Windows 8 preview - what do you think?

I don't have enough space on this SHITTY machine to download the preview so I can't say much about it unfortunately. But from what I've seen so far Windows 8 looks damn sexy. I am a huge fan of Metro, I have a WP7 and it hands down the fastest, slickest and most informative (via live tiles) method to present your apps and icons. I love how I can just scroll down my Start screen and see everything I need to see.

So how is the consumer preview of Windows 8? I have to say I am jealous of those who have it. Share your thoughts!

EDIT: Here is the link to download the Consumer Preview!

I'm not going to be touching Windows 8. I have yet to hear a single thing it's doing that is anything but the exact opposite of what I want from an OS, or anything that I can't do on Windows 7. The metro ui thing is terrible and an eye sore as far as I'm concerned. I don't like smartphones and I don't want my PC OS to try and be one.

@crusader8463: Have you ever actually used Metro though? Most people have a completely different opinion about it after spending quality time with it. It's seriously hard not to like. When you experience how responsive and fast it makes an OS then its' undeniably a great presentation.

I went into my carrier store Bell with the intent of buying a Google Nexus, was shown the WP7s not really knowing much about them and spent an hour deciding. I eventually decided on the WP7 and it was the best decision I've made - I'm glad I didn't get an Android because I hear the OS can get very laggy, plus I find it convoluted.

That's the power that Metro had over me! Don't knock it 'til you try it. It's easy to just say it looks bad. Plus, the presentation of Windows 8 is different than the Windows Phones. It's obviously more desktop-y with settings all the Windows settings you'd expect. The only thing they share is Metro, as far as I know.

I downloaded it and messed around with it last night. I don't have the most up to date computer and it runs pretty damn good on it. The only change that I have noticed is the start menu and they've also added side menus for when your mouse hits the corners of the screen. The only thing I'm going to have to get used to is I can't click Start then go to My Computer if I want a certain file. I'll probably just pin My Computer to the start menu instead.

OH! And almost all of the Windows 7 drivers work with this OS. The only hardware that doesn't work is my Siatek Cyborg keyboard. Good thing I kept a backup keyboard until this gets worked out.

I thought it was "meh".

I'm glad I didn't get an Android because I hear the OS can get very laggy, plus I find it convoluted.

@xyzygy said:

@crusader8463: Have you ever actually used Metro though? Most people have a completely different opinion about it after spending quality time with it. It's seriously hard not to like. When you experience how responsive and fast it makes an OS then its' undeniably a great presentation.

I went into my carrier store Bell with the intent of buying a Google Nexus, was shown the WP7s not really knowing much about them and spent an hour deciding. I eventually decided on the WP7 and it was the best decision I've made - I'm glad I didn't get an Android because I hear the OS can get very laggy, plus I find it convoluted.

That's the power that Metro had over me! Don't knock it 'til you try it. It's easy to just say it looks bad. Plus, the presentation of Windows 8 is different than the Windows Phones. It's obviously more desktop-y with settings all the Windows settings you'd expect. The only thing they share is Metro, as far as I know.

Isn't the Metro thing what they decided to base the new Xbox dashboard off of?

No thanks. That particular thing looks fine on phones, especially touch screen phones where it makes a ton of sense, but not on my PC. Let me keep my intuitive and tried-and-true Windows 7 layout, thank you very much. If I can switch to that and never, ever have to see Metro again, then that's fine.

Meanwhile, why do we need to have a new Windows? I can understand why the jump from XP to Vista was necessary, and I can see why they needed to just scrap Vista and release 7, but now that we've got 7 I need to know what 8 is going to do that can't be offered in 7?

Other than make MS a few more millions?

I played around a bit with the dev preview in VMware. The only machine that I'd want to outright install on it is my netbook, and with a 1024x600 resolution a lot of metro apps just won't work, so I'm not in a rush.

@Sooty: WP7 is a little over a year old. If you look at what the iPhone had in this stage of it's development, it was the exact same thing. The number of apps are growing exponentially and the platform is gaining much interest which is natural with an OS this good. Last month WP7 hit 40,000 apps - it is now over 60,000. That shows the rate at which it's growing. You can't expect every single developer to get on board with a brand new phone right after it's release, it takes time, and if the foundations are there then it will come in time. I never once think to myself when using my phone (which is like all day), "I wish I had more apps." To me, an amazingly fast and beautiful OS with unmatched social media integration is far and above some silly time wasting apps. I have a great news aggregate app (Weave), I have a great YouTube app (YouTube Pro), I have Microsoft Office, some excellent weather and film apps and a great 9gag app and that's all I need. I don't need every edition of Angry Birds (I don't need that Angry Birds shit at all) or 5 different versions of an app that lets you figure out the name of a song by listening to it.

