Windows 8

[Assassin]

So has anyone tried the new touch based windows preview yet? I've been meaning to check it out, particularly since i have a Playbook tablet and a remote desktop app which will allow me to actually use the touch functionality. But i dont want to install it over my current windows 7 and somehow screw myself over without realizing it.

For any of you tech oriented folks who've tried it, can you give a basic step by step of how install it separately without ruining my current windows setup? Will i need to create a separate partition, or will the setup do that for me?

here's the link for those who haven't yet seen it: Windows 8 (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-CA/windows-8/consumer-preview)

[Kraco]

Based on the videos it looks like the cell phone Windows... I really can't imagine myself liking that start menu. Or whatever it is; it hardly reminds of a menu anymore. Still, can't blame them for lack of trying. If Win7 was correcting all the mistakes of Vista, this Win8 looks like a completely new thing instead, not just a massive error fix. Perhaps it'll have options to turn off the features I deem better suited for immensely casual users, amateurs, and fools. A touch screen for my desktop PC would also be the last thing I want, so I hope there'll be no pressure to get one for any serious purposes. If there is, I suppose cheap auxiliary screens will appear.

[Animeniax]

I haven't installed it but I've seen it on users' computers. There is an option during installation to create a dual-boot setup. Basically it's Windows for tablets and the start menu/taskbar is gone (haven't seen a way to get it back but haven't looked that hard either). I don't see it being that popular unless you have a touch-capable device.

[Assassin]

You do have the option to switch to a classic windows UI instead of the new Metro one. And ya, it is based off the Windows Phone style...i guess that's the direction MS is going with. Like i said, i just wanna try it cuz i can utilize it via my Playbook tablet.

It is supposed to be their tablet OS, so dont expect to see it on PC too much. Most users havent even upgraded to W7, so i think MS is focusing on the tablet market with this. With its uber synchronization with MS office, i imagine they're gonna try to treat it the way Blackberry's are treated within big organizations, and i can see that being a big plus when it comes to using tablets within companies for productivity.

[David75]

W8 is supposed to have the same kind of experience on all platforms from tablets, smartphones to laptops, desktops and maybe other screens someday (like TVs...)

Regarding that CP, well I was among those playing with the very first W7 public beta, loved it at the time.
But for W8, I just can't get motivated. Somehow W7 does everything I need now and I do not feel the need to explore yet another OS.
The other reason is that it seems that CP is mainly some kind of skin applied to W7 rather than a new OS. At least it feels like that for the moment.
I also read there should be like 9 consumer versions of the OS. I loathe MS for doing that, but that's another subject and they might change their views before launch...

So will I try W8?
Maybe. We'll see if I do, should they release a public beta or RC.

Regarding technical aspects?
I do not trust any OS to install correctly on a machine where my main OS and data are. Even the primary OS might hate it.

So I always try new OSes on an old hard drive, with all other drives disconnected in the machine, just in case. Of course, that means having spare HDDs, and a machine were you can perform tests. Often that means at least 2 machines, because having a second one helps for drivers or technical search...
There's also visualization, but since it does not always work fine on the first try, the good old machine with a spare HDD is the way I prefer.

[Buffalobiian]

Having menus and toolbars on the side is part of MS's way of making the OS more friendly towards 16:9 monitors from what I can tell. The whole ease-of-social-networking marketing focus didn't work on me, but I can see it working on a lot of the mass market.

The only thing that interests me at the moment is that W8 is supposedly "designed for gaming". Not that I see myself sampling new games at a quick rate these days...

[Kraco]

None of the games I've enjoyed over the years have needed the OS for anything but engine room work. All have fullscreen UIs of their own, so it matters zero percent how fancy the OS in the backgroud looks. At least until the game jams and you need to be able to access the task manager to kill the process, but that's technical enough to say that if it works, it works.

[darkshadow]

Actually W8 is faster in DX9 than windows XP, and faster in DX10/11 than W7; you will get the best performance on a W8 system + intergrated "xbox" live.

[Buffalobiian]

The only thing that interests me at the moment is that W8 is supposedly "designed for gaming". Not that I see myself sampling new games at a quick rate these days...

Actually, I'm kinda wanting to get a new laptop later this year. I was intending to get a 2nd generation Ultrabook and I recently learned that it's likely they'll come with both a touch-screen and windows 8.

Any folks been using Windows 8 on a tablet device (or not) and have an opinion on how well it works as a touch-screen enabled OS?

[David75]

Seems like I might never be interested in W8.
Even Ubuntu 12.04 seems more appealing at the moment as a new OS.

I guess the many articles I've seen about new interfaces (sound detection camera and so on) might be a another way to look at things.
I do not think keyboard and mouse are dead... But it's time alternatives show themselves... Not just in phones/tablets and xboxes.... But on laptops and desktops too.
I hope W8 will be a first step.

[Xelbair]

For any of you tech oriented folks who've tried it, can you give a basic step by step of how install it separately without ruining my current windows setup? Will i need to create a separate partition, or will the setup do that for me?

here's the link for those who haven't yet seen it: Windows 8 (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-CA/windows-8/consumer-preview)

Virtual machine - use it if you are afraid to install it on your PC.

[Buffalobiian]

Anybody using this at the moment?

I'm wondering if the "backward compatibility" aspect of W8 also extends to drivers..

[Kensee]

I installed windows 8 on my Lenovo ideapad P580 and it gave me so many problems.

- Three unrecognized drivers that I had to use Windows 7 drivers instead of the 8 that were not compatible yet.
- Bluetooth was damaged in the upgrade process and now can no longer even be recognized or listed as any type of device
- Antivirus/antispyware software has on more than one occasion conflicted with Windows 8
- Have to use the online profile mode to get full access to everything.

