Windows 8
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- animatedgif0
A tablet with a fan?
No thanks
- sherm0
just used a dev preview of windows 8. Gotta say it just looks like a launcher over the same ol' same ol'
- manonthestreet0
I would say that this really 'needs' to be a success for microsoft and that it was developed with this in mind. If it should fail along the lines of 'vista' they have uncorrectable problems.
- i_monk0
I think it's a great interface for phones and tablets and touch screens and trackpads, but I'm not convinced it'll work well with a traditional mouse-based setup. Maybe I'm out of the loop though and people with desktop computers stopped using mice years ago, I don't know.
- Yeah, dude. Nobody uses mice anymore. Where have you been?nb
- monospaced0
It's being released Friday. SQUEE! Lining up to get my copy, who's with me? Don't want to get stuck at the back of the queue.
- CygnusZero40
It looks awesome, but I need to use it for myself to see how it is. Im am all kinds of bent on apple devices at this point so I have high hopes and really hope it has a bright future, but we'll see.
Would be kinda nice to go and spend $700 on a really kickass laptop with a solid OS than these overpriced pieces of junk ive been wasting my money on for years.
- praise jesus, amen!monospaced
- so, you'll be in line for this?monospaced
- No, kinda wanna use it somewhere before buying anything.CygnusZero4
- i_monk0
I can't wait for Apple to steal this design paradigm.
- i_monk0
I can't wait for Apple to steal this design paradigm.
- nocomply0
Windows 8?! Pffffffftt...... I've been running it for months now on the freely-available consumer preview.
It's actually not bad, but I spent 99% of my time in the desktop mode and skip past all of those pretty tiles immediately after the system boots. That whole "metro" interface is really optimized for tablets, which simply aren't productive devices for me to work on.
For those who haven't experienced it yet, Windows 8 is really a split-personality OS: There's the metro half and the desktop half... the desktop being more of a continuation of Windows 7.
- More feedback please! Pro's Con's?fyoucher1
- Metro on a desktop is for the 80% of people who never use more than Word, email and browser.ETM
- For them, it's great. For the content creators and gamers, you skip to desktop. I am not bothered.ETM
- Well, other than not having an option to boot directly into desktop.ETM
- monospaced0
@nocomply, thanks for that insight. I was really hoping for further integration of this UI into the Desktop, even if just aesthetically.
- I think we'll need to wait for Windows 9 for this. Metro and desktop seem very separate for now.nocomply
- randommail0
Great, a more intrusive way for games, photos, apps, music, videos, chat, email, messaging.
FFS I hate it all.
Just give me something to run Adobe CS and Chrome. That is all I want to pay for.
- deathboy0
the metro thing is the windows key. the rest of the OS is like 7. seems pretty quick, and i like that they got rid of the aero glass and went with a much simpler UI default look. im not exactly sure how much faster or if i'll even use metro that much
- monkeyshine0
More integration will come as more apps transition over to Win8. I see this as similar to the pains around OSX when they had to bridge two worlds between OS9 and X for a while.
- ernexbcn0
Some people are going to be confused.
- nocomply0
For those who are asking for more feedback and insight....
I've been using Windows 8 on my primary machine for about 3 months now. Before I installed the OS, I upgraded my Toshiba laptop to an SSD and my computer boots up and shuts down within 5-10 seconds. The OS feels pretty quick and snappy, and my applications start up much more quickly than they did when I had a regular HD installed. Not sure if this stuff is due to Win 8, the SSD or (most likely) both. Regardless, I would recommend an SSD to go with Windows 8, or any other OS.
Like I said I never run Windows 8 in the metro mode. When you're running in Metro, there's no taskbar and the current app that you're using takes up the entire screen. It's a great system for people who are only using a computer to do simple tasks 1 at a time, such as browse the web, play a video game, and then write a Word doc. So for a lot of non-tech-savvy computer users the Metro interface may be a good thing.
However for myself and other people on this forum it's totally inconvenient. I rely on the taskbar with quick access to all of my open apps, and there are some apps I use that can *only* be opened in desktop mode. I'm not interested at all in the Metro sports widgets, weather widgets, etc... I opened them up once or twice when I first installed the OS, but never again after that. I bypass the Metro system completely and go straight to desktop mode.
The desktop/window design is slightly more streamlined and simplified in Windows 7, which I think is nice.
Oh, and the one biggie that everyone is talking about is that there is no start button. Instead, you need to move your mouse over to the right-hand side of the screen and a tray of options for search, settings, etc.. pop up. So if you want to open a specific app that isn't pinned to your taskbar you'll need to "search" for it instead of going to start -> programs -> your app, etc... Overall not a big deal to me.
Even with the consumer preview version that I've been using, the OS has been very stable. The only problem that I've had is installing a specific video driver for my laptop, which is doesn't want to let me do so I'm stuck using some default driver that's not quite as good and causes some weird display issues for me at times. But I suspect these type of kinks will be ironed out shortly.
Bottom line for me is this: It's an evolved version of Windows 7 with a slick Metro interface that I'll never touch.