Windows 8 Consumer Preview [Archive]

PathMaster

03-01-2012, 10:40 AM

I am getting a hang of it I think. They definitely changed things around, but some of the improvements are worthwhile.

Want to change my current window, mouse to the upper left corner. Most recent window/tab appears. If I want something else I just start moving down the side, and they appear.

Metro/Start is always in the bottom left. Charms bar is always on the right. Volume change looks terrific and is seamless on this laptop.

Performance wise, this is a Centrino Duo, 1.8 Ghz, 2 GB of Ram and it is flying. Used about 10GB on a spare HDD I had lying around.

Only real complaints, won' let me go beyond 1152 res. My default on this lap is 1440 wide. And the UI is sensitive when it comes to the UI. Small movements are all that is required. When changed windows, just get the mouse in the corner and wait for the little windows to pop up and click. No need to actually move the mouse and click the window like I would assume you would do.

MagGnome

03-01-2012, 10:54 AM

Do I dare ask what the "Charms bar" is?

Dualshotty23

03-01-2012, 11:01 AM

I tried the dev previews and couldnt stand it, no interest in trying consumer preview.

PathMaster

03-01-2012, 11:04 AM

muddi900

03-01-2012, 11:05 AM

The dev preview reminded of Final Cut X; they took a product that was useful many users in multiple capacities and made useless to most of them.

boratika

03-01-2012, 11:16 AM

So, I guess programs are now called apps. I don't love this. But I suspect this is in no small part due to Apple's trying to trademark "appstore" and Microsoft (among others) taking exception to this. And this is part of their showing how it is a generic term.

Only real complaints, won' let me go beyond 1152 res. My default on this lap is 1440 wide. And the UI is sensitive when it comes to the UI. Small movements are all that is required. When changed windows, just get the mouse in the corner and wait for the little windows to pop up and click. No need to actually move the mouse and click the window like I would assume you would do.

Resolution seems to be quite the sticking point (at present). You can't access the store if you are using a lowly 720p display (or less).

PathMaster

03-01-2012, 11:24 AM

I can't see to find a way around my display driver issue. ATI/AMD apparently do not have ANY drivers for vista/Windows 7 for my card. Which is odd, since this laptop is Vista compatible!

MagGnome

03-01-2012, 11:49 AM

Charms bar is I think going to be mostly geared towards Tablet and maybe phones. Moving the mouse to the far right side and corners produces a small sidebar with Search, Share, Start, Devices, and Settings. That movement also produces the time and date along with some taskbar icons towards the left bottom corner in a large easy to read font.

Thanks for responding. I get what it is now, but "Charms bar"? Really Microsoft?

So, I guess programs are now called apps. I don't love this. But I suspect this is in no small part due to Apple's trying to trademark "appstore" and Microsoft (among others) taking exception to this. And this is part of their showing how it is a generic term.

Ugh.

This is sounding worse than Vista. I haven't heard one positive change yet for regular Windows users. I get that they are chasing the tablet market, but pushing the same OS to desktops and laptops as well is a terrible idea. I've heard that Apple is headed in the same direction with Pussy Cat or whatever the next OSX version is called.

PathMaster

03-01-2012, 11:51 AM

There, fixed my driver issue. I actually had to grab the Dell Vista driver. Worked like a charm though.

muddi900

03-01-2012, 12:45 PM

Aren't you the guy who said, 'There would be a definite way to switch over.'?

Apparently the consumer market is more important to Microsoft than previously expected.

MagGnome

03-01-2012, 12:52 PM

Change is bad.

Yeah, that's exactly what I said. Good job.

Doogie2K

03-01-2012, 04:39 PM

So you're saying I should stick with Windows 7 for another five years and see how Windows 9 turns out? Gotcha.

Bad Buddha

03-01-2012, 04:47 PM

When I was at my interview yesterday (Was that just yesterday?!?) one of the sys admins said that a couple of the IT folks had downloaded it and were messing around with it.

Seeing as it appears to be leaning heavily on the Metro construct, it is probably trying to entice the tablet market. I don't think that is a good thing for a mainstream PC OS.

PathMaster

03-01-2012, 06:53 PM

I understand this criticism, but all the Metro UI is a glorified Most recent/used App list. That is all. You can still access the rest of the list from the UI and even sort them. It 'is' different and a big departure, but it is not as bad as some are painting it.

MagGnome

03-01-2012, 07:54 PM

There you go.

PathMaster

03-01-2012, 08:03 PM

How succinct of you both.

Ars (http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2012/02/getting-started-with-the-windows-8-consumer-preview.ars)has an article up some of the new UI features.

