News - Microsoft Windows 8 hits RTM, MSDN downloads on the 15th

[Hicks12]

Yes its easier, if you wanted to select a program in windows 7 you had to press start button to open the menu then click all programs and navigate to the program you wanted to but in windows 8 you open metro which is full screen all programs already, no extra clicking really .

I dont mean its cut out a million steps but it is slightly easier i.e another win for Windows 8.

[cjs150]

Dangel: I look forward to hearing your report on using W8 on an HTPC. Might take me a while to complete build on mine (finances again!).

Kingpotnoodle: "Sure it's not perfect, but it's a big improvement on Windows 7 when used on late 2012 hardware, with late 2012 use-cases - i.e. TOUCH! The hardware world has gone all touchy feely and Microsoft absolutely had to follow the market or become outdated". I thought about this as I typed this response and I am afraid you have become a victim of fashion. Touch is perfect on tablets and mobile phones but on a desktop it is not the way forward. I have a reasonable large screen for my desktop - I can barely reach it, so Touch is obviously not sensible on that.

[dangel]

Dangel: I look forward to hearing your report on using W8 on an HTPC. Might take me a while to complete build on mine (finances again!).

I fear WMC may disappear altogether in 9 but we'll have to wait and see. In theory it should be a good OS for an HTPC given the speed of it / use of resources. My folks have got an ION based system running 7 atm and it'll be very interesting to see if that sees any improvement (it's a very slow system compared to mine). I'm expect WMC to basically be the same in 8 (i.e. no real improvements).

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Saw this:

http://www.extremetech.com/computing...tall-a-program

Supposedly,it can be disabled,but a lot of non-techy people would not be aware of this.

[ben1066]

I fear WMC may disappear altogether in 9 but we'll have to wait and see. In theory it should be a good OS for an HTPC given the speed of it / use of resources. My folks have got an ION based system running 7 atm and it'll be very interesting to see if that sees any improvement (it's a very slow system compared to mine). I'm expect WMC to basically be the same in 8 (i.e. no real improvements).

I don't see the big deal with WMC being phased out, it's been far surpassed by other programs such as XMBC in functionality.

[dangel]

I don't see the big deal with WMC being phased out, it's been far surpassed by other programs such as XMBC in functionality.

...for TV recording and scheduling?

[Hicks12]

Dangel I recall reading that the WMC will be available as a free add on to anyone who has windows 8 Pro so I think you should be alright with your MSDNA , I will try and find a link but I swear it said that.

[dangel]

Dangel I recall reading that the WMC will be available as a free add on to anyone who has windows 8 Pro so I think you should be alright with your MSDNA , I will try and find a link but I swear it said that.

Unfortunately I cannot try WMC under 8 yet as it's not possible to get a key for the addon (and rumour is that this won't change until general release).