Microsoft Announces Availability of Windows 8 Consumer Preview

[JKnows]

The 64bit version took about ~25min to download. Now I have to burn it to disc and go for a test run on a test system,....

I have been downloading for 5 and half hours and I have another 6 hours.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Works definitely better than the Dev. Preview in VirtualBox.It does not freeze often and even the VB graphics could be installed which always failed in the dev. one. It is a nice way to test it, without the hassle of installing an unfinished os which will need replacing when the real W8 comes around.

yeh but can it play crisis,,

no seriously can you play games because thats pretty much what id want to test?

 

[Arctucas]

So, it is impossible to disable the Metro UI and get back the Start Menu on the taskbar?

I have a PC, with a mouse and keyboard, not a smartphone.

 

[Mathragh]

Yes, games will run fine, and both AMD and Nvidia posted drivers especially for win 8.

On another note:
I'm really dissapointed in this preview(and perhaps windows 8 as a whole) after using this install.

For Metro, I expected to have this nice and useable interface, in which i could do basically all i could at the desktop(with the proper "app" atleast)

Instead i get this 90% useless interface to which i'm bound, since there is no visible and easy way to disable it. Furthermore the apps from which I expected the most, like messenger and mail dont even give 10% of the functions i was used to from windows live essentials. And then when you think, ah well, i'll just log off, there doesnt seem to be a way to actually log off, only appear offline. This interface is fine, for my phone, but for my PC I want to be able to do a lot more than that it currently offers me.

If only they included the simple "shutdown Metro UI" option, everything would've been fine, but this... I guess we'll have to wait for the "windows 8 professional review", or atleast some news about some version of win 8 having the option of turning that darn interface off.

This is coming from someone that was really positive about win 8 untill today

 

[Bambooz]

Waste of time and ressources IMHO.
Basically a Vista 2.0 .. or Win ME 3.0 if you want. Just with more big brother added to the mix.

I'll probably do a "know your enemy" kinda install in a VM or on a test box, but other than that? Hell no..
I'm sitting in front of a god damn computer. NOT a f%§/$% tablet FFS.

I sincerely hope Win8 will end up as an epic fail.. hopefully even more than Vista.. and MS gets their sh*t together after that..

Win7 is what.. 3 years old now? And they're already cutting down stuff for it (Windows Live gallery for widgets and stuff is basically gone.. not that I care too much but c'mon..after 3 years? really?!) and they were about to cut support for most versions in January 2015, but just recently changed that into January 2020 .. they probably realized how ridiculous this would've been after a complaint-sh*tstorm or something.

 

[Mathragh]

Waste of time and ressources IMHO.
I sincerely hope Win8 will end up as an epic fail.. and MS gets their sh*t together after that..

Why would you want it to fail?

Wouldnt you want it to be epic instead?

And imho, win8 isnt like vista at all, vista was bad because it was a resource hog at that time(that problem was over after a while however, and uptill now, its quite an OK OS).

Windows 8 is really nice, the hardware management is great, the support is great, and the speed at which things run is also great, untill you realise you're stuck with the interface. Its potentially a great OS, with some worthwhile advantages over win7, but then the interface just ruins your day as a desktop poweruser.

 

[Arctucas]

It is truly a sad day when Microsoft decides to take the best OS they have made (Windows 7) and crapify it with this Metro garbage, in an effort to be 'cool' and 'hip'.

@Mathragh,

The Windows key + i will bring up the logoff/restart/shutdown.

 

[Mathragh]

It is truly a sad day when Microsoft decides to take the best OS they have made (Windows 7) and crapify it with this Metro garbage, in an effort to be 'cool' and 'hip'.

@Mathragh,

The Windows key + i will bring up the logoff/restart/shutdown.

Thanks, that got me half way, but still there is no way to only log out in the message app.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Quote:
Originally Posted by zsolt_93
Works definitely better than the Dev. Preview in VirtualBox.It does not freeze often and even the VB graphics could be installed which always failed in the dev. one. It is a nice way to test it, without the hassle of installing an unfinished os which will need replacing when the real W8 comes around.

yeh but can it play crisis,,

no seriously can you play games because thats pretty much what id want to test?

i ment can you play games on win8 with it running in a virtual machine

 

[Mathragh]

i ment can you play games on win8 with it running in a virtual machine

I dont think so, atleast not in any playable way. I tried to set up a 2 person gaming account once, with one person using the windows on the PC itself, and another person using the VM on the second screen fullscreen with a dedicated keyboard and mouse. No matter what we did and even with hardware acceleration on(which only supports certain kinds of DX9 last time i checked), there was no way i could get things running smoothly with over 35 FPS, even with nothing running on the main windows install.

