New Leaked Version of Windows 8.1, Launch Date September 2013, rumors of Windows 8.2 in 2014. Simila
121 replies, posted
[QUOTE=SGI Onyx;40282760]You are only going to open the start screen up anyway to launch a program, you had might as well be there to begin with.[/QUOTE]
Some people keep hoards of files on their desktop, plus you can pin programs and use the quick lists to open files without opening the start menu.
[QUOTE=Lexic;40282211]Nice of them to include the non disclosure notice and build identifier in the screenshot.[/QUOTE]
That's actually built into all of Microsoft's Windows beta builds iirc, it's not part of the background image either, it's just a little disclosure in the bottom left of the desktop. At least that's how it was with the Win7 beta, that was a while ago though so I could just be imagining it.
[QUOTE=danharibo;40282774]Some people keep hoards of files on their desktop, plus you can pin programs and use the quick lists to open files without opening the start menu.[/QUOTE]
Thats a really horrible habit.
The superbar quickly looks like shit with more than a few programs pinned and I really don't see why the desktop still lets you shove all your shit onto it.
I've never had a single problem using Modern UI (have they solved the legal issues with calling it "Metro" yet?) with a mouse and keyboard, and prefer it to the Start Menu.
If I need a program often, I'll pin it to my taskbar or put it on the desktop, and it's nice to get a bunch of info in the occasions where I go looking for a program I use less often, with the live tiles (weather, RSS feeds, stocks, etc).
I personally have had many issues with windows 8 that have resulted in my simply reinstalling windows 7 instead because I grew tired of constantly deliberating the solutions to the many problems that I kept having. I feel as though windows 7 will be the new windows XP, people will be using this OS for a good 5-8 more years
[QUOTE=FalconKrunch;40282716]I don't use the start screen much itself, but that just makes it more of an annoyance when it does cover my entire screen, just my opinion though.[/QUOTE]
Well, my argument for it would be that when you open the regular start menu, you'll only focus on it until you've clicked something anyways.
I mean, it works exactly the same except you get bigger buttons.
So here's how an 8.1 install goes:
You log in for the first time and set up. You go to your settings. You set it to boot directly to desktop. You click on the desktop app. Next time you start up you're at the desktop. Bam, Metro is gone. Everything else about Windows 8 is much, much better. You have faster boot times, more efficient file management, a much more powerful task manager, and better overall architecture.
If you don't like Metro, cool, 8.1 lets you turn it off unless you want it. That's nothing but good.
I'm a 7 user but I don't get the hatred for 8. It's a much better operating system in all technical regards. It's like the Vista-7 jump. People just hate it for the UI (which can now be disabled).
By the time I retire my 2008 PC, I'll get a Windows 8.whatever copy and I'll enjoy the features it has that 7 lacks. Sticking to 7 is like refusing to update from XP to 7 because you like the green and blue color scheme.
[QUOTE=.Isak.;40283095]So here's how an 8.1 install goes:
You log in for the first time and set up. You go to your settings. You set it to boot directly to desktop. You click on the desktop app. Next time you start up you're at the desktop. Bam, Metro is gone. Everything else about Windows 8 is much, much better. You have faster boot times, more efficient file management, a much more powerful task manager, and better overall architecture.
If you don't like Metro, cool, 8.1 lets you turn it off unless you want it. That's nothing but good.
I'm a 7 user but I don't get the hatred for 8. It's a much better operating system in all technical regards. It's like the Vista-7 jump. People just hate it for the UI (which can now be disabled).
By the time I retire my 2008 PC, I'll get a Windows 8.whatever copy and I'll enjoy the features it has that 7 lacks. Sticking to 7 is like refusing to update from XP to 7 because you like the green and blue color scheme.[/QUOTE]
As someone who just got a prebuild with W8 a couple of days ago, I respectfully disagree. I can ignore the Metro interface without too many problems (the store and XBOX services having their fingers everywhere is really annoying tho, I can see why Newell saw doomsday visions of a closed system) and the boot boost is nice if you don't use hibernation mode, but holy shit the driver support is friggin atrocious and it's been out for MONTHS.
First it flat-out refused to boot because of two additional hard drives, one SATA and one USB, which needed to align with Jupiter in order not to disturb W8, then my Wacom needed to have a crapton of Windows' own stuff purged before installing an ancient mystic Vista driver to get it running properly without animations and popups cluttering the screen, without random insensitivity errors and without crashing some windows tablet service that's visible in the Task Manager but not on the actual services list. A few days ago I tried to get Wireless running since the prebuild came without a card (and by now I'm not even surprised by that) and it's the worst problem of them all since everyone and their cat seems to have the same problem but nobody has a fucking clue on how to fix it. Tried two different wireless sticks, both supplied an internet access so slow it's faster to get the laptop out of hibernation, start up the browser and type in the URL manually. What's even better is that the stick drivers themselves show perfectly fine and full connectivity, just like any other device in this house, it's just W8 that screws everything up. Read wondrous tales of hacks and edits and changing router encryptions and telling W8 not to reserve the default 80% of bandwidth it does, none of which turned out to be the alchemist's stone. I had to sacrifice a child to Ra under the sight of Venus to get the raw power to load up this quick reply after a mere 80 seconds.
