Windows 8

Just upgraded to Windows 8 Today via an offer on the windows website. £25 it was! Brilliant value if you ask me!

Really enjoying using the OS, it has a very calm feeling to it, not being constantly bombarded like previous OS's. Its blazing fast, everything is practically instant with nice animation transitions between apps. All my old apps run perfectly, if not better on W8, as you still have your standard "Desktop", be it upgraded.

You now have a Start "Screen" which is similar to the interface on some of the windows phones. Seems to work a lot better than expected on a non-touch pc! Its quite intuitive as well, its pretty hard to go wrong with it!

All my files from my old windows have been automatically transferred, so there are no issues there! I actually have TowersStreet pinned to my start screen, so accessing it is really easy! I really urge the TS Team to create a windows app for TS!

There are many other cool features such as the new "Search", but I suggest people look at some video reviews that will fully explain the OS.

I'm sure many of you have upgraded, & many know a lot about the new OS, but I'm just confirming to you that in my opinion, it is a VERY good OS!

So what are your opinions on the operating system?

I love it! Currently on the RTM on my iMac, but will be purchasing this week as its brilliant!


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I saw this in tesco yesterday. Was tempted to buy it but when I asked the masses on Facebook I got an overwhelmingly negative reaction and was told to save my money!!

Still tempted,

DaveW said:

I saw this in tesco yesterday. Was tempted to buy it but when I asked the masses on Facebook I got an overwhelmingly negative reaction and was told to save my money!!

Still tempted,

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Upgrade, it's stable and worth the tiny cost!


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Got it over Dreamspark a few weeks back. Tried it on Joel's PC. Both decided to format the drive after about 30 minutes of using it, and revert to 7.

I think it's a vile operating system. The whole new UI style is dreadful outside of a touchscreen device. It feels more like Windows Tablet than a desktop OS. It's all well and good saying "well turn the UI off then". Well then what do you have? You've got Windows 7 with a slightly different skin ???

Also, it seems to still have so many bugs in it. Stupid things like it still has trouble with S3 deep sleep, or if you use an extender you have to disconnect it sometimes as the OS throws a wobbly and refuses to recognise either display. From Googling to try and fix what issues we had it also seems there are a lot of USB peripherals it doesn't like, and demands are disconnected for it to work right.

I'm really not impressed by this latest release at all. I'm almost glad I've switched to a Mac at the moment if this is the way the PC is going! Go back a couple of years and I wouldn't have used an Apple computer with Mac OS if you paid me, but the recent changes (I won't say advances, as many feel more like steps backwards than anything) Microsoft have made to their products and services have really changed my perception.

When I tried the developers preview I thought they might stamp out some of the problems before the launch, but evidently not. If anything it has more issues than before!

God, I miss XP

Ian, I miss XP too!

I've not had any issues with Windows 8, but as I've stated I don't plug in USB devices etc and with it being a mac, it's got the drivers I need specifically made anyway.

Maybe it'll grow on people though, as it becomes more widely adopted as a primary OS

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See this is the thing. I'm not certain how widely adopted this system will be. The feedback from the previews and so far always seemed rather mixed, but there was a lot of negative response from what I've seen. If touchscreen all in one PCs take off in the next year or so then maybe it will be more widely adopted, but for now they are few and far between.

It feels like a push to get people onto touch devices in the home, but if you ask me Microsoft have come at it prematurely, as if they are going to force people onto it. Until there becomes a real need for the touch desktops in the home though I don't see any benefits. It's alright having this swish OS, but if there is very little need or use of the technology beyond there what gain is there?

Plus, with such a focus on touch I can see Microsoft completely alienating the enterprise market. Businesses with offices of hundreds of PCs want, cheap, efficient, and simple. They do not want to spend hundreds of pounds on touchscreen all in one desktops. Yet without doing so, but using Windows 8 it seems it would slow productivity, and as I said earlier, if they want to strip out the touch part to streamline it was there really any need to upgrade in the first place?

