Windows 8 Consumer Preview Feedback Thread

[gmaster456]

EDIT: Also, using the email app, weather, messaging... How do you re-open parts you closed?? Or change settings at all? All I can do is click on something to move forward or move back by clicking an arrow.......

To go to settings up open up the settings menu in the charms bar.
And to go through currently running apps, go to the top left corner and slide your mouse strait down. It's really not that hard when you get the hang of things.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

6 Ways to Totally Avoid Metro and Use Only Desktop Mode in Windows 8

http://gizmodo.com/5891926/6-ways-to-totally-avoid-metro-and-use-only-desktop-mode-in-windows-8

Although it would be nice if there was an easier way to do this...

 

[Jaskalas]

6 Ways to Totally Avoid Metro and Use Only Desktop Mode in Windows 8

http://gizmodo.com/5891926/6-ways-to-totally-avoid-metro-and-use-only-desktop-mode-in-windows-8

Although it would be nice if there was an easier way to do this...

That's actually a nice summary of how they wronged the desktop users and why the hassle is a reason for us to avoid it.

 

[Muyoso]

Nifty video on their YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9Fczo6E5gE&feature=player_embedded

Stopped watching 8 seconds in when they use the mouse to click on the horizontal scroll bar and drag it back and forth. If THAT is their UI choice, they fail. That is ridiculous.

 

[VirtualLarry]

6 Ways to Totally Avoid Metro and Use Only Desktop Mode in Windows 8

http://gizmodo.com/5891926/6-ways-to-totally-avoid-metro-and-use-only-desktop-mode-in-windows-8

Although it would be nice if there was an easier way to do this...

The thing is, why should anyone HAVE to go through that elaborate process.

At what point, has MS stopped providing a market need (for OS, etc), and at what point are they using their monopoly to dictate how people use their computers?

This whole Win8 thing, is really making me want to wipe my main machine, and install some flavor of Linux.

 

[gmaster456]

The thing is, why should anyone HAVE to go through that elaborate process.

At what point, has MS stopped providing a market need (for OS, etc), and at what point are they using their monopoly to dictate how people use their computers?

This whole Win8 thing, is really making me want to wipe my main machine, and install some flavor of Linux.

Unless you've used linux and are comfortable with it, you will still have the same, if not a worse learning curve.

 

[rockyct]

Vista was slower than Win XP, had serious launch issues, and offered barely any new functionality. So people hated it. Win 7 was faster, the taskbar was a HUGE improvement, and it had a rock solid launch. So people loved it.

It had nothing to do with people finally accepting the vision of vista, everything to do with MS figuring out they couldn't shove a sub par product down people's throats and have us thank them for it. This is the mistake they're repeating yet again.

If metro 2 is going to be better, they need to hold it back until metro 2 is ready. This is bad enough to sour people on the idea entirely.

Windows has massive inertia, but not everyone accepts metro's inevitability. They're going to lose market share over this, and it remains to be seen if their new tablet sales can make up for it.

Win8 isn't going to have the same issues as Vista. The drivers are fine and right now Win8 runs better than Win7 on the same hardware. It will essentially be the same core Win8 OS running on PCs, tablets, and the phone.

You can blame the tech culture now for shipping something instead of perfecting something. It's better to get smaller releases out more often than infrequent major updates. By SP1, Vista had its issues figured out, mainly because the drivers finally got updated.

Pretty much the only groups right now not accepting metro are companies and power users. Face it, the crowd here is not your average computer user and there's no real indication that the average consumer prefers the desktop to the Metro UI.

 

[rockyct]

The thing is, why should anyone HAVE to go through that elaborate process.

At what point, has MS stopped providing a market need (for OS, etc), and at what point are they using their monopoly to dictate how people use their computers?

This whole Win8 thing, is really making me want to wipe my main machine, and install some flavor of Linux.

I think people have to learn that development of the desktop style UI is dead.

