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LAN Party Forums => FITES News => Started by: sully! on February 29, 2012, 10:19:00 AM

Title: Windows 8 Consumer Preview Now Available
Post by: sully! on February 29, 2012, 10:19:00 AM
Microsoft has released the Consumer Preview edition of Windows 8 today, available for download by anyone who wants it.

(http://sullinet.homeserver.com/fites/win8logo.jpg)


You can grab the bits from Microsoft at http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/download (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/download) or if you want to skip the "helpful" setup exe and go straight for an ISO, head to http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/iso (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/iso) for your language/architecture combination of choice (go ahead, get the x64 edition of Chinese (Simplified). I dare you ;) ).

With this release comes coverage out the wazoo of what's new since the Developer Preview released at the \\BUILD conference in September. Here are a select few links for your reading enjoyment:
And of course several other places. I've just finished burning my ISO to disc and will be installing shortly. If anyone is playing with this also, post your thoughts and impressions here.
Title: Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview Now Available
Post by: The Nstuff on February 29, 2012, 11:54:43 AM
don't forget to grab the cdkey off the download site:  http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/iso (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/iso)
Title: Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview Now Available
Post by: krakah on February 29, 2012, 11:56:01 AM
Hope this is better than the Developer Preview.  Though from what I hear it isnt.

Metro needs to DIAF  :angryfire:
Title: Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview Now Available
Post by: sully! on February 29, 2012, 01:08:35 PM
I'd be fine with the Metro stuff if they would only include some basic things, like, oh, I don't know, an EXIT button!!! I'm sorry, but pressing Alt-F4 to close the app will not be intuitive for anyone except power users, and even then, not intuitive, just a known alternate method.
Title: Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview Now Available
Post by: sully! on February 29, 2012, 01:23:05 PM
First real complaint: I'm limited to using a 16 character or less password. WTF!? I know that may seem like a long password to some, but I typically use a 17 character password (and variations thereof), so a 16 character limit just kills that, not to mention the security implications. I must be missing something here. Let me see what I can find.

Edit: Ok, I think I've discovered what's going on. I am currently set to use my Live account credentials, which is limited to 16 charcters. I'm using this so my settings will automatically sync between the multiple machines I use. If I switch my account to a local account, I am able to make a password from here to eternity just fine. Only catch is that I lose that automatic settings sync. Still a bit annoyed by this, however.
Title: Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview Now Available
Post by: krakah on February 29, 2012, 01:31:37 PM
Quote from: sully! on February 29, 2012, 01:08:35 PM
I'd be fine with the Metro stuff if they would only include some basic things, like, oh, I don't know, an EXIT button!!! I'm sorry, but pressing Alt-F4 to close the app will not be intuitive for anyone except power users, and even then, not intuitive, just a known alternate method.

I didnt have any spare machines so during the Dev Preview i installed it in my HyperV server.  Getting metro to close was the biggest pain in the ass.  Just started downloading again.  Hopefully its better this time around.
Title: Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview Now Available
Post by: vincegun on March 01, 2012, 09:49:32 AM
Installed to separate partition so I didn't lose... you know... a working and efficient OS install.

Observations:

Win7 drivers work fine. Had to load drivers I downloaded for my KILLER NIC. Otherwise Win8 saw my hardware and made everything work right away, then windows update found stuff for my X-fi and creative webcam.

Desktop experience is.... well, it threw me for a second. Playing with it more is... interesting. Tablet interface with a traditional desktop underneath with modern game and technology support. Found that pressing the keyboard start menu button is a big alt-tab between metro (which has a big ol' START at the top, HAR HAR MICROSOFT) and the regular desktop or whatever's running. So I dub metro interface as nothing but a glorified and pretty fullscreen start menu, which... when you look at it that way, once it's figured out how to customize it, COULD be pretty nice. I would REALLY like to see animated backgrounds and/or animated shortcut icons for metro. Do that and I'll consider using it.

App store. Nothing special.

Mouse to top-left corner of screen brings what I think is the jump list? Or at least the last most accessed screens. Mouse to bottom-left corner of screen brings up clickable metro shortcut. Mouse to top-right corner brings up an overlay with start, search, share, devices and settings on the right side of the screen and current time and date in a small square on the left side.

Have dual monitors? Metro can/will automatically be running on primary while traditional desktop and taskbar are shown on the secondary. Kill metro or alt-tab from it to regular desktop and both screens will show the taskbar.

I don't see how to easily kill programs/screens/processes. I want to shut down this app store... uhh… app. How do I do that? Further with that, I don't see any blatant and immediate way to shut down your machine.

