What are your plans for Windows 8 ?

[LiveOrDie]

All ill say is people need to move on who cares the start menu is gone i used it for one 2 things to open control panel and paint when making quick screen shots, i can still do both and in less time on 8.

 

[Mathragh]

Already on win8, using it together with skydrive, I really like all the syncing it does, and it makes frequently switching between a laptop and desktop less of a hassle for sure.

The only two negatives about win8 so far are the lack of drivers/utilities for my mobo, although thats probably more ASUS' fault than anyone elses, since they only support the R2 version of this mobo with win8(which sucks for such a high end product imho). Apart from the asus driver, Win8 apparently has a broken RAID driver for my chipset. Even the windows 8 installer that I booted from both a disc and a USB stick would randomly BSOD whenever I had a raid set up with amd's raid bios enabled. The win7 raid driver wouldnt work correctly either.

All in all, if you're a bit of a PC enthousiast, I'd say win8 with all its new bells and whistles is worth it. For everyone else: If you're still pondering the upgrade, better do it now, or dont do it at all, since the discount will be over soon.

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

Windows 8 is out? lol didn't even know.

No need to switch yet.. not unless M$ would purposely bog down its performance and make it buggy as hell to force its users to switch.

 

[3870x2]

I have toyed with the idea of developing for windows 8, apps and whatnot.

 

[BigMack70]

Metro is the worst idea ever for the desktop... I've tried it and it basically does nothing other than throw obstacles in the way of productivity compared to Windows 7. I'm passing on Windows 8.

It's clearly a tablet-first OS

 

[ShadowXP]

Been running the RTM since it showed up on Technet, and currently have it running on three boxes (My travel-laptop, the chatbox/mediacenter and my gamingrig), and I'm waiting for delivery of a WinPhone8 as well. Looked at getting a Surface, but cost here in Norway is somewhat prohibitively high as of yet.

I like it, and don't see any reason to go back to Win7. The only thing I've so far found to not work is IL2: Cliffs of Dover, but then again, that sim never worked properly anyway so no big loss there. All other applications I use function as well or better than on Win7, and I've had no issues with drivers at all.

 

[Mathragh]

I think the most common misconception is that metro is supposed to be used a lot when you've got a desktop PC/Laptop.

Everyone i've heard saying the UI of windows 8 is bad tried to do a lot in the metro(modern UI) interface, which is obviously a bad idea, since its designed for touch mainly.

However, when you mainly use the desktop, and only use the metro UI for quick search, and the occasional shortcut you've bound there, its actually quite nice.

Imho, too many people are trying to use their desktop PC's as tablets when they're trying windows 8 for the first time, which totally ruins the experience. I guess Microsoft should've been clearer about some advantages being mainly for touch screen, while others are mainly for keyboard/mouse.

 

[BigMack70]

I think the most common misconception is that metro is supposed to be used a lot when you've got a desktop PC/Laptop.

Everyone i've heard saying the UI of windows 8 is bad tried to do a lot in the metro(modern UI) interface, which is obviously a bad idea, since its designed for touch mainly.

However, when you mainly use the desktop, and only use the metro UI for quick search, and the occasional shortcut you've bound there, its actually quite nice.

Imho, too many people are trying to use their desktop PC's as tablets when they're trying windows 8 for the first time, which totally ruins the experience. I guess Microsoft should've been clearer about some advantages being mainly for touch screen, while others are mainly for keyboard/mouse.

The problem is that Metro is the only significant (IMO) addition to Windows 8, which is the problem.

If it had compelling features to go along with it, I could live with a Metro skin thrown on top of things that I just have to ignore and work around. But it doesn't really have any big features to offset having to workaround Metro in the first place (a better task manager? come on...)

 

[Mathragh]

The problem is that Metro is the only significant (IMO) addition to Windows 8, which is the problem.

If it had compelling features to go along with it, I could live with a Metro skin thrown on top of things that I just have to ignore and work around. But it doesn't really have any big features to offset having to workaround Metro in the first place (a better task manager? come on...)

True, its certainly not for everyone. I personally do think that its enough of an increase in abilities/options for the (current) price(I guess I'm not an average user). But of course everyone can choose according to whateverer they want/like.
This thread is just to see what everyone thinks of windows 8 after all, and not to convice users currently not on win8 to upgrade.

