So, Who's excited for Windows 8?

Who is getting it and are you looking forward to the official release? I know many already have the early release versions, but what about those who are getting it official! I am quite excited, the Windows OS is due for an upgrade after 3 years with no changes (only one service pack in Win.7). I also get it for $15 as part of the early upgrade offer.

What are you guys most attracted to, and what don't you like/not too fond of about Windows 8? Post!

 

I have been using it for 2 months, (win 8 RTM) and it is fantastic. Whether you like Metro or not, the Desktop is leaps and bounds better than Windows 7 in every way

just to name a few

much faster, drastically cuts boot time on same hardware
native backup and restore is 100x better than Win7 (which was pathetic to say the least)
native right click an ISO to mount
improved copy/paste is much faster and more efficient, you can Pause a copy action now!
Win 8 joined my work Domain and connected to all company wide printers with hassle
more keyboard shortcuts than Windows 7
more gestures for laptop users
new feature called File History is a god send
Can easily Refresh your system (keep your files but refresh the OS), Restore to Factory settings all from Windows 8 and don't have to depend on the OEM to supply a recovery partiton

man I can keep going. The very sharp difference with Metro has kept people away from noticing how much better the desktop is now.

 

I am pretty much excited about Win 8. I have been using the Windows 7 Phone version of it, and it is just fantastic.
I would say that this OS is really the OS of modern times.

 

I have been using it for a while on a non-touchscreen laptop (Asus G73JW). It is actually quite nice, though I hear it's not so nice with dual monitors (which I haven't tried). I have not found the new Metroish stuff to be very useful, but some little things are handy like integration with my online accounts so that I get calendar reminders. It's faster to boot than Windows 7 was, even on an HDD. The task manager is much better. Explorer's ribbon is not as intrusive as some have made out since it remains hidden most of the time, leaving you with a nice clean interface.

The window borders look like they were designed in a hurry. I understand that Aero was a waste of power, and we all thought it was silly when they brought it in with Vista, but they have gone for a really basic, not particularly attractive, square look with the window decorations in 8.

Only one problem so far: the upgrade process destroyed my installation of SQL Server 2012 - none of the services would start and the associated accounts seemed to go missing. Other than that it was smooth (but upgrade is slow - clean install is very quick).

Oh, and the upgrade process even preserved my GRUB2 dual boot with Linux Mint! For Microsoft this is good going!

Overall it's a modest improvement over Windows 7, but not one that's worth spending a ton of money for, unless you specifically need one of the new features. Don't spend money just to get the new "modern" apps and store - they're not worth it at the moment.

I'm more excited to see how much Windows 8 helps move manufacturers away from the tradition of heavy, plasticky Windows laptops towards devices with a bit more style. Though probably Haswell will have more to do with that than the OS.

 

I am using it dual-screen right now at work and its works great. One screen is always on Desktop which is nice and the other one is your metro/desktop one. So if you go to dekstop on your Metro monitor both of your screens are desktops just like in 7. You can change which monitor is what by using Windows Key + PgUp and Windows + PgDown. Very fast and intuitive.

It is their entire design paradigm now across all products. More simple and elegant.

I'll disagree on this one as the improvements in speed is definitely why one should update. Plus who couldn't use new copy/past and better Task Manager? Those are decades old Windows staples that finally got update.

 

What's new about copy/paste? Do you mean the faster file copy/move? Those are definitely improved - about time too.

 

yes that's what I mean and I felt the same way. Took them long enough.

Now you get a graph as you are copying files/etc...and you can even PAUSE the copy and resume it later.

Even network transfers are faster btw

 

I tried a Lenovo Yoga at Best Buy the other day.. wow, Win 8 on touch feels like a new generation computer all together, bravo!

I am going to get the $40 upgrade for my u33j, and then probably either buy a Surface Pro or the new Asus Transformer Book .. :thumbsup:

 

"4 gigabytes of RAM allows for impressive multitasking in Windows, and a whopping 128 gigabyte SSD is available in the tablet to store bootloads of music and movies."

I kind of want to smack whoever wrote the script for that video. Neither of these is a large number these days. Which isn't to deny that it's an attractive machine, but these kinds of specifications limit the range of uses for ultrabooks and tablets. People who want to put their whole music collection on there, or use it as a main work PC, may be disappointed.

