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Windows RT tablets to include a Free version of Office

  • Thread starter Thread starter amphis software
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It's the same as everything else, no one likes it at first then it becomes the norm.

When we moved from NT to 2000 everyone hated it. When we moved from 2000 to XP everyone hated (we will skip Vista here), when we moved from Vista to 7......

I am not a big fan of the Windows 8 interface at all, but am sure it will become second nature soon enough.
 
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fisicx said:
In any case, have you tried using office on a tablet? It's hopeless.
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I guess that will depend on how good the keyboard is that comes attached to the tablet.

I think Microsoft Surface could be the best of both worlds, a touch screen for when I just want to browse the internet and a keyboard plus all my existing apps (in the Windows 8 Pro version) for when I want to do some work.

Tom
 
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amphis software said:
I guess that will depend on how good the keyboard is that comes attached to the tablet.
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It's got nothing to do with the tablet keyboard. Creating a letter, doing some styling, adding and editing an image or diagram, using a spreadsheet and all normal 'office' functions are hopeless on a tablet.

Add a bunch of applications.programs to Win8 and try to use the metro interface and it's pants.

Even worse, install Win8 on a PC and try to do anything more complicated than surf the web, watch films and perhaps write an email and you will wish you still had XP installed.
 
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fisicx said:
Even worse, install Win8 on a PC and try to do anything more complicated than surf the web, watch films and perhaps write an email and you will wish you still had XP installed.
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This is whats all ways confused me when i read peoples comments about windows 8.

On a PC the metro interface a much larger nicely laid out version of the start bar. You just tap the windows key to flip between it and what is just a nicer cleaner version of windows 7.

The only real thing that has changed is the location of the search bar, you now simply click the top right of the screen to bring up some options that includes search.

I don't think its an issue of people still thinking windows 7 or even xp, but more like windows 98.
 
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alphanumeric said:
The only real thing that has changed is the location of the search bar, you now simply click the top right of the screen to bring up some options that includes search.
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I have to say my experience of Windows 8 was quite different

1) the search is no way as good as Vista or 7. Didn't appear to be simple way to search across applications, documents, etc all at same time. On Vista I often search for eg "Hidden Files" and one of the finds that comes up is the windows explorer settings for showing hidden files or not... i couldn't get that going on 8.

2) the Metro interface looks nice until you install eg SQL Server at which point you end up with icons all over the place (as it installs so many associated programs)

3) No start button... yes I know you can hover there, but why not have a button?

The iPhone was a revelation because they realised that people don't want a desktop interface on a phone - they need an interface designed around the way you work on a phone. Microsoft has now created a beautiful mobile interface, and now think for some reason that I'll want a mobile interface on my desktop - I don't!
 
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alphanumeric said:
On a PC the metro interface a much larger nicely laid out version of the start bar. You just tap the windows key to flip between it and what is just a nicer cleaner version of windows 7.
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Now try loading a bunch of applications, do some image editing, test things in multiple browsers, fire up the admin areas on a website and run an email client. Apart from an awful interface, win8 keeps trying to help me. None of the old backed applications are available and even using good old notepad has become a chore.

Even doing all this in win7 was bad enough. Which is why I've still got everything running XP.
 
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alphanumeric said:
Ive been using windows 8 for a week or so now, personally i fail to see what peoples issues are with the lack of a start button.
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Because on this Windows 7 box (and previous OS's), you hit Start (or the orb) / Excel is pinned to the resulting menu so I click on it.

That's two clicks to get Excel up and running from the desktop.

Now tell me how many clicks you need on Windows 8.
 
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Rasta Pickles said:
That's two clicks to get Excel up and running from the desktop.

Now tell me how many clicks you need on Windows 8.
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one.

if it's an app or a url you use on a regular basis, just pin it to the start menu and it becomes its own tile and you can get to it in one click.

you can do lots of things without even clicking at all. the Live tiles update automatically to show how many emails you've got, how many messages, the weather, stock prices etc

Tom
 
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you just pin it to the start "screen" if that's what you prefer to call it. it's also known as the "start menu." it's the first menu you see and it's called Start. I'm well aware that it's not the same as the Start Menu on Windows 7.

Tom
 
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amphis software said:
you just pin it to the start "screen" if that's what you prefer to call it. it's also known as the "start menu." it's the first menu you see and it's called Start. I'm well aware that it's not the same as the Start Menu on Windows 7.

