My point is that it now runs through a 3rd person program (Even Windows 7 gave you a get out clause if you needed it through Live mail) infact I am using thunderbird which doesn't require you to set an account up with them.
Windows 8 itself DOESN'T support POP3 unlike previous versions(Outlook or Live mail as part of Windows out of the box).

Oh BTW roversmad I am not just talking about me as I managed to get my head around it with me having some knowledge but someone who isn't tech savy hasn't got a bloody prayer of getting theirs around it.

Microsoft have created the most complicated OS in history in Windows 8 and a huge percentage won't be able to understand what the hell is going on.
I do wonder when they will realize a PC is neither a tablet or a phone?

Microsoft hit on a brilliant idea with Windows 95 (Start and Taskbar) Windows doesn't change that right through to Windows 7.
It seems Microsoft have been trying that hard to be innovative (Trying to match the brilliant idea in Windows 95) that they cannot see that 8 is far to complicated for many.
Many IT bods are binning it for Windows 7 already.
That in itself speaks volumes.

I like history and have been looking up the American war of independence.

I still find it hard to get my head around the fact that only 236 years ago it was still a British colony.
In only 12 generations (Using 20 years as the average generation jump) they have gone from that to the USA we know today.

It does make you wonder what would have happened if the then British king had not gotten greedy and tried to tax the colonists to the eyeballs though.
I mean how much longer would then independence have taken to arrive if at all?

I also find it strange that it was literally Brit fighting Brit so they could stop being a Brit.

I love Michel Roux me but his blinis aren't as good as mine. 'Choke's are miles better though, I'll give him that.

IMO I think you'll find that for your average home user who isn't tech savvy, will be able to navigate Windows 8 better than previous versions. The new interface means that everything they want is just 1 click away instead of having to go through menu structures.

I don't think MS have tried too hard to be innovative. I think they have tried too hard to make one OS fit all devices. I am doing a POC at work with Windows 8 and the main issues I have found is that the new interface is hard to use with a laptop touchpad but fine with a standard mouse or touch screen. Also i'm having to run a lot of apps in compatibility mode.

I myself am what you call an IT Bod and I have heard of no one in the industry saying they are binning it and wont use it. What I have heard is that like all new OS', companies will not adopt it straight away until the first Service Pack has been released. Most companies do this as due diligence.

Personally I feel that Microsoft have sort of done a reverse in the way their Operating systems work. Gradually they have made what users want more easily accessible in the OS and hidden away the bits a techie needs to access. This has gradually happened since Windows 3.11 and NT 3.51 where the techie stuff was easily accessible as it was on the main screen (or Program Manager as it was called) whereas now it is behind a whole load of menus and right clicks.

If I was to sum up Windows 8 I would say it is Windows 7 with the tile interface slapped on top of it.

I'm sorry but I think you are very wrong.
As an example to now turn it off you have to move your mouse to the top right corner then click on settings (Since when is turning something off a setting?) then click on 'Power' then click 'shut down'.
Previously you clicked the power button next to the start button and selected 'shut down.
How is that in any way easier?

That is just one example of many I could have used.

As for the previous menu structure at least it made some sense.
If I installed a new program in the program files it was there sat waiting for me in the start menu which was sat on the UI.

Windows best feature was the fact that you could jump window to window side by side and view them both at the same time.
You cannot do this when it is 2 apps being used so guess what?
That's right you have to go back to the desktop app and do it in there, so to run multiple windows you have to go BACK to a desktop system simply for ease of use.

Again how is that easier?

Now don't get me wrong I'm not totally having a dig for the sake of it as they have seriously shortened loading times in Windows 8


Again I disagree I think that is exactly what MS have tried to do and they have made the lives of the AVERAGE PC user far more complicated on the back of it.

Strangely enough I find the UI very clunky with a mouse.

I have read a fair few reports of Bods dumping it TBH but as I am not 'in the buis' I could be wrong on that score.

On that score I agree.
I have lost count of how many times I have got a phone call saying 'My PC/Laptop won't work only for me to find out that some system files had just 'deleted themselves''

We had goose last year - or possibly the year before, they all start to blur into one. Very nice it was too - but really a duck or chicken is plenty for us.
I find Christmas kind of odd nowadays tbh - the result of neither being a child nor having any, perhaps.

Going back to vaguely techie stuff, I might get an ipad as my xmas box - possibly a mini one. Need something of my own, as I get in trouble for getting crumbs and stuff on the lap top.

Not really I wasn't making a mistake I was calling it an app (confusing I'll accept) to point out that they have now made the desktop accessable via a tile just point out how insane that is.
Previously the desktop was the lauching pad and the first thing you saw (After log-in obviously) you now have to go and find it that isn't the same at all.
With regard to the turning the machine off how long has this been common practice for YEARS MS have insisted that you turn the machine off 'properly' ergo via the system in windows.
A system they have made more complicated.

With regard to your mum am I to assume that she didn't have a PC until she got her new laptop?

I on the other hand are the go to guy for most of my extended family and everyone that has purchased Windows 8 (3) hate it with a passion.
The general concensus is that it is FAR more complicated.

Good choice, love a bit of canabalism me, you have to be very careful not to dry it out, I've done that due to excess consumption of Champagne.

We're eating out this year, lazy gets.

always eat out although last years wasnt that good

I've just bumped into Borey McBorewich from Boresville, Borecambe.

He didn't have anything interesting to say, felt it appropriate to write this here.

I think I'm a little bit in love with David Haye.