Your thoughts on Windows 8 Consumer Preview?

What are you thoughts on the Windows 8 Consumer Preview?

It's improved over the Developer Preview but still has some rough edges. The Start Menu has been eliminated and replaced with a pop up that will take you to the Metro interface. Metro apps take up the full screen and you can only have two metro apps on the screen at once, the 2nd one only takes up part of the side screen, no having them take up equal parts of the screen.

All legacy programs will run in the Desktop app now. So you have two interfaces that is until Microsoft eventually decides to eliminate the desktop altogether if Metro is successful that is.

So what do you think of this whole touch UI coming to desktops/laptops? I think it's a good step on making technology easier to use for people. It's seems to be the way operating systems are headed, can't escape it forever.

Id suggest reading this:

Windows 8 will have "KillSwitch"

If you don't like privacy then buy windows 8.

Originally posted by BruceEFury
Id suggest reading this:

Windows 8 will have "KillSwitch"

If you don't like privacy then buy windows 8.

it also says this:

"Microsoft declined to answer questions about the kill switch in Windows 8 other than to say it will only be able to remove or change applications downloaded through the new app store. Any software loaded from a flash drive, DVD, or directly from the Web will remain outside Microsoft’s control. Still, the kill switch is a tool that could help Microsoft prevent mass malware infections. “For most users, the ability to remotely remove apps is a good thing,” says Charlie Miller, a researcher with the security company Accuvant."

Google has been deleted malware infected apps for awhile and finally installed a Bouncer to reject apps with malware code in them. Apple also remotely deletes apps off iOS devices. It's nothing new. Seems like it's more FUD aimed at Microsoft.

reply to post by PharohGnosis

I was talking to a tech at microsoft two days ago and windows 8 came up, briefly. It's kind of an impotent OS but when it does come up, it tends to go back down again real fast, I think that's because of the software kill switch, or maybe it's in Gates Emulation Mode. I mean the guy's lucky eh, flipped a product that two guys in Berkley wrote, paid for it with daddy's money and made a killing flipping it to IBM. No brains there, just cunning, hence the copying of phone functionality. Maybe once Windows 8 is out, someone can write a Get-a-Brain app for Gates. The only reason, ONLY, that Windoze 8 is coming out is to try and drive consumerism with some new flavor-of-the-day junk. It's like the government and wars, oh, Afghanistan is running down, better hit Iraq, uh oh, Iraq is running down gotta keep them profits up for my buddies, better hit Syria, ruh roh, not enough going on in Syria and I need more drones, better hit Iran....

Personally, I will not buy Windows 8, I wouldn't take it if I was offered it for free. If I wanted a 24" phone screen, I would hook an HDTV monitor to my rooted Android. Windows 8 will be just a bigger, sloppier and slower resource hog than all the previous Windows OS's. Try the beta version, find out for yourself, just make sure you put it on the fastest machine you have with at least 2gbytes of ram.

I could rant about the crap that comes out of microsoft but I'll call it a day... BTW, I do run windows, 2k3, 7, XP, Linux and Sun Solaris servers and clients.

Cheers - Dave

reply to post by PharohGnosis


It's all about the app store, and beating the Android/Apple app stores. They'll make money off companies selling metro apps through the app store.

The metro UI is cool for tablets/phones, but totally out of place on the desktop with a mouse and keyboard. And it's not really revolutionary. Not bad, but not better than anything else either. But that's not why it's there.

It's kludgy switching back and forth between Aero and Metro. Not bad enough that I couldn't get used to it, but that's not really the point. The point is to eventually get rid of the desktop. Desktop apps don't make money for the app store. Not to say Metro is totally useless. In fact, it's not. It's VERY useful once you know what Metro actually is. It's just out of place on the desktop. So, why is it there?

The real question is, WHO is it useful for? You, me, or Microsoft? I really don't think it's more helpful to me than the Start Menu I already had.

But here's the thing. After thinking about this for a while, it hit me.The metro UI isn't in the desktop version because it's better for you. It's there because it's better for Microsoft!

Why was Windows always more poplar than Mac? Because Windows had all the software and games. It's about Developers people.

To beat the other app stores Microsoft wants to win by brute force. If you have more programmers, both open source and corporate, your app store will have more apps. The app store with the most apps wins!

But what kind of computers do developers use??? THAT'S RIGHT! All the coders are still laptop/desktop users! Not tablets! When it comes to writing code there's no replacement for a good keyboard and a good desktop!

Now, for anyone that's ever done programming for cell phones, you know the FIRST thing you have to download to get started is what? That's right AN ANNOYING EMULATOR that will run the code on your desktop while you bug test your app. Either an Android emulator or JavaME emulator or whatever.

