Windows 8 The Verdicts ?

Halfmad said:
Mail app is getting on my nerves a bit, every so often the spinning dots appear, can't read e-mail etc yet I was in e-mail fine before they started! very annoying.
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I don't think the email app is anything like as good as Thunderbird. I have tried it but it does seem to stumble where there are lots of emails and multiple accounts. Mind, I'm no fan of Microsoft email programmes generally though I tried Outlook for a while.

I think we will see some major improvements in a few months, though, and maybe even see some new apps -maybe Thunderbird for 'Metro'?
 
I've just installed Win 8 on my machine at work as an in place upgrade of Win 7 to do some compatibility testing. It only took 35 mins to buy, download and install it (FTTC is great!)

First impressions are:
*It's VERY fast even compared to 7
*Modern UI isn't as disruptive as I expected
*Dark desktop themes are a no go as you can't read text in the title (?) bars
*Borders around windows are huge
*Ribbon will take a while to get used to but looks as if it will be good
*Modern UI apps are "just there" for me. I'll have to give them a chance at some point.

I'm sure I'll get used to the differences soon enough.
 
I did it in the registry and somehow managed to screw it up in such a way that older apps display rather oddly. I think because I only changed one of the two settings. Changing them back didn't fix it either.

I haven't looked into it too much as I have an SSD arriving for that laptop tomorrow and will be reinstalling anyway, but it's annoying. That app worked perfectly on my other machine, and it doesn't even need you to log out/in to make the changes take effect.
 
Fast. The preview was good but the release is lie the transition from vista to win7. It so much more efficient than win7 lenovo hasn't bothered to release a manual fan control update for my laptop, which is no longer backing my hands during bc2 (really impressive).

Metro is subjective. If you really find it painful you can remove it, if you take some time to customize it it can be a real improvement.

There are really only two negatives. Searching in start and charms produces different results (seems somewhat counter intuitive), although the fact that there are two different places to search is what confuses me. Ms supposedly learned that lesson with the half dozen way to shutting down vista.

Second. The infinite reboot bug has still not been fixed. People have been complaining about this for more than a year and they still released it. Four hours in the command line before I gave up and restored an image. However it really does boggle the mind why MS never fixed this as win8 doesn't create a restore point after install (another serious problem) meaning people who fall victim to this are unable to restore, automatic repair doesn't work, restoring the mbt etc. via cmd doesn't work nor does attempting any form of repair if you boot the win8 iso off usb.

I feel sorry for the less tech savvy who've just bought a new laptop of upgraded as Ms support has no clue (well it would have been patched if they did) effectively leaving people with a dead pc.
 
Had my first Win8 bug last night, not sure it's entirely Win8's fault though.

Seems my PC went into hybrid sleep mode, which is the default in Win8, I came back to an unresponsive PC with the power light flashing on and off.

Ended up having to hard reset it, at which point it resumed cleanly from hibernate, which is pretty cool I guess.

Still annoying. Anyone know of a fix? I'm guessing not since it's a 4 year old X48 motherboard.

Note: I've removed all the overclocks before installing Win8, and not put them back yet.
 
Little pop quiz here.

Would the upgrade advisor go through the whole process (checking the system and purchasing of the upgrade) of an upgrade on a unactivated copy of windows 7?

This is for my fathers computer which is currently running a not that legit copy of windows XP pro (and hasn't been since install) which isn't passing genuine advantage checks any more, and he's getting hacked off at the message he's getting on startup.
I thought it would be better to just upgrade the system to windows 8 instead of waiting in hope for a legit windows XP pro key to emerge, and since I'm not sure if the upgrade assistant would work on the XP install I decided to download a windows 7 image from digital river to do the upgrade process (although I'll have to back up his entire iTunes library along with any other files that are needed).

Little note here: I tried to google it, but it looks like my google-fu was weak this time if there already is an answer to this question.
 
prescott28 said:
how come? If you are using one for the apps, then simply move your mouse to the top right hand corner of the screen for the charms menu and choose search. Anything you search for will be searched for in the app shown just above the search entry box.

I was juts looking at a cookery book and it was easy to find thew recipe I wanted this way.
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Tried them all (apps) on install, confirmed my worst fears, nothing to write home about and haven't touched them since. For me it's boot up and straight to the Desktop where I feel at home. I have an iPad which is where apps are best implemented. I'm sorry but the Modern UI simply doesn't work for Desktop PC's.
 
What are people using as an alternative to iTunes.
Running win8 and just got WP8, so would prefer something that works seamlessly.
 
Umm.

I just use a folder full of MP3s. Many music stores will sell you DRM-free MP3s these days.
 
Bubo said:
Is the stuff in this vid representative of the final product?

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Yep most of that video is valid and covers most of the points why I've installed each release of Windows 8 since the beta and always hated Metro on a desktop.

The underlying OS is an improvement but MS need to stop smoking crack! Even Apple aren't this crazy forcing tablet stuff on desktop users!
 
And yet curiously, the 'tablet stuff' can almost exclusively be ignored if you want to. Yes, the screen has to be used in place of Start, but beyond that you don't even need to be in it at any point.
 
Some of the points they raise are quite debatable, for example they complain about scrolling being interrupted when your mouse passes over a scrollable box but that's how earlier versions of Windows behave...

Saying that they raise some good points too, so it can help you get your expectations set.
 
Memphis said:
And yet curiously, the 'tablet stuff' can almost exclusively be ignored if you want to. Yes, the screen has to be used in place of Start, but beyond that you don't even need to be in it at any point.
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this is how i use mine, app's dont even feature when i'm using my pc with windows 8, its just a start screen instead of menu, but one thats prettier, and quicker to use than the old start menu. Nothing but an improvement imo.
 
I've just noticed that the desktop look I've gone for in windows 8 is very very similar to what I used to set up for my linux installs a few years back when compiz was cool!
 
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