Microsoft has two directions to take; continue the directly evolution of Win7 and adapt it for tablets/phones, or embrace a UI shared among all devices. I truly believe that if Microsoft did not make a huge change now, it would be too late. They'd lose the entire mobile market. They are "losing" right now, but there is a chance to make an impact with Win8 and stay relevant.

 

[Dominato3r]

Stopped watching 8 seconds in when they use the mouse to click on the horizontal scroll bar and drag it back and forth. If THAT is their UI choice, they fail. That is ridiculous.

Scroll wheel, mouse click + drag and arrow keys work

 

[Sureshot324]

I think people have to learn that development of the desktop style UI is dead.

Microsoft has two directions to take; continue the directly evolution of Win7 and adapt it for tablets/phones, or embrace a UI shared among all devices. I truly believe that if Microsoft did not make a huge change now, it would be too late. They'd lose the entire mobile market. They are "losing" right now, but there is a chance to make an impact with Win8 and stay relevant.

Yeah, if phones run actual Windows 8, the same OS as desktops, I might actually consider one for my next phone.

 

[Muyoso]

Scroll wheel, mouse click + drag and arrow keys work

I understand. But when your promo material is showing a mouse dragging a horizontal scroll bar across the screen, thats when I stop watching as its obvious you have no clue what average people find tolerable. The fact that they are touting that as a feature is ridiculous, and its the FIRST thing they show. WTF.

 

[flexy]

There was times when i was VERY excited for new Windows OSes.
This is NOT one of them.

For me, this looks more like a desperate attempt by MS to establish itself in the tablet market - rather than improving their operating system.

A) How many geeks who like tablet computers would rather choose a Win8 tablet over an iPad? Why would they?

B) How do the millions of desktop users profit from this upgrade? What relevance (if any) has touch etc. for desktop users? Oh wait...none!

Thanks i pass. They can start on Win9 right now since 8 will fail, big time.

 

[postmortemIA]

Win8 desktop is there to advertise Win8 mobile. MS is soo behind in mobile space, so they want to leverage their desktop monopoly in order to gain traction in mobile space.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Win8 desktop is there to advertise Win8 mobile. MS is soo behind in mobile space, so they want to leverage their desktop monopoly in order to gain traction in mobile space.

This. Entirely. And it's going to fail, hardcore.

It might just be the death knell of the PC as we know it, rather than expand MS's market position into tablets, it might just do the opposite, and instead, kill the PC market.

 

[Muyoso]

I understand what MS is going for with Windows 8. They want to create tablets that can be used both as a tablet, and then docked as a laptop or desktop solution. The problem with that is that the market for such a thing is miniscule. Most people will rather have an iPad for many reasons including the Windows name, the established iPad brand, the iOS app advantage and the fact that the iPad doesn't dump you randomly into a desktop OS when you access certain settings or apps. So what about the professional or say a computer geek. They might be more open to a W8 tablet, but they are not gonna shell out 6-800 dollars for a convertible tablet. When they need to do work, they are not going to be doing it on a 10" screen with most likely crappy laptop accessories. They are gonna use a nice big LCD and a desktop.

 

[rockyct]

Yeah, if phones run actual Windows 8, the same OS as desktops, I might actually consider one for my next phone.

It's been unconfirmed, but there have been many leaks, that WP8 will run a core version of Win8 (not a version of WinCE) with compatibility for WP7 apps.

http://pocketnow.com/windows-phone/exclusive-windows-phone-8-detailed
http://www.phonearena.com/news/More...one-8-running-on-Windows-8s-NT-kernel_id27666

I don't think WP8 will run on current WP7 devices and so I'm sure they don't want to talk too much about it right now.

 

[WelshBloke]

Am not enjoying this version of Windows at all.

 

[WelshBloke]

Does every installed app get a bloody great big tile of its own?

Thats going to look horribly cluttered with a load of apps installed.

