PCWorld Windows 8 Survey

http://techsurveys.vovici.net/se.ashx?s=2055691465AED3A4

Windows 8 Reviews: A Roundup

http://www.pcworld.com/article/251221/windows_8_reviews_a_roundup.html#tk.hp_new

Well, I finally got my "hands on" the Windows 8 Consumer 8 Preview. Holy cow, is this OS ever fast. I can't say if I have any opinions - good or bad - about it yet as I'm just learning my way around. But my first impressions are fairly positive. I have one issue - I can't connect to the internet. By necessity I have a wireless setup and my new Linksys AE2500 wireless adapter does not have drivers that will work with Windows 8.

I did have to install a couple of games. I installed The Book of Unwritten Tales and it played just fine. Then I tried Morrowind and it also played perfectly. The thing that made me say this OS is fast is that I know how long it took to install Morrowind on the exact same computer with Windows 7 and it was pretty much about as slow as on my old XP computer. But on this Windows 8 OS - same hardware as Windows 7 - it absolutely flew!

EDIT: misslilo, I can move my mouse to all four corners of my 22" monitor without moving anything but my wrist! Gotta keep those joints supple...

Aw, now Gee, I'm in my second semester of IT Support school at the community college, am learning about XP and a bit of Vista and Win 7, and by the time I finish school and go out to help people with their PC's they'll be using Windows 8 and the OS's that I'm currently studying will be obsolete (unless I become tech missionary for the Christian missionary field and travel different places incl. other countries where I'll be more likely to work on older computers and OS's)?? Gosh, Microsoft, slow down, please!

My school books don't even mention Windows 8, nor do they have a class for W8 in the school catalogue (AFAIK).

What am I to do, folks?

cruise, if you're going to work in the IT field, even if it's just helping people with their computers, you will need to keep up with all the new technology. It definitely moves at the speed of light. Slow down? Are you kidding me? Windows 7 has been out for 2 1/2 years now! XP is over 10 years old!

You won't find anything about Windows 8 because it hasn't been released yet. This is just the first Beta which was made available to the public on February 29 - like they did with Windows 7. It helps work out all the kinks and lets Microsoft know what people like and what they don't. Windows 8 is a complete and total departure from what we're used to seeing in a Windows operating system. I'm actually growing to really like the Metro interface which is going to be heavily used by the touch-screen market.

Just keep learning XP because a lot of people will keep on using it even after Microsoft stops support in 2 years. But make sure you can do Windows 7 just as well because almost half the market is Windows 7. You are also going to have to keep up with new technology.

It may be "fast" because it isn't loading services that are necessary for normal use -- e.g. for connecting to the Internet and virus protection. It remains to be seen whether the official release is still as fast, though we can hope.


It "absolutely flew" when my brother installed it on his XP computer -- mostly because it was a new computer and we had no antivirus and very little else installed on that computer (at the time it wasn't connected to the Internet).

I'm glad to hear that at least some games will play on Windows 8 though. Keep us informed. You may have to make a new thread for Windows 8 compatibility after the official release is out.

By the way, did they include a compatibility mode in the right-click menu?



You should be excited about the release of a new OS instead of whining about how you're going to have to do extra studying after graduation. Having to do extra studying is a given in IT. If you can't handle that, you're in the wrong field.

How about downloading the Windows 8 Consumer Preview and testing it out yourself the way Draclvr is doing? If you don't have an empty hard drive to put it on, you can at least install it in a VM. Be sure to do this on a computer with sufficient RAM for the VM. You should be sure to allot enough memory to your VM. XP is quite happy with 512MB or even less, but Vista or later should have 2GB (though 1GB may be enough for testing).

In Task Manager, it has maybe half the processes running in the background as Windows 7. It does come with Windows Defender already installed and running, although I think it's a pretty small footprint.

No, there isn't a compatibility mode in the right click context menu. Nor, do I see Run as Administrator. But I understand there is a compatibility mode from some posts I've read at the Windows 8 forum. I must somewhat guiltily admit that I think I really like this Metro interface even in the desktop and mouse environment. It's really working well for me - especially because I can easily switch to desktop mode.

Of course, hardware support is minimal at this point. Because I live out in the country and my only option for broadband is from a local tower (as far as HugesNet, we won't go there), I am wireless by necessity. The only place on my roof where I could have line-of-sight to the tower about 6 miles away is on the other side of the house, so I can't connect an Ethernet cable directly. I have a brand new Linksys AE2500 dual band USB adapter which would not work. I found an old AE1000 in my spare parts and it worked like a charm. So, I'm on the internet and using Windows 8.

Windows 8 found drivers for my C309 HP printer, so I can print. But the software will not install and I'm so far unable to add it to my wireless network.

I sent a message to Big Fish Games just to let them know that while this Beta is far from anything to worry about trouble-shooting, I was testing out a few games. I've found that some work and some don't, even when I install in My Documents. BFG was quite excited that I was at least taking a peek at how the new OS will work and want to have me do more when the final OS is closer to release.

I installed Alice Madness Returns and since it plays perfectly have gotten sucked into a replay on Windows 8!

It's waaay interesting and fun and FAR from something to whine about.

2 years? I thought XP support by MS is slated to end sometime next month?

