Windows 8
Updating Diary
“Are you ever going to update your diary again?” Megan asked me the other day, after visiting my Open Diary site for the second time to no avail.
“I’m contemplating it,” I lied. I wasn’t contemplating it, and soon thereafter went to bed.
Well, now I am. It’s time to get back on the bandwagon and start writing again.
A Digression on Bandwagons
This makes me wonder, what is a bandwagon, and why are people constantly getting on and off one? Let’s consult Dr. Google.
Q: What is a “bandwagon”?
A (1): a wagon, usually large and ornately decorated, for carrying a musical band while it is playing, as in a circus parade or to a political rally.
A (2): a party, cause, movement, etc., that by its mass appeal or strength readily attracts many followers: After it became apparent that the incumbent would win, everyone decided to jump on the bandwagon.
One wonders if people willingly jumped on the bandwagon while it passed by. Also, if you fall off the wagon, does this make you a drunk? (Or is this a different metaphor?)
Also apparently unrelated, a “bandwagon situation.”
Bandwagon situation, a literacy term: A situation in which the conditions in an area are very ripe for literacy, and one needs only supply key missing elements to make literacy grow rapidly.
A “bandwagon effect” is the official name for the effect of “jumping on the bandwagon”:
In layman’s term the bandwagon effect refers to people doing certain things because other people are doing them, regardless of their own beliefs, which they may ignore or override. The perceived "popularity" of an object or person may have an effect on how it is viewed on a whole.
The origin of the phrase, “jump on the bandwagon”:
The phrase "jump on the bandwagon" first appeared in American politics in 1848 when Dan Rice, a famous and popular circus clown of the time, used his bandwagon and its music to gain attention for his political campaign appearances. As his campaign became more successful, other politicians strove for a seat on the bandwagon, hoping to be associated with his success. Later, during the time of William Jennings Bryan’s 1900 presidential campaign, bandwagons had become standard in campaigns, and "jump on the bandwagon" was used as a derogatory term, implying that people were associating themselves with the success without considering what they associated themselves with.
In economics, the “bandwagon effect” arises when people’s preference for a commodity increases as the number of people buying it increases.
Anyway, um, I’m going to get back on the… er… writing bandwagon.
Oliver Becomes Convinced He Should Upgrade
Do you remember that Microsoft commercial for Windows 7 where a middle-aged guy walks of his house to go for a jog in his neighborhood, looks around, and spots an antlered elk crossing the street? He whispers, “Wow.” Then the Microsoft voiceover man says, “Yeah, like that” and starts talking about Windows 7.
When I upgraded from Windows Vista to Windows 7, I liked the changes—although they didn’t invoke a whispered “Wow” from me. Actually, I didn’t notice much difference between Vista and 7, aside from Libraries, which I don’t tend to use. The only major change, which I really like, is the ability to resize windows by bumping them to the top or sides of the screen. (How many times have you resized a window to the point where half of it is floating off in the netherworld and you can’t reach the top bar with your mouse anymore?)
Windows Vista, for that matter, got a bad rap from the techie camp. I still haven’t quite figured out why. Vista was an improvement to Windows XP and functioned fine for me. But people can be vocal about their operating systems, and Vista turned out to be a debacle in some circles.
So I started seeing a slew of Windows 8 TV commercials in early December and wondered if I should upgrade from Windows 7 for the hell of it. My little Shuttle XS35V3 runs Windows 7 64-bit with equanimity. I designed it especially for writing, writing, and writing. In fact, since I installed it in the Library corner, I’ve written about twice as often as before. Things were working well for my Shuttle and me, so why upgrade?
On the other hand, shiny live tiles and newest technology beckoned. Cinching the deal was an advertisement to upgrade for $40, which is cheap considering the full price tag of Microsoft operating systems. I reached for my credit card and started backing up my small 120 GB solid-state hard drive. Meg was working anyway.
The Windows 8 Upgrade Takes a While
The first mistake I made was to become impatient downloading Windows 8 on my Shuttle, which is connected wirelessly to the interwebs. I stopped the download after a few minutes and opened the link on my desktop instead. My desktop PC is in the office in one of the bedrooms. It features an Ethernet cable connected to the intertube. I pressed download, and busied myself by backing up my Shuttle’s hard drive on one of my portable external hard drives.
