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Windows 8 Controversy: Windows Is Its Own Biggest Threat to the Future of PC Gaming

Last posted Aug 10, 2012 at 11:25PM EDT. Added Aug 08, 2012 at 07:19PM EDT
38 posts from 18 users

I used to use Vista, now after my hard-drive broke I'm on Windows 7 and it seems a bit better.
I didn't think anyone was saying Windows 7 was full of shit, I actually heard it has less useless stuff than Vista and it's faster.

I haven't heard much about Windows 8 though, either way I'm not "upgrading" to it.
Windows 7 seems fine though.

Last edited Aug 08, 2012 at 07:52PM EDT

DOT DOT DOT wrote:

I used to use Vista, now after my hard-drive broke I'm on Windows 7 and it seems a bit better.
I didn't think anyone was saying Windows 7 was full of shit, I actually heard it has less useless stuff than Vista and it's faster.

I haven't heard much about Windows 8 though, either way I'm not "upgrading" to it.
Windows 7 seems fine though.

In my experience, 7 has more useless stuff than Vista.
Also, 7's attempts to make it more user friendly have backfired with the more technologically oriented people, I personally found the revised interface to be a pain.

From what I know, everyone bitched so much about Vista that Windows rushed out Windows 7 and everyone calmed down.

But Windows 8 will be like Vista, it will fail and MS will stick with 7.

Ansem the Seeker of Lolcats wrote:

The logo is even crap. It this the official release or a beta.
I hate the Windows 8 logo.

I'm using a Beta but the logo is going to stay (sadly). The official release got leaked on the Internet but I'm not going to install it because I'll need to activate it; I don't have a code.

If anyone wants to, you can view a Imgur album I made for my Windows 8 screenshots:
http://imgur.com/a/ZnWV3

Last edited Aug 08, 2012 at 10:07PM EDT

I'll be jumping ship to Linux if I can't stay on Vista when I get a new computer.
I'll use 7 if I absolutely have to, but if I'm in a position where I have to use 8, I'm installing Ubuntu faster than you can say FUCK.

For those who would rather listen about this issue than read a kotaku article, I would highly suggest TotalBiscuit. He helped clearly explain the current situation in one of his recent videos.

Last edited Aug 08, 2012 at 11:55PM EDT

7 works very well for me, especially since for reasons I was stuck with Vista for a while on a lappy with 2 gigs of RAM and it sucked hard.

But honestly? Windows 8 is probably going to be a giant fucking failure on PCs, for blindingly obvious and easily correctable reasons. For tablets and phones, Windows 8 is from what I can see very solidly built and would work very well there. But Microsoft deciding to use the mini-device OS for full-scale computers is just…

I mean, first we find out it's a massive deviation from the usual Windows norm, then we find out that multitasking is impossible and now we find this. Windows already had two busts; NT and Vista (not sure about NT though). I'm honestly not sure if Micro$oft can risk a third.

Allow me to quote the Evil Overlord List, item eleven;

One of my advisors will be an average five-year-old child. Any flaws in my plan that he is able to spot will be corrected before implementation.

Listening to TotalBiscuit explain it certainly helps. That British accent does wonders (Also I love his Starcraft videos)

Perhaps now would be a good time for me to install the Windows 8 Beta which I have sitting here right next to me and see what the fuss it about. I've been neglecting it for a while because it mostly seems to be Windows 7 with an extra interface (metro) that you can disable/enable. But I would most likely keep it disabled.

Up until now I have heard no excitement or controversy over Windows 8 at all. It's just there. Yes there will be compatibility issues but every new OS gets that and usually it gets ironed out over time. No big deal.

BUT the issues over turning the whole entire Windows interface into a retail business (which I had not heard about) however is much more concerning.

I don't want my OS turned into a digital mall, I just want my OS to run my software and run it good. That's all I ask. Anything more will not not be appreciated. If the focus of Windows 8 is based around peddling junk on your hard drive for a price rather than compatibility and performance then that gives me (and everyone else) little confidence and I will stick with Windows 7.

If Microsoft tries to stop me from using 7 then like others here, I'll best be hoping that Linux becomes a viable option

There is no question behind the concerns of Valve and Indie developers if Windows 8 truly is going to just be a virtual Microsoft retail store. We've seen how unfriendly that is to developers on the Apple systems and we have no reason to trust Microsoft to do it any better.


@Katie

In my experience, 7 has more useless stuff than Vista.

Also, 7’s attempts to make it more user friendly have backfired with the more technologically oriented people, I personally found the revised interface to be a pain.

My experience is the opposite. Did you get your computer from HP or something?

I also question you second sentence because technologically oriented people like myself noticed that you can revert the interface back to the Windows XP or Vista styles. I'm using the Vista style interface on 7 right now

In my experience Vista is a bloated, sluggish, annoying, harassing, buggy piece of trash that couldn't support my drivers if they ware made by Microsoft itself. Windows 7 gives me virtually none of those problems.

