[Ericuse165]

Has anyone downloaded and tried the Windows8-ConsumerPreview? What do you think about it???? I installed it on my laptop to give it a try and see how it worked. I think that it is a fail for all pcs it seems like it was built for smartphone(Windows phone). I think there are a lot of added steps to do something vs another Windows OS. It simple terms it is Windows 7 with just a new start menu and navigation. I do not like it all and am very disappointed in it and in the way Microsoft seems to be going . From what I see now I am not going to be upgrading to it and will be more then happy with Windows 7.

[LiveBrianD]

I think it's a total flop. On tablets, ok. On desktops and laptops, the metro UI is unintuitive and stupid. I've heard it'll be disabled by default unless you have a tablet though, which I REALLY hope is the case. As it is, Vista (at launch) looked much better than this.

[waldojim]

Do I have it installed? Yes. What do I think? Not entirely too sure about it yet. Much like I am not entirely too sure about Windows 7. I don't care for Metro, but I understand why it is there, and appreciate what MS was looking to do. The fact that I can run everything else I use means it is at least functional. I don't like how poorly designed some aspects are, but I suspect the will clean up as MS gets feedback. Example being shutting down. Before with Developer Preview, the start corner (what is it called?) used to bring up a small menu with 'settings' which was used to shut the machine down. It isn't there anymore. Instead you have to use the side bar in Metro. I don't like that one bit.

Overall, it is much quicker though, and has better integration with remote services. It also looks like something that can remain consistent across all Windows devices. In the end though, we all have different tastes and desires.

[Ericuse165]

Brian I agree with you. I was playing around with the settings and saw a setting called airplane mode. Does a pc really need a airplane mode? Why are they switching to tablets and phone so much? It is one OS for all devices like one size fits all.

[waldojim]

Laptops actually do need an airplane mode, tirns off wifi and bluetooth radios.

[LincolnSpector]

Two different operating systems that are hardly on speaking terms. Not only do they have totally different UIs, but they can't even run the same software.

And the Desktop is a crippled version of Windows 7, without the Start menu.

Lincoln

[LiveBrianD]

waldojim, on 06 March 2012 - 02:22 AM, said:

Laptops actually do need an airplane mode, tirns off wifi and bluetooth radios.

Why do you need that? The last flight I was on had wifi anyway (not free though, so I disabled the wifi on my laptop to save battery).

[LiveBrianD]

LincolnSpector, on 06 March 2012 - 08:37 AM, said:

Two different operating systems that are hardly on speaking terms. Not only do they have totally different UIs, but they can't even run the same software.

And the Desktop is a crippled version of Windows 7, without the Start menu.

Lincoln

Exactly what I think. This just doesn't make any sense. Faster startup times, sure, those are welcome. But everything else, nope.

[orlbuckeye]

waldojim, on 06 March 2012 - 02:22 AM, said:

Laptops actually do need an airplane mode, tirns off wifi and bluetooth radios.

Yes but isn't it just as easy to flick a button to turn off Wifi instead of going to setting?

It's growing on me. The reason why it boots faster is because there are less system files being loaded. Unlike previous Windows products things only get loaded when needed. I'm interested in seeing how it works with java and flash apps.

This post has been edited by orlbuckeye: 07 March 2012 - 12:22 PM

[smax013]

I just downloaded it this week and installed it in a VM on my MacBook Air in Parallels (my Windows computer is disassembled at the moment as I am finally in the middle of painting my office).

I can certainly see it being well received for use on a tablet based device, but I am very hard pressed to see why anyone using desktop or even a laptop computer would want to use it.

I supposed that for a run of the mill typical consumer (i.e. someone who is not the most computer literate) it might be well received. I could see a lot of people in the consumer market might like a "dumbed down" OS.

But, I seriously doubt any enterprise users/IT departments would even remotely consider it unless there is someway to force it to boot into the "desktop" mode and completely bypass the MetroUI.

I am still playing with. I don't have a Microsoft account, so there were quite a few things that I could not use until I get around to creating one.

[LiveBrianD]

I think most run-of-the-mill consumers won't like it, because it's different and they won't be able to figure out how it works (ex. hot corners, right-click for controls in metro IE, how to shut down the PC, etc).

[compnovo]

smax013, on 09 March 2012 - 12:40 PM, said:

I can certainly see it being well received for use on a tablet based device, but I am very hard pressed to see why anyone using desktop or even a laptop computer would want to use it.

I've had a chance to play with Win8 for a few days, have it installed on a spare hard drive on my desktop (not dual boot, I just swap drives). The more I played with the Metro GUI the more I liked it, and like you can really see the potential as a tablet OS. I also think MS will be wise to give users a way to set a default GUI to boot into. Then it would make sense for desktops (personal and enterprise) that haven't yet moved up from XP.

