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Windows 8 Arrives

microsoft.com

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Re: Windows 8 Arrives

#71

Post by wslh »

luma wrote: post #22

I've been running Windows 8 since they release the RTM version to TechNet subscribers on my primary laptop (about a month now). Short version - outside of Metro it's basically Win7SP3 and it works great. Metro is every bit the usability disaster that people have claimed when not running on a touch screen. The good news is that you really don't have to interface much with Metro at all. It replaces the start menu, but…

We have an issue with Windows 8 that stopped us to installing it on some personal notebooks until sp1 cames. We installed Virtual CloneDrive from SlySoft knowing that it doesn't support Windows 8. After having a blue screen and being not able to boot the system again we tried with booting it safely and we couldn't! so we reinstalled Windows 7 there. Although it was expectable to fail, it was not expectable to not recover.

Beyond that, we were developing interception technologies to hook inside windows 8 metro applications successfully.

Re: Windows 8 Arrives

#72

Post by jiggy2011 »

ajross wrote: post #67
jiggy2011 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No Retail copies? So to get a copy you have to buy a new PC or have an existing Windows OS?

Pretty sure the pure "retail" version of the OS disappeared with XP->Vista. Everything on a store shelf today is an upgrade copy, and the version sold from people like Newegg (which is what I meant) is titled something like "OEM version for system builders".

I have a Windows 7 Retail copy sitting on my shelf.

Re: Windows 8 Arrives

#73

Post by Symmetry »

k-mcgrady wrote: post #57
luma wrote: post #22

I've been running Windows 8 since they release the RTM version to TechNet subscribers on my primary laptop (about a month now). Short version - outside of Metro it's basically Win7SP3 and it works great. Metro is every bit the usability disaster that people have claimed when not running on a touch screen. The good news is that you really don't have to interface much with Metro at all. It replaces the start menu, but…

>> "Short version - outside of Metro it's basically Win7SP3 and it works great. Metro is every bit the usability disaster that people have claimed when not running on a touch screen." I've been using it on a MacBook Pro and with the multi-touch trackpad metro actually works reasonably well. Obviously it would be better with a touchscreen but I am able to tap to click, use two fingers to scroll left/right/up/down and…

Trackpoints in scroll mode are also omni-directional. But though it Just Works on Linux there are all sorts of hoops you have to jump through to get that working properly on Windows.

Re: Windows 8 Arrives

#74

Post by mulletbum »

rossjudson wrote: post #61

I've gotten to look Metro more than I did at first. I still don't stay in it; I mostly just head to the desktop and use the newer, flatter Windows 7 I find there. The elephant in the room for me is the horizontal scrolling. I'm sitting there spinning the mouse wheel vertically, and what's on the screen is moving horizontally. That's a total disconnect. Why this emphasis on horizontal scrolling? I don't see how the ho…

This was my biggest issue as well. It seems Metro could have been easily set vertically, but instead there was this odd choice for horizontal that just feels incorrect.

Re: Windows 8 Arrives

#75

Post by shardling »

k-mcgrady wrote: post #57
luma wrote: post #22

I've been running Windows 8 since they release the RTM version to TechNet subscribers on my primary laptop (about a month now). Short version - outside of Metro it's basically Win7SP3 and it works great. Metro is every bit the usability disaster that people have claimed when not running on a touch screen. The good news is that you really don't have to interface much with Metro at all. It replaces the start menu, but…

>> "Short version - outside of Metro it's basically Win7SP3 and it works great. Metro is every bit the usability disaster that people have claimed when not running on a touch screen." I've been using it on a MacBook Pro and with the multi-touch trackpad metro actually works reasonably well. Obviously it would be better with a touchscreen but I am able to tap to click, use two fingers to scroll left/right/up/down and…

MS does have the wedge mouse -- perhaps they'll update it to support the correct gestures?

http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/24/3265121/microsoft-wedge-to...

Re: Windows 8 Arrives

#76

Post by viscanti »

untog wrote: post #14
dendory wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is changing the desktop we currently have, which works for most people and everyone is used to, for a completely new system that is clearly meant for a device other than the PC, innovation? Change != always good.

I think he was just pointing out that Hacker News can be somewhat schizophrenic on this topic. "WTF why won't Craigslist improve, it is anti-innovation" vs. "Why did MS change their UI?!?" And yes, before someone makes the statement, HN is made up of individuals with their own opinions etc. etc.

I think the difference is between things that work don't need to be changed, just for the sake of change. Things that are broken, or suffer from poor usability should change. Not everything needs to change, but I think it's fair to want broken things to change without advocating that everything change just because.

Re: Windows 8 Arrives

#77

Post by mulletbum »

itry wrote: post #55

Will this thing behave nicely when I put it on a machine which already has grub and several linux partitions? Or will it insist on killing grub or even do worse stuff to my machine?

I would assume it kills Grub. I haven't tried, but Microsoft will most likely demand you use the Windows boot loader as they usually do in previous versions. Then you can probably re install Grub and set all of them back up together.

Re: Windows 8 Arrives

#78

Post by wtallis »

aik wrote: post #8
Iaks wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exacerbating this is the fact that Windows 7 is arguably at full stride right now and has almost no points that I really want changed. Why then do I give myself (actually, pay for) a headache with this new release?

>> Exacerbating this is the fact that Windows 7 is arguably at full stride right now and has almost no points that I really want changed. Sounds like another anti-innovation/change comment on hn. If this is not, please tell me how?

Change for the sake of being different is stupid and shows that you don't care about your current users. An improvement has to be worth the trouble of re-learning how to use the software and changing your habits. That's why the Ribbon got so much flak - it moved every button and ate up a lot more screen space, for relatively minor improvements to overall UI organization and discoverability.

The UI-formerly-known-as-Metro doesn't seem to offer even minor benefits to keyboard and mouse users. It's benefits to Microsoft are more clear, but that doesn't make the inconvience to users any less real.

Re: Windows 8 Arrives

#80

Post by loudmax »

ConstantineXVI wrote: post #27
engtech wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect that you can buy a used license for Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 easily. Really, just visit a friend/relative and find a dusty old PC that has a license sticker on it and ask if you can have it.

Windows OEM licenses aren't transferrable from the PCs they're sold with. Retail licenses are transferrable to another person, once.

That's a pity. I just bought a new ThinkPad and there was no way to get it without Windows. It runs Xubuntu now and it's really snappy. I'd be happy to give away or sell the unwanted Windows license.
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