I have a confession...--Windows 8--

They just put Windows 8 on TechNet. I just loaded it to my home system. And I never thought I'd say this, but I AM IN LOVE... This is hands down the best OS Microsoft has ever built (although the concept was pretty much entirely stolen from google). So well implemented though. I expected to put it on one of my computers to try it out. Within six hours, I had installed it on every computer in my home.

Anyone else...

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Roguetadhg

Got a URL?

Iristheangel

I like it too. I'm really excited for the Surface Pro

AlexNguyen

Roguetadhg wrote: »

Got a URL?

It's on the Subscriber Download section of your TechNet or MSDN subscriptions.
Subscriber Downloads
MSDN Subscriber Downloads

If you don't have any of those subscriptions, you can {consider registering for one of those subscriptions}.

the_hutch

I think its on Microsoft DreamSpark too

synseq

I ran it on a virtual machine using VMware 2 hours later I installed it on my sony vaio laptop I'm using. I plan on installing it on a few other computers as well. It is pretty sweet

. They really stepped it up on this OS.

sratakhin

Is it better than the pre-release version? I remember it was pretty fast on my PC, but I didn't really have to get around the Metro interface.

synseq

Yes RTM final version > consumer preview/beta versions.

AlexNguyen

the_hutch wrote: »

Anyone else...

I've tried it on an old HP laptop with Intel mobile CPU (32-bit) and 1 GB of RAM. It boots "faster" than Windows 7 and IE 10 loads web pages faster too.

I'm backing up my netbook, HP Mini converted to "hackintosh", right now. As soon as the backup finishes, I'll try to see how fast Windows 8 runs on an Intel Atom processor.

Here are my few "complaints" so far:

1) There's no "Start menu". I have to check those third party freewares that enable it.
2) If you install, for example MS Office 2010, with the UserA account, the programs icons appear on the Home menu of UserA. When you login on the same computer with another user account, UserB, the programs icons are not on the Home menu of UserB.
3) Can't find the Accessories programs on any menu.

sratakhin

I guess I'[ll give it another try.

I just hope that it won't be as bad as the early releases of XP or any releases of Vista

Alex, how much disk space is needed? I have an old Asus EEE PC with 4GB SSD running a slim version of Windows 7... Wondering if Windows 8 will work on it

Roguetadhg

They removed the start button, right?

Or did they code that back in?

gkca

I tried it too and as a result went to best buy and bought a mac

Raidersfan81

How does your wife feel about this?

Going to get it when it comes out myself.

tpatt100

What makes it "great"? I really don't use Windows much, it's more just an application launcher. I replaced my hard drive with an SSD and my boot ups takes a few seconds.

AlexNguyen

sratakhin wrote: »

Alex, how much disk space is needed? I have an old Asus EEE PC with 4GB SSD running a slim version of Windows 7... Wondering if Windows 8 will work on it

Microsoft says that the minimum hard disk requirement for Windows 8 32-bit is 16 GB. On my system, it takes 11 GB of hard disk space after a fresh install.

If you don't have enough disk space, you can still run Windows 8 from a USB stick. Google for "Run Windows 8 from a USB drive".

snokerpoker

I'm going to download it tomorrow. I'll report back with a quick review.

AlexNguyen

OK. I've finished the installation of Windows 8 on my HP Mini 311. It did not went well.

There's an issue with the graphic driver. The Metro or Home menu displays fine. But inside the Windows desktop, as soon as I open an app or window, the screen flickers like crazy every second.

My graphic card is an Nvidia ION LE. I've downloaded the new graphic driver for Windows 8 from Nvidia web site. But it cannot detect my graphic card during the setup installation.

That's all for tonight. I've gotta sleep. I'll try tomorrow to resolve the issue. If I can't fix it, I'll restore it back to the "hackintosh". It boots faster with Windows 8 than 7. But it boots slower than Mac OSX.

jibbajabba

What impresses me most is the speed - my system is screwed on my laptop and I am still trying to decide if I should go with Windows 8 - I would hate the fact though to find out that neither applications, nor driver work (yet). I also downloaded Windows Server 2012 from Microsoft VLSC which is great too. I don't get te Metrointerface on a server OS - but at least it runs well through RDP. Decisions decisions ey.

