Finally got round round to giving W8 a go on my new laptop, got everything how I want it which is ok but display wise compared to 7 it just looks utter ****. Laptop has a lovely 1080 ips screen and looks crisp and sharp in 7 but on 8 it looks kinda blurry and washed out. Looks like Windows 7 will be back on shortly.
I am surprised that it's taken you such a long time to get around to making the leap to Windows 8. I certainly hope you've installed Windows 8.1 Update. Your comments about the display not looking crisp sounds like you've inadvertently enabled the scaling feature. I experienced the same issue with my laptop - it has a 13.3" display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 which resulted in Windows setting the scaling to 200%, and so everything looked ****ty. If you head to the Display section in the Control Panel and move the slider to the left, it'll disable the scaling and you should end up with the same crisp, sharp images to which you've become accustomed. Once you've done this, you'll find the start screen to be an annoyance, but eventually you'll get over it, and come to realise that not much has changed since Vista...
Honestly, I don't understand the hostility towards Windows 8.1. I use Windows 8.1 (or Server 2012 R2, which is very similar) on all of my systems, and I support Windows 7 systems at work - I switch between the two dozens of times a day and barely even notice the difference any more. The main reason for me running 8.1 is that Hyper-V is included, which I use for maintaining and testing our deployment service. Without Hyper-V on 8.1, I'd be forced to either buy VMWare Workstation or dedicate a machine to running Hyper-V Server; this way I can use my normal workstation for both.
Win 8 keys don't work with Win 8.1. Apparently they're completely different operating systems..... Re-installing 8.1 with a Windows 8 CD is a thorough bastard. While Hyper-V and IIS are nice additions, the OS as a whole feels a clunky hodgepodge of good ideas thrown together without any real cohesion. Also, I don't want to have to click through 11 thousand screens to NOT login with my MS account.
I've found that disconnecting from the network is an easier way to avoid the whole Microsoft account shenanigans. I suppose I tend to forget that not everybody has access to the same resources as me... unfortunately I can't share them with you guys any more
The point is any password which is for a store / online drive or has payment info attached should be so horrifically complicated that it's unsuitable for a daily login. i.e. Z+k7QhQetbK6ZC+B#6A9t;TtnEfzfEKs It shows a terrible lack of thought on Microsoft's part that they hide the option away and force those with less persistence to go with "mydogsname". It's more stable than Win 7, but that's pretty much all it has going for it - it's a massive downgrade in every other way.
Seems to be fixed in Win 10 as you can set a pin code to access your computer - leaving your password safe. Although I would rather a log in that isn't attached to any account and that isn't complicated to work around, you know, like in the old days.
I use it in a domain environment, even at home, so I never have to deal with the issue of using the Live account to log onto the system. I haven't yet used the application store, as I haven't really used Windows 8.1 on a tablet, and it seems pointless on the desktop. We took delivery of some Surface Pro 3 tablets at work on Friday, so I will have a look at the store soon as part of my testing. I am starting to worry that my less tech-savvy colleagues are going to struggle to like Windows 8.1 :-(
