One of the good things about metro apps, standardized menus.
Windows 8 release preview has been launched today
- Thread starter robinbredin
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One of the good things about metro apps, standardized menus.
Caporegime
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I've given up trying to fix the stupid wireless driver.
If anyone who gets the issue manages to fix it, let me know.
If anyone who gets the issue manages to fix it, let me know.
Soldato
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One thing to remember is that Win8 is not for us, or any existing 7 users. MS know most of us have no need or desire to change from an excellent OS. So they're taking the opportunity to take a "bold" step and introduce new PC buyers to something which will remind them of their iDevice, and therefore be more approachable.
By the time Win9 is out we'll all have got used to the lack of choice, and millions of people will be using Win8 and the four or five apps they ever really need.
Personally I think MS are off their rockers, and I've got my finger's crossed for Balmer being out of a job by next Easter. But that probably just means it'll be a roaring success, Balmer will be deified, and -- not for the first time -- I'll be left scratching my head.
By the time Win9 is out we'll all have got used to the lack of choice, and millions of people will be using Win8 and the four or five apps they ever really need.
Personally I think MS are off their rockers, and I've got my finger's crossed for Balmer being out of a job by next Easter. But that probably just means it'll be a roaring success, Balmer will be deified, and -- not for the first time -- I'll be left scratching my head.
We need more drivers. AFAIK Intel have only released a beta driver for HD graphics onto their website. Nothing for chipset, network, RST etc. I don't really want to force install drivers using Win7 compatibility mode. I think the Z77 chipset is fully natively supported by Win 8 anyway as the USB3 bus etc are all correctly showing in device manager. The current NVIDIA drivers install and work with no issue in Win 8, however NVIDIA have released a statement saying they are releasing updated specific Win 8 drivers next week. The Asus AI Suite II also installed and worked (with the exception of a couple of modules). Also, Flight Simulator X works with no probs and this was released in 2006 in the XP/Vista days.
Does anyone know if Asus will still produce the P8Z77-V PRO after October? Just wondering, because if they continue to...that means they should update the drivers/utilities for Windows 8. Unless they release more Z77 boards and these become legacy. Any ideas?
Does anyone know if Asus will still produce the P8Z77-V PRO after October? Just wondering, because if they continue to...that means they should update the drivers/utilities for Windows 8. Unless they release more Z77 boards and these become legacy. Any ideas?
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I have decided I don't like Windows 8 what so ever. Been trying it since day 1 and I just don't think it's going to work on desktops in business environments unless all screens get upgraded to touch screens.
As for home machines I am just not so sure, again unless the screen is touch screen every click seems strange.
Metro should be a choice not forced. Unless they decide to make it a setting somewhere so it's like Windows 7.
As for home machines I am just not so sure, again unless the screen is touch screen every click seems strange.
Metro should be a choice not forced. Unless they decide to make it a setting somewhere so it's like Windows 7.
I have just had a play with the latest preview and once I stopped myself from grumbling too much about what it isn't like and tried to get my head around it a little more I actually started to like it.
When I first got it loaded I started to use the Desktop screen function (as that is what I'm used to) and found that, if I wanted to, I could make it look quite like what I have been used to using on Windows 7. But I tried to stick with the Metro interface and once I figured out some keyboard functions it seems to work quite well. I can only imagine that once app support starts to kick in more it can only get better.
NVidia will have some drivers out next week, if I read correctly, so I can then make some screen adjustments and maybe I will boot up to it then to install those and try it out some more.
I suppose, for me, that as Metro is the default it sort of prevents me trying to make it look as I have been used to having Windows look all these years, a bit like me moaning about the Office ribbon bar until I found utilities to bring back the old style toolbar. Maybe it will turn out better than I thought, even though I never clicked on the "Orb" in Windows 7 I still had an adverse reaction to Metro when I first saw it.
I am tending to feel a little more enthusiastic about W8 than I imagined I could be, well maybe not quite enthusiasm but at least I'm not as hostile as I was when I first tried the consumer preview.
When I first got it loaded I started to use the Desktop screen function (as that is what I'm used to) and found that, if I wanted to, I could make it look quite like what I have been used to using on Windows 7. But I tried to stick with the Metro interface and once I figured out some keyboard functions it seems to work quite well. I can only imagine that once app support starts to kick in more it can only get better.
NVidia will have some drivers out next week, if I read correctly, so I can then make some screen adjustments and maybe I will boot up to it then to install those and try it out some more.
I suppose, for me, that as Metro is the default it sort of prevents me trying to make it look as I have been used to having Windows look all these years, a bit like me moaning about the Office ribbon bar until I found utilities to bring back the old style toolbar. Maybe it will turn out better than I thought, even though I never clicked on the "Orb" in Windows 7 I still had an adverse reaction to Metro when I first saw it.
I am tending to feel a little more enthusiastic about W8 than I imagined I could be, well maybe not quite enthusiasm but at least I'm not as hostile as I was when I first tried the consumer preview.
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Right click > properties > customize notification area > turn system icons on or off > turn off input indicatorHow do I get rid of this ENG? It just appeared today.
Clicking on it shows both UK and US keyboard input variants with no way to remove the US style.
When I go into the Language Preferences all that's listed is UK.
