Windows 8 is here to test.

Microsoft have released Windows 8 for trial.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/br229516

Just remember this is pre beta release and can be changed at any time.

 

well i downloaded and installed it and it certainly is different.
The start programs are located at the bottom left corner of the screen if you hover the pointer over the corner you can then see it.
If you move the pointer to the right side of the screen it opens several settings options,the one thing i have yet to find is how to shut down from the screen,i have only been able to shut it off from the button on the tower.

Still playin wiv it.

 

Hey Bill,
Could I put that in VirtualBox?

 

Thanks Bill. Going to give it a try.

 

Just confirming that it does work on VirtualBox.

ISO downloads are here:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/iso

Tell VirtualBox to boot from Windows8-ConsumerPreview-32bit-English.iso for example

 

Sweet thank you!!

 

I did not like the look of windows 7 or vista and do not like the look of the new windows 8.

 

@ Goldenskull: yeah - I've been hearing that from a LOT people out there on the interweb. Personally, I haven't tried the preview, but I've seen screenshots and other stuff a few weeks/months ago, and I must say, the visuals are :crap The overall GUI is lame, so I have to agree with you.... but as Bill said above: ". . . this is pre beta release and can be changed at any time . . . " and this release is just a preview meaning that it's not even close to a functional pre-beta release.... but.... it does suck (IMHO), but we always say the new stuff sucks until we actually try the true release, even if it's just a beta.

LOL

So, when I get some time (probably on Sunday), I'll download and install the preview of W8 (hmmm, is that an abbreviation for "wait"? ) just to see what it's about....

 

Agreed it might change but i don't think it will.

 

Got it running on vmware workstation 8 at work. Server 8's "start" is identical to the windows 8 "start". Though, I do like their new server manager and the features within.

 

No one has even mentioned a major new feature in Windows 8, the Metro UI. This video is a good demonstration of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4YFfrfdKlQ

One aspect of the Metro UI that is not clearly stated in the video is the touchscreen functionality. Basically, all the actions shown in the video for the Metro UI can be done on a touchscreen by touch as opposed to using the mouse and keyboard. That may be nice for laptops and notebooks with touchscreen capability but probably not very useful on desktop systems.

I saw a demonstration of Windows 8 a few months ago at a meeting of a local computer users' group. The presenter said the program coding for Windows 8 has been completely re-written, as opposed to using Windows 7 as a basis for it. One result of this developmental approach is an OS that performs better than Windows 7. Also, a fresh installation of it consumes less hard drive space than Windows 7. And, it does not require higher powered hardware specs than Windows 7; indeed, I could easily run it on the Pentium IV I'm currently running Windows 7 on.

 

yeah i look at all the 8 videos still don't like the drag and drop option that they added hoping its just for the i phones or what ever putting that kinda stuff on a computer sounds dumb the only places should probably use it is Food restaurants.For there ordering screens.other then that sounds too me like its too much of a bother too even installing it.on a home computer.Probably eats tons of ram too i would say.

System requirements for Windows 8?



The system requirements of Windows 8 are the same as for Windows 7 and Server 2008.

Windows-8 system requirements 64-bit (x64)
CPU with 1 GHz
20 GByte Hard disk space
2 GByte RAM
DirectX-9 graphics Card

Windows-8 system requirements 32-bit (x86/x32)
CPU with 1 GHz
16 GByte Hard disk space
1 GByte RAM
DirectX-9 graphics Card

 

No, the presenter who presented it at to the group I mentioned said has a "40% smaller running memory footprint compared to Windows 7." And, as you know, the memory part of the system requirements you posted do not reflect an increase in memory needed to run Win 8.

 

Im using windows 8 customer preview and It's running really smooth but there is some things that could do with a work out. For instance.

Shockwave don't work properly unless it's coming out on the final release.
Internet don't work on the desktop screen only in the apps screen.

that's all I have found so far.

 

While I realize its still way to soon to pass judgement, I am gonna anyway. :-D

IMHO this is gonna be BAD. They are trying way to hard to put a Iphone or Tablet on the desktop.

They got it right with windows 7. They should offer the option to boot into the new Iphone type desktop, or classic desktop, even give you the option to pick the defaults.

I have no desire to have Apps on my desktop. I am just a geek who wants to use and play with my computer. Play some games. I could care less and have no desire to see what is going on with facebook and twitter.

I sure hope they change this or it will be wait and see what is in store for windows 9.

 

lol i know there all ready talking about windows 9 lol witch is funny this windows 8 i think is going too fail badly.And there all ready talking about 9 geez they put way too much though into the windows system they need to make it simple like Xp.They are trying too make new windows too complicated way not just make it simple and easy too use.

