# Windows 8, anyone tried it yet?



## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

With Windows 8 coming out very soon has anyone given it a try during its pre release? What do you think?


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## Zeitgeist (Apr 4, 2009)

I haven't personally but lots of people I know have. Very mixed reactions.

Supposedly faster and more secure, printer management is supposedly better.

The big complaint seems to be that it's really designed for a touch screen, so if you're using a typical laptop/desktop it's a little more clunky. There are a number of free apps out there to restore the typical start button functionality - which doesn't exist in Win 8 by default.


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## theJman (Mar 3, 2012)

I've spent a bit of time studying it, and I'm not impressed. The new interface is far from intuitive, at least for me it is. I think MS jumped the gun by a few years; at some point we may all be forced to contend with the GUI that seems to be in vogue on smartphones, but that time is not now.


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## Zeitgeist (Apr 4, 2009)

theJman said:


> I've spent a bit of time studying it, and I'm not impressed. The new interface is far from intuitive, at least for me it is. I think MS jumped the gun by a few years; at some point we may all be forced to contend with the GUI that seems to be in vogue on smartphones, but that time is not now.


I think the clearest complaint I've heard is "There is no way to identify to the OS - No, I'm not using a touch device!" The users I've talked to that are running some hack or download to enable Start menu functionality seems to be fairly happy.

I'm not a fan of having to download an app just to make an OS usable! Little incentive to change from Win 7.


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## phillihp23 (Mar 14, 2012)

I think that Windows 8 down fall is that no one wants a application (icon) based OS for a Desktop. Win 8 for tablet and phone are the right move. I mean really, has anyone said I'd love an Iphone or Android based OS on there desktop... Just not practical for Desktop applications. I still have vista....with Win8 being like it is for Desktop OS i think i will pass...maybe win7 will get cheaper and I will upgrade to that.


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## theJman (Mar 3, 2012)

I've been using Win7 for years now, and it's a very nice OS. I don't think you'll be disappointed if you upgrade. For sure, it's much faster than Vista.


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## J&D (Apr 11, 2008)

I have been playing around with it for awhile but have not migrated my primary machine. It does take a bit to get used to but I really have had none of the issues so many are complaining about. If you have XBOX or a WIN 7 phone then everything is clear from the start. I have used both of those as well so that may explain my quick understanding of it.


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## fschris (Oct 31, 2009)

I have been using windows 8. Lets see... First off if you have windows 7 on a desktop there is no need to upgrade. I have win7 on my HTPC and there is no reason to upgrade. As said, Win 8 is being built for the tablet/touch world. Yes, there are some new upgrades on the desktop side of Win8 but nothing huge. Plus you will not use Metro on the Home desktop PC. The new Office is neat and it is in beta. It is like an app but still full featured. You can use it while it is installing! 

Now here is where things get interesting for me.

I like how if I have a win 8 surface tablet and it uses Office for me that will help me at work as I can operate spreadsheets out of the office and when I walk in the office I can pick up on the pc seamless. I also have a windows 7 phone and I can open doc and xls spreadsheets as well but you cant do a lot of editing on them.

As far as HTPC goes windows 7 is still great. most home desktop users don't need win 8. Microsoft is trying to get into the tablet market and I do like the looks of surface which is designed for WIN8.


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## Dub King (Aug 10, 2012)

I transitioned to Windows 8 for my primary workstation/HTPC when the first consumer preview came out. At this point most hardware makers have a Windows 8 driver for their hardware, which is usually the main issue with early adoption. Software incompatibility = non-issue. I find Windows 8 to be the most stable version yet and compatibility mode has been 100% effective with my older software.

I'm thrilled to think I can have my Windows both ways now, on a tablet or on a workstation. I'm quite certain that Kinect for Windows will _eventually_ turn a Windows 8 HTPC connected to a (4K?!) HDTV into a fully interactive tablet-like experience.

The main news is that Windows 8 presents no barriers to building a proper HTPC, it's designed to also work well with touch and on a tablet, and some reports say it is a smidgen faster than Windows 7. For HTPC owners, the fact that 3D support is native to Windows 8 might also be a plus.


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## Sevenfeet (Feb 2, 2009)

Microsoft has some big hurdles here. First is the learning curve...its the biggest change since Windows 95. Second, most enterprise customer already got through upgrading to Windows 7 and most of them are probably happy to stand pat for at least another year or two. Finally, Windows 8 needs apps, especially on the RT side. Right now there isn't much of anything.

Microsoft called the iPad a "recreational tablet". Most businesses would not agree. Having been out there for 2.5 years, most companies and enterprise software companies are already deploying iPad. In the tablet space, it's iPad first, Android second. Windows 8 isn't even on the radar screen right now. We'll see how that may change.


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## Peter Loeser (Aug 11, 2012)

I tried the developer preview and consumer preview on a few different machines and I can echo what a few others have said here. If your primary use will be a non-touchscreen PC, there aren't a lot of compelling reasons to switch to 8 if you're already running 7. It is very much like 7, with a few tweaks in explorer and some more noticeable changes to the start menu and control panel interfaces. I personally like the "ribbons" in explorer but definitely miss the start button/menu.

I do agree that it would be nice to have an option to tell it I'm not using a PC with touch interface, and have it load without some of those features. The tile interface definitely makes sense for Windows phones and tablets, and from what I could tell they run pretty stable. I would imagine the number of touch capable PCs in use right now make up a very tiny percentage of the overall market right now, so I don't see those features grabbing the attention of a ton of consumers. 

As far as compatibility goes, I had a few issues with the previews versions, but I haven't taken the plunge on the official release yet. I honestly don't recall which programs gave me problems. Maybe it's been worked out by now. I used windows 7 for a while on a HTPC and didn't like it enough to stick with it, so I wouldn't expect 8 to be any more appealing (at least in my case).

Having said all that, I will probably try to do the upgrade from 7 to 8 while they have the special offer going. My primary computer is a MacBook running Snow Leopard and a Win 8 preview. I plan to upgrade to either a MacBook retina or new iMac soon and would still like to dual boot.


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