Although Win8 is no doubt more efficient that Vista or Win7 I just couldn't see a compelling reason to upgrade from Win7 at this time, but I am really interested to see what a tablet like the ASUS Transformer does with Metro on a ARM processor (as I am certain they will).

[LiveBrianD]

It's efficient in that it doesn't use as many resources as Windows 7, but VERY inefficient in that the UI sucks unless you have a tablet. What UI do you spend most of your time in?

Also, why do they offer a metro UI with the traditional desktop saying that it offers the ability to run desktop programs, which other tablets don't, when the ARM version, most likely to be used on tablets, won't have the normal desktop? Huh? I think they should have just made a separate OS altogether for tablets and smartphones with metro, and left the desktop OS alone.

This post has been edited by LiveBrianD: 09 March 2012 - 06:12 PM

[compnovo]

LiveBrianD, on 09 March 2012 - 06:10 PM, said:

It's efficient in that it doesn't use as many resources as Windows 7, but VERY inefficient in that the UI sucks unless you have a tablet. What UI do you spend most of your time in?

I spent most of my time trying to get a feel for Metro because the traditional desktop is so close to Win7 that there wasn't much new to play with.

LiveBrianD, on 09 March 2012 - 06:10 PM, said:

Also, why do they offer a metro UI with the traditional desktop saying that it offers the ability to run desktop programs, which other tablets don't, when the ARM version, most likely to be used on tablets, won't have the normal desktop? Huh? I think they should have just made a separate OS altogether for tablets and smartphones with metro, and left the desktop OS alone.

I think MS is clever in offering options. Consider the ASUS Transformer I mentioned. When using just the tablet I would want a touch screen OS, which I've grown to appreciate with the Kindle Fire, but when docked I might want to switch to a traditional GUI when creating something like a Word document or a Powerpoint presentation (the rumor is that WOA will come with a few ARM compatible Office apps). There won't be anything tying you to one or the other, you can make the call. Remember, too, that this is a beta and if MS listens to testers like they did with Win7 there will be plenty of changes in the final release.

[LiveBrianD]

Yeas, but the lack of a start menu is a big usability impairment.

I want nothing doing with metro on my desktop and laptop, though I'm sure they'll have to offer an option to disable it (for businesses).

[Ericuse165]

I am stilling using it and playing around with it I just have to say I hate it. I find it harder to use and more steps it is not any faster but start up. On my Windows 7 pc I have 8GB of ram and I use the program Soluto my boot is done in 45 seconds so nothing is going to make me upgrade to 8.

[compnovo]

LiveBrianD, on 09 March 2012 - 09:45 PM, said:

I want nothing doing with metro on my desktop and laptop,

Yeah, I think we got that

[waldojim]

LiveBrianD, on 09 March 2012 - 06:10 PM, said:

It's efficient in that it doesn't use as many resources as Windows 7, but VERY inefficient in that the UI sucks unless you have a tablet. What UI do you spend most of your time in?

Also, why do they offer a metro UI with the traditional desktop saying that it offers the ability to run desktop programs, which other tablets don't, when the ARM version, most likely to be used on tablets, won't have the normal desktop? Huh? I think they should have just made a separate OS altogether for tablets and smartphones with metro, and left the desktop OS alone.

Because Intel is intending to invade the tablet market with low powered ATOM based tablets running Windows 8.

[smax013]

LiveBrianD, on 09 March 2012 - 04:15 PM, said:

I think most run-of-the-mill consumers won't like it, because it's different and they won't be able to figure out how it works (ex. hot corners, right-click for controls in metro IE, how to shut down the PC, etc).

Most stuff will be very easy for them to figure out. There may be a few things that are not easier to figure out initially, but once it is figured out it will not be a problem anymore.

The end result for me is that I don't see a lot of people going out and buying a Windows 8 upgrade for an existing computer, but I can see the "run of the mill" consumer user who gets a new computer with Windows 8 on it being fine using Windows 8...even if the MetroUI is the main interface and the "desktop" is just a shell like it is in the Consumer Preview.

Of course, this is still a "beta", so we really don't know what Microsoft will do. It is entirely possible that they will disable the MetroUI for regular laptops and desktops...and only enable it for tablets and laptop/tablet devices (like what has been out for Windows for a number of years...i.e. the laptops with the screen that flips around to allow you to use the laptop as a tablet). I have to believe that they will not try to force the MetroUI on enterprise users, so that suggests that they will have an option to make the "desktop" being the primary UI.

[LiveBrianD]

I guess so. I'm pretty sure they'll HAVE to let people disable metro if they want ANY chance whatsoever of Win8 being adopted in the enterprise. I've heard that maybe they aren't letting you disable metro so you're forced to try metro, so that you'll be more likely to give them feedback on it, which makes sense.