Another neat feature, that on the face will turn some off, is the ribbon UI from Office is now in Explorer. You may groan, but it makes changing settings like folder options a breeze. You can change files metadata right in the folder now as well. Can defrag as well as cleanup from any folder.

PathMaster

03-06-2012, 10:09 AM

For those who have tried the Preview, any comments?

And for those still wanting their Start Menu (http://www.howtogeek.com/107711/how-to-get-the-classic-start-menu-back-in-windows-8/), here is how to get it back.

Grifter

03-06-2012, 10:41 AM

fitbabits

03-06-2012, 11:23 AM

I'll be throwing together my HTPC today and was thinking about putting this on there. For those that have actually used it, physically, on their machines (watching a youtube video and reading an article does not count) what do think of it from a media playback/control center perspective?
I played with the developer preview for a while and it handled everything I threw at it - media included.

PathMaster

03-06-2012, 01:13 PM

Seems to run excellent, but just aware that you may run into driver issues. Other than that, I found very few issues.

Mike Kelehan

03-06-2012, 01:21 PM

I'll be throwing together my HTPC today and was thinking about putting this on there. For those that have actually used it, physically, on their machines (watching a youtube video and reading an article does not count) what do think of it from a media playback/control center perspective?

I can tell you that it makes it REALLY easy to see DLNA servers. You just pull up the charms bar, click Devices, and there they are.

Grifter

03-06-2012, 01:31 PM

If I can get K-Lite, Power DVD 10 and Total Media Theater 5 installed and running I think I'll give it a go. If not I'll just reinstall 7.

Mike Kelehan

03-06-2012, 02:30 PM

If I can get K-Lite, Power DVD 10 and Total Media Theater 5 installed and running I think I'll give it a go. If not I'll just reinstall 7.

I used Disk Management in Windows 7 to shrink my C drive, made a new 21GB partition, and threw 8 on there. It's pretty easy. One word of warning, though: there's no progress bar on partition shrinking. Or even any indication that it's doing anything. Just wait it out, and check back when your HDD light turns off.

roboninja

03-06-2012, 03:29 PM

I'm just going to wait for final reviews after release, but I expect I'll be sticking with 7 for a while.

Grifter

03-06-2012, 07:29 PM

I used Disk Management in Windows 7 to shrink my C drive, made a new 21GB partition, and threw 8 on there. It's pretty easy. One word of warning, though: there's no progress bar on partition shrinking. Or even any indication that it's doing anything. Just wait it out, and check back when your HDD light turns off.

I have an ssd I'll be using and the only software on it will be stuff for media playback so I can probably format and reinstall Win 7 just as fast as I could partition the drive. Besides, there is not enough room for 2 OS's to fit comfortably on the it.

Mike Kelehan

03-07-2012, 08:00 AM

I have an ssd I'll be using and the only software on it will be stuff for media playback so I can probably format and reinstall Win 7 just as fast as I could partition the drive. Besides, there is not enough room for 2 OS's to fit comfortably on the it.

Yeah, for an HTPC, that definitely makes sense. I wasn't ready to completely change over my main PC (and I'm still not sold on 8), but a reformat and reinstall on an HTPC is much less of a big deal.

Cactaur

03-07-2012, 08:19 AM

A bit disappointed the Metro UI is just another layer on top of win7. Although boot times seem slightly faster on my netbook than win7 starter.

And since it doesn't support 1024x600 they should have an option to turn off metro completely.

PathMaster

03-07-2012, 08:55 AM

Doesn't support or the driver for your gfx does not support? That was my issue. I needed to get the proper driver. Win8 installed a basic one for me at first.

Mike Kelehan

03-07-2012, 09:02 AM

Doesn't support or the driver for your gfx does not support? That was my issue. I needed to get the proper driver. Win8 installed a basic one for me at first.

The OS itself supports it. Metro apps don't support lower resolutions, and unfortunately, most of the Windows apps are Metro now. So, you can switch to the desktop just fine... but I hope you don't want to use the Start menu!

The thing about this is, when tablets first started to hit in 2002 or 2003, Windows was very much a mouse-and-keyboard operation, hastily retrofitted to work with touch. With Windows 8, MS is finally starting to think about having it run on tablets as easily as iOS or Android, but they're going too far the other way, IMO. Sometimes, you need two interfaces, one for touch and one for keyboard and mouse. Everything Metro is VERY clearly designed JUST for touch, and you can navigate it with a mouse, I guess.

PathMaster

03-07-2012, 10:49 AM

Ah, misread on my part.

Xerxes

04-24-2012, 08:20 PM

I saw this on someones computer yesterday and I just got mad for no reason. It's just wrong. Not for tablets, but I think even if you had one of those HP desktop touchscreens it would be wrong. I asked the guy did he see an option in setup about not having a touch screen so it could not include all this shit, and he said he didn't see anything like that.

