Free Grabbit Windows 8 (not 8 Windows)

icecurtain

Microsoft Corp. announced the availability of the Windows 8 [STRIKE]Beta [/STRIKE]Consumer Preview— the next milestone of the Windows operating system.
Download it here http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-8/download

It is free to use until 13th Jan 2013

So a free operating system then you can either go back to your old OS or get a Licence.

I have been using all weekend and it is very smooth, designed for both touch screen devices(mainly touch) but also works well on keyboard an mouse devices.

But is it enough for me to go and splash out on a new OS after window 7 probably not. But hey it is free to use for 9 months.

For those that are really techie then I would recommend Dual boot option http://www.product-reviews.net/2012/03/04/windows-8-consumer-preview-goes-live-dual-boot-recommended/

Remember backup your files before upgrading!

Bollotom

Bear in mind this statement from Microsoft..

Important: If you decide to go back to your previous operating system, you'll need to reinstall it from the recovery or installation media that came with your PC, which is typically DVD media. If you don’t have recovery media, you might be able to create it from a recovery partition on your PC using software provided by your PC manufacturer. Check the support section of your PC manufacturer’s website for more information. After you install Windows 8, you won’t be able to use the recovery partition on your PC to go back to your previous version of Windows

Perhaps the 'Dual-boot' option would be good.:cool:

dljones

Just like when Window 7 was under beta testing I installed it as a dual boot. I mean nobody should be that silly to trust a consumer preview on they everyday pc.....always dual boot for these things. Having said that it does look really cool and i'm liking it a lot

Notmyrealname

icecurtain wrote: »

Microsoft Corp. announced the availability of the Windows 8 [STRIKE]Beta [/STRIKE]Consumer Preview— the next milestone of the Windows operating system.
Download it here http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-8/download

It is free to use until 13th Jan 2013

So a free operating system then you can either go back to your old OS or get a Licence.

Oh. Dear. It is a BETA. It contains show stopping bugs. Applications may not work correctly or work at all with it. Likewise drivers. It is missing important features and many things will change between this version and the final release.

And no you can't just get a licence. You would have to do a clean install and unless you install the old OS, the only valid version you could buy is full retail which is quite expensive.

wallbash

Oh. Dear. It is a BETA

Yes , it plainly says its a Beta. Whats the problem with that . If you don't want to try/play don't.
But like the OP I have spent the w/e 'playing' .

Took me ages to find how to return from desktop to Start page , but the weather was awful , golf was off and I had nothing better to do.

Ps The Start Page is dreadful.

aerostar

Just installed on a spare HD, what a crxp operating system !, another Vista perhaps !

I wonder how many people have touch screens, people I know who have tried touch screens find it a pain in more ways than one, having to keep reaching to the screen, just wait till touch screen users start reporting shoulder pains etc.

Multiple keys presses to even shut it down from desk top, no safe mode (F8) on start up, you have to tell the system you want safe mode using msconfig and reboot, not good.

It did not recognise the graphics adapter on board (HP desktop) so could not get HP wide screen monitor filled only 1024 768.

I installed a graphics driver, and it caused a problem, computer started, said there is a problem, looking at system, then reboots in 1 sec, not enough time to really read what it said,
it then goes round and round in the same circle and you are stuffed.

If you chose the default install, then it will send lots of data out to apps and MS that you might not want.

I appreciate it is a preview BUT it needs a lot of work to make it easy to use and user friendly, which at the moment it is not.

I see lots and lots of complaints on the net from home and business users who have tried this.

I think I will stick to XP and W7 for a long time.

custardy

aerostar wrote: »

Just installed on a spare HD, what a crxp operating system !, another Vista perhaps !

I wonder how many people have touch screens, people I know who have tried touch screens find it a pain in more ways than one, having to keep reaching to the screen, just wait till touch screen users start reporting shoulder pains etc.

Multiple keys presses to even shut it down from desk top, no safe mode (F8) on start up, you have to tell the system you want safe mode using msconfig and reboot, not good.

It did not recognise the graphics adapter on board (HP desktop) so could not get HP wide screen monitor filled only 1024 768.

I installed a graphics driver, and it caused a problem, computer started, said there is a problem, looking at system, then reboots in 1 sec, not enough time to really read what it said,
it then goes round and round in the same circle and you are stuffed.

If you chose the default install, then it will send lots of data out to apps and MS that you might not want.

I appreciate it is a preview BUT it needs a lot of work to make it easy to use and user friendly, which at the moment it is not.

I see lots and lots of complaints on the net from home and business users who have tried this.

I think I will stick to XP and W7 for a long time.

this was always my question on PC touchscreens
my screen is further than arms length from me
tablets and work applications. yup I get it
however on day to day PC use,nope

gaming_guy

...........

aerostar

gaming_guy wrote: »

I've heard it has a slightly different key combo you have to press to access safe mode. What the combo is, I have no idea.

Searching around it is suggested that shift F8 does it, but I cannot get it to work despite trying multiple times.

Also if you use msconfig to change the boot settings to get it into safe mode, do not make it permanent, as there is no way back, according to the warning that comes up, to get it to boot normally afterwards !!

mr_fishbulb

I might give it a go on a VM. How much disk space does it take up?

Ah, here we go - Hard disk space: 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)

debitcardmayhem

mr_fishbulb wrote: »

I might give it a go on a VM. How much disk space does it take up?

I think that is irrelevant , it won't be there long:rotfl::rotfl: