I’m swamped with real-world work at the moment, so you’ll have to settle for this quickie: the consumer preview for Windows 8 has been released. Go get it and report in what you find!
I’m swamped with real-world work at the moment, so you’ll have to settle for this quickie: the consumer preview for Windows 8 has been released. Go get it and report in what you find!
First impression: no torrent.. At this speed I’ll have to wait until tomorrow before I get to test it out.
Then I’ll start playing with Metro for my app. Wiie!
I had it within 20 minutes just now.
I <3 120Mbit.
Here I am going at 80 kb/s. With an advertised speed of 10 Mbit. Guess my link to their servers isn’t as good as that in NL.
Well, well. It’ll give me more time to study for my exams.
try to download the iso directly, their downloader was quite slow for me too
32bit http://iso.esd.microsoft.com/WCPDL/BD1B8A49393E30CC9C4E5C88457D73E9…
64bit http://iso.esd.microsoft.com/WCPDL/BD1B8A49393E30CC9C4E5C88457D73E9…
I am downloading the ISO directly. Wasn’t aware of a download manager. Perhaps that’s why I am so slow.
I’m using the downloadthemall plugin for firefox with 10 segments and it downloads with 2.45mb/s.
I went the cool Linux way: used wget thru a command prompt on my WHS. Downloaded at full tube speeds.
“I went the cool Linux way: used wget thru a command prompt on my WHS. Downloaded at full tube speeds.”
So did Microsoft their download site is hosted on Linux servers (Akamai) 😉
Edited 2012-03-02 15:02 UTC
Socialist! 🙂
I hate my 368kbps
(and I pay 40 USD approx for it; it is a pity that internet is so expensive
and so slow in our developing countries)
2.5GB downloaded in 15minutes at 2.6MB/Sec with 25Mbit broadband
Edited 2012-03-01 12:42 UTC
Must be nice. Nice and expensive too.
Although my download didn’t go at my connection’s maximum speed (~310KB/sec), it was good enough for me. For a flat-rate of twenty bucks a month, I don’t think that’s too bad. I’m more concerned about having the Internet *at all* for the long term than having shitloads of bandwidth, but what I have is adequate in most cases (usually as long as I’m not downloading torrents, which I tend avoid for this reason and a few others).
I’m just trying to figure out how I’m going to go about installing it. I am on a 64-bit machine with 1 gig of memory, so 64-bit is out of the question. Furthermore, with only 1GB of memory, it is likely that virtualization is out of the question. I don’t have any free unpartitioned space, meaning I will have to use my current / partition and backup /home in case Windows wants to be a douche and wipe it out too.
So there might be quite a bit of preparation before I undergo the process, and it better be at least somewhat interesting if I do decide to take the plunge to try it out. When I’m done, I’ll just have to re-install Debian.
Runs well in Virtualbox from what I’m seeing. Feels a lot like an upside down, less refined Gnome 3, and I suspect it’s going to be hilarious watching people who “hated” Gnome 3 defend some of the choices MS has made.
For my own part, it’s probably great for tablets… shame I could care less about them. In desktop usage it’s still far too disjointed, and MS seems to be infected with the same strain of utter retardation that Gnome has with regards to wanting apps to be full screen for no good reason. Pity really, because the raw performance vs 7 is truly something to be proud of.
Good performance, really?
Will there be a *real* upgrade from my trusty old XP64, at last?
Haven’t done any heavy lifting with it yet, or loaded it down with my normal spectrum of software, but it definitely feels responsive in this VM. Boot and shutdown times are impressive, animation is fluid and apps pop up impressively fast. Can’t say that it’ll be an upgrade from a nearly ten year old OS in terms of performance, but it’s absolutely more spry than Vista and 7 in it’s current form.
I’d also like to congratulate MS on one of the things they did absolutely right. The integrated search is one of the best I’ve ever seen, and more than anything else in the preview it comes close to being a legitimate reason for the Metro malarky being included on desktops.
There is nothing trusty about XP64 🙂
The only serious defect I’ve seen in this OS is its inability to deal with very large files.
Moving >5 GB files around is a pain because it will insist caching them in memory.
Still, XP64 (or its server counterpart, WS2003) runs circles around any other Windows version released so far.
The responsiveness of XP 64 bit on my E9300 machine with 8GB of ram is very poor compared to 7.
