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Windows 8 Consumer Preview released.

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Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview released.

#71

Post by Splines »

roadnottaken wrote: post #52
recoiledsnake wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Microsoft is trying to win the few who want a tablet interface at the expense of the vast majority who want a PC, mouse-oriented interface for their...PC's and laptops. Interesting, I thought the wisdom here was that the post-PC era is upon us and PC are going to die? In that case MS is definitely going the right way.

Perhaps for consumers, but enterprise/office-workers will never switch to tablets. Keyboard/mouse is just too damned efficient for data entry and manipulation. And, I always thought that office-work/enterprise was MSFT's bread-and-butter.

I think MSFT is worried about a future where IT workers bring in their personal tablets for consumption work - at some point they're going to become "good enough" for their creation work and replace the desktop PC (similar words were probably said about the mainframe). If they play a reactive role it may be too late.

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview released.

#72

Post by Splines »

hrktb wrote: post #67
podperson wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think the problem was the zune itself but the zune ecosystem. Apple more than any competitor understood this. If all you want is a player for your existing music library, an iPod offers little advantage over any other decent music player, and the zune UI was very polished. That said, the first thing that struck me about Windows 8 is that there's still a hard line between the 32- and 64-bit versions, which poi…

> or hope 32-bit disappears sadly, this might take another 10 years or so... For the legacy problems, I found a VMWare + old OS in virtual machine solution really usable. Especially when some magic is applied to window management to have it seamlessly integrated in the host OS. It would free MS from so much pain if they'd bless this setup and get rid of the administrative hurdles (licenses, registration, genuine chec…

They do have a solution: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/default.aspx

I've never used it though, as I already have old XP media and like using Virtualbox.

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview released.

#73

Post by pilgrim689 »

recoiledsnake wrote: post #40
ebbv wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your theory is ridiculous. The Xbox 360 was a major success. The Zune failed because people didn't like it. Not because it's a Microsoft product. Same goes for Windows Phone 7, it is failing because people don't like it. Now whether it's a better product or not is a subjective debate that isn't worth having, IMHO (better for whom?) But to say that they failed because of the Microsoft stigma is absurd.

> Same goes for Windows Phone 7, it is failing because people don't like it. Really? How do you know this? Have you gone door to door asking people? You couldn't be wronger. In fact, it is ahead of Android. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/wp7-ahead-of-android-and-... http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-Phone-Leads-in-Custom... Windows phones have some of the best ratings on carrier websites and Amazon. There is…

"It is also failing because of carrier stores and salesmen, who seem to be steering people away from Windows Phones to Android LTE devices."

There's truth to that. When I asked what Windows Phones the store had, the sales clerk gave me a surprised look and asked "Are you sure you want that?".

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview released.

#74

Post by tonycoco »

jeromeparadis wrote: post #14

Has anyone tried running it under Parallels Desktop 7? Thanks.

The 64-bit version installed fine, but my mouse is not responding in "Run like Windows" mode. Keyboard is fine though. I was able to peek around. "Run like a Mac" doesn't work basically at all.

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview released.

#75

Post by untog »

msg wrote: post #70
untog wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows Live isn't dead, by any stretch. It's been rebranded as "Microsoft Account", and actually extended a ton in Windows 8. Vista wasn't "killed" any more than Snow Leopard was "killed" by Lion. PlaysForSure and Silverlight are actually great examples of what I'm talking about- consumers have zero idea what they are. Developers are angry that MS dropped Silverlight because they spent a lot of time learning it and…

Fine, they are "undead" products. I reiterate that the consumer is aware of them as failed experiments, not as "subtle redirections forming the core of a new flagship product". I don't know how many google searches you want me to provide you with. Here is the top result for [Microsoft brand]. Admittedly it is from 2010. However, it is not an isolated example. "Microsoft is a dying consumer brand" http://money.cnn.com…

The articles you link to state that MS has brand problem. I agree with that. It isn't "cool", and people don't identify with it. As your quotes say, they are behind the times.

What I am disgreeing with is the original suggestion that these brand problems are the result of products that are abandoned quickly and/or have no future. I do not think that consumers regard Silverlight as a failed experiment, I don't think they know what it is, or that it even exists.

I think Microsoft's brand problem is that they are not seen as interesting or innovative, not that they ditch their products too quickly.

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview released.

#76

Post by marklabedz »

untog wrote: post #34
ChrisLTD wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen a lot of Windows Phone 7 promotion, but it's not all that compelling. Their entry into the smart phone wars was so late that they needed something extraordinary to convince people to consider them seriously. Instead they made something marginally better than iOS and Android in some ways and marginally worse in others.

I suspect they're waiting for Windows 8 before making a big push. A unified desktop/tablet/phone platform is probably a lot more interesting, promotion-wise, than yet another smartphone.

The question in my mind is whether they can sell the resulting "experience" in a compelling fashion...

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview released.

#77

Post by sorenbs »

dhawalhs wrote: post #69
Permit wrote: post #4

I'm currently running the Dev Preview, and I was curious if anyone knows if there are any differences worth switching for?

I would like to know if there is a way upgrade from the developer preview to the consumer preview? I have been using Windows 8 as my primary OS for last 4 months and don't want to do a clean install...

In the same boat. The can i upgrade... entry at http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/faq suggests that you could just as well do a clean install.

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview released.

#78

Post by Symmetry »

roadnottaken wrote: post #52
recoiledsnake wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Microsoft is trying to win the few who want a tablet interface at the expense of the vast majority who want a PC, mouse-oriented interface for their...PC's and laptops. Interesting, I thought the wisdom here was that the post-PC era is upon us and PC are going to die? In that case MS is definitely going the right way.

Perhaps for consumers, but enterprise/office-workers will never switch to tablets. Keyboard/mouse is just too damned efficient for data entry and manipulation. And, I always thought that office-work/enterprise was MSFT's bread-and-butter.

I think the idea is that you carry your tablet with you, then plug it into a dock with a keyboard/mouse when you are at a desk.

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview released.

#79

Post by notatoad »

nextparadigms wrote: post #17

Engadget's conclusion: "We really liked Windows 7 when it launched. It felt like a big step forward in the short time that had passed since Vista. Now, as we creep closer to a likely release near the end of this year, we can't shake a sense of doubt. Windows 8 still feels like two very different operating systems trying to be one. The potential is hugely alluring -- a single OS to rule both the tablet and the desktop…

i feel like microsoft shouldn't have tried to include the classic/desktop mode. Metro is cool, commit to it. re-work office to exist solely in the metro interface, add a launcher to make AAA PC gaming titles compatible with metro. then, refuse to continue selling windows 7 to laptop OEMs. enterprise is going to hate metro anyways, keep selling win7 to them, but commit to metro as the way forward for consumers.

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview released.

#80

Post by jstepien »

Achshar wrote: post #37

why don't they give an official torrent..? the file size is very big and direct download for slower connections is not feasible.

There's a couple of unofficial ones available already. Don't forget to check the SHA-1 sum after completing the download. https://thepiratebay.se/search/windows%208/0/99/0
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