Windows 8 Consumer Preview

why do ms still insist on being difficult to people who multi-boot? *shakes head*
 
I really dont mind metro. Im so used to different types of desktops :D Unity prepared me for this type of system.
 
killadoob said:
Naaa microsoft can keep windows 8 :D. I won't even pirate it haha.
Click to expand...
Killa, it's early days yet. I suspect you're gonna eat your words. Do some reading about the plans for Metro, and what it will bring. Paul Thurrott's WinSupersite is a great resource. Also, remember you're on a beta.
 
Last edited:
Arthur said:
Killa, it's early days yet. I suspect you're gonna eat your words. Do some reading about the plans for Metro, and what it will bring. Paul Thurrott's WinSupersite is a great resource. Also, remember you're on a beta.
Click to expand...

I know but that system looks crap to me. I prefer my desktop, it seems like they adding more work to access simple apps.

Tablet sweet, desktop fail but yea i will check it out when it's released but in my experience it doesn't change too much from pre release to final product.
 
It's FAST. It's secure. It's clean.
It sets the stage for the Metro world, which has many advantages (such as scaling across platforms, from smartphone to tablet to PC). But it also allows you to run legacy apps in Desktop. It's the only way to handle the transition from 1985 to 2015. Easy for Apple with maybe 50 million users max worldwide - an entirely different ballgame when you have over 700 million users.

I'm posting now from IE10 Metro in W8CP, on an ancient Asus W5F notebook. It's breathed new life into this machine, which now boots from cold to log-in in under 20 secs, and a goodly portion is the BIOS POST.

It really is worth spending an hour learning Metro - the more you look the more you uncover.
 
Last edited:
killadoob said:
I know but that system looks crap to me. I prefer my desktop, it seems like they adding more work to access simple apps.

Tablet sweet, desktop fail but yea i will check it out when it's released but in my experience it doesn't change too much from pre release to final product.
Click to expand...

I would agree with you on this.

Tablet = Yeah, Desktop = urgh.

Pity the installer does not detect lack of tablet and then give you the orb=start option.

I still feel that without a tablet it offers not much to lure me away from Windows 7, even if it does let me finally sort by extension and not file type. It has come a long way since the Developer Preview, but methinks still has a long way to go for desktop / non-touch-tablet input.

It is a brilliant pre-beta / beta... but offers nothing really already available in Windows 7 if you do not have touch / tablet input.

EDIT: For desktop use, the "charm bar" is distractive rather than productive when it come to routine tasks... more clicks and mouse travel to do the same thing that a single click would have done in Windows 7. For tablets I can understand the metro swing... for daily desktop productivity it adds to distraction rather than streamlining production... now I MUST rely on my keyboard shortcuts where a mouse and click used to suffice.

Its saving grace thus far has been its responsiveness and resource respect.
 
Last edited:
Windows 7 for desktop/laptop, Windows 8 for tablet.

I think the only way you might benefit from Windows 8 on your desktop/laptop, is if you have a touch sensitive display.

Other than that, why ditch the perfect OS for a pc/laptop?
 
And what is with the details pane now taking up a third of the explorer window ?

It was perfect along the bottom before... now it just eats up desktop real estate.
 
Arthur said:
It's FAST. It's secure. It's clean.
It sets the stage for the Metro world, which has many advantages (such as scaling across platforms, from smartphone to tablet to PC). But it also allows you to run legacy apps in Desktop. It's the only way to handle the transition from 1985 to 2015. Easy for Apple with maybe 50 million users max worldwide - an entirely different ballgame when you have over 700 million users.

I'm posting now from IE10 Metro in W8CP, on an ancient Asus W5F notebook. It's breathed new life into this machine, which now boots from cold to log-in in under 20 secs, and a goodly portion is the BIOS POST.

It really is worth spending an hour learning Metro - the more you look the more you uncover.
Click to expand...

What a relief. I will try my downloaded installation and see for myself what all the negative vibes are about. Sounds again a lot like the time Windows7 were released, then it was all XP forever and Win7 was not required and will not succeed. Who was that again?
 
It is also nice and square ! No more round edges.. very very yumm to use daily.
 
I appreciate very much where you're coming from. Metro is so unfamiliar we're spending ages just trying to uncover basic things we could do with a few clicks in Desktop.

Every time I take the trouble to persist a little longer I uncover a smarter way of getting to where I want that's at least as easy and quick as Desktop. I'm also sure Microsoft are keeping back a few nifty features for RTM, so this W8CP is far from fully baked.

But I'm giving it a chance, and taking the trouble to really learn the new paradigm. I've lived though every change since before the PC (when they were still called microcomputer), and I know the biggest challenge is not learning the new but unlearning the old way. For example, when GUIs first appeared in the late 80s it took me nearly three years to stop dropping back into the command prompt for file operations (was a CP/M and DOS maven). I realised then the problem wasn't the new paradigm but me being stuck in the familiar … where the good became the enemy of the better.

The more I've read about Metro and played with the system, the more I realise that this has been very carefully thought through by the New Microsoft.
 
Last edited:
Downloading it now. Watched a video on Youtube and it looked quite interesting.

I just don't like the name "Metro" - sounds lame.
 
I also really do hope that they give the entire OS a Windows 8 look... still too many windows 7 icons and dialogs and such... make it consistent.

I think it has great potential...
 
kilobits said:
I also really do hope that they give the entire OS a Windows 8 look... still too many windows 7 icons and dialogs and such... make it consistent.

I think it has great potential...
Click to expand...
They can't do that - the investment in Desktop legacy apps is just too vast … more than 20 times any other platform. The new WinRT is a much sounder 'engine' under the covers.

Remember: Metro is not a new UI running on top of the OS. It's a basic part of the OS. In fact, Desktop is just another fullscreen Metro app. A more accurate way to understand Metro is to see it as a fullscreen Start Menu that's the "home/base" for the system. You can't run multi-windowed apps inside Metro any more than you can run apps in today's Start Menu.
 
Last edited:
Arthur said:
They can't do that - the investment in Desktop legacy apps is just too vast … more than 20 times any other platform. The new WinRT is a much sounder 'engine' under the covers.

Remember: Metro is not a new UI running on top of the OS. It's a basic part of the OS. In fact, Desktop is just another fullscreen Metro app. A more accurate way to understand Metro is to see it as a fullscreen Start Menu that's the "home/base" for the system. You can't run multi-windowed apps inside Metro any more than you can run apps in today's Start Menu.
Click to expand...

Ah... indeed. Damned progress hurdles.
 
Installed it in VMware8, slow but I think it is because of the VMware environment?

First impressions

I hate that dots spinning in a circle.

I seem to find the WinRT/Metro concept not so bad, will take a bit to get used to but soon Windows7 will become a bore.

I will have to install directly to a hard drive partition rather as VMware slows it down to much it seems
 
Last edited:
I am impressed so far. I held onto an old Atom based 10.1" tablet just so I could test Win8.
The Dev preview was horrible. Intermittent touch screen issues made it barely usable. The CP is extremely smooth and responsive. I am seriously living it. Still trying to get used to the whole metro way.
 
Mike Smit said:
Still trying to get used to the whole metro way.
Click to expand...
Yeah, quite interesting. On a PC, perceptually it like Win7 with WP7 replacing Start. Its like they stuffed a whole new mini OS & apps into where there used to be just a basic program launching menu system.

A bit confusing/frustrating at first as many things are not that obvious, but once one reads up on how everything works e.g. pull down functionality to close & split screen apps, things start to make a bit more sense. My only gripe is, why isn't MousePush (on left/right edges) not universal in all Apps like in Start, why must one use the bottom scrollbar.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X