 

It's called development rolleyes

 

It ma y be but still look at vista they tried too Develop it and it failed.Im surprised Windows 7 is good.That's way i said they should keep it simple as they can.If they make it too complicated then its most likely going too fail as well.Pretty much the only ppl are going too under stand it is the Geeks like us.

 

I also think windows 8 is going to fail which I now at this moment have gone back to windows 7.

Windows 7 has been made so perfect and now it looks like Microsoft is going downhill with windows 8. They have made 2 good operating systems and now it means they will be launching some bad ones untill they go back to making good ones again.

 

I remember seeing Bill Gates doing an interview where his vision of computing's future was a coffee table design computer that would recognize a photo and scan it or recognize a cell phone and synch with it etc.

So I think Win8 is sort of the evolution of that idea except iPad has already made touch screens more accessible and the hardware for the new Window's desktop isn't here yet. This video isn't great but it sort of shows what I think Windows 8 is envisioning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmbW8zRrRbs&feature=related

 

I think what MS is trying to do with win 8 is a "one size fits all" OS I.E. PC,android,tablet and touch screen but not everyone will be happy with it.
I do not find it uncomfortable to work with but the opening screen is definitely for touch applications and is not what i want and when you open the search function it shows every file and application on the PC (too much info)
If i just came to PCs as a new user and Win 8 was the OS i think it would be very easy to learn but us geeks have been spoiled with XP and Win 7 (we don't talk about vista)
It is very obviously designed with the young IPod users in mind who just instinctively use the touch screen.
I will not say i would never switch to 8 but at the moment i personally find 7 better (but i am an old fuddy duddy)

 

ROLF windows 8 does not even support xp funny so i cant even install it.

 

Will not install with XP as far as i know must have vista or 7 i think.

 

I hate the design and it seem like they are putting it on everything even the Xbox 360 has the new tile design minus the colors. I don't think it will be a big success.

 

So far, I'm enjoying windows 8 server more. I love the new server manager and the ability to recover deleted AD entries through GUI instead of powershell. A nicer interface for creating DCs. Still looking though it. Yes, it does have the same "start" as I mentioned before, but it doesn't go there first at logon. Which should be set for desktop also. Also, when you logon, you don't have to "flip" up the screen. You use CTRL + ALT + DEL to get to the logon prompt.

So, I am looking forward to windows 8 server. Windows 8 desktop, I'm not so sure yet.

 

I'm sure when someone writes a program to make the UI more like Windows 7 that it will be posted on Majogeeks. You guys never disappoint.

 

I am running 8 on one system for evaluation.

I did not study or look at the interface before installing and after the initial install was immediately struck with deja vu. DOS had a screen that gave info and defied you to do something intelligent like transfer a file, start a game or even shut down. All commands had to be looked up and memorized. Windows 8 sees a return of that theme.

Benchmarks so far compared to Win 7:
10% faster boot
5 less FPS in WoW and SWTOR (probably drivers)
same speed in file transfer on HDD and network
Desktop actions like starting programs, finding files and deleting are still under observation until I am better at doing them.

In the old days Xerox tested UI's by making them and seeing if it was faster for people to use. This gave us the mouse / keyboard / GUI basics. Windows 3.1 followed the Mac / Apple ][ UI to speed up the user interface. For me Window 7 was a little slower than XP to use. Windows 8 is supposed to be faster to use?

 

What's the MG Verdict?
Download and play or wait?
Spock96

 

DavidGP is 100% right on.
If you can, grab it, use it, understand it.
Who knows, maybe we can push Windows 8 back on the desktop with an alternate UI. Certainly a possibility with enough positive suggestions and feedback.

 

Windows 8 allows switching to the standard Windows desktop. That was very briefly shown in the video I posted in my first reply; it was shown right at the 3 minute point in the video.

 

I believe the video says "hit the Windows key" to change.
This does nothing on my Windows 8 install. No error message, no change.

*edit* Evidently something was blocking the key or change, rebooting got the Windows key to flop from Metro to task bar. Still not in full Windows 7 mode, but at least it does something.

 

Does Right menu>Settings>Power>Shutdown which works without logging out, do what you need or are you talking about less steps?

 

"I'm seriously impressed at boot time, my netbook a Samsung N110 with 2GB boots in 20secs to a usable window over the 2mins that Win7 took."

