News - Microsoft Windows 8 Release Preview now available

[avi8tor]

"Microsoft may look to drop Outlook after the next release of Office"...
And replace with what!?

Oh God no!!!

[Zeven]

At the risk of sounding obnoxious, I have not read much positive news regarding Windows 8 apart from a few outliers here and there. Do you guys think that Linux will benefit from this, and more importantly, gaming on Linux?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

At the risk of sounding obnoxious, I have not read much positive news regarding Windows 8 apart from a few outliers here and there. Do you guys think that Linux will benefit from this, and more importantly, gaming on Linux?

AFAIK,Steam is heading to Linux.

[spoon_]

"Microsoft may look to drop Outlook after the next release of Office"...
And replace with what!?

Oh God no!!!

Web based interface? Exchange/Outlook is a dead horse for some time now...

[Zeven]

AFAIK,Steam is heading to Linux.

Gabe expressing great disinterest in Windows 8 and Steam coming to Linux were pieces of news that arrived at the same time, correct, but do you more knowledgeable folk than I anticipate that Linux usage will increase thanks to Windows 8 not being received well at the current moment in time?

[Steve]

Gabe expressing great disinterest in Windows 8 and Steam coming to Linux were pieces of news that arrived at the same time, correct, but do you more knowledgeable folk than I anticipate that Linux usage will increase thanks to Windows 8 not being received well at the current moment in time?

Windows 8 doesn't have a competitor in Linux. Windows 8's biggest competitor is Windows 7, much like Vista's (and to some extent 7's) biggest threat was XP.

That said, if Valve does produce a Linux platform for gaming, that'll help Linux... but it'll be competing with consoles, not Windows. Desktop Linux users may benefit from this, but I doubt it'll see people running from Windows, unless they already wanted to anyway - not that many people are sat waiting for Linux to be good for gaming before they move over.

[Output]

Gabe expressing great disinterest in Windows 8 and Steam coming to Linux were pieces of news that arrived at the same time, correct, but do you more knowledgeable folk than I anticipate that Linux usage will increase thanks to Windows 8 not being received well at the current moment in time?

Not that I'd consider myself more knowledgeable than anybody else, but in such a case I believe that most people are still likely to just continue to buy Windows 7 instead of heading to Linux.

That isn't to say that there won't be an increase of Linux usage due to it, but for the general user not clued up on Linux, I would suspect 7 to be the most likely route for them if they don't like 8.

EDIT: Basically, what Steve said above.

[alex_stanhope]

Has anyone seen any virtualisation benchmarks for Win8? I'm increasingly thinking about Mac (laptop) hardware but I can't leave behind Windows. Whenever I'm in the market for a copy of Windows+Office (like next month after the new MacBook Pro launch at WWDC), I'm always reluctant to buy outgoing versions. Win8 and Office 2012 may well appear in September, and the under-the-hood changes (@tribaljet) could make for a good guest OS.

[Zeven]

Windows 8 doesn't have a competitor in Linux. Windows 8's biggest competitor is Windows 7, much like Vista's (and to some extent 7's) biggest threat was XP.

That said, if Valve does produce a Linux platform for gaming, that'll help Linux... but it'll be competing with consoles, not Windows. Desktop Linux users may benefit from this, but I doubt it'll see people running from Windows, unless they already wanted to anyway - not that many people are sat waiting for Linux to be good for gaming before they move over.

Will Windows 7 still be available for purchase with Windows 8 available? As in, will Microsoft still print disks and offer downloads of Windows 7? They seem rather intent on pushing Windows 8 to the masses. I am not disagreeing at all as I see what you mean, especially with you referring to past scenarios.

Regarding the bit about Valve producing a Linux platform for gaming, would every game coming out for this Valve console running Linux be available for desktop Linux operating systems which anyone can download and install for free or is my understanding of the matter too simple? That way Valve could get the PC crowd running Linux as well as the console crowd.

Not that I'd consider myself more knowledgeable than anybody else, but in such a case I believe that most people are still likely to just continue to buy Windows 7 instead of heading to Linux.

That isn't to say that there won't be an increase of Linux usage due to it, but for the general user not clued up on Linux, I would suspect 7 to be the most likely route for them if they don't like 8.

EDIT: Basically, what Steve said above.

I see. Is Microsoft obliged to continue selling Windows 7? I know that they have to support their product, but do they have to continue selling it alongside Windows 8?

[Bambooz]

It seems like Microsoft has gone "ALL IN" with Metro and is not liking any attempt to get rid of it. I would be happy to use W8 as long as I can install my own start menu like Start8 from Stardock or Start Menu7.

