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Windows 8 Consumer Preview Feedback Thread

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Deeko said:
Windows 8 can run Windows 7 programs and multitask. Essentially the biggest change is the start menu becoming the start screen, otherwise you can still use the OS like you would have.
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Except as I understand it, that doesn't apply to the new metro apps and basically everything they're doing going forward. Everything new about win 8 seems useless at best and intrusive at worst to a traditional PC user. It's not like they're forking 8 off...this is their new vision for the laptop. It just seems insane to force this where it doesn't really work.
 
Either it doesn't work correctly on virtual box, or I'm missing something, but it has these hidden bars on the sides that pop out to show you opened windows and the "start" button is not a button, you just hold your mouse to the lower left corner of the screen and it appears. Is this correct?
 
Scouzer said:
Well, I installed this for poops on my HTPC last night. What a piece of shit. Totally disappointed.

It's basically Windows 7 with an incredibly intrusive, low function Metro UI slapped on top. The Metro UI has very little integration with the rest of Windows and really feels like third party software, not part of the core OS. I can't believe this is all Microsoft has accomplished since the release of Windows 7.

The tradition holds true--only buy every other version of Windows.
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How were you able to install it last night given that it was available for download at 6AM in Pacific Time in the US? Did you get it somewhere else? Was it the Developer Preview or the Consumer Preview?
 
I'm downloading it too in order to throw it on a test machine, but based on the developer preview I don't think I will be moving to this version anytime soon.
 
Still not convinced. I think this will do well in the tablet/touch market and with Microsofts might will definitely get some decent marketshare.

But for desktop.....I'm not convinced. Playing around with it I really wonder how this will fit into a corporate environment. I wonder if the "professional" edition will blitz the metro?
 
I like how people act like Metro UI is the only thing they changed. 😛

I'm more interested in the under the hood improvements, it's supposed to have better memory management, better performance with multicore CPUs which will be nice for people running 8 core Bulldozers or 4C/8T Sandy Bridge, new file system (finally), etc. Metro UI doesn't seem like my cup of tea (although I've yet to try it, so I probably shouldn't judge), but as long as you can go back to the classic desktop I don't really care about Metro.
 
But that's the thing...the classic desktop has been bastardized to support this UI that just doesn't belong on a desktop or laptop. Instead of improving the desktop experience, they're pushing it aside. Their new paradigm doesn't mix with the old...it's like mixing oil and water.
 
BD2003 said:
But that's the thing...the classic desktop has been bastardized to support this UI that just doesn't belong on a desktop or laptop. Instead of improving the desktop experience, they're pushing it aside. Their new paradigm doesn't mix with the old...it's like mixing oil and water.
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It should be bastardized.... the classic desktop is only there for backwards compatibility (I would bet in the next version of windows it won't even be there). They just can't completely cut off all those legacy apps/users yet so they did this version where its still there but is no longer the focus.

If you actually spend some time using it you get used to it on mouse/kb. It actually works quite well but it does force you to "forget" what you have done for the past 20 yrs which is a jarring adjustment.
 
Too many people here that are afraid of change. Face it, for better or worse computing is moving in this direction. If we believe that this is the "post-pc" era or that computing in general is going more mobile, this hold true even more.
 
Chiropteran said:
Going to give this a try, but so far doesn't look like anything I'd pay money for.

I think I will "W8 for windows 9"
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Clever 😎. Just don't expect metro UI to go away. The traditional desktop will also probably be gone for good too.
 
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arod said:
It should be bastardized.... the classic desktop is only there for backwards compatibility (I would bet in the next version of windows it won't even be there). They just can't completely cut off all those legacy apps/users yet so they did this version where its still there but is no longer the focus.

If you actually spend some time using it you get used to it on mouse/kb. It actually works quite well but it does force you to "forget" what you have done for the past 20 yrs which is a jarring adjustment.
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But how is it an *improvement* for desktop/laptop users? The desktop is still very important....why should it suffer for the needs of tablets and smartphones? Why would we want to go back to full screen apps when moving away from them was one of the major advances of like twenty years ago? How is this actually *better* (and not just different) than what we already have for a desktop?

It might very well be the greatest touch interface ever conceived....I'm just not seeing *why* its being kludged onto kb/mouse driven desktops and laptops.
 
BD2003 said:
But how is it an *improvement* for desktop/laptop users? The desktop is still very important....why should it suffer for the needs of tablets and smartphones? Why would we want to go back to full screen apps when moving away from them was one of the major advances of like twenty years ago? How is this actually *better* (and not just different) than what we already have for a desktop?

It might very well be the greatest touch interface ever conceived....I'm just not seeing *why* its being kludged onto kb/mouse driven desktops and laptops.
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^^I agree 100%
 
If Microsoft doesn't include a "classic desktop mode" interface option, they really ought to. The Metro interface is mostly designed for touch screens (as far as I can tell) which only a very low percentage of Windows 8 users are going to have as available-to-use hardware.
 
I've been using this for the last few hours and I'm just blown away by how crap it is for a desktop. No idea what Microsoft were thinking but god help us all.

Do.Not.Want.
 
BehindEnemyLines said:
How were you able to install it last night given that it was available for download at 6AM in Pacific Time in the US? Did you get it somewhere else? Was it the Developer Preview or the Consumer Preview?
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You are correct, I was on the DP. Regardless, I doubt the changes were utterly dramatic between DP and CP and my impressions are equally poor.
 
StinkyPinky said:
I've been using this for the last few hours and I'm just blown away by how crap it is for a desktop. No idea what Microsoft were thinking but god help us all.

Do.Not.Want.
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They were thinking: Lets design a OS that works on everything and is particularly suited to nothing. We'll saddle desktop users with touch paradigms that make absolutely no sense in that environment. That way we can bring back the traditional aggravation with windows that we did so much to alleviate with windows 7. Then let's drag 20 years of desktop baggage onto tablets, because that's been working so well in all our past tablet attempts.

They introduce an app store into a desktop OS, where touch is practically nonexistent, where you can only buy touch applications. Seriously????

I've got nothing against microsoft as a company. I actually liked Vista quite a bit. (I even wrote the tweak guide that was stickied here for years). Everyone loved Windows 7 because it was a great desktop OS that brought with it some brilliant ideas FOR THE DESKTOP, like the taskbar and superior window management. Instead of spending the last 3 years thinking about how they can make windows a better desktop OS, they literally spent their time on how to make it a worse one. Apple has been slowly porting over some features from their touch OS, but only if it makes sense, and tailors it for a desktop. For instance: Their desktop app store sells desktop apps. That's not a work of genius, thats common sense!
 
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