It would take way too much time to install the software on the phone every time you had to test it. You need to be able to see what the app looks like on the desktop first until you get a prototype good enough to install on the phone.

That's right, Metro's purpose is simple. It's A CELL PHONE EMULATOR! That's all it is! But the question is why is it there on the desktop?

Because programmers are 10 times more likely to try writing a Metro app if the Metro emulator is already installed on their system! Even more so if they're basically forced to use it every time they click start.

Coders that use Metro are more likely to code for Metro. People that use Metro are 10 times more likely to want Metro apps and demand them. It's as simple as that. And if MS's plan works their app store will have 10 times more apps than the other app stores.

So, it doesn't matter if you want it or need it. It doesn't even matter if it slows you down and makes you less productive. MS would very much like you to use it anyway. What better way to make that happen than replace the most used icon on the system with Metro?

For my money, MS had it just about right with XP. I'm still stripping Windows 7 off of new computers at work and installing XP on them--although I expect the new generations of hardware won't let me get by with that for much longer.

I deeply hate Windows 7, so I don't expect I'll have much use for Window 8. I mean, if I'd wanted a bunch of god**** Macs, I would have bought Macs! In any case, my severe hatred of Microsoft has just about come to its terminal conclusion: Before I go any further than XP, I'll bite the bullet and convert the entire place to Linux. I've already switched at home; it's just a matter of commitment and training to implement it at work.

And those are the entirety of my thoughts on Windows 8....

Originally posted by bobs_uruncle
reply to post by PharohGnosis

 

I was talking to a tech at microsoft two days ago and windows 8 came up, briefly. It's kind of an impotent OS but when it does come up, it tends to go back down again real fast, I think that's because of the software kill switch, or maybe it's in Gates Emulation Mode. I mean the guy's lucky eh, flipped a product that two guys in Berkley wrote, paid for it with daddy's money and made a killing flipping it to IBM. No brains there, just cunning, hence the copying of phone functionality. Maybe once Windows 8 is out, someone can write a Get-a-Brain app for Gates. The only reason, ONLY, that Windoze 8 is coming out is to try and drive consumerism with some new flavor-of-the-day junk. It's like the government and wars, oh, Afghanistan is running down, better hit Iraq, uh oh, Iraq is running down gotta keep them profits up for my buddies, better hit Syria, ruh roh, not enough going on in Syria and I need more drones, better hit Iran....

Personally, I will not buy Windows 8, I wouldn't take it if I was offered it for free. If I wanted a 24" phone screen, I would hook an HDTV monitor to my rooted Android. Windows 8 will be just a bigger, sloppier and slower resource hog than all the previous Windows OS's. Try the beta version, find out for yourself, just make sure you put it on the fastest machine you have with at least 2gbytes of ram.

I could rant about the crap that comes out of microsoft but I'll call it a day... BTW, I do run windows, 2k3, 7, XP, Linux and Sun Solaris servers and clients.

Cheers - Dave

edit on 3/2.2012 by bobs_uruncle because: (no reason given)

That's an unfair assessment of Bill Gates. Microsoft was founded in 1975 and they wrote BASIC interpreters for computers. They bought 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products, changed and rewrote it to adapt it to the IBM computer. There is nothing wrong with that, that's how businesses work. Gates didn't use his 'daddy's money' to do anything. He did it all on his own.

It is cute but how will it work when I use it to manage my uses network with a bunch of big icons. Shoot we still run xp on the majority of my systems and my servers are based on Vista.

Not convinced this is the right way to go.

Originally posted by PharohGnosis

Originally posted by bobs_uruncle
reply to post by PharohGnosis

 

I was talking to a tech at microsoft two days ago and windows 8 came up, briefly. It's kind of an impotent OS but when it does come up, it tends to go back down again real fast, I think that's because of the software kill switch, or maybe it's in Gates Emulation Mode. I mean the guy's lucky eh, flipped a product that two guys in Berkley wrote, paid for it with daddy's money and made a killing flipping it to IBM. No brains there, just cunning, hence the copying of phone functionality. Maybe once Windows 8 is out, someone can write a Get-a-Brain app for Gates. The only reason, ONLY, that Windoze 8 is coming out is to try and drive consumerism with some new flavor-of-the-day junk. It's like the government and wars, oh, Afghanistan is running down, better hit Iraq, uh oh, Iraq is running down gotta keep them profits up for my buddies, better hit Syria, ruh roh, not enough going on in Syria and I need more drones, better hit Iran....