Windows Tablet 8 for ARM - Tablets
Windows 8 Home and Pro for x86/x64 - Normal OS by default

3 versions that make more sense than what they are trying to push out there.

PathMaster

04-25-2012, 08:12 AM

The only difference from what you have there is the addition of an Enterprise edition, for which you need Software Assurance.

Windows 8
Windows 8 Pro
Windows 8 Enterprise
Windows 8 RT (ARM)

Xerxes

04-25-2012, 08:50 AM

The only difference from what you have there is the addition of an Enterprise edition, for which you need Software Assurance.

Windows 8
Windows 8 Pro
Windows 8 Enterprise
Windows 8 RT (ARM)

Yeah but I mean rip that tablet GUI from the first three.:o

PathMaster

04-25-2012, 08:59 AM

Well we have yet to see if they will force Metro on Enterprise.

Personally I have no real issue with Metro, and for the users I support, it will make the interaction with their PC easier, after the initial hump of change. Of course, by the time my work changes over from their current crop of Win2k! machines running WinXP, Windows 9 will most likely be out.. :confused:

AntonThaGreat

04-25-2012, 03:32 PM

I've been using Windows 8 since the release candidate came out a few months ago, and I pretty much use it like I used W7, basically at best completely ignoring the new Metro interface and at worst being annoyed by it at times as its wholly under developed. It's great in theory, but as with Vista, it won't be right until Windows 9.

After the W8 RC expires I'm going back to W7, because honestly the Metro UI is just detracting from my user experience and adding absolutely nothing of value.

Satertek

05-04-2012, 09:11 PM

I still don't know why Metro would even be an option on desktop PCs. It simply doesn't work.

I've had the consumer preview on one of my (non-touchscreen) netbooks for months. I've tried to get used to it, you can't, it's just plain inefficient being forced to emulate finger swipes with a mouse. Even moreso when you have a touchpad emulating a mouse emulating a finger.

I have it on a tablet netbook as well and love it, it just wasn't designed for a desktop and I can't understand why it even exists for the desktop version.

AntonThaGreat

05-10-2012, 12:02 AM

That does it, Windows 8 Metro UI has forced me to install the latest version of Ubuntu. It's still wholly unpolished, by Windows 7 standards, but boy is it freakin' fast.

I have been installing and playing with Linux about once a year for the past decade, and it's getting there... but it seems like it's been getting there for a long long time.

I hope that with Steam coming to Linux, there will be a huge influx of people switching from Windows. Especially with the upcoming release of Windows 8, which will be received even worse than ME or Vista was by the public, because it's just freaking confusing. User experience and usability has gone right out the window. It might be nice on an iPad style tablet, but besides that, it's freaking useless and they just shoehorned it right in there.

I also hope that the new influx of users finally kicks Adobe in the ass and they port their Creative Suite to Linux finally. Adobe's Flash support has gotten much better, and with Chromium, you no longer have to fiddle with the annoying configuration of it. They have a beautiful version on Mac OS X, so they shouldn't have great difficulty porting that over to Linux, as their both unix based.
Also, supposedly there's a huge development on the graphic driver side of things, so that should help a lot on all fronts.

Give me Photoshop CS5 and Steam with a few games on Linux, and i'm through with Windows. If only the Wine version of Photoshop worked at least half as well as it does on Windows, i'd go for days without logging in.

I hope that when I get back from the Navy in 4 years (I'm leaving for training at the end of the year) Ubuntu would have made great strides in all regards, as it will be the first O.S. i'll be installing on the first PC I put together when I'm finished.

muddi900

05-10-2012, 03:16 AM

Drivers. The open source drivers for both AMD and Nvidia cards are balls!

AntonThaGreat

05-10-2012, 05:44 AM

Drivers. The open source drivers for both AMD and Nvidia cards are balls!

I mentioned in my post:

Also, supposedly there's a huge development on the graphic driver side of things, so that should help a lot on all fronts.

Some exciting things going on! I think within a year we will see Linux Desktop reaching it's theoretical potential! I'm pretty sure Valve is pressuring NVIDIA/AMD into working on better Linux drivers. :D

fitbabits

05-10-2012, 05:59 AM

Drivers. The open source drivers for both AMD and Nvidia cards are balls!
Consumer Preview - with the emphasis on preview!

AntonThaGreat

05-10-2012, 07:17 AM

Consumer Preview - with the emphasis on preview!