Vista was more like Windows 7 Pre-Alpha. It has the same interface but with all of the problems. A lot of those were fixed on Windows 7's release because Microsoft actually tried to address people's issues rather than do something new.

But if you want to keep using Vista, that's fine, it's up to you.

@Ansem

I do. Had it on a my Pentium 3 in years past. It was the only OS that could ever run Need For Speed, Porsche Unleashed without crashing.

ME's problem was timing and marketing. Although an improvement over 98, it was already outmoded upon release by Windows 2000 which was superior to it in every respect.

2000 was a real upgrade as it used a new and improved architecture while ME was more or less the most recent patch of 98 and still bore it's shortcomings, plus people were already aware that XP was on it's way which gave people even less reason to adopt the release. There was no reason to buy ME if you could use 2000. Not to mention the number of flaws in ME that needed to be patched.

By the time ME was fixed, XP came out which, by comparison, reduced ME to a mockery

If ME was released sooner and not in direct competition with its own sister products then it could have stood a chance at being a successor to 98. But alas, it came out in a manner that's equivalent to Vista coming out during the release of 7.

Last edited Aug 09, 2012 at 01:58AM EDT

About a month or two ago, in my computing class, one of my friends, who is a complete computer geek, had the beta for Windows 8. Our teacher let him hook it up through the projector, and he showed it to us. It reminded me of the Xbox 360 Dashboard. I thought it was pretty cool. But now that i know that it will upset gaming, I WILL NEVER UPGRADE. Evidently, you guys do realise your games dont work on windows 8 because THEY WERE DESIGNED FOR VISTA AND 7 right?. Steam will probably update to work with windows 8, and future games will work for it probably.

💜✨KaijuSundae✨💜 wrote:

About a month or two ago, in my computing class, one of my friends, who is a complete computer geek, had the beta for Windows 8. Our teacher let him hook it up through the projector, and he showed it to us. It reminded me of the Xbox 360 Dashboard. I thought it was pretty cool. But now that i know that it will upset gaming, I WILL NEVER UPGRADE. Evidently, you guys do realise your games dont work on windows 8 because THEY WERE DESIGNED FOR VISTA AND 7 right?. Steam will probably update to work with windows 8, and future games will work for it probably.

8's just another Vista upgrade…but with complications.
It's not that the new code creates compatibility issues or anything. It's because the new features make it very difficult for developers. Not only does shit have to be approved by Microsoft (a slap in the face to indie gamers) the way it runs in Metro is a giant pain in the ass.

Even without Metro there's enough complicated pointless shit to scuttle everything for the developers. Why do you think a lot of them want to jump ship?

BSoD wrote:

In my experience Vista is a bloated, sluggish, annoying, harassing, buggy piece of trash that couldn’t support my drivers if they ware made by Microsoft itself. Windows 7 gives me virtually none of those problems.

By the time the Service Packs came out, Vista was actually really good but by that time the damage had been done and Vista was a sinking ship.

In reality, Windows 7 is like Vista SP3. Which is still good thing in my opinion.

And I liked the Office Assistants :(

Blue Screen (of Death) wrote:

Listening to TotalBiscuit explain it certainly helps. That British accent does wonders (Also I love his Starcraft videos)

Perhaps now would be a good time for me to install the Windows 8 Beta which I have sitting here right next to me and see what the fuss it about. I've been neglecting it for a while because it mostly seems to be Windows 7 with an extra interface (metro) that you can disable/enable. But I would most likely keep it disabled.

Up until now I have heard no excitement or controversy over Windows 8 at all. It's just there. Yes there will be compatibility issues but every new OS gets that and usually it gets ironed out over time. No big deal.

BUT the issues over turning the whole entire Windows interface into a retail business (which I had not heard about) however is much more concerning.

I don't want my OS turned into a digital mall, I just want my OS to run my software and run it good. That's all I ask. Anything more will not not be appreciated. If the focus of Windows 8 is based around peddling junk on your hard drive for a price rather than compatibility and performance then that gives me (and everyone else) little confidence and I will stick with Windows 7.

If Microsoft tries to stop me from using 7 then like others here, I'll best be hoping that Linux becomes a viable option

There is no question behind the concerns of Valve and Indie developers if Windows 8 truly is going to just be a virtual Microsoft retail store. We've seen how unfriendly that is to developers on the Apple systems and we have no reason to trust Microsoft to do it any better.


@Katie

In my experience, 7 has more useless stuff than Vista.

Also, 7’s attempts to make it more user friendly have backfired with the more technologically oriented people, I personally found the revised interface to be a pain.

My experience is the opposite. Did you get your computer from HP or something?

