The Official Windows 8 User Thread

[ViRGE]

Although the first major public release of Windows 8 will not be until the 15th, some parties close to Microsoft have already received their Enterprise editions. As such we're going to start a Win8 usage thread now.

As always, please keep your discussion to using Win8. Discussing how to pirate it or illegitimate means of activating it will result in infractions. This will include linking to that lightbulb-themed site, because its primary function is Windows piracy.

-Cheers
ViRGE

 

[Bryf50]

Well I'm trying out the RTM now. I tried to remain hopeful but I'm pretty disappointed.

As I'm playing with it I realize more and more how metro makes no sense for a desktop. I originally envisioned Metro as a fullscreen replacement for the Start Menu. Stupid but livable. It really is more than that. It is two separate unavoidable UIs in a single program and I can't think of any example where that was a good idea. The switch from the fullscreen metro UI to the desktop UI feels jarring because they're so different. Its not clear when you'll get one or the other. For example, when you open Internet Explore from Metro you get metrofied IE. But if you pin that same Icon to the task bar and open it there you get desktop IE which is unconnected from the other(different tabs etc.)

I have no use for giant full screen apps on a 24" monitor. For example, Skydrive pops up with ridiculously huge in your face icons and rudimentary things like drag and drop or no longer possible. Or messenging, do I really need a full 24" screen to send or receive an Instant Message. Furthermore, applications like newegg, bing, Wikipedia, etc. are pointless on a desktop. On a tablet the applications can be better designed for touch interfaces. But on a desktop the website is already the desktop UI.

The desktop itself isn't all too bad. It's just a slight evolution on windows 7. Things like explorer and task manager are nicely improved. Its pretty clear that not a whole lot of effort was put into it compared to metro.

These are only my opinions of Windows 8 as a desktop operating system. You can argue that desktops are fading with the rise of tablets. but that doesn't mean a tablet OS makes any sense for those of us still using one. I don't know why Microsoft wants to sell it to us as the successor to Windows 7 and not as Windows Tablet 8.

 

[Dominato3r]

Have you tried the sky drive application for the desktop?

Also, windows + I is a very good shortcut to remember,

 

[Bryf50]

Have you tried the sky drive application for the desktop?

Also, windows + I is a very good shortcut to remember,

Yea, I know that there are desktop alternatives to all the metro applications. What I am saying is that a large part of Windows 8(metro) is useless on a desktop. If I do upgrade I'll probably just uninstall or hide all the metro applications.

Cool shortcut thanks.

 

[dagamer34]

Well I'm trying out the RTM now. I tried to remain hopeful but I'm pretty disappointed.

As I'm playing with it I realize more and more how metro makes no sense for a desktop. I originally envisioned Metro as a fullscreen replacement for the Start Menu. Stupid but livable. It really is more than that. It is two separate unavoidable UIs in a single program and I can't think of any example where that was a good idea. The switch from the fullscreen metro UI to the desktop UI feels jarring because they're so different. Its not clear when you'll get one or the other. For example, when you open Internet Explore from Metro you get metrofied IE. But if you pin that same Icon to the task bar and open it there you get desktop IE which is unconnected from the other(different tabs etc.)

I have no use for giant full screen apps on a 24" monitor. For example, Skydrive pops up with ridiculously huge in your face icons and rudimentary things like drag and drop or no longer possible. Or messenging, do I really need a full 24" screen to send or receive an Instant Message. Furthermore, applications like newegg, bing, Wikipedia, etc. are pointless on a desktop. On a tablet the applications can be better designed for touch interfaces. But on a desktop the website is already the desktop UI.

The desktop itself isn't all too bad. It's just a slight evolution on windows 7. Things like explorer and task manager are nicely improved. Its pretty clear that not a whole lot of effort was put into it compared to metro.

These are only my opinions of Windows 8 as a desktop operating system. You can argue that desktops are fading with the rise of tablets. but that doesn't mean a tablet OS makes any sense for those of us still using one. I don't know why Microsoft wants to sell it to us as the successor to Windows 7 and not as Windows Tablet 8.

Push notifications. That's the reason why Metro apps are useful even if you never open them. For example, with eBay, you'll get a push notification when you're on the desktop. No need to have the app running, or have a tab open constantly checking on progress. Keep in mind that 1/2 the US still doesn't have a smartphone, so push notifications would be an actual revelation to them. Most people also don't have 24" monitors or dual monitor setups either.

For the average Neowin user, they'll use the Start screen as the equivalent of Dashboard on OS X. You can pop it up every now and then to check on stuff, but 99% of the time will be on the desktop.