On a modern 64bit computer there is no compelling reason to use XP64bit unless you happen to develop .NET 1.1 applications.
uhh…it is called Windows 7 64
Yeah right Microsoft.
That might be fine for a tiny screens.
What about those with 24in Screens? And more than one of them.
I can just about tolerate Windows 7 but this is several steps to far in the wrong direction.
IMHO, everything since Server 2003 has been downhill (rapidly)
Who told you that you cannot have more than one application on full screen? As far I know you can split the screen in 2 or more applications.
Edited 2012-02-29 18:37 UTC
How about an 83″ in screen : http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/29/microsoft-windows-8-on-82-inch-g…
Gnome 3 has really grown on me lately, and I already have the Metro interface on my phone and Xbox, so maybe I’ll like it. It’s about halfway downloaded right now.
Definitely not putting it on my desktop PC though; I’ve got Win7 Ultimate and Arch Linux dual booting there and I plan to keep it that way for a while. I’ll put it on the laptop since I hate the default Vista install anyway, again dual booted with Arch for when I want to get real work done.
It doesn’t seem to work without VT-x, so no W8 previewing here.
Thanks for letting me know. My current PC doesn’t have VT-x.
It’s also an exe download. So apparently, you can’t try it without already having some form of windows. The only windows I have is in a virtual machine. I’d be afraid to try win 8 within a win7 virt machine, but knowing it wouldn’t work due to the VT-x saves me the trouble.
Nope, there are also ISO images available: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-8/iso
I missed that link in the sea of blue links.
If only the webpage was metrofied!
The VS11 download page is very METRO.
Download the ISO, it a link on the same page as the .exe
I’ve just tried it on my work laptop, which happens to support VT-x… but no dice, I just get the fish and then a blue screen.
I found interesting, though, that the blue screen states that my PC is broken. There sure couldn’t be any other reason or be anyone else’s fault: “Your PC needs to be repaired”. Period.
http://techcat.brainfull.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Pantallazo-…
I finally managed to install Windows8 on WMWare (it keept bluescreening in VirtualBox). Then I had to disable the floppy, or else the installer would get in a loop a reboot over and over.
So these are my first impressions of the OS:
-Why does it want me to create a LiveID? And why do I get into all MS services just by installing an OS? If you thought that Google signing you into other services when creating a GMail account was annoying, I don’t know what to say about this.
-The default user avatar is fugly. I guess that it might be changed before the final release (I certainly hope so), and I know it’s a minor gripe since you will likely change it as soon as you log in, but really… it’s fugly. And it’s not just the avatar, actually: the whole UI is filled with crappy icons and widgets.
-Multitasking in Metro sucks. Big time.
-I guess this will also get fixed before release, but you seem to have to be very accurate with the gestures. Moving the mouse to the bottom left corner to get back to the desktop pops up a small rectagle which you are supposed to click, but if you move your mouse too far out of the corner the rectangle disappears (even while you are still inside of it).
-Talking about gestures, they are anything but intuitive.
-I don’t know if it’s part of the Metro style of if the UI is not finished, but it’s all filled with really ugly stuff. Eg. go to settings and select the “share” option. What you get on the right side looks like a web page that has failed to load the CSS. Are widgets supposed to look like that in Metro?
-Dragging the screen horizontally might work on tablets, but the PC alternative (the scroll bar at the botton) looks amateurish. Just check the weather app and enjoy the uglyness of the non-continuous sections while scrolling. Dunno, if it’s not going to look pretty, at least don’t let the user stop the scrolling in the middle of two sections.
-I guess this also will get fixed latter, but I just couldn’t configure my mail account. It just kept saying that it was unable to connect.
-Lack of consistency. Eg. launching IE from the desktop opened the explorer in the legacy aeroesque UI, but then while I was messing with the settings in other app (calendar maybe?) I clicked on “Fix it” and got a full screen IE, Metro style.
It’s just a preview and it’s normal that lots of things aren’t finished, but it just doesn’t look good. At all.
I can’t help hoping that this turns out to be a joke, really.
Edited 2012-03-01 02:31 UTC
About the MS Live account and stuff. It has been told long time ago already, that W8 will be desktop extension of all MS Live has to offer + Facebook. Really a window to social networking. Thats the purpose of Metro. All you want to do behind a computer is to read email, like posts by FB friends and chat over MSN.
