Windows 8 Preview

[engine]

Windows 8 was demonstrated and here's what Microsoft said.

Windows 8 Preview [microsoft.com]

Here are a few aspects of the new interface we showed today:

• Fast launching of apps from a tile-based Start screen, which replaces the Windows Start menu with a customizable, scalable full-screen view of apps.

• Live tiles with notifications, showing always up-to-date information from your apps.

• Fluid, natural switching between running apps.

• Convenient ability to snap and resize an app to the side of the screen, so you can really multitask using the capabilities of Windows.

• Web-connected and Web-powered apps built using HTML5 and JavaScript that have access to the full power of the PC.

• Fully touch-optimized browsing, with all the power of hardware-accelerated Internet Explorer 10.

[incrediBILL]

I can't stand the tiles, I may never buy another MS product again.

[J_RaD]

I like it, its a unified OS across all hardware platforms.

[incrediBILL]

Unified means having Norton on your phone, along with viruses, botnets, and all sorts of other nasties standing between you and a simple phone call.

Imagine your Windows 8 phone is hacked and spewing spam as fast as it can go and you're picking up the tab for exceeding your data plan.

Yup, unified OS, infected on every platform, that's the dream ;)

[Hugene]

I just bought a new laptop and it comes with Windows pre-loaded. Why are we not able to buy a PC without Windows? We're paying for this, it should be an option. I much rather buy and instal my OS myself.

[J_RaD]

Imagine your Windows 8 phone is hacked

waoh, slow down.... windows 8 is NOT for PHONES.

Yup, unified OS, infected on every platform, that's the dream ;)

viruses are created for ever platform if you haven't seen that already. using Fragmentation as yours sense of security is as good as using obscurity.

a mix match of different OS's with different flaws and issues, oh yes thats the dream! *agh*

[edited by: J_RaD at 6:33 pm (utc) on Jun 2, 2011]

[beavis]

First, put iPad knock-off Windows 8 OS on home/work systems. Let everyone get used to it.

Second, place same OS on iPad clone.

Clever strategy.

[dvduval]

I'll submit a name for it:
Windows Touch ME

[Rugles]

Why are we not able to buy a PC without Windows?

I can, my go-to guy for all my hardware always offers it that way. Which is good if we are replacing a workstation that already has a Windows license.

Stay away from the bigbox or online retailers. Find a local independant store that is building machines.

[J_RaD]

stay away from bigbox for everything!

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

No thanks, my current OS works just fine.

[incrediBILL]

waoh, slow down.... windows 8 is NOT for PHONES.

A) I said "imagine if.." and

B) They haven't said it won't be so!

There's no big difference between a phone and every other device, all computers, Win 8 could easily fit in especially with the new Nvidia quad core processors just out.

[J_RaD]

B) They haven't said it won't be so!

but they did say its for desktops, laptops, and tablets.
Phone wasn't in that list.

[albo]

@dvduval - Peter Townsend already has that name locked up

[incrediBILL]

but they did say its for desktops, laptops, and tablets.
Phone wasn't in that list.

That's a quibble as a phone and a tablet are just different sizes of virtually an identical device. Whether they put full blown Win 8 in a phone or not is totally different than whether it would work, a computer is a computer is a computer.

Personally, I think it'll happen out of demand.

I don't need 3 computers, I need one computer core I can put into a mini/laptop shell or slide into a desktop frame, same basic PC always in my pocket with multiple interface hardware for all my needs.

It'll happen.

[ByronM]

Its pretty well known Windows Phone will eventually run the same underlying OS.

The gui for Windows 8 is looking good, can't wait to see more demos as it matures and hopefully a beta soon.

[creative craig]

I think it looks promising - a possible alternative to the Ipad.

[JAB Creations]

Total complete FAIL.

Tablets are not going to replace desktops, laptops or netbooks and this is the only focus that was displayed in the video.

The only redeeming feature was the dual-window resize option but when you're talking about an operating system then one good feature among hundreds of intentionally broken and intentionally removed existing features doesn't cut it. I thought Windows 7 was utterly horrible and nailed the coffin, this just threw the coffin inside Mount St. Helens at it's peak glory in the early 80s.

Microsoft has achieved their biggest goal though, completely decimating the user experience in order to make their software as devastatingly unusable as humanly possible. Congratulations Microsoft, you've managed to figure out how to make your products even worse!

- John

[J_RaD]

I don't need 3 computers, I need one computer core I can put into a mini/laptop shell or slide into a desktop frame,

like thats going so well for motorola right now, :-P

[jonathanleger]

Total complete FAIL.

I love Windows 7. I thought I'd never change from XP, especially after Vista came out, but then 7 came along and I was converted.

Windows 8 looks fantastic. Can't wait to try it out on a tablet.

[incrediBILL]

I thought Windows 7 was utterly horrible and nailed the coffin

Are you kidding?

Win 6 is the most solid version I've ever seen and I've been using it and programming for Windows since Win 2.x came out, so I've a bit of history there! Win 7 and Vista were the first versions where the plug-n-play hardware really works.

Only problem I had with Win 7 or Vista is I went fully 64-bit on 2 machines and had to support 32-bit drivers for my other machines connecting to hardware resources on my machine, but it wasn't as painful as it used to be to make it work.

