Windows 8

[Candlelight]

Anyone else tried/bought it?

I've been running the release candidate for about six weeks as a virtual machine without any major issues. I had installed Classic Shell (so I enabled a Start Menu) but today I got the full version and am toying with the idea of keeping it as is and try to use the Metro interface.

Anyone else pulled their hair out yet...?

The only thing that caught me out was needing to restart the machine and suddenly I couldn't find the restart/shut down option!

 

[PsychoPere]

I switched to Win8 over the weekend and am just fine with it so far.

 

[Non Sync]

I've been playing with it on a virtual machine for a little bit and I think in the long run it will have been a smart move by Microsoft. There will be some initial pain for legacy (ie non-touch screen) devices. I can see a large touch pad of being very valuable for those with non-touch screens.

I was playing a bit with a Surface tablet on Sunday and was impressed with it.

FYI- To either restart or shutdown: it is located on the charm bar (right side panel) and is accessed via settings. The settings are content sensitive except for the group of icons at the very bottom and includes Power.

 

[RevDMV]

I'm going to load up a VM with Visual Studio 2012 here in a bit when I have some spare brain cells.

It't interesting to have interface style that will trail from the Xbox through business server.

 

[Agent Richard07]

I don't have a touch screen and I have no trouble using Windows 8.

 

[Marc]

No problems here. Currently running Win8 from a vhd without a problems and not spending much time with windows 7.

Only thing that really bugs me is the dual screen support. My main screen sits in front of me and the second is to my right. Under Windows 7 I'd move the mouse to the right and be on the second screen, now I have to move it to the left.

The hyper-v inclusion is nice - currently running Server 2012 in one as I get it setup.

 

[Candlelight]

FYI- To either restart or shutdown: it is located on the charm bar (right side panel) and is accessed via settings. The settings are content sensitive except for the group of icons at the very bottom and includes Power.

I found it fairly quickly, just not as easy as having the start menu right there to access something like that.

I haven't been using Windows 7 much either since I went to 8.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Those of you using it: do you spend most of your time on the Desktop, or do you switch between various Metro apps? Or do you switch between the Desktop and Metro apps? How annoying is the context switch between Metro/Desktop?

 

[Starbreaker]

I spend most of my time on the Desktop, but switching between the two is as simple as one click.

 

[B.J.]

I still want to know how on Earth you're supposed to multitask when one of your programs is one of those Metro "apps". At work, I usually have windows with 5 or 6 different programs running all at once across two different screens. From all I've seen, this would effectively kill that usefulness.

 

[PsychoPere]

Switching between Desktop and Metro apps is pretty quick, and I haven't found it to be annoying at all. Since I spend most of my time in Firefox, I don't load Metro apps very much at the moment, but that might change when Mozilla releases a stable Firefox Metro build.

 

[B.J.]

Maybe I didn't make myself clear. What I mean is, I have those arranged such that I can see all or most of them all at once. For example, I currently have my 3D modeling program open, its database, IM, and a webpage open with some needed documentation. If any or all of those are "apps" that take up the entire screen, that kinda kills my productivity. Just "switching" is not effective.

 

[PsychoPere]

I understood what you meant, but I was replying to Robert Maxwell. That's why I didn't directly address anything you said. Next time I'll make sure I remember to quote when a few posts are in between so as to avoid confusion.

At least some of what you described should be possible. Take a look here and here.

 

[Candlelight]

Those of you using it: do you spend most of your time on the Desktop, or do you switch between various Metro apps? Or do you switch between the Desktop and Metro apps? How annoying is the context switch between Metro/Desktop?

One-click and you're in Metro. It's very easy.

Thing is most of the apps that I use from day to day mean I don't need to use Metro, so I don't often jump into it. I can see the benefits but my apps launch from the desktop even if I'm using Metro; I don't use any Metro-specific apps at this point.

 

[Gil T.Azell]

Not using it , but I really hate the commercial. that chicks voice make my skin crawl.

 

[Non Sync]

One trick I read about is that if you want to go immediately to the desktop when you sign on, move the desktop tile to the first position.

Marc- sounds like you need to rearrange the monitor layout (at least let the system know how you've got them positioned). Go to the desktop and then right click on the background. It's under Personalize and is the same as with Windows 7.

 

[Marc]

yeah I tried that when Windows 8 first came up as it had my monitors completely swapped around.

My try the hardware fix and swap them on my video card and then reset the monitors and see how I go.

 

[Stephen!]

Haven't tried it yet. Although my brother does have it on his laptop, so probably will end up trying it eventually.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I haven't used it yet. My sister, who is not tech savvy at all, got a new computer with Windows 8 and her input to me was that it was "weird how there's no start menu, and there's not like your picture, it's like apps on a phone!"

Make of that what you will.

 

[Kelthaz]

I have to admit to being out of the loop when it comes to Windows 8, but is there some sort of point to this OS beyond jumping onto the apps bandwagon? Was there something wrong with Windows 7 that needed fixing? Are there any major improvements that makes Windows 7 obsolete? Or is this just Microsoft's desperate attempt to remain relevant in the age of the iPad?