Windows 8 Is Ready 558
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by
Soulskill
from the stick-a-fork-in-it dept.
from the stick-a-fork-in-it dept.
New submitter drinkydoh writes "In an announcement today, Microsoft has finally said that Windows 8 is now complete. Microsoft has begun delivering RTM versions to manufacturers and the general availability of the tablets and computers using Windows 8 will be on October 26th. 'Microsoft's final milestone concludes almost two years of development for its new Metro-inspired Windows 8 software and marks the beginning of the release phase. Microsoft says MSDN and TechNet customers will be able to download it from August 15th. Windows Store will go live on August 15th. Developers will be able to access the final tools and submission process for Metro style apps at the Windows Dev Center later this month.'"
Re:Windows 8 seems like a solid product (Score:5, Informative)
Says the account with exactly three posts, all posted today and all praising Windows 8.
TERRIBLE! (Score:3, Informative)
The start menu is gone as are control panels and anything that resembles Windows 7. I spent 2 minutes searching for the "restart" command and eventually just clicked the power button. UGH... Terrible.... DO NOT INSTALL OVER YOUR WINDOWS 7 UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GETTING.
Re:Brace yourselves (Score:4, Informative)
Re:TERRIBLE! (Score:4, Informative)
For the RC^HP it was optional, but not that obvious (like a cop and reading your rights). In RTM you MUST use an e-mail account to install the non-enterprise OSes. You can make it all up but you will regret it.
No local user account by default (Score:2, Informative)
You can actually just use a local account--but it's not the default, and is quite unobvious. It took me several minutes to find, after being very reluctant to send all that personal information to Microsoft. I think that this subterfuge to prevent you having a local account by default is quite naughty, and I wouldn't be surprised if they get into trouble for it.
Re:Let the bitching begin.... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Windows 8 seems like a solid product (Score:5, Informative)
It's not Windows hatred per se, although that certainly is a healthy attitude. It's just that everytime a Microsoft-related article pops up, a brand new user starts blindly praising whatever Microsoft's been doing this time around. It's getting old, Microsoft.
Re:Let the bitching begin.... (Score:5, Informative)
The .NET libs have always passed through to the native code, At some point native code must be called in order to function.
Re:Brace yourselves (Score:4, Informative)
Everyone on slashdot is about to become a UI expert.
As Bob Dylan put it, you don't need to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing.
Re:TERRIBLE! (Score:4, Informative)
You just failed the Windows 8 IQ test. You are not forced to enter those things as all, you just couldn't find the "skip" button.
Re:Let the bitching begin.... (Score:5, Informative)
> I really wish Valve would do a general App store, beyond games...
You don't get it do you. Value does, which is why they are prepared to run a Hail Mary pass; their balls are in a vise and they know it.
Once the Microsoft Market takes over there is no place for a third party store. The App stores aren't about the improved customer experience. They aren't about security. The whole point of the App Store model is everyone saw Apple rake off thirty thick juicy points from each and every sale and Microsoft wants in. If they don't do it today, they will do it next version; only App Store purchased apps will run and any 'in app' purchases will be required to be fulfilled through the app store, exactly the same rules as Apple so no possibility of an Anti-Trust action cranking up.
Steam on WIndows will be as impotent as Amazon is on iProducts.
And yes Apple will also eventually pull the trigger on OS X apps being required to come from the App Store, and for the same reason. To them the question is "Do we want 30% of the sticker price on Adobe's Creative Suite and all those high priced plugins, fonts, etc?" And if you ask that question the only possible answer is pretty obvious, isn't it?
Re:TERRIBLE! (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Let the bitching begin.... (Score:4, Informative)
The IBM PC was the one strange thing in that you could install any OS on it.
My TRS-80 ran TRS-DOS, UltraDOS, DOSPlus, NewDOS/80, LDOS,..
Re:TERRIBLE! (Score:4, Informative)
1) When you install Windows it asks for you to create a Microsoft Account (which asks for those items, none of which you are required to be valid), sign in with a Microsoft Account, or run as a local user. You can choose to be a local user, where you log in with a user name and password and aren't linked to any external services like mail or calendar.
2) The start menu is gone, so get used to that (although you can install a replacement that mimics it if you really want), but the old control panel is not, and the desktop including explorer is not. I don't know how you could possibly miss it.
3) As for restart, it's still in the most obvious places it used to be including when you log out, or on the crtl+alt+del screen. They did move it from the start screen (because how much sense does it make to press start to shut down?), but moved it to the settings (along with wifi, brightness, and other common options) which is accessible from any app, including the desktop.
Re:TERRIBLE! (Score:4, Informative)
I just moused over the Start button (sorry, the circle with a Windows logo in it) on my bog standard Windows 7 PC, and the tooltip "Start" came up.
So yeah, you still press Start to Stop your PC. Not that that's a problem, it's just amusing.
Re:Brace yourselves (Score:5, Informative)
No sub directories? The whole thing turns microscopic if you install too many things?
Uh... no... it pages.
Apps mixed in with what you're actually looking for? Ugh.
Uh... no... search results are categorized.
I don't dispute that you are a UI designer, but I seriously question whether you've actually used Windows 8 yet.
Metro is a total pos (Score:3, Informative)
To the point one or two people have made about Windows 7 menu search and Metro. Yes you can bring up Metro and start typing to find the application you want. However, it's much less distracting and easier on the eye to have a small menu, with colours that match the rest of your system, pop up over a small area of the screen, rather than Metro where the whole screen flashes and changes colour before you eyes and start to type your search causes the entire interface to change, then selecting your application drops you back out of Metro, more sudden screen changes.