First impression of the release preview - much better. The gesture areas are now rock solid and the thumbnails now look much better. I can't really see the problem now. There's a bit of set-up time to get the menu how you want it, but there's no reason why it can't be much more functional than the old style Start.
Settings navigation seems to still have quite a learning curve to it though. I could definitely see why people wouldn't like it - everything is split between Metro settings, in-app settings and Control Panel. The fallback of 'type what you're looking for' has been getting a lot of use.
As for the business argument, I'm not sure how relevant it is. Metro is appropriate for some situations while bringing nothing to the table in others. However, I'm not sure Microsoft are looking at business with this release. Most of the new features in W8 are consumer-focused, based around mobile computing and tying together Microsoft products and services. It's about securing consumer revenue by tying sales of Windows, Windows Phone and Xbox together and making money off extra services like Xbox Live, Zune and the Windows Store. I guess they learned from Vista and 7 that most businesses don't really need anything more advanced than XP and will take their sweet time about upgrading to newer versions of Windows no matter what new features they bring to the table.
Settings navigation seems to still have quite a learning curve to it though. I could definitely see why people wouldn't like it - everything is split between Metro settings, in-app settings and Control Panel. The fallback of 'type what you're looking for' has been getting a lot of use.
As for the business argument, I'm not sure how relevant it is. Metro is appropriate for some situations while bringing nothing to the table in others. However, I'm not sure Microsoft are looking at business with this release. Most of the new features in W8 are consumer-focused, based around mobile computing and tying together Microsoft products and services. It's about securing consumer revenue by tying sales of Windows, Windows Phone and Xbox together and making money off extra services like Xbox Live, Zune and the Windows Store. I guess they learned from Vista and 7 that most businesses don't really need anything more advanced than XP and will take their sweet time about upgrading to newer versions of Windows no matter what new features they bring to the table.
Is anyone else's install freezing? :/
It's really weird... It didn't do it in my first install of the CP but then I reinstalled it and it started freezing every now and then (explorer would freeze but could still use open program's for a bit until they froze) and now it's started doing it pretty much every 2-5 mins in the release preview... Just trying a reinstall now..
Any ideas?
Ta
It's really weird... It didn't do it in my first install of the CP but then I reinstalled it and it started freezing every now and then (explorer would freeze but could still use open program's for a bit until they froze) and now it's started doing it pretty much every 2-5 mins in the release preview... Just trying a reinstall now..
Any ideas?
Ta
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de-icer
Not running integrated graphics by any chance?
Doesn't take a genius to work out what I mean. The interface has been designed for touch and with the limited input you have with a tablet it works well under that circumstance where smaller screens, etc are used.
On a laptop where you have a keyboard, mouse and larger viewing area, limiting people to full screen apps and a touch interface rehashed to be used by a mouse and keyboard is counter productive.
The taskbar is a really useful asset and it's gone in Metro.
Metro is flipping useless for actual productivity. Nobody doing actual work is going to satisfy themselves with a UI where a single app has to be fullscreen, unless you have another in a column of preset size next to it.
Metro isn't aiming at productivity or business; I get that. But the Metro features shouldn't be intruding into the desktop view. The two should be separated as much as possible.
Metro isn't aiming at productivity or business; I get that. But the Metro features shouldn't be intruding into the desktop view. The two should be separated as much as possible.
But aren't sales of desktop computers going down the pan? It's all notebook/tablet these days and thus people don't typically need a desktop experience anymore, whether they know it or not.
Business users need desktop PCs, sure they'll ditch them whenever possible for a laptop or tablet but there are a heck of a lot of business users who will want to stick with desktops, I'm thinking schools, NHS and councils - areas where desktops are heavily used and rarely have hardware upgrades!
Microsoft's problem is that all the real innovators have either retired or moved on to other companies who aren't chasing their own tail, thus what we end up with is something designed by people who haven't a clue for people who don't want it.
The tablet market may be booming but it only has a limited set of uses, have you tried gaming on those things?, for anything more challenging than yet-another-physics-swiper-rehash-omatic HD, the lack of buttons mean your hands obscure the game window and provide zero feedback.
As has been said, Microsoft are trying to turn a creation platform into a content platform, that isn't going to work.
Metro has been designed for people who don't care how things work, just that they do, the problem is those types of people have already bought into the apple ecosystem.
Sure, go right ahead and make integration with other microsoft products more seamless, but doing it by taking a design paradigm that has been dictated by the platforms lack of input controls and transplanting it into a platform with a multitude of control methods is just plain silly.
The PC is just too far wide ranging for something so constrictive and counter-intuitive as the metro design.
The tablet market may be booming but it only has a limited set of uses, have you tried gaming on those things?, for anything more challenging than yet-another-physics-swiper-rehash-omatic HD, the lack of buttons mean your hands obscure the game window and provide zero feedback.
As has been said, Microsoft are trying to turn a creation platform into a content platform, that isn't going to work.
Metro has been designed for people who don't care how things work, just that they do, the problem is those types of people have already bought into the apple ecosystem.
Sure, go right ahead and make integration with other microsoft products more seamless, but doing it by taking a design paradigm that has been dictated by the platforms lack of input controls and transplanting it into a platform with a multitude of control methods is just plain silly.
The PC is just too far wide ranging for something so constrictive and counter-intuitive as the metro design.
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