 

[grenis38]

What is the difference of win7 to win8 aside from the attach number? can any body tell me?

 

[Mem]

Installing Win8 now on my spare PC.
I had to remove Avast before install and was looking for a free AV when I realized Win8 has one built-in lol oh well saves me the time hunting for one.

I just hope my USB wireless NIC works (does in Win7) .
On 90% complete at the moment.

 

[Murloc]

I'm installing it on virtualbox right now but I didn't like what I read on the AT review.
I think there should be a choice to deactivate metro and get the start menu back.
On the other hand, one can find a way to use w8 without getting frustrated, it's not like they rape you. I only use the search function in the start menu anyway, and you can do that in w8 with the search "charm".
Some of the features are cool, especially the copy dialog thing.
But they aren't enough to make me need to upgrade, unlike vista and w7 that both brought increases in usability and efficency, at least for me, and it made it look better.

We'll see the final version...

maybe we can wait w9 anyway, because they are gonna get the strongest feedback from how much they sell it, and will know what people hate or avoid using at all. So yeah, new interface in w9, but with 2 years of user feedback in between.

 

[WelshBloke]

I'm installing it on virtualbox right now but I didn't like what I read on the AT review.
I think there should be a choice to deactivate metro and get the start menu back.
On the other hand, one can find a way to use w8 without getting frustrated, it's not like they rape you. I only use the search function in the start menu anyway, and you can do that in w8 with the search "charm".
Some of the features are cool, especially the copy dialog thing.
But they aren't enough to make me need to upgrade, unlike vista and w7 that both brought increases in usability and efficency, at least for me, and it made it look better.

We'll see the final version...

maybe we can wait w9 anyway, because they are gonna get the strongest feedback from how much they sell it, and will know what people hate or avoid using at all. So yeah, new interface in w9, but with 2 years of user feedback in between.

Just in case you have the same problem I had to faff around with the IDE controller to get it to boot in VirtualBox.

 

[Murloc]

Just in case you have the same problem I had to faff around with the IDE controller to get it to boot in VirtualBox.

I loaded the iso image in the IDE controller of the machine. I couldn't remember any other way to insert a virtual disc in virtualbox.

Anyway I think the interface really needs some work.
The hot corners is just bullshit.
90% of people will not remember where was what, also the bottomleft corner makes the start icon come up: I then move the mouse to click it just like in any program, but it disappears.
You have to actually click in the corner. That's unpractical.

This whole thing needs more work. You have to go all-in with the metro interface, which is good for smartphones and tablets.
But desktop + metro just doesn't work. And as of now, the desktop is more useful.
Maybe in 20 years computers like now won't exist anymore and everything will be a touch screen but that's not 99% of the computers people have now.

 

[WelshBloke]

I loaded the iso image in the IDE controller of the machine. I couldn't remember any other way to insert a virtual disc in virtualbox.

Anyway I think the interface really needs some work.
The hot corners is just bullshit.
90% of people will not remember where was what, also the bottomleft corner makes the start icon come up: I then move the mouse to click it just like in any program, but it disappears.
You have to actually click in the corner. That's unpractical.

This whole thing needs more work. You have to go all-in with the metro interface, which is good for smartphones and tablets.
But desktop + metro just doesn't work. And as of now, the desktop is more useful.
Maybe in 20 years computers like now won't exist anymore and everything will be a touch screen but that's not 99% of the computers people have now.

Yeah that pretty much sums up my feelings.

It looks like it would be ok on a tablet but its just a pain in the arse to use on a desktop.

 

[gammaray]

i installed windows 8 on a SSD 60gb i just got to try it.

Not bad seriously, it does everything windows 7 do and its just as fast. "Windows key" and you EASILY switch between metro ui and desktop UI.

That being said, being a user of windows since 3.1, i'd rather have the choice to disable entirely the metro ui and better yet, an option to remove it completely without a trace from the OS. I want the option, otherwise i'll keep using windows 7 for 10 years.