Honestly, the only real exception and the reason why Metro is on all versions of Windows 8 in the first place is a) spur development of Metro apps and b) have Metro apps on all platforms. The latter reason is rather important because there are tons of iPad apps with functionality I'm sure people would love on their computers like setting up recordings on their DVR or watching live TV. Just because everyone thinks of them as "tablet" apps doesn't mean that functionality would never be useful on a normal computer (but no developer is going to bother writing desktop apps with this functionality as a PC is considered "insecure").

Just my 2 cents.

 

[ViRGE]

I didn't realize just how much of a new impact the new desktop UI style would have on individual applications. This is a screenshot of Word 2010 running on Windows 8, taken from another forum I visit.

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/ViRGE/Word2010_Win8.png

Because MS did away with drop shadows, Word's drop shadow is drawn as a rather thick grey border around the entire document. Apparently it doesn't look quite as bad on the non-default color schemes (e.g. blue or black), but still, this is pretty damn ugly. Things built for Aero are going to have trouble here.

 

[AnandThenMan]

I like the speed and efficiency improvements in Win8. The copy dialog and new task manager are nice. Honestly that's about all I like about it versus Windows 7. Visually to me it's worse, the "Metro" UI is quite ugly and START is completely pointless I have zero use for it.

This has to be the laziest effort MS has ever put into an operating system, they took Windows7 foundation and tacked on a questionable interface with the mindset that only tablets matter.

 

[Bryf50]

I like the speed and efficiency improvements in Win8. The copy dialog and new task manager are nice. Honestly that's about all I like about it versus Windows 7. Visually to me it's worse, the "Metro" UI is quite ugly and START is completely pointless I have zero use for it.

This has to be the laziest effort MS has ever put into an operating system, they took Windows7 foundation and tacked on a questionable interface with the mindset that only tablets matter.

All they had to do was add an option to turn off metro. That's all it would have taken me to upgrade for the relatively cheap $40. I would have made the switch just for the slightly tweaked desktop interface.

 

[Rhonda the Sly]

I didn't realize just how much of a new impact the new desktop UI style would have on individual applications. This is a screenshot of Word 2010 running on Windows 8, taken from another forum I visit.

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/ViRGE/Word2010_Win8.png

Because MS did away with drop shadows, Word's drop shadow is drawn as a rather thick grey border around the entire document. Apparently it doesn't look quite as bad on the non-default color schemes (e.g. blue or black), but still, this is pretty damn ugly. Things built for Aero are going to have trouble here.

Drop shadows are actually still present in the Windows 8 RTM theme, just quite faint.

What's being exhibited in the screenshot is actually a bug in Office 2010. I forgot how to reproduce it but it might be caused by running in a VM, Aero Basic, or switching between Aero and Basic... or something. I forget. It's possible to see it in Windows 7, though.

 

[ViRGE]

Drop shadows are actually still present in the Windows 8 RTM theme, just quite faint.

What's being exhibited in the screenshot is actually a bug in Office 2010. I forgot how to reproduce it but it might be caused by running in a VM, Aero Basic, or switching between Aero and Basic... or something. I forget. It's possible to see it in Windows 7, though.

Humm, I've never heard of that bug before. According to the poster that was taken from a system running on a GTX 560, so no VMs or other shenanigans. Even on my Win7 box, forcing Aero Basic doesn't cause that issue.

 

[hclarkjr]

i am wondering with all the stuff built with aero in mind if there will be somebody that makes something to have it in windows 8

 

[dagamer34]

All they had to do was add an option to turn off metro. That's all it would have taken me to upgrade for the relatively cheap $40. I would have made the switch just for the slightly tweaked desktop interface.

You know why they didn't build that option. Everyone would turn it off, no Metro apps would be developed, and then literally billions of dollars spent developing the OS would have been for nothing.

Companies make decisions based on their own self-interests that just happen to please users. Why else would Apple not allow you to buy Kindle books directly from the app or Google need to approve an Android device in order to get Google apps when the OS is supposed to be "open and free" (no US carrier will ever sell a non-Google approved phone btw).

I just accept it and move on.

 

[Kristijonas]

What's new in win8 RTM compared to win8 RP?

 

[hhhd1]

What's new in win8 RTM compared to win8 RP?

Haven't really noticed anything major.
Except maybe the addition of few wallpapers and themes.
And a welcome video asking to explore the corners.

 

[happysmiles]

I'm surprised that Microsoft isn't trying to sue everyone who's downloaded the RTM version.

