Windows 8 Release Preview

Millionaire

So Windows 8 Release Preview is out if any one is interested.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-8/release-preview

I tried the Consumer preview and I hated it, not liking the future of Windows personally.

m5rcc

More Windoze

InsideInsurance

In fairness, 90% of people complain about the "new version" of Windows every time but after using it for a few months then hate going back to their beloved previous version.

I did try running an earlier version on a virtual machine but it wouldnt recognise my mouse so I gave up

LincolnshireYokel

Millionaire wrote: »

So Windows 8 Release Preview is out if any one is interested.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-8/release-preview

I tried the Consumer preview and I hated it, not liking the future of Windows personally.

Tip from a Retired IT guy:

Never touch any version of windows until Service Pack 3.

Never touch any version of windows with an even number.

Srsly.


Also, MS are moving to what we used to call in the business "Thin Client", but what they now call "Cloud Computing". This is because instead of selling you a copy of windows/office/whatever for a one off fee, they sell you a subscription to download it from the net every time you run it. That way they can stop pirating and make vastly more money screwing you monthly.

LincolnshireYokel

InsideInsurance wrote: »

In fairness, 90% of people complain about the "new version" of Windows every time but after using it for a few months then hate going back to their beloved previous version.

I did try running an earlier version on a virtual machine but it wouldnt recognise my mouse so I gave up

I run XP SP3, the best version they ever made. It will take physical violence to force me to switch to another version.

Vista was just the largest virus ever writen by a commercial company

Windows 7 was the Barbie and Ken Chav dumbed down version

Windows 8 I expect will have some huge snags, its been rushed out. In any case see above.

OGR

Having played with various versions of Windows 8 I will give my view.

To be honest first time I used it I hated it, I found Metro a stupid idea for a system that has a mouse and found myself using the desktop mode mostly. Then they decided to take away the start menu and of course I made the snap judgement that this was a very silly thing to do.

Now that I have thought about it I can kind of understand the point of Metro. The world seems to be moving towards one where we use our fingers to point at everything and the standard UI of XP, Vista or 7 isn't really built with that in mind. Just for arguments sake say you have a 21'' 1920x1200 screen, the icons are going to be pretty small and so the big in your face style of Metro will make a massive difference here.

Then to the start menu, at first as I said it seemed a terrible idea but then I realised I NEVER actually use it. I have all of my normal stuff pinned to my task bar and when I want to run something else I hit the windows key, type its name (example 'excel') and hit return. You can still run things in this way with Windows 8 and I would go as far as to say that the start menu as a result of this function hasn't been relevant since Windows XP which is now showing its age and feels really old fashioned to use.

For the record I have downloaded the newest release but haven't had a chance to install it on anything yet.

LincolnshireYokel

OGR wrote: »

Having played with various versions of Windows 8 I will give my view.

To be honest first time I used it I hated it, I found Metro a stupid idea for a system that has a mouse and found myself using the desktop mode mostly. Then they decided to take away the start menu and of course I made the snap judgement that this was a very silly thing to do.

Now that I have thought about it I can kind of understand the point of Metro. The world seems to be moving towards one where we use our fingers to point at everything and the standard UI of XP, Vista or 7 isn't really built with that in mind. Just for arguments sake say you have a 21'' 1920x1200 screen, the icons are going to be pretty small and so the big in your face style of Metro will make a massive difference here.

Then to the start menu, at first as I said it seemed a terrible idea but then I realised I NEVER actually use it. I have all of my normal stuff pinned to my task bar and when I want to run something else I hit the windows key, type its name (example 'excel') and hit return. You can still run things in this way with Windows 8 and I would go as far as to say that the start menu as a result of this function hasn't been relevant since Windows XP which is now showing its age and feels really old fashioned to use.

For the record I have downloaded the newest release but haven't had a chance to install it on anything yet.

The point is they are doing everything they can to stop you getting to a true command prompt, and a lot of reapirs and fiddling about can be done best in DOS - Ive even fixed the MBR of a HDD after a virus had trashed it by rewriting the first sector in hex. using a hex sector editor, thus saving the entire contents of the disc. You cant do that in windows.......

OGR

I can't see them getting rid of cmd completely, it is still a pretty important tool especially on the business/corporate side of things.

Yesterday I was making some changes to group policy for example, not being able to gpupdate /force on a client would have been a right pain in the !!!! for testing and I am sure even M$ realise that.

S0litaire

Guess I'll NOT be getting a Win8 machine!

I like to install other OS's not just the ones MS approves! lol ^_^

*fyi*

Win8 will use a new type of booting software / hardware combo that requires the motherboard to check for a signature before letting an OS boot. "Designed for Windows 8" machines will be locked to Win8 versions as standard (required to get the "Designed for..." badge)

So versions of Windows below 8 won't boot and neither will Linux OS's without a valid signature.

Microsoft will let others use Microsoft's Signing certificate for a one off $99 fee .

Fedora/RedHat have paid Microsoft the $99 and are negotiating the use of Microsoft's certificate to sign their boot code.

It IS possible to turn off the check for the signed boot but it involves flashing the BIOS and changing settings but this *MAY* put it in a grey area in regards to "circumventing DRM Restriction" laws in the UK and other countries.

It technically should be OK since it was designed to be removed by a user but the process is not as simple as un-installing a program (if it goes wrong it can brick your motherboard, as with ANY failed bios update.)

LincolnshireYokel

S0litaire wrote: »

Guess I'll NOT be getting a Win8 machine!

I like to install other OS's not just the ones MS approves! lol ^_^

*fyi*

Win8 will use a new type of booting software / hardware combo that requires the motherboard to check for a signature before letting an OS boot. "Designed for Windows 8" machines will be locked to Win8 versions as standard (required to get the "Designed for..." badge)

So versions of Windows below 8 won't boot and neither will Linux OS's without a valid signature.

Microsoft will let others use Microsoft's Signing certificate for a one off $99 fee .

Fedora/RedHat have paid Microsoft the $99 and are negotiating the use of Microsoft's certificate to sign their boot code.

It IS possible to turn off the check for the signed boot but it involves flashing the BIOS and changing settings but this *MAY* put it in a grey area in regards to "circumventing DRM Restriction" laws in the UK and other countries.

It technically should be OK since it was designed to be removed by a user but the process is not as simple as un-installing a program (if it goes wrong it can brick your motherboard, as with ANY failed bios update.)

Ohhhhhh I can see that one going to court. Its like Apple trying to use the law to stop people jailbreaking Iphones. Itll never stand up. I bet within 3 weeks of the first Win 8 machines appearing you will be able to find out how to jailbreak them from win 8

boxst

I didn't really like Windows 8, but I will give it another go based on some of the above.

It was incredibly irritating to have the screen fill with squares for me to click on and then not get back to the desktop very easily. And any instance of a program from the desktop (like IE) is different from the one launched from the tiles. Most odd.