Neil P Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 I installed Windows 8 on Friday. I used the Upgrade Assistant, which analyzed my Windows 7 laptop, and then allowed me to buy and launch the upgrade immediately. One thing to realize is that it is VERY VERY VERY DIFFERENT from what you are used to if you have used any version of Windows before. That being said, the Start screen is really nice. It is customizeable and presents and organizes info very nicely. I'm sure you've all seen screenshots of W8 before. You can turn on live titles (can be seen in the NY Times app and the Weather app) and can also make most tiles large (to take up two spaces) or small (taking up 1). The idea of "apps" may be a little foreign too. When you launch Mail (or any other Modern (Metro) app), it launches full screen. It's a big adjustment coming from a PC world where I'm used to having many applications open at once. In W8 you can still have the apps open--the taskbar is just missing from view. Hitting Win+tab brings the tray out from the left side with your other windows--continuing to hit tab will scroll through them. Alt+tab brings up the old app switcher, too. It's very clearly designed to be used on a tablet/other touch screen device. But I've been using a mouse with it just fine. Anyway, I didn't mean this to be a full fledged review, so I'll stop here. Has anyone else tried it? Is anyone using the release version? What are your thoughts? e: Also, it boots really, really fast 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachy Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 I actually like some of the improvements and features in Windows 8, but the Modern UI really only makes sense with touch input. So, tablets and touchscreens may become a necessity. I know that Logitech has a wireless USB surface pad (looks like a mouse pad) for handling touch gestures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil P Posted October 29, 2012 Author Share Posted October 29, 2012 I am just now experimenting with IE 10 and it's very noticeable that they want you to use a tablet with this. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 I was in a Staples today and saw Windows 8 for the first time in the wild. On a 27 inch all-in-one the tiles on the Start screen were the size of a business card. Seem like a rather brutal waste of screen real estate to launch a program. I'd want to do extensive customizing work to dump all these flashing live tiles and just show my regular programs in the smallest tile size possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 I won't knock it till I try it. I was open-minded about Win 7 and that turned out to be a pleasant enough experience. My only qualm about 8 is that old people don't like drastic change. I understand that there is a classic desktop under all that fancy-schmancy touchscreen-looking stuff, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Change- you mean like when Microsoft switched from program manager to the start menu? People were hot about that too. ;-) Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Hey! I like Win 3.1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Ski Free! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 My only qualm about 8 is that old people don't like drastic change. I resemble that remark. Actually just before that I was straining my eyes trying to read the icons on a Nexus 7 so maybe I need that big screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 (edited) There are definitely some quirks and oddities in Windows 8, but I have to say, that because I got to work on Windows 8 for the first time today, I have to say, it's really not that bad once you get used to how to get to everything. It is fast. I like that. I don't know what the heck is doing on with Intuit but they really need to get on the stick, or let someone else buy QuickBooks that can actually get things done and make it work right in a safe way. Having to make IE unsafe just to run QuickBooks is no answer. And that doesn't fix all the issues either. They have had plenty of time to get this done. As much as they charge for QuickBooks, they should have had this take care of; and people shouldn't have to update to the 2013 version to even have a chance at having the issues fixed. Shame on Intuit. BTW: I got creative and install BullZip PDF Printer (free) and just had them printing to a PDF (not with the broken QuickBooks PDF 'printer') and manually email them the saved PDF invoice. Works fine and the can still use QuickBooks on Windows 8 with pretty much full functionality (albeit a little differently when it comes to the PDF creation). As far as the other software and printers, all went well in the migration from Vista to Windows 8 on Lenovo IdeaPad. Edited November 15, 2012 by LilBambi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 There are definitely some quirks and oddities in Windows 8, but I have to say, that because I got to work on Windows 8 for the first time today, I have to say, it's really not that bad once you get used to how to get to everything. It is fast. I like that. Hahahahah! That's what many first time users are saying...... Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Well, I only worked on it for just a few hours and liked it from the start. The problems that I had read about with the Beta were not a problem in the final I thought. I really didn't think I would. I was pleasantly surprised actually. It is nice that Windows 8 REALLY doesn't like and won't connect properly to older wireless security encryptions like WEP. That is very good news. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 If someone would kindly send me a free, properly licensed copy of Win 8 (64bit), I'd love to test it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 If someone would kindly send me a free, properly licensed copy of Win 8 (64bit), I'd love to test it out. same here!! LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patio Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 http://techspot.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=e4cfda23de0688b6339e986ae&id=dbed5da37a&e=2fa4085855 Undocumented feature perhaps ? ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 Cool! Adverts... just what everyone wants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted November 17, 2012 Share Posted November 17, 2012 This is not Windows 8 ads. This is the Windows 8 app store ... apparently, Microsoft was foolish enough to add some apps out of the box. Sadly folks think Windows 8 has ads when it doesn't ... it's apps from the Windows 8 app store. Sadly many apps in app stores whether is it the iTunes App Store, or Apple Mac App Store, Android Market, Windows 8 App Store, or Amazon or other third party app stores, they all contain apps with ads in them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crp Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 I tried out Win8 and have to say that I still absolutely hate it on a pc. I can't multitask , can't have multiple windows open (i monitor other machines), the 'live' tiles drive me nuts with everything being so big and garish on 23" screen. I can't figure out how to do many basic operations (print from IE being one of them) If there was a way to stay in the classic desktop section ..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 I was listening to Robert Ballicer on the TWiT network this morning. He likes Windows 8, as long as it is on a tablet. He tried it on a PC, and quickly downgraded to Windows 7 shortly thereafter. I have not used Windows 8 in any capacity. I think I may consider using on the Mac Book Pro, mainly because of the multitouch trackpad it has that works great for gestures. I think Microsoft has really created something interesting that speaks to where they think the market is going. However, I simply don't have the hard drive space for another OS (120GB SSD). Granted, there are quite a few "start button" programs available out there. From what I've read, Windows 8 upgrades are pretty slow. I don't think you are going to see it take off until OEM sales ramp up. Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 I'm still waiting on my free copy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 (edited) Just got back from a brief cross border shopping trip to Syracuse NY. I was in a Best Buy there and saw a new Asus Windows 8 RT tablet. Windows 8 on a tablet is really nice - I liked it a lot better than the Android "death by icon" interface on a neighboring Transformer tab. However Windows 8 on a cheap non touchscreen laptop was horrible - I couldn't get over the urge to touch the tiles onscreen which did nothing. Once I got to the desktop I could not get back to the Start screen nor find the Charms bar. Mind you this was the first time I tried anything, but it certainly was not an intuitive exercise on a regular laptop, I should also add that playing around with a touchscreen tablet in Best Buy is somewhat like dipping your hands in a toxic waste lagoon. Edited November 22, 2012 by raymac46 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 OK, there are some oddities with Windows 8 that are not there for Windows 7. Specifically USB communication screw up to HP printers. Two different HP All in One printers connected via USB lost communication in the middle of scanning in 3-4 pages. Had to restart the computer and pull the plug on the All in One. That sucks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 HP drivers have not always been the best..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 No, they are not. But, this is not generally their weak point. They either do the desired chore, or they fail to do the desired chore, in which case you often have to restart everything (if wireless even your router) and try again, if still no go, uninstall the driver/software, reboot and reinstall and it miraculously finds it again. It doesn't generally stop mid cycle of a multi-page scan after successfully scanning 3-4 pages and locking on the next one like the scanner just stopped working, then reporting a communications error between the scanner and the computer (USB connection). That may have happened initially with Windows 7 but they were quick to fix that if that was the case. I have never had that happen before personally with any OS before Windows 8. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corrine Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 OEMs have always been slow to update drivers. usasma documented a Compatibility issue on an HP Laptop (Vista OEM w/nForce 560 chipset) from a machine he was upgrading where he works. It helps to have access to anything that is needed. One thing people seem to be missing is that Windows RT is not Windows 8 and they can only install apps from the Windows Store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 This one was a Windows 8 Lenovo IdeaPad laptop. Regular Windows 8 not Windows RT. And we went to see if there was a Windows 8 driver for either of her printers and the drivers had been updated to include Windows 8 so we got the 64-bit drivers for one printer, then the other after the failure. She may be getting a new OfficeJet 8600 Pro All in One that includes Windows 8 drivers on the HP site too. Both her HP OfficeJet and Photosmart all in ones were pretty old so could be an issue, but they worked fine in Windows Vista. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewmur Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 (edited) HP drivers have not always been the best..... HP has great drivers in LInux!!! Of course, it's understandable that they wouldn't have drivers for an OS with the small market share that Win8 has. Edited November 25, 2012 by lewmur Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 At the very least, it will take a bit of time to get the drivers fixed and deployed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachy Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 If someone would kindly send me a free, properly licensed copy of Win 8 (64bit), I'd love to test it out. Well, you can try it for 90-days: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-ca/evalcenter/jj554510.aspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Aw... just 90 days? Not worth installing on my system for that. It's just a tease. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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