In Pictures: The Windows 8.1 Preview

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After all the cyber-hype I took the plunge -with a solid backup. I made an effort to work with 8.1 and have it doing most everything I had on my 7 build. In hindsight what is an OS? It's there to use the computer in the most efficient way. Now 8.1 allows you to bypass the metro applet screen? Whats the point then? What features does Windows 8.1 deliver to me that improves my productivity? Nothing. I don't need my desktop to look like an elongated Windows phone. I don't need Windows desktop to intercept my email messages. I don't Hotmail to be the top tier of my login process. Other than fancy little tiles sitting on top of where I need to get things done it's an added layer of unneeded eye candy functionality isn't worth a new license over the windows 7 Pro license I have bought and paid for. I am typing this one the same computer comfortably back to Windows 7. Thank you Windows 7 backup. Try again Microsoft.
 
Coming from a support side I don't think they went far enough. 3 whole apps open on one screen, I normally have 10-12 open any given time on one screen while working. The fact that you need to change a registry value to actually disable UAC truly is ridiculous. If Microsoft ever wants Windows 8 to become more then just a passing fad they still have to address the major consumers of their product PC users and businesses.
 
Coming from a support side I don't think they went far enough. 3 whole apps open on one screen, I normally have 10-12 open any given time on one screen while working. The fact that you need to change a registry value to actually disable UAC truly is ridiculous. If Microsoft ever wants Windows 8 to become more then just a passing fad they still have to address the major consumers of their product PC users and businesses.
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I hope you will take your job more seriously in the future and educate yourself, as desktop still functions the same way as before; you can have as many windows open as you like. Metro is meant for media consumption and casual creation. Win 8 is not much of an upgrade from Win 7, but it is certainly not worse.
 
Comments on the comments:
"Take the time to learn"??? For years programmes have worked to make things intuitive to make them more accessable to everybody. Now you have to take a class again so you can write an email and shut off the computer even though you've been happily working away for years and using instruction manuals to keep the wind from blowing closed the door?
If they decide to bring back the menu as well they should consider the Ubuntu method of organizing the progams into catagories, you know office, games, accessories...instead of the "I know it's there somewhere".
"Ahead of the curve"? The original windows was modeled after Apple and this one seems to be modeled after Ubuntu's unity desktop relased 2 years ago. The only thing it's got over Linux is the amout of software and hardware developed to run on it. As more and more programmers and builders go to cross platform that is rapidy changing. Take HP. To install an HP pinter on an Ubuntu machine you plug it in. Done.
I hope Microsoft gets it right eventually simply because too many people are hurt in the short term by their mistakes but at the same time this sure will encourage the developement of alternatives which is a great thing.
 
When I tried the 8.1 preview I was a bit chocked that several drivers stopped working, didn't think it was so many changes made that would effect the driver model.
(Scanner and gaming mouse stopped working)
 
Bring back the old start menu or at least have an option to enable it, there should be an option for this and not the new style.
Also microsoft apps should be removed, all those stuff...or at least have an option to disable it because not all users will like it including me.. This OS is for desktop not for touchscreen tablet.
 
To those that saying Win 8, AKA "LULZ I'm a Tablet Hai!" is great? Why have you not replaced your cars steering wheel with that of a bicycle? Can you not see bikes are the future? Are you a Luddite? Are you not smart enough to embrace change?

Or maybe, juuuust maybe you can see that a CAR IS NOT A BICYCLE and likewise a PC IS NOT A TABLET and thus sticking the UI of one onto the other is just plain stupid!

Look up the numbers guys, number of PCs being sold RIGHT NOW that have touchscreens? less than 3%, that is so low as to not worth counting and of course that is ignoring the 1.2 BILLION PCs already sold that will most likely NEVER upgrade because...guess what? NO TOUCHSCREEN!

And for the "keyboard commanders" that try to make up with its shortcomings with crtl-alt-fail? First of all the fact that you are saying a tablet OS is good if you only use a keyboard makes the irony moist and delicious and second of all we already had that...it was called Win 3.X.Is that REALLY what you are gonna claim is the future? Printing up cheat sheets like we did in Win 3.1? Meanwhile I picked up an Android tablet and was comfortable in less than 20 minutes, around 30 for iOS, less than that for ChromeOS, but that is because THOSE are intuitive and discoverable, Win 8 is neither! NO pop up on mouse over, NO handy tips, NO difference between things that can be interacted with and the background like buttons or highlights, its an OS made by an art student and mark my words it WILL fail hard!
 
My thoughts exactly. It doesn't take much to spot that some things are buttons and thus do stuff in most OSs. Swiping in from the edge/mouse in corners is completely unintuitive, because there's no reason to do that in the first place. Plus corners are probably where your mouse spends the least time, so finding them by accident is unlikely.
 
While I am sure you'll need to be logged into your Microsoft account to get it to work properly, using Sky Drive by default (assuming image 22 is default) just seems wrong. Of course, this is coming from someone that does not do cloud computing - period. Having said that, I also dont know the numbers of people who log in locally versus log into their Microsoft account by default, so in the end it may not be as big a deal as it seems to me.

As for me, I've used Windows 8 since January. While I can certainly get around in it, I can say I dont care for it at all. Yes, it boots faster, and is more secure - but I have had far more problems with my 8 months with WIndows 8 than I ever did with Windows 7. There is just nothing here that is worth the effort for me, especially as I spend virtually all of my time on the desktop.
 
While I am sure you'll need to be logged into your Microsoft account to get it to work properly, using Sky Drive by default (assuming image 22 is default) just seems wrong. Of course, this is coming from someone that does not do cloud computing - period. Having said that, I also dont know the numbers of people who log in locally versus log into their Microsoft account by default, so in the end it may not be as big a deal as it seems to me.

