Windows 8 fully previewed, available for download tonight

[Zilpha]

Just type in what you need, from what i've heard...

That doesn't address Leeky's concern though. That's a workaround, and a bit of a crappy one for those times when you would "know it if you saw it" but can't quite think of the name.

That's why us old skool PC techs like our menus.

 

[Leeky]

Just type in what you need, from what i've heard...

You can do that in W7 to great effect in the search box, after clicking "start" first.

I like the general direction they've chosen in regards to making it the same on everything (and have respect for the work that must involve in the backend), but if your in "desktop" it should behave like one.

That means a start menu, your local folders, your applications, your control panel and all the other associated drivel that appears when you click start.

Using the desktop and click start and having the dashboard appear is not what I'd have in mind to happen. That function should come up if you hit the windows key or something instead - Or better yet, have a taskbar icon for it like the "show Desktop" feature we're used to, that displays the dashboard instead.

That doesn't address Leeky's concern though. That's a workaround, and a bit of a crappy one for those times when you would "know it if you saw it" but can't quite think of the name.

That's why us old skool PC techs like our menus.

Aye, thats the one. I thought I was alone with those thoughts when trying to find something in the menu that I can't quite remember the name of! :haha:

 

[Archean]

Leeky said:
Its unlikely MSE will ever be integrated into the OS because it would be unfair for other AV companies. Its the same scenario as the IE lawsuits in Europe - where users are now asked what browser they wish to install to prevent MS having a monopoly.

Which is an ultimate example of stupidity IMO, generally most users have much more IT knowledge nowadays, hence, if someone want to have an alternative browser on their machine they are just a site/click away. I think EU is becoming an ideal example of nanny state (on a much more grander scale though), although it is in utter chaos right now

 

[Guest]

The reason this OS "APPEARS" to be so fast is they are using a more load on demand approach.
This will speeds up booting and a few other things however when you start using applications that need drivers and other files loaded this is where you pay for their so-called speed inprovements.
Nothing is free even in software related issues. I am going to guess and say that they are using some form of virtual application to launch only what you are wanting to run at a given time, similar to Vmware Thinapp. IF this is the case there are benefits and drawbacks, to it which I dont want to type that much. IF this is the route they are going and I am fairly sure it is then, optimizations are going to be very important and in my opinion Microsoft has never been very good at that especially when they launch a new OS. The one instance they are that meticulous is usually in Game development.
I am not disregarding any new developments only pointing out their past philosophy. They canceled thier virtual PC application with vista except when running XP virtually inside vista. I believe the reason is revamping it for Windows 8. Another real KEY issue is security. Virtual app's offer more security in the form of isolation if programed correctly. This will add another level of difficulty to so called hackers and "poisonous" software, IF applications and the virtual application environment are written correctly. Those of you with multiple processors and threads say hello to what will be Microsofts first OS that will "hopefully" make REAL use of all of them and tons of ram. Those of you with one processor and one thread you are pretty much screwed, you will see the smallest improvements in the OS and I do mean SMALL. I dont hate or love the improvements they are stating, I am simply cautiously reserved.

 

[Bl00dyMinded]

As long as you download the preview and not the Developer tools run you can upgrade it.

 

[Guest]

I really couldn't read past the sentence "Windows 8 will likely determine the company's future and its relevance in the industry."

Relevancy in what industry? If you mean the operating system installed on 90% of computers worldwide, then I guess Microsoft's fifth place operating system had better come out like gangbusters if it wants to have more purchasers than OSX, WebOS, Linux, iOS and Android.

Oh wait, it has more than all those combined? I better go back to my fact checking software on my Kaypro.

 

[Guest]

Downloaded it, installed it, run it; it then decided to die on me. Whatever I did, I was unable to log in (not even getting past the pre-log in screen).

Nice features, but it was clearly developed with tablets in mind.

 

[suredrift]

can someone tell me why the metro style apps do not work on my MSI Wind U160DX 10.1 inch netbook, and how do we get rid of that watermark.