Drac, could you please elaborate on how/where/when/why a lot of people will keep on using XP after MS stops supporting it? I'm quite curious.

Anyway, I sort of suspected that a lot of folks will keep on using XP even after 2 years.

As for Vista/7/etc, I'll be learning these probably in my latter year at school. My school offers a Windows class in the computer field, which I havn't taken yet, so now that I know about Win 8, I'm saving this class for last.

http://support.microsoft.com/ph/1173

Just type
Microsoft XP support
in Google and you'll get your answer soon enough -- right from the Microsoft website.

Or go to wikipedia.org and do a search for
Windows XP
The answer is there right under "Support Lifecycle."

You should learn to do your own searches.
If you plan to be a tech, you're going to have to.

found this -



found this about future xp activation -

xp discussion acout activation rumor

ms product support q & a

xp support info from ms

after a bit of googling, it dawned upon me that avid xp users, in the future, shoud locate a brand name desktop/laptop pc along with a branded xp installation/reinstallation disk if they want to keep using xp even say, 10 - 20 years from now - that way there's no problem with having to activate xp - or vista/7, etc after they're retired by microsoft, is this correct?

In a word, no.



Since XP is already 10 years old, do you really seriously think anyone will be using 20 - 30 year old hardware and operating systems??????

I've been playing with this OS in my spare time (of which I have very little lately). Odd interface, but it works quite well once you get past the tablet style GUI.

Mo issues with any games (DOS or otherwise) so far.

Have you tried the left corner to switch to the Desktop and right click in the same place to bring up a new context menu including Device Manager? I keep finding new things! I've customized my Metro side and even categorized my tiles. But the best was finding out how to make a shut down app...

Oh yeah, it's all about the corners - unfortunately most user are going to try to mouse over the Desktop popup as opposed to just clicking the corner (which is not exactly following the "old" mouse-over rules). Once you get the hang of it, navigation is fairly easy.

By the way, Run as Administrator and Compatibility Mode are definitely there, but only for the desktop items - they can be selected under Windows Explorer or directly from the desktop icons.

I still think a Start Menu should have been included on the Desktop. I've never been fond of a cluttered desktop full of icons.

About the only other feature I find somewhat annoying is that you can't shut down directly from the Metro Menu. You have to sign out, and then shut down.

Ah, but yes you can shut down directly from Metro! That was making me crazy too until I created a shortcut using a command with a switch as Ed Bott directs in this article. The Metro Hater's Guide To Customizing Windows 8 CP

I'm with you in that I usually keep a very tidy desktop, so I don't know how much I'm going to like not having a start button either. One thing I was really missing was the snipping tool, but I found it in the apps list. But, I don't like having it as another tile. I'm OK with removing the Start button if there is a compelling reason for it and an equally easy way to get to the stuff I need. I haven't found either one yet.

Thanks for the tips on the Administrator and Compatibility mode.

EDIT: I'm back. The reason I didn't think I could find the Administrator and Compatibility mode options is because they are not available on Big Fish Game launch icons. They are there for the games I installed from disk though. I have had about 50% success getting my Big Fish Games to launch and wanted to try Run as Administrator, but it is not available either on the desktop icon or in the game folder. I installed Dying for Daylight in My Documents with the same result. But Drawn The Painted Tower plays just fine from Program Files. Any clues about why the Big Fish Games don't have the Administrator and Compatibility mode options in the context menu?

I have Alice Madness Returns as a Metro tile and I did find that right clicking the tile does offer Run as Administrator on the the Metro side.

I'm installing this now - I'll let you know how it goes -

Stardock - Start8

I hope it works... I'm really trying to keep an open mind about the Start button, but it's getting harder the more I'm into this new OS.

It's a good starting point, athough the clasic look and feel still isn't there. Give it a shot and see what you thing (it's free at the moment).

Are you able to change the target of the shortcut from the Big Fish launcher to the exe itself? That "might" have an effect on whether you can Run As Administrator or use Compatibility Mode.


I'm just the opposite -- I normally have about 50 or more shortcuts and other files sitting on my desktop. They just accumulate over time. If they're all the size of those big Metro buttons, they won't fit.

You can change the tile size to a smaller one. On my 22" screen, I think I could probably fit about 60 of them.

You're right, Jenny. There are two "launchers" in the game files. The icons point to LaunchGame.bfg which does not offer the Administrator or Compatibility mode options. However, the .exe file DOES offer them. Unfortunately, Dying for Daylight and Salem Witch Trials still won't launch using either option.

Hmmm... Maybe I did something wrong, but after I downloaded that Start program, I could no longer get to my Metro side. I could only get the start button list. I uninstalled it. I tried all the corners and the Windows key.

Right Click the Start Button and select Show Full Screen Metro Start Menu - it helps a bit, but it's still not what I want to see.

Nope, me either. I don't want to have to make 2 clicks to go back to Metro.

One you enable it, it's only 1 click

I'm definitely lazy! I'm counting the right click as one and the selection as the second! I might try it again.

This is an interesting thread and I have a couple of questions for you. (Aside from - Why did they make Metro this danged ugly?)

How difficult do you think it will be for people who don't know anywhere near as much as you do about computers to adjust to the difference between XP/Vista/7 and Windows 8?

Are those of you trying out the Preview going to be sending feedback to Microsoft in the expectation of being heard?

Gil.