I also question you second sentence because technologically oriented people like myself noticed that you can revert the interface back to the Windows XP or Vista styles. I'm using the Vista style interface on 7 right now

In my experience Vista is a bloated, sluggish, annoying, harassing, buggy piece of trash that couldn't support my drivers if they ware made by Microsoft itself. Windows 7 gives me virtually none of those problems.

Vista was more like Windows 7 Pre-Alpha. It has the same interface but with all of the problems. A lot of those were fixed on Windows 7's release because Microsoft actually tried to address people's issues rather than do something new.

But if you want to keep using Vista, that's fine, it's up to you.

Actually, the drivers were the problem because they were done by Asian companies with very little experience so that Big Tech could save money.

Also, I had a Toshiba.

Vista's problems had little to do with Vista itself but the fact that the computer companies were putting Vista on machines that could not handle Vista and also the shitty drivers that came with it certainly scuttled things.

@Katie

I knew that. Vista's shaky reputation mainly comes down to its premature release. Microsoft couldn't wait to get Vista out and show that they are capable of making a visually appealing interface just as much as Apple can.

In their hurry, they compromised on performance and support. The later services packs addressed that, but by the time they arrived; Windows 7 was already available and it already came with all those fixes and more. Unlike Vista: 7 had perfect support for my hardware right out of the box even with just the default Microsoft drivers, booted as fast as Linux did and didn't hog so many resources from my software.

So I feel that 7 is what Vista should have been.

Teh Brawler wrote:

Whatever helps the Nintendo master race to thrive.

Besides, you people still have XBox 360.

You can do more with a PC than a 360, just look at TF2

Katie C. wrote:

In my experience, 7 has more useless stuff than Vista.
Also, 7's attempts to make it more user friendly have backfired with the more technologically oriented people, I personally found the revised interface to be a pain.

don't generalise people. 'more technologically oriented people' use the OS that suits their needs, whether its due to:
- hardware limitations
- costs
- time to upgrade all systems on the network
- if the software needed can run on a new/old OS
- stable/compatible drivers
- security

most networks i've worked on use WinXP due to most of the above reasons. most online servers i've used have some flavour of Linux due to lower total cost of ownership and is hit by viruses and malware less often. most artists i've worked with use anything that lets them use their Wacom

anyone i have personally met that switched from Vista to 7 has said there is a noticeable improvement from the switch. how noticeable these improvements are (faster boot time, less resource intensive, etc) depends on the person. i also know of one person who still uses Vista purely because it works

but still, if it works for you then that's fine. just don't make a statement that assumes everyone agrees with you because they're the 'technologically oriented people'

Still using XP because its stable, its easily navigable, it supports everything, and it doesnt have tons of useless crap – or at least i chose not to install it. XP is still the better then vista,7, and 8 from an ergonomic standpoint, and i dont think i'l be "upgrading" any time soon.

Last edited Aug 10, 2012 at 04:26PM EDT

404 user not found wrote:

Still using XP because its stable, its easily navigable, it supports everything, and it doesnt have tons of useless crap – or at least i chose not to install it. XP is still the better then vista,7, and 8 from an ergonomic standpoint, and i dont think i'l be "upgrading" any time soon.

XP is over a decade old and is no longer supported by Microsoft support. It's stable but outdated in capabilities. Windows 7 supports everything XP and Vista did. Windows 7 is extremely stable. Windows 7's navigation is exactly like XP and Vista; It's called "Legacy" and the the OS navigation has been unchanged until Windows 8. Windows 7 is the best Windows OS right now.

I don't understand why people want to stick with a OS that's over a decade old. You get no improvements at all; no more updates that help improve the OS. If you hate or are uncomfortable about change, get over it. You'll never be able to live effectively in a world where technology is quite literally changing every minute. If you are poor, then I can understand but I doubt that's the case.

Companies continue to use XP or 2000 because it's cost effective to install on multiple computers and networks. If you are just an individual consumer, it makes no sense to keep Windows XP.

Last edited Aug 10, 2012 at 04:53PM EDT

@404

Ergonomic?

You have to go through a bajillion extra folders to navigate from your root to your pictures folder. You are totally reliant on desktop icons for shortcuts. You can't fully customize the start menu to have exactly and only the menu's and programs you want. You are totally reliant on the start button for fast access of common programs. All your system tools are buried under layers upon layers of menu's. Your folder structure is humongous and complicated where programs scatter data all over the place

XP is stable, navigable and still has good support but it ain't more ergonomic.

Also you don't have to put up with useless crap on 7. Like you say: just don't choose to install the useless crap!

Katie C. wrote:

You can do more with a PC than a 360, just look at TF2

Joke missed.

My sincere opinion on this is that it'll take more than just poor OS publishing to kill PC gaming, especially with console gaming on the decline. Though if we have another video game crash like the one in '83, that'll be an interesting circumstance.

Skeletor-sm

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