I now have Windows 8!

[sampsoninc916 27]

Thanks to a little gift from my Database Programming professor, a free account on Microsoft Dreamspark, a place for developer products, I have now installed Windows 8 a day before the official release date tomorrow. I'm currently giving it a joy ride. Expect a little review of the operating system on my Youtube account later. To do that, it would be best for me to use a screen recording software. I'll have to look on Youtube and look at the suggestions that some of the users on there make about certain software to use for screen recording. Regardless, I'm currently satisfied with the new features that the latest version of Windows has to offer. Microsoft completely redesigned Windows from the ground up in order to keep up with the times, the mobile phenomenon, I mean.

[kappa214 76]

I cant wait for the review. I might be getting Windows 8 and i really want to know what the new features are. I cant wait for it. I hope you enjoy it.

[Shiki 5,855]

I really do not like the set-up. All metro/tile styled OS's just seem... stupid. Literally; for the stupid. I will admit that I'm most likely just biased because I don't like change to begin with, though. I'm thinking on tablets, this would be good. I don't know the clockwork of the OS, so I don't know if tablets better support window 8 over windows 7/Vista/XP or not. It seems like it would be easier to use a tablet with windows 8 because of the interface. I haven't used a tablet with windows on it, before, but I can only imagine trying to use it. It seems like it would be difficult.

 

I might actually watch your review. Typing this up made me realise that I'm pretty much basing my hatred for Windows 8 on nothing. Perhaps you can shed some light.

Edited October 25, 2012 by Sugar Plum

[Arrow 236]

It doesn't look to fun. Actually I don't care much about the looks, since I mostly play games and stuff. I do have my Rainmeter though, and other than that, nothing else is really needed (animated ponies on my desktop <3).

 

I'll stick with Windows 7, at least for the time being.

[The Mane-iac 1,648]

I've heard it is faster, even more so than 7 was, but I don't think I will upgrade anytime soon. And I have a feeling a lot of people just won't upgrade. 7 will become the new XP for a lot until the mobile fad passes. I thought it was bad enough OS X was gaining some things from iOS, but to make the entire UI based around the mobile platform is stupid imho. PC users are not using touch inputs and we don't need live tiles, nor should I be required to know the Windows shortcuts just to get around. The way it's always been is the best for mouse and keyboard inputs really.

 

I'm actually very tempted to move to linux using an OS X skin once Steam is finished for the platform. 8 may be faster, but Windows still manages to hold back your components true potential.

[Steamgamer27 170]

My laptop is running on the Windows 8 Release Preview (Build 8400) and the only good thing I can say about it is the faster boot-up/shutdown sequences. I'm no fan of the Metro UI and that this was meant to target the touch screen market. I regret the day I tried this OS even if it's still an unfinished piece of software.

[khaine21x3 789]

I hate anything microsoft and every new version they come up with just dumbs down the entire OS and restricts user's freedom even more.

[Guest]

I hate anything microsoft and every new version they come up with just dumbs down the entire OS and restricts user's freedom even more.

 

I've thought quite the opposite... that is until now.

 

From what I've seen of Windows 8 so far, from the reviews I've read and the videos I've seen the Metro menu sounds like a good idea. For a tablet that is.

 

Metro for a desktop PC though sounds stupid. Why fill my screen with giant tiles when I have pixel precision with a mouse? Why run programs in fullscreen when I want to use multiple programs at the same time? I know the old desktop is still there but without the start button I assume that you have to open all programs from the metro menu - a giant waste of time if you ask me.

I really don't see the major features in Windows 8 that qualifies it as a better OS than Windows 7.

[Alleviate 342]

Windows 8? You have my condolences...

Basically, I'm still mired in the levels of XP SP2/SP3, It's just how I roll. ^-^

I have nothing against 7, it's smooth, shiny, sleek...But just not for me..

Now, 8, I have a friend who obtained it through his dad's workplace......Three days after he installed it, he re-installed 7.

I messed around on it a bit...Not impressed really, I was expecting 7 with a bunch of new, awesome USEFUL stuff...

Why did they even release it for anything except Tablets? It seems kinda reliant on touch...

Unless they do a overhaul-update on it, I'd choose Vista over it...And that's saying something!

Interesting to see a review on it though..Maybe someone found it better...

[Kapi 215]

Meh, lucky you! I still have to wait until tomorrow, m college is nice enough to be enrolled in DreamSpark but I can only download Server 2012, not Windows 8.

 

I did sign up for the $14.95 upgrade program though. Even if I don't move from Windows 7, it'll still be nice to play around with 8.

 

Personally, I don't really like Metro. i'm sure I'll get used to it, but it doesn't work on a traditional desktop computer. Sure, it works perfectly fine on a tablet or touch screen monitor, but its not all that good for normal use.