Leaving aside that social stuff doesn’t even reach a 0,1% of my computer usage, as it is it isn’t even a window to social networking. It’s a window to their own social services.
I have same problem. For beta release it’s more funny, than silly.
I hope I could use VMPlayer to test it.
Anyone else try it under KVM?
All I get is a picture of a fish blowing bubbles, and then it kicks back out to the BIOS screen.
The developer preview of win8 worked, so maybe they broke something.
Oh well, it loads under plain QEMU.
This is unexpected, I can’t get past the windows activation screen. Good job microsoft.
http://imgur.com/HWkSJ
Edit: I’ve searched microsoft’s win8 website and the web for information, but I still can’t find out how to activate the preview. Does anyone else know how to get the preview working?
Edited 2012-02-29 18:30 UTC
The key’s on the download page http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/iso
orestes,
“The key’s on the download page http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/iso“
So it is, I feel foolish now. I did search and read the instructions though, the md5 hashes screened the activation keys.
I know the feeling all too well. Took me a second reading and a cup of coffee this morning before I figured it out. =)
Try this key:
NF32V-Q9P3W-7DR7Y-JGWRW-JFCK8.
or this: FCKGW-ÂRHQQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8
If you use the ISO rather than the web setup package, you can get the key from the ISO download page at http://preview.windows.com/
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/iso
The key is: DNJXJ-7XBW8-2378T-X22TX-BKG7J
…for a clown, to use at the circus.
You give some convincing arguments, I’m shocked for such wisdom.
It is pretty obvious when looking at any screenshot or reading any comment about it.
Here’s for instance a thing I’ve read from someone who went to the trouble of trying this thing on another forum:
I’m still laughing.
Who was the moron who wrote that? Of course “legacy” software… all software really will be placed on the START SCREEN. it replaced the start menu.
His point is that using it as a replacement of the start menu for legacy applications is an absolutely terrible idea, for reasons which are made obvious by the following screenshot:
http://i.imgur.com/14EWAl.jpg
If you start typing the app name it comes straight up.
The same interface works find on my android phone and nobody complains … but on Windows, everyone is up in arms.
On android, each app doesn’t install 5 or 6 useless icons named “uninstall myapp”, “myapp readme”, “configure myapp”, “myapp website”, “myapp updater” and such crap.
Also, android is not a desktop ui designed to be used with a touchscreen, which is ridiculous beyond words.
Edited 2012-03-01 12:38 UTC
The problems you describe is because the uninstaller probably isn’t using the correct APIs to install (same things happen when installing 32bit apps that don’t use the API and they put themselves in Program Files instead of Program Files(x86))
This is not the fault of the Windows Devs.
Also you can unpin these items if you don’t want them there.
Also I been using Metro all morning and I really like it, Everyone bitches when facebook changes it layout … however the same people bitch on subsequent layout changes.
People also bitched about Windows 7 UI, The Windows Vista UI, the Windows XP UI, the Windows 95/98/NT/2000 interface … My mate even said he bitched about Windows 3.11 interface …
It works fine for me, I don’t know what your malfunction is with it.
Edited 2012-03-01 14:31 UTC
Well it’s certainly not the fault of the user, is it?
There is something wrong behind this screenshot, and the windows devs are the culprit. They had to know that legacy apps install lots of crap in the start menu (whether or not the devs of those apps are faulty is kinda irrelevant here) and they failed to design something that would keep this crap out of their new UI.
Hahahahaha
Jesus
fucking
Christ
How can you even suggest that with a straight face?
Who want to be the start screen’s janitor and remove loads of useless crap from it whenever they install something?
If all you care about is merely that it works, then I suppose it’s great.
My standards happen to be slightly higher than merely “it works” though, I like to use things that are also not complete piles of shit.
It is the fault of the developer that didn’t use the correct APIs and decided to use hardcoded vars.
How is it irrelevant? your argument is essentially is like saying “A kitchen knife is designed poorly because they should have foresaw that someone would use it as a weapon” … It is nobody’s fault except the people who misused it, end of story. To say anything else is moronic.
In any case, They did design in method, just start typing the app name, it will remove the irrelevant entries and you can unpin.
This problem should fix itself as time goes as application developers adapt to the new start menu.
I dunno about you but I tidy up after myself as I go along in my house and I tend to do it on my computer to. If that is too hard for you … I will play the worlds smallest violin for you.