Anyway, this thread isn't about WP7 per se, it's about Metro and Windows 8. I brought WP7 up to explain how Metro was a huge selling point for me over other OSes and how great I think it is, and to hear some impressions of it in Windows 8.

@xyzygy said:

@Sooty: WP7 is a little over a year old. If you look at what the iPhone had in this stage of it's development, it was the exact same thing.

Of course, the trouble is at the time there wasn't really anything like it so it wasn't so much of an issue, or rather you just had to deal with it as you had no choice. Now you can go either Android or IOS, both are very well established when it comes to apps, or WP7 which kind of isn't. I'm not saying Android and iOS didn't go through this, it was difficult to recommend Android for a while but since that has caught up, and now that there's not one, but two alternatives that are established I find it hard to recommend WP7 to people.

@believer258: Why not? Microsoft releases a new OS after every 3-4 years. This is following in that pattern. I don't see why they WOULDN'T release a new OS. This type of technology is constantly changing and the competition between Apple and Microsoft in terms of their OSes is a great thing - competition creates innovation.

Just because Windows 7 is "tried and true" doesn't necessarily mean that it shouldn't evolve. This is an ever changing world - if you don't accept changing technologies then I'm afraid you don't understand a part of the concept of technology. Windows 8 seems to be the natural evolution of that.

Tried out the dev build a few months ago -- wasn't a fan. Will try the consumer preview out when it finishes downloading, hope they've made some changes to how the UI handles with M/KB.

@xyzygy said:

@believer258: Why not? Microsoft releases a new OS after every 3-4 years. This is following in that pattern. I don't see why they WOULDN'T release a new OS. This type of technology is constantly changing and the competition between Apple and Microsoft in terms of their OSes is a great thing - competition creates innovation.

Just because Windows 7 is "tried and true" doesn't necessarily mean that it shouldn't evolve. This is an ever changing world - if you don't accept changing technologies then I'm afraid you don't understand a part of the concept of technology. Windows 8 seems to be the natural evolution of that.

I do understand what you're saying. What I'm saying is "what does Windows 8 DO that Windows 7 DOESN'T ALREADY or COULDN'T POSSIBLY?"

Frankly, Metro and some new trinkets isn't enough to sell it to me. The jump from XP to Vista was necessary because XP was aging and could no longer support the technology coming out. 7 was necessary because Vista was shit. What technology has come out that 7 can't support? For that matter, why can't 7 evovle more to take the load instead of releasing a whole new OS? Other than "because MS wants more money?"

Not going to bother installing it as I have no problems with Windows 7 and don't need a new OS.

Keep your phone OS the fuck out of my desktop. I used it for about 5 hours then got sick of how bad it was and went back to Win7. I suspect I will end up using Win7 for 8 years like I did XP.

It's fast, but I hate having the Metro UI instead of the normal start menu.

@xyzygy said:

@believer258: Why not? Microsoft releases a new OS after every 3-4 years. This is following in that pattern. I don't see why they WOULDN'T release a new OS. This type of technology is constantly changing and the competition between Apple and Microsoft in terms of their OSes is a great thing - competition creates innovation.

Just because Windows 7 is "tried and true" doesn't necessarily mean that it shouldn't evolve. This is an ever changing world - if you don't accept changing technologies then I'm afraid you don't understand a part of the concept of technology. Windows 8 seems to be the natural evolution of that.

I do understand what you're saying. What I'm saying is "what does Windows 8 DO that Windows 7 DOESN'T ALREADY or COULDN'T POSSIBLY?"

Frankly, Metro and some new trinkets isn't enough to sell it to me. The jump from XP to Vista was necessary because XP was aging and could no longer support the technology coming out. 7 was necessary because Vista was shit. What technology has come out that 7 can't support? For that matter, why can't 7 evovle more to take the load instead of releasing a whole new OS? Other than "because MS wants more money?"

I'll mess around with it using the ISO, if I like it I may do the full preview.

Just a heads up, I got the preview. I caved and deleted a bunch of stuff to free up some space. I'm still getting used to it, this is a very drastic jump. I still can't find half the normal folders I usually could, but I do love the start menu. I also love how you can move over the corners of the screen to switch windows.

But it does retain the Windows 7 desktop. This is used for web browsing and the sort. At any time you can go back to the Windows 7 desktop, but as some are saying in this thread you need to go back to the Metro Start menu to access things. I could potentially see this as being good - you could pin things to your start menu that you use the most, like certain links in the control panel, etc, to eliminate the need of searching for the within their usual respective folders.

It's obviously still a beta format, but it's still very usable. I will post my impression when I actually figure out where things are. This is the biggest change Microsoft has ever made with an OS.

The desktop experience, at least for me, is decidedly worse. Every time the cursor hits an edge or corner, it seems to trigger some kind of gesture, occasionally switching me back to another app or the start screen. I'm also hazy as to where my files are going once I install them, since the Start Menu is so completely different.