Edited October 25, 2012 by Kapi

[Unoriginalbrony777 3]

Im very excited for windows 8, I dont care if people say it sucks cause its different, you just got to get used to it people, I have been using the release preview on a virtual machine and I got it down now. Oh and mac os sucks, yea I said it

[Tol'Satha 163]

Oh and mac os sucks, yea I said it

 

Depends what you were using it on. Macs are optimised for specific hardware and work really well on them, but their performances drop massively when installed on anything else (google hackintosh). As for the OS itself, its very simple to use, but very limiting as well. In my eyes, lots of work and changes to be done, but has potential.

 

Anyways, back to topic: I got a pre-release version of win8 a few days ago, put it up on virtual, and barfed.

 

No offense to anyone using any of their os's, but for me win8 is the sum of all Microsoft's mistakes over the last decade put together to squeeze what little money out of everyone's pockets can possibly be squeezed out.

 

-Inbuilt protection is absolutely awful and blocks everything and anything that isnt Microsoft's. I even wrote my own program in C#, and when i tried running it the os blocked it. I cannot even imagine what chaos this will cause among software and game developers.

-Interface is anti-intuitive and impractical. It might even pass on a mobile phone or any device with a touchscreen, but is absolutely hiddeus on a desktop or a laptop. Just to navigate to a file on your drive you gotta watch the slow and annoying animations which make a 10 second job look like eternity.

-The only positive thing when comparing it to win7 i can find are plausible performance upgrades. The problem, however, is that for half the price of win8, you can buy an SSD, which will boost the pc performance sky high, and way above what win8 would do. The booting speed everyone love pointing out has been achieved years ago on mac. Also, any OS can boot up quickly with the right hardware. Im dualbooting arch linux and ubuntu, both of which boot up from an SSD in some 10 seconds: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvdzmhEkWt8&feature=related (not my video, just an example). Ive personally seen OS's boot up in 2-3 seconds (thats from grub to full desktop) using systemd.

 

I had win8 running for 30 minutes and it got me on the verge of punching a hole straight through my screen. I'll be sticking to linux, thank you very much.

 

edit: whats with this forum embeding every youtube link? O.o

Edited October 25, 2012 by Tol'Satha

[Nohbdy 4,108]

Every other Windows, man. I'm going to hold out until the first service pack or until the next Windows comes out.

 

So, no risks from me.

[joeyh3 153]

Windows 8? You have my condolences...

 

^ I was gonna say that.

 

I have a hybrid tablet/netbook at work, and I've been running Windows 8 on it for about a month now (Microsoft Volume License customers can get early access to new products, depending on what license they have). On a tablet, it's actually a fairly decent OS - fast, responsive, very touch-friendly, etc.

 

On a traditional computer, it's pretty much garbage. The Metro interface was clearly designed for a tablet, and running it on anything else simply feels very awkward to use. It also hinders multitasking - if you want to run a Metro app, then that's all you can interact with at a time. You can't run two Metro apps, or a Metro app and a traditional app, side-by-side. On netbooks and smaller laptops, this isn't much of an issue, but on computers with a decent sized display, you're wasting a ton of screen space.

 

Plus the entire interface just is a hassle to use. I shared my netbook with a couple of people, and out of about a half dozen victims test-subjects first time users, I think only one managed to figure out how to get back to the start screen after a few minutes of playing around.

 

To me, I think the biggest issue with Windows 8 is that it's trying to be a tablet and computer OS all in one, and that's just not how it works. There's a reason why Apple has Mac OS and iOS, and why the open-source community has Linux and Android. Phones, tablets and computers all do the same thing, but they accomplish it in significantly different fashions. Interacting with a tablet is nothing like interacting with a computer, and vice-versa. Trying to create a common interface to work on both of these uniquely different devices categories is just asking for disaster.

 

I have no plans to upgrade to Windows 8. I'm going to stick with Win7 for as long as I can. Unfortunately, my copy of Windows 7 came from MSDN:AA, and since I'm no longer a student, I can't transfer it to a new computer. So once my current computer reaches the end of its service life, I'm likely to switch to Mac OS.

Edited October 26, 2012 by joeyh3

[jeanne 5]

as long as windows does okay, i'm not gonna upgrade, basically the less time i have to spend on windows and teh more time actually doing things, the better

[Creamy Arty 6,252]

I've had the displeasure of demoing it myself. Snagged a free copy when I was working for a university. Even if you ignore it's many shortcomings as far as the UI goes, there aren't any compelling reasons to upgrade from a performance or features standpoint.

[Discovery Dream 592]

Windows 8 replaced its blue screens with some crappy-arse sadface. Therefore, it is inferior to previous WIndows OS's. It seems the exact same as Windows 7, to be honest.