32-bit: 2.5 GB, 64-bit: 3.3GB Why?!
The 64-bit ISO will include copies of most of the 32-bit binaries for compatibility.
Thanks. That makes sense.
Windows 8 Release Preview ready for download
31–40 of 94 posts
Re: Windows 8 Release Preview ready for download
#32Here's an official video/ad that highlights some of the ways people will use Windows 8 in Microsoft's eyes. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/release-preview
That looks pretty cool. I wonder how easy its going to be for people to discover the gestures because they seem to be so different than Android/ios. That swipe from the edge is going to be a hard one to learn/commit to muscle memory.
it looked like that kid wasnt really doing that stuff on his screen.
Re: Windows 8 Release Preview ready for download
#33This OS might be the biggest Microsoft flop ever. There are just way too many fundamental changes which are not proven to be actually better. I would rather see new Metro UI as another full-screen app to see if it can stand on its own before they go all-in with it. Something similar to what Microsoft did with Windows 3.10 which was basically another DOS program. I guess, Microsoft is being run by different folks toda…
Disagree. It will be the biggest investment in research Microsoft has placed in the mainstream market to date. Windows 8 is effectively a research project. Microsoft wants to know and understand how people will be using different modalities in their everyday work. Windows 8 will have huge issues, no doubt, but Microsoft will learn enormous amounts from it. Metro is a smart move - window chrome is unnecessary, and tak…
I like your point about the backlash being like Vista, considering that I thought Vista was a fine OS. However, I think that was more of a jump sideways whereas this is more of a jump forwards/backwards. I haven't used it since the dev preview, but I'm looking forward to putting this on one machine and trying it out.
I'm hoping for a lot more customization. I don't understand why that's being taken out of every modern operating system. The biggest thing I dislike about Windows Phone is that I can't change the tiles to be non-insane colored. I just want them to be white, dammit! I'm hoping that level of customization is present in Win 8, but I have a sinking feeling that it will not be.
Re: Windows 8 Release Preview ready for download
#34This OS might be the biggest Microsoft flop ever. There are just way too many fundamental changes which are not proven to be actually better. I would rather see new Metro UI as another full-screen app to see if it can stand on its own before they go all-in with it. Something similar to what Microsoft did with Windows 3.10 which was basically another DOS program. I guess, Microsoft is being run by different folks toda…
It'll ship on almost 90% of desktop PC's and there are millions of ageing PC's running XP that have to be near the end of their useful life. In short, how big of a flop could it be?
The potential for a big flop is that instead of buying a PC to replace that aging XP box, the customer will just buy an iPad.
Re: Windows 8 Release Preview ready for download
#3532-bit: 2.5 GB, 64-bit: 3.3GB Why?!
The WOW compatibility layer couldn't account for 700 MB. Perhaps x64 built-in drivers plus their x86 equivalents? I'm tempted to download both, extract, and compare.
> The WOW compatibility layer couldn't account for 700 MB.
I'm not that sure... Plus 64 bits binaries are probably something in the order of 10% bigger.
Re: Windows 8 Release Preview ready for download
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh boy, here comes the obligatory HN-contrarianism and knee-jerk Microsoft bashing. I dislike Microsoft, in particular, Windows, as much as the next guy but you can't just throw out blanket statements like that with nothing to support them. Why will this be such a flop? Are you maybe exaggerating? If it is because of the fundamental changes you mention? Which ones in particular and how are they not proven to be bette…
I'm not bashing Microsoft. Windows is my primary platform, all I'm saying is that I'm disappointed at how radical Microsoft is becoming. 99.9999% of applications for Windows are not going to look like Metro apps including flagship products like MS Office. So Metro is going to get in the way most of the time. I'm not sure what desktop users should really appreciate about Windows 8.
I'm disappointed at how radical Microsoft is becoming.
This makes me laugh. It was not long ago, not long ago at all, everybody was complaining about how old-fashioned and unresponsive Microsoft was being.
Re: Windows 8 Release Preview ready for download
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
They didn't need to take away the start button, and it's going frustrate a lot of users. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4boTbv9_nU I've been running the preview in a VM, and getting back to the launcher frustrated me so much I had to install a small utility made by Stardock that makes a fake start button that takes you to the launcher: http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/ . I'm a Mac guy, but my job require…
It seems that the only people who click the start button are people who don't use Windows all the time. Commonly used apps go in the launch bar and infrequently launched apps are found by hitting the Windows key and typing the name. Nothing in Windows 8 changes that workflow for me.
"Windows key"? What's that? ;)
Re: Windows 8 Release Preview ready for download
#38I do not understand the skepticism against Windows 8, specially from the hacker community. The only reason I do not use a Windows computer (anymore) is because there are so few ways to build things on it, compared to a Mac. I remember back in the day when I used Windows exclusively because Visual Studio was the only way to do build awesome things fast. With Windows 8, MS has brought back those days. Developing for Me…
It is also surprisingly fast. I have VS11 running on a Cr48 with Win 8. It builds fine and I the OS runs ok. I was expecting some severe thrashing given its rather unimpressive resources and the 1 gig of disk-space that remained after I got VS11 on it.
Re: Windows 8 Release Preview ready for download
#39This OS might be the biggest Microsoft flop ever. There are just way too many fundamental changes which are not proven to be actually better. I would rather see new Metro UI as another full-screen app to see if it can stand on its own before they go all-in with it. Something similar to what Microsoft did with Windows 3.10 which was basically another DOS program. I guess, Microsoft is being run by different folks toda…
This OS might be the biggest Apple flop ever. There are just way too many fundamental changes which are not proven to be actually better. I would rather see new iOS touch UI as another full-screen app to see if it can stand on its own before they go all-in with it. Something similar to what Apple did with Classic which was basically another pre-OS X program. I guess, Apple is being run by different folks today.
Apple made the bet that there's a fundamental difference between the mobile experience and the desktop experience.
They didn't replace OS X with iOS, they each exist as expressions of a different type of computing, for different purposes.
Microsoft are attempting to provide one system as a single expression of both types of paradigm, and this is why the jury is out on Windows 8.
Re: Windows 8 Release Preview ready for download
#40Can anyone tell when this preview expires? I can't seem to find that information in the FAQ.
Someone needs to install it and execute the process described in this article http://techdows.com/2012/03/windows-8-beta-expiry-date.html to figure it out.