Windows 8

Discussion in 'The Recliner' started by Hicks, May 2, 2012.

  1. Hicks
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    Hicks Retired GC

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    Has anybody installed the Preview of Windows 8? I have installed the 64bit version on my laptop on another partition thus leaving Windows 7 intact. Would like to get thoughts on what they think so far. I will grab some screen captures shortly and post, but at this stage I feel that unless you use a Windows Phone you won't have a clue what you are doing in Win 8.

    I can feel once the release happens people who work in the PC industry are going to get a lot of calls, "How do I do this" "Oh I can't load up this" "Where do I change that" and so forth, Pentu, now is the time to retire!

    The OS actually runs fairly quickly and surprised me to be honest, Laptop spec's are pretty good though, so it's chewing it up what I have been doing. Some of the features are similar to the XBox as well. Anyway, please post up guys and gals.

    Windows 8 Desktop
    Win8desktop.jpg

    Windows 8 PC Settings
    Win8PCSettings.jpg
     
  2. Goldleader
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    Goldleader OLDr

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    looks interesting, might do same on my Laptop and give it a go.
     
  3. Hicks
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    Hicks Retired GC

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    If you do Goldy, make sure it's on a separate partition so you still have your normal installation of Win7 etc.
     
  4. Goldleader
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    Goldleader OLDr

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    Will do, already have Win 7 and Linux on seperate partitions.
     
  5. Ketsu

    Ketsu OLDr

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    Hicks I'm sure I read in an early review on Win8 that you could change the layout back to the traditional view that we know and perhaps love.
    The tablet style is mainly for touch screen users, aka tablets and their ilk.

    This may have only been available in the early releases of Win8...
     
  6. Hicks
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    Hicks Retired GC

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    You can switch to a normal desktop but not much there at the moment, it's growing on me slowly Kets, the option you are talking about though might be the one that was removed from this version, they want to try and force the change, but for games I don't know if it will work, I might install some games on Win8 on the weekend and see if they run and how well.
     
  7. pentu

    pentu Retired GC

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    I'm way ahead of you, Hicks, I showed our hotel manager how to drive Win 8 in Saigon in February.

    Yes you can change the desktop!!
     
  8. Delanjp

    Delanjp OLDr

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    Windows 8 will be another Windows ME. I cant see it taking off on pc's , I first installed it on a laptop back in February and removed it within a month. The Laptop was an i5 with 8gig of ram. It was the most annoying interface I have ever seen and or used. It lasted less than a month on the laptop. I would not call it user friendly, I would not call it tech friendly. And Hick's I see you finally found it. :rolleyes:
     
  9. Hicks
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    Hicks Retired GC

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    Was invited end of last year but CBF then to have a look at it, only just got the motivation lately and it's not that great, Pentu that feature was removed I've been told for this release, because I use my laptop mainly for work I haven't had the time to sit there and go through it all, would like to be able to change it all though, might look into it soon.
     
  10. pentu

    pentu Retired GC

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    Good grief!
     
  11. Hicks
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    Hicks Retired GC

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    If you know Pentu if you can change it let me know, judging by today I might get the time to look while at work, was pretty quiet, mostly broken screens from people dropping laptops and yes, one was run over by a car!
     
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  12. Goldleader
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    Probably won't bother then
     
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  13. Delanjp

    Delanjp OLDr

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    I wouldn't bother unless they change it a lot
     
  14. Hicks
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    Hicks Retired GC

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    Have to agree with Del, sadly I have left my laptop at work and won't be in till Monday, so it gets to stay there....
     
  15. pentu

    pentu Retired GC

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    The desktop is changed as in Win 7 but that stupid home page is inviolate :(
     
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  16. Hicks
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    Hicks Retired GC

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    Yeah, it's not user friendly at all :(
     
  17. CFodder
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    CFodder Site Annihilator

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    I looked at that and thought never in a f@$#% thousand years!!
     
  18. Delanjp

    Delanjp OLDr

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    10 hurdles Windows 8 must clear to succeed

    By Justin James
    June 1, 2012, 3:13 PM PDT
    Takeaway: Microsoft has launched the Windows 8 Release Preview and is shooting for RTM in two months. But Justin James foresees some major obstacles in the path of the OS.
    When Windows 7 launched, it was a huge success for Microsoft. Its biggest challenges were the lingering anger around Vista and the satisfaction with XP. Windows 8 is being launched into a totally different set of market conditions and with the ambitious goal of unifying all form factors onto one operating system. Here are 10 challenges Windows 8 will need to conquer to be a success.
    1: The Metro UI

    Make no mistake about it: An awful lot of people are pretty unhappy with Metro. From my use of Metro on a Windows 8 VM and a Windows Phone 7 device for more than a year, I can tell you that there is a night-and-day difference between Metro on a desktop and Metro on a touch screen. Not only is Metro really different from the traditional Windows UI, but even in the Consumer Preview, it feels like the mouse is a second-class citizen to touch. Unless Microsoft can get this right, a lot of first impressions of Metro will be bad.
    2: PC OEMs — can they finally get tablets right?