 

[Tomorrow_Rains]

APPS only run at a minimum of 1024x768

make sure your screen resolution is set at 1024x768

i've used windows 8 developer edition as my main operating system for a couple of days now.

i'm impressed but now having a touchscreen is actually hindering the experience. therefore i hope microsoft has plans for us too poor to afford touch screens

 

[Phraun]

---agissi--- said:
Why cant you resize your partition and install it on a second partition? Hopefully the bootloader isnt different / it doesnt overright the Windows 7 boot loader. But if it does there are programs to easily fix that (EasyBCD).

The metro UI looks like the 1980s have been resurrected.

That's exactly what happened when I installed it; it wrote over the bootloader and I lost access to all my other OS installs. It was trivial to fix once I figured out what had happened, but still... Completely ridiculous.

 

[Zilpha]

I have very mixed feelings about it. I popped a spare drive into my m15 and installed it, and first impressions was that it's just not as intuitive as I would have liked. First, the Metro desktop wouldn't display. All I saw was a blank greenish color screen. It took me a good 15 minutes to figure out how to get to the start menu. There was literally no indicators of where to move the mouse - and I had to move it to extreme bottom left corner.

So I finally get to a desktop that makes more sense, and see there's an update to my GPU. Fine, I figured that's probably got something to do with my issues, so get it updated and rebootski.

So there's the metro desktop now, and IE is the very first thing there so I go ahead and click. Surf a little bit, try to get used to the navigation bar being on the bottom, and now I want to go back to the main screen.

Where's my close button? ESC, backspace, trying to "drag" sides of the screen - nothing. There's that "sweet spot" start menu again, but I ended up just CTRLALTDEL out of it - I don't want it running.

Now, I consider myself fairly intelligent, but this was a bit much. This clearly isn't ready to be a desktop PC's OS. I'm all for them using Windows 8 to compete in the tablet market, but I don't think that it's got much of a future for becoming the OS of choice for the rest of us, at least not in the near future. It needs to be a heck of a lot more intuitive and controllable.

 

[Guest]

I must say... with speeds like that, you'd be hard-pressed to get in an F8, if ever a safeboot is required

 

[fletchoid]

I have been playing with the download for a couple of days now and so far I am not impressed. I am having a heck of a time finding things, and figuring out how to get out of something once I get into it. I bought my first Android smartphone ever a few weeks back and it took me about an hour to figure out where everything was and how to use it. No such luck with this OS. I consider myself a power user of Windows 7 on my home computer, an experienced user of Mac OSX, which I use at work, a fairly competent noob with Linux, and a total noob with Android on my smartphone. Windows 8 so far has me flummoxed. I then watched a video demonstration by Sinofsky, where he wanted to show how a traditional Windows 7 program looked in Windows 8, and what a laugh... he had trouble finding it!! This better be a really crude alpha version, or Microsoft is in a lot of trouble. Could this be Vista 2 the sequel?

 

[Julio Franco]

@Guest "I really couldn't read past the sentence 'Windows 8 will likely determine the company's future and its relevance in the industry.' "

Microsoft recognizes the future of personal computing is not just inside desktop and laptop PCs, but in equal measure on tablets, smartphones, home entertainment systems (like the Xbox) and other form factors.

They have a dominant position in computers and are doing well with the Xbox, but are seriously lacking in the mobile department. And so I will say it again, Windows 8 which is their next-gen OS for many of these devices will dictate their future, not their present.

 

[Guest]

its typical windows ......cr@p

 

[pmshah]

Just wondering :

How many auto configuring scripts will it break or What new scripting language will we have to learn? I am still not over with the Win 7 changes!.

 

[Det]

You guys post such weird comments. Don't know how else to say it.

 

[sammydad1]

I finally had to go look for some information about how to disable the "Start - Metro" Thankfully I found such a handy utility by googling.... It resets the registry item to make the start button behave like WIndows 7....So now I can actually turn off or restart instead of having to go hunting each time....

Of course this was after I got one of the new CSOD - Clown Screen of Death (my phrase) that wouldn't go away after rebooting,,,,some crash in Wdf01000.sys wouldn't let me boot to login so I had to re-install the preview (Refresh)....

Luckily it kept my dual boot stuff intact...crossing fingers for future reference...