Windows 8 Trial Version

santer_2

Has anyone tried this yet?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2108082/Bill-Gates-empire-strikes-New-version-Windows-8-goes-free-trial-today.html

http://www.forumswindows8.com/windows-8-download/

Notmyrealname

Beware that it is a beta and there will be missing functionality and bugs present. Don't use it on any computer you rely on.

BackOnTrack

If a person doesnt know how to install this along side their current OS then I would say avoid like the plague for the moment. It's a pre beta release aimed at developers so expect features not to be available and for applications not to work. Good to see the daily mail continues it's tradition of poor quality reporting.

[Deleted User]

The Consumer Preview is being released today, so no point wasting the bandwidth on the Developer Preview linked above.

ThomasK31ly

Windows 8 Consumer Preview

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/iso

Reue

I installed the Dev preview a few months ago and it was horrible.

Very obviously designed for use on a touch screen and almost unusable on a normal pc.

jayme1

I was using it all yesterday, I agree it feels very disjointed, but I like how it will be easy to use like a touch tablet should be but when you want you can get deep down and you have a full proper computer underneath it all.

depending on the use you will have to modify the default programs a lot as everything open in their touch options, whereas on a proper sit down computer you want them opening in the desktop counterparts.

even though it takes a little getting used to, once you have it all set up (ie having everything open in their proper desktop applications) then it isn't that hard to work,
the start menu even though you can't drill down through 'All programs' like in windows 7 and before you can just click start and then just type what you are looking for (exactly like you can (and I have been doing) since vista and in windows 7)

I think the best feature in the whole OS though is 'Storage Spaces' it is basically where you can take any amount of hard drives of any varying size and make them all into one massive drive with options of redundancy so if one drive fails your don't loose any data.
I also like the changes to windows explorer specifically the ribbon interface, but I am less keen on the details panel now being on the right side and not the bottom.

on a whole it seemed perfectly stable if you are building a new computer then instead of buying windows 7 now and then (if you want to upgrade) having to buy windows 8 when it comes out (ie buying twice) then it could be an option to just use this consumer preview for free until it is released (obviously keep a backup of all your data (as you should be doing anyway) and you will need to clean install the release version when you buy it)

ps the 2nd best feature is Pinball is back

on my laptop right now I won't be upgrading because I made the decision a few years ago that windows 7 will last this computer out, but if I buy (or build) a new computer I will be happy to have windows 8 on it (esp if it is touch capable), although I will be buying the Ultimate version so I have all the features (bitlocker, ect.) you don't get with lower versions.

System

but is it any better than Vista? We never did get round to getting Windows 7

deed02392

Judi wrote: »

but is it any better than Vista? We never did get round to getting Windows 7

I downloaded it a couple months ago because I wanted to test the kernel suspend facility. Didn't even have an option to suspend or hibernate so I never did manage to do that and I gave up after only about half an hour (it was too messy to bother).

It will be whole worlds better than Windows Vista, however the fact you never bothered getting around to Windows 7 suggests you haven't had serious issues with Vista, so perhaps it's not worth the expense for you until you try and get something working that just won't (e.g. installing a new printer).