lets talk about Win 8 ... anyone running the beta?

[Bryansix]

This video shows more of what they are doing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hq95...eature=channel

Still I think the metro apps and the layout of the start menu are a giant flop or will be a giant flop on the desktop. Most people will just turn the feature off.

[SouperMan]

The tiles app looks neat, much like the Windows Phone. Saw it demo'd at a training session for something else, will be installing it onto a VM sometime this week.

[tools2teach]

It looks like windows mobile with the tile. MS is making a push for cloud computing. It seems really ligh, fast installation,

[the86d]

If you can't ghost it to a second drive for backup or HDD upgrade, without having to fix booting with the DVD again(, even though you did include the MBR), then "protection" has gone too far with Win8, like 7...

[Hoop]

I'm running the beta as is a friend of mine. I think it needs another year or two of work before it's ready for the mainstream.

[meaty-btz]

If you can't ghost it to a second drive for backup or HDD upgrade, without having to fix booting with the DVD again(, even though you did include the MBR), then "protection" has gone too far with Win8, like 7...

Get the proper version of ghost and it does support windows 7 monolithic imaging.

[segfault]

Running fairly smoothly on VMware player on my core I5 machine but choking on the same on an older Core2Duo T7300, both running Win7 hosts.

I like the Metro live-tile concept overall. It's a net boon to be able to glance over the screen and get updated info, kind of like your personal NASA control room with each of the myriad screens as a tile. With static icons, you're looking at a painting. Live tiles also feel very light on resources. They surely will be chucked if you open a full blown app like a game.

If you don't like Metro, one press of the Start key closes it for the Win7 style desktop. I'm looking forward to seeing more tablet choices and perhaps the mainstream adoption of the Asus Transformer format, with a keyboard dock for a tablet screen. MS has been uncharacteristically behind on hardware with WP7 (no LTE, no multi-core) so they need to catch up there.

I'm also expecting to see more integration between the traditional and Metro UI for desktop / laptop users. Right now it's a split personality (easily swapped with the Start key) but the desktop can definitely benefit from tiles. It's also perhaps the first Windows to come out with a majority of users using 16:9, 16:10 screens instead of 4:3 and the sides can be better utilized. The preview is doing a little bit of that with dockable apps and the design has a ways to go but it has potential.

[problemchild]

Windows 8 is a driod abortion. God help us all! Win8 is what happens when H1B programmers get drunk and do acid.

[Bryansix]

So we recently installed the preview on a spare machine. So far I don't like it. Everything is hidden and you have to know where to mouse in order to pull up menus. It is not intuitive. You have to learn how to use it. This is not how software should be designed.

[segfault]

I was checking out the W8 video store and it had some movies for rent with the tag "Watch it before it hits the theaters", like The Hunter. Turns out it was released last year in Australia though. The app is slick.

The payment system is kind of sneaky, have to buy credits and each credit costs more than a dollar.

[robcoe]

Meh, tried it, really don't like it.

I'll stick with 7 for now, I finally have it running correctly.

Seems like Microsoft took George Carlin seriously when he said "if it isn't broke, break it"

[Merc1138]

So we recently installed the preview on a spare machine. So far I don't like it. Everything is hidden and you have to know where to mouse in order to pull up menus. It is not intuitive. You have to learn how to use it. This is not how software should be designed.

Exactly, it's crap.

For example, how do I give a list of procedures to someone using windows 8?

"Move your mouse to the bottom left, no all the way to the bottom left, don't move it, wait about 2 seconds no... don't move your mouse, yes just wait, now click when you see the... no don't move the mouse cursor to cover it just click when you see it"

"click on the start button at the bottom left of the screen"

Even though the personal computer has existed for decades, we all still know computer illiterate people and have to explain things to them, like moving the mouse. This is just going to make that more difficult.

Probably the dumbest part about this, is that a stylized desktop with interactive application specific doodads on it was something my packard bell that ran windows 3.11 came with, and I hated it then. I'm sure this UI is fine on a phone or tablet, but I wouldn't want android or ios on my desktop/laptop either.

I guess since Microsoft's only stinker since ME was pre service pack 1 vista, that they needed to show that they could polish a turd just like the mythbusters, but it's still a turd.

[wjc]

Anybody do any CLI testing on it?

I may have to test against this abomination.

[Jeepers]

ok so i broke down and decided to try it out on my ion-itx machine, its set up as a HTPC and i have only spent a hour or so on it before i said F-IT back to 7 for now ... when ever i get to it ....lol

[JDay]