Windows 7 drivers work just fine on Win8 here. Although I use AMD's Win8 rives and I'm able to play all games except one... Crusader Kings II doesn't load the main menu for some reason or another.

muddi900

05-11-2012, 11:49 AM

Consumer Preview - with the emphasis on preview!

I was talking about the linux drivers. Open-source drivers for the open-source ghetto.

AntonThaGreat

05-20-2012, 01:51 AM

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

Microsoft reveals Windows 8 desktop UI changes, drops Aero Glass

http://i.imgur.com/MpHPq.png (http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/18/3029547/microsoft-windows-8-drops-aero-glass)

Awhh GAWD why! They're destroying everything that made Windows 7 a good O.S.! Now everything's going to be freakin' monotone and Metro-ized. Bleghhhk!

Xerxes

05-20-2012, 01:57 AM

That doesn't look that bad to me. I'd theme it black of coarse but still.

J Arcane

05-20-2012, 02:41 AM

Awhh GAWD why!

For the same reason Windows 7 Starter runs without Aero.

It's all about low-end devices. IOW, Tablets.

muddi900

05-24-2012, 03:29 AM

http://i.imgur.com/N7xvL.jpg

EDIT:
Also, Krispy, weren't you also quite sure Metro would be removable?

PathMaster

05-24-2012, 11:31 AM

AOL in 1996 was HUGE. So I guess win8 will do well too.

Suave Peanut

05-25-2012, 04:09 PM

Metro is what happens when you press the Windows key, instead of there being a Start menu.

muddi900

05-25-2012, 11:26 PM

They have also confirmed that Aero is truly dead. I am on a tablet, so I will link when I get to a real computer. It is quite clear, MS, like Apple, is not interested in the home desktop consumer.

MagGnome

05-25-2012, 11:39 PM

MS is stupid, as usual. Chasing a market that they are never going to control.

AntonThaGreat

05-28-2012, 02:53 PM

MS is stupid, as usual. Chasing a market that they are never going to control.

I completely agree. I think they should have made Windows Phone OS for Tablets, bought a freakin' tablet manufacturer and went with that. They could have enabled support for Windows Applications in powerful enough tables and that would have been amazing. They should have done this 5 years ago.

Instead, they are destroying their last stronghold with this shit. They needed to concentrate on what made Windows 7 so freakin' good, and honestly I like some of the changes they've made in Windows 8. Everything has it's place, and tablet features do not belong on a desktop OS. I do not need giant gaudy icons on my high resolution screen for example. This example just illustrates on Microsoft's current completely wrong focus.

I'm currently typing this from Ubuntu 12.04 running Gnome 3 desktop and it's just great. I have it configured to function sort of as a mix between the good features of Windows 7 and OSX. I'm a complete amateur Linux noob, my expertise goes only as far as copy and pasting commands into terminal and hoping it works. Everything works this time right off the bat and they've even fixed the bugs that I was encountering last year in Ubuntu 11. Sadly, I now have to go design some stuff, so back to Windows 8 I go.

muddi900

05-28-2012, 03:07 PM

They can't legally enable most x86 applications for ARM CPUs.

AntonThaGreat

05-28-2012, 04:21 PM

They can't legally enable most x86 applications for ARM CPUs.

Really? Can you please elaborate on that?

roboninja

05-28-2012, 04:28 PM

Everything I hear about this release makes it sound worse and worse. A tablet OS for a desktop? In what world is that a good idea?

Farsight

05-28-2012, 04:53 PM

Doesn't everyone know you skip the even Windows releases anyway?

95 -> 2k -> XP -> 7

That's a solid line of OS's.

98 -> ME -> Vista

Not so much.

With that history, Win8 would have to do my job for me before I'd even consider it. :)

MagGnome

05-28-2012, 07:02 PM

I don't recall 98 being bad at all. What was wrong with it?

J Arcane

05-28-2012, 07:17 PM

98 at launch was a mess. It's 98 SE that was the good version. Of course, 95 was a piece of shit too, so he's still wrong about at least one thing. ;)

PathMaster

05-28-2012, 07:17 PM

MagGnome

05-28-2012, 07:28 PM

98 at launch was a mess. It's 98 SE that was the good version. Of course, 95 was a piece of shit too, so he's still wrong about at least one thing. ;)

Ah, I only had SE, IIRC.

AntonThaGreat

05-28-2012, 09:22 PM

Win98 was great, Win98 SE was even better, Win ME fell flat

I don't really see any issue with Win8 personally. I am holding any more comments until the next pre-release, which if I recall correctly is the last major public release before the release. It should be far more feature rich and should also be far closer to the final builds.

I want to believe that they'll iron out some of the issues... but my biggest gripe with it doesn't seem like it will be fixed. The OS is becoming tablet/mobile oriented, and that's just something we have to accept or move on.

