Microsoft's Windows 8 Coming in Late October

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2406841,00.asp

Is this a good thing? I'm still adjusting to windows 7.

I think the jury is still out on this, Haze. I've been running the Consumer and Release Previews since the end of March and I'm finding I quite like it. It's a complete departure from what we are all used to though.

Just stick with Windows 7 - it will be around for a long time yet.

So... Ya gonna go with it Drac? I'm thinking about it

Yup, I'm definitely going for it, Inland! But I'm going to keep my Windows 7 drive and put Windows 8 on the other drive where I have the Release Preview. Since they are selling upgrade licenses for dirt cheap, I'm probably going to use an unused copy of XP to do it.

Have you read about the "possible" change in the licensing where Microsoft might actually let home builders legally use a System Builder copy? That would be music to my ears!

No, but I'm going to go look right now

Here is what Ed Bott has to say...

Is Microsoft Changing its policy on System Builder Licences

Interesting - but it probably won't affect me, all of my copies are either MSDN downloads or VLA.

Edit - I forgot to mention, the release candidate still supports Aero - I wonder what's up with that?

Do I understand correctly Win 8 is geared to multi platform use? From what I read of the provided links it sounds like it is made for tablets, smartphones, and the like.

While this wouldn't be any use for me, as I don't use anything more than a cell phone--not smart--I'd let Win 8 exist on the market for several months before even considering moving to it.

I know, Inland - I wondered about that too. Aero is supposed to go away, so maybe when it goes to RTM, it will be gone.

Homer, that's one of the buzzing questions out there. Is Windows 8 trying to all things to all platforms and not succeeding at any of them? Windows Phone already has a similar interface. The Metro side of Windows 8 is definitely geared for the touch screens on tablets etc. However, I'm finding I really like it on my desktop. The apps are slowly building up steam and I had to drag myself out of the All Recipies app yesterday! When I need to, I switch back to my nice familiar desktop. I tried hard to get used to the lack of a Start button, but I'm using a 3rd party Start button called Start8 and I really like it - especially after they added Shut Down to it.

I don't think I will move to it - I'm keeping my Windows 7 drive as-is. But I am going to install it on a separate drive like I have the Release Preview right now.

Thanks Draclvr.

Sometimes trying to be all to everything misses the initial mark. I would think it'd be best to have one platform for this, another for that, and be able to interface between the two, or the many.

Like a multi-tool Swiss Army knife, things can get so bulky that no one wants to use it. In cases like this, KISS is the best rule of thumb.

Does anyone of you that have tried Windows RC know if games etc. will play on Windows 8?

I haven't had a lot of time to do this, but have installed and played well into these games with no problems...

Morrowind
The Book of Unwritten Tales
The Lost Crown
The Witcher 2

And several Big Fish casual games. I did have problems with Dying for Daylight and couldn't get it to play even after trying all the usual tweaks.

Here's an article about Windows 8 and gaming -

Article about Win 8 and PC gaming

What do you think of it?

Personally I think it’s reminiscent of John Carmack's comments on DirectX versus OpenGL.

Everyone’s got an opinion.

I recall feeling the same way about Win 95, XP, & Win 7, but there was always a way around it.

I haven't had time to throw much at Windows 8 yet, but so far Witcher 2, Morrowind and The Book of Unwritten Tales play just fine as do all the Big Fish games so far with the exception of Dying for Daylight. My feeling is that Windows 8 will have no more effect on gaming than Windows 7 did.

I agree with Inland - everyone has an opinion.

@ Drac

Have you tried the older games, such as Sherlock Holmes and the Silver Earring and such games from the 1990's...

Not yet, Karsten. I don't have either of those games, but I do have some from the early 2000's. Just no time right now!

@Drac, when Win 8 finally does come out,

1) are you going to buy it/install it/use it to play games (game testing)?

2) what are going to do with your XP HDD in that new PC that you built in '09?

3) are you going to keep your RAID setup on that PC with W 7, W 8?

4) speaking of your RAID setup on that new PC you built, Drac, is this RAID 0, 1, 3, or 5?

5) what RAID setup do you have currently with XP and 7 - RAID 0, 1, 3, 5?

6) are you still going to keep XP (and maybe W 98, 3.xx, Dosbox) around and handy for these games that have problems running on the newer OS's?

I learned in school this past yr that RAID means "Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Discs" that data is stored redundantly on each disc involved in the setup, that even if one HDD fails, you'd still have this or that data (as a duplicate) on the other disc(s), that there are 4 commonly used RAID setups - RAID 0, 1, 3, and 5, although RAID 2 and 4 are sometimes but not very often used, this is all I recall from my scholbooks, but prior to going to school to be a tech, I knew practically nothing about RAID, except that it involved HDD's (which I learned back in '09 when I recall Drac talking about her new computer with the "Bling" case).

Cruise, I really don't have time to answer all your questions, but yes, I'm going to install Windows 8 when it's released on a separate hard drive. I will keep my Windows 7 on another drive and my old XP on another separate computer.

EDIT: I have more time this morning. Cruise, why would you ask if I'm using RAID for two different operating systems? That's not possible. You might want to read up a bit more on what RAID actually is.