Classicshell can bring the start menu back (even in the RP)
http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/features.html

Not my screenshot, in German and in a VM, but it proves my point


By the way.. if you want to try Win8 RP out and don't want to use MS' stupid downloader, here are the direct links to the ISO images
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=251533 (32Bit ; English ; 2.5GB)
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=251532 (64Bit ; English ; 3.3GB)

edit: Oh yeah.. almost forgot. The product key for Win8 Release Preview is TK8TP-9JN6P-7X7WW-RFFTV-B7QPF
It's the same for all languages and both 32 and 64 bit (just like on Win7)

[Output]

I see. Is Microsoft obliged to continue selling Windows 7? I know that they have to support their product, but do they have to continue selling it alongside Windows 8?

I doubt that they are required to, but whether they will withdraw it from sale obviously remains to be seen. This is purely speculation on my part, but I don't think that they will withdraw it as with the negativity towards 8 at the moment, it would surely mean a lot of unhappy people.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Classicshell can bring the start menu back (even in the RP)
http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/features.html

Not my screenshot, in German and in a VM, but it proves my point


By the way.. if you want to try Win8 RP out and don't want to use MS' stupid downloader, here are the direct links to the ISO images
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=251533 (32Bit ; English ; 2.5GB)
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=251532 (64Bit ; English ; 3.3GB)

edit: Oh yeah.. almost forgot. The product key for Win8 Release Preview is TK8TP-9JN6P-7X7WW-RFFTV-B7QPF
It's the same for all languages and both 32 and 64 bit (just like on Win7)

http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/31/30...y-code-removal

"Microsoft appears to be taking steps to remove legacy code from its Windows 8 operating system that will prevent modifications and hacks to re-enable the Start button and Start Menu. Windows watcher Paul Thurrott reports that the company has been "furiously ripping out" legacy code in Windows 8 recently that lets third parties bring back the Start button, Start Menu, and other legacy parts of the desktop interface. Thurrott claims that several well-known UI hacks that enabled the Start Button in the Consumer Preview do not work on the Release Preview.

Despite a growing debate over Metro on desktop PCs, Microsoft doesn't appear to be willing to offer a choice of traditional desktop or Metro with its upcoming Windows 8 release, opting to continue to fuse the pair together. Thurrott claims there will not be an option to boot directly into the desktop for business or power users, and that Windows Server 12 will also boot into Metro. Microsoft's approach will anger some who prefer the traditional desktop over the new fullscreen Metro world, but the focus is on convincing developers to build Metro style apps. The Windows 8 Release Preview will debut today, where we're expecting to see some improvements for multi monitor setups and tweaks to some of the core Metro style applications, but Microsoft has already revealed that it plans to drop the Aero UI before RTM so there's clearly room for additional changes before the operating system ships later this year."

Its all a ploy to force people to develope Metro apps only,as MS can push these into the app store and make a cut out of it. TBH,its not even the flipping start menu loss which I find annoying,its the inefficient use of space on larger monitors,and even though I find the RP a bit better,the desktop experience is still meh.

The retail version will probably have that functionality blocked it seems.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Here is a list of Windows 8 keyboard shortcuts:

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/4589...tips-non-touch

[crossy]

Windows 8 doesn't have a competitor in Linux. Windows 8's biggest competitor is Windows 7, much like Vista's (and to some extent 7's) biggest threat was XP. That said, if Valve does produce a Linux platform for gaming, that'll help Linux... but it'll be competing with consoles, not Windows. Desktop Linux users may benefit from this, but I doubt it'll see people running from Windows, unless they already wanted to anyway - not that many people are sat waiting for Linux to be good for gaming before they move over.

First part's correct, the second less so - imho of course!

Yes, folks may look at the nasty POS that's Windows8 desktop and decide that they want to stay with something familiar and, to be brutally honest, a lot less compromised. I'm firmly in that camp - I can't see anything so far that'll convinced me that I need to spend all that money on an "upgrade" when the current Windows 7 suits what I do. That said, since I already use a Linux system as my main machine, then the availability of mainstream titles on Linux would go a long way to dropping Windows from my desktop machine too - probably for it to become merely a VM. Apart from Photoshop, the only thing I use my Windows machine for these days is gaming - despite having an XBox.

Problem with Linux is that it's STILL got this label of "geeks only" - despite being easier to look after. E.g. software updates - if you stick to the standard repos then it's pretty much a no-brainer, and that includes doing your apps. Compare that with the updater market that you have for Windows.

If Ubuntu etc wanted to win some more share (desktop Linux share has apparently been dropping!) then a PR push around the time on the Windows 8 launch might not be a bad idea.