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Matty
6 March 2012
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I think it needs ALOT of work on it but it seems ok. I'm kind of annoyed at the fact that there isnt a start menu and shutting down the computer you have to click alot of shit just for something so simple.
But the Aero/Metro mix is uncomfortable.
Comment made about the PC & Tech Authority article:
Discuss: Windows 8 Consumer Preview first impressions?
Have you downloaded the Windows 8 Consumer Preview yet? Share your thoughts and opinions on Microsoft's new touchy-feely OS here.
What do you think? Join the discussion. |
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itsbroken
6 March 2012
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It looks nice, but very disapointed with the setup, lost support for the microsoft wireless desktop after the setup had completed & for some reason wont update the driver, matty is 100% correct in it been a hassle to shut down the pc, i will have another look at it after the bugs are fixed. |
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raggamuffin
6 March 2012
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After about 2 days of using windows 8 I find that it is OK.Still not as good as the brilliant XP but better, by my opinion than windows 7. I like that the startup time has been cut, and that from the dev preview they got rid of the start orb. Although I do find it great it would be better if they did a tablet and a pc version. I also think that at the moment this OS is unsuitable for tablets as it needs so much disk space (20gb) and the standard tablet only has 16gb. |
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notagain
6 March 2012
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WINDOWS 7 WITH A SKIN.
WASTE OF TIME WHEN YOU want PRODUCTIVITY |
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paradigm
6 March 2012
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Its tolerable, but only just. I want user-friendly, set-and-forget, big and simple interfaces on my phone, HTPC/PVR/TV/console, car-PC. These interfaces need to be 1-page-at-a-time affairs, either to be controllable with a remote/gamepad, or because multiple windows on a car/phone/tablet screen is uncomfortable and doesn't work well.
But my PC isn't held back by size, or by simple controllers. My monitors are about 3ft away and stand upright, so are out of arms reach and just generally uncomfortable for extended periods of touchscreen use. There's also 3 of them. They're all large, 1920x1080 affairs, so there's no problem displaying half a dozen windows at a time when I want to. A fullscreen, finger-friendly start screen is an annoyance when all I want to do is launch a new program by clicking it with my 10x10px mouse pointer. With Vista, Microsoft redesigned the "Programs" section of the Start Menu so instead of taking up half your screen when you had a lot of programs, it was instead an alphabetised, scrollable list contained within the start menu itself. Perfect. Now 2 products later and they want to take up my whole screen in a worse way than before.
The Metro interface is brilliant for tablets, TVs, etc, and the combination of Metro and Aero allows for the best of both worlds for things like swivel-screen notebook/tablet units. I can absolutely understand with the possibility that tablets will one day eclipse PCs. The everyman doesn't need a PC to surf the net, listen to music, play solitaire, and maybe do a bit of basic retouching on the family holiday snaps. They can do all that on a tablet.
But what of the rest of us? The muso's who like to spread out plugins and windows across multiple screens. The advanced Photoshop users and 3DS-Max animators. The bookkeepers, accountants, with their mass-data-entry packages. These applications have vast amount of functions. They use a bunch of drop-menus and toolbars to access these functions, and they demand the power and scalibility of a PC to make the most of them. These users control their software with keyboards and mice, and maybe a drawing tablet or some midi devices or transport-controls. Thier software doesn't play nice with fat fingers on touchscreens. They don't need a touchscreen. So why does their operating system? |
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lrd390
6 March 2012
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Waiting for Windows 9...
If they are going to make major changes why don't M$ completely rebuild the operating system from scratch as (heaven help us) Apple did with OS10 instead of fiddling around the edges with "pretty" instead of functional? Being able to patch the system without restarting would be a great improvement. A new OS would mean needing a compatibility mode for the time being but surely that is not beyond the thousands of programmers that M$ employ. |
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patewilliam
6 March 2012
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After installation, my first thought was "where's my stuff". My Documents, Videos, Microsoft Office. They were not in the Start interface. It's surprising that existing applications were not imported into the Start view. Anyway, I eventually worked out that I had to pin them to the Start Menu and they then appeared in Metro.
For those complaining about shutdowm, Ctrl+Alt+Del will work as will Alt+F4.
Right now, I am finding it a hassel after being used to the current interface for so long.
I have noticed that my machine now runs "that much smoother", Internet Explorer is definitely snappy and a good experience.
I think patience is required. Perhaps the younger of us will take to the phone type environment easily. I'll play with it for a few more weeks.
It will be worth taking a look at some of the turorials that are around the Web. Pity Microsoft hasn't provided tutorials as comprehensive as some I've seen on the Web. |
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TheToid
6 March 2012
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I had a problem where after shutdown the machine would boot by pressing a key on the keyboard (this is a problem with me as I use a KVM switch box which uses keys on the keyboard to switch, so after shutdown, as soon as I switch to another machine the computer would start up again). I fixed this by disabling the Fast Startup option as there was no way to fix it in the BIOS, apparently from an S4 state my BIOS will always start with keyboard activity.