Is clicking unpin a few times such an really such a arduous task?
So are mine, I am pretty damn critical about most software (just read the few entries in my blog linked with my account here).
I really like the Metro Start Menu, The only real difference from the traditional start menu is how it looks, every single thing I used regularly in the start menu is still present, it is just presented differently, you are apparently having difficulty with this mental leap.
Making your opinion sound like a fact makes you sound like a moron.
Edited 2012-03-01 15:49 UTC
The end result is shit and it is the end user who’s going to suffer from it. Therefore it’s microsoft’s responsibility to deal with it. End of story.
We’e not talking about cleaning after oneself, we’re talking about cleaning after other people’s apps.
This is a great mindset you have there. Blame third party developers and make the end user fix the mess. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was actually what microsoft employees believe.
This is exactly the wrong mindset to build good products, though. You wouldn’t be working at microsoft per chance?
I’m not complaining that it doesn’t work or that I can’t use it. I’m complaining that it’s poorly done, it’s ugly, and ultimately I don’t think it will offer any real benefit.
I haven’t done that.
Edited 2012-03-01 16:09 UTC
Yes blame third party developers.
Your argument is moronic. It is a bug with their software if it litters all over your system.
Microsoft provide the relevant APIs and if a 3rd party doesn’t use it. It is their fault if you don’t use it.
The documentation is on MSDN, you are defending developers who are too lazy to google something.
http://www.google.com.gi/search?q=Installer+documentation&ie=utf-8&…
FIRST LINK 😐
Edited 2012-03-01 16:33 UTC
Straw man
MORB is talking about things that weren’t a problem in previous versions of Windows. And suddenly they become a problem in Win8. I have tried Win8 in virtual box and so far I don’t like it. It is filled with all sorts of social crap. Give me a clean OS and let me choose when I want to use your special ‘features’. Learn from Unity and Gnome32.
Actually no, everyone bitched about the Windows XP start menu because it was different to the Windows 2K one.
The OS is very clean, the interface isn’t cluttered with unnecessary crap like think bezels and rounded corners and my “Windows panes” pretending to look like they are made out of glass.
we have different ideas of what is clean. I find all those metro squares cluttered. the startmenu is only seen when I want it to be.
No you just have the wrong idea.
The Linux Zerg Rush!!!!
Downloading now, see if I like it. I love 7 but I dunno about the interface changes in 8.
at the same time as the “consumer preview” they’ve also released something called “Windows Server “8†Beta” … the name of which is straight out of the unsupervised nerd naming convention book of thoughting. good luck to kde as they try to beat that one
It feels so weird using a full screen web browser.
WINKEY + Tab = for Running Apps
WINKEY + I = for Settings
WINKEY + C = for Charms Bar
+ ESRB warning for Solitaire! rofl
How in the name of fcuk do you configure a Gmail/Apps account in Mail/People/etc.? Everyone says you can, but this thing insists I use a Microsoft account.
Wtf?
I had to setup the mail app with my Hotmail account before I was able to get the option to setup gmail or outlook.
Right. Now my Mail, People and so on applications are all in German instead of English (and my account is Dutch wtflol?). What a massive clusterfcuk, this. Why can’t I just sign into Facebook and GMail without all this linking bullshit? The linking doesn’t even work, even though it says it does. In German.
How can they make something so simple THIS complicated?
*sigh*
Let’s be clear about this, the apps don’t look very finished. The Mail app only downloaded 6 mails. The OS seems ok. But the apps aren’t. They tend to crash. No XBL outside the USA. No Zune Pass either. Only Skydrive seems to be accessible.
About every app as a Send Comments button. I sent mine.
Did you miss the part about it being a preview Thom?
I just gave it my gmail addy and password … worked fine.
Hmmm, doesn’t sound good to me. One would think it would work like WP7, put in your email address and password and POOF! account setup done and syncing. WP7 even pulled in my personal email account hosted by the small web hosting service I use.
Maybe it’s just one of those billion things that will be fixed before launch. I remember getting frustrated over and over with the Windows 7 Preview before I chilled and realized that even as broken as it was, it was still more stable than Vista. I’m bound to repeat that experience with this one.
It really looks like they took advices from designers working on press industry starting from late 90. Everything is so “clean” and full of space and the “sections” are clearly identified.
No doubt will be easier for the regular consumer target, the computer illiterate mass, to spend time “consuming” content or posting things on social networks from their tablets and touch computers, I guess.
