Windows 8 Consumer Preview

[Bokishi]

Who else is trying it? I think it turns your computer into a giant iPad lol

 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/iso

[kirottu]

I just don't like how it looks and I'm happy with Win7. I might pass Win8 altogether.

[Gorth]

Yeah, it's not going to win on its "looks". Seriously, just the thought of a 30 inch iPhone screen on my desk is scary

[LadyCrimson]

It's crap.

 

The "Desktop" portion is at least reminiscent of the typical Windows "look" we're all used to, but it still has it's ugh factors. No default Programs Start menu, for example. But seems like you can create one to use. Sorta.

 

The Metro stuff is bloody awful. It might work fine on/for a phone/tablet, but for a desktop....no, just no. And you can't (thus far) disable it.

[Morgoth]

I just don't like how it looks and I'm happy with Win7. I might pass Win8 altogether.

Yo, going by Microsoft's track record, it's always wise to skip one Windows version. Maybe Windows 9 is gonna make me upgrade again, maybe...

Edited March 1, 2012 by Morgoth

[Walsingham]

I've got a ****ing crazy idea: a version of windows with absolutely no 'helpful' features.

 

I did straw poll for this idea on Friday and everyone agreed that they'd pay _extra_ to get a deluxe version that has no autoformating or advice of any kind.

[Rostere]

Gonna try it out later today! I'll be back with my verdict.

[Drowsy Emperor]

I'm still on XP and I'm not changing it until the last possible moment.

 

I hate Win 7 but 8 is a whole different story. Its ridiculous, sacrificing two decades of sensible development in favour of a few unnecessary visual gimmicks.

 

Microsoft is trying really really hard to make it impossible to go under the hood of their OS and tweak things. As we all know that's the only way to get their software to work properly, unless you're willing to wait 3-4 years for them to sort out most of the problems they ship it with.

 

I sincerely hope they crash and burn ASAP.

[Rostere]

I wouldn't really say the difference between W7 and W8 is that different. The difference is mostly in visual appearance. The functionality of the "Start" button has been exchanged for something else, something quite similar when you think about it.

 

The best thing about W8 is probably that the system requirements are lower than for W7, W8 is essentially more modular and more efficient.

 

In my opinion, the new design language "Metro" is extremely fresh, especially when you see it on a Windows Phone. IPhones/IPads is left looking tacky in comparison.

[Drowsy Emperor]

I just googled win 8 sys req and I must say I was pleasantly surprised! I took it for granted that it was going to be even more demanding than Win7.

[Fionavar]

Off to Skeeter's with you! Great topic Bokishi! I look forward to hearing input as I think I am completely avoiding 8!

[Walsingham]

I'm tied to this ol' workhorse for at least the next year as I try to reduce my debts. So no Windows 8 for me!

[Janmanden]

Unless the monitor is going to be lying down flat on the table I just don't see myself using such a system for the PC, because sitting with my hands stretched out in the air touching a screen standing tall on a table just sounds too tiring not to mention the back problems and what other ailments you are going to attract from such an akward work position.. It works as a whiteboard for five minutes.

[Rostere]

Unless the monitor is going to be lying down flat on the table I just don't see myself using such a system for the PC, because sitting with my hands stretched out in the air touching a screen standing tall on a table just sounds too tiring not to mention the back problems and what other ailments you are going to attract from such an akward work position.. It works as a whiteboard for five minutes.

 

Well, you don't have to use it as a touchscreen to start with. If you can get over the first impression that the OS looks very "touchscreen-ish", bite the sour apple and get used to referring to certain programs as "apps", you'll find there are many positive side effects from the new interface design. One side effect of the OS being optimized for tablets is, like I stated earlier, the efficiency and modularity of the OS - if it is supposed to run on weak tablets it must be pretty slim and fit. You can watch this video for some more details on what we "ordinary PC users" get out of W8:

 