 

[Kristijonas]

Please post any benchmarks of win8 RTM vs win7 vs win8 RP. I'm sure many would be very interested to see those!

 

[dguy6789]

I wanna see a lot more pics of how the desktop is different in the final vs the preview.

 

[ViRGE]

What's new in win8 RTM compared to win8 RP?

The new desktop UI style is the only meaningful difference. Everything else basically comes down to bug fixes.

 

[WelshBloke]

You know why they didn't build that option. Everyone would turn it off, no Metro apps would be developed, and then literally billions of dollars spent developing the OS would have been for nothing...

If they really think that their customers would dislike it so much they would instantly turn it off shouldn't they have thought twice about including it in the first place?

Its not much of a selling point is it "Come upgrade to Win8, we know you'll hate bits of it but you'll have to put up with that"?

 

[dguy6789]

People are finding more and more that an iPad or Android tablet can do everything they do on their PC(web browse, email, music, video, messaging, facebook) and are often getting them instead of a new computer. Windows 8 is about Microsoft trying to get with the times without losing everything they've built with Windows. Not an easy task honestly. They absolutely can not afford to just keep Windows the way it is with 7 right now(Windows 7 is completely irrelevant and forgotten in the mind of today's consumer). My $0.02 on the "why" of Windows 8.

 

[WelshBloke]

People are finding more and more that an iPad or Android tablet can do everything they do on their PC(web browse, email, music, video, messaging, facebook) and are often getting them instead of a new computer. Windows 8 is about Microsoft trying to get with the times without losing everything they've built with Windows. Not an easy task honestly. They absolutely can not afford to just keep Windows the way it is with 7 right now(Windows 7 is completely irrelevant and forgotten in the mind of today's consumer). My $0.02 on the "why" of Windows 8.

Windows7 has, what, about >80% of its market?

Fine if Microsoft want to make a great tablet OS. Do that and people will want to use it. But don't cock up the great desktop market share you already have.

 

[dguy6789]

The problem with that is that people are not buying tablets as additional or tertiary devices. They are now pretty often buying them *instead* of PCs. This means Windows 7 is directly competing with the iPad now and it is losing. They're losing market share and they want to put a stop to it.

 

[Dominato3r]

Is anyone finding that without the start button, placing the taskbar at the top of your screen with small icons is a lot better? Kind like on OSX and some Linux distros with the persistent bar/ taskbar. On Windows 7 you had the weird sticking out effect.

Windows7 has, what, about >80% of its market?

Fine if Microsoft want to make a great tablet OS. Do that and people will want to use it. But don't cock up the great desktop market share you already have.

What's it matter? The wheels were already turning for most businesses to get Windows 7, even if Windows 8 was some huge desktop innovater. It really is the ideal time, Windows 7 is successful, with people moving to it in droves, and now they introduce their answer to the iPad, knowing that they've got a successful OS behind them.

And I don't think people would "want to use it" if it was some standalone tablet OS, being Windows is one of its benefits.

 

[Pretty Cool]

There is stuff under the hood, but Microsoft never talks about it. Windows 8 is supposed to be slimmed down to make things run faster/longer even with mobile devices. That is probably why Aero and other fancy UI stuff is gone. Also in previous versions, Windows included tons of printer drivers. That is not being done anymore as the OS is supposed to be able to print without the need of large-sized drivers that are typical from the vendors. File history is also something new. Both Anti-virus and anti-spyware is now built into the OS. There seems to be interest in Windows To Go, but that is an enterprise-only feature.

As I suspected, liking or not liking Metro makes no difference. Reason is if you like the Metro style, it is there. If not, you can download a 3rd-party Start Menu and stay in Desktop. My guess is that will be quite a few people coming out with their own Start Menu (maybe even from big names). If others have convinced you that you do not even want to interact with Metro at all, put a utility called FxxkMetro in your startup folder.

As for speed, it seems a little on the slow side for me. Obviously, this is not good as my desktop computer is only 2 years old. Not sure if it the cause is the OS, hardware, driver, or what with me. Not many others have mentioned any performance issues (speed or latency), so I am guessing it has been fine for the few days they have been using RTM.

 

[happysmiles]

well battery life has improved for me.
I can't use Metro since my resolution is 1024x600 so I've been pinning programs to the taskbar.

feels just like win 7
Winkey+I and Winkey+C are my new best friends and the new aeroless desktop looks just fine to me (then again I've been using classic theme for around 6 years)

speed wise is the same as RP and smoother than win 7.

I'm back to win 7 because it's going to expire in 30 days,