For pros it is a waste of real state and I hope the pro version will not follow the same design guides.
As for people comparing it to gnome, I think the gnome developers forgot what is/are their public target: geeks. developers and system administrators. And they are a loud crowd the need/use lots of things concurrently on their desktop.
Edited 2012-02-29 20:57 UTC
what is a waste of real estate? the start screen?
Well, my answer to that is: heeeelll yeaaahhh! Seriously… On a desktop, it just doesn’t make any sense. Also, try to install 20-30 non-metro apps and see how it will look… unbelievable.
I’m hoping some 3rd party fellas will quickly make shell replacements available so we can ditch the metro junk.
I only use Windows for [most of my] development at work, but if W8 will remain as it looks now, I’m going to stick with W7 for a long time (since full switch to linux is unfortunately a no-go).
I really like the new start screen, really easy to find applications.
so…. a screen that gets out of the way when you find what you are looking for is a waste of space?
A waste of space would be something that uses space in a meaningless way while you are performing the tasks that you opened a program for. A screen that out of your way while using a program does not count.
For some reason, I was expecting it to be better than the developer preview. Earlier reviews said microsoft would be making it more usable, but I see very little which has improved for the metro/classic integration. I’m getting the feeling that what we see in today’s preview is exactly what we’re going to get in the release version.
what would they improve in the integration?
Want the thrill of downloading an iso but have a fear of Metro….your in luck, as FreeNAS-8.0.4 is also released today.
https://sourceforge.net/projects/freenas/files/FreeNAS-8.0.4/
Well folks……there’s always Windows 9.
I think the UI change is staying…. Linux will be the only desktop OS that has a UI that can be referred to as classic WIMP. OS X is doing what Windows has done.
Linux is for WIMPs ?
Ohh, boy some people are gonna have a fieldday with that.
In case you were not being facetious.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WIMP_(computing)
Yeah, unfortunately I think you’re right. MS has developed this apple-esque “Our Way or the Highway” attitude, as of late. Which I wouldn’t really have a problem with, except for the fact that they’re forcing some really ass-backward, god awful designs on the public.
But seriously, if MS wants this thing to go anywhere in the corporate IT world, it sure as hell better allow the disabling of Metro, and a return to the orb and start menu.
If you try w8 in vbox, the guest additions fails to install.
Just sayin’.
Also:
– when you open a number of apps, you can see all of them with alt-tab, but with win-tab, doh
– I’m on a desktop, not some phone, I can not tolerate seeing the little dots go in circles for a lot of time when opening apps, forget it
Q: is there a shortcut to show the “All apps”?
Well, well.
I installed sharpenviro (http://sharpe.sourceforge.net), which made w8 actually usable.
Umm…
I hope someone does take over and resume development of that project, I always liked it better than the other shell replacements.
I find it interesting, though redundant. In my case, I have spent a long time getting comfortable in the Google ecosystem. I use Windows for work and Google for email, scheduling, quick documents, that sort.
Recently I bought a ASUS Transformer with 16 hour (continuous use) battery life with the keyboard dock. Complete integration within the Google ecosystem. I also have an Android phone. I have access to all the apps I could need, and you better believe I can run every single one of them. Not bad for a year-old model.
The tablet is a great device for keeping in touch with everyone, all in one neat efficient package.
What does Metro on a PC offer me that I don’t already have on a proper tablet form factor? I don’t want to setup a Microsoft email, I don’t want to use Microsoft cloud services. I guess Google will make Metro apps for download, but that just seems like it would be redundant on my PC… I’d rather use the browser like I always have, or my tablet, or my phone.
So I found Autodesk Sketchbook Express on the market, neat. I have it on my tablet already and I can control it better with a touch screen (before finishing this post I did try it with my Wacom Intuos… but without multi-touch you still need a keyboard to pan, and a mouse to zoom… terrible… also it was very sluggish and crashed my first time running it)
What other Metro apps are developers going to release… that will feel weird, that will be hard to control, that will be 10 times slower than it should be, and that will have huge typefaces and buttons? Granted, its for a tablet – but consumers won’t know that. They’ll just think it sucks when it doesn’t work right on their PC.
This OS… is a weird hybrid… though better than the older Developer Preview, and it’ll probably be fine for ARM tablets… but I question it as an upgrade for a PC.