On the other hand, I really like the Microsoft account syncing, the mail app, and the Market. They look really slick so far.

Yeah, the syncing is fucking awesome. I use Skydrive quite a bit already and it integrates across my phone, so I can view documents and slideshows on the go and I can transfer files to and from my phone and still have them in the cloud.

I think there'll be more customization options in terms of the corners and the gestures, which I think is much needed. I am really liking the marketplace though. Have you checked out how many apps are in there already? I was expecting it to be completely empty.

@SeriouslyNow: Wow! It is so amazing haha

I don't like the way Windows 8 looks. I'm pretty content with Windows Vista for now. Windows 7 is great, and I wish I could get it.

Just recently got Win7 & happy with it so will pass on this.

I installed it on my laptop and it's alright. The integrated SkyDrive is probably the only addition that I like, I wish it was treated more as a directory though and would basically replace my documents.

Edit: I can see how awesome this could be in the future if I were to have a windows 8 phone too. Same/similar os between my desktop, laptop, and phone would be excellent.

I'm pretty happy with Windows 7. I may download this on my laptop tonight though and have a play around with it, assuming my ancient laptop wants to play nice with it.

I am actually not happy with Windows 8. Not only is it built for tablet and touch based devices, it totally limits you in terms of tweaking.

The idea of completely removing the start menu is going to come back to bite them pretty bad.

I think its more efficient in terms of memory use and all that, but its essentially Windows 7 with more restrictions in terms of usability.

I only watched the Quick Look on Tested. It looks... like it's made for tablets. I don't see a use for it on my desktop PC. Win7 is still kind of amazing, and runs everything I'd ever want. My main problem is that I don't really see any new features that I want. It's basically Win7 with a new UI.

I only use my computer to code games and mods for games, attempt to break benchmark records, script for websites and applications, play games, and browse the internet. That being said, it doesn’t look like Windows 8 has anything to make any of my goals easier to attain. Windows 8 is not for me, it is as simple as that.

I feel like the separation of Metro/Desktop and that both are on Windows 8 is going to turn peope away. I think people are going to be confused with two different 'experiences' on the same machine.

I tinkered around with it in a VM on my system. It seemed fine, if I bought a new computer with it I wouldn't sweat it but I'm not seeing much of a reason to spend money to upgrade. Maybe if it's low priced upgrade (which I doubt).

@PatchRowcester: How exactly is it limiting in terms of tweaking? As far as system properties goes, you can access everything you could access in Windows 7. It's not like they got rid of the Control Panel or anything.

@Dany said:

I feel like the separation of Metro/Desktop and that both are on Windows 8 is going to turn peope away. I think people are going to be confused with two different 'experiences' on the same machine.

The Desktop is merely a backdrop for your programs now. The taskbar's sole purpose is to gather open windows and display system information in the notification area (like the time, internet connections, etc) and the desktop's purpose is simply to provide a canvas for your windows to be laid over. There is no need to have icons on the desktop because they can all be pinned and accessed from Start.

I don't really think it's a separation of the Desktop, I think it's a phasing out of the desktop. And to be honest, with W8 the desktop "experience" as you say is almost gone because, like I said, it's just a backdrop now and there is no need to loiter there if your'e not currently using a program. If you want to get to Start from the desktop, press the Windows key like SeriouslyNow said above. When you want to get back to the desktop just press it again and you can see all your open windows. After using it for a few days it feels quite good and I can without a doubt see how this will work.

@crusader8463 said:

I'm not going to be touching Windows 8. I have yet to hear a single thing it's doing that is anything but the exact opposite of what I want from an OS, or anything that I can't do on Windows 7. The metro ui thing is terrible and an eye sore as far as I'm concerned. I don't like smartphones and I don't want my PC OS to try and be one.

This. I thought it was a fucking april fools joke when I first saw that shit. Or an expertly crafted troll, because it's too stupid, bordering on offensively stupid, to be believed.

I'm still not convinced it's not an elaborate joke.

I think it will be interesting in a few years when cell phones will become more power, close to the small laptops. Then you can imagine having a docking station with a big screen, keyboard and mouse, you drop you cell in the dock, and voila, you have your computer. But we're quite a few years away from this. This is a good step though! Will I get it? naaa, not useful enough right now.

My computer's pretty aged at this point- I still use Vista, which I actually really like.

But my OS hasn't been re-installed in a couple of years, so I'm backing up all of my shit now, and downloading the consumer preview. If it doesn't work out, I'll just re-install Vista- I'll let you know how it goes.

Windows 7 is tolerable to play games. In my experience, it's very stable (one of the PCs I built stayed up without rebooting for two months). There is no need for Win 8.

