Even though your vid was in jokes and something I had seen long ago lol Bill Gates interview I spoke of he never mentioned anything about speed, the speed tests I spoke of was done by a group of us who benchmark programs and os's. Bill gates spoke of how the gui setup, design is just not something that should be used on a desktop computer which was more to the point. I am not going to tell people that have to revert back to win 7 if they want to use 8 that's not my choice to make but the remarks of it's so much faster or runs better but not comparing the os's on par like pro with pro or a fresh install with a fresh install means you have no real comparison. My personal favorite comment when I have friends or people trying to boost win 8 or win 8.1 to me is "This is the first MS os I have ever paid for" I always love that one. As I have always used a legal MS os to hear that remark almost makes it sound to me as the reason for saying it and trying to boost win 8 to me is they need to justify that they actually had to spend some money on an os for once even if it was cheap lol. That comment causes me to have a few laughs.
SciFighter, that is very much a niche-lover's comment. Comments such as that are basically implying that there is no purpose for a multiple-purpose operating system. Windows has been the argument against that since 2000, if not NT4 Workstation - did we forget that it was NT 4 that is the direct ancestor of Windows CE, the original embeddable Windows for devices, and itself the ancestor to WinMobile? Then there is (like it or not) Android - Android started off as a straight smartphone OS. At some point, some apparently thought as you did, and created a tablet-specific branch. Apparently, they changed their mind, because they re-fused the two with 4.0. Apple iOS originally didn't even support video - remember, the original iPod had a monocolor LCD display, and the first iPod nano lacked even that. Now, *every* iOS device except the iPod has a Retina display, which I do expect to appear even there before long. (Too many common components with iPhones.) I think that some of you are being contrarian simply to be contrarian, while others are using the economy as a excuse to basically be selfish and Scroogian. Single-purpose operating systems have not worked - from Microsoft or, outside of microniches, anyone else. Windows for Industry - the successor to CE - is not based on Windows Phone (either 8 or7), but desktop Windows (specifically, 8.1). Why did that happen? Simple enough - the needs of the users (indirectly, all of us, as WfI is used in everything from kitchen appliances to buildings to automobiles to aviation) grew to the point that a custom OS got too pricey - it made more BUSINESS sense to use an existing operating system. Apple grew iOS up because they could not do anything else. However, except for the iPad, the iOS devices use so many common components it's gotten to be a running gag - even in Apple retail Stores. From what I can see, the majority of those insisting on things staying put have a heavy connection to Google and/or Android - which itself strikes me as hilarious, give that Android in particular is PART of the multipurpose-OS trend . (Then there is that part of the Terms of Service for developers for the Google Play Store - which they are not enforcing - that would bar any app written specifically for a specific device type; why isn't Google enforcing it? I have multiple Android VMs out of necessity - in fact, I have tablet-type AND smartphone-type VMs not alone because I get asked about both, but because Android developers have insisted on oldest-of-schools write-to-hardware development, and I have many an issue with apps on Google Play saying that they cannot be installed on tablet-ID'd VMs, but will install just fine on phone-ID'd VMs. (Same OS and same API, even.) Games - not productivity apps - are the most prevalent culprits, from my experience. It's why I utterly REFUSE to purchase a Android-based tablet. If Google will not enforce their own TOS on their developer community, they have "done evil", by Google's own policy - how can I recommend their OS - or hardware based on it - without being just as big a hypocrite? Android hardware gets bought because it's cheap. Most Android users will admit that - in private. Fine - then Google needs to stop "doing evil" and drop that part of their own TOS they will never enforce.
Define *proper application*. If you are talking about by filename extension, that problem predates Windows 8 by over a decade; I remember similar and far nastier issues dealing merely with word-processing documents - on IBM mainframes. (This was 1987 - when color display meant CGA.) When you have multiple applications capable of dealing with a file-by-extension, it can - and does - get to be rather ugly. It's a problem in every OS - I can't think of one that has solved it. And I never said that Jobs was a saint - however, criticism of Apple has gotten far more vocal since his death - especially inside the Church of Apple - than it was when he was alive. The multiple-association problem is neither aided OR abetted by ModernUI as it existed prior to it - it means that, once again, a user must choose an application him/herself. (And, as said, it's not even unique to Windows.) It's a side-effect of being able to choose. Blaming ModernUI is, at best, a copout.
Sorry to say that as I pointed out most of those comments come from Bill Gates himself in an interview with a tech magazine, but as your comment says above "Comments such as that are basically implying that there is no purpose for a multiple-purpose operating system". A multiple-purpose operating system would be designed to run smartly across different devices. Where you would have options to enable items or disable items to get the right user experience for each device. Windows 8 is not a multiple-purpose operating system it is a touch based operating system being forced upon non touch based systems not making it multiple-purpose but instead making it awkward for use on non touch based devices. It honestly would not have been hard for ms to include options for people that want the start menu having it disabled by default and the ability to be enabled with an option since the coding for it was still all in the os to begin with. Same goes for those that like the aero glass look in windows 7 it's just a simple registry tweak to add that option to your right click menu to turn on or off and again since dwm is still there in the os and being used on default start up for the taskbar it would have been simple to include an option to have it disabled by default and the ability to be enabled if the user chose to use it. The issue is that how MS operates now is that everyone should have their computers look the same way and operate the same way even if they were designed not to do so. The world is so diverse and with people so different in what they like and don't like or how they use things or don't use things for all the different types of work that people do on computers there is really no 2 people that will do things the exact same so to try and force that on the consumer to have everything look the same and be used the same is quite silly. Which is pretty well what Gates was saying himself. So if you want a multiple-purpose operating system then make it a multiple-purpose operating system not a operating system designed for one type of device and forced on all devices whether it was designed for them or not.
Well, my config is a Phenom II X4 with a Radeon 6850, so it's not ancient or anything, quite powerful, just not cutting-edge. This is the config where what I wrote applies. I actually have a mania of trying any OS I can get my hands on and run tests on it to compare performance and other stuff. W8 is not faster for me whatsoever. I think what most people experience is a placebo effect. They need to justfy their choice, especially now that there's so much hatred against W8. What is definitely faster than W7/W8 is linux, except for a few things. AMD opengl drivers, flash performance (damn Adobe...) etc.
8.1 uses more memory than 8 (much more, due that so called "apps") and is slower than 8, which is slower than 7. At this point, Windows ME is faster than 8.1...
Of course that's true when Windows 8 handles memory differently as a whole than prior releases such as Windows 7, Vista, XP, etc. Windows 8 puts programs into suspension however it does not actually kill the programs. This means the so called modernUI (the naming is such a joke they should have called it lets make a Phone UI and put it on a desktop) uses up a good amount of RAM by trying to make it appear that Metro is multitasking. In other words Microsoft is attempting to dumb down windows for the sake of touch centric users by taking away true multitasking and replacing it with suspension into the RAM.
Windows 8.1 is much faster than 8.0 on my x64 system. On a family member's x86 system it seems exactly the same.
and DOS is much faster than any one of the later MS OS. your comparison missed a point: you have to also look at the functions/features of the OS then talk about the speed of the OS. in other words, a comparison is meaningful only if the two or more OS involved can provide similar and close enough functions and features. e.g., there is no point comparing windows ME to windows 7/8 because windows ME provided much fewer/less features. DOS is the fastest I am sure, but who are still using it these days?