With 7 it seemed like they were starting to get it right again, with a versatile OS suitable for a huge range of devices and easy to use features; something which made XP so successful. But now we seem to be wandering into emerging technologies with an uncertain future. Touchscreen desktops will go one of two ways. They'll either be a huge success, or a total flop. Given that touch input has been around for so long why has it taken so long for the feature to seem to emerge? Well there was never any real need for it in the home. I personally think this has all been sparked by the growth of touchscreen phones and tablets. Someone has said "hey, it works for these, so lets make it on this." The problem is, on a portable device it's practical. On a PC, less so.

Fair play to MS for wanting to get in their early and support this technology. But does that mean it should dominate the software and the brand? I think Windows 8 would do better if it was marketed as Windows Touch, with a specific market and focus. Instead it's trying to do it all, but falling short in other departments.

Won't be getting it until SP1 comes out. Don't trust MS anymore with new OS' - especially as they still purport Internet Explorer as the 'best browser on the web'.

I put it on my desktop... haven't touched it since.

The ideas are annoying, and it's as if the OS was designed for tablets... which is fine if it's a tablet OS, but this is an OS everything.

Sticking with 7, until I decide to build a new PC (probably not for a while) and may find it difficult to get my hands on 7 and be forced to upgrade.

and tbh psychoaster... IE is their browser, of course they will advertise it as the best... they want people to use it, blame the reviewers for being sell outs and claiming it as such.

The Psychoaster said:

Won't be getting it until SP1 comes out. Don't trust MS anymore with new OS' - especially as they still purport Internet Explorer as the 'best browser on the web'.

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For all we know, windows might not be releasing a SP1 until when the next version of windows is about to be released. They might not release one at all!

Also, take a look at some speed & performance tests of IE9 & Chrome etc. on YouTube, that might change your mind about Internet Explorer. I use it, & it is a LOT faster than other browsers, and has far less compatibility issues!

Blizzard said:

The Psychoaster said:

Won't be getting it until SP1 comes out. Don't trust MS anymore with new OS' - especially as they still purport Internet Explorer as the 'best browser on the web'.

Click to expand...

For all we know, windows might not be releasing a SP1 until when the next version of windows is about to be released. They might not release one at all!

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They won't be able to get away with not releasing an 8 service pack. There are so many issues which need to be addressed, and the easiest way to solve them will be with an SP. There are a lot of people, especially within the business world who won't upgrade to any OS until it has had at least one service pack released. MS would be stupid to alienate the market by not issuing one.

Either that or they'll do what they did with Vista, and sell the major service pack as a new OS due to the bad reputation Vista had. For want of an analogy, you can't paint a turd gold

From what I've heard about Windows 8, I won't be upgrading in a hurry.

I'm the kind of person that likes to have the most recent update, etc., but the Windows 8 upgrade seems like more faff than it's worth. There's nothing new I've heard of in Windows 8 that particularly 'wows' me.

I'm doubtful that Microsoft will return to what it was at the time of Windows 7 anytime soon, which is my biggest worry, because Windows 7 will one day become an unsupported OS, like XP will soon.

EDIT: Sorry, it seems I misread the article, Valve were worried that emphasis on buying software from Microsoft's store could discourage users from buying from Steam. Article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18996377

Steam works just fine with Windows 8.

I am loving the tiles, give it a week to get used to and its fine.

Ian

I'm sure there would be much more fuss then already if Steam didn't work on 8 and Microsoft would not get away with it.

Gaben just make a bloody Steam OS! kthxbai.

JayMMayer said:

From what I've heard about Windows 8, I won't be upgrading in a hurry.

I'm the kind of person that likes to have the most recent update, etc., but the Windows 8 upgrade seems like more faff than it's worth. There's nothing new I've heard of in Windows 8 that particularly 'wows' me.

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I appreciate your opinion, but have you actually tried windows 8 pro yet? Mot reviews on the internet tend to be of the "previews", which I myself tried, & like them, absolutely hated!

All the problems and glitches have been sorted out now, & many new features have been added. Until you try it, you won't know how good it is. For £25, I'd give it a try! Just create some backup discs & away you go!

Service packs will be available to download when they come out, so there's little point it waiting. Plus, most new software will be made with windows 8 in mind know, and you'll' only wish you upgraded earlier!

Obviously this is just my opinion, but I suppose its human instinct to resist change, but sometimes you have to just jump in there & give it a go!

I've seen the advert and i hate it, its completely different and going more like a phone than a pc.