 

I just recieved my N56vz and was stepping into the upgrade process to Windows 8. It started with a compatibility check and said that the Intel USB 3 wasn't compatible and when I went to Intels site for driver they only go though Windows 7...Is this going to cause a problem? slow or loose my USB 3 ports? Same with the Bluetooth, says not Windows 8 compatible...will there be problems here? I stopped the install at that point. Am I just being paranoid?

 

I want to install win8 on my desktop, but I'm a little worried about drivers and stuff. My pc is about 3 years old, so the MB etc is a little old. Did anyone who installed win8 have any issues with drivers or hardware compatibility?
I actually had a lot of probs installing a new SATA HD the other day even on win7... (i think because of my MB not supporting drives over 2tb)

 

ivy bridge has native USB3.0 so it shouldn't be a problem. Windows 8 also found and used it's own bluetooth drivers. This was on my XPS 15 but I got the same pop ups when I did the upgrade. I have since done a clean install tho.

 

Just installed it on my U30SD, first thing that bothers me: fn+ combinations are all shabby, fn+f5/f6 to modify brightness worked once then nothing... No new asus utilities or drivers are available for win 8.

 

I like the improvements on the desktop, but it's hard to get used to the Metro/Tile UI. It feels like they just put the Tiles on top of the desktop and you are running 2 different operating systems: Windows 8 and Windows RT.

 

well damn, you should sell Windows 8, because i'm a little more convinced now.

I've been running windows 8 in a virtual machine, but i never bothered to discover any new features, so I didn't even consider doing a real upgrade.
Those things you mention could definitely be useful for me.

I get the windows 8 upgrade for free after rebate.


I agree with that last part. People are scared of the start screen. Microsoft should remind people that the familiar desktop is still there.

 

Here are a list of improvements..its a long list and article but you get the point...to get them all one needs to buy a Windows 8 book lol

Windows 8 Review, Part 1: The Desktop

http://www.winsupersite.com/article...part-6-reliability-security-networking-144631

 

Guys, if I install Windows 8, do I lose Windows 7 forever? There is no way of reverting back unless I install W7 manually right?
And if I select the Windows 8 Pro upgrade, I keep all my programs, files, etc., everything remains the same but I just upgrade my OS form W7 to W8?

 

depends and yes.

if you install win8 over win7, you will lose win7 and can only revert through a reformat. however, you can partition your drive and install win8 separately from win7. that way, you can dual boot into whichever os you want. and if you like win8, you can delete the win7 partition.

if you do install win8 on top of win7, everything will stay, as long as it meets compatibility. when i upgraded, i had to uninstall one program (daemon tools) due to incompatibility. but everything else - programs, setting, files, etc all stayed on the drive and it all works wonderfully. when you load the desktop, you wont see anything moved at all from wni7.

 

Cool! Is doing the partition easy or is it complicated? And, If I do the partition, does that mean I *Don't* install W8 over W7, meaning I must install all the programs on W8 again and transfer all my docs there, etc. ?

 

Mine is also 3 years old. It works well, except for Fn keys. Brightness, Wi-Fi swich work OK, but sound doesn't want to...

 

What time takes a clean installation?

 

Pretty much the same as Win7

You forgot to mention the grammar error correction though the OS.

It seems that all Fn combinations are working for me.

 

Just finished the complete install and transfer.

So far, really liking it. My favourite feature is the one-finger swipe from the left of the touchpad to change programs, ie. multitask. I also like the apps they have and am anxious for their future apps as well.

A couple of things that bother me though: The boot time is not at all fast, for some reason mine is really slow, and I don't know how to disable the password, which after entering it, takes another 10-15 seconds to go into the OS.
Secondly, the battery life is pretty much the same, well, I didn't expect too much anyway.
Lastly, I can use two finger horizontal scrolling in apps, but not in the main Start screen.. what the heck?!?!.. That's where it matters the most, and two-finger horizontal doesn't work.

 

Just bought a new Zenbook and even with the $15 upgrade it will be a cold day in [bleep] when I upgrade to that tablet OS on any desktop or laptop. The thing is a square peg designed for a round tablet hole. Anyone who say Windows 8 is a perfectly fine desktop or laptop OS either isn't a power user, or doesn't care about the look of their UI. Windows 8 first flaw is the god awful Metro, or whatever they are calling it now.