As for me, I've used Windows 8 since January. While I can certainly get around in it, I can say I dont care for it at all. Yes, it boots faster, and is more secure - but I have had far more problems with my 8 months with WIndows 8 than I ever did with Windows 7. There is just nothing here that is worth the effort for me, especially as I spend virtually all of my time on the desktop.
 
I don't understand what is so difficult about giving people the OPTION to choose the traditional Windows look (with start menu, etc.) or the new modern UI? Why is this so difficult for MS to implement??
So far, all the people I know who are in IT HATE... yes, professionals HATE Windows 8. Talk about MS being stubborn...

Oh, and for all the MS employees responding here... tell your bosses to have you use your time to actually improve the OS instead of spreading crap propaganda. If it looks like, feels like and smells like a turd, it's because it IS a turd.
 
Coming from a support side I don't think they went far enough. 3 whole apps open on one screen, I normally have 10-12 open any given time on one screen while working. The fact that you need to change a registry value to actually disable UAC truly is ridiculous. If Microsoft ever wants Windows 8 to become more then just a passing fad they still have to address the major consumers of their product PC users and businesses.
Click to expand...

I hope you will take your job more seriously in the future and educate yourself, as desktop still functions the same way as before; you can have as many windows open as you like. Metro is meant for media consumption and casual creation. Win 8 is not much of an upgrade from Win 7, but it is certainly not worse.
 
Really, saying that people are paid by Microsoft?
If you don't hate Windows 8?
Because I have a different opinion than you do?
Because I work in IT and don't have a hard time adapting to what I perceive as minor changes?
Because I'm not abrasive or hateful with my messages or hop on bandwagons?

FFS people. It's an operating system, it's not your first born child, it isn't your religion, it isn't your sexual preference - it's an operating system. Why the hell do people get so abrasive over something so simple? Does it make you feel big to name call from behind a keyboard? I just can't comprehend it.

Nothing wrong with liking it or disliking it. No-one is holding a gun to your head saying that you have to use it. I mean, maybe there is - some crazy disgruntled something, but I'd say 99.9% of the time that's just not the case. There are tons of other operating systems out there. I'd suggesting sticking with Windows 7 if you can't stomach it or Fedora Core to try (especially if you work in IT or want to - knowing RHEL is important).

 
It helps to bear in mind that computer users come in all shapes, sizes and ability levels. Someone who's used XP since 2001 and is, say, of a certain age, will have difficulty switching straight to W8 and many of them won't know the existence of Tom's and other fora.

I believe Microsoft should have made one version for tablets and Windows phones and another for PC's which should definitely have the facility to turn off a Start Menu for suers who don't feel the need.
 
Win 8 is not much of an upgrade from Win 7, but it is certainly not worse.
Click to expand...
Actually, I haven't met a single person in real life who thinks the new UI is even equal to 7. My dad runs it, but only because it's slightly faster. And I think there might be a bit of bias there, because he switched to an SSHD at the same time...

Just because you don't want change for absolutely no reason does not make you stuck in the sand. If it fixed anything wrong, I would consider using it. As it is, I'm likely to either downgrade or use a lot of 3rd-party tools on my next laptop. Which I don't like.


Don't sue me, Scott Adams
 
Really, saying that people are paid by Microsoft?
If you don't hate Windows 8?
Click to expand...

Well, it's been proven that MS is paying staff to write reviews and pretty much haunt forums, such as these, in defense of Windows 8. There are articles about it. Also, anyone who so vehemently defends Windows as some people do can only be one of two things: a hardcore fanboy, or a paid rep.

For me, the "hate" has to do with forcing something on people, depriving them of choice. People like freedom and choice is freedom. Freedom to choose to either adopt a new look or simply go with what you already know. It was like that for all the previous versions of Windows so why change that now in such an arrogant way??
In the end, this is bad policy from MS. That is NOT how a company keeps or attracts more customers.
 
I haven't tried Win8 myself yet. Its really hard to tell from these comments and the very similar ones elsewhere whether I'll fall into the "I hate this piece of junk" camp or "its not even that different" camp.

Thing is, if it feels like there's any risk at all, its tough to justify the move. I can go weeks or months at a time between feeling any dissatisfaction with my current O/S, which is Win 7. So given I'm basically quite satisfied now; and at least per these comments there's a 50/50 chance I'll hate Win 8; I'll probably end up waiting to the last possible second or just skipping this one entirely.
 
its just so damn ugly....

I can't believe any graphics designer actually put his name to this abomination.
The garish backgrounds and those tiles! loss of the beautiful aero window borders. Squared off window corners and everything is so awfully flat to the extreme.

Microsoft please explain to me exactly why 'small' tiles are more attractive than proper icons and how 95% of my application icons will ever become 'live' tiles
I'm sorry, I just can't leave my beautiful W7 interface.
Hideous.... aaaaargh it hurts my eyes.
 
Had a ton of problems with 8.1. I hated how when I would try to alt-tab out of games the game clients would crash (lol, sc2, bf3). Also I hated how my anti virus got disabled which ultimately led to a trojan horse. Last time I ever download a preview to a new OS.
 
To the various GUI haters above. You kidding? This is far better than your antiquated old classic system, just you are used to it. How do I know? My coworker has a touch win8 laptop. I ridiculed him when he bought it, but now he can do everything so much faster than anybody else. Granted he looks like he is playing Wii instead of working, but it works. Left hand touch, right hand mouse, type when need.
 
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