With 1080p resolution on a 5" screen (LG just did a press release) and ARM support... it's possible we'll be having Windows 8 ARM phones in the future. :eek:

Ubuntu released a version of their OS that integrates with Android for powerful phones. Take your computer with you and when you get home, use your bluetooth KB/Mouse and mini-HDMI and you've got a full blown computer at home. That's one future that I can embrace. I mean we've already got Quad Core processors on chips and NVidia chipsets on handhelds... I wonder if this will be the future of computing in the near future.

J Arcane

05-28-2012, 09:25 PM

Ubuntu released a version of their OS that integrates with Android for powerful phones. Take your computer with you and when you get home, use your bluetooth KB/Mouse and mini-HDMI and you've got a full blown computer at home. That's one future that I can embrace.

As a gamer, fuck that. More black box hardware, and tied to fucking cell phone contracts to boot? No goddamn thank you.

muddi900

05-28-2012, 11:18 PM

How many of you bought any software for Windows outside of games? Can we really blame Microsoft for this?

Really? Can you please elaborate on that?

It has a lot to do with instruction sets and intellectual property law. Basically, Intel will never license their IP for the sake of their competitors.

PathMaster

05-29-2012, 07:54 AM

I want to believe that they'll iron out some of the issues... but my biggest gripe with it doesn't seem like it will be fixed. The OS is becoming tablet/mobile oriented, and that's just something we have to accept or move on.

The only issue I had was the image covering up the logoff, that seemed to be the only thing that really stood out for me. The corner points I did not mind, as I quickly got accustomed to it. Metro in and of itself does not bother me at all, but I view it as the glorified start menu that it is, not some bastardization of a mobile OS. I see and understand the issues people have with it, but for me, most of the issues do not exist, or I overcame them with relative ease for them not to be an issue.

AntonThaGreat

05-30-2012, 11:31 PM

It has a lot to do with instruction sets and intellectual property law. Basically, Intel will never license their IP for the sake of their competitors.

I still don't understand. Does AMD license stuff from intel so that they are able to create x86 CPU's? What exactly prevents x86 and x64 apps from running on ARM and requires a license from intel. And, isn't AMD competition to intel in their own home market? I'm very confused.

The only issue I had was the image covering up the logoff, that seemed to be the only thing that really stood out for me. The corner points I did not mind, as I quickly got accustomed to it. Metro in and of itself does not bother me at all, but I view it as the glorified start menu that it is, not some bastardization of a mobile OS. I see and understand the issues people have with it, but for me, most of the issues do not exist, or I overcame them with relative ease for them not to be an issue.

It is a glorified start menu, but my problem with it is that they're basically splitting the OS in half. When they have more apps for metro, half of your apps will run in metro and the other half will run in windows 7 mode. There's even a separate task bar for metro apps. Open a few metro apps and then open a few desktop apps. Take your mouse to the top-left corner and drag down. You'll get a separate menu.

This is pretty much what I mean with their lack of focus. They need to unify both of these things in an intuitive manner and I don't believe that's going to come until Windows 9.

muddi900

05-31-2012, 02:24 AM

AntonThaGreat

05-31-2012, 03:08 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instruction_set

They can make tablets based on x86, but can't simulate it for ARM processors.

I skimmed through that article and I still don't understand, if possible please provide a more clear example. Intel is mentioned once in that article and nothing that says that they own the rights to that instruction set. It even talks about how Intel and AMD chips share the same instruction set under a radically different architecture. Isn't ARM a radically different architecture? Why can't they emulate the x86 instruction set?

muddi900

05-31-2012, 04:59 AM

They have the same Instruction Set Architechture(ISA). It says radically different designs. Microprocessors and microcontrollers are designed to support a specific ISA. Technical limitations and application requirements(like battery life) dictate that they can't design one that supports both x86 ISA and the ARM ISA. They would require an emulator layer, which creates some legal issues that I do not know about. But Intel can, and has blocked it. Cell phone interwebs, but will provide link when I get home.

PathMaster

05-31-2012, 08:30 AM

I still don't understand. Does AMD license stuff from intel so that they are able to create x86 CPU's? What exactly prevents x86 and x64 apps from running on ARM and requires a license from intel. And, isn't AMD competition to intel in their own home market? I'm very confused.

It is a glorified start menu, but my problem with it is that they're basically splitting the OS in half. When they have more apps for metro, half of your apps will run in metro and the other half will run in windows 7 mode. There's even a separate task bar for metro apps. Open a few metro apps and then open a few desktop apps. Take your mouse to the top-left corner and drag down. You'll get a separate menu.

