Windows 8

[Ticktock]

Had to buy a new laptop and it came with Win 8. My view is there doesn't seem to be much to gain from Win 8, but likewise you don't lose much. Fine on new computers, but I won't bother upgrading my desktop unless they add a new DirectX which won't run on 7.

The biggest leap for me came when I understood that the "Metro" interface is your start menu, not that you've lost your start menu. Oh, and adding "Computer" to the desktop so I can access the old style Control Panel easily instead of the new Settings menu.

[VectraMan]

Just been through driver hell. It was running in 1024x768 and hadn't recognised the onboard graphics, despite the upgrade wizard saying the device was compatible. When I installed Windows 7 on this laptop, it also didn't detect the driver at first, but running Windows Update sorted it out - which impressed me at the time.

Windows 8 was having none of it. Much faffing in device manager, downloading drivers from AMD, and being told the program wasn't compatibile/no compatible hardware could be found and I was ready to wipe the laptop and go back to Vista. Fortunately, Dell came through with a driver from 2007 which still works. Phew.

[Cliphead]

Curious about your impressions on Win 8. I have it installed as a VM and it's surprisingly fast and I'm finding my way around easily enough.

I've only had it running a short time but so far I don't see the need to move away from Win 7 on the main PC here, anybody actually using it in anger and why?

[ctdctd]

Curious about your impressions on Win 8. I have it installed as a VM and it's surprisingly fast and I'm finding my way around easily enough.

I've only had it running a short time but so far I don't see the need to move away from Win 7 on the main PC here, anybody actually using it in anger and why?

Yes, I've used an upgrade licence to ditch Vista on my main desktop PC.

Installation - painless
Boot time - much quicker
Metro - comes on at boot, click on something and it goes away and proper windows appears for the rest of the session
Start button - missing, silly omission, StartX installed
Shadow Copy / Previous Versions - replaced with File History - not convinced by this

Other than that, it works as do all my programs. Little reason to upgrade from W7 though IMO.

[Cliphead]

Yes, I've used an upgrade licence to ditch Vista on my main desktop PC.

Installation - painless
Boot time - much quicker
Metro - comes on at boot, click on something and it goes away and proper windows appears for the rest of the session
Start button - missing, silly omission, StartX installed
Shadow Copy / Previous Versions - replaced with File History - not convinced by this

Other than that, it works as do all my programs. Little reason to upgrade from W7 though IMO.

Had more time to play with it and install some of the apps I use and moved across the data. It's fast as a VM so no complaints there but starting with the Metro interface is just getting in the way and pretty much useless and then there's shutting down...

I'll try some of the more powerful music apps I use on Win 7 and see how that performs but so far no compelling reason to move. All that horizontal scrolling is probably fine on a mobile device but just a pain in the arse on a desktop, is there some obscure option somewhere to ditch it?

[VectraMan]

The biggest leap for me came when I understood that the "Metro" interface is your start menu, not that you've lost your start menu.

The problem is it's one flat list rather than a hierarchy. I installed some software that installs 5 or 6 additional shortcuts (help, extra resources etc.), which on the start menu doesn't get in the way. But with Metro (or whatever it's called) all are at the top level taking up space with things that are rarely used.

All that horizontal scrolling is probably fine on a mobile device but just a pain in the arse on a desktop

I was a bit surprised that you can't scroll with the mouse like a touch screen - i.e. click and drag.

Does anyone know what the top of screen drag is for? In a Metro app, click and drag up to the top of the screen, and it shows you a half-sized window which you can move around. Then as soon as you release it goes full screen again. If there's a point to that I can't figure it out.

[Ticktock]

[QUOTE=VectraMan;1667232]The problem is it's one flat list rather than a hierarchy. I installed some software that installs 5 or 6 additional shortcuts (help, extra resources etc.), which on the start menu doesn't get in the way. But with Metro (or whatever it's called) all are at the top level taking up space with things that are rarely used.

I agree with that - but more if it's several shortcuts that are OFTEN used. If they're rarely used just remove them from Start. Also, I like that while Metro is up you can just start typing to search and run any applications. I know it's like clicking "Start" and typing in Win7, but I like that there's nothing to click first. In Win7 I rarely type to launch an application, normally mousing through my Start menu instead. In Win8 I almost always type to launch now.

[Sysman]

I'll try some of the more powerful music apps I use on Win 7 and see how that performs but so far no compelling reason to move. All that horizontal scrolling is probably fine on a mobile device but just a pain in the arse on a desktop, is there some obscure option somewhere to ditch it?

The only compelling reason to get it at the moment is the price.

I'll probably grab a copy or two before the prices get jacked up, just in case I need it.

I have always detested horizontal scrolling one a desktop since I used VB3. VB3 had no line continuation character and when typing long lines you couldn't see the shorter lines above or below because they were off screen.

I know that the idea is to run Server 2012 from the console rather than GUI interface, but TIFKAM (The Interface Formerly Known As Metro) on Server 2012 is ludicrous.