News - Windows 8 preview take-up is relatively sluggish

[HEXUS]

Lagging behind the Windows 7 experience.

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[edvinasm]

This release sounds like Windows ME or Vista to me. I am definitely skipping the train on this. Just purchased Windows 7 Ultimate and holding on to it.

[YenRug]

I think the biggest problem is the Metro interface, it's designed for a touch screen interface but being forced onto hardware that, in the main, doesn't have one. Whilst we keep on hearing that there is a "standard desktop" that you can switch to, I've yet to hear if that is a permanent option or something you have to do on every boot up.

[Englander]

I really struggled with Windows 8. I installed it with the intention of keeping it on my PC for a long time - as I did with Windows 7 - but the Metro interface just ruined it for me. I could not get over the fact that it all felt like it was designed first for smart phones/tablets, with a desktop button tacked on for desktop users. It had some very nice points, for example the tiny boot up time, but for me the damage was already done. I get the impression that this will go the way of Vista. Windows 7 itself does everything I want pretty well, for me it is like Windows XP about 5 years ago.

[cameronlite]

With regards to Mark Tyson's daughter and her touchscreen laptop, why would you not switch to metro if you have a touchscreen laptop?

I think the biggest problem is the Metro interface, it's designed for a touch screen interface but being forced onto hardware that, in the main, doesn't have one. Whilst we keep on hearing that there is a "standard desktop" that you can switch to, I've yet to hear if that is a permanent option or something you have to do on every boot up.

There is a standard desktop and you do have to switch to it on every boot. However because the start menu has been replaced by the metro interface, you'll constantly be returning to the metro UI to launch programs.

If you aren't interested in the metro part there are hacks that allow the old start menu to return. If you only want the desktop part, you might actually find the metro live tiles useful (tells you when to check facebook or emails without opening a browser).

[crossy]

Hmm, I've not got around to trying the Consumer Preview - mainly because the previous Developer Preview didn't like my VirtualBox setup and the laptop that I use for testing isn't available any more.

From what I've heard the "dissatisfaction" in tech geek/nerd circles is now beginning to filter outwards, so Microsoft might find that pushing '8 is going to be a bit harder that '7. Plus the general consensus was that Vista was nasty, so there was an incentive to upgrade. Now however, folks seem to be quite happy with 7 - so that push isn't there.

That said, I was looking at the weekend at a touchscreen monitor (I hate the LG I got from Argos) with the idea of a bit of future-proofing. (This one http://www.scan.co.uk/products/236-i...10001-speakers if anyone's interested).

At the moment I'm a "no sale" for Windows8 - but if they (Microsoft) can come up with a convincing reason (especially at the <£40 price for the upgrade) then perhaps I could be persuaded.

[Hicks12]

if microsoft allow for metro to be disabled then i think alot will give MS credit as everything else is pretty good. The main reason im not using Win8 on my pc is that its a beta and i havent got a touchscreen device yet, when my leap is here i certainly will jump back on it. I did have it on my laptop but i found that there were incompatible drivers and so my laptop ended up crawling to a hault when it came to opening up things like system settings (would take few minutes to launch the Wifi network list... on an SSD!) and i couldnt connect to my universities wifi so it was a big no when i couldnt use the internet there .

That was the actual prerelease though, theres been a few more updates/releases since so might have been fixed .
Oh and since i get it for free from MSDNAA, i will certainly be trying it out regardless just to form my own opinion at launch but till then ill sit and wait .

[Brewster0101]

if microsoft allow for metro to be disabled then i think alot will give MS credit as everything else is pretty good.

+ 1

Also I don't think touch screens will ever catch on with a PC. Who wants a 22"/24" screen in reaching distance while trying to use a computer. Not only will it bugger up your eyes but its hard to focus that close.

[stucathome]

Windows 8 Preview isn't bad. The desktop is mostly what I use ( my browser of choice is chrome) but the Metro interface is OK, verging on quite good for music, picture and reading apps.
I wouldn't spend much money on it, though, as I have Win 7 ultimate. I also have an android tablet, so I don't need it.
At £30-50 it's probable I'll go with it. Any more than that - no chance!

[scaryjim]

I've recently stuck the Consumer Preview in a VM, and tbh I just can't see the point of it. Metro will be great for people with hand-held touchscreen devices, but for the vast majority of us the difficulty of getting back to the start screen (seriously, why not just leave the pearl where it was but have it launch the start screen?!), having to learn entirely new ways of accessing *everything* on our PC - it's going to take a long time to get used to.

The whole thing feels very much like the Office 2007 / ribbon switch to me - I spent ~ 2 years with Office 2007 before I really felt like I knew where I was going with it, and it wasn't until I got my hands on Office 2010 that I started feeling vaguely happy with it. I still have occasional moments of nerd-rage because I want to do something slightly unusual and it takes me ages to hunt through all the ribbon options, whern I'd've known exactly where to go if I'd had an old-fashioned menu. I'm not sure I can go through that with my entire OS...

Once you get to the desktop and launch your application, it feels just like using a PC, but there's always that hanging dread that at some point you're going to have to open another application, or find a setting, or do *something*, and it'll take you five times longer than it should just to work out how to get where you're going...

[tickleonthetum]

My wife who uses PCs a lot a at work, and uses our one at home for internet/email/online stores, tried out Windows 8 when I gave it a go and said she hated it. She said it was ugly to look at, the Start screen was a pain in the rear, the Desktop REALLY needs the start button, and it was like an ugly, crippled version of Windows 7 to her. I also found it the same. I felt that the new features that were of any real use (improved copy dialogs, performance boosts, etc.) were more the sort of thing that should have come as an update to Windows 7. Oh and the start screen is rubbish on a Desktop non-touch PC.

There is very little chance we will upgrade to Windows 8, much like we skipped Windows-Me and Vista!

[HalloweenJack]

18 years of pressing the start button to find something and they change it with no easy way to roll it back? it`ll sink faster than vista

[mark22]

I gave it a good try through consumer to release preview. Loved the quick startup time and the very good multi monitor support. If metro tiles just went on the desktop if you're not using a tablet that might have appeased the masses.

In the end I had to revert to windows 7, chrome crashed all the time, I think due to the weird way flash is built into windows 8. Also gpu support seemed flakey combined with my z68 board but this is to be expected I guess until rtm.

[JefUK]

It's best for Microsoft that the Preview take-up is sluggish. If more people tried it, more would be put off!!

[bridges009]

I've tried it twice (the original public release and the updated one) and found it infuriating. Whatever it does better than Windows 7 isn't enough to compensate for the maddening UI changes.

[crossy]

Also I don't think touch screens will ever catch on with a PC. Who wants a 22"/24" screen in reaching distance while trying to use a computer. Not only will it bugger up your eyes but its hard to focus that close.

Colleague here made the comment that if Microsoft gets their way then we'll either be needing glasses or spend most of our time doing neo-nazi style salutes to operate our PC's. If didn't believe the latter until he demonstrated - after which it was coffee-spray time for me ... And dammit, he's right, most folks leaning forward to poke a screen DO tend to end up with near-salute.

Oh, and how come a 19" screen is okay for close work - but a 22" isn't? Not looking for an argument, merely interested since I do have a 23" screen that I could lean forward and poke.