Windows 8 Consumer Preview

To be honest I don't know how its going to turn out in the end but I can tell you from past experience, people do not take well when forced into a direction, the use a gradual or stepped change would be a good idea.

I can just draw on my experience with say Ubuntu. When they moved from the old menu system to Unity they dropped users like hotcake. All Mint did was include a start menu at the bottom and they moved to no 1 within a year. There is talks that this will fall away but for now the mix works.

Mint explained in images http://imgur.com/a/jG1HV
Ubuntu unity in pictures http://imgur.com/a/h7EuV

One thing is for certain, people will have to change as it seems that all the OS's are moving away from the old interfaces.
 
There's also a good chance that people will use Windows 7 for as long as possible. Similar to when Vista was released and people continued with XP. People might also convert to Apple and OS X.

Lots and lots of people are going to find Metro a bit too strange to use. Whats also new with Windows 8 is that the ribbon UI is everywhere. If you click on "my computer" and want to open Control Panel, it's the ribbon. Hate that horrible ribbon.
 
vinodh said:
There's also a good chance that people will use Windows 7 for as long as possible. Similar to when Vista was released and people continued with XP. People might also convert to Apple and OS X.

Lots and lots of people are going to find Metro a bit too strange to use. Whats also new with Windows 8 is that the ribbon UI is everywhere. If you click on "my computer" and want to open Control Panel, it's the ribbon. Hate that horrible ribbon.
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I highly doubt that. Have you seen how Mac works? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf-e0mRyrH4

Its a bigger learning curve for Microsoft users compared to Windows 8 not to even mention application migration.

for Gnome users moving to Mac, I don't think that it would be that big a change seeing that we have very much the same features, just move mouse to the top right instead of left but yeah its closer than a windows/Mac jump.
 
I've been using Windows since version 3.1. I have 5 PC's at home running Windows. I also have a MacBook Pro running Lion. Both OS's have good and bad points. The bottom line is people use what they feel comfortable with. Metro is going to be something that people will have to get used to quickly or they will most probably move on to something else.
 
See the Mail, Calendar, People, Messaging Metro app bundle updated recently. Finally Metro Mail seems to work properly with Exchange Server (ActiveSync).
 
I was planning to play around with Windows 8 this evening but it boots up, shows the login screen and everything goes black. Almost like the computer is off. I'll re-install later and see what happens. I wanted to mess around with the media centerbut that will have to wait.
 
rwenzori said:
Apple's Launchpad, done properly as usual, for those who must.
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But Launchpad is just dumb icons, unlike Metro with its live tiles capability.

Anyway the one thing I keep missing when switching back to my production Win7 PCs is the Win8 picture login, seems crude to have to type in a password now.
 
Windows 8 is shaping up to be Microsoft’s best mainstream OS to-date, but that hasn’t stopped criticism of the platform, even bringing one former team member out of the woodwork to try to “fix” it. The bluntly titled Fixing Windows 8 is apparently the handiwork of ex-Microsoft program manager and current user interface designer Michael Bibik Jr., who has taken on the challenge of addressing what he sees as obvious flaws before the OS even reaches commercial PCs.

Among the issues observed are the absence of window controls for Metro apps, the newly introduced tablet-friendly software brought in concept over from the Windows Phone platform, about which Bibik scolds “How does a user know how to exit a Metro app? They can’t minimize, they can’t maximize, they can’t exit.” His concern – on Microsoft’s behalf – is that users won’t go to the effort of trying to figure out the new software’s foibles, and will instead just abandon the confusing functionality. “I’m pretty sure this is where 75% of first-time users will simply give up” he wrote, “this will be so frustrating, people won’t even try to fix it.”

Bibik hasn’t actively put his name to the site, but nor has he particularly hidden his former involvement with Microsoft. “While I am not trying to keep the site anonymous, I’d rather not give any interviews at this time” he said in a statement, but after a little digging Fox pulled up his name.

