Windows 8

Anyone tried the Windows 8 Consumer Preview yet? If so what are your thoughts? I downloaded and installed it yesterday and am still just getting used to where everything is. lol

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

I've been using the developer edition since that one came out. I d/l the consumer version but didn't get a chance to load this one yet. I like it, but I don't think in the corp world they are going to like it much.

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Anyone else tried it yet? I've been using it for a couple weeks now and am starting to get used to it now. I did have yo turn DEP and account control off to run some games though.

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Yeah been using the developer version myself since it came out. Its not bad actually, but I love Win 7.

Like he said up there though ^^ its not for corporate users, every buisness I've been to as an engineer , still uses XP :undecided:

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

I tried the dev preview and I really don't like the metro UI I smell another ME/Vista misfire.
Microsoft does this every few years though. Hit n' Miss OS

XP was solid as it gets. that OS lasted at the top for over 5 years!!! that is a feat in itself.
Hell the walmart "self checkout stands" are all workstations on an XP system that has to say something if they trust their money with XP

I will try 8 out again once the CP iso has downloaded but I really dont think I will be upgrading My Windows 7 anytime soon

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

I upgrade Windows versions only when it becomes absolutely
necessary to run a Needed/Required application... not because
Bill Gates says I need it or because it's the newest/best ever.

And then only on that one Computer... We have a minimum of
3 computers on at all times for specific uses with 3 different
Windows Versions...


Jerry

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

windows 7 all the way, tho i have not tried win 8 yet...but so far out of all windows OS i like ...win 7 and then xp

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

I probably wouldn't have upgraded from XP to 7 if I hadn't received a free copy of 7 from my college. Luckily I skipped Vista altogether. As for 8 after the test is over? Probably won't upgrade unless I somehow get it free. So far I have liked what I've seen from the Preview, but it just isn't that different from 7 apart from the Metro start screen to warrant an expensive upgrade.

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Every review I read so far, indicates that for a desktop users there is really no reason to upgrade from 7. This seems consistent with what you're saying.

Vista was pure disaster, and I hate it with a passion... it cost me many hours of my life.

I get the feeling that 8 will also be a disaster, and is being rushed out only to compete in the tablet market.

Looks like there will be a Windows 8 Release Preview released in early June. Any ideas what differences it will have from the Consumer Preview?

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

I think MS is going to be making a Major mistake if they drop the standard desktop completely in favor of the “Metro” UI, it will become a flop in the corporate world.

Apparently even with the preview release we still haven’t seen the final UI.


Microsoft said that it is abandoning the "Aero" user interface with Windows 8, calling the UI that debuted in Vista and continued in Windows 7, "cheesy" and "dated."

In a massive 11,300-word blog post, Jensen Harris, the director of program management for Windows 8's user experience team, said that the new operating system's look-and-feel, its graphics user interface, or GUI, would be "clean and crisp," and would do away with the "glass and reflections" that marked Aero.

The move was Microsoft's attempt to bring the traditional desktop -- one of two GUIs in Windows 8 -- closer to the new Metro-style interface, said Harris.

"In the end, we decided to bring the desktop closer to the Metro aesthetic, while preserving the compatibility afforded by not changing the size of window chrome, controls, or system UI," said Harris. "We have moved beyond Aero Glass -- flattening surfaces, removing reflections, and scaling back distracting gradients."
Windows 8

Aero first appeared in Windows Vista, which reached enterprises in late 2006 and consumers in early 2007, but Microsoft had been working on the GUI for years. The company showed elements of Aero in 2005 betas it distributed to select testers, for example.

Windows 7 also relied on Aero, although Microsoft tweaked the GUI, adding features like "Snap," which automatically sized a window to half the screen, and changing the translucency of maximized windows.

Users will not get to see Windows 8's new GUI until the operating system appears in final form later this year. "While a few of these visual changes are hinted at in the upcoming Release Preview, most of them will not yet be publicly available," Harris acknowledged.

Microsoft will offer Windows 8 Release Preview, its last public milestone before completing the OS, the first week of June.

It's unusual for Microsoft to keep a Windows GUI under wraps until final release: Both Vista and Windows 7 showed the finished Aero UI, or at the least, major chunks of it, months, even years, before those editions went on sale.