Metro is a UI force fed down desktop and laptop users for one and only one reason - to sell tablets and phones. You see by forcing metro on all platforms they are forcing developers to develop for tablets and phones, which in turn results in more apps for those platforms. Does anyone find it interesting that all the new laptops top res is only 1300 x blah? This isn't just chance. Anyone who has used the crappy Start screen knows how ugly it looks on high resolution, but more importantly large screens. I dare someone to install 60 apps on Windows 8. Plug your lappy into a 27" monitor, and jack up the resolution to 1920 x 1080 and see how well you fare. I spent 2 weeks on Windows 8 beta before I said enough. I then tried it again on Windows 8 release candidate and that time I made it 3 weeks before I went back to Windows 7.
This has nothing to do with getting use to anything, something Windows 8 advocates love claiming. I've been using Windows since Windows 1.

Every update has a real, tangible productive increase because the update was't done simply to sell a product. And more importantly unlike Apple Windows allows you a dozen ways of doing any one thing. This results in Windows conforming to how YOU work instead of being forced into a method of doing things that may hamper your style or workflow.

I switched over to Apple for 3 years just to try something new. I can honestly say it was the worst god damn experience I've ever had. And the reason was simple: Apple thinks they know how to best create an OS and a workflow. There really is only one path of doing things on OS X and when you stray from that and try and use haxies to make the OS your own not only does it destabilize the OS, it also can sometimes cause slowdowns and glitchy behavior.

So I switched back to Windows and was happy again because I know how I work. I know how I do things that work for me.

Now along comes Windows 8 force feeding an experience down your throat and telling you this is how you will do things. Strike one Microsoft.

Not only that you have this god awful start screen where once I load up my web development tools, my software development tools, my productivity suites, my games, my server management software, my AD management and analysis software, my network software and a few dozen audio\video\image packages and a scattering of scripts the start screen was an unmanageable cluster of a mess.

Now lets revert back to Windows 7. Where I have each of those categories organized into their own set of folders on the start menu. A menu that takes up about 500 x 800 of the screen vs. 1920 x 1080. What is the difference? Easy. The mouse. And moving it across the screen. And before you tell me to search. Try memorizing about 68 app names when you don't use them every day.

The problem is MS built a start menu designed for home users who are not power users. They built a UI for touch where moving your finger 6" across the screen is less work then moving a mouse across a 1920 x 1080 27" screen. The two do not scale the same which results in mousing around a heck of a lot more then on a Start Menu. Again they are force feeding an OS not designed for laptops\desktop. Strike two Microsoft.

And finally the ultimate proof that MS is throwing desktop and laptop users under the bus, backing it up over them, putting a rag in the gas tank, and lighting it on fire: Aero. Aero was Microsoft's catch up to the pretty that was OS X. They crap canned that in Windows 8 for one reason: battery hit. Now on a laptop this is not a problem. But when you factor in tablet. All a sudden things become clear. They couldn't get the battery life they wanted to on tablets so they crapped on aero to decrease the load of the GPU to gain better battery life. If I wanted a UI as bland as Windows 3.11 I'd go back to 3.11 Strike three Microsoft.....screw you.

I will never touch Windows 8 as long as I live. This will be the first version of Windows I will not be a day one adopter. I started working with Windows on Windows 1.01. Went to Windows 3.0. Then 3.11. Then Windows NT 3.x. Windows 95, Windows NT for workstations 4.x. Windows 98, 98SE, Windows CE, Windows 2K, Windows XP, Windows Vista (Briefly, then went back to XP.) now Windows 7.

Windows 8 under the hood is a fantastic OS. Its solid, robust, stable, and secure. But its UI was designed for a tablet. And I'm not putting a tablet OS on my new Zenbook.

 

Microsoft does not have some secret ploy with monitors being that resolution. The market switch to that resolution is quite simple, production costs.

“It is all about reducing manufacturing costs. The new 16:9 aspect ratio panels are more cost effective to manufacture locally than the previous 16:10 panels”.[6] Since computer displays are advertised by their diagonal measure, for monitors with the same display area, a wide screen monitor will have a larger diagonal measure, thus sounding more impressive. Within limits, the amount of information that can be displayed, and the cost of the monitor depend more on area than on diagonal measure."

Two WHOLE weeks? Holy man, you must be some sort of expert on the subject. When can I read your thesis?

I just loaded up 30 apps to test your theory. There is no giant mess in metro, there is no giant mess on the desktop. It's actually nearly identical to my windows 7 desktop. Maybe it's time to give up on computers, gramps.