When the download finished fifteen minutes later, I transferred it onto a jumpdrive (Microsoft’s installation program makes this easy), walked across the house to the Library and inserted the jumpdrive to my Shuttle. After another twenty minutes, I started up the wacky operating system, went through all the introductory menus, and finally arrived to the desktop. Then I realized what I’d done wrong: I just installed Windows 8 32-bit. Having previously had Windows 7 64-bit with 8 GB of RAM, this annoyed me. 32-bit operating systems can only use up to 4 GB of RAM, and by Zeus, I wanted to use the other 4 GB. I scratched my head, wondering where I’d gone wrong.
As it turned out, Microsoft’s OS downloading program automatically senses which Windows 7 version you’re currently running, and will download the same bit version for Windows 8. Since my desktop PC runs Windows 7 32-bit, it downloaded Windows 8 32-bit for me.Makes sense, I suppose, but really, couldn’t it have just asked me whether I wanted to download Windows 8 32-bit or 64-bit? Nope.
My problem realized, I wondered how I could download Windows 8 64-bit now. I had to do it from a computer running Windows 7 64-bit, and I’d just wiped my Shuttle and installed Windows 8 32-bit. I groaned. Sighing, I re-installed Windows 7 64-bit on the Shuttle. Once the setup was finished, I downloaded the Windows 8 64-bit from Microsoft’s download program, and saved it on a jumpdrive. Then, finally, I said farewell to Windows 7 on the Shuttle and upgraded Windows 8 64-bit.
Blearily, I set up my initial Windows 8 settings, poked around at the strange Start menu, and then collapsed in bed and dreamt of flying toasters attacking me.
A Windows History
I’ve been a Windows user since about forever. Growing up on DOS, I couldn’t understand why Windows 32 was useful. Windows 95 was awesome, although my NEC seemed to choke running it. Windows 97 seemed to reduce the blue screens of death somewhat. Windows 2000 was more for the business world than for me. I skipped Windows ME (although Meg apparently liked it back in the day—we don’t talk about that much). Windows XP was fresh and exciting for a while—and stable. I liked where Windows Vista took the OS, although it put a big emphasis on graphics and seemed to be a bit of a resource hog as a result. Windows 7 improved Vista a little bit. And now… Windows 8.
(By the way, now I officially use Windows XP and 7 at work and Windows XP, Vista, 7, and 8 at home.)
Generally, when I view operating systems or pieces of software, I think of two things: 1) Can I do things that I couldn’t do before? 2) Did I lose anything that I will miss?
Oliver’s First Impressions
I took a while getting used to the layout of Windows 8. The first thing I do when I change operating systems is to restore all the functionality that I used to have. I usually set up the minute adjustments for last, and just get to the important stuff first. That includes:
· Firefox with addons and bookmarks
· Microsoft Office (Word and Excel at least) – in this case, Office 2013
· Music player (Foobar2000)
· Screenshot program (Snagit 11)
· Archival unpacker (Winrar)
· Adobe Acrobat Pro (XI)
· Flash, Silverlight, Java, and whatever else to run websites correctly
· Get all major files back into My Documents—err—Documents? (Windows 8 doesn’t call it My Documents)
A Few Upgrading Annoyances
Getting drivers installed for my little-known Shuttle brand computer was a bit tricky. I had to manually find drivers for my wireless network card and for my monitor. My HDMI monitor shrunk my screen size without my permission, and I tried for a good three days to find a solution to get rid of the black band around the screen’s edges. AMD Catalyst wouldn’t run on Windows 8. Why not? Who knows. I finally found a solution about changing the registry mentioned on a random forum, which worked. Back to full screen capability. Hurray.
Foobar2000, my preferred method to play music, didn’t work with the right-click menu in File Explorer. Why? Who knows. I’m hoping that they’ll release a newer version that adds the functionality back in. I’m used to right clicking on the album folder and clicking “play.”
I forgot how to sync Firefox with my other computer, so I ended up walking back and forth between the Library and the office at least seventeen times with launch codes, until I remembered how to do it. Would I be able to remember how to do it again? Probably not.
All right, I got my computer set up more-or-less as it was before I upgraded. Now I went exploring.
Start Menu Craziness
Windows 8 is arranged like half the world lives in the Start Menu (or “Metro Interface” for those in the know—but I don’t like the term “metro” because it makes me think of metrosexuals, and I’m too fat and not suave enough to be considered one), and the other half is in the Desktop. When I first started up Windows 8, it asked me what my preferred color was, and presented an array of glaring choices. I choose bright green.
