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Windows 8 for the PC
Teala
Member RarePosts: 7,627
Windows 8 for the PC - anyone try the preview MS is offering - thoughts?
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I've used it since the dev preview a few months back, there are a few changes now but it's still..to be blunt..a mess.
It feels disjointed, there's two completely different types of UI and programs (apps), combined into one OS. While it's possible to switch out of the Metro interface into the desktop interface, a lot of settings are only available in the metro interface and you sort of have to wade through the metro interface before you even arrive on the desktop.
Then there's the issue of multitasking, the ability to multitask in metro is non-existent, all those applications run in full-screen and there is no way to resize them, at best you can alt tab between applications, it's more "switching" than "multitasking".
I don't have a tablet and don't intend to buy one, I assume the experience is a lot better on a touch device, I'm talking strictly about my desktop experience.
Many people will argue that you can still do everything you could before in W7, and while that's completely untrue, it is possible to do a lot of things you could do in W7 by using the charm UI and by using a lot of key combinations, but it's far less intuitive than W7. My question is, if W8 offers an inferior experience to W7 when you're on a desktop, what's my incentive to upgrade? The frustration isn't worth the minor 2% speed increase that people report in games.
If I have to describe W8 with one word, it would be "Disorienting".
Well the Developer's Preview was released so devs could get a head start programming Metro Apps so this early build is centered on the Metro interface. We've yet to see the true desktop version. Microsoft has stated that the final build will have fully functional versions of both interfaces included. This means Metro for touch enabled devices and a standard desktop with a standard start menu for desktops/laptops.
As for how it looks and runs... surprisingly good for such an early build but there is still a lot missing. I have it running on my Dell Duo on a seperate partition from Windows 7 and using both on the same machine I can tell you Windows 8 runs circles around Windows 7. It's still not complete enough however to use it as a main OS. Almost every aspect of memory management is a whole lot more efficient in Windows 8. The only really annoying aspect in this early build is MS did not incorperate any way to close active windows opting instead to allow the memory manager to decide what applications are no longer needed and closing them on the fly which to be perfectly honest it's not very good at. The only other way to close a program is to use Ctrl-Alt-Del to open the Task Manager and kill it that way. This has been addressed by MS and they claim that the standard corner 'X' will return in a later build as well as other 'close window' options as this feature has pretty much been universally hated by everyone.
Overall I'd say that MS is on to something great here and if they don't majorly screw it up before release it will be a very welcome successor to Windows 7. One thing that MS has learned and learned well from the Vista era is listen to your customers. They seem to be taking criticism and complements from the community very seriously this time around as they did somewhat with Windows 7. Windows 8 will be pretty awesome if they stick to the course they have adopted so far.
Bren
while(horse==dead)
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beat();
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The consumer preview is what Microsoft is currently planning, they have no intention of bringing back the regular start menu well all know from W7.
There is no "true desktop version", the current Windows Consumer Preview everyone can access since yesterday is the version that's planned for desktops.
I wouldn't have a clue. Enjoying my 7 right now.
-In memory of Laura "Taera" Genender. Passed away on Aug/13/08-
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You can change the registry manually and have a traditional start menu. You can't really claim it wont be there because it already is it's just disabled by default.
Edit: I tried to find where MS has claimed that there will be no Start Menu for desktops but couldn't find any such reference. A link would be appreciated. Not that I don't believe you it's just that if what you're claiming is true they will have a bigger fiasco on their hands than they did with ME or Vista. Forcing the Metro interface on desktop/laptop users would be monumentally stupid for MS and would alienate a large portion of their potential customer base. They will have every single customer that buys a new desktop or laptop preloaded with Windows 8 insisting on a downgrade option to Windows 7. It would be 10 times worse than the debacle with Vista or ME.
