Anyone Found Any Useful Windows 8/8.1 Apps?

[--BulletMagnet--]

I did a fresh install of Windows 8.1 Pro last night and decided I would give some of Microsoft's native apps one more try after initially dismissing them as stripped, dumbed-down versions of real software.

I'm having a hard time disproving myself. I'm speaking as a laptop/desktop user, of course. If I had a touch screen, I could of course see myself benefiting from a few of the apps, but the UI for most of the Windows Store apps is very confusing and not intuitive. Furthermore, most apps are simply web articles and snippets from other sites, so you can pretty much open your web browser and you've all but replicated the usefulness of those apps.

I might try to find a few simple games in the Store to play in my spare time, but I doubt I find anything beyond that. One redeeming quality of a few of the Windows apps is the live tile functionality. Seeing the current weather on the Start screen, for example, is pretty neat.

[Guest001]

Personally, I wouldn't recommend any of them at all.

In my experience with them they are intrusive to say the least.

IMO Depending on the source, 3rd party software is far more trustworthy as regards to privacy, functionality and reliability.

I have disabled all store and native app functions in W8.1 (including IE) and it was no easy task, the OS is so hell bent on you having them.

[MAJWIZ]

BULLETMAGNET: I rebuild computers for a living for many people who don't like win 8, and in my company we DO NOT install windows 8 in any form, on any computer. why?, the program is in contact with microsoft any time you turn on your computer. hence, lack of privacy. some of the apps will not work of you disconnect form the internet.
microsoft has said many times that when XP updates stop that your computer will die because of virus and malware, BULL my system (XP then WIN7-64 ultimate) has been running WITH ALL UPDATES TURNED OFF FOR LAST 14 YEARS i have MALWARE BYTES AND AVG installed only and those two programs has stopped everything so far. good luck with the apps.

[--BulletMagnet--]

I was wondering about the business side of Windows 8. I think it's pretty safe to say that Windows 7 will live for a LONG while yet in business environments.

I wonder how business are approaching the Microsoft account issue? You can still create local accounts, so I would suppose that they use that.

[Guest001]

I run an WinXP SP2 installation in a virtual machine to do my banking and other personal stuff.

Updates off, just a standard Service Pack 2 install.

You just need a good Anti malware solution and a 3rd party browser and Email program, the rest is moot.

[Scott]

Originally Posted by --BulletMagnet--

I was wondering about the business side of Windows 8. I think it's pretty safe to say that Windows 7 will live for a LONG while yet in business environments.

I manage all the computers and make all the IT decisions for our company and we will not be moving to Windows 8, and probably not Windows 9 when it comes out next year. I'm not in the Windows 8 hate camp at all either. I'll probably skip 8 for my personal computers, but will move to 9 soon after release. They are bringing back the start menu, which is nice.

For a business, Windows 7 is perfect. It's stable and easy to maintain. I don't have to teach anyone how to use it. Windows 7 solved pretty much all of the administration headaches that Windows XP had. As long as it's supported by MS and secure, we'll probably stick with it until Windows 7 End of Life which is in 2020. Upgrading software and licensing is a big expense for a small business.

There is a big push towards the web these days which makes the OS almost irrelevant for business "users". Even accounting software packages are slowly starting to offer in-house (IIS) web hosted packages. I write a ton of custom tools with JavaScript/PHP that our office uses daily that are all hosted via our internal web server and I am quite busy with creating web programs for other companies in my spare time. The only actual "software" the people in my office use today are Microsoft Office and the accounting software. Our next accounting software package will be hosted by our internal IIS server and accessed via a browser also. But we'll probably always need Microsoft Office, unless I was able to host Office 365 via our own internal server. The "cloud" is just too slow and has the possibility of uncontrollable downtime as well as opening all our documents to the world with a few weak passwords.

What's the point of spending all the money for new desktop hardware and OS's when all we need is a single powerful virtualized server with a modern browser?

[--BulletMagnet--]

Those are good points, Scott.

I'm interning as a developer right now but will go full-time in May. My company just now retired the last few of their XP machines due to the security threats. Windows 7 is installed on virtually every work station. I toured the server room a few times, and they're making a heavy push toward virtualization.

We have a few PC labs at the university that were converted completely over to virtualized terminals last summer, and it was a rough implementation. They were extremely slow, the network went down frequently, and running something like Visual Studio was a death wish.

Luckily, they had the resources to iron out the issues fairly quickly, and I must admit that it makes sense for cost efficiency and painless administration.

As a Windows Forms developer, I'm reluctant to accept the reality of the move towards the web/cloud. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go type something up in Google Docs, save it in Google Drive, and log my work time on PlanView. :-/

[Scott]

IMO, if you're a developer of any sort (even non-web), you're probably pretty safe for awhile. Automation and Virtualization are huge now days, 90% of what I do is automation (IE: replace people with programs and computers ).

You definitely choose a good career path in programming. It's a scary next couple decades for some fields! Keep you're skills sharp and when you land your job, never stop learning. Keep doing side projects and if possible, take up another language (in your case, probably ASP.net).

[--BulletMagnet--]

I read an article the other day that was studying the mental toll that coding has on programmers.

Supposedly, most programmers feel the need to code outside of work to constantly keep their skills up-to-date, which is pretty logical. I guess that's what leads to the natural transition from programmer -> programmer analyst -> project manager.

[bigsmellyfart]

I work in the cell phone industry and no matter who
I work for windows xp is super glued to every PC in the building...
meaning under no circumstances will they upgrade...xp is a workhorse
they have already paid for it so why upgrade a working pc in a
manufacturing environment there are millions upon millions of
industrial pc's that will not be upgraded because the pc's can be
repaired and reimaged...

[--BulletMagnet--]

Originally Posted by bigsmellyfart

I work in the cell phone industry and no matter who
I work for windows xp is super glued to every PC in the building...
meaning under no circumstances will they upgrade...xp is a workhorse
they have already paid for it so why upgrade a working pc in a
manufacturing environment there are millions upon millions of
industrial pc's that will not be upgraded because the pc's can be
repaired and reimaged...

Well, Windows XP's life-support recently ended, so a business case can be made for getting rid of it.

[bigsmellyfart]

Originally Posted by --BulletMagnet--

Well, Windows XP's life-support recently ended, so a business case can be made for getting rid of it.

support is not needed and has not been for several years...the only thing actually needed is activation... the support that stopped was the generation of NEW updates...every thing that is will be available...most of these computers are on an intranet not the internet...some have internet but most don't
cause company business is carried out on an intranet...internet activity is grounds for immediate dismissal...

[Guest001]

I only went to W8 because of MS changing licensing for W7

I had a non OEM standalone version (unlimited installs) but they later changed it to a 10x install limit.

Due to various reasons I exceeded that limit and the OS was disabled ($380) down the drain. (now coasters) They did it to my Vista install as well. GRRRRR!

Now I have had to disable W8.1 updates because of incomplete or failed updates.

This is a much more dangerous (incomplete updating) situation than a well protected (stable) XP system or any stable OS for that matter.

The main thing to me is the software/hardware, if it works, fine.

Protecting my sensitive data via a virtual machine with AV and ETC...? No problems so far...

[bigsmellyfart]

you can still call and get all that cleared...
I never heard of a 10 x install limit...