This is not an optimal solution as I dont get the benefit of the S4 hibernation fast startup option so I have to wait for boot all the time, but thats ok.
I did find that the Metro interface felt bare and out of place on my NON-Touch enabled desktop machine, and I found it really strange that most of the settings for Windows 8 are still controlled through the desktop interface (ie, Mouse, Audio Options, Event Viewer), I wonder if Microsoft will change that with the release version?
However the store was a nice addition, being able to quickly download and use the Metro apps is a plus but dosnt quite outweigh the drawbacks of using metro on a Desktop machine.
All-In-All im sure this will be a great thing for Tablets (although its strange that the Metro Internet Browser dosnt support Flash? Does this mean only Android will support flash on mobile devices?
Heres my pros overall:
* Metro interface is clean and once you find the right mouse button and how to show the "charms" is easy to use
* Shop is a great way to quickly add new programs to your machine
* Desktop integration is a plus, would have been really bad if microsoft decided to ditch the desktop altogether
* The software that my company makes seems to run just fine under the desktop of Windows 8 (previously compatible with Windows 7)
Heres my cons overall:
* Metro interface is too cut down, lots of things missing, settings and the like all throw you to the old desktop interface, this might change by release however.
* Doing a search using the charm and clicking the wrong found item requires you to do the search all over again
* Couldnt get the Pinball FX2 to work at all, checked the Event Viewer and it was crashing with an Access Violation 0xC0000005 error, however, the Metro interface gave no indication of error, it simply closed the app, thats confusing.
* Mouse interface for Metro isnt very intuitive, Right click anywhere for extra bars to show up? Move and hold cursor in top right to show charms?
* People who are used to the Desktop will YURN for a start menu, I count about 1 week until somebody makes a desktop program to emulate the start menu, in fact, i might make one myself.
On another note, there are heaps of windows shortcuts in addition to the ones I have found on the net, just try pressing Win+{X}, where {X} is any letter key and you will find them all, go through the whole keyboard, I did! |
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TheToid
6 March 2012
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cont. from above.
It seems that Windows 8 is definitely focused on the Home user not the business user, maybe microsoft is planning on releasing a business version without the Metro interface, im not sure. But I dont see the average business converting their clients to Windows 8 anytime soon, in fact, I see them holding off as long as possible, even longer than people have held onto Windows XP. |
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TheToid
6 March 2012
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One other thing relating to the Fast Startup otpion which is enabled by default, from what I have read this mode uses an S4 (hibernate) state, but closes everything except kernel level processes before the hibernation is performed.
This means that hardware techies are going to have to be very careful with Windows 8 machines, make sure you restart the system and turn the system off before it boots when planning on changing hardware, otherwise you could get a nasty surprise when you try to boot the machine and it loads the hibernation file with different hardware installed! |
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isorense@bigpond.net.au
7 March 2012
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I have been testing Win8 for awhile now and I think it's a complete waste of time. Win8 looks like it is designed for hand held computers and not PC computers. I have spent far to much time wasted by trying to find the basics. This idea of pushing your mouse pointer in the bottom right and left hand side of the screen is ridiculous. And why can't the icons be placed on the desktop. If this is the way of the future, then I won't be supporting Microsoft ever again. |
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Beechie
11 March 2012
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Ugh I have downloaded windows8 six times and it has yet to instal. The errors and failures are different- as I have tried everything I know. Finally it screwed my computer and I am spending the twenty hours and lamenting lossses to rebuild it. Thanks Microsoft for zip and no support.
Edited by beechie: 11/3/2012 01:58:45 PM |
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911TS
11 March 2012
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Agree with comments about working out how to shut down etc. Windows 8 Consumer Preview is just not intuitive.
Until I found a detailed article about how the new interface is supposed to work, I just could not find some functions.
Numerous crashes indicate the Consumer Preview is nowhere near as stable as the Windows 7 beta was. |
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Slatts
11 March 2012
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Beechie wrote:Ugh I have downloaded windows8 six times and it has yet to instal. The errors and failures are different- as I have tried everything I know. Finally it screwed my computer and I am spending the twenty hours and lamenting lossses to rebuild it. Thanks Microsoft for zip and no support.
Edited by beechie: 11/3/2012 01:58:45 PM
Just goes to show, don't load beta software on a mission critical computer.
At the very least, back up your critical data and perhaps mirror your boot partition first.
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petergaskin
11 March 2012
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Everything I read said that you should download and install the preview onto an old computer that you had lying around. I believe that this was advice from Windows itself. Must agree with Slatts - why put all your important data at risk by downoading and tryign to install a preview copy of a new os onto your main computer?
Morale of the story - read the fine print before downloading and installing any software. |
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fmarka
11 March 2012
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Installed on a Oracle VirtualBox machine, and found Windows 8 very unintuitive. Obviously designed for touchscreens but hopeless for desktops. I can click to open, but how do I close a program? Not clear. The whole interface feels clumsy for a mouse and keyboard. I googled and found the Charms bar (Win+C) otherwise I couldn't shut it down. Either needs A LOT of work or go back to the drawing board. |