Tom
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What is "the first menu you see"?

My very brief sojourn into the world of Win8 showed me a desktop with lots of tiles.

How do I locate this mysterious "first menu"?
 
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Try adding a bunch of non MS applications to the home screen. Add Firefox, thunderbird, photoshop, opera, dreamweaver, openoffice, myphp, streamline, sage and all the other daily use programmes and the try swapping between them. Its an interface built for tablets not for the office/business computer.
 
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Rasta Pickles said:
My very brief sojourn into the world of Win8 showed me a desktop with lots of tiles.
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yes those tiles are the "menu" or "start screen" I'm talking about. you can customize the tiles as you please the same as you can on Windows Phone. whatever apps or urls you use most often, you can create tiles for (with one click). you can move tiles around, resize them, delete them, whatever you want.

any apps or urls you use a lot can be one click away. on my Windows Phone for example, this forum has it's own tile and it shows a picture of the web site. each of my email accounts has it's own tile and the tile automatically shows the number of emails in the Inbox without me having to click anything. similarly if I have text messages. the Live Tile shows me how many there are without me clicking on anything. to get to an Inbox or my text messages i just click on the relevant tile on the "start screen". everything I use regularly is just one click away.

Tom
 
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You are missing the point of the discussion. Whilst it works well on your phone it's a hopeless mess on a computer.
 
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fisicx said:
It's got nothing to do with the tablet keyboard. Creating a letter, doing some styling, adding and editing an image or diagram, using a spreadsheet and all normal 'office' functions are hopeless on a tablet.
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I have to agree with Fiscix, the keyboard is a minor peripheral.

amphis software said:
I guess that will depend on how good the keyboard is that comes attached to the tablet.

I think Microsoft Surface could be the best of both worlds, a touch screen for when I just want to browse the internet and a keyboard plus all my existing apps (in the Windows 8 Pro version) for when I want to do some work.

Tom
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I have an Asus Transformer (Android) - with a good (albeit small - netbook size I guess) keyboard. I'll be travelling next week for a court case, and will have the tablet with me, but will only be using it to reference very large legal books; despite having Office (some mobile variations - Quick Office, as well as Kingsoft), I'll also have a laptop - for more heavy-duty work. I'll also have pen & a large pad, as while I've written closing submissions on these devices before, there is nothing to replace pen & paper, particularly as I can't easily format the text on a tablet to make it easy to read while addressing a Judge.


As an aside, as my law books are so large (>10Mbs), most of the ereaders (many paid for, only to find they don't work) I tried can't handle a book of this size.


Tablets have their place, and should have an OS to support them, but I don't expect my tablet to operate the same way as my laptop/desktop/games console: they're different machines, used for different purposes, and I don't care that they look the same or behave differently anymore than I don't expect to find tiles, menus, or an orb on my microwave's controls.


I've tried Win8, but if it's one click from the desktop to anything, I totally missed it; I'll keep using my Win7 licenses for now.


Karl Limpert
 
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amphis software said:
you can do lots of things without even clicking at all. the Live tiles update automatically to show how many emails you've got, how many messages, the weather, stock prices etc

Tom
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I like the idea of live tiles, especially on a phone.

Problem is the news app that came with Windows 8 just seems to show me news from the last time I booted up the virtual pc its running on... so I'm presently seeing breaking news about our future Queen getting her funbags out in a french magazine.
 
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amphis software said:
on my Windows Phone for example, this forum has it's own tile and it shows a picture of the web site. each of my email accounts has it's own tile and the tile automatically shows the number of emails in the Inbox without me having to click anything. similarly if I have text messages. the Live Tile shows me how many there are without me clicking on anything. to get to an Inbox or my text messages i just click on the relevant tile on the "start screen". everything I use regularly is just one click away.

Tom
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That was my point - its a great interface for a phone... I'm holding out waiting for the Lumia 920 at the moment... it makes Android and IOS look pretty dated.

But the way I work on a phone is completely different to how I work on a PC or tablet. I have an iPad (I won it when iPad 2 first came out). I love it for web browsing, watching videos, and checking emails... but even for writing forum posts like this one, it just doesn't work for me... the virtual keyboard, the fiddly copy/paste functionality - I just prefer a proper desktop OS for that.

Microsoft doesn't seem to have realised that people work completely differently on a phone, tablet and PC. The user interface should reflect that. The iPhone was massive because Apple realised that.
 
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