UKC

Has anyone found out how to turn off Fisher Price mode in Windows 8 ?

I'm currently evaluating it as a virtual machine and I'm amazed how unituitive it is. Clearly it's designed for a touchscreen/tablet, but you'd think it would be smart enough to know if it's being run on a proper PC !

In reply to Chris the Tall:
Depends on your point of view. I use it on a desktop machine and find it much more usable than Windows 7--even in 'fisher price mode'. There is a learning curve, but once mastered it is far more efficient.

I agree that it does work better for touchscreens, but Microsoft is trying to future-proof its operating system. In five years all computers will probably have touchscreens built in.

In reply to Chris the Tall: I've heard of a clever way to turn the Fisher Price mode off:

1. Click here: http://www.ubuntu.com/
2. Click install.

I'll be sticking with 7 unless I end up being forced to use 8. Then it's switch time!

In reply to Chris the Tall:
Note, I've not used this but -

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/23/classic_shell_gives_windows_8_a_sta...

windows 8 , has been voted the worst yet .lol…

In reply to Fultonius:

Gosh - I didn't know Windows apps could run on Linux. Is this a new thing?

In reply to Fultonius:
Unfortunately installing ubuntu won't help me confirm that my software runs on Windows 8 ! And none of our customers have ever requested that it runs on anything other than Windows - although I suspect it will be years before any of them are using Windows 8

For anyone else struggling I've found this document quite useful
http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/50-windows-8-tips-...

All I have to do is remember the 2 dozen keyboard sequences for when you want to do anything non-trendy.

Woo hoo, just worked out how to get at file associations, because the default pdf reader is rubbish (doesn't support links) but when you install Adobe reader it doesn't update the associations.

In reply to AndyE9:

... and yet, most non-luddites who actually try using Windows 8 (instead of just believing the first thing they read online) actually find it a refreshing experience that works really well.

In reply to Chris the Tall: To be fair, I hadn't realised that you were making a serious request as to "how to use windows 8" rather than just a jibe at how bad it is.

Unsurprisingly I can't actually help with your request..

In reply to Only a hill: I'm not sure that's true Alex.

I'm not a luddite and have read a fairly wide number of reviews and the general consensus is that they've made a reasonable O/S for touch based devices and forgotten about the rest of us who use a screen/mouse/keyboard.

Things like non-resizeable windows sound horrendous!

In reply to Fultonius:
As I said there is a bit of a learning curve when using a conventional PC setup, but even without a touchscreen it's still more efficient than Windows 7, once you get used to it. Switching apps, for example, is much quicker when using a mouse, as is accessing commonly used settings. The default full screen mode is great for concentrating on a single task (which is what the vast majority of users do with their computers anyway). If you need multitasking, there is in fact a split-screen mode.

Also worth bearing in mind that the traditional desktop is still there, unchanged, and can run old-fashioned Windows apps in exactly the same way as Windows 7.

It's all part of an inevitable trend as more people use their phones as their primary computers. PCs are bound to become more like phones--ie. simpler to use, less arcane.

In reply to Fultonius:

>

My feelings exactly - I love my Ipad and can see that a Windows 8 tablet could be a great replacement since I'd be able to avoid some of the apple restrictions. However my requirements at work are very differant.


It's bizarre that they've abandoned the whole concept of windows - I don't want everything full screen.

In reply to Only a hill: I suppose I'm looking at it from a business slant - working for an engineering company windows 8 sounds almost unusable and I imagine a lot of companies, when faced with the learning curve of Windows 8 may just take the alternative learning curve of Linux. We're talking about using it for our site based vibration monitoring laptops.

Time will tell. Our company still runs XP...so I know about arcane

In reply to Fultonius:


Until a few weeks back (when it finally gave up the ghost) my boss was still using a 22-line green screen terminal

In reply to Fultonius:

We are still using XP so don't feel too bad about it!

I've had a play (by which I mean mess around in Comet/Currys until it looks like I'm going to attract the attention of a staff member) with W8 and I think there will be a steep learning curve. That curve may be short - hard to tell having used it for such a short time.

As an example I couldn't find an easy intuitive way to close an app: having opened it using the mouse it turns out the easiest way is to press the windows key - really obvious. However is it really any different from learning to use the "Start" button to shut down the computer or the old Mac way of dragging a drive to the trashcan to eject it?

I think full screen apps are fine when on a tablet but having your email client take up a 1920x1200 or larger desktop screen is just stupid. For some apps it will be fine but for a lot it doesn't make sense.

Looking at reviews of the Surface tablet, there's a bit of a slagging about including the current style desktop. However MS want people to use Office on everything (it's their cash cow) so it was easier to do it this way than update the Office apps to handle touch events.

ALC

In reply to a lakeland climber:


This works well because W8 'suspends' apps that are not in use, so it's not strictly necessary to close apps. The official way to close an app is simply to drag it to the bottom of the screen (which is second nature once it's learned, and very quick on a touchscreen unit).


I generally keep the email app snapped in a small window to the left of whatever I'm working on.

In reply to Fultonius:

You can use it like any other version of Windows, except you have to go full screen to launch an app. It's way faster than Vista.

What I do miss is being able to do CTRL+ESC, double-up-arrow, return, appname, return as a shortcut to start anything. It's not a great shortcut, but it's just one I was used to using from the days before keyboards with Windows keys!

Neil

In reply to Only a hill:

I tried the drag to bottom of screen but probably grabbed the wrong bit of chrome or didn't drag it far enough. I think it would have been better to have a close button even if it didn't actually "close" the app. The new method is a lot of mouse movement for a simple action.

Is there a way to define your preferred size of an app? Or can you have the app open at the last size it was used?

ALC