Windows 8 starts in the Start Menu, which makes sense given the name. It comes with a number of preinstalled “apps,” which I venture to guess is Microsoft’s attempt to get in with the tablet/touch/Apple crowd. They’re logically named, like People, News, Weather, and Calendar.
I tried moving around live tiles, getting a feel for the whole thing. There are two sizes: small and medium. (What ever happened to large and supersize? Damn it, I paid for this OS!) I tried the News app. It popped up a newspaper-like page full-screen. No taskbar, no desktop clutter. Just news.
I could get used to this, I thought.
I wondered why I’d want to go to an app rather thansurfing a website in Firefox. Maybe to avoid being distracted by all of the “computerness” of running a web browser, and have a more pure “News” experience? It’s kind of like having an iPad with a News app.
Leaving an app took some getting used to. I discovered that I can use my mouse to “pull down” an app from the top of the screen, which essentially closes it. Or, I can go to the bottom left of my screen and get back to my Start Menu.
Pressing my Windows key also flipped the screen back to the Start Menu. And there’s always Alt-Tab, which shows both traditional Desktop programs and Windows and the Apps.
Apps apparently can be left running indefinitely in the background, and don’t take up any resources. In fact, Windows 8 takes the same lax attitude of making you close apps you’re not using that Apple does. Sure, I can run twenty apps in the background, just in case I want to load them faster when I need them. Or I could, you know, close them and load them when I need them. Apple makes me hold down my finger on the screen for thirty minutes, until everything starts to wiggle, and then I can close apps one by one by pressing a little x in a circle. Now Windows lets me either close apps using the swipe-down technique on each app, or I can Ctrl-Alt-Del to get the Task Manager and close them with End Task.
What other apps can I get? I opened the Windows Store to find out.
The Windows Store is horrible. Why? No search function. Microsoft decided, in its infinite wisdom, that it would arrange apps by categories, and then leave it up to you to scroll through a hundred choices without the ability to search for anything. Want to find an app that’s named something in particular, that has to do with photography? You’re going to need to search through 98 apps.
Also, I still don’t feel an overwhelming need to install apps on my computer. I have the Intertubal webs and Firefox. Why do I need apps again?
Desktop, Now With Less Start Menu
So if I felt like treating my computer like I traditionally have, I’ll spend most of my time in my Desktop area.
Now that I faced my Desktop, I breathed a sigh of relief. It was like Windows 7. I can get used to this. I’ll start Word and then start writing. I looked at my Desktop and noticed that the familiar Start button wasn’t there.
I clicked to the bottom left of the screen, launched the Start Menu, and clicked on Word. This switched me back to my desktop and started loading Word. Seemed a little clumsier than just having a regular Start Menu, but okay, I get the point. With tablets taking over the tech world, it’s all changing to a more touch-oriented interface.
Speaking of the Interface
When Windows loads something, it tells you this by having five little balls run from the left to the right of the screen. As they near the middle, they slow down, and then speed up again to zip off the screen. In most cases, this replaces the blue circle eating itself, which had in turn replaced the flipping sand hourglass.
Loading times are equivalent to Windows 7, which is to say fast on my little Shuttle. Load times in Windows seem more of a limitation on hardware than it is software slowing you down anymore.
Finding the Power button is challenging. Since the Desktop doesn’t sport a Start button anymore, one starts to wonder where the Power button has been placed. I discovered a Settings sub-menu on the right side of the Start Menu. It only appears if you hover your mouse towards the bottom right while on the Start Menu. Located towards the bottom is Power, which gives you the options of Sleep, Restart, or Shut Down. Later, I discovered that you can get to this menu by pressing Windows Key + i.
I imagine Microsoft buried the Power key because most tablets don’t need to be shut down or restarted very often. Desktops, on the other hand, still need to shut down or restart from time to time, don’t they?
Visually… Different
Windows 8 decided to scrap the whole Aero glass look and go for “Big, Bold, and Blocky.” I’m not sure what to think about it.
It fits well with the garish colors of the Start Menu, but it looks more retro-Windows 32 than modern Windows 7. It probably takes fewer resources to run colors without having to make them use Aero glass.
Ribbony
I’ve become accustomed to the Microsoft Office ribbons. They’re great, long as your monitor is tiny, and customizable. So I was pleasantly surprised that Windows 8 added ribbons to virtually everything.
Excuses
All of this was just an excuse to write for two weeks. I guess it worked.