First version that you haven't adopted day one? So how'd you like Windows ME? Windows 2.0?

You're a raging lunatic and conspiracy theorist. All I see is someone who is incredibly over some OS software. I'll continue to use both as both have their merits and both are good. People always scream hellfire and bring out pitchforks when Microsoft develops something new but eventually people adopt and love the idea anyway. Relax, its just a computer.

 

I'm having major issues with booting in and out.

Most of the times I restart or shutdown, it hangs and forces me to hold the power button to shut down.
When powering on the laptop, to fully boot up into the Modern UI, most of the time it takes around 1 minute (which is so slow).
I do have 'Fast Start-Up' checked - when I uncheck it, I believe it solves the shutdown/restart hang problem but results in a longer boot time.

Lastly, the worst, when in standby mode (lid down), the system sometimes restarts itself.

 

Did you even bother to read that I came back for another 3 weeks. The UI is .

Pretty sure I'm younger then you. You loaded 30 apps. Isn't that cute. So your computer is basically a toy. Got it. Now try doubling that. And you didn't bother to counter any of the problems I pointed out with organizing or sorting. Let me guess. You use your computer to browse, send a few emails, some gaming, and listening to music. Hard core computer user you are no doubt.

And you sir are a fanboi in the same vein as an iTard or a Fandroid. I wouldn't be at all surprised if you were an astroturfer for Microsoft. Something that they have been caught doing in the past. Windows is for productivity not forcing a platform down people's throats. The start menu has been in existence 17 years. Think about that for a second. There are people on this planet who have used nothing else. And now MS throws it away overnight. Only a raging idiot who is hell bent on pushing a platform would do such a thing. There is no conspiracy here. There is MS who is pissed as hell that they haven't been able to gain a foothold in the tablet and phone market and are doing anything to counter that.

Every excuse you give can be countered. Production costs? Bullcrap. I noticed you didn't bother to counter that Windows 8 is ugly as sin on a high resolution screen.

Windows ME came on a Compaq that I had, I didn't even boot it. I popped in Windows 2K. As for Windows 2. There was zero difference between 1 other then better apps integrated with it. So I missed one. Oh no. The point being I've been on Windows a hell of a lot longer then most and can say from a UI standpoint they backtracked with 8. Period. End of story. There are few review who claim that Windows 8 is better on a desktop laptop with a mouse and keyboard and frankly who the hell is going to touch their screen.

You see there are those of us who use a computer for this thing called work. you might have heard of it. And when we are pushing 8-12 hours a day gimmicks like touch on a screen that is 2' in front of you doesn't aid a person's workflow. Windows 8 is a complete mess they crapped out on people.

 

OMG or Oh My God. Most of the comments and reviews have totally missed the point on Windows 8. It is not the UI (metro or shmetro). The point is EVERYBODY has to do everything through Microsoft. No one else is allowed to play.

Anyone that wants a new laptop or desktop is not going to be given a choice. Because of the licensing agreements all the major vendors are required to sign, they are not allowed to sell anything else. They are even forced to stop making windows 7 drivers for new hardware.

Why do they still call it Windows? To get people to "think" they are buying a Windows system just like the one they have. It is NOT windows. I guess they think we are all gullible consumers,

The "windows 8" experience:

The first thing you must do is give Microsoft your email address. Because if you don't none of the built-in features will work. Sure they won't do anything with the information. Sure they won't...

If you hate Windows Live your stuck. Yes, Windows Live, The FAILED software that Microsoft abandoned years ago. It's integrated into Windows 8.

If you don't like Bing you can't change. This is just another way to stop Google and force-feed us Bing. Microsoft wants you on their search engine not Google because that is where the real money is, its in advertisements. You did not know that every time you use Bing you ring up a sale for Microsoft?

Most end-users will never figure out how to change these features.

Then there is the "app store" . Wow! if you want to try a new app or maybe get one direct from the vendor (without paying Microsoft) too bad. CNET downloads can shut down today. They are done.

We are being sold a bill-of-goods. Look at the reviewers that "love" Windows 8. Many of them are compensated to spout these lies. Others are just being good little sheep.

What do people like about Windows 7? Flexibility and a level of free choice.
What do people hate about Apple? The lack of Flexibility and free choice.
Microsoft vs. Apple With Windows 8 they are the same.

All of the good little sheep will help Microsoft make some money. That will be good. Won't it?