SephStorm

Im not a fan. I dont like the desktop layout. And considering that I only have one touch enabled device (my cell phone) Im not a fan of that whole bit. other than that what makes it better than W7?

jibbajabba

One major reason for me :

wd40

I installed it on a laptop 5 minutes ago, the Apps do not have a close button! .. where is the red X

jibbajabba

REMOVED UNNECESSARY QUOTED REPLY FROM PREVIOUS POST

Its touchscreen optimized, remember - hard to hit an 'x' with a fat finger - Swipe with finger or mouse from top of the screen down .. Once you "touch" the top of the screen with your mouse you should see its coursor changing ... or the good old ALT-F4

wd40

This is stupid, you have to hold the hand then pull it to the corner, still the Start menu does not work in the same way .. I used ALT+F4 and the windows key etc, but don't you think it should be easier to figure out how to use?

Also, my son has a fancy hp all in one machines with 23" touch screen, I will try on that later

jibbajabba

I remember how outraged people were when Vista was released - how different it was compared to XP - I am sure we will get used to it (eventually).

Heh - W8/2012 runs on Powershell 100% - write your own stuff to get things done easier

Everyone

IMHO... hands down best feature... Hyper-V v3 is built into it. That's right, FREE full featured virtualization on the desktop. No more paying ~$200 for VMWare Workstation. Yeah I know someone is going to say "Virtualbox and VMWare Player are free"... neither have as many features, and both lack some that I need for my labs.

DigitalZeroOne

I really wanted to like Windows 8, I like change, but this is not for me. I would love the interface formally called Metro on a touchscreen, I actually had a Windows phone for a while and I liked how the tiles worked (Still went back to Android) with it. I don't like the cramming together of two different interfaces, and I really don't like how a metro app won't show up on the task bar when you are in the desktop mode. You either close it with task manager, or go back to metro and close it.

I shudder when I think of my relatives calling me for tech support, they better have teamviewer installed, because I'm not walking anyone through Windows 8. I will keep Windows 8 as a VM, and use Windows 7 until Microsoft makes its next OS.

crrussell3

jibbajabba wrote: »

I also downloaded Windows Server 2012 from Microsoft VLSC which is great too.

So its available for you on VLSC? Weird. Not for me and all of our SA are current. Guess I need to call MS and see whats going on.

jibbajabba

It is, but it seems to keep disappearing from the search bar on the left ... I noticed that because when I was browsing through "Windows" and "Windows Server" I saw Win8 Enterprise but the search did not display it, only Pro .. half an hour later when my download bombed out I wanted to re-download and it didn't show it on the search at all ... Considering that the download got corrupt / entries in the list dissappearing / appearing, it makes me wonder if all the changes have been replicated across their loadbalanced server. Wouldn't surprise me to be honest.

Anyway - how cool is that - you even got Hyper-V in Windows 8 (just saw that online) ....

Tackle

I've been using the RP and Consumer Preview for awhile now, and I can honestly say I still like Windows 7 better. I cannot see this being adapted in the work place for a long time.

Just wait until you have to support first time Windows 8 users. If you have a few min watch this, Chris Pirillos Dad using Windows 8 for the first time:

How Real People Will Use Windows 8 - YouTube

bdub

Everyone wrote: »

IMHO... hands down best feature... Hyper-V v3 is built into it. That's right, FREE full featured virtualization on the desktop. No more paying ~$200 for VMWare Workstation. Yeah I know someone is going to say "Virtualbox and VMWare Player are free"... neither have as many features, and both lack some that I need for my labs.

This is exactly what I am most interested in. I've been using 2008 R2 for my native OS so that I could use Hyper-V. The other great part of Hyper-V is that its a type 1 hypervisor vmware workstation is not.

So far I've only ran it Win8 in a vm and I do like it for the most part but am still a little skeptical and am not huge on the new "start menu".

crrussell3

@jibbajabba I am probably being impatient. I figured things were still replicating through everywhere. But I want my new toys!!!!!

Also, has anyone heard when the new Hyper-V Server 2012 will be released? Seems to still be in RC and can't find any concrete release date (though I haven't looked very hard yet). I have a new SAN to put into place that will finally allow us to cluster our hyper-v hosts for HA and want to wait until I can get 2012 on there. Though I am still waiting to do a Software Assurance Step-Up from Standard to Datacenter so I could just put Server Core 2012 w/Hyper-V if I get too impatient.