Uhm, no?
The only way they'll manage to convince me to upgrade my Windows 7 environment to Windows 8 is by paying me for it. And I'm not talking about a free Windows 8 license with a nice complimentary gift of $120 or so, I'm talking annual payments for a duration of 6 months or so.
Why? Because to me Windows 8 is a huge set back when it comes to work flow. Because I'm using Windows 7 both professionally and private the work flow has become a huge issue for me. I heavily use (and favour) the recent programs list for example; whenever I'm switching my activities from documenting to bookkeeping (both activities usually last a few days) it doesn't take longer than one working day for Word to get replaced by Excel in my start menu. Which means so much that from that point on I can simply click start, hover, and either start Excel (or Word) directly or use the jump list to open one of the previous (or pinned) documents.
Windows 8? Click start, open the desktop application and then select from either Word or Excel because both would need to be pinned onto the taskbar.
No, this isn't only about "beancounter work", it also concerns IT related tasks.
I've mentioned this many times already, but I don't use Windows 7 as administrator, my user account has regular privileges. So in the event I need to check up my log files (event logs) or other system related tasks I more than often need to raise my privileges. It's easy: start -> hover -> system administration -> right click event logs and then "run as administrator".
Windows 8? I know you can right click the start button (or start location) which gets you a context menu allowing you to select some administrative tasks, but because you're already in a context menu it does not allow you to use the "run as..." option.
Sure; there are ways around this, I'm well aware. But the point here is that those workarounds are a whole lot more tedious than the way I use in my current environment of Windows 7.
Can it get worse? Of course it can. PowerShell anyone? Awesome piece of work in my opinion, this is no sneer. To me PowerShell is the ultimate proof that if Microsoft sets its mind to it they really can come up with something good and awesome. I often use PowerShell to quickly check up on several servers which I maintain for work, but the thing is; because I'm accessing privileged sections I can only do so when starting this as administrator.
On my Windows 7 PowerShell is pinned to the taskbar and I can right click on it any time I need. On Windows 8 there is no way to perform that task straight from the start screen; you need to go to the desktop before starting PowerShell. In all honesty it makes some sense considering that PowerShell is a "desktop application". But wasn't the start screen the ultimate and full replacement for the start menu? So why can't it cope with such trivial tasks?
Alas; enough ranting.
My point should be obvious: When using Windows 8 it takes me more time to complete several routines than it does on Windows 7. Now, I am willing to take the possibility into consideration that in time you might find other ways to achieve the same results (that is something I can't say for sure right now) as such I'd settle for an annual payment which only lasts 6 months.
But just providing Windows 8 for free is not enough to make me switch.
In fact; should I need a new computer right now I'd easily cough up the extra cash to get my hands on another Windows 7 license and would be more than willing to invest some time to replace the POS which is Windows 8 (in my opinion of course) with my trusty Windows 7.
Just my 2 cents on the matter.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