Other than derogatory references to Aero as first implemented in Vista -- when Harris said, "This style of simulating faux-realistic materials (such as glass or aluminum) on the screen looks dated and cheesy now." -- he did not give explicit reasons for dropping Aero from the desktop, other than Microsoft's desire to shift it closer to the new Metro design philosophy.

In a long section of his post, however, Harris called out seven goals of the Windows 8 GUI redesign. Most applied primarily to Metro, and secondly, to touch-based devices like tablets, or in a broader sense, to mobile devices where battery power is tight and longevity a critical concern.

Battery power, in fact, seemed to be the one goal that applied to the desktop GUI, something well-known Windows blogger Paul Thurrott noticed when he speculated that the effort to extend battery life was the reason for Aero's demise.

"It's all about battery life," Thurrott argued on his SuperSite for Windows blog on Saturday. "Aero, with all its glassy, translucent goodness, is bad for battery life. Metro, meanwhile, which is flat, dull, not transparent, and only full screen, is very good for battery life."

To lasso battery issues, Microsoft even considered limiting Windows 8 so that only one Metro app would run at a time. Ultimately, it decided against that restriction, and instead will allow two Metro apps to run simultaneously in a side-by-side view.

"Even with multitasking in the existing desktop still present, we did feel like only offering 'one-at-a-time' in the Metro style experience was a bit of a constraint, and not totally true to the Windows history of multitasking," Harris said.
Windows 8

Also in his missive, Harris countered naysayers who have hammered Windows 8 for its touch-centric philosophy or for the lack of a traditional "Start" button on the desktop. He reminded them of early criticism when Windows took to the mouse, and the need to coach users of Windows 95 on how to use that edition's Start button.

Harris also promised that GUI elements that have frustrated users -- including difficulty in hitting the "hot" corner of the desktop that triggers the Start screen -- had been addressed, and repeated earlier assertions that Microsoft would include tutorials with Windows 8 to show users how to manipulate both the desktop and Metro interfaces.

Essentially, his review of Windows GUIs, which stretched as far back as 1985's original graphical shell atop DOS, and his comments around mice and usability, seemed to be a call for customers to give Windows 8 a chance.

"Yes, there are parts of the Windows 8 UI that have generated discussions and even debate, and aspects of the change that will take some people a little time to understand and digest," Harris admitted. "Any change, particularly a change that doesn't just follow in the footsteps of what everyone else is doing, can be hard to fully grasp at first.... The world changes and moves forward. Windows will continue to change too."

Microsoft dumps 'Aero' UI in Windows 8, 'Metro-izes' desktop - Computerworld

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Anyone tried the Release Preview yet? I'm considering reinstalling my PC and using Win8 and my main OS.. Good idea?

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

I believe we did get that in, but I haven't done anything yet, was on the developers edition, and currently trying out the consumer preview edition; guess that will be the next one to load from scratch again and see how it goes. We are hoping they give us an option to be able to boot-up into a regular desktop. Instead of having to switch from Metro to desktop mode upon each boot-up; worst would be they remove desktop mode totally, at that point we probably won't roll any of them out to a production environment. We had originally thought of starting out relatively small to our numbers and go with 1,000 stations to get a good feel on how it works in our various production environments, however not too sure right now with the direction it looks like they are going.

We will probably run less than 100 in a test environment with a very limited amount in a more controlled production environment, as we have many more concerns now. We always keep up with technology and run the latest OS but we still have several machines running just about every flavor of OS made going back to Win95 & DOS 6.22 for testing etc.

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Personally I will not be upgrading until at least sp1.

From all the reviews out there so far, there is really no reason for a desktop user to bother with it.

I hope I'm wrong, but 8 feels like a repeat of vista too me. Rushed to market, and with "improvements" that will make most people suffer a lot, at least initially.

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Damn I've been running 2 PCs 'offline' on XP for years, never saw a need to upgrade & everything I use works perfectly. I have 1 vista laptop I use for internet, otherwise I'm a bit behind the times but also very happy :beer:

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

I currently have Windows 8 Consumer Preview as my main and only OS on my PC. Only problems I have encountered are some graphics issues, but that could be because the drivers for my card aren't fully developed for Windows 8 yet. I am downloading the Release Preview now.