I think it's fine. I'm probably going to build a new machine this year, and I'm debating getting it or sticking with 7. I WANT to get 8 (just to be that much more ahead), but 7 (which I'm running now) seems really nice. Overall, 8 doesn't bother me that much, but I want to see how it works running Steam, games, and other stuff.

I like it. But I'm in the minority since I've had a WP7 phone for about a year (Which I love soooooo much more than iOS and Android). I will admit that Metro works better with touch but some people are overreacting to the new start menu, after playing around with it I really like it. You can still go to start and immediately type something and it searches for the files on your computer just like in 7. I love pinning stuff to start! I've just started playing Dragon Age: Origins so I pinned the shortcut to start and now when I turn on my PC I launch it without ever going to the desktop. Same with Zune, Firefox, Steam and everything else I use daily that I pinned there.

And if I ever want to dig deep into my folders I can still jump right into the desktop I love and do everything possible in Windows 7. I like having all my photos on my computer and Skydrive right there and easy to access straight from the photos app on Start. Also I like having Windows Phone games now on the desktop ( Wordament! ) Hopefully the Windows 8 app store comes out with cool stuff over time. I can where people are coming from if the new start menu slowed things down, but man is it fast! Popping back and forth between start and desktop is instantaneous, using the windows key is awesome now. Also I thinking being able to lock the screen is great and those lock screens look great.

I love it but I find myself in the minority once again like with WP7, turns out people like to stick with the tried and true, but I love change and I think MS has done a great job with Metro and can't imagine using a phone without it now. Maybe they can make me think that about the desktop too, right now I think it's a good start. I hope everyone gives it a chance before dismissing it.

Well... I think it tried to kill my hard drive the 3 times I tried to install it. Good thing a Live CD of Ubuntu was there to help.

@crusader8463 said:

I'm not going to be touching Windows 8. I have yet to hear a single thing it's doing that is anything but the exact opposite of what I want from an OS, or anything that I can't do on Windows 7. The metro ui thing is terrible and an eye sore as far as I'm concerned. I don't like smartphones and I don't want my PC OS to try and be one.

This. I thought it was a fucking april fools joke when I first saw that shit. Or an expertly crafted troll, because it's too stupid, bordering on offensively stupid, to be believed.

I'm still not convinced it's not an elaborate joke.

@SeriouslyNow said:

@Pinworm45 said:

@crusader8463 said:

I'm not going to be touching Windows 8. I have yet to hear a single thing it's doing that is anything but the exact opposite of what I want from an OS, or anything that I can't do on Windows 7. The metro ui thing is terrible and an eye sore as far as I'm concerned. I don't like smartphones and I don't want my PC OS to try and be one.

This. I thought it was a fucking april fools joke when I first saw that shit. Or an expertly crafted troll, because it's too stupid, bordering on offensively stupid, to be believed.

I'm still not convinced it's not an elaborate joke.

OI DONT LOIK SMARTPHOIN *chews cornstalk*

Of course, because obviously if you dislike absolutely anything it is a sign of being a stupid hick.

@xyzygy said:

@PatchRowcester: How exactly is it limiting in terms of tweaking? As far as system properties goes, you can access everything you could access in Windows 7. It's not like they got rid of the Control Panel or anything.

You are right. They did not remove the control panel, but the whole desktop OS is based on the tablet experience. Not being able to switch off the Metro UI in my opinion is limiting customization. There is just no way to get rid of it. It is not going to add anything useful to the experience.

I am not saying it doesn't have any benefits on the tablets. I am sure it does. But on the desktop PC, there is just no point.

Also, if you are a PC gamer, be prepared to be piseed off with all the Xbox stuff floating around.

@SeriouslyNow said:

@Pinworm45 said:

@crusader8463 said:

I'm not going to be touching Windows 8. I have yet to hear a single thing it's doing that is anything but the exact opposite of what I want from an OS, or anything that I can't do on Windows 7. The metro ui thing is terrible and an eye sore as far as I'm concerned. I don't like smartphones and I don't want my PC OS to try and be one.

This. I thought it was a fucking april fools joke when I first saw that shit. Or an expertly crafted troll, because it's too stupid, bordering on offensively stupid, to be believed.

I'm still not convinced it's not an elaborate joke.

OI DONT LOIK SMARTPHOIN *chews cornstalk*

Of course, because obviously if you dislike absolutely anything it is a sign of being a stupid hick.

I downloaded the x64 version, looking to install it on a newly built AMD Bulldozer FX 8120 machine w/ 8GB of RAM and a 9800GT GPU I have as a spare. Was going to mess around with it this past weekend, but too much other stuff going on, so maybe one night this week. I'll report back once I do.

I'm not a fan of the Metro interface, but I might be swayed in time. Just seems like they focused on ease of use and looks over functionality.