I ended up having to call Lenovo tech support just to make sure it wasn't any clumsy mistake on my end but they had severe issues. Even went through a clean reinstall version of windows 8 and still had issues. I ended up getting a free 3-disk system restore for my laptop and now I'm back on Windows 7.

Windows 8 is not bad, but its not ready yet. I highly recommend waiting for the first service pack at the minimum. Although, its a lot faster on any older computer/laptops that you may want to speed up (boots rather quickly).

[TwisT]

It has been the same way with every windows since after XP. Before that i have no experience since i never got any of those right away. But XP had problems, Vista had big problems. Even though Win7 was so similar and closely related to Vista it still had it's share of problems. You could even use most Vista drivers in Windows 7. Windows 8 has that "Metro mode" that is a big change. It's gonna and has caused big problems that gonna take it's sweet time to get fixed. Just like Vista did. I thought Vista was a great OS once most of the bugs had been fixed. I still wonder about Win8, but i hope it will be good. I will never be in that metro mode. If i wanted my computer to be a giant iPad i would simply buy one.

[Kraco]

Aren't the Microsoft's upgrade sales ending in January? After that, logic would suggest, it would cost considerably more to switch from Win7 to Win8, right? So, waiting for 8 SP1 would cost money. Fortunately I feel zilch interest to upgrade. Considering what game makers have been saying, I doubt from a gaming point of view there will be any need to upgrade either. I'll wait for Win9, unless something unexpected happens.

[UChessmaster]

So... windows 8 is actually faster?

[TwisT]

There is no difference from all the benchmark and speed tests i have seen so far. Some are faster, some are slower. Most of the time they are even.

[Kensee]

Aren't the Microsoft's upgrade sales ending in January? After that, logic would suggest, it would cost considerably more to switch from Win7 to Win8, right? So, waiting for 8 SP1 would cost money. Fortunately I feel zilch interest to upgrade. Considering what game makers have been saying, I doubt from a gaming point of view there will be any need to upgrade either. I'll wait for Win9, unless something unexpected happens.

Microsoft is changing their upgrading method starting with Windows 8. They are planning to do more annual upgrades that are about the size of service packs instead of releasing a huge new windows os every few years. Its pretty much the same idea as how Apple does their OS upgrades currently. I believe the next upgrade for Windows is Windows Blue but do not quote me on that, I was very tired when I read all this.


So... windows 8 is actually faster?

Erm... yeah and no? I find a lot of stuff runs slowly/not compatible so it slows down even basic functions for newer PCs, but it is faster to boot up on older PCs. That's about it, I still prefer Windows 7.

[Shadow Skill]

I found windows 8 is insanely fast with reboot time and seems to load a lot of programs really fast. I haven't come across any yet that load slow. Not many programs are compatible with windows 8, mainly games. So far seems Aion and Tera are the only 2 that work for me lol.

[UChessmaster]

Does anyone knows how to zoom in adobe reader? :/

[Munsu]

I found windows 8 is insanely fast with reboot time and seems to load a lot of programs really fast. I haven't come across any yet that load slow. Not many programs are compatible with windows 8, mainly games. So far seems Aion and Tera are the only 2 that work for me lol.

Solid state drive? How would this same machine behave with Windows 7?


It has been the same way with every windows since after XP. Before that i have no experience since i never got any of those right away. But XP had problems, Vista had big problems. Even though Win7 was so similar and closely related to Vista it still had it's share of problems. You could even use most Vista drivers in Windows 7. Windows 8 has that "Metro mode" that is a big change. It's gonna and has caused big problems that gonna take it's sweet time to get fixed. Just like Vista did. I thought Vista was a great OS once most of the bugs had been fixed. I still wonder about Win8, but i hope it will be good. I will never be in that metro mode. If i wanted my computer to be a giant iPad i would simply buy one.

Vista was awful. XP was and pretty much still is a great OS, and Windows 7 has been great for me.

[Shadow Skill]

Not sure, I tried to install Windows Vista, best OS IMO. :)

Upon making a NTFS Partition, Vista came back and said the Hard drive is partitioned as GPT, a new format to me. Maybe has to do with the Hard Drive being 1.5TiB. Still... it will not let me install windows Vista regardless of what I do. I made the partition 60GB of NTFS and still won't let me install Vista. So I give up. This GPT format is obviously far superior to NTFS when it comes to OS. :(

[Munsu]

Not sure, I tried to install Windows Vista, best OS IMO. :)

Upon making a NTFS Partition, Vista came back and said the Hard drive is partitioned as GPT, a new format to me. Maybe has to do with the Hard Drive being 1.5TiB. Still... it will not let me install windows Vista regardless of what I do. I made the partition 60GB of NTFS and still won't let me install Vista. So I give up. This GPT format is obviously far superior to NTFS when it comes to OS. :(

GPT and NTFS has nothing to do with each other.

NTFS is the file sytem, it's counterpart, for example, is FAT32.


GPT is the layout of the partition table. It's usually MBR, but GPT has is being used more frequently now with bigger disks, etc.

All that said, it should have nothing to do with the ability to install Vista. It may have something to do with this though, but not sure if it applies to you, or what it means:


Q. Can Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008 read, write, and boot from GPT disks?

A. Yes, all versions can use GPT partitioned disks for data. Booting is only supported for 64-bit editions on UEFI-based systems.

[Shadow Skill]

I am on a 64bit system. So not entirely sure on what to do here. I know all that. It still refuses to install Vista on the partition I make and still says it is formatted as GPT even though I create the partition in NTFS and FAT32 is not even an option :(

[Shadow Skill]

I might have to buy a copy of windows 7 and try and see if that works. I've read more people are successful installing a partition of Windows 7, than Vista or XP.