Win 8 will probably rock, the GUI I'm just not fond of, as long as a classic view is behind those stinking tiles...

My current PCs are so fast I probably won't upgrade until Win 10 or some such so maybe it doesn't matter ;}

[Hester]

The video says "it's gonna be on everything" (or such words) - meaning phones for sure.

I think it looks fantastic. At last the desktop is truly useful. (I have the icons turned off on my PC.)

I just hope they don't remove too much when it ships, or spoil the design with endless gradients and so on. I remember great things like page curls and rotating video for Vista and then it came out looking very 2D.

Way to go guys!

[JAB Creations]

I'm not kidding, it's total junk. It's all about the GUI. It takes two to five times the clicks to get things done in Vista/7 and clearly 8. Windows Explorer in example, XP I just click on a cut button, in Vista/7 I have to click on organize, hold the button down, drag it to cut, let go, nothing happens, click a second time. They got rid of the classic start menu and then replaced it with a massive goofy menu, hid the run menu option; TweakUI does not work with Vista/7 to remove the useless menu delay. The shut down menu is a drop down instead of INSTANT one-click access buttons in XP, so you have to click FIVE times to restart the computer in Vista/7 whereas in XP you click start (one), shutdown (two) and restart (three). In Windows Explorer when you click on a folder in the folder panel is automatically expands subfolders however in Vista/7 even with the option in the folders options enabled it doesn't work. You have to double-click to expand folders which is anti-intuitive.

Everything about Vista/7/8 is horrible and works against productivity. I could go on and on pointing out all the things they've done to destroy the Windows GUI if you want and by the time I'm done I'll convince you XP was Microsoft's peak and Windows 7 is completely unusable.

- John

[badbadmonkey]

Oh nonsense. Go buy a Mac.

Windows Explorer in example, XP I just click on a cut button, in Vista/7 I have to click on organize, hold the button down, drag it to cut, let go, nothing happens, click a second time.

That's just weird. Organize -> Cut works fine for me! Who uses menus or toolbars for that sort of thing anyway? Right-click -> Cut if you insist on the mouse, otherwise what's wrong with Ctrl + X? Or Alt + E -> T if you insist on a menu.

They got rid of the classic start menu and then replaced it with a massive goofy menu, hid the run menu option

Maybe you want to work out the search thing. Win-button + first few characters of what I want + enter takes me less than a second. Who cares about mucking about with menus. They've rightly de-prioritized the programs menus.

The shut down menu is a drop down instead of INSTANT one-click access buttons in XP, so you have to click FIVE times to restart the computer in Vista/7

Rubbish. Start (1) -> move mouse to menu arrow to expand menu -> Click restart (2).

2's not really 5 is it?

whereas in XP you click start (one), shutdown (two) and restart (three). In Windows Explorer when you click on a folder in the folder panel is automatically expands subfolders however in Vista/7 even with the option in the folders options enabled it doesn't work. You have to double-click to expand folders which is anti-intuitive.

Why? It means you don't have folders spilling out for no reason unless you've specified it. It's good.

and by the time I'm done I'll convince you XP was Microsoft's peak and Windows 7 is completely unusable.

No, you won't. Both Vista and 7 are massive improvements over the previous versions of Windows. This XP romanticism really gets my goat. Get over it.

[Robert Charlton]

The word "cool" is back, as in "cool innovation".

I think this is a "cool" move to get desktop users to stock up on copies of Windows 7... or maybe to start stretching their arms so they can reach their screens.

The only redeeming feature was the dual-window resize option...

That one is nice, isn't it. Great for tablets, absolutely.

Maybe they'll add heart-shaped wipes. ;)

[incrediBILL]

This XP romanticism really gets my goat. Get over it.

Exactly. It's a steamy pile of bugs I couldn't wait to abandon.

The only people that like it are those clinging to 10 year old computers.

[J_RaD]

XP is old as dirt, move on please.

I never would have guessed back when XP came out it would have had such a die hard following that can't upgrade to anything else. It would have been like windows 95 users still running windows 95 in 2005.

windows 2000 was better IMO :-)

[Mike_Feury]

Oh nonsense. Go buy a Mac.

Exactly :) I never used Vista, so Win7 took me a few weeks to get used to. I did read a few articles about the main points and differences, which made the transition easier. XP was good if you made the effort, Win7 is considerably better if you make the effort.

Incidentally, your default restart option is only one click if you take the trouble [approx 15 seconds] to set it. R-click Taskbar, Properties, Start Menu tab, Power Button action.

Win8 "on everything" is MS marketing at its hypiest. I assume they got screamed at by their hardware customers for an alternative to iOS and Android for the tablet market. But of course they'll try to max revenue from it.

[J_RaD]

tablets currently aren't even making a real dent into the market yet... its currently lots of TV ads and hype ot make it appear everyone in the universe is using one of these things.

And they are currently being pushed very hard in ads because they have a nice cell contract hooked into them to bleed your bank account over the next 2 years.

[Andem]

If they're optimising Windows '8' for touch screens, I say bad move. I currently have a touch screen desktop running win7 and using it for touch is annoying and can become painful after > 20 minutes of use because it's just so awkward on a desktop PC. The whole touch thing is a gimmick IMO.