Since I was quite pleased with W7 (especially after the Vista debacle), I was initially interested in W8. Then I was disappointed when I saw how much it looked like a tablet OS. Then, I got myself a Windows Phone and caught on to the quite clean, but yet fancy, look of the "Metro" design. I've always loved the really old Windows look - for example my Kubuntu which I dual boot with W7 at the moment looks and sounds almost exactly like Windows 3.1 (yes, quite exactly, except the font is not exactly the same, there are some new stuff, and there are icons that don't exist in 3.1). The new "Metro" design is really a re-imagining of the old Windows design paradigm of order and clarity. As much as I secretly (okay, not here, but in public) despise the "fluffy" look of Macs and some Linux/Unix distros, the new Windows look is really the best I could have got that still looks new and fresh. Considering how modern VM technology, you can still boot into your older Windows OS in a VM and work in there if all the fanciness in W8 gets too much. But seeing the efficiency of W8 I really see no reason not to use it as a primary OS...

 

Oh, but then there's the ominous cycle: Win 98 - OK, Win 2000 - not OK, Win XP - OK, Win Vista - not OK, Win 7 - OK... Yeah, you get the picture.

[LadyCrimson]

Unless the monitor is going to be lying down flat on the table I just don't see myself using such a system for the PC, because sitting with my hands stretched out in the air touching a screen standing tall on a table just sounds too tiring not to mention the back problems and what other ailments you are going to attract from such an akward work position.. It works as a whiteboard for five minutes.

But...but...the CSI series, characters love flailing their arms all over the place. It's so much more efficient!

 

Rostre has it right that you don't have to use it as a touch screen, far as I could tell. If you're using it on your tablet or something, sure, but on the PC, no touchscreen required. Don't make that a basis for not trying/liking it. There's plenty of other reasons for that. imo.

[Gorth]

Oh, but then there's the ominous cycle: Win 98 - OK, Win 2000 - not OK, Win XP - OK, Win Vista - not OK, Win 7 - OK... Yeah, you get the picture.

 

Thats a rather incomplete picture

 

Win 2000 was actually quite Ok. Win ME was a bad joke and Windows NT was nothing to write home about (i.e. not Ok).

[Rostere]

Oh, but then there's the ominous cycle: Win 98 - OK, Win 2000 - not OK, Win XP - OK, Win Vista - not OK, Win 7 - OK... Yeah, you get the picture.

 

Thats a rather incomplete picture

 

Win 2000 was actually quite Ok. Win ME was a bad joke and Windows NT was nothing to write home about (i.e. not Ok).

 

Of course it's incomplete, but you have to draw the line somewhere. Win ME - let's just simply not talk about that. Windows NT is a different beast altogether, strictly speaking all Windows OSs since (and including) W2K are versions of Windows NT - of which the original version was released in 1993.

[edwardallene]

I am still on my Win7 so I really don't have an idea how Win8 works?? If I will upgrade into Win8, most probably I will start from the scratch of learning Win8 if it's really totally different from Win7 .

[Drowsy Emperor]

I'm interested to know what the supposed advantages of Win 7 over XP are other than new Direct X support. I have two netbooks with similar hardware, one with W7 the other with XP and the W7 one crawls like a beaten dog all the while not having a single function that I could point to its advantage.

[WDeranged]

I've no idea why you'd want to run Windows 7 on a netbook, it's quite obviously going to run like a dog unless you have some cutting edge netbook with a ton of RAM.

[Drowsy Emperor]

It came pre installed. Microsoft is pushing Win7 so there are fewer and fewer netbooks with XP. It has a ton of ram by the way.

[WDeranged]

I suspected it might have, I'd format the bugger and get XP on it, Microsoft are delusional about running W7 on netbooks.

 

If I was setting up a full spec modern PC I'd definitely go with Windows 7, I find it genuinely pleasant to use and it takes better advantage of multi-core CPUs/GPUs and large amounts of RAM, not to mention SSD drives, my current PC "feels" so much quicker than my last XP machine simply because everything loads almost instantly.

 

I resisted Windows 7 for quite a while but ended up slapping my forehead when I found that a load of weird quirky issues I'd had on XP since forever just vanished, also the CPU overhead for the new features is pretty insignificant on any processor made in the last two or three years.

 

*edit*

 

Windows 8 can go screw itself though

Edited March 15, 2012 by WDeranged