This is pretty much what I mean with their lack of focus. They need to unify both of these things in an intuitive manner and I don't believe that's going to come until Windows 9.
Ahh, I get your point. I think I see how they may become an issue.

I will be curious to see how my staff will handle this. Personally I think it will narrow their focus and allow them to see some things easier. Of course I may be giving them too much credit.

AntonThaGreat

05-31-2012, 10:17 PM

Windows 8 Release Preview is out (http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/31/3053284/microsoft-windows-8-release-preview). Installing it now.

If you want to try it out, download the installer here:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/release-preview

Apparently, you can upgrade from Windows 8 Consumer Preview and you can definitely upgrade from Windows 7. EDIT: No upgrade path available for CP to RP. You will lose all your settings. Fack. I'm going to do it anyway, because I want to see if they really did anything to improve the experience. Thankfully Google Chrome saves all my settings, extensions and bookmarks, at least, and I already relocate my user folders to D drive anyway.

There's an ISO out as well:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/iso?ocid=W_OFF_W8P_TechCenter_ISO_en-us

resikel

05-31-2012, 10:46 PM

VMWare + Windows 8 Release Preview if you want to tinker for tinkering sake. Just sayin'.

AntonThaGreat

05-31-2012, 11:21 PM

Welp, I've upgraded. They've changed the windows aero theme to match Metro a little bit more. Going to try out the updated and new Metro apps a little later.

It took my whole C drive and put everything in Windows.old (program files, users, windows), so everything is still there if the user forgot to grab something by chance.

VMWare + Windows 8 Release Preview if you want to tinker for tinkering sake. Just sayin'.

I like to live on the edge, plus I have my filestructure setup in such a way that it makes it makes my windows installation expendable. Most of my stuff is stored on a secondary harddrive and all I have to do after installation is link up my directories and then change a few minor settings. 30 minutes worth of work at worst, including installing graphics drivers and some software.

muddi900

06-01-2012, 01:18 AM

I like to live on the edge,

http://i.imgur.com/r3jqC.jpg

The elders of the Internet demanded it!

PathMaster

06-01-2012, 09:23 AM

Clean install for me. Will make the attempt next week.

fitbabits

06-01-2012, 09:38 AM

Clean install for me and it's working very well. Still not sure about the Metro (I hate that name) layout, but it's zippy.

PathMaster

06-01-2012, 09:39 AM

The Consumer build was fast for me on a 6 year old laptop.

AntonThaGreat

06-02-2012, 06:40 AM

Well that was a waste of time. Max Payne 3 doesn't work on Windows 8. That's what living on the edge gets me. I don't even want to bother installing Windows 7 just to play MP3. *sigh* At least right now I don't. Maybe a little. Maybe later. Just the tip. Just to see how it would feel.

Shieldmaiden

06-02-2012, 07:40 AM

I'm tempted to give this a shot. I've never tried any of the Windows pre-release versions before.

AntonThaGreat

06-02-2012, 10:40 AM

Dooo eeeettt. Release Preview seems a mit more solid and refined than Consumer Preview. Plus it expires January, so you don't have to worry about anything for a while.

Max Payne 3 not working in Win8 has been the only time something hasn't actually worked anyway, and that's Rockstars fault (LA Noire doesn't work either). Everything else is solid. You'll get to experience the next direction Microsoft is taking Windows in for yourself and see what all the hubub is all about.

It's really easy as well, just download the installer, launch it and it will automagically upgrade your system to Win8.

Suave Peanut

06-02-2012, 10:42 AM

There's also a link to download the full ISO if you just want to test without losing your current Windows.

Shieldmaiden

06-02-2012, 11:27 AM

Well, I did it and my computer hasn't blown up.

AntonThaGreat

06-02-2012, 11:15 PM

Well, I did it and my computer hasn't blown up.

Congrats, let us know what you think.

fitbabits

07-03-2012, 11:20 AM

Windows 8 will cost you $40. (http://money.cnn.com/2012/07/03/technology/windows-8-upgrade/index.htm?source=cnn_bin)

Dukefrukem

07-03-2012, 11:22 AM

Yeh that's a good deal. I am skeptical on the driver compatibility though when upgrading from XP and Vista.

fitbabits

07-03-2012, 11:24 AM

Yeh that's a good deal. I am skeptical on the driver compatibility though when upgrading from XP and Vista.
Vista should be more or less okay, but going from XP to 8 via in-place upgrade is going to result in SO MANY called to Microsoft Premium Support. Hey, maybe that's the plan to recoup the losses?!

