[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Windows 8 Consumer Preview: Initial Impressions here

[JordanDyckes1nz5]

It's running worse than the developer preview for me Graphics Drivers from AMD won't work, which means I can't run any 3D apps as it lags or cannot initialize.

[whatsupPC]

If windows 8 will soon be implemented in laptops and desktops, will the applications in the application stores utilize the components that pc's have? I mean comparing to tablets and smartphones their hardware don't match up to ones you find in a laptops or pcs. So it would only be right that applications from for windows 8 would have to have three different forms of support, pc and laptops, touch screen tablets, and smartphone. Or else if one application can be installed in all three types of devices, we would have lack of integration and quality of the application. Hopefully applications in the Window's 8 store would offer different forms of applications that would have features that would fully utilize the components that certain device offers.

[ThomasMulcahy]

It sounds good but I'm sure they will hobble it somehow! E.g. you only get the snappy performance you speak of when you buy the premium edition. lol

[jscott418]

I think it will be fine for Tablets and a dud for PC's. Notice how Microsoft in its presentations of Windows 8 focuses on tablets? This is done intentionally. The PC user will not find Windows 8 better then Windows 7 for day to day functions.

[DTNick]

jscott418, on 29 February 2012 - 05:19 PM, said:

I think it will be fine for Tablets and a dud for PC's. Notice how Microsoft in its presentations of Windows 8 focuses on tablets? This is done intentionally. The PC user will not find Windows 8 better then Windows 7 for day to day functions.

I think it's a little too early to say either way. Part of it will depend on your usage patterns, I think, as well as the implementation of Metro apps.

[JeremyRoeqh2g]

Windows 8 consumer preview is working great on my system. I have an I7 second gen processor, 8 gigs of ram and 2 gigs of video memory. It is very snappy and I like the Metro interface.

[Cullan66]

I don't think anyone gets the potential to what Microsoft is up to: modular computing.
Your future will be a pocket-sized computer, with a small screen for when you leave your home....one simple click of Windows 8 gives you that Metro touch interface. When you come home, you will want a richer experience with that big screen on your wall as a monitor (soon to connect via wireless), as well as your bluetooth keyboard & mouse...one more simple click gives you the desktop for all this.
Windows everywhere. No need for a smartphone vs. laptop anymore...one device to rule them all. No, the processing power isn't there in these tiny devices yet....but that day is coming.

[laserwizard]

These are PROGRAMS, not APPS. Apps was developed as a phrase by Apple to make you think constantly about Apple products. It was a shrewd and devious excuse to rename what has always been PROGRAMS. And for this generation of lazy computer users who aren't particularly bright, Apps follows the short-cutting of the English language. On computers, these are not Apps - these are Programs. Always has. Always will.

[scophi]

laserwizard, on 29 February 2012 - 11:02 PM, said:

These are PROGRAMS, not APPS. Apps was developed as a phrase by Apple to make you think constantly about Apple products. It was a shrewd and devious excuse to rename what has always been PROGRAMS. And for this generation of lazy computer users who aren't particularly bright, Apps follows the short-cutting of the English language. On computers, these are not Apps - these are Programs. Always has. Always will.

Although you are technically correct, I have a different definition...one that I think is becoming more common.

• Programs are fully-featured, apps are partially-featured.
  
• Programs launch from the desktop, apps launch from a tablet interface (Metro, iOS, etc).
  
• Programs are generally installed through downloaded installer packages, apps just pop up on your screen in a browser window or tablet interface.
  
• Programs can be maximized, minimized, and dragged around the screen, apps are either full screen or hidden.
  
• Programs can have multiple windows open, apps don't even have windows.
  
• Multiple programs can be open on the same screen, apps can only be seen one at a time.

You get the idea. Bottom line: Metro has apps, the Desktop has programs. For example, Metro's IE10 is an app. the Desktop's IE10 is a program. And neither talks with one another. They don't share favorites or browsing histories. Why? Because one is an app and one is a program.

This post has been edited by scophi: 29 February 2012 - 11:41 PM

[scophi]

I've been saying since before the Dev Prev came out that Win8 was a horrible idea. A unified OS is no one's idea of a good thing. This may be okay for tablets, I don't know, I'm not a tablet person. But it's terrible for the desktop.

Worse if you have mutliple monitors. Trying to find the correct screen edge postion to swipe or find the charms is a feat of ultimate mouse dexterity. If you're in desktop mode, you never know which monitor your app will pop up in when you open or minimize it. Same thing for going back to the start screen. It's very inconsistent.

I've said it before but people argued with me. Now it's becoming obvious. This is a tablet OS taking the place of a desktop OS. I don't have the words to describe how frustrated I am with Microsoft...how poorly conceptualized this is...and how much I drastically hope that Windows 7 has a long, long support run becuase I won't be buying Windows 8.

After thought -- I won't buy Windows 9 if it holds on to the same principle. Microsoft needs to immediately go back to producing a desktop only OS. Tablets and desktops are not even close to the same thing, so why should they have the same OS? Was anyone asking for this?