    Microsoft’s fate is closely tied to the ability of its partners to get things right. The problem is, Windows 8 is as much (if not more so) of an OS for mobile form factors with touch UIs (tablets, smartphones) as it is for desktops and laptops. And this is the exact market that PC OEMs have proven bad at penetrating for around 10 years now. Sure, there have been some successes (like the iPaq line of PDAs). But there have been many more instances where the PC OEMs just could not figure out how to give customers what they wanted.
    3: iPad, iPhones, and Android

    Windows 8 on tablets is going head-to-head with the well-established iPad. In fact, the iPad is so dominant in tablets Android can’t get much traction at all, despite its success in phones. All the same, Microsoft is trying to push Windows 8 tablets. On the phone front, WP7 has been facing a huge uphill battle against iPhone and Android, despite much critical acclaim and a vocal and enthusiastic user base. Windows 8 on a phone will not be much different from WP7 to most users. If WP7 has been having it tough, Windows 8 is not likely to do much better in phones. Windows 8 for mobile form factors feels like a solution in search of a problem for many users.
    4: Distrust of cloud

    Windows 8 leverages cloud technologies in a great many ways, and it makes the OS easy to use. It’s pretty slick to sign into a brand new Windows 8 install and have all your contacts there, Facebook integration, etc. At the same time, this integration will raise all sorts of red flags to corporate IT departments, which will want to either cripple the devices or take a wait-and-see approach to moving to Windows 8, looking for folks to show exactly what data goes where and how… and how to stop it.
    5: No Active Directory support on ARM

    Windows 8’s big market advantage should be that it can allow tablets and phones to work as a seamless part of Active Directory, but this is not supported on ARM architecture. While Microsoft is giving corporate IT admins ways of managing Windows 8 devices, IT departments tend to prefer consolidation, not proliferation of management tools. Microsoft is going to have to work hard to prove to IT departments that they do not need Active Directory integration for ARM devices.
    6: Brand new app market

    The only way — other than developers testing — to get Windows 8-native applications (Metro applications) is through the app store. The question is, “Will the app store launch with a good number of apps?” Microsoft really surprised me with how many apps WP7 launched with, and it has been even more aggressive about getting apps into the Windows 8 app market early. And anything it can do to allow an easy port of WP7 apps to Windows 8 will be a huge help, especially if it is “no work required,” since the WP7 app store is around the 100,000 app mark at the time of this writing.
    7: Microsoft Office

    Microsoft has been taking steps to bring Office to other platforms (notably iOS), and when it does, that will reduce Windows lock-in quite a bit. It is also working hard to expand its Web reach with Office. Add it up, and users’ biggest reason to need Windows goes away, unless they depend on plug-ins that won’t work on other platforms.
    8: The economy

    The economy still stinks. A large part of getting a new OS into the market depends on people buying PCs, and a lot of folks are choosing to do without a new computer because of the cost.
    9: Longer refresh cycles

    While computers keep getting faster, most applications are not getting more demanding. It used to be that you needed to be on the cutting edge of hardware to keep up with software, but no more. Now, even budget hardware from years ago is still more than adequate to run most applications. That means that the refresh cycle that used to be three years is being stretched to four, five, and beyond. To make it worse, the companies that skipped Vista are now moving (or recently moved) to Windows 7, and they’re not in a hurry to do another migration.
    10: Windows 7

    Microsoft is its own biggest competitor with Windows 8 on the desktop and laptop. Windows 7 has been a big success, and for good reason: It delivers on the promises Microsoft has been making now for so long regarding security and reliability. Windows 7 finally “just works.” All the consumers and IT departments that have been clinging to XP far past its prime will be doing the same with Windows 7, and Microsoft is not likely to get them to jump onto the Windows 8 train easily.
     
  19. Beavis

    Beavis OLDr

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    I think they will struggle to convince people to upgrade,the same as many were hesitant to upgrade from XP to Vista.I actually had a good experience with Vista,
    I was running the Utli 64 bit version and once I sorted out the drivers,I had pretty much trouble free computing.

    Windows 7 has hit the sweet spot for most people,easy to use,minimal driver issues (except with older devices)..........there would have to be a pretty sweet W8 carrot out there for me to upgrade.
     
  20. Fezza
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    Fezza OLDr Admin (occasionally)

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    I can't even stand the look of a Windows phone! Let alone my PC lookin' like that. I've gotten to like Win7 and it's pretty stable for all that I need it to be so yeah, much like you Beavis.
     

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