Its always nice read other peoples opinions!

 

[BigMack70]

There's no doubt that Microsoft finally got the pricing right for an OS... I hope they don't jack up the price massively like I've heard they're going to. $40 is a very reasonable price for an upgrade for what they're offering in Win8.

 

[lauri_hoefs]

The features I found compelling enough to upgrade all my machines:

Bitlocker
Hyper-V
SkyDrive
USB-installation and recovery (yes it was possible with 7 too, but is now a lot easier to set up)
Windows Image Backup improvements

Modern UI/Metro on a desktop/notebook without touch acts pretty much as a full screen Start-menu. It works exactly the same way and provides exactly the same features, except that it's much easier to use on a high res display than Start menu ever was, and also adds live tiles.

Some apps, like Kobo Reader, actually work a lot nicer in Modern UI than they did in Win7 desktop, and the ability split the screen with an app, like Skype or some other IM, and another Modern UI/desktop application is surprisingly handy. This was of course possible in Win7 too, but is now a lot easier.

My only gripe would be, that Hyper-V remote management requires a domain to work, but it's still a lot more usable than Virtual PC.

edit: Just wanted to add, that I would not have upgraded, had it not been for the campaign. Paying 15€ or 30€ for the features was a bargain, but if it was 89€ 129€ or something similar, I would have not considered it worth the hassle.

 

[TheLaughingMan]

AFAIK, you can at least get the Windows 8 task manager in Windows 7 using this:

Windows 8 task manager mod

It is not the same. Very early project with a long way to go.

 

[morphy]

Definitely considering it for phones and tablet but desktop not quite there yet....I'm happy with win7 on my desktop.

 

[anonymous6366]

I want a tablet/laptop with win8 at some point but right now my laptop is fine..

 

[Easy Rhino]

best Windows OS since 7. disable metro and you have an excellent polished OS. stop crying and install it already!

 

[SIGSEGV]

hmm..
i don't really know what should i choose, up until now my windows 7 has been serving me well..

 

[cadaveca]

best Windows OS since 7. disable metro and you have an excellent polished OS. stop crying and install it already!

Why buy something new, when all you want is the same old GUI? Win7 works fine...


Anyway...

I've already upgraded all the machines in my house to Win8...To me, Metro simply makes the start bar cover the whole screen, which is fine by me. Nothing really bothers me about Win8, actually, I really like it.

 

[TRWOV]

I downloaded the Developer Preview and the only dislike was the Metro UI and I recently got into the $15 upgrade deal. Too bad the retail W8 doesn't alow disabling the Metro UI like the preview did but there are plenty of Start menus for W8 out there.

Still working the kinks out but it has been a pleasant journey. My issues with my internal USB 3.0 card reader were solved when I upgraded to W8 (I think it was due to the Intel W7 drivers).

 

[Wile E]

I can't handle Metro in it's current form. Give me more control over how everything behaves, and I'll consider making the switch. Until then, I'll just stick with 7 for the time being.

 

[Syborfical]

metro reminds me of Unity.
And I hate unity. So i went to Lubuntu..
Since I still like to game ill stick with windows 7 ....

 

[Steve-007UK]

bought it used it went back to windows 7.

 

[Easy Rhino]

Why buy something new, when all you want is the same old GUI? Win7 works fine...

win7 does work fine. can't complain about windows 7, it is a great OS. however, win8 is better! faster boot times, faster load times for applications. better memory management, more secure (at least for now) and with metro disabled and start8 or cshell installed you have a great start menu working just like win7. if you have the coin i recommend it

 

[erixx]

It's all ok, but when I start my computer I do not always want to log in into all the trendy "apps": FB, twitter, messenger, skype, and what not. I gotta find a way to more privacy and peace.... 8)

The win8 OS otherwise seems mature, apart from some little bugs...

 

[Easy Rhino]

It's all ok, but when I start my computer I do not always want to log in into all the trendy "apps": FB, twitter, messenger, skype, and what not. I gotta find a way to more privacy and peace.... 8)

The win8 OS otherwise seems mature, apart from some little bugs...

install cshell and it closes all of that immediately and loads up the start menu/task bar

 

[Konceptz]

Been using it since it was made available to MS partners a few weeks before the official launch...love it...best Windows OS ever released...not looking back.