You can always try though.

 

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

Really not liking what I am seeing in Windows 8.

 

[Delta6326]

Well lol about 10 min. after install my computer froze and I had to take my CMOS battery out reset my whole system and can only boot into W7. I found a old 10 year old IDE HD from a old Gateway and installed W8 on it.

I think im going to still Reformat my main HD, but keep just W7 on it.
Going to have to download driver for stuff

 

[TRWOV]

I have it installed here. The installation is tricky. Keep a Live ID handy. The Metrosexual UI takes a lot of getting used to.

Oh, and there's no Start menu as such.

I was right about Metro resembling a touchscreen-based training program for chimpanzees (push the right color for banana).

So you can't disable Metro like in the DP?

 

[Delta6326]

So you can't disable Metro like in the DP?

In my short amount of time using it, you can't disable it all the way. But you can go to desktop and it look just about normal besides the start bar.

 

[newtekie1]

So you can't disable Metro like in the DP?

I just installed it, and unfortunately you can't disable Metro like the DP. However, that might just mean that the method has changed and no one has figured it out yet. IIRC, the method to disable it before took a few days for people to figure out.

I truly hope that Metro is easily disabled in the final product, and Microsoft is just pushing the crap out of it in the previews to get people to actually use it and give feedback on it. Because for desktop use Metro is totally useless, but it works great on tablets.

 

[TheLaughingMan]

So now that I own a Window 7 phone. I can now assure you that is what Windows 8 is. That is it. They stuck my phone interface over the desktop OS.

 

[brandonwh64]

Its windows 7 with the phone interface as highway put it, Totally useless!

 

[v12dock]

I have been downloading for 5 and half hours and I have another 6 hours.

It took me a whole 4 minutes and 30 seconds

 

[erocker]

So when I go to the link to download it gives me a 4.99mb file. I run it and it checks things on my current Win 7 install. Where can I download the actual O/S?

*Nevermind, found it.

 

[v12dock]

http://www.techpowerup.com/img/12-02-29/screenshot_lockscreen_web.jpg

Anyone knows where is that place?

Looks like the Rockies imo maybe Montana http://www.alanmajchrowicz.com/data/photos/89_1montana_road_21981r.jpg

 

[AphexDreamer]

I think Microsoft has confused the word progress with retrogress and metro...

My pc isn't a phone! My phones a phone dam it!

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

The wise move for MS would be to add detection for touch screens. No touch screen = no metro by default.

 

[pr0n Inspector]

http://www.techpowerup.com/img/12-02-29/screenshot_lockscreen_web.jpg

Anyone knows where is that place?

The image shown here is a photo of the road leading to Mt. Cook National Park in New Zealand.
http://mashable.com/2012/02/08/windows-8-consumer-preview-event/#25769Windows-8-Lock-Screen

 

[LifeOnMars]

I actually really like it, if I had a touch screen it would be pretty awesome but the navigation is fairly easy with mouse anyway.

It also let me install the latest WHQL Nvidia drives without an issue and bizarrely, Portal 1 which was stuttering all over the place in windows 7 is now smooth???? I have played Alan Wake, Portal, Skyrim and FIFA 12 all without issues.

It also created a smaller default page file and I reckon once people get used to how the new interface works it's going to be a winner!!


EDIT - It seems with DX11 games it is giving me 59.9Hz maximum refresh rate as opposed to the 60Hz it should be (Which is set in Nvidia CP and monitor settings). This is causing syncing issues with DX11 games for me. World Of Warcraft is stuttering whereas before it was smooth. Also BFBC2 in DX11 60Hz is not an option. DX9 Games are running beautifully at 60Hz.

Anyone have a solution?

EDIT 2 - Going to try reinstalling WoW, just to note I'm running 295.73 WHQL via HDMI.

 

[baggpipes]

I am confused.... why so much hiding of the buttons....