Bren
while(horse==dead)
{
beat();
}
This hasn't worked for a while, it doesn't work in Windows 8 Consumer Preview (the latest build) either. MS has no intention to support this either since it's a hack, not a feature. (my Return key doens't work in W8 on this site atm on IE10, it explains my weird formating lol)
Aye, that's why there is so much controversy. In W8 dev preview the start button was already removed, even though you still had the icon, now eve the icon is gone, I'll just show you what I run atm, although I assume you're running the same build (or maybe you're on the previous dev build, which still had the icon), this is what's planned, notice that I have no start button at all. You can still right click on the side for a limited amount of options, but it's not a start menu with icons etc, you're expected to pin everything to your taskbar. The button is gone. As you can see all my notepad and other stuffies are now pinned, lol. The intention atm is that the start button is completely gone. The counterargument is that Metro IS the start button, but that's rather far fetched, since it just dumps you into Metro.
Ahh... yes. I just updated to the current build tonight. When I posted before I was still using the previous build as I hadn't checked up on W8 in about 3 weeks. I see what you mean. In the previous build you could still get the start menu even up to date as of yesterday (Before I upgraded). What the hell are they thinking? As I said before they would have had something great unless they did something monumentally stupid... Well it looks like they have. I hope the guys at MS have some nice feces proof parkas as they are going to get hit with one hell of a shit-storm if they go live with this in this condition. As I said before I have it running on a Dell Duo so I at least do have a touch screen but no one is going to want Metro on a Desktop or Laptop with a traditional mouse and keyboard setup. It looks like MS may have another ME/Vista fiasco incoming. Too bad because like I said before W8 is much more efficient than W7 when it comes to memory management.
Bren
while(horse==dead)
{
beat();
}
Any chance that MS will make Windows 8 work with Kinect? I would love to be able to sit back and navigate using only my hands. No need to actually touch the screen you know. ^_^ That would be cool for browsing the web with a non touch screen monitor.
i'll just say that I have a feeling that Win7 will be the next Win95/XP... in that most people will prefer to stick to what they know as a solid version of the windows OS... and Win8 is the next ME/Vista.
It honestly seems to me like every other major windows OS release is either a solid hit or outright miss.
Don't even waste your money, stay with Win7. Win8 is mainly built around app support and touch screen. It really feels clunky and a mess. I take it as a failed attempt at trying to be like a smart phone OS for your PC. I really hate it.
I'll take Windows 8 performance over 7 any day. So far, everything I've thrown at it is working great. I haven't run into any bugs yet either, which isn't to say there aren't any but they're not as obvious as they were in previous versions.
If you have an app running, switch to desktop then move your cursor to the upper left corner and a thumbnail of the app(s) will appear. Right click on the thumbnail of the app you wish to close and choose "Close".
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.-
-And on the 8th day, man created God.-
Wouldn't an 'X' in the corner of the window be a whole lot simpler like in every previous version of Windows all the way back to Windows 1.0? Even Android has this feature (In a way). MS deciding to make it 10x harder to just close a freaking app is beyond stupid. I deal with regular people every day in regards to their computers and I can tell you that none of them are going to want to relearn Windows. Changing it this radically is going to be the best thing to happen to Apple in a long time. The only reason half of my customers haven't gone to Apple already is they are already comfortable with a Windows system. Metro is going to be a boon for Apple where traditional PCs are concerned.
Bren
while(horse==dead)
{
beat();
}
Oh, I know. Not having an "X" or even a simple "Close" button annoys me to no end. I just wanted to tell you the "easiest" way I found to close apps. I'm actually very un-impressed with the apps that come with the preview. For instance, there's no way in hell I'd ever use that music app, it's completely worthless.
The only way I can see 8 being a huge success in regards to Metro is if they make it completely optional i.e. check a box and Metro completely disappears leaving the "standard" Windows interface.
In fact, I don't understand why they haven't already even with the preview. Having two differing styles of interface constantly fighting/competing with each other just to get things done is counter productive and a pain in the ass.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.-
-And on the 8th day, man created God.-