Oh and apparently you need to be a level 60 black mage to get W8 off your hard drive to replace it with Windows 7 unless you order special incense and candles forged from the tortured souls of Microsoft tech support employees.
I bet Windows 8 is a lovely sandbox for people wanting to fix problems and memorizing CMD commands in their sleep, but as an operating system? The foundation everything should stand on? Fucking terrible in my personal experience. Maybe I'll check back in 1-2 years when the drivers are out, because as of now it's too different to work properly. I will say tho it's perfect if you just want to occasionally look at a picture or use your web browser.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have a disk to take to Mordor. Sorry about the rage, but holy crap, I've never ever had nearly so much trouble with a piece of tech in my entire life.
[QUOTE=Marik Bentusi;40283669]As someone who just got a prebuild with W8 a couple of days ago, I respectfully disagree. I can ignore the Metro interface without too many problems (the store and XBOX services having their fingers everywhere is really annoying tho, I can see why Newell saw doomsday visions of a closed system) and the boot boost is nice if you don't use hibernation mode, but holy shit the driver support is friggin atrocious and it's been out for MONTHS.
First it flat-out refused to boot because of two additional hard drives, one SATA and one USB, which needed to align with Jupiter in order not to disturb W8, then my Wacom needed to have a crapton of Windows' own stuff purged before installing an ancient mystic Vista driver to get it running properly without animations and popups cluttering the screen, without random insensitivity errors and without crashing some windows tablet service that's visible in the Task Manager but not on the actual services list. A few days ago I tried to get Wireless running since the prebuild came without a card (and by now I'm not even surprised by that) and it's the worst problem of them all since everyone and their cat seems to have the same problem but nobody has a fucking clue on how to fix it. Tried two different wireless sticks, both supplied an internet access so slow it's faster to get the laptop out of hibernation, start up the browser and type in the URL manually. What's even better is that the stick drivers themselves show perfectly fine and full connectivity, just like any other device in this house, it's just W8 that screws everything up. Read wondrous tales of hacks and edits and changing router encryptions and telling W8 not to reserve the default 80% of bandwidth it does, none of which turned out to be the alchemist's stone. I had to sacrifice a child to Ra under the sight of Venus to get the raw power to load up this quick reply after a mere 80 seconds.
Oh and apparently you need to be a level 60 black mage to get W8 off your hard drive to replace it with Windows 7 unless you order special incense and candles forged from the tortured souls of Microsoft tech support employees.
I bet Windows 8 is a lovely sandbox for people wanting to fix problems and memorizing CMD commands in their sleep, but as an operating system? The foundation everything should stand on? Fucking terrible in my personal experience. Maybe I'll check back in 1-2 years when the drivers are out, because as of now it's too different to work properly. I will say tho it's perfect if you just want to occasionally look at a picture or use your web browser.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have a disk to take to Mordor. Sorry about the rage, but holy crap, I've never ever had nearly so much trouble with a piece of tech in my entire life.[/QUOTE]
I had a friend whose system also refused to play nicely with 8, however mine (from 2007) has been smooth sailing. It seems to be a mixed bag.
[QUOTE=Marik Bentusi;40283669]
Oh and apparently you need to be a level 60 black mage to get W8 off your hard drive to replace it with Windows 7 unless you order special incense and candles forged from the tortured souls of Microsoft tech support employees.
[/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.dban.org/[/url]
???
Also on other points:
Prebuilds (THIS COUNTS DOUBLE FOR INTERNAL LEAKS) are buggy as hell. DO NOT USE IT AS YOUR MAIN OS OH MY GOD WHY DID YOU EVEN THINK OF THIS. Things are broken and not working well with other drivers because NO ONE HAS ACCESS TO IT TO MAKE DRIVERS FOR IT PROPER. Do not go and find 5 year old drivers and expect them to work the second you tell windows where to find them. They will not work.
Drivers are not supported on prebuilds unless it is a public preview and if your bios is UEFI then 8 has slightly taken over it to do boot protection.
8 is using the exact same kernel as 7 and vista so saying it isnt a operating system is a moot point as it works perfectly fine. They added things but it will take them another few years before they start considering to retire the NT kernel.
