plans to bring back the Start button and allow customers to boot directly to the desktop in Windows 8.1 And I’ve separately confirmed that this is really happening, with the Start button, in particular, driven by upper management, which overruled objections from the Windows team. And while there are certainly questions about these decisions, I think we should narrow the discussion to the core concerns: Why now? And why didn’t Microsoft simply design Windows 8 this way from the beginning?

Put simply, Microsoft should have designed Windows 8 this way from the beginning, and didn’t because the Windows division was given too much free reign after its Windows 7 successes. And it’s doing it now because the leadership that triggered six years of ignoring customer wishes is no longer there. As a result, Windows 8.1 will more closely resemble Windows 7 than the original Windows 8 version.

Minstadave · 20 Apr 2013 at 13:20

If that's true then there's some humble pie to be eaten.

this_is_gav · 20 Apr 2013 at 13:22

My cached image is 700kb and the "TranscodedWallpaper" is 970kb. Am I missing something? :\

Lucifurr · 20 Apr 2013 at 13:38

I can't help noticing that they said they are brining back the start button rather than start menu in those quotes. So is the start menu coming back or just a button that loads up the start screen?

This maybe good for MS in the short term but I wonder of this would harm future development with Modern UI apps.

I personally use Windows 8 on my desktop and work laptop and have no problem with the UI but I do use the Start screen for launching desktop apps rather than running Modern UI stuff currently.

One feature I wish they would add is to stop new desktop programs from dumping all their icons on the start screen and allow the user to manually add them from the all apps section.

Elevon · 20 Apr 2013 at 14:13

Minstadave said:
If that's true then there's some humble pie to be eaten.

So much for progress then ie Win8 going back to Win7 ,almost makes me wish I could go back to good old DOS 6.22,oh well at least good old Linux never lets me down.

Undesirable · 20 Apr 2013 at 14:20

james.miller said:
using a PNG still works for windows 8. Its not a 1-1 copy of the original image but it works. I've just tested a high-res image and after converting it to png, applying via explorer and rebooting, my TranscodedWallpaper file is 11mb. The cached file is smaller at 4mb I can't see any obvious compression artifacts as you would expect at that filesize.

I can see obvious artifacts in mine whether I use a PNG or the original JPG.

Pigeon_Killer · 20 Apr 2013 at 14:21

Alienating a massive percentage of their user base is not progress...

I do wonder if MS would've taken this step (if it does indeed happen) if their tablets weren't such a monumental flop?

Fillado · 20 Apr 2013 at 15:09

I would imagine there were more considerations - primarily business pressure, lack of sales and lack of consumer engagement.

When someone on a forum says they like Windows 8 that could mean anything between them spending most of their time in Metro (and downloading and PURCHASING apps from the Store) to spending all of their time on the desktop (and uninstalling all the Metro apps, avoiding it like the plague and possibly using something like Start8). I would imagine most people on this forum don't really engage with Metro all that much.

Microsoft (thanks to anonymous usage statistics) has very detailed information on how people use Windows (8). For upper management to start overriding the wishes of the Windows team they must have some pretty compelling (dire) statistics.

_Jimlad_ · 20 Apr 2013 at 17:19

Fillado said:
More excellent news!

http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/maybe-they-should-just-call-it-windows-78

This is the best IT news for years. Hope it does happen

cu3ed · 20 Apr 2013 at 17:31

Terrible news, we are getting pulled backwards now and now MS will be piggy in the middle from now on, people **** and moan at the smallest of things, if you had problems with W8 after a month of using it then you must have trouble working anything on a PC.
We are never going to get away from the very restrictive way of doing things now cause people wont change.

KIA · 20 Apr 2013 at 17:47

_Jimlad_ said:
This is the best IT news for years. Hope it does happen

Indeed. It's fantastic!

_Jimlad_ · 20 Apr 2013 at 17:58

cu3ed said:
Terrible news, we are getting pulled backwards now and now MS will be piggy in the middle from now on, people **** and moan at the smallest of things, if you had problems with W8 after a month of using it then you must have trouble working anything on a PC.
We are never going to get away from the very restrictive way of doing things now cause people wont change.

No we have choice back......

Remember there is more to using Windows that home use.... How in earth do you put windows8 metro style in a office environment.... This is long over due.......

Elevon · 20 Apr 2013 at 18:05

_Jimlad_ said:
No we have choice back......

Remember there is more to using Windows that home use.... How in earth do you put windows8 metro style in a office environment.... This is long over due.......

Too bad not more office environments using Linux

.

My greatest fear is Microsoft won't make any new major changes due to fear and those that can't adapt to changes or things removed,progress will be slower then a snails pace.

_Jimlad_ · 20 Apr 2013 at 18:10

I can see your point. Its a tough one. But choice is always a good option. Windows8 needed a home and pro option from day dot. Metro theme and so on is OK but I use my PC for my lively hood. I needed a desktop on boot and a file system and menu that I knew. That is why I stayed on win7. I did however upgrade my personal laptop to win8.