In Windows 7, the start menu is better than ever. You click that orb, and you can instantly search (or run), or browse your programs. They did a good job with it.
But in this, you have to either find some hot-corner to get to the start screen, then you have to use the right side hot edge to bring up the start screen menu, then you have to click the search button. There is also a birds eye view option of your tiles… and it’s all just really strange for a PC.
What am I going to do since I have two monitors? Will I have to be precise and careful with the hot edges and screens as though I’m running it in a VM window? (as was the case this time) That SUCKS.
For those stuck with it on their new PCs… I think most people will just copy shortcuts to the Desktop and to the Dock.
That’s just terrible. I honestly thought I would like this. I thought it would be significantly better than what I saw before. But it’s not. If this does not improve… if this is the best we can hope for… I don’t want this installed on my workstation at work. And I’ll try to avoid it at home.
Screw this crap. I thought this was a good direction, and it IS – for TABLETS and SMARTPHONES. Consumers want those more than ever, and that’s fine. But having this on a desktop computer is not only going to accelerate their abandonment of their PC, but accelerate their abandonment of Microsoft as well.
People will not think nice thoughts of Metro.
Edited 2012-03-01 09:51 UTC
Well, I thought they would do for workstation-like setup:
Tablet with docking station is equivalant with 2 screens, one touchscreen and one normal screen.
Leave the metro interface on the touchscreen for starting applications/seeing status of number of emails/clock/stockticker/whatever.
And show the desktop on the big screen and work on that with a keyboard/mouse.
That would’ve been an interesting use case for bridging the experience between tablet and traditional PC. Unfortunately what they’ve actually done is saddled the traditional PC with an overengineered interface full of metaphor shear in a misguided attempt to shoehorn all devices into a unified environment.
The simple fact MS is missing is that people whose computing needs are filled by tablets and mobile devices will just buy devices and tablets. They don’t need their desktops to mimic those devices because, quite honestly, they don’t need their desktops anymore at all in a lot cases.
The people who will still be buying desktops, who will always be out there contrary to what some crack smoking tech bloggers may think, will be doing so largely because tablets and such don’t fit their needs. They don’t want to be hampered by interfaces that were clearly not built around their use cases. They certainly don’t want to waste time and energy relearning their workflow because some monkey thought it’d be a brilliant idea to try and force convergence along.
“That would’ve been an interesting use case for bridging the experience between tablet and traditional PC.”
That was my thought on what Microsoft is trying to do.
I think that is what Canonical is also trying to do with Ubuntu on Android.
It might turn out to be a stupid choice or a smart choice bij Microsoft. Atleast they tried to do something, they probably felt they needed to come up with something as the smartphone and tablet market are very large.
I still think it makes some sense IF someone can get it right. Maybe the Ubuntu solution is the way to go: add a second interface, don’t try to combine to much.
A bluetooth keyboard and mouse, wifi for networking and only connecting a big screen to a device you already have doesn’t sounds all that alien to me.
There are a lot of companies dealing with issues about how to go deal with “bring your own device”.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ll see a lot of terminal server/remote desktop/desktop virtualisation/whatever as well.
Only time will tell.
Metro might be the wrong idea, which is interresting.
Windows Vista was a mis, Windows 7 seems to be a hit, Windows 8 might be a miss, this looks like a pattern.
However things pan out, it is always an interresting development with so many things going on to see one of the biggest players possible getting it wrong.
Windows 7 – Directed by Leonard Nemoy
Windows 8 – Directed by William Shatner
Windows 9 – Directed by J.J. Abrams
I thought I should update my rant…
I learned I could enable dual monitors at full screen in VMWare. When I did that… and when I put Metro on the second monitor – it worked.
Metro isn’t as bad as I portrayed it, so long as it doesn’t dominate your field of vision every time you want to run something.
Some issues remain but I’m going to just say that I was a fool for posting what I did. Windows 8 with Metro is just fine – if you have two monitors.
Edited 2012-03-02 03:25 UTC
Personally I love the UI. Works great and it runs well in Virtual Box.
Oh there are square corners in Classic again.
The task manager is just pure sex.
I didn’t like the Windows 8 GUI, but because I can not use it, not beucase how it look. Im using it on VirtualBox.
If I open any application on the Metro Interface, I can not know how to close it… ok pressing Alt+F4 I can , but what is the natural GUI way to close applications?? Where is the X?
