Windows 8 Download

[TheAnimus]

put it on another laptop it just went in to a crash cycle 3 times in a row, now is behaving fine.....

Gorra love software when its this stable, now just trying to find the ribbon API.....

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

LOL.

They didn't say that at all, the message, for us developer types, is Metro is for casual apps, basically its for the iPad types, those who think a power user is the kind of person who browses facebook and twitter simulataniously.

They are also suggesting those be in tablets, and touchscreen PCs.

As I've said, and this as as someone who has been using it, I can see the appeal of metro for that first thing in the morning use, the kind of thing splashtop was ment to be.

I know they didn't say that but read my previous post to the one you quoted. I was just taking the piss out of some people who have actually stated that and saying that people who don't stick with metro will end up having no useful applications to run,ie,all windows applications in the immediate future will only run with metro enabled. Of course this would mean every windows 7 user would also be affected(which would not happen for years).

I think I also agree with your last point too.

Edit: Forgot to say, don't do it via the rename way, its retardled and should fill your eventviewer with spurious crap. Turn its akin to turning off the engin by removing the gear box, sure you'll stop the engine driving.....

I tried both ways just to see if both worked. Your way is better though. The install is in a VM so it should not matter too much.

[PeterStoba]

Nice work dude
Now, time for me to install it as well. Remember kids, if you download Windows betas, you get FREE keys when it's out.

Btw, CAT, empty your inbox.

Is that true?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Nice work dude
Now, time for me to install it as well. Remember kids, if you download Windows betas, you get FREE keys when it's out.

Btw, CAT, empty your inbox.

Really??? OK,this Windows developer release is perfect and the best ever in the world!!

Second point - done.

[TheAnimus]

lol I don't think they will, afaik they have ONLY ever given free keys to people who sumbitted useful bugs on connect, normally 3 or more.

All this explorer Ribbon talk can't find the API for it...

[nibbler]

Remember kids, if you download Windows betas, you get FREE keys when it's out.

Btw, CAT, empty your inbox.

Nobody told me this!
The RC or this too?


Edit: or is that only if you subscribe to MSDN, which seems to be £500 minimum, making that pointless.

[OilSheikh]

As far as I can remember Free Keys are given to people who give feedback for Beta1 ,Beta2 and RC1. Has happened for both Vista and Widows 7.

Yes, Developer preview isn't counted ( pulled you all's legs hehe )

If you have a MSDN subscription, you automatically get a Free key without doing any pre-feedback. For Windows 7, members of IEEE and ..can't remember the other one.... got Free keys.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

There is going to be one beta and one release candidate after this. Anyway,only after running the RC will I consider buying Win8 or not. At that point we will get an impression of what the completed UI will look like.

[scaryjim]

... Has happened for both Vista and Widows 7. ...

Vista Widows? Women who lost their husbands to endless hours of trying to make Windows Vista do *anything* useful at all?

Will pull this down sooner or later to have a play - which shouldn't surprise anyone who's read anything I've said about tablets in this forum for the last 2.5 years Nice to know it's a good, solid, stable release for us Devs to work with

[DDY]

Just had a go on Win 8 installed on my Dell XT2 and the first thing I have to say is how much nicer the Win 8 touch UI is compared to Win 7, it's as slick and smooth as one would expect from a tablet.

Speaking as a convertible tablet PC user; the Metro UI is a leap forward in the right direction for Windows OS on a tablet. For the times I use my tablet in its converted state for 'media consumption', e.g. what someone would typically use a fondleslab for; I yearned for an elegant method of text entry and navigation, Win 8's Metro does this for me. Some notable features I liked;

• Slide out panels for options etc accessible with one thumb, brightness and volume sliders are accessible here.
• Manipulating open applications with a flick without resorting to the task bar
• The new IE which is actually suited to touch input
• The new on screen keyboard, when deployed application windows are automatically resized as opposed to the OSK overlay on Win 7.

Speaking as a desktop (and laptop) PC user; I think the Metro is a bit more intrusive than it is useful, many of the icons, tiles, whatever they are called are redundant, their roles were fulfilled by widgets, desktop shortcuts and most annoyingly what it attempts to replace - the start menu.

Elsewhere, I like the;

• Ribbon UI for explorer, it's handy in tablet mode when I'm unable to use keyboard shortcuts
• New task manager, it includes some useful info which I'd normally find in the resource monitor
• Pretty lock screen
• Pretty boot options menu which is touch navigable on boot
• Quick boot times!

There isn't anything I dislike about Win 8 worth mentioning, except the time it takes to dual boot in to Win 7 from the new boot menu (the system restarts), again I think Microsoft has done a good job preparing Windows 8 for tablets, I will definitely consider buying Win 8 for my XT2, or at least getting it free on my MSDNAA subscription

[McPhee]

I think the thing to remember here is that this isn't so much demo of Windows 8, but rather a showcase for the new Metro UI and WinRT. It isn't meant to be your main OS, it's been released to demonstrate how well Windows can work on a tablet, to prove that it is capable of bridging that form-factor and to encourage developers to migrate to the new WinRT platform so they can take advantage of the Metro UI and ARM hardware that Windows 8 will bring. Yes, it sucks as a desktop OS, but this release was never meant to be your desktop OS. It's not even meant to be your main tablet OS. It's a Developers' Preview, a snapshot of what's to come and a demonstration of new abilities.

It does seem that there's a lot of people who just saw 'WINDOWS 8 DOWNLOAD!' and decided to jump in, not realising what the download actually was. This isn't Windows 8, it's an unfinished preview version that was designed to showcase Metro. Download it, have a play for an hour or two, imagine you're using a touch screen (if you haven't got one to hand) and then delete it. Unless you plan on developing for Windows 8 it's next to useless and isn't a true reflection of what is planned for the end product. Wait for the public beta.

[Unique]

As far as I can remember Free Keys are given to people who give feedback for Beta1 ,Beta2 and RC1. Has happened for both Vista and Widows 7.

you also get to be in the telly ad's telling people you made it. but only if you look like a model or actor

[OilSheikh]

x64 - 3.8GB
x86 - 2.8GB

I tried installaing the 64bit on VMWare and had problems. VMWare kept crashing ( yes, VMWare install was a new install ) and installation didn't even start! Will retry with the 32bit version tonight

[Repressor]

Neither the 32 or 64 bit versions work with VMware if you don't have the version 8 beta.

[pollaxe]

It works fine on Virtualbox..

My initial reaction is one of intense 'Ugh!' but I'm willing to give it time to see if I feel the same after a bit more use.

[dangel]

One thing of important note - this is not the build MS used for demonstrations. Read that again.

Yup, this is forked branch of the code for a dev specific build (no pun) and does not have many of the features as shown - for example those saying Metro doesn't work well it's nowhere near done (for example: the speed bumps (that provide natural deceleration between sections) aren't working in this build). There's some interesting commentary around the web on this and it's completely normal practice (and MS rely heavily on branching during development).

I'm hoping to get some time to chuck this on a PC today but I'm supposed to be doing so many other things

Thanks for the screenies CAT