Personally, I will not buy Windows 8, I wouldn't take it if I was offered it for free. If I wanted a 24" phone screen, I would hook an HDTV monitor to my rooted Android. Windows 8 will be just a bigger, sloppier and slower resource hog than all the previous Windows OS's. Try the beta version, find out for yourself, just make sure you put it on the fastest machine you have with at least 2gbytes of ram.

I could rant about the crap that comes out of microsoft but I'll call it a day... BTW, I do run windows, 2k3, 7, XP, Linux and Sun Solaris servers and clients.

Cheers - Dave

edit on 3/2.2012 by bobs_uruncle because: (no reason given)

That's an unfair assessment of Bill Gates. Microsoft was founded in 1975 and they wrote BASIC interpreters for computers. They bought 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products, changed and rewrote it to adapt it to the IBM computer. There is nothing wrong with that, that's how businesses work. Gates didn't use his 'daddy's money' to do anything. He did it all on his own.

I don't know how long you've been doing this, but I have been on the internet and designing computers/programming since 1978, so I was kind of aware of what was happening going into the 80's concerning CBM, Apple and microsoft, including the flip Gates set up with IBM. Let me be clear on flipping, it's when you have access to something that you know someone else wants and can make a hefty profit as the middleman. It does not take intelligence to do this, it just requires being in the right place at the right time. Maybe the guys at Berkley told me a story but I have no reason to doubt the people I communicated with on projects.

Believe what you want call it a rumor, but then that's what history is unless you were actually there when these things happened and witnessed them first hand. History is rewritten constantly to benefit the victors, the rich or those in power. Just look at Obummer or Shrub or almost any political puppet.

Cheers - Dave

reply to post by bobs_uruncle


Uncle Bob is right that is pretty much how it went down. I have also been doing this stuff since about 1980 -- we were all kids then. Everyone know this is what Gates had done. I don't think he was a smart as Jobs -- but he is nicer.

i am driven very strongly(again) to repeat the previous time-loop behaviour patterns and download the ugly? looking slow? performing mistakes? repeated program- windows 8 - so me and windows 8 again now marching in ...again with hope that it may will not be the same

so.. I chose 'nothing' and with it it took me about 30 minutes to get to the windows 8
now.. after a balancing day spend with ... I may say ...god! ..its full of stars!!

and.. there is something about the sound

Biggest waste of money I have ever spent; glad it was only $40.00

1st thought = they are trying to get windows desktop to work like a smart phone or tablet pc with apps?
2nd thought = they do not support the side bar gadgets
3rd thought = they took away the glass effect "Aero" - makes everything look boring and basic
4th thought = they have no uninstall, if you don't like you have to reinstall from your source disk... which I did...
5th thought = looks like Microsoft is jumping on the advertisement kick also "tracking what you buy and look at"

Long story "short", if you have touch screen, notepad, etc and a good security tracking program, it might be worth it, but for a desktop I'll stay with windows 7.

I realize this is an older thread but I would like to throw my 2 cents in. I had to buy a new laptop because someone spilled coffee on the old one, killing it. I wanted inexpensive because I have very few funds and found an HP at (gulp) Wally World, $238.00. There only selections were Windows 8. This was the 1st of November, 2012. So I bought one. It comes with Skype installed and I tried to set up a new account but it just won't work. Also, I can't use Yahoo IM. I have searched the net for solutions for Skype and there aren't any. I read comments from October 2012 that TPTB are working on it. Other than that, I haven't noticed anything really different, faster or better except for a sh#tload of big icons on the Windows page. Which you can delete individually by the way. Does anyone have Windows 8 and is able to Skype?

Also, Windows 8 isn't compatible with some software (like Xactimate) so before buying, make sure you really want or need it and be prepared to lose the ability to use some software and upgrade others!

I'm with other folks on this. The metro/app thing has no real use on a desktop or regular non touch, laptop.

I tried the Windows 8 yesterday, and, it looks pretty nice, but it's confusing as hell, especially, when you look back at the similarity of all the previous versions, then you have something that throws a complete curve ball to anyone using Windows in the past. I just shoved it away. I'm a computer/IT help kinda guy, and I can tell you, this is going to irritate a lot of people.

Microsoft has a tendency to do stuff like this, but never to this degree. Instead of making things easier to find, they start hiding it. I hate hidden stuff.

It makes me want to go to Linux. I don't need "apps" on a desktop. I can already do all that crap without apps. I keep Windows around for a few reasons, one, being, that's what most people use, and I have to work on those things, and stay familiar with it. Give me Linux. I can do just about everything I need to do, and not have to worry about viruses.

If Microsoft wanted to do something with the desktop environment, they should have just improved on the coherency of everything, neatened it up, and stuff.