[scophi]

Cullan66, on 29 February 2012 - 10:28 PM, said:

I don't think anyone gets the potential to what Microsoft is up to: modular computing.
Your future will be a pocket-sized computer, with a small screen for when you leave your home....one simple click of Windows 8 gives you that Metro touch interface. When you come home, you will want a richer experience with that big screen on your wall as a monitor (soon to connect via wireless), as well as your bluetooth keyboard & mouse...one more simple click gives you the desktop for all this.
Windows everywhere. No need for a smartphone vs. laptop anymore...one device to rule them all. No, the processing power isn't there in these tiny devices yet....but that day is coming.

It's not about processing power. It's about using the right tool for the job. Desktops will always be around and they will always be separate from tablets. Why? Becuase they have different purposes. You can't combine the two. It would be like trying to combine a bus, a car, and moped by saying that it's all modular transportation.

Desktops run differently. They have different working environments and experiences. As such, they need different operating systems. I can't sit down at a tablet and run my optical drives, a movie on one monitor and my website developer tools on the other monitor, while ripping movies in the backround, and pulling files from 3 external storage drives. Not gonna happen on a tablet. And I certainly can't do that in a Metro interface. I could go on with other examples about workplace productivity or studio editing software, but it all leads back to the same conclusion...not everyone can run their life from a tablet/mobile device.

The point is that having 'one OS to rule them all and in the darkness bind them' is a fantasy that is not based on the reality of diverse computing needs.

This post has been edited by scophi: 29 February 2012 - 11:56 PM

[scophi]

DTNick, on 29 February 2012 - 09:21 PM, said:

jscott418, on 29 February 2012 - 05:19 PM, said:

I think it will be fine for Tablets and a dud for PC's. Notice how Microsoft in its presentations of Windows 8 focuses on tablets? This is done intentionally. The PC user will not find Windows 8 better then Windows 7 for day to day functions.

I think it's a little too early to say either way. Part of it will depend on your usage patterns, I think, as well as the implementation of Metro apps.

I disagree. We have had the Dev Prev and now the Con Prev. That's plenty of time to realize that what MS is putting out is just not working for a lot of desktop users.

[StephenWatson]

laserwizard, on 29 February 2012 - 11:02 PM, said:

These are PROGRAMS, not APPS. Apps was developed as a phrase by Apple to make you think constantly about Apple products. It was a shrewd and devious excuse to rename what has always been PROGRAMS. And for this generation of lazy computer users who aren't particularly bright, Apps follows the short-cutting of the English language. On computers, these are not Apps - these are Programs. Always has. Always will.

Not so I'm afraid.

If you go back to the first mainstream graphical computer, the Macintosh in 1984, MacPaint, MacDraw, or MacWrite were referred to as Applications, never programs. They may have been called Programs on business computers and possibly on Windows but there they were probably called Executables (.exe). They are still referred to on OS X as Applications despite the Mac App Store ...

Apple have simply contracted the name Applications to Apps. Whether that is to make you think about Apple or not is supposition.

[GetReal]

"I spent a good hour just discovering how to do things I've known how to do in Windows for over a decade."

Hay Microsoft, If it is not broke then don't fix it!

With the release of each version of Windows I spend hours-days-weeks unlearning/relearning how to do things again >>> that I have been doing for years - just so MS can say "Buy this - it's all new."

Crap!

[QUADICON]

JordanDyckes1nz5, on 29 February 2012 - 10:02 AM, said:

It's running worse than the developer preview for me Graphics Drivers from AMD won't work, which means I can't run any 3D apps as it lags or cannot initialize.

You have to expect many things won't work. It's a "Consumer Preview".

[QUADICON]

jscott418, on 29 February 2012 - 05:19 PM, said:

I think it will be fine for Tablets and a dud for PC's. Notice how Microsoft in its presentations of Windows 8 focuses on tablets? This is done intentionally. The PC user will not find Windows 8 better then Windows 7 for day to day functions.

Metro is just a skin on a desktop PC. if the person doesn't liek the skin, they simply turn it off. For day to day stuff, it likely won't be that much different than Windows 7. But for those who want the new skin that can help do some thing quicker, it is an available option.

[QUADICON]

GetReal, on 01 March 2012 - 04:49 AM, said:

"I spent a good hour just discovering how to do things I've known how to do in Windows for over a decade."

Hay Microsoft, If it is not broke then don't fix it!

With the release of each version of Windows I spend hours-days-weeks unlearning/relearning how to do things again >>> that I have been doing for years - just so MS can say "Buy this - it's all new."

Crap!

Hey GetREal is back. Funny, how what you said applies to every platform on the planet. Do you speak against those too, of is this your typical Microsoft hate speech that is nothing more than fantastic BS?

You don't like it, you don't buy it. It's that simple. Do you cry liek this when Apple changes things just for the sake of change? Are you going to cry when the next version of Mac OS X looks and works more like iOS? Because that si where it is headed. Are you going to cry with the next version of Android or any other platform you can name?

If you have an older Toyota Camry and you don't buy a new model for lets say, 5 years; won't you have somewhat of a learning curve to use new features?

If you hate change so much, why do you even use a computer? They change constantly. Either you change with them an adapt which is every humanly possible, or you can live in a cave and be left far behind.

Crying about change is so 50's.

[mroughton]

Am I the only one sitting at 0% downloaded after an hour?

[mroughton]

mroughton, on 01 March 2012 - 08:44 AM, said:

Am I the only one sitting at 0% downloaded after an hour?

Just decided to look for an ISO download. The link can be found in the FAQ.