PathMaster

07-03-2012, 11:56 AM

The only issue I have on my XP laptop I tried with Win8 was the graphics driver, everything else was fine. The fix? Use the Vista version of the driver instead of XP's.

fitbabits

07-03-2012, 12:02 PM

The only issue I have on my XP laptop I tried with Win8 was the graphics driver, everything else was fine. The fix? Use the Vista version of the driver instead of XP's.
Nifty.

Now, if only Microsoft would include a more non-tablet option for the OS (an option to display a proper Start button and desktop, for example...). I like the idea of Metro for tablets, but absolutely not for everyday work on a desktop or laptop.

MagGnome

07-03-2012, 12:15 PM

Is there no way to boot straight onto the regular desktop? I might upgrade for $40, but I don't want to see Metro every day.

I think we've covered this before, but I can't recall.

J Arcane

07-03-2012, 12:20 PM

The only reason I'm willing to put up with 8 is for Windows RT. I like the idea of keeping the ARM chip while having an Office capable OS to use on it, instead of Android.

It just depends on how locked down regular desktop mode is. If they allow people to make non-Metro apps for RT, I'm in. If not I may as well just buy a regular laptop and stick to Windows 7.

MachEnergy

07-03-2012, 01:13 PM

Is there no way to boot straight onto the regular desktop? I might upgrade for $40, but I don't want to see Metro every day.

I think we've covered this before, but I can't recall.

http://www.howtogeek.com/108349/how-to-boot-to-the-desktop-skip-metro-in-windows-8/

There you go. But the more you try to avoid it, the less you'll get accustomed to it. You might be surprised at how you feel if you just give it some time.

I hated the WinXP start menu and would ALWAYS set it to the classic style for a good couple of years, but eventually I gave up trying to force Windows to stay old. Now, when I go back to Win98, I can't fucking believe I fought for that instead of accepting XP's new way. Just food for thought.

I use Win8 every single day, and I love it. I rarely see the Metro screen, because I don't reboot all that often, and I have all my frequent apps pinned to the task bar just like in Win7. It's a rare occurrence that I even need to see the Metro UI.

Panthera

07-03-2012, 01:25 PM

Is there no way to boot straight onto the regular desktop? I might upgrade for $40, but I don't want to see Metro every day.

I think we've covered this before, but I can't recall.

Metro's just a better start menu. It doesn't really affect your desktop experience that much.

MagGnome

07-03-2012, 01:51 PM

Thanks for the feedback. Of course I could end up loving Metro. I haven't used it, so I can't say for sure. I think it looks cool, but it also looks like it wouldn't work all that well for a mouse. Perhaps that won't be the case. Either way, $40 for an upgrade is very tempting.

I have a couple of questions. Again, these may have been covered in a previous thread, so I apologize in advance if that is the case.

1)The $40 upgrade is download only. How will this work if I want to do a clean install down the road? I assume that I will need to back up the download, and then when I want to do a fresh install I will need to install Windows 7 and then the 8 upgrade? Or does MS attach that upgrade to an account so that I can re-download it? I haven't bought anything digitally from MS outside of the Xbox, so I'm not sure what their setup is like.

2)What are the major improvements/differences in Windows 8 over 7? The Metro interface is an obvious one, and I know that they've changed the file copying interface as well. Any other big changes that would push me to upgrade?

Edit - I know I can download the preview version, but I'd rather not mess with that.

fitbabits

07-03-2012, 02:07 PM

Shieldmaiden

07-03-2012, 02:11 PM

For that price, I'm definitely upgrading. Going from Vista to 8, the difference in start up speed has been incredibly noticeable. Getting around the lack of start menu has been pretty much like Mach described his 98-XP change. It feels bloody weird, but I've been finding better ways of doing stuff I used to use the start menu for.

MachEnergy

07-03-2012, 02:18 PM

New stuff I like:
more robust file copy interface (no more failing an entire copy job because of one bad file near the beginning)
super detailed and useful Task Manager
really fast bootup and general operation
pretty
works so much better with my touch monitors than 7 does
better multimonitor support (displaying taskbar icons ONLY in the window in which they are open *LOVE THIS*)
more integration with microsoft platforms (eg. xbox 360 stuff)

MagGnome

07-03-2012, 02:48 PM

Thanks for the response, Mach. Touch support and multi-monitor support don't do anything for me on my current setup, and hopefully the Xbox Live stuff isn't intrusive and is easy to disable, but other than that the changes sound great. Faster booting, for example, would be very nice. I was skeptical of Windows 8 until quite recently, but it sounds like a good upgrade over 7.

Edit - Speaking of touch support, any recommendations on good touchscreen monitors? I don't think I'll be buying one anytime soon, but I'd be interested in seeing how much they cost.