All for now, I guess.
 
Nevermind. To kill a screen that's a process in the background, bring up the jump list (top left corner of the primary monitor), put mouse cursor over it, right-click and get a single option. Close.
Title: Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview Now Available
Post by: sully! on March 01, 2012, 10:03:26 AM
I've been relying on my extensive knowledge of keyboard shortcuts when I get stuck. This can't be a good sign for regular users. Just for the hell of it, I'm going to ask someone at work to sit down at this Windows 8 system and ask them to do basic tasks and see how well (or not) they can do them. Call is a sadistic UI experiment.
Title: Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview Now Available
Post by: decepticon on March 01, 2012, 10:23:29 AM
Quote from: sully! on March 01, 2012, 10:03:26 AM
Call is a sadistic UI experiment.

Oh I like that!
Title: Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview Now Available
Post by: vincegun on March 01, 2012, 10:28:40 AM
Seconded. Sadistic experiments are the best!

Would you like to play a game?

Although I think the general idea is that with machines having so much ram these days, a regular user wouldn't NEED to easily shut down any running "apps" as they can just keep them in the background and out of the way.
Title: Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview Now Available
Post by: krakah on March 01, 2012, 11:16:03 AM
I cant for the life of me figure out how to use Metro in a MORE intuitive way.  Im hearing all kinds of feedback across several forums I frequent.  Some outright blasting it.  Others saying "oh its just one extra click". 

My point is "SO?".  As GUI's are supposed to become MORE intuitive, the smallest step back whether it just be ONE extra click turn it into a much larger step backwards.

I think I'm all for Win8 on a tablet, and that is actually what was making me hold off on buying a table, but on a PC this interface is counter intuitive and has no place there.

I constantly press Windows Key and just start typing to get where I want to go.  Especially network shares, and Control Panel options.  In the Dev Preview that didnt work.  Luckily it does now.  Thats the one thing that REALLY bugged me above all else.

As of yet, which I havent spent much time doing, I cant figure out how to organize all the metro tiles.  It just looks like a big pile of icons everywhere.  If I can get icons organized it might make this a little better. 
Title: Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview Now Available
Post by: vincegun on March 01, 2012, 11:28:17 AM
Quote
but on a PC this interface is counter intuitive and has no place there.

Agreed, unless the PC in question is a all-in-one unit or a laptop and either has a touchscreen, which is what I think they're aiming for. Or just simplicity for them simple folk.
Title: Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview Now Available
Post by: vincegun on March 01, 2012, 11:36:58 AM
Oh, and just saw this. Windows Server 8 beta.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/hh670538.aspx (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/hh670538.aspx)
Title: Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview Now Available
Post by: krakah on March 01, 2012, 12:03:23 PM
Server 8 has been out for awhile, or at least a different release.  I installed that as well.  Made it my backup DC in my lab. 

Didnt have a chance to play with it too much, but I like its central management features.

EDIT - our initial first thoughts on [H]
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1656862 (http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1656862)

I completely forgot about Metro on there.  :angryfire:

EDIT2 - I forgot all about the NAS/Storage features they're putting in.  I want to check this out in detail.
Title: Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview Now Available
Post by: The Nstuff on March 01, 2012, 05:31:14 PM
my mom was visiting recently and the fact that the "show desktop" feature activates simply by moving your mouse to the bottom right of the screen freaked her out when all the windows all of a sudden went translucent.

I cant' imagine how frustrating it will be for the normal person to deal with Windows 8 on a regular keyboard/mouse computer with the unintuitive mess they have today.  I have no doubt it will work really well on a tablet, but damn the interface sucks for a keyboard/mouse.
Title: Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview Now Available
Post by: krakah on March 02, 2012, 09:10:07 AM
Deleted the VM. Lame.

Really want the ARM version to leak.
Title: Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview Now Available
Post by: sully! on March 02, 2012, 09:24:32 AM
Quote from: The Nstuff on March 01, 2012, 05:31:14 PM
my mom was visiting recently and the fact that the "show desktop" feature activates simply by moving your mouse to the bottom right of the screen freaked her out when all the windows all of a sudden went translucent.

Win7 does this as well, unless you've turned it off. Right click the little "chiclet" and you can enable/disable the Aero Peek feature. Clicking it will minimize all windows to show the desktop. Click it a second time and the windows restore back to their original sizes/location.
Title: Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview Now Available
Post by: Dwg115 on March 15, 2012, 10:52:59 AM
How Real People Will Use Windows 8 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4boTbv9_nU#ws)
Title: Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview Now Available
Post by: The Nstuff on March 15, 2012, 07:00:36 PM
awesome!!!!