A few more days with 8 and I totally agree it is faster to boot. But for most of us starting faster is not worth running slower. I have more keys to press and they are harder to find in 8. Compare the ease in 8 to XP.
Things like:
changing the workgroup (all the time on my laptop as I travel)
restart after installing a driver
configuring Applocale to run local software
clip a piece of the screen and save to a jpg on the desktop

Or am I still ignorant how to efficiently do these things?

 

Initial thoughts so far having had the consumer preview for a few days.

• I like the Metro interface. It's fresh, and I understand the use of tiles, though, it's kind of going against what Microsoft wanted a couple of OS's ago, in terms of not using shortcuts as much.
• The Start screen I understand. It's basically everything under the Start menu that you've had in previous versions. However, the Start screen gets incredibly messy the more applications you open up. Also, having to scroll left and right to find my icons is something I do not like. There should be a classic view switch to use either in the Start Screen, or on the Desktop function tile.
• I do love the wall to wall browser of IE 10. Wow! Just amazing! The speed of the browser is pretty fantastic too.
• Someone mentioned boot time. OMG! Totally amazing speed wise. I have a PAvilion DV7T Entertainment model with a SSD and 500 GB SATA. I put Win8 on a 200 GB partition on the SATA and I'm into a login screen within 20 seconds from power switch time. That is just unreal! I'm sure if installed on my SSD it would shave off a few seconds off that.
• I do not understand the purpose of the "Charms" bar. To me it's a cutoff version of the Task Bar. Thing is, it is unnatural in terms of how you access it. Also, getting it to stay up long enough is kind of hard at times.

Just some initial thoughts. More later!

 

Ye gods is that UGLY. I'm sorry, but that's just horrifying. W7 is clean and smooth. W8? Terrible.

 

I'm hoping to get an iso - no luck so far, server too busy I guess - but can someone who already has it tell me what the bootloader is called please? I shall need it to configure my boot manager config file (XP=ntldr, W7=bootmgr, W8=?)

 

W8=bootmgr
I have just loaded it from a DVD.

I downloaded it from here http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/iso

The first time I put it on was an upgrade but now it is a clean install.
Just a tip to anyone installing from disk, you will need to enter a key, it is the same for all distro's DNJXJ-7XBW8-2378T-X22TX-BKG7J
I have to admit that loading from disk it asks for a lot of personal info and hopefully I will not get a mailbox full of promo's from MS.
I have been playing with this for a week now and it is lightening fast but I still dislike the android screen but it is my only complaint.

 

Thanks Bill. That's the site I have been trying to d/load from (32bit), but no joy - times out.

 

Heh heh, I downloaded before reading the fine print.

I am confident my box can handle it.

I will have to dig an extra IDE drive out of storage to test.

 

I took some time to set up the Win 8 desktop.
Looks better now and as efficient as Win7 for most things.
Unfortunately I am still struggling with new tasks like when someone drops by to play games running XP. Network sharing is as difficult as Win 7 or worse.
Any suggestions how to speed up file sharing with XP and Macs?

 

Don't know about speeding up file sharing with XP, I'd be happy if I could do it at all. With the default Homegroup my W8 cannot even see the XP laptop on the home network, but by leaving the Homegroup and using user accounts and passwords it can. However it still can't access its shares - still working on that.

I'm sure you are not alone struggling with new tasks. Everything is in there - somewhere - and when you eventually find it it does work superbly. But what a learner curve W8 presents!

 

Just an FYI on my install.
Tried to install using VMWare Player 4.0.2 build-591240 from a DVD and the iso (64 bit) and got to the "Getting the Devices Ready" stage 76% after reboot and hung.
Error was for a DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION.
Did some searching and found this error in the Developer preview edition which may not apply to the Consumer Preview but I am going to try the fix of using Vitrual Box. I will try the current version of 4.1.10.

The “Building Windows 8″ blog had the following VM software that would install correctly -
Hyper-V in Windows 8 Developer Preview
Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2
VMware Workstation 8.0 for Windows
VirtualBox 4.1.2 for Windows

We'll see what happens.

 

Installed peachy keen with VB.:cool
(Now I just have to figure out this damn thing.:confused)

 

I tried it yesterday. I did a clean install of the 64bit ver.

I guess the Metro UI will be great for touch screens but I don't see corporations going to 100% touch screen computer, at least not too soon.

I removed the Metro UI because I don't have a touch screen and added the start button and menu (lee-soft) and it looks and acts pretty much like Win7.

 

One feature of 8 that is entirely new to Windows as far as I'm aware is automatic mounting of ISO files. Double clicking an ISO causes 8 to create a new virtual drive, complete with drive letter, and mounts your ISO for you. Very neat!