MachEnergy

07-03-2012, 03:09 PM

Edit - Speaking of touch support, any recommendations on good touchscreen monitors? I don't think I'll be buying one anytime soon, but I'd be interested in seeing how much they cost.

I got this (http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-1819) when it was on sale for $229 and really like it. It has built in speakers, takes an HDMI cable, and has a kickstand. Great as a desk monitor, and easy to carry for portable Xbox goodness.

My first multitouch was this (http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/B002TLTEAA?tag=adapas02-20), which I loved at first, but then the USB port broke and Acer wouldn't fix it under warranty. So now it can't be touched. It's like we've been married for 30 years. I paid $380 for that back in '09 and now regret my purchase.

MagGnome

07-03-2012, 03:27 PM

That Dell monitor is nice. If I had an extra $330 to spend (ha!) I'd consider grabbing something like that for Windows 8.

Slack3r78

07-03-2012, 05:12 PM

Metro's just a better start menu. It doesn't really affect your desktop experience that much.

Except the part where Metro is an inconsistent piece of shit. I'm the guy who genuinely liked OS X, GNOME 2, Unity, and even Vista from the outset. I like the improvements to Explorer in W8, but after a couple of weeks daily use at work, the rest of it is fucking awful.

EDIT:

I'm also absolutely dreading having to support this for end users. The entire UI has shifted to a more contextual interface, which is poison when you're dealing with people that just want to get things done and don't care about computers. Discoverability in W8 is a complete fucking joke.Things are contextualized and nested to an absurd degree.

Slack3r78

07-03-2012, 05:25 PM

Just an example:

Press WIN on the keyboard.

Now type "Printer." Notice that the search field doesn't appear until after you begin typing.

Your result will be "No apps match your search." Now you have to explicitly tell it you're looking for something in Settings.

Now, let's say there was a typo and you want to clear the field. You can hit escape, and it'll do so. But say you accidentally tap escape twice instead of once. This both clears the search field and hides the sidebar. You're left with a blue screen with the text "Settings" at the top, and no obvious way to get out of it. If you throw your mouse cursor at the right edge of the screen where the sidebar was, nothing happens. If you happen to catch the bottom right corner, you'll get the search/start/settings/etc menu, but not the sidebar that had been in that screen space.

And this isn't even touching on the random intermingling of Metro settings panels and traditional control panel UIs.

This thing is just a complete disaster from my use so far.

AntonThaGreat

07-03-2012, 07:50 PM

Disaster is damn right.

I've now completely migrated to Ubuntu and I'm staying here maybe until Service Pack 1 comes out, maybe even until Win9.

I learned how to setup Win7 on a Virtual machine, so my Adobe Master Suite needs are fulfilled there and I've been getting pretty decent with Wine. Played and beat The Walking Dead on it just yesterday, worked flawlessly.

As Slack3r78 mentioned, there's a lot of usability issues that they need to iron out with Win8. What I'm really enjoying about Linux so far is that if I don't like the way something functions, I can usually change it relatively effortlessly, not so with Windows.

civil_dead

07-04-2012, 04:52 AM

I learned how to setup Win7 on a Virtual machine, so my Adobe Master Suite needs are fulfilled there and I've been getting pretty decent with Wine.
I'm curious, did you try Adobe programs with Metro? Which version?

I use a Mac for my main workstation but my portable solution is still a W7 laptop and probably will be for another year or so. I'm running Adobe V6 on both machines at the moment and would like to upgrade to Metro but only if it plays nice with Adobe V6 stuff. I haven't checked anywhere to see if it's been okay in the previews but saw your post and thought I'd ask.

- - -
Sent from a phone so please forgive any grammatical, spelling or factual errors.

muddi900

07-04-2012, 05:34 AM

All old apps work in desktop mode, metro just comes into play if you press the win button.

Slack3r78

07-04-2012, 10:32 AM

All old apps work in desktop mode, metro just comes into play if you press the win button.

Or eventually as apps are rewritten to target Metro. I seriously doubt that's going to happen with the Adobe Creative Suite any time soon, though.

AntonThaGreat

07-05-2012, 06:03 PM

Adobe CS6 works just fine with Windows 8, civil. Try out Win8 Release Preview in a virtual machine before you upgrade though. It's free, and will only take an hour of your time.

J Arcane

07-05-2012, 07:04 PM

I just want real specs and battery tests for the Transformer Book.

Narradisall

07-25-2012, 05:53 AM

I could have sworn I recall reading on this site how everyone was raving over Win 8.

I'm not buying a new PC yet, so I've not bothered checking into it, but someoen was showing me the beta on their laptop today and it looked a bit, screwy, and they've said it's a nightmare to navigate.

I guess MS are going with their, good followed by bad, followed by good approach to OS's.