There is no downgrade option because the kernel has to be loaded to allow file changes. It is delete it or get the hell over it. Why is that so hard to understand. No OS has the ability to downgrade itself after a successful install. It will let you revert if things go horribly wrong during a install but that is the extent
I'm pretty sure Linux let's you roll your kernel back and downgrade your packages.
Ugh, it still looks like the 1990s.
[QUOTE=SGI Onyx;40284219]I'm pretty sure Linux let's you roll your kernel back and downgrade your packages.[/QUOTE]
'Linux' doesn't, but most package managers make it trivial to do both.
[QUOTE=Panda X;40282396]By the way, a bit of good news regarding 8.1: [url]http://www.winbeta.org/news/microsoft-possibly-working-letting-user-disable-start-screen[/url]
[B]Seems there will soon be an option to boot directly to desktop in 8.1[/B][/QUOTE]
Fuck yeah.
I had an idea to make Windows 8 less annoying: on PCs, desktop mode only - but instead of your desktop just being a folder with a picture in the background you get the metro stuff. So basically a scrollable interactive desktop, with your taskbar/start menu/windows all still the same as in Windows 7. (Metro apps could either run in windows or "take over" the desktop)
Does anything exist that makes it like this?
seriously guys you had one fucking job.
[QUOTE=Zeke129;40284255]I had an idea to make Windows 8 less annoying: on PCs, desktop mode only - but instead of your desktop just being a folder with a picture in the background you get the metro stuff. So basically a scrollable interactive desktop, with your taskbar/start menu/windows all still the same as in Windows 7. (Metro apps could either run in windows or "take over" the desktop)
Does anything exist that makes it like this?[/QUOTE]
That would make people whine even more than they already are.
[QUOTE=loophole;40284290][url]http://www.stardock.com/products/modernmix/[/url][/QUOTE]
Conspiracy theory: Microsoft made Metro awful so stardock could make money selling these things that put it all back.
Okay, more releases more often for less of a price. What price are we talking and how often will they happen?
[QUOTE=The freeman;40284285]That would make people whine even more than they already are.[/QUOTE]
Would it? People would use their user folder as an icon dump instead, and I think most computer-literate people have already started moving away from using their desktop to store things.
[QUOTE=S31-Syntax;40284339]Okay, more releases more often for less of a price. What price are we talking and how often will they happen?[/QUOTE]
Sofar it is this:
If you are on 8: it is free
If you are on another os: 30-200 dollars.
[QUOTE=danharibo;40284297]Conspiracy theory: Microsoft made Metro awful so stardock could make money selling these things that put it all back.[/QUOTE]
How is metro awful, it's been around since zune and that was around 2007-2008
[editline]15th April 2013[/editline]
And it's very very early days can be found in Encarta '96
[QUOTE=jordguitar;40284470]Sofar it is this:
If you are on 8: it is free
If you are on another os: 30-200 dollars.[/QUOTE]
I'm guessing the longer I wait, the more expensive it gets to get in?
[QUOTE=S31-Syntax;40285289]I'm guessing the longer I wait, the more expensive it gets to get in?[/QUOTE]
well its already 200 dollars for just 8 so that boat already sailed. they were playing with the lower price point so i am not sure if they will do it again.
I'll change when they give me a good enough reason.
[QUOTE=Del91;40285924]I'll change when they give me a good enough reason.[/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.winbeta.org/news/microsoft-possibly-working-letting-user-disable-start-screen[/url]
[QUOTE=jordguitar;40285860]well its already 200 dollars for just 8 so that boat already sailed. they were playing with the lower price point so i am not sure if they will do it again.[/QUOTE]
Why do people keep saying this? It's $100 for the standard version, just as Windows has always been. The Pro version is $140. Vista Ultimate was $300+.
[QUOTE=mblunk;40286139]Why do people keep saying this? It's $100 for the standard version, just as Windows has always been. The Pro version is $140. Vista Ultimate was $300+.[/QUOTE]
Most will have to go to pro without reinstalling because they are on pro or ultimate.
Windows 8 Pro
Reinvented for all of your business and IT needs.
$199.99
[url]http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msus/en_US/cat/categoryID.59237300?Icid=Homepage_4up_2_Win8_4_2_13[/url]
The 100 dollar price point is the SYSTEM BUILDER edition which requires that you install it on a brand new system not in their database. You only get about a 50 dollar discount that way.
[QUOTE=Panda X;40282396]By the way, a bit of good news regarding 8.1: [url]http://www.winbeta.org/news/microsoft-possibly-working-letting-user-disable-start-screen[/url]
Seems there will soon be an option to boot directly to desktop in 8.1[/QUOTE]
Microsoft is backpedalling harder than Bradley Wiggins in a backwards Tour de France.
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