Bibik’s frustrations with Windows 8 look to have struck at least some sort of chord, with the UI designer’s site apparently down under the stress of visitors. However, not everyone is convinced the platform has significant holes; our own Chris Burns described the new OS as “fun”, not something Microsoft has often been accused of in the past. Microsoft is yet to comment on the feedback.
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http://www.slashgear.com/ex-microsoftie-takes-on-broken-windows-8-14218348/
 
kilobits said:
“How does a user know how to exit a Metro app? They can’t minimize, they can’t maximize, they can’t exit.” His concern – on Microsoft’s behalf – is that users won’t go to the effort of trying to figure out the new software’s foibles, and will instead just abandon the confusing functionality.
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http://www.slashgear.com/ex-microsoftie-takes-on-broken-windows-8-14218348/
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I think that is the biggest issue with Windows 8, the lack of visual q's.

For us IT and young people its ok to learn, cause thats what we do, we love it, we go out of our way to find out, like posting on this forum.
For an end user that already hate PC's its a totally different story, if it doesn't seem easy at 1st they simply cut off and call it a day, besides they have other crap they use that time on.
 
Elimentals said:
I think that is the biggest issue with Windows 8, the lack of visual q's.

For us IT and young people its ok to learn, cause thats what we do, we love it, we go out of our way to find out, like posting on this forum.
For an end user that already hate PC's its a totally different story, if it doesn't seem easy at 1st they simply cut off and call it a day, besides they have other crap they use that time on.
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Indeed... BUT this is a PREVIEW... it is not beta or RC or anything... but a preview of where Windows 8 is going. It is already a huge improvement, I find, over the Developer Preview.

To start assembling mobs with flaming torches is a tad premature... and to insinuate as in that video to his father that this preview is the final is just a bit overly dramatic.

I am quite confident that the whole thing will become a lot more polished and all the clues needed to decipher this new approach will be there, even for the father in that video to navigate where he was told to go.

We can only wait and see what further revelations future releases bring.

This is a preview people... an indication of things to come.
 
Got Windows 8 working again. Seems like it went into sleep mode just after login. Connecting the laptop to external power woke it up immediately. Running on battery also causes it to randomly drop to sleep mode browsing the net, opening windows etc. Probably something related to the drivers for the chipset.
 
kilobits said:
Indeed... BUT this is a PREVIEW... it is not beta or RC or anything... but a preview of where Windows 8 is going. It is already a huge improvement, I find, over the Developer Preview.

To start assembling mobs with flaming torches is a tad premature... and to insinuate as in that video to his father that this preview is the final is just a bit overly dramatic.
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Thats because some of us actually did read http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/10/11/reflecting-on-your-comments-on-the-start-screen.aspx

And Microsoft honestly thought/think it was/is a cool idea.
 
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For some reason windows does not want to shut down. It does the same as S1 standby mode when clicking shut down, But im unable to UNSTANDBY it. The screen goes of, my cpu fan keeps running, hdd is on, graphics card fan stays on..... only way is manual shutdown with power button... LOL
 
Elimentals said:
I think that is the biggest issue with Windows 8, the lack of visual q's.

For us IT and young people its ok to learn, cause thats what we do, we love it, we go out of our way to find out, like posting on this forum.
For an end user that already hate PC's its a totally different story, if it doesn't seem easy at 1st they simply cut off and call it a day, besides they have other crap they use that time on.
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I think the lack of mouse response is a bigger culprit. Clicking, dragging etc. just have to elicit a respose. Damnit even a paperclip would improve the experience. shudder.
 
Let me get this straight. Microsoft came out with an uncompetitive smartphone which utilizes these weird tiles and failed to achieve any sort of market dominance or even serious attention. So the company jumps off a cliff by going with this as if it's the greatest thing ever and they make it the core of the new OS? Exactly who is out there in Redmond thinks this is a great idea?
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LOL @ John Dvorak
 
Roman4604 said:
But Launchpad is just dumb icons, unlike Metro with its live tiles capability.

Anyway the one thing I keep missing when switching back to my production Win7 PCs is the Win8 picture login, seems crude to have to type in a password now.
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Do tell us more?
 
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