Windows 8 - the Features, Applications and News Thread

I have to say I'm with the people who don't like metro. It's a great idea for tablet and tough devices, but tablet and touch devices should be where it stays. I used W8P for 3 daysand just could not get used to it, I don't want to be constantly using keyboard shortcutsjust to get simple tasks done that usually takes 2 or 3 clicks of the mouse at the most.

If there was an option to disable it then W8 will be brilliant, there's lots of features in there that have been missing for years and always had to be replaced with 3rd party software. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they will at least have the option to disable metro, as it's clearly not for everyone.
 
I don't think Microsoft will give the option to disable/remove the Metro UI parts, as Windows 8 is Metro to me. Maybe they'll be some crude hacks eventually, but to me that would be ruining the whole experience.

I like the new Metro Start menu, its super slick and very easy to use and navigate. I don't find it difficult to use with a mouse and keyboard either, but it is screaming to be touched!
 
Can anyone confirm there is a proper full working file search in windows 8
It is the one thing I missed from moving from XP to win 7

To be clear:
In windows 8 if I search the ENTIRE C drive , will it search all sub folders or like win 7
will be deliberately ignore several folders that I want to search in ?
 
AnandTech has a pretty detailed article about Win 8. Worth reading :)

And i completely agree with this:

The Start menu is gone, but consider this: the best thing that Microsoft did to the Start menu came in Vista, when the new integrated search made it so that you didn’t actually have to go digging through folders and sub-folders. Not only is that search functionality alive and well in Windows 8, but the problem of folders and subfolders that it was created to avoid is also gone.

Yes, Metro is very different from what came before, and yes, Metro was clearly designed with touch in mind, but once you learn its tricks (and especially once you’ve got the new keyboard shortcuts dedicated to memory) it acquits itself as a flexible and powerful user interface. Even if you’re on a massive 2560x1440 display with multiple monitors and never, ever touch the Windows Store or a Metro app, the Start screen serves as a much more configurable and useful application launcher than the tiny Start menu ever was.

I don’t want to say that the Start screen is definitively better for PC users, especially those who rely on Windows 8's sometimes flaky mouse motions, but I strongly disagree with anyone who says that it’s worse. Microsoft has greatly improved Windows’ functionality on tablets (and if you’ve never used Windows 7 or something older on a currently available tablet PC, let me tell you: it isn’t pretty) while not greatly impacting the operating system’s usability on desktops and laptops. Metro's biggest problem right now is going to be what users bring with them: years of accumulated experience about how Windows should look and work. Windows is still Windows, but all of these changes add up to a new interface that is just different enough to spook users who rely on remembered actions to get around their computers, rather than an actual understanding of how and why things work.
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Sadly Windows users are often the worse when it comes to change, even when it's for the better, because Windows UI hasn't changed much since Win 95 and loads of people get stuck in there ways. I'm sure many will take one look at the new Start screen and just decide they hate it, without finding out how to use it and seeing how much better, faster, and more powerful it is.
 
Chrome and Firefox are coming to Metro, and Opera are looking in to it as well.

I suspect by the time 8 is finally released that there will be thousands of Metro apps on release day. As dev's will have had roughly a full year from the Dev Preview to make stuff.
I wouldn't be surprised to see the apps grow quicker than with both iOS and Android. Windows is still the most used OS, and developing apps for W8 seems easier than with anything else. You also have the best tools like Visual Studio, and can earn more from the app store when you reach a certain amount of sales as MS take a lower cut of the profits.
 
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anticonscience said:
What additional information is there about xbox live coming to windows 8?

Does this possibly mean cross gaming between windows 8/360/next xbox?
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Nothings been said yet if we can have things like online multiplayer between PC and Xbox, but as far as i know all the music, video, and TV shows that are now available on the 360 will also be available on the Metro Xbox app (which is already in the Consumer Preview but anyone outside the U.S cant use it yet). I suppose you could also chat to Xbox friends on the PC app and watch any movies you've purchased on Xbox.

There will be Xbox Live branded games for both PC and Xbox, but you wont be able to get a 360 game disc and use it on a PC or anything like that. There will be cross platform games the same as now, but instead of Windows Live on the PC (which is a separate download and never did well anyway) they will now use the built-in Xbox Live app.

Theres 2 Xbox Live games in the Consumer Preview (a card and pinball game). You can sign in to your Xbox Live account with these games, and any achievements you get are added to your Xbox Live gamer score.

You can also use the PC Xbox app to navigate through the 360's menu screens. The app connects to the 360 over the network/wifi and you basically could use a tablet PC a bit like a 360 gamepad :) Theres a vid on youtube but cant find it...
 
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