The main GUI window (Metro) do now scroll to the right with the mouse. You require to make a roll over on the bottom and use the scroll bar… why I can not use the mouse as it was the finger?
I really think that the Metro stuff is not thinked for people that use a mouse and keyboard anymore.
After while I understood that the Windows button on the keyboard help you to return to the main Metro interfase, but I still can not find the “X”.
This is the future, why do you need to close apps?
You don’t need to close apps, that’s why there is no ‘X’. They are garbage-collected as needed.
Yes, but, how do you return to the main desktop (that Metro thing) when you are running a Metro app just using the mouse?.. not the keyboard or the windows key.
Hover over the bottom left and the start icon becomes visible with a list of Windows currently open.
Move mouse to bottom right or top right. Menu will appear on the right (charms).. there is button there in the middle that you can click to get back to start screen..
This is how you close app: move mouse near top of the screen, click there and drag to bottom of screen.
Also, you can move mouse to top left corner of screen, then move mouse down and list of open apps will appear. Then just right click app and select “Close”.
🙂
Edited 2012-03-01 15:56 UTC
The drag thing is awesome.
Good… if you don’t own a mobile phone you can not sign in to a Microsoft Account?
Also, my number is not recognized as a Mobile phone number on my country??
Phone numbers are so yesterday.
ballmer is betting the company on metro, and it sucks. oops.
Well I know at least 2 people that like it and myself. First time I have smiled while using an OS.
what’s your favorite metro app and why?
Windows 8, smartass
The mail app.
I have an ExoPC tablet that was already running the Developer Preview.
I was able to update to the Consumer Preview from within the Developer Preview while I surfed the web. All in all, I am impressed. It runs much more smoothly than the Developer Preview. It is quite snappy actually. Metro looks really beautiful on this tablet (which is a slow, heavy, piece of junk that I got for free).
I watched a Netflix movie on it last night and that worked really well (possible because it supports Silverlight). That alone make it a useful device for me.
The “Reader” app works quite well too and I expect to use it a fair bit. Amusingly, I can install Calibre (eBook management app) in the desktop mode. Being able to install standard Windows apps on my tablet is surprisingly useful even if not quite a beautiful. Being able to download Putty so that I can SSH into remote servers from the tablet is cool. Installing an FTP client allowed me to grab a few files from my media center to play around with.
I never really liked Metro on Windows Phone 7 and I am not sure I like the idea of it on a high-resolution desktop either. Amazingly though, I think I could really get behind it on the tablet.
Honestly, it makes me want to develop some apps for it.
I was amazed at how smooth and responsive it was. I installed in on one of my spare machines (An old Pentium 4 with 1gb of ram) and the thing ram like it was nothing and the apps opened and closed with ease and speed that I did not expect. The UI was sharp, clean and was easy to navigate. I was highly impressed with how robust the task manager was. One thing that bothered me was how long it took me to figure out how to get to the traditional Control Panel so I could get a more precise control over the OS’s settings. Overall I am pleased and impressed. I will definitely be looking forward to getting Windows 8 when it’s released.
The download was quite fast for me, got the ISO in about eight minutes.
I gave the preview a try and can’t get it to boot on my machine, nor in a virtual environment. I tried both QEMU and VirtualBox with no luck. I get the fish logo thing and then an error saying the machine needs to be rebooted. I checked with a friend who got Win8 running in VirtualBox and confirmed we have the same settings (memory, processor, video, etc). His works okay and mine dies. The checksum on my DVD is good, so I’m not sure what to make of it. Windows 7 runs okay in the same environment, so it seems to be an issue unique to the Win8 build.
It’s not a big loss for me personally as I generally use Linux as my main OS, but I was hoping to see what I’d be supporting at work in the future.
It’s not as bad as I though it would be. It is actually usable in one way or another, but still – it is not THAT kind of usability. Actually, it is now less usable than – say – Unity known from Ubuntu land …
Congrats, Microsoft! you made it – you created early alpha UI and you’re trying to convince people to actually use it.
I don’t believe people will buy this new metro UI concept, but the “normal desktop” [kinda normal] thing saves Windows 8 ass a bit.
windows is creating lot of buzz with its consumer preview of windows 8, windows 8 looks quite good and is quite different but appears not be that much user friendly and it will be intresting if it be as successful as windows 7.
Alex
http://www.mobitily.com