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Along with Server 2012 Release Candidate.
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Along with Server 2012 Release Candidate.
Have they fixed shutting down with a mouse yet? Finding the magical spot that bought down the top menu was so frustrating I gave up on the dev preview and haven't been back since!
I tried the previous preview version just a couple of days ago... for five minutes... then quit.
But I spend 99% of my time in Linux, only firing up a Win 7 VM if I really need to run PowerPoint.
If you thought Ubuntu's Unity interface was annoying (I've kind of got used to it), then wait until you've tried Win 8 without a touchscreen.
Unity is a dream to use in comparison with Windows 8. Even a touch screen for massive desktop displays won't make the interface any better to use, it still utilises way too much desktop space unnecessarily. Putting designs meant for small 5' displays onto big 24' displays makes me think they are crazy.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve
I can't say I'm impressed with Win8. Hate the Metro look and feel. Totally pointless on a Desktop PC as touch is merely a gimmick on most people's PCs. Also both Metro and the new Desktop theme looks flat and dull.
I've never been a fan of the ribbon toolbars and find them more trouble than their worth.
My wife uses PCs at work and ours at home, but is not a Techie by any stretch of the imagination and she says she hates the new look and feel too!
All MS, etc. keep showing off are the Tablet/phone style 'Apps', but what about the 'Serious' users?
What are the advantages for those of use who actually 'work' on PCs? Those of us who use Programs like Photoshop, 3D Studio Max, Adobe Premiere, Adobe After Effects, Sony Soundforge, Autodesk AutoCAD, Bespoke software managing huge (1 Million+) databases of customer details, etc., etc.?
To me Win8 seems like MS trying to get into the gimmick sector of Tablets and Smart Phones. The province of Twitter, and Facebook, of amateur photography and listening to music. But they seem to have neglet the majority of users who actually use very heavy duty software to actually work... Remember work MS? It's the thing you do between Tweeting your mates, and taking stupid pictures!
My wife works for the council and they don't allow access to Twitter, Facebook or online shopping sites from ANY of their PCs. They use several different bespoke programs that all have to be running at once and she has to switch between them all the time. Their email accounts block ALL pictures and emails that contain 'dodgy' words or links. Also they (the Council) don't allow the staff to do anything other than use the set software (the terminals have no disc drives or accessable USB ports, etc). Several other people we know have all said their companies are the same and getting more and more restrictive to both reduce downtime, maintance requests and non-work related use! They wouyld never allow them to use Windows 8 in a million years!
Oh and none of them have ever used a touchscreen in work, and hate the ones used in shops, etc.
Been running it since consumer preview, no different to windows 7 really if you install vistart. Few nice multi monitor additions.
I wonder if Windows 8 will be an epic fail.... Seems to be shaping up to a fail.... Windows 7 works perfectly. Windows 8 brings nothing to the table that people need or really care about.
Jesus, Microsoft's sound editors need to lay off the loudness dial.
Windows 8 forte (for techies) is the under the hood improvements, from a reduced memory footprint, more responsive OS, improved performance on 2D and 3D scenarios through the new WDDM, better multi-monitor support and not much more. Unfortunately, what's being peddled all over is the visual side of the OS, namely the apparently non optional touch nonsense. But I honestly believe kernel optimizations while retaining similar functionality to Windows 7 are enough to warrant upgrading, as long as techies remember to install the classic start menu once Windows 8 is installed.
That's not much of a recommendation - "hey, add some software and this new (expensive?) doohickey will work just the same as the one you've already got".Quote:
Originally Posted by mark22
Not getting at you - but if that's the "value proposition" for Windows8 then I'm definitely going to "pass". ;)
Can't uninstall the store? It's the only new thing you can't get rid of... It's even worse than IE. At least you can uninstall that...
This was mentioned on another forum:Quote:
Originally Posted by crossy
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/sho...6&postcount=60
It looks like MS is might lock out things like vistart.
If you're listening to people then why are you f***ing removing the start button? Or any hacks to get it back?
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.
This also confirms my suspicion that Microsoft want to lock people in because if they bypass the Metro side of things they have no need for their store or stupid apps.
Is there any source to that Start Menu thing? A post by someone on OCUK saying they 'think' they remember reading it is hardly confirmation. It's stuff like that which causes silly rumours like the 'no Flash in IE10 Metro' (what they actually said was 'no plug-ins') or 'Nokia aren't developing any more versions of Symbian' (they internally renamed 'Carla' to 'Belle FP1'). Pointless getting worked up over stuff that someone/some people on the Internet may or may not have pulled out of his/her collective ass(es).
On the other bit, listening to people is just that. It's collating opinion and using that as part of the decision-making process. Many changes to Windows 8 have been made off the back of user-feedback. It would seem that the new 'Start Menu' is key to the Windows 8/Metro design, while the corners thing seems to be a way to maintain UI consistency between touch and non-touch devices.
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.
"Microsoft may look to drop Outlook after the next release of Office"...
And replace with what!?
Oh God no!!!
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zeven
Web based interface? Exchange/Outlook is a dead horse for some time now...Quote:
Originally Posted by avi8tor
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?Quote:
Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zeven
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.
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zeven
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. :P
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.
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve
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.
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?Quote:
Originally Posted by Output
Classicshell can bring the start menu back (even in the RP)Quote:
Originally Posted by Noxvayl
http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/features.html
Not my screenshot, in German and in a VM, but it proves my point ;)
http://pixelbanane.de/yafu/thumbnail...assicshell.jpg
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)
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zeven
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bambooz
The retail version will probably have that functionality blocked it seems.Quote:
Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH
Here is a list of Windows 8 keyboard shortcuts:
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/4589...tips-non-touch
First part's correct, the second less so - imho of course!Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve
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.