Avoid the pain of Windows 8, use Ubuntu

[forrestcupp]

Office suite is the biggest stumbling block, and I don't believe LibreOffice (or OpenOffice) can replace Microsoft Office, oh boy, did I just touch a sensitive topic here?

Yeah, that's a stumbling block for professional work. For my personal work, which is a lot, I've found that LibreOffice works perfectly with .doc and .xls. It's the xml formats that it has trouble with (exporting, not importing). So when I stopped using the MS xml formats, I haven't had any complaints. Regardless, all versions of Office work with wine almost flawlessly. So if you get it installed with Wine, that's one big roadblock out of the way. I used Office 2007 for a long time in Ubuntu.

Windows 8 isn't even a bad system BTW, it's just different. New users would have to get used to Unity anyway, which is also different (and thus bad).

No, it's not just different. I don't have any problem at all with Metro, or whatever they call it now. I have a problem with the gimped up desktop mode, which is bad, and I don't even think that's subjective. If they had a sane desktop mode, I wouldn't have any trouble with Win8.

I generally don't think it is fair to review or even comment on Windows 8 until it is officially released on October 26th.

But we've had RTM for a while. I think it's perfectly fair to review and comment on it. We've already seen it in its final form.

I've been wondering a bit about this. Maybe this is too off-topic (or a recurring discussion?), but is Ubuntu's Bug #1, sub-titled "liberation," in the spirit of Ubuntu? The bug report specifically singles out Windows (and Mac OS X) as proprietary software, and says that such software "leaves users at the mercy of the software owner and concentrates control over the technology which powers our society into the hands of a few .

Exactly. Obviously it is in the spirit of Ubuntu. It's just not in the spirit of the watered down forum rules.

[Axxon95]

I tried Windows 8 then got rid of it... my custom built desktop computer is not a tablet...
Looking at Windows 8, Windows 7 isn't that bad after all.

[mamamia88]

I tried Windows 8 then got rid of it... my custom built desktop computer is not a tablet...
Looking at Windows 8, Windows 7 isn't that bad after all.

i wouldn't use windows 8 for a week even if microsoft paid me $100 to do it much less pay $70 for a copy.

[forrestcupp]

i wouldn't use windows 8 for a week even if microsoft paid me $100 to do it much less pay $70 for a copy.

I'd take $100 to use it for a week. Then I'd dump it and go back to Linux.

I don't have a problem with Microsoft, except for their lack of judgment in combining mobile and desktop OSs.

[mamamia88]

I'd take $100 to use it for a week. Then I'd dump it and go back to Linux.

I don't have a problem with Microsoft, except for their lack of judgment in combining mobile and desktop OSs.

seriously how hard would it be to keep them separate? you already had them separate so why not chose the appropriate interface for the device in question? or improve the desktop version of windows for desktops and then have the metro ui as a download and try out on windows 8, instead of forcing it down peoples throats? hey maybe even some people would like it and go out and buy windows phones because of it. but metro really has no place on a computer using a mouse and keyboard. you could say the same thing about unit but at least that makes more sense with keyboard and mouse. i seriously don't know what Microsoft was thinking other than "we need to make a serious change or nobody will see a reason to upgrade".

[forrestcupp]

seriously how hard would it be to keep them separate? you already had them separate so why not chose the appropriate interface for the device in question? or improve the desktop version of windows for desktops and then have the metro ui as a download and try out on windows 8, instead of forcing it down peoples throats? hey maybe even some people would like it and go out and buy windows phones because of it. but metro really has no place on a computer using a mouse and keyboard. you could say the same thing about unit but at least that makes more sense with keyboard and mouse. i seriously don't know what Microsoft was thinking other than "we need to make a serious change or nobody will see a reason to upgrade".

Like I said somewhere earlier, I actually don't have a problem with Metro. It works well enough with a mouse that it's not super annoying. My problem with Win8 is that they made the desktop mode way less intuitive. They made desktop mode a pain in the backside to use. They want to railroad people to Metro apps, but they're not taking into account that some applications just need to be run on a desktop.

[mikewhatever]

Let's not start a W8 bashing feast, shall we.
The thread is about something else entirely, and, get real, no one will pay you to use W8!

[nothingspecial]

It's gone now.

So should this thread.